Loyal Macabros… thank you so much for your patience. I originally had planned to have this video out WAY sooner, but a bunch of stuff got in the way. Me and the lady did some traveling in the summer so I sort of put it off and then when we got back I started dealing with some medical crap which threw me off my rhythm and from there it sort of spiraled into a nightmare of anti-productivity, grinding away day by day to just get a least bit of work done. I know this series means a lot to so many of you so I regret taking so long to release it but I hope you enjoy and I hope to get on a better schedule this upcoming year after a bit of a break. Thank you so much for everything and Happy Holidays!
I subscribe and support people for quality content not the speed of which they work. I waited two years for Fredrick Knudsen, a year for Lemmino, 2 years for Kaptain Kristen, a year for hbomber and so on.
I don't think anyone should feel bad for enjoying life or having to deal with what life throws at them. Wishing you all the best with both aspects. Good content is worth waiting for and this is a great, early Christmas present. I did start a comment thread and won't watch this till probably the weekend, I'm just about to go to bed and I've been really busy lately. I want to give this my full attention when I do watch it.
Aang isn’t just holding onto his own personal beliefs, he is holding onto the belief an entire nation. As the last air bender, it’s his responsibility to carry the air nation’s beliefs with him, since if he lets them go, it’s as if the air nation was entirely forgotten, but he must carry it’s will onto this new world and not let it be forgotten
yeah exactly. i also really disagree with yangchen understanding aang's situation because she fundamentally can't. she's also an air nomad but in her life, she wasn't the only one. giving up the air nomad philosophy for the greater good is all well and good when there are like thousands or millions of other air nomads but it's really a different story when you're literally the only air nomad left. other avatars can maintain a level of detachment from their cultures or the world and so on but if aang tries to do that, he risks the erasure of his entire culture. i think the fix should be introducing aang's inner turmoil before, maybe at some point in season 2 when he's dealing with the events of the season 1 finale. he definitely killed people in the avatar state and it would be a good point to introduce the concept of aang not wanting to kill ozai but still having to find a way to eliminate him as a threat. and then at some point later in season 2 or possibly early in season 3, they introduce the concept of energy bending, aang learns it over the course of an episode or two and suddenly energy bending isn't a deus ex machina anymore but a skill aang had to work for and learn
Not only is it his responsibility as the last Airbender, but as the Avatar as well. The Avatar has a responsibility to all the nations and their cultures, which includes thier beliefs if you ask me.
I think Azula shooting Aang with lightning in the Book 2 finale will always be one of the most shocking cliffhangers in tv history. Seriously, what an iconic moment.
That's because she broke a fundamental unwritten rule: never interrupt the protagonist when they're powering up. ... Which is on point with her character since she's the type to not give an F about the rules 😂
@@santosic well it was pis that she got him like that since why did he have to float when he went into AS he never did that before? and he went exact at the spot a sharp rock was
I adore the scene with Yang Chen. Aang tells her that the monks taught him to respect all life, and that to be at peace, one must detach themselves from the world. Then Yang Chen tells him "That's great for the other monks, Aang. But you can never have that. You are the Avatar; it's your JOB to care about the world." It goes so hard, it felt like a ton of bricks hitting me when I first saw it."
thats not why we hate the great divide... its because growing up, it was LITERALLY the most re-aired episode, actually being shown damn near every day. we have fatigue with it, aside from it just being straight filler but that could be said about a couple others too
I swear it was also the episode that would be on when you finally got a family member/friend to watch the show with you. And then they watch it and were just Uh I guess this show is...fine.
Invader Zim had an episode like this where the main character (an alien) was abducted by other aliens for being a perfect specimen of a human. It is my least favorite episode for the sole reason that it has two of the most annoying characters ever made that it focuses half its runtime on, as well as playing at least 3 times a week. Every week. For years. 🫠
@@MacabreStorytellingMy old Dish DVR I had EVERY episode set to record on Nickelodeon, and I had dramatically far over 150 copies of The Divide. It was bad.
The fact that you specifically use the language “young girl” with Azula does tell a lot about the seen but not spoken parts of her character. She wears high-heeled boots, shoulder pads and lip stick in an effort to look older and larger when in those few short moments we see her without those items she genuinely is young and small. It adds even more tragedy to her.
I think one of the best Katara episodes is the desert. Her strength, empathy and care always gets me. She truly knows Aang. She understands his anger and even ignores his emotional outbursts and gives him the only thing he needs in this situation. He doesn't need words, just a hug and a reminder that he has family and people who deeply care about him. One of the most beautiful scenes in the entire show.
Weirdly, I think Azula's character arc is a perfect mirror of Zuko's. She had everything through fear, you see this when Ty Lee didn't want to go with her and was scared of her, and slowly loses more and more as Zuko gains more and more. Eventually culminating in Zuko finding inner peace while Azula can't even trust her own mind. My heart hurts for her every time I see the mirror scene because it's a desperate, internal, cry for self love and she can't trust it because she doesn't believe she's deserving of love.
The only critique I could give azulas arc, is that her fall to madness should have been given more time. But the video kind of touches on that in how book 3 kinda rushes to the end
I think the consequence of Aang killing Ozai isn't spelled out as much as it could be, but in my mind it is that violence in itself incites a cycle of violence. Aang sees that throughout the series that the past Avatars solving these problems with violence leads to problems that the next Avatar and the world deals with as consequence. The essential messaging is that in order to do something no one has done before, you need to find new solutions that comes from inner belief. The Lion Turtle I've always seen functioning just as well if it were entirely within Aang's mind during meditation. Spirit bending requiring your will to be resolute is in line with the messaging; you have to fully commit to the method or you will be overcome by the antithetical spirit you are bending. It absolutely is a deus ex machina but my unpopular opinion is that it works well. Violence in the world is only quelled by new conflict resolution methods. Violence is essentially a solution when you can't figure out a method and you've run out of time before the opposition threatens you/those you care about. Many will call for it to be deployed hastily without putting in the effort of finding the resolution. Besides it being introduced suddenly, I think people don't like that message because they view the character having to compromise their views for the greater good as the mature decision. I prefer the choice to have a character stick with their morality despite outside forces and that resolve being rewarded with ingenuity. I don't think it's necessary to show a bad Avatar like your suggestion. I think the theme of short-term solutions having long term consequences is explored enough in the show that the choice to find a better solution makes sense. I don't think it's about him losing control but rather the complex decision of when to use violence as a solution and when to go with your own instincts when they are in conflict with everyone else's views.
It needed more build up as it comes in very quickly, relatively speaking. I also think the whole fight should've showed Aang struggling internally with this dilemma, being part of why Ozai is overpowering him so much. Cue the Avatar state being activated and Aang rising up to rival and then overpower Ozai; I think there then should've been a moment where primal Avatar-state Aang is clearly intending on killing Ozai, maybe do some visual trick where Ozai sees Roku's face in Aang's, only for Aang's personal consciousness to break through and fight back against this transgenerational urge to end the Fire Lord. That's just one thought experiment on how the pay off of taking away his bending could've been executed better
@@nathanlevesque7812 I thought of that example when explaining my interpretation. I think what the show should have done is delve into that as a question. Would that have actually prevented all the violence? The Avatar assassinating the ruler of the fire nation doesn't undo the goals and infrastructure they had built up. Sozen has a strong successor in Azulon already. Roku at the time was not in his prime. If anything, killing Sozen may have catalyzed the fire nation's efforts and made them even more zealous in snuffing out the next Avatar. It could be as simple as Roku killing Sozen would've solved everything, but it is not necessarily true that killing Ozai is the correct call even given that. I wish the show was more explicit in exploring these themes, but I like that the ending at least hints at these interesting moral quandaries. I'm generous in my interpretation for sure, but I really like it as a closure for Aang's arc since it feels like him becoming the Avatar through his individuality and earned confidence in himself. It is a futurist resolution for a modern monomyth.
In regards to your take on how quickly Katara became a Master Waterbender, I feel like it was shown even really early how powerful she was when she was running on instinct and emotion. Hell, she revealed the iceberg in episode one by cracking the other layers on accident while pissed off. Her rapid growth I always took as her finally getting a chance to explore her abilities and being given proper direction. She reached the levels she was at by figuring it out on her own, in her spare time, with zero help. The moment she had as much time as she wanted and even a hint of a teaching tool, she excelled. I took her story as one of those “oh this woman is a Master Artist/Writer/Musician but because of her Female Duties she couldn’t discover it until she had the opportunity.” Which has its flaws but also gave her great moments such as her duel at the end of Season 1 where she’s running off sheer adrenaline and instinct and is keeping up with a well experienced Master of her craft.
@@MacabreStorytellingOn a rewatch, you will notice Katara is practicing water bending in the background of conversations in basically every episode. The scenes are not ABOUT her practicing, but she is practicing while she's carrying on conversations. It is there. Heck, the first scene we ever see of her is like that. The writers did set up her skills well in advance. The show is even better on your 2nd watch because you notice things like that.
@@William-the-Guy Precisely, Katara is naturally gifted already,she just needed the push to truly get to Master Water bender levels, as the Northern water tribe Master noticed, she literally was practicing at every chance she got, 24/7, as she loves her ability, and only wants to be the best water bender that she can possibly be, I think the show depicts all elemental abilities of the main cast and how they improve over the course of the series perfectly.
@@NerdyGamerReactsMy point was not just about her natural talent. It was that she put in the hours. The show did take the trouble show her practising all the time, so her skill level by the end of season 1 was plausible. that's the opposite of Rey or the other "Mary Sue" characters who just arrive inexplicably awesome.
Thank you for defending Bato of the Water Tribe!! That is exactly how I feel about the episode, and it upsets me that people think Aang lying like that is out of character.
I also agree with your characterization of Azula. She is the heartless villain of season 2 and then shows in the beach trip that she is lonely and just as much a product of war as Zuko and the other characters. While Azula has thrived in this world, Zuko has struggled. Azula is still broken though and can't have normal relationships like the other characters. Others are a means to an end from her and thats not because she is inherently bad but because thats what she has been raised to see people as. She still yearns for validation and connection from others but can't cultivate her side of these relationships because of her upbringing. She does not learn from her mistakes and slowly gets crushed and driven mad by it leading to her defeat at Katara's hands. Its telling that when she gets captured, after severly wounding her brother no less, her defeat is seemingly meant to evoke pity instead of accomplishment.
