I watched the original Avatar: The Last Airbender some time ago and I remember the basics of the world, but not a lot of specifics. However, I remember liking it very much, so I thought I’d watch the follow up series. Please no spoilers for this show, but if I’m forgetting something from the original series, feel free to remind me. I will be spoiling episodes as I go along, naturally, so consider yourself warned.
Episode 25 - Darkness Falls
Episode 26 - Light in the Dark
These episodes really nailed it and if I could tell you why, I'd be successful writer. Today is all about looking at these episodes versus lasts seasons finale and figuring out why this one worked so well despite being things that shouldn't work, while the last season finale didn't work for me, despite being things that should.
The first thing I want to talk about is the portrayal of magic in film, in general, and how it can be very difficult to make something magical dramatic, because it's really hard to relate to. In a physical contest, establishing dominance is pretty straightforward and immediately makes the stakes understandable and high. Think of Linda Hamilton standing next to Arnold Schwarzenegger in the first Terminator. Even if the Terminator were not a robot, but just a dude, the size and muscle difference alone immediately makes you view Sarah Connor as the underdog. Jackie Chan does a similar thing in most of his movies where he starts all of his fights from the ground, with the bad guy standing over him. Visually, you immediately relate that he has a lot to overcome. Even if it's not a fight, but just an extraordinary feat, it's easy to relate to, such as in Batman Begins, when Christian Bale has to curl Liam Neeson back onto the glacier. That just looks painful, physical, and amazing. Compare that to Professor X in a psychic duel, and it's a guy standing there, staring intently. It all comes down to the set up and the actors for the viewers to really understand how difficult something is.
I bring this up because psychic battle is pretty much all the finale of season 2 is, compared to season 1 which had a lot more physical fighting. Sure, they throw elements at each other, but it's easier to follow who is winning and who isn't. But yet that finale left me bored and disappointed, while this one had me excited, emotional, and invested.
The first thing this season got right, I think, is they gave the consequences more time to breathe. In season 1, Korra goes from being stripped of her power to developing Airbending in a scene. In season 2, they devote just as much time solely to the Avatar ancestors being stripped away. It's a much more powerful scene and not the only consequence of the fight. They spend a whole episode on developing this failure, so you really feel helpless.
Secondly, there's a lot more going on, but it's all focused around the big giant psychic battle, so you feel the stakes because every character is displaying them. It isn't just Korra versus Ammon, its the whole gang filling different roles and I'm worried for all of them. The Aang Gang (what I'm going to call Aang's family from now on) and Mako and Bolin are in a losing battle that you can tell is a last stand. They're willing to die for whatever Korra is doing, so you know it matters. Jinora is doing some spiritual stuff that while it really just amounts to glowing lights, had me convinced she was going to die or be trapped in the spirit world or something. And Korra is a giant fighting another giant.
The third thing is that the ending is way more satisfying than season 1 because Korra actually smites that guy. Season 1 ended with revealing Ammon as a fraud, but he escapes Korra. Korra doesn't really defeat him so much as drive him off. Where as here, there is a full on vaporization punch.
Finally, and possibly the biggest, is that things really changed this finale. That's something that bugs me a lot in so much modern media. What we often get is a story arc of Status Quo -> Something Bad -> Hero restores Status Quo. That's how basically every Marvel movie since the Avengers has been, so much modern television (CW superhero shows, I'm looking at you), and the first season of Korra went. Sure there are little changes, like Korra gained Airbending, but because she is the Avatar, we always knew she would. But now, Avatarland is open to the Spirit World permanently, and that is a huge and scary change. Korra appears to have grown as a person, Jinora is some super spiritualist, and who knows what the political fallout of everything is going to be. I'm really looking forward to the next season.
Stray Observations
1. I lost my notes from when I watched the episodes earlier this week, so none of these this week. Sorry!
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