what about Lin/Mako? He can call her Chief.

<div class="quote"><i>NervousShipper wrote:
what about Lin/Mako? He can call her Chief.</i></div>
<p>
Works for me too. I'm down for almost anything that isn't Makorra to be honest.... </p>

<div class="quote"><i>Not to me. This criticism was really apparent from the start.</i></div>
<p>A lot of characters were mentioned here, so I'm just going to go through them 1 by 1: </p><p>Mako: Yes, there was certainly a conscious decision to improve him, which necessarily means that some scenarios are going to have to be made to give him an excuse to be useful. </p><p>Lin: I can understand being disappointed at the role she plays, but Mako's success here is largely the product of fortune, not greater skill. Had Lin been on the scene of the bombing with or instead of Mako, there's no reason to think she wouldn't recognize the significance & respond accordingly. But at the time, she was following the leads considered to be most important to the case, which is what a police chief is supposed to do. </p><p>Korra: I had been saying for the whole Book that Korra's complaints were legitimate & Mako was no saint either, so I find this even less of a problem than Lin's situation, which at least took me a while to figure out why it didn't bother me. I don't see what the audience infers to necessarily be a problem, after all I'm critical of a number of common stances among the fans; including that Korra is weak, Korrasami had no buildup, <i>Book 2: Spirits</i> is the worst in the franchise, & more. </p><p>Bolin: Granted, though the point is ultimately to set up his self actualization in Books 3 & 4. </p><p>Asami: Well, I can't argue with this one. For about the latter half of the Book, she mostly becomes the ball that gets passed between the other characters to show how important they are, starting with Mako. </p> <div class="quote"><i>(being able to finally pacify the dark spirits, journeying into the spirit world, learning more about herself as a person, Vaatu making an appearance for the first time in the current storyline, Harmonic Convergence just all of it, Korra deciding to leave the portals open, etc).</i></div>
<p>My question is, what reason is there to even care about Vaatu at all? His whole motive is barely distinct from evil for fun, & nothing about his personality strikes me as particularly noteworthy. He's hammy, but not in any unique way. The only really original thing he does is ally with Unalaq as a true partner, which half of the fandom tries to claim didn't even happen. Then there are the Dark Spirits, who usually have uninspired designs & exist largely to give Unalaq & Vaatu foot soldiers that can be spammed as needed to occupy the other characters, because Korra is the only one who can defeat them. </p><p>I'm tempted to say, "Compare that with <i>The Search</i> or <i>The Rift</i>," but there's really no comparison. In terms of centering developed Spirit World characters with original designs, the comics just blow the ironically named <i>Book 2: Spirits</i> completely out of the water. Then there's the finale, & I still couldn't tell you half of what even happened if you asked me. Something about Jinora & a butterfly allowed Raava to come back, Unalaq turned into Cthulhu because I guess that's what happens when an Avatar wins the Harmonic Convergence struggle even though it didn't happen to Korra afterward, Korra waterbent in spirit form somehow, & none of this was ever spoken of again. </p><p>The point is, there can be as many interesting set pieces, cameos, & epiphanies as the writers want, but what about what's holding it all together? </p> <div class="quote"><i>"Dastardly Varrick" was interesting but his plot point amounted to basically nothing really in this book.</i></div>
<p>I'm fine conceding this point, because an interesting diversion seems like a step up from an A Plot that has its strengths but ultimately is largely confusing, underdeveloped, & often frustrating. </p> <div class="quote"><i>True for the audience but not so much with the characters themselves</i></div>
<p>Nothing Mako uses to conclude that Aiwei is framing that guard to cover his own involvement requires any special knowledge that the characters lack, it's all simple deductions that can be made based on the readily apparent facts. Particularly since, as Varrick pointed out, they've been through this situation before. </p><p>However, in the case of Lu & Gang, it's actually justifiable for Lin to not immediately act on their behavior, because most of it occurs behind her back. When she <i>does</i> see them act incompetently, she lays the hammer down. While the dynamic isn't exactly clear, it's implied this isn't something that's been going on for a long time--either they were recently promoted & are just now showing that to be a mistake, or they were formerly good detectives but have gotten sloppy. Also, from an out-of-universe standpoint, I suspect it might be the case that they were originally supposed to be on Varrick's payroll, but Nickelodeon stepped in & said they couldn't do that because giving kids reasons to not trust police is sticky territory politically, so they were rewritten to be buffoons. </p><p>But back to <i>The Stakeout</i>, I guess there's nothing wrong with it, it's just that I think a truly great showcasing of a team's skills is when it feels like they're <i>needed</i>, that the job couldn't be done with basically any decently resourceful group in the same situation. Take when they attack the Northern Army in Book 2; Asami is needed because there are few people qualified to fly planes at this point, Bolin is needed because of his precision with projectile earth attacks, I guess Mako could technically be replaced with Iroh but it's an advantage to have someone who works well with Bolin, & Korra's power is necessary to break through the blockade. You can't really replace any of them & expect to achieve the same results. Now, I deliberately searched for an example that showed the whole team contributing their unique skills, but I'm fine having some scenes where not everyone can participate. </p>