I was too old when this show came out but my daughter got into it a few years ago. Miracle is the right way to describe this show, absolutely a wonderful piece of media for the past generations
I discovered the show in my 30s myself while watching a few episodes with my nephew and actually took the effort to watch more of the show on my own, it is just an impressive piece of media.
My favorite character. Such a humble man, yet powerful, wise, and kind. I cringe every time I see him in the first half of the first season. I feel like the writers didn't know where they were going with the character. Turns out he is the best.
@OweOweOweOwen i think it makes a lot of sense. They spent years just sailing around and iroh has a genuine and humorous character which we see more early on because theirs less at stake during the first part of the book 1 but as the story progresses he becomes more serious while still being funny and it fits with the showing getting more serious
@@XionicalXionicaloh they knew. Just that it is also part of iroh. After the failure of the siege of ba sing sae, he is seen as a coward by a lot of fire nation (zhao, but even zuko also calls him lazy and weak). So it s understandable that the man would learn selfderision and humility. I believe he is also trying to teach that to zuko in the first book. Because as said later "humility is the antidote to shame" and zuko feels ashamed (all the honour obsession)
@@XionicalXionical I don’t know… that kinda seems like the point. I honestly think it makes him a stronger character for it, and they don’t go as far as Bumi to do it.
@@XionicalXionical Iroh coming off as comic relief yet mixed with his moments of wisdom in early book 1 is what made his character even better, because the audience sees how dynamic he is too. He's not just wise but also humble, kind, and carefree when he wants to be. He balanced Zuko's early book 1 angst, but just like Zuko's character growth throughout the rest of the show, Iroh changes with him to provide him the lessons and truths he needs to hear.
Ever since I’ve rewatched the show on Netflix it just hasn’t left me. I went years without seeing the show after watching the premiere of the final. And the show just completely changes what I focus on as I’ve aged. I know that a friend of mine literally fixed his life because he followed uncle irohs advice in the show in his 30s. I don’t understand how this kind of show was ever able to be made.
@@MacabreStorytelling my favorite quote from him is the one about not giving into despair, before him and Zuko break up. Just a perfect bit of truth that is would be melodramatic and weak in another show.
I swear if the Netflix remake deviates even the most important plot points of the show, I'm going to be more pissed than how Katara gets whenever she gets told to calm down.
@@osmanyousif7849yes, but also I think we can all agree that we don’t just want a live action repeat, or else you get the Lion King which was the exact same story, almost down to some of the dialogue. But also can’t have what that horrible movie did. If I wanted to watch the same story I’d just watch the og. They gotta make it different enough to keep og fans on their feet so they arent as comfortable thinking they know what’s gonna happen. But also keep the big plot points to stay true to the show. I’m ok if they shift some stuff around, even make some new characters that weren’t in the og show, as long as the keep the big main plot points, like zukos arc, and stuff. I’m ok if it’s a little different and I think we gotta be prepared for that. Like the Last of Us. The show is a great adaptation but it isn’t a 1:1 To me, it’s gonna have to come down to how good the fights and dialogue between characters is.
@@famedset1162 , I think like the creators should do what video mentioned and try and fill in more of the minor plot holes like energy bending being explored way earlier or try and give more time for Katara's arc like in Seasons 1 and 2, or just more of Toph in the finale.
I was in the age range for ATLA when it first aired and it was the talk on the bus and in school. I'm glad a newer generation is being introduced to this masterpiece. ATLA was peak Nickelodeon. Not sorry! 💛
I was born in 1997, so ATLA came along at the perfect time for me. I remember the first time I tuned in-it was a cold winter’s night, I got home from a Cubs’ Scout meeting with a recommendation. Turns out it was the third episode, where they just straight up show a dead body. So of course I was hooked from there on.
In Book 2 Episode 10, the gaang finds a drawing of a Lion Turtle. Adding the fact that this is a library maintained by a spirit who knows many things, this would've been the perfect scene for them to find history on energy bending.
@@MacabreStorytelling The lion turte appears in other places as well. There are lion turtle statues in master Piandao's garden and in air temples. The origin of bending never comes up during this series. It's such a vast rich universe so they couldn't cover it all in 3 seasons. The lion turtle says to bend another's energy, your own energy must be unbendable. I think it's Aang's unwaivering determination to find a solution that will protect his peoples' beliefs and way of life that triggered a lion turtle to show up after 10,000 years.
I actually felt Katara's waterbending skills weren't arbitrary but very naturally developed and hard-earned. Firstly, we already begin by seeing that she has somewhat raw power over water when she gets angry. Once she begins traveling, she's constantly practicing throughout season 1 with or without Aang (she's seen practicing in the background of scenes extremely often). Both before and after the waterbending scroll episode that shows she's yet to surpass Aang, she still never stops practicing and never stops battling with waterbending until they reach the North pole, while Aang mostly sticks to airbending. Most notably, she's always being thrown into battles, giving her so much first-hand experience in waterbending combat and resourcefulness as opposed to the Northern tribe boys which were restricted to a low stake, water-abundant classroom setting. (and Aang since he mostly stuck to airbending at this point). So, as soon as she got proper formal training, it's not surprising at all that she excelled so quickly, with her eagerness to learn and the sheer amount of experience. Pakku himself summarizes this quite nicely: "Katara, you've advanced more quickly than any other student I've ever trained. You have proven that with fierce determination, passion and hard work, you can accomplish anything. Raw talent alone is not enough (referring to Aang who was naturally good but didn't work nearly as hard as Katara did nor use it in battle as much as she did)." Her constant practicing and battles before reaching the North Pole was more than enough to convince me of her attaining the master status in no time. Though I agree that on a purely first watch these could've been quite subtle and hard to notice, and some more screen time of Katara training at the North Pole would've helped more.
Glad you're taking the suggestion of being less recap-ey to heart. So many video game/movie/tv series critics on UA-cam just rattle on about what happens instead of adding actual commentary in their critiques. Most of the people going through the hoops of watching a video about a popular media likely already watched it, there's no reason to recap the thing!
I think with katara being able to learn from pacu it is actually more interesting with him changing his mind due to consequences in his life rather than her abilities. People who are stuck in such strict mentalities like “girls’ can’t do ….” Due to culture aren’t going to change their minds easily, even when faced with direct proof that women are in fact capable. They will come up with reasons to continue to maintain their sense of what is right and wrong even when faced with evidence to the contrary. They will make excuses like “but even if you can it wouldn’t be right” “it’s just not proper” “it’s always been this way” “we can’t make an exception” etc. so it makes sense that it takes something that impacted him personally to finally change his mind. It doesn’t cheapen Katara’s display of bending power, it highlights how despite how amazing she is, traditions are hard to break. And stubbornness is hard to break away from
Came here to say exactly this. As a woman myself, I personally saw his argument there as a lapse in judgement as most men like to think "Oh well if she can prove herself as special & better than other girls then ofc she'll get what she wants in the end", cause that's what's pushed down our throats as kids, but when you actually grow up, especially as a woman, you see just how much of a blatant lie this is. Like women have literally been proving themselves from the beginning of time & yet here we are 😂😂
@@breadeater1194 The video maker nevee said she should've beaten him. He said that having her fight him AT ALL was completely unnecessary, because it played no significant role in getting Pakku to train her. He never once implies that her skill is part of the reason he accepts her, so why have them duel? Why not just have him notice the necklace during one of their arguments, and let it reach the same conclusion? The solution would've been having Pakku clarify that it was more than _just_ the necklace that changed his mind, and Katara's display of courage and determination also genuinely resonated with him.
Arguing that the Avatar can "fall to the dark side" is the exact reason that him not having a consequence of becoming a dark avatar is more nuanced in my opinion. The horror of having to take another human life against your will haunts people, and would for someone who views all living life the way Aang does. I think the sacrifice to preserve his moral self-image in that way is unique compared to someone avoiding some palpable and foretold terrible conclusion. He truly believes that he does not have the right to end another person's life - the mirror to the idea that small sacrifices, no matter how heinous and against your morals, can be justified at some magnitude (different for every person) and triumphs as the sorrow of our human condition.
I 100% agree with your criticism about Aang's arc in the finale. This is a criticism I've had as well for a long time, and I feel like it would have worked a lot better if, to your point, there had been greater consequences for killing Ozai and if energy bending had been introduced earlier so that, even if Aang was dead set against killing Ozai, it would seem less irresponsible since it would be clear that he had a Plan B. To build on your Star Wars example, Luke says repeatedly before the final battle that he believes Darth Vader still has good in him, so when Vader saves him at the end, it's not a deus ex machina, it's Luke's bet paying off. If they had introduced energy bending earlier and made it clear Aang was betting on that strategy to defeat Ozai without having to betray his principles, it would seem a lot less selfish. What kills me is that the lion turtle is even foreshadowed in The Library episode in season 2. I feel like that would have been a perfect opportunity for them to introduce the concept and then have the quest to find the lion turtle be a core story arc of season 3 alongside the Day of Black Sun and Sozin's Comet. Definitely would have been a better option than all the filler arcs they had instead.
Yeah it’s a shame because I know the writers had to work around the restrictions they were given but given how the show was so good at setup and payoff the LT seemed to be I such stark contrast as to how deus ex machina they was.
Took me so long to realize why the fire nation was capturing waterbenders with stupid nets instead of fighting them with firebending. If they thought the avatar died somehow, then the next one would be from the water tribe.
I also heard a theory that the reason Katara’s mother is killed rather than captured is because after Hama escaped using blood bending, the Fire Nation didn’t want to take any chances and decided to kill all waterbenders. Thus Hama’s actions inadvertently led to her murder. Idk how likely that is or if it works in terms of the timeline. But that is a sick ass theory. M
@@MacabreStorytellingin the first (or second?) episode, katara notes that the booby-trapped ship was part of the last wave of raids on the southern water tribe. in hama's flashback, she and other waterbenders are the ones who put that ship there. that means there have been no raids on the southern water tribe at all between hama being taken and kaya being killed. kaya (they thought) was the first southern waterbender they'd seen since hama discovered bloodbending. i'd definitely say it tracks timeline-wise
When you want to be contrarian so hard that you look for other peoples' criticisms to parrot them, only to disagree with what you find anyway. Zuko's arc is truly the GOAT.
