It's been years since I finished the series, but as I remember it, the writing for the villains was this series' strongest feature. Most had believable motives and weren't just power hungry or evil for evil's sake. I found myself for rooting for characters like Amon and Zaheer far more than I did for Korra.

The show faced many hurdles with its uncertain future, possible cancellation and online-only release, so this may have played a role in some of its shortcomings. It seems clear to me that the creators wanted to push the envelope and flip all the previous tropes upside down, but at times it came at the cost of believability. I found Korra to be an unlikable character in general, even with the personal growth that came out of her traumatic experiences. Many of the other characters feel like soulless copies of archetypes that were successful from A:TLA, with nowhere near the same level of complexity or development as they had.

Aside from the characters, season 2 in particular seemed to make a real mess of things. The Avatar origin story was interesting and reasonably well done, but the Power Rangers style spirit battle at the end was just kind of stupid.

If you liked _Avatar: The Last Airbender_, then you're more likely to enjoy _The Dragon Prince_, which I find to be the true spiritual successor. It still tackles some sociopolitical issues and doesn't play it safe with subject matter, but it does it in a much more enjoyable and believable way.