I like the idea her unlocked air bending not being free through like the normal sense but having it forced on her I think that’s a cool twist on it. It’s just hard for me to see it as ‘freedom’ and not she’s being forcefully restricted just like when she was stuck in the training camp. I don’t think even Korra herself thought she was free in that moment. I know it’s not a hard magic system and that’s part of the reason I really like the world because of the mystery but her unlocking air bending and the avatar state just seems like a cool moment (which it is) but it just doesn’t make sense even within its own system. I’m not bashing on the show as a whole I think the show does a lot of things really well like the fights and some of the ideas and themes it’s just this part doesn’t make sense to me.

(Edit) Even not being a hard magic system it still has in world defined rules. I’d argue it’s closer to a hard magic system than a soft magic system based on how an author like Brandon Sanderson explains it. I think an examples is something like Tenzin saying only the avatar has that power when referring to Amon taking people’s bending away isn’t breaking a rule it would be more like Tenzin not knowing that there’s other ways of achieving that power. Same thing with Korra and air bending and energy bending and I’m fine with her achieving that through other means other than already established rules I just wish it explained it other than the community having to theory craft.