Watching a whole chapter all at once doesn't leave much room for speculation. I really enjoyed reading through everyone's more thoughtful drawn out speculations. There are a few about who Amon was that I liked better than the truth. I briefly wondered if Amon was Tarrlok, then promptly found out he wasn't. I should have known something was up though. I went to bed last night wondering why Aang would warn Korra about Tarrlok only to have Tarrlok debilitated by the greater threat, Amon, five minutes later. Now it makes sense since they were brothers and both descended from the bloodbender Aang and company took down in the flashback.

And did anyone else cringe and want to scream when Aang's arm twisted like that and his neck almost broke? Ick ick ick! Ummm... very effective though.

I actually really enjoyed how Korra's abilities progressed. Since she didn't know airbending when Amon took her bending away, she still had it. I loved that moment... "I can airbend!" It wasn't quite a Zuko-redirecting-lightening moment, but it carried the weight it was supposed to. It was effective after Korra and Mako had been so hopeless (loved that Mako managed to zap Amon though.)

And I loved how she entered the Avatar State at the end. I was wondering when she was going to learn how to do that.

And Puddleglum what a cool observation! I didn't even think of that. Take truth were you can find it I guess.

Anyways, I'll try and generalize the rest or this post will be really long. Loved all the characters. I thought the darker, more adult tone worked well but I'm still a little bothered that nobody is ever shown dying in the battles. It doesn't have to be graphic, but I think children need to realize that war is horrible and people die. The animation was spectacular overall, although the computer graphics didn't blend well when the cell animation, unfortunately, I think that would probably cost a fortune to do.

Loved the story, although I thought it tied up a little to nicely at the end. I would have preferred that Korra get her bending back throughout the next chapter. It would have been interesting to see her use only airbending for a time. And I was actually pretty surprised to see Tarrlok kill himself and his brother, although that means we can move on for the next season. (Hmm, guess somebody did die!) I liked the 20's announcer guy that summarized previous episodes for us. The humor worked well, although I'm not a fan of toilet humor so Meeko didn't appeal to me much. I laughed at "My Cabbage Corp" way more than that joke deserved, but it was funny.

I adored the sets and costumes. They were so eleborate and gorgeous, and just the right combination of the world we knew and the 1920s and steam punk, (although the mectanks seemed more advanced than the rest of the technology.)

The themes of equality and racism were excellent as well, although I'm wondering what will happen now that the Revolution has been crushed. Again, I didn't like how Korra and Lin instantly got their powers back. It's almost like the creators have given their characters value based on how well they fight and bend and so are guilty of the sins of Tarrlok even though they want us to sympathize at least a little with the revolution.

I despised the love triangle however. That was drama for drama's sake. I was fine with Korra and Mako slowing finding out that they did like each other, but why did poor Bolin and Asami have to get hurt. It was just a little too cliche for me. And there was some awkward dialog here and there that broke my suspended disbelief, but overall, that was well done too.

Oh and the animals were cute but Appa and Momo will always be my favorites. )

And I'm sure there's more, but I'll let that stand for now. Ha ha. Can't wait for next season and I'll be interested to see what's in store. I'm guessing we'll see Zuko again. (And I'm wondering, is Mako crown prince? They don't say. I do not, however, think we'll get the Zuko's mom story... and here's why: http://avatar.wikia.com/wiki/The_Promise_Part_1 They have a whole comic about it, and I'm sure they want us to actually buy it if we're serious about finding out what happened.

So I'm almost positive we shouldn't be holding our breath for Zuko's mother in the TV series.

Nope, Mako and Korra still do nothing for me. This isn't like Katara/Aang where I didn't think the ship entirely worked, but wasn't repulsed by it at the same time. I genuinely hate the idea of these two ending up together, especially after Mako was basically leading Asami on. Anyway, after Bolin riding to Asami's rescue, I kinda ship those two now. Asami definitely deserves better than Mako.

I really hated this reveal. All of the theories I had read leading up to it were far more interesting than the actual facts. What, were they expecting everyone to go "Yay! Another villain with daddy issues!"? Still, I really loved the end with Tarlokk choosing to blow the boat. Surprisingly dark for a kids' show, even one aimed at older kids.

Honestly, the entire Amon plot has bothered me for the simple fact that they never took things far enough with the bender vs. non-bender schism. Yes, there are only benders on the council, but the non-benders weren't living in ghettos, they weren't disallowed from fraternizing with benders, they weren't all exclusively poor. If they had taken things a bit farther and made the benders a genuine underclass a la people of African descent in the American South up until the Civil Rights era or apartheid South Africa or the Jews under Nazi rule, I could understand the hatred people aimed at benders. It just came across as rather absurd how quickly people joined Amon's cause when there was no real reason shown for it.

I'm kind of baffled by how bloodbending could even take away bending abilities. It would have been nice if they had clarified exactly how that worked, if he was able to block chakras or something along those lines. Maybe I'm overthinking it, but I don't really see how swooshing the water inside someone's body around could take away their ability to supernaturally manipulate elements.

I think a lot of the problems I am having with the plot are due solely to pacing. If the show creators' plans for this series are anything like the first series, they have a ton of ground to cover before it's over, but they've been given a lot less episodes to do it in. Really I would have preferred to see Korra's spiritual awakening come at the end of at least a mini-arc or even an entire Book. As it was, it was very sudden and unfortunately very deus ex machina. It was still cool though. I also rather enjoyed her unique use of airbending; it was very much a firebender technique, all jabs and kicks without the more fluid grace you normally see airbenders employing.

said, "I told you I would destroy you."

I thought Amon's backstory was a bit unoriginal as Booky pointed out, but it was the best that fit with what we knew. I figured Amon had to be Yakone, so it worked that he was Yakone's other son. I do wish there had been just a few more hints in that direction, though. Then it would have felt less "Gotcha!" and more "Huh...didn't see that coming."

As for Korra getting her bending back so quickly, I thought that it was nice to see, but I could have waited for those scenes to come some time in the next season. I am glad to see that energybending can restore bending, though I still wonder if it can bestow bending, which was one of my favorite theories on how airbending would survive post-Aang. Also, Korra's unlocking her airbending was a great scene.

I thought Tarrlok's decision to blow up the boat was very fitting with his behavior post-bending, though I doubt that Amon is truly dead. He'll have to figure into Season 2 somehow. Still, it was a touching moment.

I think that the pacing was a bit brisk, since we have a twelve-episode season as opposed to twenty. However, I enjoyed the brisk pace and for the most part thought it worked well with the story.

I still despise the whole love triangle/quadrangle thing. I think Korra and Bolin make a better pair, but after the last few episodes, Mako and Asami have fallen off my list of couples. Mako doesn't treat her properly.

We also have to see a return for Hiroshi in Book 2 since he just ran off like the coward he is.

Also, Ikki's line "Jail breeeak!" was wonderful, as was Bolin's "Mr. Moto, you are a horrible father!" as he dives in to save Asami.

I imagine the bulk of Book 2 will focus on actually addressing the issues that Amon brought up: putting a non-bender on the council, removing the extortion and such run by the gangs, etc.

It first struck me as a bit too easy for Korra to get to the Avatar State and get her bending back - a deus ex machina indeed - but some more knowledgeable than I have indicated that when the season was first being outlined there was no certainty of a second season, so they wanted to wrap things up. In that light, I liked the ending, especially with Lin getting her bending back.

I thought that having those scenes did a great job of making this season a complete story on its own, so I'm glad to hear that was how it was conceived. I was also struck by the almost Christian overtones of the scene where Korra sees Aang. "When we are at our lowest, we are most open to change."