Avatar: The Last Airbender

[Pilot Ace]

As for Azula, she's the product of her parents just like Zuko. As you saw in the S2 flashback episode, the mother loved Zuko and knew that Azula was 'wrong' which of course made Azula even worse because her own mother was disgusted with her, so she just further idolized her father, who is also a power-mad sociopath.

But, see, that's the problem. She goes from evil to evil-er. She was evil, so her mommy didn't like her, and she became more evil because of it.

That's not satisfying at all for me. Sure, I suppose she could be idolizing her father, but I have seen no growth from her at all and simply idolizing her father in some abstract way (if that's what they've intended) isn't working. It seems she's just the embodiment of the 'Fire Nation people are evil, right?' sort of mindset that the writers have been very good about avoiding with Zuko, Iroh, etc.

During the S3 episode...

Spoiler: Vague spoilery stuff...

where a lot of character motivations are revealed at the beach she is the only character to basically have nothing to say--this struck me as either the writers shrugging their shoulders or putting a lantern on the fact that she is a bad plot device. Her two sidekicks were made better by this episode, revealing only further how terrible a character Azula is... It made a point at how badly she gets along with people... But, is her feeling of being an outcast supposed to justify her evil character traits?

I'm trying to remember the first introduction of her character and what I'm coming up with is Zuko feeding the Turtle-Ducks (Duck-Turtles?) and then showing his mother how Azula would feed them by dropping a rock on one. Was there anything at all more substantial, specifically that doesn't make her seem just plain crazy evil?

I don't know, maybe I'm over-criticizing the parts I don't like because so much of this show has been really well done.

 

[Mr Light]

The beach bit showed that she was just empty inside, devoid of love or compassion, so she punishes those who have it. She knows that no-one cares for her (except possibly daddy) and she hates them for it. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

 

[Dream]

My season 3 set arrived.

The Awakening, The Headband, The Painted Lady, Sokka's Master


The Awakening
The new season starts some time after the end of season two finale. Everyone is on a ship and heading to the Fire Nation. I'm a little disapointed how quickly they got rid of the Earth King. I was hoping they would deal with his reactions about losing his kingdom. Aang has hair! That was the biggest surprise of the episode for me.

The Headband
Aang goes to school and shows his classmates the joys of dancing! This episode was really weird. Aren't they on an important mission? I did like that we learned a little about how the Fire Nation teaches it's kids. Sokka and Katara pretending to be Aang's parents was hilarious. Also everyone gets new Fire Nation clothes to get undercover! I'm not quiet sold on everyone's new look yet. They main four look better in their original clothes. I'll miss Katara and Sokka in blue, and Toph in green and yellow.

The Painted Lady
We get another Katara episode. She tries to help another village. I didn't like it very much since we already got a very similar episode in season one, Imprisoned. The joke with the old man pretending to be different people was fun though.

Sokka's Master
Sokka gets his own training episode. It was okay. I did like the fact that they showed how the main group missed Sokka while he was gone. Sokka really contributes to the group even though he doesn't have powers. We also see how hard Sokka is willing to work to get better, and the fight scene was cool.

Season three has started out slowly like season two. I hope it picks up like season two did. The biggest change for me is how everyone now looks with different clothes.

 

[Hound of UIster]

Sokka's Master is probably my favorite season 3 episode though it takes multiple viewings to fully appreciate it.

 

[Mr Light]

Yeah, I remember the first batch of S3 episodes being frustrating in their standalone-ish-ness. Things definitely pick up though

 

[Christopher]

But, see, that's the problem. She goes from evil to evil-er. She was evil, so her mommy didn't like her, and she became more evil because of it.

That's not satisfying at all for me. Sure, I suppose she could be idolizing her father, but I have seen no growth from her at all and simply idolizing her father in some abstract way (if that's what they've intended) isn't working. It seems she's just the embodiment of the 'Fire Nation people are evil, right?' sort of mindset that the writers have been very good about avoiding with Zuko, Iroh, etc.

No, it's simply that Azula is a sociopath, or perhaps a psychopath (if she actually was born that way). That's not just a fictional cliche or a bad plot device, it's something that happens in real life and produces monsters like Hitler. It would be nice if it truly were unbelievable, but alas, it's very realistic. Some people just lack the capacity for empathy.

She also manifests most of the diagnostic parameters of clinical narcissism, which is something that can be said of many world leaders. All too often, it's the people who are naturally inclined to go after what they want and climb over others to get it who end up becoming powerful.