<p>And as far as that point goes with Mako, again had other character felt like they weren't reduced to either roles that served no purpose in the larger scheme of things, or had the other characters had more to do for the main plot that didn't involve them just bobbling along until Varrick was put behind bars with Mako being the only one to suspect anything (that in itself is the whole problem for me and a lot of other people), I and several others in the fandom wouldn't have had near as many complaints. And I still maintain that it was a bit silly that she wouldn't at LEAST hear Mako out about the matter until it was shoved right in her face AND actually believed that Mako would actually play a part in screwing over Asami financially or bomb the Southern Water Tribe cultural center (since all those bombs and detonators where there in his apartment). You'd think Lin would be like "this evidence is a bit too overwhelming"considering she's supposed to be more experienced here....it just made her seem a bit too oblivious in comparison to her role in the first book...and especially after seeing her response to Hiroshi possibly being an Equalist once Korra put the idea on the table with her and Tenzin.... </p><p>With Bolin, true, but there still a fine line between naivete and just plain gross and stupid behavior and Bolin crossed it more than once. They could have done the whole "Bolin is looking for a purpose in his life" a lot better without seemingly derailing his character with Ginger or putting him in an abusive relationship with Eska. </p><p>As for Vaatu, I was interested more in what he represents for the avatar world at large (ultimate big bad that could and would screw over the world beyond repair if he ever got a chance to win against Raava for 10,000 years) and the yin/yang relationship with him and Raava really. Seeing as how he basically is nothing more than the embodiment of darkness and chaos, well his motivations for causing that are more "justified" (for want of a better expression) than most straight examples really. And I can give you a complete rundown from memory of the second half of book 2 whereas I can barely remember anything about "Peacekeepers or The Sting" other than Mako broke up with Korra and later she got attacked by a dark spirit and washed up on that island with no memory. Again I'll agree to disagree. </p><p>I can't comment on The Rift or The Search because I've yet to read those but I still maintain that everything started FINALLY gaining a direction once the spiritual aspects of this season came to light. Both "The Guide" and "A New Spiritual Age" are two of my favorite episodes and that's not even getting into the rest of the finale. All the stuff with Varrick and Nuktuk and even "Detective Mako"just felt like unnecessary filler or was just dragging on for far too long for my tastes. </p><p>As for the Stakeout, true but Mako is the one that gets the ball rolling in the dialogue first pointing out how odd it is that the guard is so young and it's all not adding up and THEN Varrick shows up and points out what you said so either way I thought it was a more interesting use of his detective skills without being shoved in my face but again that's just a point we're going to have to agree to disagree on. Not to mention his ideas of tailing Aiwei and the whole idea of the Stakeout to begin with was also a good use of showing us his experience as a cop so there's that too and all of that happens without the plot having to reduce everybody elses' roles as either incompetent fools or with pointless filler AND he serves as the levelheaded foil to Korra that the writers have been trying to get with his character for a while WITHOUT making her look like an irrational harpy in comparison. To be honest, this was the episode that really got me to appreciate Mako and his experiences with the RC police. </p><p>As for why it's such a problem in context to Makorra, it's just stupid that Mako all of a sudden goes from "two timing irrational drama tool" to completely rational and understanding boyfriend who's granted the narrative high ground in Book 2. It's just plain jarring after all the stupid mistakes he made in book one that he would all of a sudden be the "completely" rational one. Again, it just seems like the writers were trying too hard to fix his character that he was hardly framed in the wrong or his mistakes were once again glossed over but Korra is made to look like an idiot and completely irrational just to serve the needs of the plot in the first half. </p>

