Iroh? Part of Team Avatar? Yes please

The Amon backstory was satisfying enough, but I wish he had actually gone down with his cause. If he had caused that burn himself to show just how dedicated he was to the movement, that would have been pretty epic. I mean, Tarrlok himself said that Amon truly believed in the Equalist idea, but it never really seemed like that at the end, especially with him attacking the Lieutenant.

I think I died somewhere in the last few minutes and went into avatar heaven. I loved the ending, and there were tears in my eyes when the past Avatars all showed up. I do agree that it might have been better if Korra had had to work to get her other elements back next season--'cause what will the plot of season 2 be if not that--but I loved seeing Lin get her bending back.

I was both happy and disappointed by the revelation of who Amon was. Like, I'm really happy he wasn't anybody we know or anyone from the first series, but at the same time I would have really loved if his ability had not been bending-related. I loved watching him bloodbend, though. The way people contort is really cool to see. Also, I think I'm still in shock over Tarlok blowing up the boat. It happened, and I just kept muttering, "Amon's dead," to myself. It just seems so weird. He was the big bad guy and now he's gone. I guess the second season's gonna be really interesting and maybe disconnected from the first in terms of plot.

I did love Amon's backstory, though, the way it showed him and Tarlok as kids. I think if Tarlok had just said they were brothers and we hadn't actually seen them as kids I wouldn't have liked it, but with that backstory I ended up being okay with who Amon is.

I kinda wish Iroh had done more, since he is an awesome general dude, but it's okay, I'm sure he'll show up in season 2. I am bothered by his voice; I think he sounds just like Zuko, and thus too young for his age (which I guess is mid-30s). But I like him, and I'd like to see more of him.

On a related note, I think Bumi is now my favorite character. Aang's child shows up AND CROWS LIKE A ROOSTER. That was wonderful, and I really hope that he shows up a lot more in season 2. I'd also like to see Kya, but even if all we see in Tenzin/Bumi interaction I'll be fine with that too.

One thing that really impressed me was the technology--planes and turrets!--and how it was integrated with bending. That was really cool, and I just found myself laughing and muttering, "They have bombers."

This is getting to be long, so I'll wrap it up. TL;DR: I loved the finale, even if there were parts I didn't like, and I'm super excited for season 2.

My main complaint right here. From the very beginning, Amon had been one of my favorite characters in the entire show. I liked his character design. I liked his personality. I liked his cause. He seemed to have everything together--from his skills on the battlefield to his skills as a strategist and to even being a captivating orator when the situation arised. To me, he represented the idea that not everyone was a-okay with the Avatar, hopeful world dominators aside.

And then the Season Finale. Something about having a name and a face undid the character, in my opinion. It was as if he was no longer one step ahead as he'd always been, and was somehow a new character altogether. Maybe he was just overconfident. I don't feel as though Amon would have carelessly revealed his true abilities, unless he was truly compromised, like we saw with Tarrlok. Dude should've known better not to bend a massive waterspout with him at its very top too...

EDIT: If this sounds like I hated the finale, don't worry. I don't. I was disappointed, but overall I think everything came together well-enough for an ending. Like others have mentioned above me, I do wish some things could have been done slightly better, though none of them have stopped me from being a fan. I do still love Korra and I am eagerly awaiting Book 2 as well.

I agree with the Amon thing. It really did remove him as a villain, and instead seemed to make him the victim from his fathers grasp. That, and the whole Mako/Asami/Korra thing. Um...what? Did they break up? Is Asami fine with those two? Is Mako truly a cheating dirtbag that really has no qualms with being said dirtbag? Does Korra not mind being the "other" girl? They kinda left it in the air and didn't really give us any closure with that.

Besides those two points, the entire finale had me on edge. Bumi was awesome, Aang kicked a whole lot of arse without kicking any at all and I knew that the Avatar state would somehow stop Amon's bending blocking. However, on that topic did Amon like...put an over amount of blood in the brain to sever the connection in that portion of the brain? Did he DRAIN the blood from the brain from that portion (I realize this is probably impossible)?

And omg When she started giving everyone their bending back. Holy god. So, with this in mind, can she take bending too? I think so, but my friend thinks she's restricted to only giving bending,

Also, and this will have a curse word so I'll spoiler it.