Finally someone analyzing the show and understood what I’ve always felt about Kataang. Personally I don’t hate the ship just the lack of perspective and development of Katara’s feelings reciprocating and just their mother figure/big sis/lil bro dynamic never made sense to me. Plus mind you in Sozin’s comet, they left off on a fight before their kiss in the end. I personally ship Zutara (haters gonna hate idgaf) but not because of the whole corniness that people who Zutara shippers of like the love of the aesthetic of water and fire. I personally saw the potential just because their interactions as the show progressed soooo 🤷🏻♀️
My favorite part about Aang's inner turmoil in the finale is that it's basically the two halves of the show's name fighting to see who Aang decides to be, and neither really loses. The energy bending is still a weird deus ex though.
@paracosmic4124 I mean if you wanna argue on the super vague side, Tai Li's chi blocking has shown us that bending can be hindered. And Aang leaving the Guru mid training locking the avatar state links the flow of energy in the body to things like bending ability. It's a massive escalation of the concept, but it's not a COMPLETE ass pull.
@paracosmic4124 I mean if you wanna argue on the super vague side, Tai Li's chi blocking has shown us that bending can be hindered. And Aang leaving the Guru mid training locking the avatar state links the flow of energy in the body to things like bending ability. It's a massive escalation of the concept, but it's not a COMPLETE ass pull.
I watched atla on a whim for the first time when i was 20. It sounds corny but i really think it changed my life. Even 10 years later, a lot of the lessons on the importance of humility and staying true to your values have really stuck with me. It spoke to me in a way very few pieces of art do.
30:20 nah, I agree with you there. As a certified adolescent, I can say that Kataang never felt right. I thought it was just a one sided crush most of the time, so imagine my surprise when they actually became a couple. I think that Zutara works much better thematically, and it just feels right. Even though Katara is only two years apart from the both of them (she’s 14, Aang’s 12, and Zuko’s 16) her and Zuko feel more like the same age because of the similarities in their upbringing and how fast they had to grow up.
Just because Zuko and Katara share the same trauma through their mothers doesn't mean they work better. It was not a one sided affair. Katara has shown hints since season 1.
@@MacabreStorytelling Soooooo, let me put a rebuttal here. Firstly, I'm 30 now and totally agree about the romance being one of the weaker parts of the series. However, when the show first aired in the 2000s I was a teenager and didn't think so at all. The romantic subplots were all really important and interesting to me. Even back then I think the story made sense the way they did it. Katara was indeed a motherly type for the group, but she also seeks to be a young woman almost from the get go. She developes little crushes on guys like Haru, Jet and yes also Aang if you consider the Cave of Two Lovers. I think she's just branching out at this point. Finding out what's possible for her while also shouldering a tremendous burden. She obviously felt a little something for Zuko as well down in that cave under the Earth King Palace. It's in season 3 when she finally sees Aangs feelings for what they really are and I think, DECIDES, to reciprocate. She had gotten burnt twice with guys before and Aang was just a logical choice for her. We can't forget that these kids all belong to the Elite of the Avatar world and they continously throughout the series make decisions that put themselves in danger in order to achieve a better world. They all grew up in wealth and/or political power. Aang is the Avatar, Sokka and Katara are the chief's kids and their grandmother is also tribe's eldest, Toph grew up a Billionaire's kid, Zuko and Azula are selfevident. They all grew up as political leaders in some way, except Aang I guess, that's why he has to learn it throughout. For every other major character it's actually second nature to lead, from the get go. That's why I think Katara makes a conscious decision to forge a very powerful alliance with Aang. Nothing in the show suggests that any of the characters would prioritize their romantic feelings over their politics and that's part of why Kataang makes sense. We might not love it or understand it, but we all grew up a very different way than these kids and thus our cultural values are bound to be a little different. It makes sense in-universe for them to be together.
PS: I personally think it would've been far--fetched that Katara would agree to take a firebender as man when she obviously has been so traumatized. I know we had some episodes where she worked through it a little bit, but her mother's death will obviously stay with her for much longer, happening at such an impressionable age.
I completely disagree. There’s many romantic implications within the story for katara and and aang I only that. Both characters feed off of each other and feed off of into their developments
Regarding the great divide. I always loved the episode and never understood why others disliked it. Another good point this episode has is that both Katara and Sokka after hearing their respective tribes version of story give in to the biased narrative without giving it a second thought, this moment is even further amplified by showing that they both were presupposed to support whom they supported because they liked those tribes habits and lets say hygiene? So the idea that our heroes consider someone to be truthful just because of their personal preferances was interesting for a 10-year old me. And the last point about the solution to the problem between tribes. I don't know how Aang's story being made up makes it somehow invalid, as we have never seen any of the tribes' interpretations to be 100% true. Aang just came up with a view to the story that emphsized two brothers' unity, and it being not necessarily true is not important, any other alternative is not either.
If the story told us clearly that Aang's story was true then it would give in to the idea that animosity and rivalry are justified if your version if history is true. And if Aang didnt know the truth(which he didnt), the problem of hatred between tribes becomes unsolvable. The show here goes deeper and presents the ancient narrative as a myth and admits that the truth simply cannot be found. Before Aangs deception both tribes viewd their version of events as the only true one, but the fact that they wanted to see it as truth doesnt mean it is. We as viewers may even doubt that Wei Jin and Jin Wei ever existed. And Aang by adding another made up story to a pair of other made up stories in my opinion is not morally wrong. At least his narration emphsized unity and brotherhood.
The Great Divide was one of the most, if not THE most re-run episode of the show. Because it was isolated from other episodes and characterized Sokka and Katara well, I guess they thought it wouldn't be confusing.
I agree with the fact that Aang and Kataras relationship was pretty mid. But I disagree about Zuko and Katara. We don’t NEED a romantic relationship to make a story good. Besides we already have Suki and Sokka so they could’ve just flushed that one out a little bit more.
To me it felt like at the time the main guy and main girl romance was kind of an obligatory trope. So they just followed convention even though it didn't actually make sense for the characters they'd written. Reminds me of Harry and Ginny lol.
@@IshtarNike "Reminds me of Harry and Ginny lol." What you talking about? They are a great couple in the books. Its only the movies that gave them bad dialogue and welp, the two actiors having *no chemistry at all* together... Thats btw one benefit of animation. You can bring all emotions that you want to the screen by having only talented voice actors. You won't have the risk of real life actors not having chemistry together or simply being bad at playing a character.
@@IshtarNike I believe there was an interview years later where the creators admitted to wanting to have Zuko and Katara get together, but higher upside at Nick forced their hand into that trope
1:29:40 well not really, the 1st book doesnt show us that Aang is a more natural water bender than Katara, it shows us that Aang caught up to Katara in a short amount of time and that frustrates her. We cannot discount the fact that Katara is the only bender from a tribe that has lost all its benders and its bending knowledge over the years of the war, from her perspective she might aswell be the first waterbender in the world, she didnt just have to teach herself, she essentially had to invent her bending style.At the start of the 1st book we see Katara struggle to even control the direction her bending goes in, she doesnt even have the fundamentals to build bending style upon. Aang on the other hand is already a master airbender (to the point where he has developed his own unique technique) by the time Katara teaches him waterbending so he has a very firm grasp on the basics like control and movement and thus needs only a little practice to catch up to what meagre knowledge and techniques she had developes over the years and that naturally frustrates her.
This was such a fun and refreshing analysis and review of a timeless show from a rare perspective of an adult. I would LOVE to see you do Korra as well -- a much more flawed show, but some incredible peaks and more deep storytelling.
On watching this as a kid vs as an adult... Both me and a friend watched Avatar after we technically became adults (I was 20ish, she was 25ish), and we were both absolutely blown away by the series. She named one of her cats Zuko. It's still kidlike adventurous fun, lots of the episodes are basically just good D&D sessions, but it takes its subject matter seriously and indeed does not talk down to its audience. It's also just sheer good writing. Zuko's storyline is kind of a cliché but it's just so well done you can't help but feel blown away when he says sorry to Iroh, or the final Azula fight. So to me, it's not rosetinted glasses. Literally can't be. Didn't watch it as a kid :D My favorite season was season 2 too. I think Korra tried to hit the same strides a few times (the plot in season 2 was incredibly dense both in Airbender and Korra), but they just fell over themselves there. Stuff like that is hard to pull off! It's incredible that season 2 is so tight and works. So much stuff going on.
39:22 I think it’s the part of what makes Toph’s chemistry with the Gaang work so well especially because this matches 1:1 with how Toph herself actually wants to be treated; unabashedly and without coddling. But I also liked how even that still got some “pushback” with Iroh refuting the idea of there being any shame with (needing to) rely on others, particularly people who care and respect you, without at all throwing Toph’s desire to be free spirited in the trash.
I also think that with Toph not getting a stand alone story with Zuko was also becsuse she did have a really nice talk with Iroh. She knows who Zuko really is deep down because Iroh wouldnt stop talking about him. That along with her non history with him i think
1:15:05 About the Western Air Temple, way I see it, Sokka being the one who ends up taking down Combustion Man and not Zuko is vital for the main message of Zuko’s arc, and portrayal of the Gaang. They end up accepting him because he proved his point not by stopping the assassin, but because he TRIED to do so despite the great danger (I mean he almost fell down). The point of Ozai’s poor parenting is that he only rewarded his kids if they were suceeding no matter the ways they employed and so he didn’t care at all how much they tried if they didn’t. In contrast, Iroh and the Gaang clearly value people’s intentions above the results (by the way, if you notice, in the episode Sokka goes like « Hey, what about me ? I did the boomerang thing ? » but they don’t give a damn because they already valued Sokka for his dedication (that he himself totally deserves) since the very beginning). Similarly, Toph dosen't get mad at him for burning her feet because she understood it was only accidental. This itself also serves as a lesson of humility shown also in the finale as Katara ends up being the one taking down Azula, which is something Book 1 Zuko would never have accepted. The whole point of Zuko’s character being that he keeps trying no matter how often he fails.
