Over the last few weeks I’ve been watching episodes of Nickelodeon’s “Avatar:  The Legend of Korra”.  It has been obvious from the outset that the group behind the show is not seeking to ease it’s way through a cheap sequel.  The Legend of Korra continues to delight and surprise with each episode.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been watching episodes of Nickelodian’s “Avatar:  The Legend of Korra”.  It has been obvious from the outset that the group behind the show is not seeking to ease it’s way through a cheap sequel.  The Legend of Korra continues to delight and surprise with each episode. One of my chief concerns with the first glimpses of the series was that the story would focus too strongly on the single character Korra and would not have a solid supporting cast the way The Last Airbender did.  The Last Airbender relied heavily on the trio of Aang, Katara and Sokka who were bound together by their journey.  With a stationary plot taking place in a large city, I worried that supporting characters would be too avoidable and easy to lose.  I was glad to see that the cast of supporting characters was as strong as ever.  In particular I have been enjoying Korra’s interactions with Tenzin’s family, which has always been surprising. The greatest disapointment for me so far has been the extremely generic love triangle between Korra, Bolin, and Mako.  While romance adds a level of maturity to the story, the long drawn out love triangle is quite frankly overused.  It doesn’t detract too much from the writing though, and can effectively be ignored like a pre-teen with headgear at a school dance. The biggest treat so far has been the subject matter of the episodes.  Already the show has covered ground that is usually left untouched by saturday morning cartoons.  While other programs saturate the screen with zany happy fun, Korra faces fear of an enemy that she is powerless against, the difficulty of choosing between following her instincts and loyalty to her friends, all while maintaining a careful balancing act in Republic City’s political scene and trying to grow up. It is also worth mentioning that the series is full of little easter eggs that give a nod to The Last Airbender, such as references to cabbages, as well as characters and entire aspects of Republic City’s culture that were shaped by the actions of the original cast.  These little touches go a long way to making old fans feel right at home.  The character of the world remains unchanged, even if the times have changed.  The new time period for The Legend of Korra blends nicely into the past and is not as jarring as i expected it would be.  There are a lot of great opportunities to be had with the new series.  There seems to be quite a bit of underhanded back-room politics at work and while the playing field seems pretty clearly set, I’m sure that fans of the series will be expecting some political cabbage carts to be upset.  I look forward to seeing what the writers have in store for us as the series moves forward.  This is definately one to watch, and will be fun for the whole family.