I think Azula was a great character. Sure, maybe she lacked complexity, but there's something to be said for the purity of her self-assured malevolence. And she was just so incredibly good at what she did. Heroes are defined by the quality of their adversaries, and Azula is probably the most brilliant and capable villain in the history of American animation, consistently several moves ahead of the heroes and posing a truly serious challenge to them -- as opposed to your usual cartoon villains who are sabotaged by their own character flaws, hangups, or sheer incompetence. Azula didn't need a lot of human depth and complexity; she was a force of nature.

The Headband
Aang goes to school and shows his classmates the joys of dancing! This episode was really weird. Aren't they on an important mission?

As they said, changing the hearts and minds of the Fire Nation was just as important in the long run as defeating the Fire Lord.

Also everyone gets new Fire Nation clothes to get undercover! I'm not quiet sold on everyone's new look yet. They main four look better in their original clothes. I'll miss Katara and Sokka in blue, and Toph in green and yellow.

I think Katara looks lovely in her Fire Nation garb.

 

[RoJoHen]

I was fine with the outfits because they were necessary for the story, but I was upset that Katara got rid of her hair loopies.

 

[Dream]

The Beach, The Avatar and the Firelord, The Runaway, The Puppetmaster


The Beach
I'm mixed about this episode. It had some good parts, but there were bad.

Things I disliked. We get another detour episode with the Fire Nation kids going to a beach. It was a little amusing seeing Azula trying to flirt with Chan, but I felt so uncomfortable watching all her scenes. I think it's too late for the writers to try to make her anything but pure evil. We find out that Zuko is a jealous boyfriend type that acts like a jerk whenever another guy looks at his girlfriend. That really didn't help the character. Why are Zuko and Mai even together? She seems like a cold fish to me. The confessions with them how screwed up their lives was clunky. The ending with them destroying Chan's house was just bad. It made me feel like the entire episode was wasted, they are just a bunch little monsters.

I couldn't believe how careless Aang was by going swimming, endangering the entire mission about not being seen. That leads to the first confrontation with Zuko's hired killer. The battle was cool, but too short.

Things I did like. I did like most of the humor. I'm glad we finally find out a little more background on the Fire Nation kids, I just wish it had been done better. The fanservice. It was nice seeing all the girls in bathing suits, especially Ty Lee.


The Avatar and the Firelord
An episode about Roku's past. I loved this! I'm a fan of big mythology episodes and this delivered. We find out that Roku and Sozin were close friends, but things fell apart when the Fire Lord tried to expand his empire. It also revealed the fact that an Avatar can get married.


The Runaway
A Toph episode. Toph has been criminally underused this season, so any episode that is about her is good. The teaser with Toph getting caught really got my attention. Toph cheating at gambling is something I can see her doing, and the writers tried to show why that was a bad thing. All the scenes with Sokka and Hawky were hilarious. Something about seeing goofy Sokka with a badass bird on his shoulder made me chuckle. The hired killer comes back and blows some more things up. The guy has a cool power, but I'm starting to think he will never be developed as a character.

The Puppetmaster
It was interesting to finally see a bad waterbender. They developed the Hama character well, and you can understand why she did what she did. Hama is the kind of character Katara would become if she let the idea of revenge take over her life. We get to learn about a new waterbending power, bloodbending. Katara gets some great development when she finally finds out what Hama has been doing.

 

[Mr Light]

I liked "The Beach" episode. It was nice to see a story starring the Fire Nation kids. And yeah "Avatar and Firelord" was a great episode. I think you're just about done with the stand-alones at this point.

 

[Thestral]

...as opposed to your usual cartoon villains who are sabotaged by their own character flaws, hangups, or sheer incompetence.

I think Azula's an amazing character too, but I have to disagree with this bit. In the sense that

Spoiler: Azula

Azula's ultimate downfall was brought about by her own character flaws. Her lack of empathy and human warmth pushed away Mai and Ty Lee ("I love Zuko more than I fear you"), and this betrayal sent Azula off the deep end. Katara was able to use Azula's insanity against her in the final battle.

The Headband
Aang goes to school and shows his classmates the joys of dancing! This episode was really weird. Aren't they on an important mission?

As they said, changing the hearts and minds of the Fire Nation was just as important in the long run as defeating the Fire Lord.

And besides which, how else are they going to sneak a G-Rated sex dance past the censors?

