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Live Blogs Opinionated Guide to Avatar: The Last Airbender
Korval2011-06-17 20:09:14

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Avatar: The Last Airbender. What is there to say, really?

A lot, apparently, since I'm going to walk through each episode of the entire 61 episode run. But first, some background.

Avatar: The Last Airbender was a cartoon show that ran for 3 years, from 2005 to 2007. It has become quite popular, particularly among its periphery demographic. It is often praised for having well-written characters, a story arc, good episode-to-episode continuity, and a well-developed world. It's also one of those shows you see on just about every TV Tropes page; it has a large fandom on this site.

It also had a recent film adaptation that was... universally reviled. But we're not talking about that horseshit now.

Each liveblog page will, in general, discuss a particular episode. Two parters will be handled depending on what kind of two-parter it is. If the two parter is really two episodes that chronologically flow from one to the next (ie: one starts immediately after the other, with a Sequel Hook), then I will review them as two episodes. However, if it's really just a single story told in multiple parts, then I will review it as one.

I also intend for this blog to be more analytical than humorous. I'll throw jokes in where I can, but mostly I'm here to point out what works and what doesn't. Because of that, there will be times when talking about something that happened in an episode at length would bog the actual liveblog down too much. In these cases, I will generally extract that section out of the flow of the text and put it in its own section after the episode synopsis. If you're not interested in such analysis, feel free to skip it whenever you see these sections.

Also, I will occasionally have an entire post devoted to some particular aspect of the series up to that point. These are for things that deserve a detailed calling out on, but don't fit into the season introductions. Usually, this is something that covers events from multiple previous episodes. These too are skippable, though you may be missing some interesting analysis.

For those who have not seen this series, there will be some light spoilers for later episodes. I'll minimize them somewhat, in case you're following along for the first time at home. And I won't reveal the most important ones, unless they have been heavily foreshadowed or are otherwise obvious. If I need to analyze a scene in context of something later, I'll generally only present as much as you need to know at that time to understand what I'm saying.

Also, please read the title. This is the opinionated guide to Avatar. You don't have to agree with anything I say here. You should find that most of these opinions do at least have some evidential support, even if you disagree with the conclusion. I welcome discussion where it happens, so if you agree or disagree, feel free to point it out in the comments section.

Lastly, particularly in the early episodes, you may get the impression that I hate this show. I don't. It's a good show, with quality writing and production values. It's well worth your time, and I even own the last two seasons on DVD (NetFlix lets me watch season 1 whenever I want). But that doesn't mean that I will let crap past, and it's hard to argue that the show started on its best foot. If the show does something wrong, I'm going to call it out.

Book 1: Water

It begins...

The show's seasons are called "books." For some reason. I don't get it either; books do not prominently figure prominently within the show's overall theme or general milieu. Indeed, one main character is completely illiterate. In any case, season one is called Book 1: Water.

Normally, for the introduction to a season, I will do a look back at what transpired and a look forward, with some detailed analysis. My goal in such sections is to make some particular point about the show that you may not have thought about.

But, since there is no prior season as of yet, instead, I will go over the general concepts behind this world. That way, I don't have to clog up the episodes themselves with such minutiae.

The world of Avatar: The Last Airbender consists of several cultures, most of them drawn from Asian influences. In this world, there are elemental manipulators known as "benders:" Airbenders, Firebenders, Waterbenders, and Earthbenders. Bending, to varying degrees, relies on movements based on real-world martial arts. So when a firebender throws a karate-like punch, a fireball emerges from his fist.

There are a number of large nations that have arisen around bending forms. The Earth Kingdom occupies the largest landmass in the world. There are two Water Tribes, one in the North Pole and one in the South Pole. The Air Nomads occupied 4 hidden air temples in the north, south, east, and west (four winds. Get it?) of the Earth Kingdom's landmass. And the Fire Nation is on a large island to the west of the Earth Kingdom.

Each nation has a loose basis in some real-world culture. The Earth Kingdom bears a striking resemblance to Imperial China. The Water Tribes are Inuits as they live on the ice. The Air Nomads seem very typically Buddhist monk-ish. And the Fire Nation is some kind of hybrid between Imperial Japan and China with some Indian (India-Indian) influences thrown in.

The nations are also color coded. The Water Tribes wear blue, the Earth Kingdom wears greens, the Fire Nation wears reds, and the Air Nomads wear tans and browns. This extends to just about everyone's dress in these nations; rare is the person who dresses out of color for their nation.

The titular Avatar is a perpetually reincarnated being. He/She is the only individual capable of bending all four elements (or even just more than one), and he/she is charged with defending the world and maintaining the "balance". Exactly what that means is never really explained, but it generally means that each nation stays where it is and doesn't invade another. Or something.

Comments

RobbieRotten Since: Dec, 1969
Sep 5th 2011 at 11:39:56 PM
Well, i haven't disagreed with someone more since the reviewers for Cars2 came in
JusticeMan Since: Dec, 1969
Sep 6th 2011 at 1:12:24 AM
A nice point, I'd point you to an Analysis page on Avatar which contends that the primary thesis of the work was Aang vs. The Avatar, and this act, beating Ozai as Aang and not as Avatar using a technique separate from the avatar state (surviving due to Toph and Zuko's techniques) and ultimately winning by rejecting the status of avatar for his own concept that we see Aang has 'surpassed' the Avatar. You can’t let your personal Pro-Killing hang-ups deny that this is both consistent with Character AND with the direction the series was going.
JusticeMan Since: Dec, 1969
Sep 6th 2011 at 1:16:16 AM
Uh... Disregard that above comment; it was put up there prematurely by mistake. I'll have a full response to GREAT your series later.
ShadowWarden Since: Dec, 1969
Sep 6th 2011 at 1:41:43 AM
Ultimately, I agree with most of what you've said about this series.

