After the overwhelmingly positive reception of Avatar: The Last Airbender, a follow-up series set in the same world was a no-brainer. Unfortunately, The Legend of Korra, while certainly not unpopular, failed to live up to fan expectations. "It's good but not as good as Airbender" is about the highest praise generally bestowed upon the sequel. Struggling to toe the line between having its own identity and keeping the charm of the original series, Legend of Korra ultimately failed to do either one very well.
Understandably, the creators felt Korra should be as different from Aang as possible. In an attempt to not be repetitive, this new Avatar is introduced having already mastered the elements that Airbender had spent three seasons on. If Airbender is about a kid who doesn't want to be the Avatar, then Korra had to be about the Avatar who doesn't want to be a kid.
The Legend of Korra's Missteps
The downside of having Korra's journey begin with Water, Earth and Firebending already under her belt is that the protagonist is overpowered from the start. Legend of Korra chose to deal with its too-powerful hero by nerfing her several times throughout the story. She has her bending taken away, mercury poisoning saps her strength and she is inexplicably unable to best a Metalbender in combat. The brash young fighter's consistent futility in battle hurts her credibility as the Avatar, considering how powerful she's meant to be as a master of all the Elements.
Legend of Korra also spends too much of its time winking at fans of The Last Airbender. Appearances of elderly versions of Katara, Zuko, and Toph come off more as "remember how great the first show was?" rather than being vital to the plot. Aang's legacy as a parent is perhaps the biggest trigger for fans in all of Korra. The idea that he was not the best father is too rich of a storyline to only be briefly discussed. If the sequel is going to spend so much time on the lives of Airbender's characters, fans will begin to wonder why the creators didn’t just make more Airbender instead of Korra.
The cast of Legend of Korra simply don't compare to their predecessors. Bolin is actually too similar: he is basically Sokka copy-pasted into an Earthbender. Korra's animal partner, Naga, doesn't have much of a personality, while Appa was so expressive that he got his own absolutely heart-wrenching episode. Whether it's fair to say or not, Legend of Korra has no character like Zuko. Generally considered one of the greatest redemption arcs ever written, Korra lacks that character whose journey enraptures the entire audience.
In Defense of Legend of Korra
To its credit and benefit, Korra was certainly a more mature series. Korra had to face down an anti-Bending revolution, save the Spirit World from evil incarnate, survive a group of extremists trying to end the Avatar cycle, and stop an imperialist Earth Kingdom conqueror. Meanwhile, Aang just had to train to eventually beat up an evil guy. Korra surely suffered much more than Aang did, having to save the world multiple times while he only had to do it once.
If the story of Legend of Korra feels like it starts and stops a few times, that's because it does. Out of four seasons, only Season 3 was produced with confirmation that there would be a following season. This means the finales of Seasons 1 and 2 also needed to serve as satisfying series finales, given the possibility the show would not continue. The result was an uneven pace and some plot points that feel slightly forced.
None of this is to say that Legend of Korra is a bad series, in fact it might actually be a great one. Unfortunately, the legacy of Avatar: The Last Airbender is too much to live up to. From its iconic cast, incredibly satisfying character arcs, and brilliant world-building, Airbender is a stunning achievement in storytelling. Tasked with attempting to catch lightning in a bottle a second time, The Legend of Korra simply had too tall of an order from the start.