Oh yeah, Jin reminded me. Not happy with the whole Korra/Mako/Asami thing, and wondering what will happen with that. Hoping that Korra realizes that Mako is not a good guy to be with.

I was torn throughout the entire finale. I hated when Amon took Korra's benidng, because... this is Avatar Without bending, she is not the Avatar, so what's the point? (That's my opinion anyway, I know that there are others who disagree with me, which is fine.) I loved the ending because everything was set right again. I do feel that at times it was a little too fast, and the back story, which I loved by the way, went on a bit too long, but overall, even though parts of me had me annoyed, it was overall very well done.

Is it just me, or was this MUCH less Deus Ex Machima-ish??? this time? I mean, in TLA, energybending came out of nowhere, but here, we could have suspected Amon to be Tarrlok's brother....

I agree with Hotaru that some of the surprises made Amon look weak. The fake scars were disappointing because there could have been such a cool twist if Amon was telling the truth and Tarlok was lying. Besides, I had Amon pegged as someone dedicated enough to mangle his own face to further his goal.

If another season comes around an actually scarred Amon could come around assuming he survived the explosion.
It was a nice ending and I still think there are future stories to be mined from The Equalists. The Lieutenant and Sato are probably still true believers.

I'm of the opposite opinion of Karena about the ending, though. I was disappointed things turned out so well. There could have been a lot of drama to mine from a de-powered Korra and police force but this way it ties up the season nicely. I would enjoy another season but would hate a cliffhanger on a series I wasn't sure was going to be renewed.

I really liked the Lieutenant in the end, because he became the dedicated solider for the cause that we previously thought Amon was. I loved it when he catches Amon blood bending and yells "I devoted my life to you!" I really respect the Lieutenant because he never really had any interaction with other characters and still ended up with more development than Bolin (-.-). He became the Martyr that we were all looking for in Amon. Still it was very unclear as to weather he died or not.

And speaking of Bolin, I don't ship Borra too hard but I was definitely not OK with how Mako gets the girl then tells Bolin he's being inappropriate when Bo's just trying to look on the bright side ("At least you unlocked your airbending"). If I ship anything other than BolinxNaga for season 2 I'm going to get my heart broken.

I hope that the Lieutenant sticks around if Korra has another season. I've been a Lance Henriksen fan a long time so it was awesome to hear him doing a voice in Korra.

I can see Mako getting annoyed with Bolin's optimism since when a loss is so fresh you last thing you want to tell you to look on the bright side. I agree it's sad that Bolin didn't get much focus as a character but at least he got an episode where he got to take the heroine out on a date and win a bending match...hmm...there I go looking on the bright side.

I thought one of the best scenes was between Asami and her dad, it was intense and emotional and great. Made me respect Asami a lot more as a character. I'm so happy we got to see Aang, but it did feel a little deus ex machina. I thought we could have waited till the next season. Then again, I loved seeing her go into the Avatar State.

I love Iroh. Especially when he flew and became Irohman. And if he isn't part of Team Avatar next season I may cry.

The Amon stuff was very interesting. How Tarlok took him out was very sad, but well done.

As for the Makorra ending... hmm. Seemed a little fast, and also made me go "What about Asami!?" I also wished there'd been more Bolin development. He's one of my fave characters and seems ignored more often than not...

BUT I enjoyed the finale immensely and am sad we have to wait for so long for Season 2!!

My absolute FAVORITE part was when Aang came out of nowhere and Korra finally connected to her spiritual side This finale was just so...so emotional

I love Avatar Aang SO SO MUCH ;; I almost cried when he appeared. I agree that it seemed too easy for Korra to get her bending back, but its okay because at least she could restore Lin's bending. General Iroh is wicked cool but I wish he didn't have his father's voice, as much as I love Zuko. Mako was really impressive with his bending and I'm glad he and Korra worked out. Also NAGA KICKS BUTT.

Amon's backstory was okay. I liked that he and Tarlok were brothers. and I should have known that he was a bender all along. But I feel like Yacon is a pretty random character even though they did try to incorporate him into the story, the plot revolving him and his family seemed far fetched for some reason.. I don't know I'm just not sure I think they were really fishing for some connection and to me it was a flop. BUT it did actually make me feel sort of bad for both of them. Amon had such a warped vision of the world because of his father. Not sad he died though lol.

