'The Legend of Korra': Does the Netflix series feel a bit rushed for fans hoping to connect with the plot?
Comparisons between 'The Legend of Korra' and 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' are fodder for an endless debate. Which show was better? While the debate continues, something both sets of fans seem to agree upon is that 'The Legend of Korra' move through its plot a lot faster than 'The Last Airbender' ever did. It might be the biggest weakness of 'The Legend of Korra,' as the biggest draws of 'The Last Airbender' was the slow development of its main characters over seasons worth of story. The characters of 'The Last Airbender' were given the space to connect with audiences that the ones in 'The Legend of Korra' never got.
'The Legend of Korra' was never meant to be a four-season series, not when it first began. In fact, there was a reluctance to air the show at all, as Nickelodeon believed that a show with a female protagonist would never reach the same popularity as 'The Last Airbender' got. As a result, the first season was meant to be a fully self-contained miniseries about the Avatar who succeeded Aang (Zach Tyler Eisen). Where Aang took three seasons to finally confront and defeat his nemesis, the Fire Lord Ozai (Mark Hamill), Korra defeated her first nemesis, Amon (Steve Blum) in just 12 episodes.
Over the course of the next three seasons she would forever change the world by opening the spirit portal, deal with insurrectionists who destabilized the Earth Kingdom while re-establishing the Air Nation, and then further extended the series' fast pace by skipping ahead several years to see a new path forward for the Earth Kingdom, Republic City, and more in the world of the 'Avatar' universe. It's grand, ambitious tale left a lot less time for character moments, and even fans who love the show have felt that loss.
"Okay, so I've been a fan of Avatar for a few years now and I've finally started watching Legend of Korra. However, I feel like it's moving too fast? Like, I'm only on episode 10 of the first season and we already have a huge battle," posts a fan, on Reddit, adding "Mako and Bolin could have done with a bit more but we at least saw them with the pro-bending stuff. Asami just sort of popped up in the fourth episode when we are still trying to get to know everyone else. I just feel as though I haven't got to know her character at all to sympathize with her and now there's a fight with her and Mako? (again, only 10 episodes in). Amon is supposed to be the big bad but there just hasn't been enough time for this to set in."
"It feels a bit rushed. You see, it was originally supposed to be 1 season. Then just two, so sadly the same thing kind of happens in season 2. Season 3 and 4 slow down a little, but they still introduce new characters left and right," agrees another fan. "Season 1 was also supposed to be the only season. That's why it feels a bit rushed, it's not you," says another.
Even towards the end, the makers of the show had to deal with the best ways to tell their story, with the network changing plans on them at random times. The latter half of Season 3 wasn't even allowed to air on television and was instead streamed online, and a budget cut was made for the final episode. It's possible that 'The Legend of Korra' could have had just as good a connection with the fans as 'The Last Airbender' had Nickelodeon had more faith in the series, but as it stands, the show still has a massive following - one that is about to grow when the series drops on Netflix.
All episodes of 'The Legend of Korra' release on Netflix on August 14, on Netflix.