I say this as the guy that gave it a mostly positive blind liveblog. I still enjoy it, and still think it's a better series than most that get aimed at kids, but I will definitely say that it's got its flaws and that you've done a masterful job of commenting on them. An excellent work of analysis and critique, sir; my hat is off to you.
ShadowWarden Since: Dec, 1969
Sep 6th 2011 at 4:40:06 PM
Well, of course he finds something to 'hate' in every aspect of it. That was his mission statement when he set out to do this thing, as he outlined it in his very first post. Of course, calling it 'hate' is misrepresenting the entire intent here. It's criticism, and it's very well done criticism at that. There's other places to go - my liveblog being one example among many - if you want a more positive overview of Avatar. This guy very clearly accentuates the negative aspects of the series, which is absolutely fine for him to do; he said already he doesn't hate the show, and if you can see his point then I think it's fair to say that you're bothered by an opinion and mindset that you don't agree with. That's also fine. It's part of human nature.

The point he's making, and that I'm making, in regard to the final battle of spirit, is that it came out of nowhere. Of course, before then, Aang's character was on full display; that's something we expect out of a protagonist. I never meant to argue that there should have been tension as regards Aang defeating Ozai; that's a given! The tension here was Aang's conflict over whether or not to kill the Big Bad (which was already a shaky basis for conflict, due to the implausibility of no one getting killed in their previous fights), and the way it was resolved was a cop-out, regardless of the intentions the writers had going in. And that's a bad thing. It undermines everything they were trying to do.

Also, in regards to your comment: 'Must information always be spelled out for us in the show itself for it to be good writing?' Yes. It must be shown to us, told to us, or otherwise presented in some sufficiently unambiguous way as to give us the sense that we're not being slapped in the face. I'm a proponent of Death Of The Author, and I don't think that someone should have to refer to Word Of God or wikis or other informational sources in order to clarify issues present in the original work.
98.213.219.116 Since: Dec, 1969
Sep 6th 2011 at 8:40:01 PM
Like Korval said, if the writers weren't going to have Aang kill Ozai then they should never have brought the question up. This is war; good people do horrific things to themselves and others so that the people they love will be safe. Aang getting a pass on that isn't brilliant, it's a copout. Avatar is a kids' show. The writers couldn't have Aang kill Ozai, even in shadow, because that brings up the question of how Aang feels about what he did. Avatar was never intended to handle such mature issues. Korval was right. The show should have just quietly had Ozai locked away off-screen.
ManwiththePlan Since: Dec, 1969
Sep 7th 2011 at 7:35:16 AM
Avatar is a kids' show. The writers couldn't have Aang kill Ozai, even in shadow

Kids are the primary demographic but Avatar's NOT just a kids show. It has a broader appeal. Alot of people just seem to think in the Animation Age Ghetto mentality. And "it's a kids' show" is NOT the reason they didn't have Aang kill Ozai. They could get away with killing Jet, why wouldn't they be able to kill the Big Bad?

Avatar was never intended to handle such mature issues

Y'mean like war, death of family and friends, broken families and parental abuse, sexism, racism, government conspiracy, whether or not to let go of love, etc. Oh wait...

Korval was right. The show should have just quietly had Ozai locked away off-screen.

Which would've been LAME. Mike and Bryan had their resolution in mind from the start and stuck to it. And I for one am thankful that they did.

ManwiththePlan Since: Dec, 1969
Sep 7th 2011 at 7:38:58 AM
Okay, where'd my whole argument go? It's absence is especially odd seeing as one of Shadow Warden's comments directly responding to me is still there. Did a mod delete all the wank? Or did Korval? If it's the latter, then c'mon, you can't take comments that oppose your point of view?
Ghilz Since: Dec, 1969
Sep 7th 2011 at 12:47:22 PM
Korval can't delete comments. A mod deleted yours when you started insulting people and saying they are "sucking up to the op" coz they disagree with you.
PataHikari Since: Dec, 1969
Sep 7th 2011 at 1:44:12 PM
it's very well done criticism at that

This is a funny joke.
YoungMachete Since: Dec, 1969
Sep 7th 2011 at 8:29:16 PM
^It's called an opinion. It's okay to argue about weather or not he was correct, but people may have different opinions on the overall quality. I disagree with him about the whole killing issue, but I won't disagree that the commentary was in-depth and very good.
ManwiththePlan Since: Dec, 1969
Sep 11th 2011 at 2:06:59 PM
^ Problem is, "it's just an opinion" can be used as a excuse for am irrational view on things. Not all of his opinions have been irrational even if they were disagreabl but there were some that just had no excuse for being as negative and critical as they were.

Korval can't delete comments. A mod deleted yours when you started insulting people and saying they are "sucking up to the op" coz they disagree with you.

Uh, would you believe me if I said I was drunk at the time? ^_^
Xovvo Since: Dec, 1969
Jan 16th 2015 at 11:24:15 AM
"Aang's off the cuff suggestion of permanently affixing Ozai's arms and legs together is a perfect example of this nonsense. What the hell kind of life is that? Unable to even move one's body around, having to be fed by someone else? Unable to write letters to someone; barely able to even take a dump. At least in prison, you can walk around and move in your cell. Aang's suggestion would leave Ozai confined to the life of a potted plant."

idk, maybe you could stop being an ableist asshat for 5 fucking seconds and find the fuck out "what the hell kind of life" that is.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=quadruple+amputee
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