*sigh* a bit disappointed to see how it ended. The story-telling flashback was a little long and felt too much like 'the easy way' to explain things. Suddenly Yakone has a 'sad' story that ties Amon's bending explanations into it. It felt too cliche; too lack-luster. great, he's a bloodbending prodigy, how original. I KNOW they could have come up with a better story -_-
Also, the last 10 or so minutes could have been stretched into the next book for an episode or two of soul-searching and heart-searching.

I feel like the book would have ended in a nice cliff-hanger if 1)Amon's identity wasn't explained (yet), 2)Korra lost all but airbending, 3)Korra didn't say 'i love you' yet, 4)Amon controlled Republic CIty, and then it ended. Yes, I would have been mad about being left with a cliffhanger, but at least you look forward to resolutions in story. The real end left you with nothing to question. Avatar Korra has all elements, possess energy bending, made a love-connection, and got all the bad guys.

With all the negativity out of the way:

what an episode. I was at the edge of my seat (until the end). With everything in book 1 having closure, this opens books 2 and 3 to completely new and wilder plots. I am hoping that the 'source' of bending is something that is focused on. Amon's bloodbending had something to do with taking the bending, but it was never really explained. Science in the Avaterverse is starting to really emerge and with it, I am hoping, a kind of "bendology". Perhaps the REAL bad-guy will be the one who taught Amon the secret to locking powers? Or maybe a new leader will emerge for the Equallists. Even though Amon was taken down, the Equalist movement probably still has a lot of followers, especially now they see their leader was a manipulative bender.

I also am looking forward to see how they come up with ways to integrate bending into technology.
Also, did anyone notice just how Korra airbended? Other than hooking her punches more, she seemed to throw air the same way she firebends, but her air-gusts were far more controlled: very cool.

They already did a great job "Evolving" the world of avatar. I can't wait to see what they make next now that they can really craft a full multi-season story.

There’s so much about this season finale that was great and a little annoying at the same time. For one I was one of the several people who have DirecTV and was trying to watch the East Coast feed which is channel 299 and during the show it kept glitching out with the screen flashing black for at least a good third of the episode…and yes this only happened on this channel all others were fine just my luck…:/

Now to the actual show…

I’ll start with what I did not enjoy as much and then end of a positive note since I did actually enjoy the finale even if it wasn’t perfect per say.

The main thing that bothered me is how the show wrapped up most of their plot lines making us wonder exactly what the second book is going to be about. In A:TLA end of book 1 Siege of the North fails, but the war is still going on, end of book 2 Ba Sing Se falls Aang is badly injured, but the war is still going on, end of book 3 end of the war and end of the show. With Korra the Equalist movement looks for the most part dead especially given Amon is now gone…though of course they could still have someone else take over as leader like how Azula took over Zhao’s role…sort of.

I also felt the same way about how at the end Korra got all her powers back and figured out how to restore the bending…I just feel like some of you, that this should have been the focus of the next book since this book really did not have a lot of spiritual connections going on like in the first series. I just hope that book 2 is just going to be very busy with whatever the main plot is to justify why they tied up everything so quickly…

Also the love triangle just seems a little odd and at one point it almost looked like they were going to move Asami with Bolin….poor Bolin he seems to be just the forgotten one when it comes to stuff like this…

While I very much like that Dante Basco returned for Korra I did feel that well his voice just did not cut it for General Iroh. I mean he did not try to alter his voice at all and used the exact same voice for General Iroh that he also used for Zuko…now this would not have been that bad except Zuko was 16-17 and General Iroh is much older so really it is like giving a teenager’s voice to a grown adult. (Yes I know Dante Basco is an adult but you still get what I’m trying to say.)

Also with General Iroh was anyone a little confused that he could use his firebending to fly. Correct me if I’m wrong on this but I could have sworn the only real time we ever saw this happen was when Ozai did this during the comet oh and Jeong Jeong….and I’m pretty sure there was no comet during the finale. In A:TLA we never really saw Zhao, Zuko, or even Azula who was supposed to be a prodigy and the closest that they got to flying was to either using firebending to cushion their fall or use their firebending as a type of propulsion to make them leap higher….though if for some reason I’m just totally getting this wrong and there was evidence back in the old show for this please point me out as being wrong.

