[spoiler] Why the LoK season 1 finale was disappointing (to me)

So after Korra loses her fire/earth/water bending it's all sad and depressing. This would be a good time where she has to work hard to make the connection to Aang, but instead he just pops up to fix everything for her and all she did was mope. She literally didn't have to worry about anything, everything was going to fix itself anyways.

I know having her run around and having to remaster the three elements would have been a tad "been there done that" but they didn't have to do that. They could have spent one season where Korra struggles to make connections, gets cryptic messages and has to teach herself the unblocking ritual thing and meanwhile introducing the next upcoming villain/struggle for the season after. This season had way too much exposition and resolution in my opinion.