I just rewatched season 2 of Korra and I'm gonna be real, it was some of the dopest shit I've ever watched. I genuinely don't understand why people dislike this season. So here we go.
Context
My reading of season 1 informs how I follow season 2. I think the ending of season 1 is miserable. Korra gaining airbending to protect Mako after losing all of her other powers is one of her lowest moments of the show, though, as the show loves to point out "It is at our lowest moments we are open to the greatest change." Korra has lost everything that she thinks makes her who she is, but it's her authentic desire to save someone she cares about (Mako) that opens a new power for her. The fallout of this is of course Korra losing her sense of self and ability to recognise who she is, only regaining her power through a literal act of God. Her kiss with Mako is also, kinda ominous to things to come. This is Korras ongoing flaw moving forward, she doesn't have a sense of self outside of being the avatar, this is why the beginning of season 2 she is constantly asking other people to do her thinking for her. Especially Mako, who she now recognises as a connection to her sense of self. This is the big theme of Season 2, who are you? And what do You want.
The conflict that is set up in Season two is also a genuine repeat of the conflict in season one, its a story about two brothers and the lengths they'll go to find, protect and define their legacies. There's an important reason that the Korra as a narrative is repeating this beat again. Korra didn't "win" in season one, at least not really. She hasn't learned to lessons she needed to grow fully. This is why I interpret the ending as miserable. The cycle is going to repeat. It must.
Identity
The big idea of the season is identity. This should not be shocking to anyone. Each member of the main gang is exploring in some way their identity and how that conflicts with the world and its expectations of them. In no particular order we have
Korra: is using and abusing the avatar state to avoid training and self discovery, she is constantly looking to others to do her thinking for her and ties her value and worth to her being the Avatar. She starts to overcome this after meeting Wan and with the help of Tenzin. Her big moment this season is deciding to trust herself and leave the spirit portals open and in accepting and breaking up with Mako.
Korra gets two amazing spirit transformations this season. First into a child when she enters the spirit world. The child version of Korra is who Korra perceives herself to be, someone who doesn't know how to advocate for herself or make decisions for herself. This makes sense given how she grew up. The second is into a giant woman. This one also makes sense as its her developing an authentic sense of self and her authentic self being huge, larger than life and able to meet a monstrous form face to face should be awe inspiring. But no, people dislike it cause its never happened before. Ugh.
Mako: Is trying to find out who is outside of his role as his brother's protector and generally outside of being in a relationship. He is a mirror to Korra in that he doesn't really know who he is outside of protecting and looking out for people and while he is absolutely a bit emotionally stunted, he begins to understand the weight of the burden of being everyones rock. Mako's big moment this season is staying true to himself and figuring out that Varrick is behind everything. He still has work to do on communication.
Bolin: Bolin is the character that at the beginning of the show who already knows who he is. He's a fire ferret and he misses his friends. Bolin spends most the season going on wacky hijinks and trying to rope his friends into them while they deal with their baggage. His big moment this season is actually really small, but really important is his talk with Asami on the roof.
Asami: Asami was fucking robbed this season, literally. While it could be considered a criticism that Asami doesn't have much to do, Asami is actually in the exact same boat as Mako and Korra, burdened by the weight of an expectation she feels is impossible to maintain, her fathers company and its legacy. One of the big things you notice this season is Asami and Korra having really similar arcs but never getting a chance to talk to each other. Asami doesn't get to fully process her story, it's left hanging and I actually think this is a deliberate choice and an important choice moving forward.
Tenzin: Tenzins story rocks this season. His arc is about the weight and burden of both the expectations of his family on him, on his role as a mentor to Korra and the expectations he puts on himself. Tenzin has to start figuring out who is before Korra and learns slowly to accept the love of his family, that his role as a mentor isn't always to lead but sometimes follow and to let go of the weight of the expectations he puts on himself. Vacation Tenzin and post growth Tenzin are delightful. Tenzins big moments this season are letting Jinora lead Korra into the spirit world and guiding her to meditate in the tree, helping Korra discover and accept who she is not as the avatar but as herself
Jinora: Jinora is interesting. We see a lot of signs pointing towards her approaching mastery of airbending early on and throughout the season Jinora has a lot of powerful spiritual experiences that suggest a deep connection to the spirit world. My interpretation of this is that Jinora would have become Korra's spirit master had Korra gone in the vacation with the Fam and the experiences Jinora has in the temples are the ones that Korra would have shared in with her. Jinora big growth moment is accepting, with the help of adults that sometimes she knows more than them and her big moment is guiding Korra into the spirit world and helping her in kaiju fight.
Its really important to understand the Jinora and Korra are members of the same family (if not by blood than by spirit) and Jinora showing up to save Korra here is an acknolwement of how the familial love is a core part of both of their identities, and of everyone in the shows identity. Family is another massive theme in Korra, both by blood and chosen.
Two more and these are important for the THEMES.
Varrick: Varrick is a man without a coherent sense of self and chronic backstabbing disorder. The only thing stopping him from being a completely irredeemable monster is simply that he genuinely likes the people he surrounds himself with. Varricks core conflict this season is that he can't reconcile himself as the business entrepreneur with the fact he genuinely wants to live in harmony with the people he likes. This is what makes him an absolutely delightful villain. Varrick doesn't learn or grow this season, though if he had to have a big moment this season, it's him in prison apologising, sorta.
Unaloq: Unaloq is a person who by and large doesn't have a personality and is instead a person entirely focused on a goal that consumes him. He is willing to betray everyone to get there. While Korra's connection to the world and the people in it is what ultimately saves her, Unaloq betrays every single person he is supposed to care about; his brother, his niece and his own children. It's worth noting that Unaloq never really mentions his wife. Unaloq also represents the perfectionism that haunts Tenzin and Korra and serves as a warning as to what being a perfectionist means: Becoming an empty shell. Unaloq doesn't have a moment of growth, he never doubts and he never has a moment of weakness; this is his biggest flaw. The ONLY moment he does show a flicker of weakness is when Jinora shows up and protects Korram reinforcing his complete and total betrayal of HIS family. People criticise the giant kaiju fight but I think it's really fitting that Unaloq upon fusing almost IMMEDIATELY grows to become approximately the size of Vatu. because Unaloq is an empty vessel and gets nearly immediately consumed. It's also why I absolutely love Korra's spirit bending of him, because it's an act of genuine compassion and mercy.
Anyway. This season is fantastic. Don't at me.
