In Defense of Avatar Korra

Since Nickelodeon is basically ambushing us with Legend of Korra: Book Three in about a week, the fan-whine about Book Two has begun bum-rushing the internet in 300 Spartan phalanx attack fashion. Recently, I’ve been in debate with friends/readers about the (I admit) somewhat bizarre ending we’re left with, Korra making bad decisions too often, the consequences of Korra getting her ass handed to her (at first) by her evil uncle leaving her cut off from Avatars past forever and Korra’s particularly “turn down for what” decision regarding the spirit world. First of all, it’s not exactly a sure bet that Korra will never be able to talk to the spirits ever again. Remember when we all the writers went out of the way to convince us that Aang would never be able to consciously control the Avatar state when he gave up on unlocking his chakras to rescue Katara (which was “Arwen giving up her immortality for Aragorn” levels of awesome)? And remember when they hammered the point home AGAIN by having Azula shoot Aang in the back with lightning, destroying his chakra points? Now, remember how permanent THAT turned out to be? The argument (and I think they’re really talking about Korra’s character as a whole) is that this Avatar, whose job it is to be in charge of all the world, spirits and man alike is making such bad decisions. On one hand, it’s sort of understandable. In the context of the world we’re given in the show, being Kung Fu Jesus isn’t exactly on a volunteer basis like being a…