 

[Dream]

I think you're just about done with the stand-alones at this point.

Good to hear. I don't mind standalones, but I prefer episodes about the main plot. That's the reason why I love season two so much, there was no village of the week episodes during the entire second half of that season. All those episodes took place in Ba Sing Se and was about what was going on there.

 

[Christopher]

...as opposed to your usual cartoon villains who are sabotaged by their own character flaws, hangups, or sheer incompetence.

I think Azula's an amazing character too, but I have to disagree with this bit. In the sense that

Spoiler: Azula

Azula's ultimate downfall was brought about by her own character flaws. Her lack of empathy and human warmth pushed away Mai and Ty Lee ("I love Zuko more than I fear you"), and this betrayal sent Azula off the deep end. Katara was able to use Azula's insanity against her in the final battle.

Indeed, and that's exactly what disappointed me about the last few episodes.

Spoiler: Last few episodes

The way they had her defeat herself at the end by falling apart that way felt like a cheat, a way to make it easy for the heroes to beat this character who had formerly been all but unbeatable. I felt it would've made the heroes even more impressive if they'd been able to defeat Azula at her peak rather than after she'd been eroded away by circumstances. Too many shows make it too easy on the heroes by making the villains sabotage themselves, and A:TLA brilliantly avoided that for a season and a half, so it was a letdown when they resorted to it at the end.

I mean, it was effective in its own way, watching Azula's world crumble around her as everyone abandoned her, but it wasn't what I was hoping for. Though I'll grant that her final breakdown after Katara defeated her was breathtakingly directed, animated and acted.

 

[Capt. Vulcan]

Bump for posterity, and because I'm enjoying the thread.

I thought the show was pretty amazing.

My least favorite episode was the swamp monster one. I remember I actually changed channels during the episode forgetting that I was watching a dvd. That's how bored I was with it.

My favorite of the ones reviewed so far might be the headband episode. Yeah the dance part of it was kind of corny, but all the other jokes were hilarious. (Macaroni fire lord!) It also gave Aang the chance to be a normal kid for a day, which was pretty nice considering what's he's been through and what he would eventually go through.

 

[Dream]

Nightmares and Daydreams, The Day of Black Sun, Part 1: The Invasion, The Day of Black Sun, Part 2: The Eclipse


Nightmares and Daydreams
A few days before the big invasion of the Fire Nation, Aang starts having weird nightmares. Oh boy, this episode sucked. Seeing Aang freaking out because of a lack of sleep got pretty tiresome. I'm never been a fan of episodes that have dreams in them and this episode certainly didn't change my mind. The only part I laughed at was when Appa and Momo randomly started talking and the face off they had with each other at the end. At least it wasn't a total lost.


The Day of Black Sun, Part 1: The Invasion
Awesome. The invasion of the Fire Nation is on. It was so cool seeing all those people from season one and season two as part of the army. I love the big battle. I thought it was a little strange that there weren't piles and piles of dead bodies on the ground, until I remembered this show was on Nick. The kids finally change back into their original clothes! I really loved Sokka's wolf helmet and armor. Badass! The episode ends on a down note. Aang arrives to face the Fire Lord, but there is no one there. It seems that Azula might told her father about what she found out in the Ba Sing Se.


The Day of Black Sun, Part 2: The Eclipse
Aang works with Sokka and Toph to get to the Fire Lord, but they are blocked by Azula and her agents. I really liked Azula making them waste their time on her when they should have been trying to find Ozai. Sokka is smart enough to realize what is Azula is doing until she pulls out the Suki card. As expected, Sokka loses it. I am happy to see that the writers haven't forgotten Suki. It would have been disappointing if she had just disappeared from the show. That would have been very lazy of them.

The Dai Li finally make a reappearance as Azula's bodyguards. Glad to see them. I was disappointed at the first few episodes of season 3 by how the writers failed to deal with anything related to the Earth Kingdom storyline, and instead went with village of the week episodes in the Fire Nation.

Zuko finally makes his choice. His entire meeting with his father was really well done. The twist is that the two parter The Day of the Black Son wasn't about Aang facing the Fire Lord, but about a son facing his father.

In the end, our heroes and the invasion of the Fire Nation fails. But everything is not lost. The main four were able to get away and has a chance to strike back on another day.