Eh.. I don't think this is a very strong argument. It's not about whether the Gaang would've accepted him regardless of his failure, its about the fact that having Sokka be the one to finish it didn't really add much to either of their arcs (it also felt rather anti-climactic, and less personal). Like you said, Sokka's role in it was glossed over. Whereas giving Zuko that hard earned moment of triumph would've meant more in the moment. Absolutely nothing would've been lost either, because he would've still been putting his life on the line anyway. The Gaang could still acknowledge the way he proved his intentions 🤷🏿♂️
I definitely gotta agree with the part on Azula's end, I know a lot of people think she should have been redeemed or her end is too cruel but I like it as the mirror to Zuko; she had opportunities to change and it's not that she just chose not to but that she lacked the positive influence and fell to despair, it continues the themes of environment shaping people and shows what Zuko could've been without Iroh and their experiences outside the fire kingdom. Whether or not it was intended it adds so much nuance to Azula and I think a huge part of that is because they grew up in the same environment, just with different people guiding them. Also so glad you spotlighted Sokka so much, while he's one of the lesser used of the main cast his arc is perfect and his insecurities and more serious moments are so surprisingly realistic and handled with care. Aang's final conflict I think works (deus ex machina aside) just fine if the idea is that he can't find a better way out, but the lack of setup with energy bending sucks the gravitas out of his decision. Perhaps you could've had him going into the fight prepared to kill but seeing Ozai defeated he tries energy bending, maybe if the bending fails it would kill them both or something and show him grappling with his choice after the fact too, wondering if leaving the world without an avatar would've been worth the risk just so he could selfishly preserve his own conscience, hammer home that he's still an inexperienced kid having to make hard choices and his role is needed in the post war world. I would (of course like everyone here) be interested in seeing your analysis of Korra, while I'm sure you'd pick up on all the same criticisms the show usually receives I'd be interested to see what positive aspects you take away from it, as somewhat of an outsider and self professed contrarian.I'm sure you'd find some interesting perspectives that make me reconsider my own opinions on the show. Loved the video as usual, keep doing what you're doing, you've already gotten me to start watching 2 TV shows now and your passion is infectious! The new format is really excellent as someone familiar with the source material, it really gets to the meat of the analysis and has an excellent flow but I do worry about how it works for people unfamiliar.
That's crazy. I remember ending up rewatching just The Boiling Rock on its own lately for reasons I can't really remember and being smacked in the face at how fucking good this show is, yet again! It has one of my favorite dynamics ever. Zuko and Sokka being BFFs is everything to me. I think it makes sense for Sokka to go save his father. There's a difference between wanting to go see his father in Bato of the Water Tribe because he misses him, and then wanting to go save his father from a literal Fire Nation Prison after he got captured following an invasion planned by Sokka himself. This episode is also about Sokka as a leader making calls and trusting his gut. Yes, maybe going on his own without any real plan was probably a terrible idea, but I don't think the sentiment was off. I think the episode also once again shows Sokka ingenuity, coming up with the plan with the cooler, etc. Also it being a two parter makes sense I think, especially compared to the other Zuko Fieldtrips. They literally got stuck in a Fire Nation prison, the one notorious for being impossible to escape. The other one was visiting some old ruins, and some guy at his mom's house.
I'm so happy to see an analysis from another Zutara supporter. I also watched the show for the first time as an adult and couldn't get past the mother/big sister vibe that Katara has regarding Aang. I wonder if that might have anything to do with the fact that I was older when I was introduced to the show and had a better grasp on what a healthy relationship dynamic is. There wasn't any nostalgia goggles clouding up my ability to see that a relationship where the power dynamics are uneven from the start because one person is clearly a caretaker or mother like figure to the other one is not a healthy start for a relationship at least not a romantic one.
As young teen without any real life romantic experience i was all-in on the classic "nice guy main char gets the main girl"-trope, but even after a few years seeing the finale of Avatar, i switched to the Zutara side (even tho i still would be fine with no romantic interest for Zuko at all). This relationship just feels more natural and poetic at the same time, just think about the amazing comeback to the fortuneteller quote "he is a powerful bender" in this way, which would be completely unexpected in season 1. I also think that overcoming your first crush is a good lesson to teach kids. Aang literally falls in love with the first girl he sees (the air temples being split into one-gender populations) and there isn't actually much there for the relationship next to this "its my first crush"-situation. Even Aang and Toph have more on-screen-chemistry together than Aang and Katara. Sometimes the lesson is "wait for the right one, instead going for the first option".
I was target audience when I watched the show and I also was team Zutara. katara having motherly/big sis energy with aang and ending in romance felt weird to me
Except Aang at the end of the show is not the same Aang at the start. The notion that Zuko fits better with Katara is a delusion. Saying she's essentially just "caretaker" is demeaning her relationship with Aang. Seeds were planted since the beginning.
I noticed that subtle shout out to Overanalyzing Avatar, nice editing! Edit: Okay. Here goes. I was right at the target age when Avatar came out, and was heavily invested in the show until the very end. I was born in 1994 and grew up on Toonami, mainly DragonBall Z, which was on the other channel, Cartoon Network. As someone who was there as it happened, who had watched the show every step of the way, who had grown up a massive animation fan, it never once occurred to me that Aang couldn't kill Ozai due to network restrictions. Avatar is most certainly anime inspired, and the most popular anime on cable (DBZ) had featured a violent death for all but 3 characters (Gohan, Dende, and Hercule), and the main character twice. Again, this was on the other channel for years before Avatar came out. So the Lion Turtle works for me to this day. It's still rushed, but 1) I can buy in that Aang not killing Ozai is a choice that affects the narrative from a character perspective, and not a meta perspective, and 2) showing Aang bow to the Lion Turtle immediately speaks volumes, considering that Aang is kind of flippant towards authority figures, including spirits. The Avatar being the bridge between the spirit world and the human world is the least touched upon role of his throughout the show - which also works for me. It keeps the spirits mysterious and powerful, and Aang definitely has to place priority on his bending and the human world instead of interacting with spirits throughout the show. Considering this was the season 3 spirit encounter as well, it works for me. Last ditch Avatar-only options are being explored due to the pressure Aang is feeling now that time is up. I feel like people's mileage varies so much compared to mine because they look at the conflict outside of the narrative. The big argument I keep hearing is "Nickelodeon wouldn't allow Aang to ice this fool", but Nickelodeon definitely allowed the swamp bender kaiju to get blown up, Aang getting fake out killed by Azula in book 2, Jet getting killed but being very clever about it and then later lampshade it, and Aang definitely killing Zhao in book 1. On that last one: yes, the narrative says that Aang was in the Avatar state + ocean spirit and had no control, but standards and practices definitely says that Aang still just killed Zhao. If you think the Lion Turtle was rushed (which it kinda was, but it works for me anyway because seasonal powerful spirit encounter), then that's fine, but going "kid's show" on it just doesn't hold water to me.
Finally you made a vid about something I actually watched… I’m so excited for this I fully feel vindicated by the whole Zutara thing now… it just makes much more sense. Would’ve been much better to have him end up with someone else
I recently rewatched this series with my 7yr old daughter. She had loved Dragon Prince and Avatar had similar vibes. She loved it and even as a little kid she appreciated the complexity of the characters. And as a parent it’s nice to have something I can also enjoy (Minecraft let’s play are not my jam lol )
Your daughter has good tastes. Shows like this need to be seen at least once by children, if nothing else than to show them what real entertainment looks like.
34:04 they weren’t allowed to show murder on screen because it’s a kids show but Kyoshi makes it clear that she doesn’t value the distinction between Chin falling or her killing him. It still gives the same message that when the Avatar does something big, intentional or not heads will roll. That message later gets subverted of course so I think it all still works even tho Kyoshi doesn’t crush him with a big rock lol.
Hot take, but I love the way the Great Divide ended. Aang knew peace was more important than WHATEVER their petty squable was based on. Lying was the chaotic good choice, and probably the only choice that led to success. That's the act of a true uniter. They based their entire cultural separation on nothing more than an oral story. Why not unite those cultures with a new oral story? Either way, one of the two tribes was wrong, and that would have only caused more separation. Aang's way had them both being wrong, and uniting in the end. Who else but the Avatar, with his age and authority, could have convinced these two cultures to completely rewrite their founding stories? Katara and Sokka found themselves being pulled in by the stories of each tribe, only to come together at the end and realize they were only supporting the sides that favored them. As Sokka said "I only cared because they fed me" or something along those lines. They didn't care about the cultures stories, just that it supported their ideology and they felt validated. Aang didn't need any kind of validation from either tribe, and just wanted to make it out of the canyon. Sokka and Katara were doing what they felt they had to, and Aang was doing what he felt he had to. If it meant getting out of here alive, why wouldn't he lie?
Tl;dr, Aang sees fighting as a bigger "sin" than lying. He makes a judgement call, and potentially ends centuries of conflict. This idea informs a lot about who Aang is going forward. It's not a coincidence that this episode is placed right before he lies to Sokka and Katara about the message about their father.
can confirm, zutara was a wildly popular ship at the time the show was airing...like to the point that the creators got annoyed about it lol. you can tell because they poke fun at it in the Ember Island Players episode. tbh I don't think most of us really thought it would be canon but personally I was a little salty that they dismissed the idea so outright. but yeah Avatar was my first exposure to the whole idea of "shipping" and to online fandom as we see it today in terms of there being an actual dialogue between fans and creators during the run of the show
Saying the idea never even crosses their minds is just so blatantly untrue that it's insulting. They were playing with the "opposites attract" dynamic from the beginning. Just say you debated and decided against it omg.
I understand your take on Aang's conflict, but I think there's one thing you're forgetting: he's a literal damn child. He was 12 at the beginning of the series and we don't even know if he even reached 13 before the end of it. Trauma and hard decisions weigh heavier on children than on adults. In fact, even as an almost 21 year old I can recognize how terrifying and life-ending certain circumstances and choices were to me back when I was 16, which wouldn't feel as awful or overwhelming now that I'm older. I could have never dealt with what I've had to deal with as an adult a few years ago back when I was still a teenager, and that isn't to say I didn't have to deal with a lot back then, but I can recognize now that I didn't have the right coping mechanisms to properly address the issues I was facing at that age. I'm better now but even now, as an adult, I can recognize that there are a lot of things that I need to work on and improve about myself and the way I deal with life in general. I know that there are certain harmful patterns that I need to correct and I'm actively working on them, but that doesn't mean I won't have any difficulty making decisions that might seem obvious for someone who doesn't have the same baggage that I do. Knowing what to prioritize and what not to, what's more important for the greater good, is something that comes with age and experience, something that an already traumatized 12 year old is in no way equipped to handle. So I understand his struggle and why it was such a hard choice for Aang to make, in the end. (English isn't my first language so I hope you all can keep that in mind if you're gonna correct my grammar or punctuation. I don't mind criticism, I just don't like it when people are mean about it for no reason)
Believe it or not that was completely unintentional. I am aware of OA’s channel but in that moment I just decided to put that clip of Sokka there and then only realized after the fact that it came off like a reference lol
I didn't watch this show until I was 20, right before Korra came out. It was still great then, and I'm rewatching and it's still great. The world building is remarkable and thought out, I'm seeing so much I missed.
