Avatar the Last Airbender (2005-2008)
Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2020 9:34 pm
I never watched this back in the day, but since it's a favorite series of my longtime girlfriend, I gave it a shot. 18 episodes worth of shots, in fact.
Right away, I wasn't impressed. It's a clumsy American attempt at a shounen with none of the qualities that separate the better examples of that genre. The plots are simple and predictable, with the twists and resolutions visible at least half an episode away. We have a magic system that is introduced, but without any firmly established rules or consistency to it. Abilities come and go as the plot requires. The protagonists aren't cool or interesting, and constantly break one's immersion into the series, behaving like woke American teens of the early 2000s as opposed to inhabitants of a fantasy world inspired by the Warring States Period of China. Hell, in the very first scene of the show, we see Kitara, the main female protagonist, complaining about her brother's problematic sexism. The series began in 2005, so the feminism here is not of the ultra-woke variety it would become a decade later (why hello there, series sequel, The Legend of Korra!), but is pernicious nonetheless, and ties directly to the episode I will examine more closely.
The execution is also slapdash. Characters constantly teleport to the proper location when the plot requires them to, and basic logic and physics comes and goes. There are some attempts at humor, but they're incorporated in a hamfisted, poorly timed manner that clashes with the seriousness of what we're seeing, as opposed to being a welcome respite from it.
However, I was okay watching this mediocre if occasionally competent series until episode 18. This absolutely killed the whole show for me.
Up until this point in the series, the main villains of the series belong to the Fire Nation, which is waging war on the Earth and Water Nations, with the Air Nation already extinct. They intend to conquer the world, and will use the next appearance of a comet to do so. The titular protagonist, The Avatar, or Aang, must master the magic of water, earth, and fire before then, called bending, as he is already an expert with air.
The Fire Nation antagonists, with the chief one thus far being Commander/Admiral Zhou, have shown themselves to be
-cowardly
-power-hungry
-unaccepting of other people's choices and way of life
One of Zhou's particularly despicable acts was, after losing a duel to Prince Zuko, attacking him from behind once Zuko showed him mercy. Keep this in mind for later.
Episode 18 begins with our trio of protagonists (Aang, Kitara, and largely useless Sokka, in this episode and the series as a whole) finally finding a water tribe and the water-bending master Aang has been searching for. Right away, there is an eye-rolling example of exposition for the audience. Admiral Zhou is speaking to other military officers, and a captain asks why they don't simply attack the water tribe to capture the Avatar. Zhou explains that they are very powerful and have many natural defenses in terms of terrain and environment. Now, there is simply no way that a freaking captain wouldn't know such basics about his militaristic nation's main enemies. This is a lame, transparent excuse to explain matters to the viewer.
So Aang is going to be taught by water-bending master Pakku. Pakku is not only mean and demanding, but worst of all, he is a filthy misogynist! By that I mean that he refuses to teach Kitara because the customs of his tribe and village prohibit waterbending to women.
Aang is so angry at first that he refuses to learn waterbending from him. Now, finding a master to teach him waterbending was the entire point of the perilous journey to the ends of the world the main trio spent the last 15 episodes undergoing.
It's also vital to Aang saving the world, which hangs heavy on him. However, all that is thrown out the window, because combating sexism is more important than saving the world from the hells of Fire Nation rule.
One might counter "but Aang is just an immature 12 year-old!", but this doesn't pass muster. Aang has been surviving by his wits in multiple life-and-death situations, without any parental/guardian supervision for a long time now. That causes one to mature real fast. Not to mention that in all previous immaturaties, which come and go as the plot needs, Aang has never spit upon his quest before, let alone blatantly.
This scene is already a huge problem. If the main fucking hero of the series doesn't give a damn about his quest, then why the hell should we as the audience?
Kitara initially acts more responsibly, telling him to learn from the master. Aang agrees.
Later however, Aang decides that he will teach the secrets of waterbending to Kitara at night. Master Pakku discovers this and rightly notes that Aang has disrespected him as a master as well as his culture and tribe.
