here
As for this critique, while I do think it is very well written and the author is very clear in his/her arguments (although I do agree with Zealkin that they get a little character-bashy towards Mako), I still disagree with the majority of it.
One, we were given an answer as to why Mako and Bolin had different bending elements from the start, they came from a mixed ethnic union, it is that simple. I will concede that Bolin did not have very much of a character arc, he did however IMO have good characterization. Also disagree that Mako’s feelings were shoehorned in anymore than any other character’s romantic feelings, and that his purpose was only “which chick should I bang.” IMO his defining goals/traits were “how can I protect/aid the people I care about?”, which he succeeded in doing in some ways but also struggled/failed with in others.
Then I disagree that she used/accessed airbending through rage and an aggressive point, she accessed it because she wanted to protect Mako, a desire to protect someone one loves is not a aggressive behavior IMO. And Tenzin said from the beginning airbending would likely eventually just “click” with her. Also it fits very well with
the Chakra analysis.
She was able to airbend when Mako was in danger of losing his bending. Which is the chakra that is opened by love? THE AIR CHAKRA, located in the heart. The first 3 chakras deal with Earth, Water and Fire respectively. When this chakra opened, it gave Korra her spiritual connection to the air element, and that did the trick.
Additionally: Why does airbending seem to be the most effective element to use against bloodbending? Because it is the opposite of bloodbending. Air is freedom, and what is bloodbending if not enslavement?
I also disagree that she achieves the Avatar state and energybending through no spiritual development. Aang's statement that in her lowest moments, she was open to the greatest change, was just basically IMO summing up the way she had become unknowingly more and more spiritual through life experience. The chakra analysis shows this very well IMO:
The plot is symbolic of how the chakras are opened, by dealing with fear, guilt, shame, grief (and love), truth and lies, illusion and attachment. Aang's chakras were blocked by all his experiences and the fact that he had responded in the manner that would lock them up. Korra on the other hand face similar situations but responded in the way that would open them.
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Aang's statement that Korra becomes open to change when she hits her lowest points pretty much sums up how she got the grip over spirituality and airbending. Korra's very first lines in Season 1 suggests that her ego was far too high above the balance point and it was totally fuelled by the fact that she was Avatar. Throughout the series, she's increasingly being brought down to earth and becomes more and more spiritual. What's notable is that when she is helpless and cannot fight her way out does she end up connecting with spirituality and Aang. However, it's only when she hits her absolute low, with her very identity as the Avatar being broken and she realizes that she is truly no different from any other bender is her pride finally shattered, and then she turns spiritual. Doesn't it remind you of a certain Siddhartha Gautama, who became the Buddha after that one moment where he realized that he too was not above death, old age and suffering?
Analysis of symbolic chakra openings through Korra’s character development:
The Earth Chakra was opened when Korra learnt to face her fear of dealing with Amon. The Water Chakra was opened when she was able to overcome her guilt when she got over the love triangle by forgiveness and got them through into the final, though it might have even happened before that when she got the knack of the airbending movements. The Fire Chakra was opened up when she reconciled with Tenzin over her shame of not being able to airbend or being spiritually weak, and when she finally connected with Aang. The Air Chakra was obviously opened by love, and I mean Mako. The Sound Chakra was opened when she understood Tarrlok and Amon's true identities, and Amon building his whole movement on lying over his backstory. The Hiroshi Sato reveal also definitely had something to do with it. The light Chakra was probably opened somewhere between Korra realizing that she could still airbend and Amon's makeup job and waterbending powers exposed. The air chakra was probably fully open in that moment where Mako was about to lose his bending, which is why she could Airbend. Finally the last chakra was unblocked when she was planning to leave everyone and told Mako to leave her for good, despite the fact that both truly loved each other by this point - probably she was contemplating suicide, now that she could no longer do her job as the Avatar and called Aang, likely with the intention of taking her away to the spirit world, which is when she gave up attachment. That's when all her chakras were open and her spiritual connection became truly complete. While it's difficult to often pinpoint the incident as the cause of opening her chakras, it's clear that following Character Development Korra already very spiritual by the end and had successfully opened all her chakras allowed her to master the Avatar state. All that was now needed was a little help from Aang to energybend her broken connections.
As for Amon being ruined in the finale I disagree with that as well. Amon had been established as having been using his bloodbending from the very beginning, Mako specifically commented on this in episode 11 that he had been subtly using bloodbending whenever he had been fighting other benders, so him using bloodbending in episode 12 was not a sudden reversal of his principles. Amon wanted to destroy all bending but he could not do it without first the use of his own bending. And Amon was not beat only physically, he was ultimately defeated when he was exposed as a waterbender.
Also Amon’s values were never representative of good equality, beating Amon was never about solving the problems of inequality faced by non-benders (which is something that was established that Korra did want to address) it was about stopping an extremist his organization from occupying Republic City. The Equalists as an organization were not something that could be beat through peaceful compromise, episode 6 was the evidence of this when they when they went full blown terrorists and declared that that their end goal was to end all bending in the world. So while the problems of inequality have still not disappeared (I would not be surprised if Seaosn 2 covers some of the remaining problems), the goal of defeating the Equalists was never about solving the problems, they wanted to beat the Equalists so actually compromise and change could happen. The Equalsits, like Tarrlok, were the other extreme that prevented the actual peaceful addressment of inequality.
Not to mention that it's an unpopular opinion (NO. HATE. I have ZERO hate for ANY of the characters). 