So with the evil avatar idea, this is kinda covered in expanded material, the avatar is responsible for maintaining balance between humans and spirits, and many avatars kinda pick one over the other, Yangchen didn't really help the spirits, so Kuruk had to pick up the slack, which put Kyoshi in charge of fixing the human world, which made Roku have to work harder with the spirits, which led to the world Aang now has to navigate.
1:25:07 You don’t have to be the “chosen one” to be the hero. Being a hero is a matter of choice through discipline, perseverance and the biggest desire to fight for what’s right.
I grew up with a blind father, i loved toph it was just so natural i even forgot she was blind just like i often forgot my father was, blind people are amazing with how they can still do things even with limited/ no vision
I follow a few analysis content creators and I really love your work. I wanted to comment fresh because I know I will love this but I'm just about to go to bed and want to give this my full attention. I watched Avatar for the first time at almost 40 and fell in love with the show. It's a great show for kids too, but as an adult, I love the humour and love how wholesome the characters are. Although my favourite character is Toph, there are no weak or annoying characters for me.
Great video, but I gotta say… To me, Aang’s whole thing about pacifism THROUGHOUT the show is what, in my opinion, makes his solution to Ozai work. The idea that he even could solve the Ozai problem by taking away his bending is 100% out of nowhere (and they should have had something to hint at it sooner). But Aang’s approach to everything was always naive and silly. When things got serious he did get that spirit-bending cop out. BUT thematically it goes with his character. His airbending teachings got him to the point he was at. And he stuck true enough to ignore everyone else’s guidance that killing Ozai was the only option. That kind of shit is what makes Aang. A 12 year-old forced to save the world. And he did it without shedding blood. Again, my opinion here. But I do love this show because even on rewatch that sentiment that drives his character, as the main, is what earns him his victory. Aang doesn’t need to be tragic.
I personally love the fact that Toph never got her Life-Changing Zuko Adventure; it's just really funny. It makes sense to me, too, because Toph already trusted him from the start, and therefore didn't actually need to go on adventure with him to build trust.
I think living homeless and as a commoner is what really helped Zuko became a very humble man. Luckily, he had his uncle, who was already experienced in living in the wild.
1:19:29 I loved and hated her, even back then. I definitely thought she deserved her ending, but man, I'm ashamed to admit that my 13 yr old self crushed on her. This definitely didn't cause problems for me later, I swear.
Honestly for me zutara is really more of a "katara+aang sucks but if they want to stick her with somebody..." type situation. Like I'm not mad that she got with Aang rather than Zuko, just that she gets with Aang. I feel like they really setup the dynamic of them being familial well, and forcing a romance was a kick to that. Like I know theyre only 2 years apart, but he is constantly characterized as younger than her. She's a teen/young adult, he's a kid. And, I feel like it really undercut the care and love she already had for him to make it romantic. Honestly I think the show wouldve been better without katara or aang ending up with anyone. Zutara would've been interesting to explore, but I just don't see how it could work in the current structure. Zuko's redemption takes too much time. If there was a season 4 after the war, the seeds were totally there for them to be endgame, but that just isn't the case.
1:52:30 I don't want to bend over to much on your analogy with star wars, since I don't think it fits as perfectly as you made it sound like, but I disagree completely that there wouldn't be consequences. In star wars, sure we knew exactly what would happen if Luke gave in to the dark side, but knowing what would happen if Aang killed Ozai would be completely against avatar moto about fate being "doubtful". IMHO the reason Aang chooses not to follow the other avatars' advice is pretty clear. Aang sees how *every other avatar* misunderstood what being the avatar meant: Kyoshi thought the avatar should be a merciless warrior and because of that her island was isolated from the world for a long time leaving her people "abandoned"; Roku thought because of Kyoshi's failure he should be the perfect diplomat, but doing so and refusing to be a warrior when needed lead him to basically "creating" the fire nation that attacked the world; Kuruk devoted so much time to the spiritual that his duties on the physical world were neglected. Basically when Aang asks Yangchen for input and her reasoning is the same as all the other "failed" avatars Aang understands that all these past avatars lost what the avatar is about, balance, he understood that to be the better avatar he should not abandon what he believed, but embrace the balance between all the facets being the avatar, instead of deeming any of those more important than the others.
Very happy to see you covering one of my all time favorite shows, both from childhood and adulthood. I grew up with this show and it's always wonderful to see someone else discover and enjoy it. PS: If you ever want to dive into another "kids show" that enjoyable for all ages, I'd recommend Gravity Falls.
If only you were working on the Netflix adaptation. They have the chance to improve aspects of the story, but no live action version can capture the same charm and humor as the animated original. Both could stand as absolute must watch experiences.
The thing people often forget about aang is that being gone for 100 years was a minor setback, there was no way his friends and family were still alive, his devastation in the air temple was not that his mentor figure was dead we know this because he regards the statue of gyatso as him. The monks would have taught him that life is a period of transition, his devastation was at the reality of their suffering and the reality of what had been taken that could not come back. Had he found other monks lemurs and bison I think he would have been just as happy.
Yeeees, which is what makes the finale that much more impactful. His entire culture is completely wiped out, and (though I hold to the theory that some escaped and lived under the radar), Aang is the only one left with any living memory of his culture. Being told by a fellow ethnic airbender avatar that he needs to destroy Ozai really is the last bit of his culture that will also be destroyed. I don’t know that he would have had the same exact struggle had some of the airbenders still been alive to guide him. It probably still would have launched into a similar duty vs culture debate but with a different amount of context and hurt.
Regarding Aang’s arc criticisms and specifically how Yang Chen kinda reprimands Aang for wanting to hold on to his personal philosophies, I think a crucial difference between them is that when Yang Chen was alive, there were other Air Nomads to keep the culture and practices alive even if she couldn’t because Avatar duties require that she breaks her philosophy. Aang *is* the last Airbender. So to him, breaking the final code of his Air Nomad philosophy is tantamount to losing his people all over again. And it isn’t like he isn’t capable of taking a life. We see him kill a buzzard wasp in S2 after Appa is lost and the creature threatens to take Momo away as well and it isn’t played as a good thing by the show (Momo lingers and lowers his ears after Aang saves him and the music is somber). While criticism regarding how the Lion Turtles and Energy Bending seemingly coming from nowhere is valid, I think it does Aang’s character arc a huge disservice to call him “selfish” for wanting to preserve some last remaining shred of his culture and not want to kill Ozai.
I always believed being kind to everyone is not kindness. To not recognise evil is to spit on the real kindness around him. Those who are really innocent. To pick the Fire Lord as a target for his compassion is really the worst part of him to me.
I just wanted to say I love your choices of clips to pair with dialogue, they're perfect and create some hilarious moments (eg failure to capture lightning in a bottle, both clips were perfect)! Also as an Aang defender who was initially sceptical when I saw the title of the Aang section, your point about not having any explicit negative consequence to justify him not killing ozai story-wise was great and I fully agree (and I don't think I've heard it being argued that way before either) - obviously we can come up with arguments but they're not stated in the text of the show itself, and your idea about the consequences of Aang being worried he couldn't control himself is so good! Interesting to explore in fic territory as well...
I have to disagree on the ending - it is what Boomie has taught him. Think out side of the box, it is exactly what Aang did. If they would‘ve hinted at it in any other way, it wouldn‘t have been a surprise. What you said is just a usual solution with a usual problem. But thats not the goal here, it is to find a solution no avatar before thought about. I have watched it the first time in my late twenties haha I love this show 🥰
1:49:55 "even though it will result in Aang betraying his oath of pacifism thus leading to..." -> bending/corrupting his spirit. As the lion turtle said, only an unbendable, uncorrupted spirit could take away Ozai's bending. And what you (and actually most people 😁) miss is that Aang was only able to take away Ozai's bending, because by choosing to *not* kill Ozai when he had the chance he kept his spirit unbendable, which means he didn't let himself be corrupted - just like Luke (to stay with your comparison) didn't let himself be seduced/corrupted by the dark side by killing Vader and the Emperor. However the show should have established that better, since most people don't get the "unbendable, uncorrupted spirit because he didn't kill Ozai" thing. ^^ Excellent essay, although I don't agree with all of your points (like you critique of the Boiling Rock two-parter)! 🙂
Every other book 1 episode has a call-back at some point, EXCEPT the Great Divide. People show up during the Day of Black sun, or The Library.The only reference to it is in the Ember Island Players, where they say “let’s skip it”.
Huh, I never really thought about the Bato episode that way. You make a really good point. I can now more see Aang's perspective there and I think it really works well, once I understand it from that perspective. Those two are basically the only people in the world he knows and his jovial demeanor is larely the only way he can cope with his immense loss, and that relies on his new family.
You also make a good point about how the fortune teller does a pretty bad job exploring the theme of destiny. I generally enjoy that episode because I don't take it too seriously. I honestly like the romance dynamics in that one. But yeah, when you consider that the concept of destiny is pretty central to the show and this episode is probably the place where they address that the most directly, it does not deliver much that is meaningful to that end.
Also hard agree that the great divide could have been a lot better if they had treated Aang lying as something serious that he has ethical qualms with but did anyway for the greater good, rather than just treating it as a joke. Hard disagree about Kataang though, I am a fan of that.
Very good suggestions on how to make the conflict between killing Ozai or not better. Dark side avatar being explored more would be cool. Though if they did that, I think ending the series with killing Ozai would make even less sense than it would currently, so you'd still be stuck with the energy bending deus ex machina. Only way to solve that would be to introduce energy bending earlier I guess, but then you don't get the rock and a hard place conflict. If they were to actually have him kill the firelord, I think you would need a bit more time afterwards to deal with the consequences. But it's hard to do that well if the climax is in the last episode. Could do a flash forward a few years or something but that would be hard to do well. Really there is no winning, lol
I do disagree with the idea that they should have had Ozai personally going and crushing the eclipse invasion. It works better when he is a mysterious threat and they don't know how strong he is. And honestly I feel like he shouldn't be able to do that anyway. He's not like a god, he's just a very powerful dude. Feel like he should be like... maybe 2x Azula threat level without the comet, tops.
Also hard agree about the Northern Air Temple episode. They absolutely could have ended it better by having the mechanist agree to respect the temple more, rather than just portraying it like Aang was being unreasonable.