The following day, given an opportunity to right everything by simply apoligizing, Kitara instead insults Pakku and challenges him to a duel.
So Kitara, who is older than Aang and has always been the voice of reason and responsibility in this series, apparently doesn't give a damn about defeating the Fire Nation (who, incidentally, killed her beloved mother) and saving the world, either!
Pakku initially refuses to fight Kitara and walks away from her. Then Kitara, out of nowhere, attacks Pakku from behind in an act of despicable cowardice.
The very same act, one will recall, that Zhou did much earlier in the series. Except this is even worse. While Zhou at least had the partial excuse of still being in the heat of battle against a long-time, bitter, hated rival who had just beaten him up, Pakku has never attacked Kitara, is no threat to her, and refused to hurt her.
Kitara's actions are not of those of a hero. They are those of a villain.
In fact, let's review what we wrote about why The Fire Nation is evil;
-cowardly
-power-hungry
-unaccepting of other people's choices and way of life
We saw Aang and Kitara exhibit ALL THREE OF THESE in Episode 18.
Aang is cowardly in teaching Kitara water-bending against his master's orders. Kitara is cowardly in attacking a man who presents no threat and refuses to fight her from behind.
Aang and Kitara want power, not to protect innocents around them, but as the episode makes clear, for their own selfish desires. Kitara being a proud feminist who believes that everything a man can do she should be able to as well (her jealousy actually flaring up in a past episode when she is envious of Aang's skills) and Aang a cruel, destructive boy who apparently cares little about his sacred mission.
And lastly, Aang and Kitara are unaccepting of other people's choices and way of life. Master Pakku has a natural human right to decide who he does or doesn't want to teach. Other people are not entitled to his time, energy, and expertise just because they want to be. Moreover, he is following the customs and way of life of his water tribe. Which Aang and Kitara reject and spit upon. The same way the Fire Nation rejects and spits upon water tribes. Both groups want to bend an innocent group to their will. By force, if necessary.
So in essence, what is the difference between our main protagonists and the Fire Nation? Nothing! They both exhibit the same behaviors. They're both villains. There is no reason to root for one over the other.
This episode utterly ruins the protagonists and series for me and any possible interest I could have in seeing more of it.
Right away, I wasn't impressed. It's a clumsy American attempt at a shounen with none of the qualities that separate the better examples of that genre. The plots are simple and predictable, with the twists and resolutions visible at least half an episode away. We have a magic system that is introduced, but without any firmly established rules or consistency to it. Abilities come and go as the plot requires. The protagonists aren't cool or interesting, and constantly break one's immersion into the series, behaving like woke American teens of the early 2000s as opposed to inhabitants of a fantasy world inspired by the Warring States Period of China. Hell, in the very first scene of the show, we see Kitara, the main female protagonist, complaining about her brother's problematic sexism. The series began in 2005, so the feminism here is not of the ultra-woke variety it would become a decade later (why hello there, series sequel, The Legend of Korra!), but is pernicious nonetheless, and ties directly to the episode I will examine more closely.
The execution is also slapdash. Characters constantly teleport to the proper location when the plot requires them to, and basic logic and physics comes and goes. There are some attempts at humor, but they're incorporated in a hamfisted, poorly timed manner that clashes with the seriousness of what we're seeing, as opposed to being a welcome respite from it.
However, I was okay watching this mediocre if occasionally competent series until episode 18. This absolutely killed the whole show for me.
Up until this point in the series, the main villains of the series belong to the Fire Nation, which is waging war on the Earth and Water Nations, with the Air Nation already extinct. They intend to conquer the world, and will use the next appearance of a comet to do so. The titular protagonist, The Avatar, or Aang, must master the magic of water, earth, and fire before then, called bending, as he is already an expert with air.
The Fire Nation antagonists, with the chief one thus far being Commander/Admiral Zhou, have shown themselves to be
-cowardly
-power-hungry
-unaccepting of other people's choices and way of life
One of Zhou's particularly despicable acts was, after losing a duel to Prince Zuko, attacking him from behind once Zuko showed him mercy. Keep this in mind for later.
