what i’m watching: avatar the last airbender

Some notes about the few episodes we watched last week (warning! there will be spoilers):

Jet–Leadership’s a big theme in this one. There’s Sokka, the untried provincial, realizing that being the best warrior in his village of women and preteen boys doesn’t mean much. He makes many tactical mistakes, but his moral compass points true. Aang should be the leader because of his power and responsibilities, but–as Sokka puts it–right now he’s just a “goofy kid”.  And then there’s Jet–he’s skilled, he’s been tested, he’s created a successful resistance movement and he’s got an extremely loyal following, yet he’s blinded by his hatred for the Fire Nation. Worse, his glamor has his minions so besotted they do everything he says, including beating up old men and drowning villagefuls of innocents.

I liked the fight involving leaping through autumnal treetops. Nice nod to–Hero, was it?

The Great Divide–filler episode. Had some cutesy stuff, but the two groups were so stereotyped it was hard to care what became of them. And, really the bulk of the danger could’ve been totally avoided if the guide had just said, “Hey dudes, ditch the food, or else the giant crawling bug-things are going to eat us”. Plus I don’t really like Aang lying, even if he did have good intentions.

The Storm–I like the parallels between Zuko’s and Aang’s backstories. Both are so far from home, one banished, the other a runaway from across time. Zuko’s backstory is more compelling simply because of the sheer horror of his punishment, and his deep longing to repair the fracture in his relationship with the Fire Lord. Sir I. had a hard time wrapping his mind around what happened to Zuko–he simply doesn’t have a category for fathers who shoot fireballs at their son’s faces and then banish them in order to teach them a lesson.

The Blue Spirit–This is one of my favorite episodes! Great action, great music (ever notice how those often those two go together?). Note the massive amount of eyebrow-twitching. The Blue Spirit is a smart, skilled fighter. It’s as if Zuko sheds his insecurities when he puts on that mask. The episode ends on a perfect melancholic note. The Tsungi horn is so haunting.

The Fortune Teller–I totally sympathize with Sokka in this one. *facepalm*