Late to the party due to life kicking my ass, but this has to be one of my favorite videos from you. It was great seeing the show that kickstarted my love for storytelling be praised (and critiqued) by someone who never watched it as a kid or teen! It definitely isn't perfect in every aspect, but damn, is it a great piece of timeless media! It really set the precedent for serialized kids' shows moving forward. Also, nice to see another Zutara fan in the wild! Though I'm thankful you didn't give much time to talking about the ships of the show, I think we were seriously robbed of a thematically excellent enemies-to-friends-to-lovers dynamic between them. There were hints and everything...
Hey! Not sure if you’ve gotten this but Zuko‘s mother wasn’t just banished because of Zuko‘s life, but was also banished because she killed Zuko‘s grandfather for Ozai so that he could take the throne
My take on the whole romance thing of ATLA is that it's such a tiny part of the plot, that it wasn't written PERFECTLY. I thought all relationships were fine, but flawed, and to me, that's what made them more real to me.
Jet starts the great part of ATLA (In my opinion) then it leads into the storm perfectly. It's incredible how 2 of the best episodes are right next to eachother.
Hell yes. I’m glad you were able to get this out! I’ve been looking forward to it a tonne. I haven’t finished it yet but you’ve done a bang up job and should be proud of it. I hope you are feeling better and that that medical crap is all small in the rear view mirror. Happy holidays. -Kal
This whole series is the definition of balance. Even at 25 i still binge the show over and over. When i have my down times uncle Iroh's words hit like the clearest bell.
I think something that is lost a lot of times when one rewatches AATL as an adult is that Aang is still a 12 year old kid at the end of the day. Yeah he was a master air bender and is more than likely more mature for his age than the average kid and even more so by the end of the series but I think that exemplifies even more so that this is that one boundary he does not want to cross. I do agree it would've been interesting to see this pov that Aang was worried about him losing himself if he takes this easy end but I think its unfair of us to assume he could have that kind of foresight as to how his actions would ripple from him ending Ozai. I think another point, sorry if you've mentioned this, is that with him being the sole remainder of his culture, killing Ozai would be like accepting the end of his culture by the hands of the fire nation. So symbolically to beat Ozai without ending his life is like an added victory and keeps his roots alive. Still great video though!
I 100% cannot disagree harder with you on Ozai bending before the comet. I think that level of restraint is a good thing. I am GLAD we only have context for Ozai's bending ability when it is comet enhanced. It maintains his dangerous aura in my mind that the only fire I associate with him is continent spanning annihilation. That is just good character presentation. Everything you suggest to "fix" him only diminishes him to the same level of other fire benders. Great video overall though so far. I just had to stop here and say no to that.
Nah. I would agree with that if his powers were demonstrated in Books 1 or 2 but the mid season finale of 3 would be perfect. You could argue it already did so by showing his lighting bending abilities.
@@MacabreStorytellingI think seeing his... Ahem... Lightning quick display was a nice taste and confirmation that he was powerful but if I were in their position, I would have done the same thing. I don't know, it feels like magnification through subtraction. We know how good Azula is and she is terrified of her dad. It's a subtle storytelling trick. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. Still making my way through the video and it continues to be good.
It's a surprise to see ATLA covered on this channel, but it's definitely a pleasant one. Regarding The Great Divide, I agree it was unclear. One interesting solution would be to have Katara congratulate Aang for resolving the conflict, then criticise him for lying. Aang could respond saying "I couldn't figure it out. I thought I had to. But then I remembered an air nomad saying: "the truth only appears to unfixed eyes" and then it hit me. Even if I knew the truth it wouldn't have helped because they've been fixed to a lie for generations, so I swapped out a harmful set of lies, for a peaceful one." Obviously Aang doesn't talk like this, I'm not practiced at writing dialogue, but this would be the sentiment.
I feel vindicated after you mentioned zutara. When I originally watched the show as a kid I thought that was what was going to happen, and when it didn't happen I was genuinely confused. Watching the show years later I still feel the same way, but I thought I was crazy because basically every ATLA talking space is genuinely hostile to the idea of zutara, and it's basically written off as "crazy female shippers think Zuko is hot and use Katara as a self-insert". Glad you see it similarly.
You are severely undersubscribed. Fantastic video. Great takes, especially considering it was your first viewing. I’ve seen videos from people who’ve watched it 12 times that had less detailed, analytical, and insightful points on the show.
Thank ya! But to be fair, I did watch it 4 times through while making the vid and had a lot of insight from friends who were beloved fans of the series 👍
Loyal Macabros… thank you so much for your patience. I originally had planned to have this video out WAY sooner, but a bunch of stuff got in the way.
Me and the lady did some traveling in the summer so I sort of put it off and then when we got back I started dealing with some medical crap which threw me off my rhythm and from there it sort of spiraled into a nightmare of anti-productivity, grinding away day by day to just get a least bit of work done.
I know this series means a lot to so many of you so I regret taking so long to release it but I hope you enjoy and I hope to get on a better schedule this upcoming year after a bit of a break.
Thank you so much for everything and Happy Holidays!
Worth
I subscribe and support people for quality content not the speed of which they work.
I waited two years for Fredrick Knudsen, a year for Lemmino, 2 years for Kaptain Kristen, a year for hbomber and so on.
I don't think anyone should feel bad for enjoying life or having to deal with what life throws at them. Wishing you all the best with both aspects. Good content is worth waiting for and this is a great, early Christmas present. I did start a comment thread and won't watch this till probably the weekend, I'm just about to go to bed and I've been really busy lately. I want to give this my full attention when I do watch it.
Now it's time for the hxh video
Preciate it my man.
Aang isn’t just holding onto his own personal beliefs, he is holding onto the belief an entire nation. As the last air bender, it’s his responsibility to carry the air nation’s beliefs with him, since if he lets them go, it’s as if the air nation was entirely forgotten, but he must carry it’s will onto this new world and not let it be forgotten
I think that’s part of why he succeeded in energy bending. He was firm in his stance to not kill Ozai
yeah exactly. i also really disagree with yangchen understanding aang's situation because she fundamentally can't. she's also an air nomad but in her life, she wasn't the only one. giving up the air nomad philosophy for the greater good is all well and good when there are like thousands or millions of other air nomads but it's really a different story when you're literally the only air nomad left. other avatars can maintain a level of detachment from their cultures or the world and so on but if aang tries to do that, he risks the erasure of his entire culture.
i think the fix should be introducing aang's inner turmoil before, maybe at some point in season 2 when he's dealing with the events of the season 1 finale. he definitely killed people in the avatar state and it would be a good point to introduce the concept of aang not wanting to kill ozai but still having to find a way to eliminate him as a threat. and then at some point later in season 2 or possibly early in season 3, they introduce the concept of energy bending, aang learns it over the course of an episode or two and suddenly energy bending isn't a deus ex machina anymore but a skill aang had to work for and learn
Not only is it his responsibility as the last Airbender, but as the Avatar as well. The Avatar has a responsibility to all the nations and their cultures, which includes thier beliefs if you ask me.
I think Azula shooting Aang with lightning in the Book 2 finale will always be one of the most shocking cliffhangers in tv history. Seriously, what an iconic moment.
Correct
That's because she broke a fundamental unwritten rule: never interrupt the protagonist when they're powering up.
... Which is on point with her character since she's the type to not give an F about the rules 😂
Shocking for sure, an electrifying twist, one might say.
@@doodleplayer4014 what a horrify-aang thought
@@santosic well it was pis that she got him like that since why did he have to float when he went into AS he never did that before? and he went exact at the spot a sharp rock was
"Congratulations Katara, you're a bloodbender" chills everytime. 😳
I adore the scene with Yang Chen. Aang tells her that the monks taught him to respect all life, and that to be at peace, one must detach themselves from the world. Then Yang Chen tells him "That's great for the other monks, Aang. But you can never have that. You are the Avatar; it's your JOB to care about the world." It goes so hard, it felt like a ton of bricks hitting me when I first saw it."
I liked it too, though the writers unfortunately undercut the point by having Aang completely disregard it.
@@DenverZenn brain dead understanding of that episode
Shame they ruin Yang Chen in the comics
@@Dell-ol6hb
Deus ex machima go brr😂😂
Come on bro. @@DenverZenn
thats not why we hate the great divide... its because growing up, it was LITERALLY the most re-aired episode, actually being shown damn near every day. we have fatigue with it, aside from it just being straight filler but that could be said about a couple others too
lol someone else mentioned that’s. Thats lowkey hilarious lol
I swear it was also the episode that would be on when you finally got a family member/friend to watch the show with you. And then they watch it and were just Uh I guess this show is...fine.
Whenever an episode was on Nicktoons it was usually The Great Divide lmaoooo
Invader Zim had an episode like this where the main character (an alien) was abducted by other aliens for being a perfect specimen of a human. It is my least favorite episode for the sole reason that it has two of the most annoying characters ever made that it focuses half its runtime on, as well as playing at least 3 times a week. Every week. For years. 🫠
@@MacabreStorytellingMy old Dish DVR I had EVERY episode set to record on Nickelodeon, and I had dramatically far over 150 copies of The Divide. It was bad.
The fact that you specifically use the language “young girl” with Azula does tell a lot about the seen but not spoken parts of her character. She wears high-heeled boots, shoulder pads and lip stick in an effort to look older and larger when in those few short moments we see her without those items she genuinely is young and small. It adds even more tragedy to her.
I think one of the best Katara episodes is the desert. Her strength, empathy and care always gets me. She truly knows Aang. She understands his anger and even ignores his emotional outbursts and gives him the only thing he needs in this situation. He doesn't need words, just a hug and a reminder that he has family and people who deeply care about him. One of the most beautiful scenes in the entire show.
MVP of MVPs that episode. The writing of Katara in that one is absolutely superb.
You’re take on azula is so accurate. It’s not whether she is “deserving” of a redemption arc, but the story is served so much better without it
👆👆👆
My response to the Azula thing has always just been that redemption arcs are cool, but not *every* villain needs one
Weirdly, I think Azula's character arc is a perfect mirror of Zuko's. She had everything through fear, you see this when Ty Lee didn't want to go with her and was scared of her, and slowly loses more and more as Zuko gains more and more. Eventually culminating in Zuko finding inner peace while Azula can't even trust her own mind. My heart hurts for her every time I see the mirror scene because it's a desperate, internal, cry for self love and she can't trust it because she doesn't believe she's deserving of love.
