blogs_blog_1188

Well the episodes weren't on a day-by-day basis. A lot of time had been passing. I think it was pretty clearly implied she was practicing "off camera," so to say.

 

Being able to airbend does not equate to mastering it. Even with how much trouble she had airbending, she had way more training than Aang had with Earthbending, which was the element that posed the greatest challenge for him to even unlock and which he ended up unlocking after one day of training in a single episode.

 

Chances are her airbending training may continue in the next season, although it should be considered that she may acquire a knack for it on her own since she was such a prodigy in every other element.

 

As for why she had to go to Republic City in the first place, keep in mind that her experiences there were part of why she could learn Airbending at all. Just as Aang's travels taught him more than just the basic lessons of how to command the elements, Korra's time in Republic City gave her real-world experience that might have been impossible to match in the White Lotus compound.

 

Remember how in the second episode she couldn't airbend at all even with Tenzin's training, and she only learned to apply the airbending techniques through pro-bending? Prodigy or not, that would never have happened if she didn't step out of the security of the White Lotus compound into the real world.

 

In general, the whole series has a much faster pace than Avatar: The Last Airbender, but I think it manages splendidly at that pace. I certainly didn't expect it to wrap up all major plot threads the way it did, and as the episode neared the end I was sure Korra would not have her bending restored until next season. But when she did I wasn't the least bit disappointed with how it happened.