 

[Mr Light]

I loved Day of Black Sun. Amazing stuff. The war sequences were just gorgeous! I was expecting the Fire Lord to be shockingly killed by Zuko/Azula and then Azula becomes the final baddie of the season, so I was surprised that didn't happen. And while it was great to see Zuko finally defect, I was mad he didn't do it at the end of S2... but that was the point of the story I suppose!

 

[Dream]

I loved Day of Black Sun. Amazing stuff. The war sequences were just gorgeous! I was expecting the Fire Lord to be shockingly killed by Zuko/Azula and then Azula becomes the final baddie of the season, so I was surprised that didn't happen.

That would have been a cool twist. I find Azula to be a way more interesting bad guy than Ozai. Maybe it's the fact that Ozai hadn't really done anything all season, and the writers have been developing Azula for two years. Ozai is like the Emperor from Star Wars. I'm be glad when he goes down, but I wont cheer like I probably will when Azula gets what's coming her.

And while it was great to see Zuko finally defect, I was mad he didn't do it at the end of S2... but that was the point of the story I suppose!

Yeah, I was disappointed in Zuko in the S2 finale. But I think it worked out better this way. He needed to return to the Fire Nation and find out how messed up everything was.

 

[Hound of UIster]

It always bugged me how the lightning redirection wasn't done as it was described in season 2.

 

[ProtoAvatar]

...as opposed to your usual cartoon villains who are sabotaged by their own character flaws, hangups, or sheer incompetence.

I think Azula's an amazing character too, but I have to disagree with this bit. In the sense that

Spoiler: Azula

Azula's ultimate downfall was brought about by her own character flaws. Her lack of empathy and human warmth pushed away Mai and Ty Lee ("I love Zuko more than I fear you"), and this betrayal sent Azula off the deep end. Katara was able to use Azula's insanity against her in the final battle.

Indeed, and that's exactly what disappointed me about the last few episodes.

Spoiler: Last few episodes

The way they had her defeat herself at the end by falling apart that way felt like a cheat, a way to make it easy for the heroes to beat this character who had formerly been all but unbeatable. I felt it would've made the heroes even more impressive if they'd been able to defeat Azula at her peak rather than after she'd been eroded away by circumstances. Too many shows make it too easy on the heroes by making the villains sabotage themselves, and A:TLA brilliantly avoided that for a season and a half, so it was a letdown when they resorted to it at the end.

I mean, it was effective in its own way, watching Azula's world crumble around her as everyone abandoned her, but it wasn't what I was hoping for. Though I'll grant that her final breakdown after Katara defeated her was breathtakingly directed, animated and acted.

Spoiler

Given our heroes' performance against Azula in the past and the resouces Azula possessed by the end of the series, making Aang&co defeat Azula fairly would have been unrealistic.

Either Aang&co's competence would have to be significantly increased, or Azula's competence decreased. The scenarists chose optioin no. 2.

 

[Dream]

The Western Air Temple, The Firebending Masters, The Boiling Rock, Part 1

The Western Air Temple
This episode was pretty fun. Zuko was really hilarious in this, especially when he was talking to the frog. It is really cool to finally see Zuko finally interacting with the main group not as enemies. Toph is willing to give him a chance at least. Big Killer Man finally gets blown up. I thought he was a pretty disappointing villain, Zhao and Long Feng certainly were way better. This season has had a hard time with introducing new and memorable villains. Katara warns Zuko that she will be watching him, showing that she can be scary when she isn't being such a mom.


The Firebending Masters
The Avatar does Indiana Jones. It was okay. It was nice to finally get some good Zuko and Aang interaction. We also find out about how Firebending works and learn about the Sun Warrior tribe. The dragons were awesome. I wish they appeared on the show more.

The Boiling Rock, Part 1
The Avatar does Prison Break. Yay! Suki is back! Oh, yeah there was the rest of the episode... Nice to see Sokka and Zuko teaming up, the conversation about previous girlfriends made me chuckle, though they really should have taken the rest of the team with them to the prison. It was fun seeing them dress up as guards. I did like how Sokka wanted to stay at the very end to see if his dad was coming to the prison or not.

 

[Mr Light]

They didn't really need to introduce any new characters at this point, though. Everyone had been established except for Ozai who we finally meet in the last season. Combustion Man was always just a bit role.

As I recall there wasn't a single lame duck episode after "Black Sun". It's all good here on in. And it was so great to finally have Zuko join the team, particularly since I'd been waiting for that to happen all through Season Two.