The only critique I could give azulas arc, is that her fall to madness should have been given more time. But the video kind of touches on that in how book 3 kinda rushes to the end
She _needs_ therapy, not "redemption".
I think the consequence of Aang killing Ozai isn't spelled out as much as it could be, but in my mind it is that violence in itself incites a cycle of violence. Aang sees that throughout the series that the past Avatars solving these problems with violence leads to problems that the next Avatar and the world deals with as consequence. The essential messaging is that in order to do something no one has done before, you need to find new solutions that comes from inner belief. The Lion Turtle I've always seen functioning just as well if it were entirely within Aang's mind during meditation. Spirit bending requiring your will to be resolute is in line with the messaging; you have to fully commit to the method or you will be overcome by the antithetical spirit you are bending.
It absolutely is a deus ex machina but my unpopular opinion is that it works well. Violence in the world is only quelled by new conflict resolution methods. Violence is essentially a solution when you can't figure out a method and you've run out of time before the opposition threatens you/those you care about. Many will call for it to be deployed hastily without putting in the effort of finding the resolution.
Besides it being introduced suddenly, I think people don't like that message because they view the character having to compromise their views for the greater good as the mature decision. I prefer the choice to have a character stick with their morality despite outside forces and that resolve being rewarded with ingenuity.
I don't think it's necessary to show a bad Avatar like your suggestion. I think the theme of short-term solutions having long term consequences is explored enough in the show that the choice to find a better solution makes sense. I don't think it's about him losing control but rather the complex decision of when to use violence as a solution and when to go with your own instincts when they are in conflict with everyone else's views.
Love that take on the cycle of violence! Definitely think they could have expanded on that and would have fleshed out Aang’s reasoning 👍
Ahem, Roku could have prevented all the violence with one act of violence.
It needed more build up as it comes in very quickly, relatively speaking. I also think the whole fight should've showed Aang struggling internally with this dilemma, being part of why Ozai is overpowering him so much.
Cue the Avatar state being activated and Aang rising up to rival and then overpower Ozai; I think there then should've been a moment where primal Avatar-state Aang is clearly intending on killing Ozai, maybe do some visual trick where Ozai sees Roku's face in Aang's, only for Aang's personal consciousness to break through and fight back against this transgenerational urge to end the Fire Lord.
That's just one thought experiment on how the pay off of taking away his bending could've been executed better
@@Vesporeon I like that idea! I agree that it could've been explored more directly like that.
@@nathanlevesque7812 I thought of that example when explaining my interpretation. I think what the show should have done is delve into that as a question. Would that have actually prevented all the violence?
The Avatar assassinating the ruler of the fire nation doesn't undo the goals and infrastructure they had built up. Sozen has a strong successor in Azulon already. Roku at the time was not in his prime. If anything, killing Sozen may have catalyzed the fire nation's efforts and made them even more zealous in snuffing out the next Avatar.
It could be as simple as Roku killing Sozen would've solved everything, but it is not necessarily true that killing Ozai is the correct call even given that.
I wish the show was more explicit in exploring these themes, but I like that the ending at least hints at these interesting moral quandaries. I'm generous in my interpretation for sure, but I really like it as a closure for Aang's arc since it feels like him becoming the Avatar through his individuality and earned confidence in himself. It is a futurist resolution for a modern monomyth.
In regards to your take on how quickly Katara became a Master Waterbender, I feel like it was shown even really early how powerful she was when she was running on instinct and emotion. Hell, she revealed the iceberg in episode one by cracking the other layers on accident while pissed off.
Her rapid growth I always took as her finally getting a chance to explore her abilities and being given proper direction. She reached the levels she was at by figuring it out on her own, in her spare time, with zero help. The moment she had as much time as she wanted and even a hint of a teaching tool, she excelled.
I took her story as one of those “oh this woman is a Master Artist/Writer/Musician but because of her Female Duties she couldn’t discover it until she had the opportunity.”
Which has its flaws but also gave her great moments such as her duel at the end of Season 1 where she’s running off sheer adrenaline and instinct and is keeping up with a well experienced Master of her craft.
Yeah I just wish it had a bit more precedence in the narrative just so she didn’t feel as jipped out.
@@MacabreStorytellingOn a rewatch, you will notice Katara is practicing water bending in the background of conversations in basically every episode. The scenes are not ABOUT her practicing, but she is practicing while she's carrying on conversations. It is there. Heck, the first scene we ever see of her is like that. The writers did set up her skills well in advance. The show is even better on your 2nd watch because you notice things like that.
@@William-the-Guy Precisely, Katara is naturally gifted already,she just needed the push to truly get to Master Water bender levels, as the Northern water tribe Master noticed, she literally was practicing at every chance she got, 24/7, as she loves her ability, and only wants to be the best water bender that she can possibly be, I think the show depicts all elemental abilities of the main cast and how they improve over the course of the series perfectly.
@@NerdyGamerReactsMy point was not just about her natural talent. It was that she put in the hours. The show did take the trouble show her practising all the time, so her skill level by the end of season 1 was plausible. that's the opposite of Rey or the other "Mary Sue" characters who just arrive inexplicably awesome.
@@William-the-Guy Exactly the reason why her arcs one of my favorite in the show, so well done. 🙂
Thank you for defending Bato of the Water Tribe!! That is exactly how I feel about the episode, and it upsets me that people think Aang lying like that is out of character.
👆👆👆
I also agree with your characterization of Azula. She is the heartless villain of season 2 and then shows in the beach trip that she is lonely and just as much a product of war as Zuko and the other characters. While Azula has thrived in this world, Zuko has struggled. Azula is still broken though and can't have normal relationships like the other characters. Others are a means to an end from her and thats not because she is inherently bad but because thats what she has been raised to see people as. She still yearns for validation and connection from others but can't cultivate her side of these relationships because of her upbringing. She does not learn from her mistakes and slowly gets crushed and driven mad by it leading to her defeat at Katara's hands. Its telling that when she gets captured, after severly wounding her brother no less, her defeat is seemingly meant to evoke pity instead of accomplishment.
👆👆👆
I was too old when this show came out but my daughter got into it a few years ago. Miracle is the right way to describe this show, absolutely a wonderful piece of media for the past generations
I discovered the show in my 30s myself while watching a few episodes with my nephew and actually took the effort to watch more of the show on my own, it is just an impressive piece of media.
"I thought Iroh was going to be restricted to comic relief" i actually laughed out loud
My favorite character. Such a humble man, yet powerful, wise, and kind. I cringe every time I see him in the first half of the first season. I feel like the writers didn't know where they were going with the character. Turns out he is the best.
@OweOweOweOwen i think it makes a lot of sense. They spent years just sailing around and iroh has a genuine and humorous character which we see more early on because theirs less at stake during the first part of the book 1 but as the story progresses he becomes more serious while still being funny and it fits with the showing getting more serious
@@XionicalXionicaloh they knew.
Just that it is also part of iroh.
After the failure of the siege of ba sing sae, he is seen as a coward by a lot of fire nation (zhao, but even zuko also calls him lazy and weak).
So it s understandable that the man would learn selfderision and humility.
I believe he is also trying to teach that to zuko in the first book. Because as said later "humility is the antidote to shame" and zuko feels ashamed (all the honour obsession)
@@XionicalXionical I don’t know… that kinda seems like the point. I honestly think it makes him a stronger character for it, and they don’t go as far as Bumi to do it.
@@XionicalXionical Iroh coming off as comic relief yet mixed with his moments of wisdom in early book 1 is what made his character even better, because the audience sees how dynamic he is too. He's not just wise but also humble, kind, and carefree when he wants to be. He balanced Zuko's early book 1 angst, but just like Zuko's character growth throughout the rest of the show, Iroh changes with him to provide him the lessons and truths he needs to hear.
Ever since I’ve rewatched the show on Netflix it just hasn’t left me. I went years without seeing the show after watching the premiere of the final. And the show just completely changes what I focus on as I’ve aged. I know that a friend of mine literally fixed his life because he followed uncle irohs advice in the show in his 30s. I don’t understand how this kind of show was ever able to be made.
Iroh’s arc is GOATed
@@MacabreStorytelling my favorite quote from him is the one about not giving into despair, before him and Zuko break up. Just a perfect bit of truth that is would be melodramatic and weak in another show.
I swear if the Netflix remake deviates even the most important plot points of the show, I'm going to be more pissed than how Katara gets whenever she gets told to calm down.
@@osmanyousif7849yes, but also I think we can all agree that we don’t just want a live action repeat, or else you get the Lion King which was the exact same story, almost down to some of the dialogue. But also can’t have what that horrible movie did. If I wanted to watch the same story I’d just watch the og. They gotta make it different enough to keep og fans on their feet so they arent as comfortable thinking they know what’s gonna happen. But also keep the big plot points to stay true to the show. I’m ok if they shift some stuff around, even make some new characters that weren’t in the og show, as long as the keep the big main plot points, like zukos arc, and stuff. I’m ok if it’s a little different and I think we gotta be prepared for that. Like the Last of Us. The show is a great adaptation but it isn’t a 1:1 To me, it’s gonna have to come down to how good the fights and dialogue between characters is.
@@famedset1162 , I think like the creators should do what video mentioned and try and fill in more of the minor plot holes like energy bending being explored way earlier or try and give more time for Katara's arc like in Seasons 1 and 2, or just more of Toph in the finale.
I was in the age range for ATLA when it first aired and it was the talk on the bus and in school. I'm glad a newer generation is being introduced to this masterpiece. ATLA was peak Nickelodeon. Not sorry! 💛
“Zathura” as a ship name for Zuko and Katara is crazy but I love it 😂
It's zutara
@@Gnarkill18230:50 - 30:52
I was born in 1997, so ATLA came along at the perfect time for me.
I remember the first time I tuned in-it was a cold winter’s night, I got home from a Cubs’ Scout meeting with a recommendation. Turns out it was the third episode, where they just straight up show a dead body. So of course I was hooked from there on.
Yo 1997 club what up!
@@williamkline7922
My blood pressure, probably
In Book 2 Episode 10, the gaang finds a drawing of a Lion Turtle.
Adding the fact that this is a library maintained by a spirit who knows many things, this would've been the perfect scene for them to find history on energy bending.
👆👆👆👆
@@MacabreStorytelling The lion turte appears in other places as well. There are lion turtle statues in master Piandao's garden and in air temples. The origin of bending never comes up during this series. It's such a vast rich universe so they couldn't cover it all in 3 seasons. The lion turtle says to bend another's energy, your own energy must be unbendable. I think it's Aang's unwaivering determination to find a solution that will protect his peoples' beliefs and way of life that triggered a lion turtle to show up after 10,000 years.