Episode 18 begins with our trio of protagonists (Aang, Kitara, and largely useless Sokka, in this episode and the series as a whole) finally finding a water tribe and the water-bending master Aang has been searching for. Right away, there is an eye-rolling example of exposition for the audience. Admiral Zhou is speaking to other military officers, and a captain asks why they don't simply attack the water tribe to capture the Avatar. Zhou explains that they are very powerful and have many natural defenses in terms of terrain and environment. Now, there is simply no way that a freaking captain wouldn't know such basics about his militaristic nation's main enemies. This is a lame, transparent excuse to explain matters to the viewer.
So Aang is going to be taught by water-bending master Pakku. Pakku is not only mean and demanding, but worst of all, he is a filthy misogynist! By that I mean that he refuses to teach Kitara because the customs of his tribe and village prohibit waterbending to women.
Aang is so angry at first that he refuses to learn waterbending from him. Now, finding a master to teach him waterbending was the entire point of the perilous journey to the ends of the world the main trio spent the last 15 episodes undergoing.
It's also vital to Aang saving the world, which hangs heavy on him. However, all that is thrown out the window, because combating sexism is more important than saving the world from the hells of Fire Nation rule.
One might counter "but Aang is just an immature 12 year-old!", but this doesn't pass muster. Aang has been surviving by his wits in multiple life-and-death situations, without any parental/guardian supervision for a long time now. That causes one to mature real fast. Not to mention that in all previous immaturaties, which come and go as the plot needs, Aang has never spit upon his quest before, let alone blatantly.
This scene is already a huge problem. If the main fucking hero of the series doesn't give a damn about his quest, then why the hell should we as the audience?
Kitara initially acts more responsibly, telling him to learn from the master. Aang agrees.
Later however, Aang decides that he will teach the secrets of waterbending to Kitara at night. Master Pakku discovers this and rightly notes that Aang has disrespected him as a master as well as his culture and tribe.
The following day, given an opportunity to right everything by simply apoligizing, Kitara instead insults Pakku and challenges him to a duel.
So Kitara, who is older than Aang and has always been the voice of reason and responsibility in this series, apparently doesn't give a damn about defeating the Fire Nation (who, incidentally, killed her beloved mother) and saving the world, either!
Pakku initially refuses to fight Kitara and walks away from her. Then Kitara, out of nowhere, attacks Pakku from behind in an act of despicable cowardice.
The very same act, one will recall, that Zhou did much earlier in the series. Except this is even worse. While Zhou at least had the partial excuse of still being in the heat of battle against a long-time, bitter, hated rival who had just beaten him up, Pakku has never attacked Kitara, is no threat to her, and refused to hurt her.
Kitara's actions are not of those of a hero. They are those of a villain.
In fact, let's review what we wrote about why The Fire Nation is evil;
-cowardly
-power-hungry
-unaccepting of other people's choices and way of life
We saw Aang and Kitara exhibit ALL THREE OF THESE in Episode 18.
Aang is cowardly in teaching Kitara water-bending against his master's orders. Kitara is cowardly in attacking a man who presents no threat and refuses to fight her from behind.
Aang and Kitara want power, not to protect innocents around them, but as the episode makes clear, for their own selfish desires. Kitara being a proud feminist who believes that everything a man can do she should be able to as well (her jealousy actually flaring up in a past episode when she is envious of Aang's skills) and Aang a cruel, destructive boy who apparently cares little about his sacred mission.
And lastly, Aang and Kitara are unaccepting of other people's choices and way of life. Master Pakku has a natural human right to decide who he does or doesn't want to teach. Other people are not entitled to his time, energy, and expertise just because they want to be. Moreover, he is following the customs and way of life of his water tribe. Which Aang and Kitara reject and spit upon. The same way the Fire Nation rejects and spits upon water tribes. Both groups want to bend an innocent group to their will. By force, if necessary.
So in essence, what is the difference between our main protagonists and the Fire Nation? Nothing! They both exhibit the same behaviors. They're both villains. There is no reason to root for one over the other.
This episode utterly ruins the protagonists and series for me and any possible interest I could have in seeing more of it.