<p>The only thing I still have specific input on is Vaatu. Namely, I don't object to a deity of chaos, but they don't have to be a Satan Expy. Chaos need not necessarily be pure evil. There are a lot of routes that could have been taken with Vaatu that would have been more interesting & truer to the theme of duality. </p><p>Way back in the day, I used the example of Chaos from Dissidia. What could have been the most boring, mustache twirling villain character became one of the most complex; deeply resentful of being trapped in his role to destroy until the end of time (which he was inevitably going to cause), & allowing his subordinates to do whatever they wanted unless they openly challenged him because he truly valued freedom. </p><p>Another example I would give out was that maybe Vaatu's motivation could be to clear space & create conditions in which new life forms can evolve. This idea would fit particularly well with Avatar, because it would emphasize Vaatu as the destroyer who paves way for new creation, & Raava as the preserver without whom Vaatu would ultimately go overboard & destroy everything; how neither could really exist without the other. </p><p>Still another route I would suggest is that there are all sorts of chaos & trickster deities throughout mythology he could have been based on. Loki, Coyote, a bunch of other gods whose names I don't recognize...but, once again, a point usually emphasized with the trickster archetype is that they're not necessarily malicious, & they can even be beneficial to society. They're just generally not <i>good</i> either. With so many possibilities to draw from, I don't think it really helps their case that they took the easy way out & just made him basically the kite incarnation of the Evil Overlord List just because they had an excuse to do so. </p>

<p>Fair enough with the Dissidia comparison. </p><p>But then again, I personally though the entire point of Raava/Vaatu was that the duality was completely thrown out of balance forever thanks to Avatar Wan's meddling and becoming the first Avatar (I'm well aware that chaos can be a neutral force as well). Unalaq might have had more of a point than we realized when he said "the avatar hasn't brought balance. Only chaos" because the Avatar is a being that was born directly from the result of two forces being separated that were never meant to be separated. That's what I meant when I said what Vaatu means for the world at large and by extension Raava/the Avatar. Now without Raava's stabilizing influence in the whole yin/yang relationship, Vaatu IS nothing more than the embodiment of destruction without any control which I thought was a pretty interesting take on the whole yin/yang thing. Kinda makes you wonder if those two will ever be truly reunited again? That may be the only way to bring true "balance" again... </p>

<p>My guess is that Vaatu is an attempt at Angra Mainyu (the Zoroastrian embodiment of the destructive spirit).  The trouble is, mixing up Zoroastrian duality with yin and yang muddied the waters, badly.  (There are times I agree when people say that Bryke are showing their white-dude...although generally not with the <i>why</i> of it.) </p>

<div class="quote"><i>Fair enough with the Dissidia comparison.</i></div>
<p>I'm not sure, but I think you might be the first person to not respond to that with "What's Dissidia?" </p> <div class="quote"><i>Now without Raava's stabilizing influence in the whole yin/yang relationship, Vaatu IS nothing more than the embodiment of destruction without any control which I thought was a pretty interesting take on the whole yin/yang thing.</i></div>
<p>I could see that if Vaatu acted differently in the flashback. </p> <div class="quote"><i>Kinda makes you wonder if those two will ever be truly reunited again? That may be the only way to bring true "balance" again...</i></div>
<p>I guess they're united inside of Korra now. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. </p> <div class="quote"><i>My guess is that Vaatu is an attempt at Angra Mainyu (the Zoroastrian embodiment of the destructive spirit). The trouble is, mixing up Zoroastrian duality with yin and yang muddied the waters, badly. (There are times I agree when people say that Bryke are showing their white-dude...although generally not with the why of it.)</i></div>
<p>I think the dark spirits in general gel pretty nicely with certain concepts from eastern animism, & were probably inspired by that. It's not that shocking that there would be spirits representing the very concepts of positive & negative energy themselves. Up until that part, I understand it. </p><p>What I don't understand is why they decided to really layer on the Evil God themes. I realize this show has a habit of mixing eastern & western influences, which is usually fine, but here it doesn't make much sense. </p>

<p>Wouldn't be much of a FF fan if I hadn't heard of Dissidia lol </p><p>But in all seriousness, I do see your point now and yeah when you put it like that, maybe they did go a bit far with the blending of eastern and western influences with Raava/Vaatu. I think Bryke confirmed that Vaatu is growing inside Raava within the Avatar but obviously won't be able to do much of anything for 10,000 years. I wonder if the Avatar cycle will end once that day comes and Raava/Vaatu are one again.....I do know that the Avatar of that time will probably have a hard time....I wonder if that third spirit portal will be affected by Harmonic Convergence at all? </p>

<p>really guys? i have to read all that now lol.  </p><p>(im totally kidding. you guys can post as much as you want) </p>