Now on to the good parts! ^.^

I did love how Amon was revealed and even went as far as to make up his whole identity to gain support for his group. Even the fake scar seemed a little much for a TV-Y7 show I mean even his lip was deformed which was a bit more graphic than the scar that Zuko has. I almost for the longest part thought that Amon and Tarrlok were working together and it was interesting to see that they were in fact related I totally did not expect that. There was for a brief moment that I thought Tarrlok was lying and just trying to build up a bigger divide among the non-benders and the benders. I seriously thought that Tarrlok was trying to make the benders and Avatar look evil and push the non-benders into Amon’s group to build up the movement.

I am kind of curious as to what happens with the Equalist group now that Amon is gone. I guess you could argue the Lieutenant but more likely Hiroshi Sato might take over as the leader and still try to push the movement…but that does seem like a far off idea since the whole scary part about the Equalist was that Amon could take bending away and now the Avatar can return it so….not sure if the Equalist movement is dead or not.

I did like that Beifong got her bending back but since she just was bending rocks does she have to be retrained in her bending or did they just have her bend the nearest rocks around her? You could say that when the Avatar restores your bending that you have to relearn how to use your bending and that Korra is the exception to this rule since she is the Avatar after all.

It was great to see Aang and Korra interact since that is one of the main things I have been waiting for. I hope in the next book we get more interactions like this just like how Aang had more interactions with Roku. Maybe explain more of what happened after A:TLA ended and before TLK started?

I’m glad Amon never got the chance to take away the airbender kid’s bending since that just seemed too cruel to take away a power like that from young innocent kids. (Even though with the way things turned out this would not have really been that big of a deal…maybe)

With the whole backstory with Tarrlok and Noatak I felt just neutral about it…I did not love it but I did not hate it either…looking back maybe it did take too long to explain but since they now have wrapped up Amon/Noatak and Tarrlok’s story lines it makes sense that they got that much air time for their story.

So overall I am looking forward to book 2 but it sounds like the second book is still a long ways away from being done so we might not hear anything new until next year…while I am concerned as to what is going to happen next since….they kind of finished everything for the most part I’m still confident that well…the creators have something up their sleeve I mean come on it’s not like Korra came out just months after we said goodbye to the gAang they’ve had time to let the creative juices stir just like we all have with our own personal characters’ stories.

I would have to say that I completely agree. But, then again, I haven't been too fond of the who Korra\Mako\Asami thing from the beginning. Now usually I can at least tolerate love triangles in shows, but this seems kind of forced (and has so throughout the entire season I feel).

And, like a lot of you said, I feel that the backstory was definitely too long. I mean, I liked it, but that just seemed to drag on. And I like that it gave a reasoning behind Amon and Tarlock's characters, but I also felt Amon, at that moment, kind of lost his B.A.-ness that he held throughout the entire season. I guess I was just slightly disappointed with that.

But overall, I did enjoy the finale. I felt I was on a roller coaster throughout most of it.

I'm not going to lie, though, I was completely caught off guard when Amon actually did take Korra's bending away. I know I thought, like many others did, that Korra would go into the Avatar State at that moment and I was completely surprised that she did not. Kudos for not being predicatable there!

And of course, I did love the end scene with Aang and the other Avatars. However, I would have wished that Korra actually didn't get her bending back right away and that would be the focus of season 2 (granted, I do know that Korra was not originally supposed to have more than one season to begin with, and everything did have to be wrapped up completely).

But man, I am finding this harder and harder to believe that this is really a kid's show. It is definitely far darker than A:tLA ever way!

Ok, now don't kill me or anything but...I actually liked the way they dealt with the Mako/Korra/Asami thing. It was clever in the fact that Mako and Asami really did break up. Remember when Mako said, "No matter what happens, I want you to know how much I care about you." And Asami replied, "I care about you too." It's subtle, but they broke up with eachother right there. I mean, would you expect Mako to just walk up to her and say, "I'm leaving you for Korra." Mako is a bit of a jerk but he was a little (or alot) confused when he got into that relationship with Asami. He had to juggle feelings that he didn't understand while being caught between two girls. Anyhoo....I feel like that ending was a bit too...short? I mean, Korra gets her bending back and then WHAM! She loves Mako and then gives Lin her bending...