I actually felt Katara's waterbending skills weren't arbitrary but very naturally developed and hard-earned.
Firstly, we already begin by seeing that she has somewhat raw power over water when she gets angry.
Once she begins traveling, she's constantly practicing throughout season 1 with or without Aang (she's seen practicing in the background of scenes extremely often). Both before and after the waterbending scroll episode that shows she's yet to surpass Aang, she still never stops practicing and never stops battling with waterbending until they reach the North pole, while Aang mostly sticks to airbending.
Most notably, she's always being thrown into battles, giving her so much first-hand experience in waterbending combat and resourcefulness as opposed to the Northern tribe boys which were restricted to a low stake, water-abundant classroom setting. (and Aang since he mostly stuck to airbending at this point).
So, as soon as she got proper formal training, it's not surprising at all that she excelled so quickly, with her eagerness to learn and the sheer amount of experience. Pakku himself summarizes this quite nicely: "Katara, you've advanced more quickly than any other student I've ever trained. You have proven that with fierce determination, passion and hard work, you can accomplish anything. Raw talent alone is not enough (referring to Aang who was naturally good but didn't work nearly as hard as Katara did nor use it in battle as much as she did)." Her constant practicing and battles before reaching the North Pole was more than enough to convince me of her attaining the master status in no time.
Though I agree that on a purely first watch these could've been quite subtle and hard to notice, and some more screen time of Katara training at the North Pole would've helped more.
Glad you're taking the suggestion of being less recap-ey to heart. So many video game/movie/tv series critics on UA-cam just rattle on about what happens instead of adding actual commentary in their critiques. Most of the people going through the hoops of watching a video about a popular media likely already watched it, there's no reason to recap the thing!
I think with katara being able to learn from pacu it is actually more interesting with him changing his mind due to consequences in his life rather than her abilities. People who are stuck in such strict mentalities like “girls’ can’t do ….” Due to culture aren’t going to change their minds easily, even when faced with direct proof that women are in fact capable. They will come up with reasons to continue to maintain their sense of what is right and wrong even when faced with evidence to the contrary. They will make excuses like “but even if you can it wouldn’t be right” “it’s just not proper” “it’s always been this way” “we can’t make an exception” etc. so it makes sense that it takes something that impacted him personally to finally change his mind. It doesn’t cheapen Katara’s display of bending power, it highlights how despite how amazing she is, traditions are hard to break. And stubbornness is hard to break away from
Her beating him would also kind of undercut the whole thing that she came there to do, learning from him.
Came here to say exactly this. As a woman myself, I personally saw his argument there as a lapse in judgement as most men like to think "Oh well if she can prove herself as special & better than other girls then ofc she'll get what she wants in the end", cause that's what's pushed down our throats as kids, but when you actually grow up, especially as a woman, you see just how much of a blatant lie this is. Like women have literally been proving themselves from the beginning of time & yet here we are 😂😂
@@breadeater1194 The video maker nevee said she should've beaten him.
He said that having her fight him AT ALL was completely unnecessary, because it played no significant role in getting Pakku to train her. He never once implies that her skill is part of the reason he accepts her, so why have them duel? Why not just have him notice the necklace during one of their arguments, and let it reach the same conclusion?
The solution would've been having Pakku clarify that it was more than _just_ the necklace that changed his mind, and Katara's display of courage and determination also genuinely resonated with him.
Plus horny old men will be ready to bend their rules to get what they want.
And it worked, paku did marry gran gran. 😅
@@Bria.W not really, women on average just aren't as talented as men, despite what is displayed in fantasy
Arguing that the Avatar can "fall to the dark side" is the exact reason that him not having a consequence of becoming a dark avatar is more nuanced in my opinion. The horror of having to take another human life against your will haunts people, and would for someone who views all living life the way Aang does. I think the sacrifice to preserve his moral self-image in that way is unique compared to someone avoiding some palpable and foretold terrible conclusion. He truly believes that he does not have the right to end another person's life - the mirror to the idea that small sacrifices, no matter how heinous and against your morals, can be justified at some magnitude (different for every person) and triumphs as the sorrow of our human condition.
“A macabro is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to”.
Not funny and extremely gay.
@@christianbell8347 that’s what we said when you were born
@@wildfire9280 you don't know when I was born, genius. 🤬
My favorite part of any ATLA retrospective is finding out whether the essayist is okay with Kataang or is a Zutara truther
I 100% agree with your criticism about Aang's arc in the finale. This is a criticism I've had as well for a long time, and I feel like it would have worked a lot better if, to your point, there had been greater consequences for killing Ozai and if energy bending had been introduced earlier so that, even if Aang was dead set against killing Ozai, it would seem less irresponsible since it would be clear that he had a Plan B. To build on your Star Wars example, Luke says repeatedly before the final battle that he believes Darth Vader still has good in him, so when Vader saves him at the end, it's not a deus ex machina, it's Luke's bet paying off. If they had introduced energy bending earlier and made it clear Aang was betting on that strategy to defeat Ozai without having to betray his principles, it would seem a lot less selfish.
What kills me is that the lion turtle is even foreshadowed in The Library episode in season 2. I feel like that would have been a perfect opportunity for them to introduce the concept and then have the quest to find the lion turtle be a core story arc of season 3 alongside the Day of Black Sun and Sozin's Comet. Definitely would have been a better option than all the filler arcs they had instead.
Yeah it’s a shame because I know the writers had to work around the restrictions they were given but given how the show was so good at setup and payoff the LT seemed to be I such stark contrast as to how deus ex machina they was.
Took me so long to realize why the fire nation was capturing waterbenders with stupid nets instead of fighting them with firebending. If they thought the avatar died somehow, then the next one would be from the water tribe.
I also heard a theory that the reason Katara’s mother is killed rather than captured is because after Hama escaped using blood bending, the Fire Nation didn’t want to take any chances and decided to kill all waterbenders. Thus Hama’s actions inadvertently led to her murder. Idk how likely that is or if it works in terms of the timeline. But that is a sick ass theory. M
@@MacabreStorytellingin the first (or second?) episode, katara notes that the booby-trapped ship was part of the last wave of raids on the southern water tribe. in hama's flashback, she and other waterbenders are the ones who put that ship there. that means there have been no raids on the southern water tribe at all between hama being taken and kaya being killed. kaya (they thought) was the first southern waterbender they'd seen since hama discovered bloodbending. i'd definitely say it tracks timeline-wise
When you want to be contrarian so hard that you look for other peoples' criticisms to parrot them, only to disagree with what you find anyway.
Zuko's arc is truly the GOAT.
My contrarian ass was humbled
Finally someone analyzing the show and understood what I’ve always felt about Kataang. Personally I don’t hate the ship just the lack of perspective and development of Katara’s feelings reciprocating and just their mother figure/big sis/lil bro dynamic never made sense to me. Plus mind you in Sozin’s comet, they left off on a fight before their kiss in the end. I personally ship Zutara (haters gonna hate idgaf) but not because of the whole corniness that people who Zutara shippers of like the love of the aesthetic of water and fire. I personally saw the potential just because their interactions as the show progressed soooo 🤷🏻♀️
Zathurs ftw
Thanks man, now that I have a fully formed opinion of this show, I can finally start watching it.
bruh
Good… good…
@@MacabreStorytelling Let the hate flow through you
@@nont18411 do it
😂😂😂😂😂😂
My favorite part about Aang's inner turmoil in the finale is that it's basically the two halves of the show's name fighting to see who Aang decides to be, and neither really loses. The energy bending is still a weird deus ex though.
I like the energy bending as a concept but I think it should've been foreshadowed a lot more
@paracosmic4124 I mean if you wanna argue on the super vague side, Tai Li's chi blocking has shown us that bending can be hindered. And Aang leaving the Guru mid training locking the avatar state links the flow of energy in the body to things like bending ability.
It's a massive escalation of the concept, but it's not a COMPLETE ass pull.
@paracosmic4124 I mean if you wanna argue on the super vague side, Tai Li's chi blocking has shown us that bending can be hindered. And Aang leaving the Guru mid training locking the avatar state links the flow of energy in the body to things like bending ability.
It's a massive escalation of the concept, but it's not a COMPLETE ass pull.
I watched atla on a whim for the first time when i was 20. It sounds corny but i really think it changed my life. Even 10 years later, a lot of the lessons on the importance of humility and staying true to your values have really stuck with me. It spoke to me in a way very few pieces of art do.
30:20 nah, I agree with you there. As a certified adolescent, I can say that Kataang never felt right. I thought it was just a one sided crush most of the time, so imagine my surprise when they actually became a couple. I think that Zutara works much better thematically, and it just feels right. Even though Katara is only two years apart from the both of them (she’s 14, Aang’s 12, and Zuko’s 16) her and Zuko feel more like the same age because of the similarities in their upbringing and how fast they had to grow up.
Vindicated
Just because Zuko and Katara share the same trauma through their mothers doesn't mean they work better. It was not a one sided affair. Katara has shown hints since season 1.
@@MacabreStorytelling Soooooo, let me put a rebuttal here. Firstly, I'm 30 now and totally agree about the romance being one of the weaker parts of the series. However, when the show first aired in the 2000s I was a teenager and didn't think so at all. The romantic subplots were all really important and interesting to me. Even back then I think the story made sense the way they did it.
Katara was indeed a motherly type for the group, but she also seeks to be a young woman almost from the get go. She developes little crushes on guys like Haru, Jet and yes also Aang if you consider the Cave of Two Lovers. I think she's just branching out at this point. Finding out what's possible for her while also shouldering a tremendous burden. She obviously felt a little something for Zuko as well down in that cave under the Earth King Palace. It's in season 3 when she finally sees Aangs feelings for what they really are and I think, DECIDES, to reciprocate.
She had gotten burnt twice with guys before and Aang was just a logical choice for her. We can't forget that these kids all belong to the Elite of the Avatar world and they continously throughout the series make decisions that put themselves in danger in order to achieve a better world. They all grew up in wealth and/or political power. Aang is the Avatar, Sokka and Katara are the chief's kids and their grandmother is also tribe's eldest, Toph grew up a Billionaire's kid, Zuko and Azula are selfevident. They all grew up as political leaders in some way, except Aang I guess, that's why he has to learn it throughout. For every other major character it's actually second nature to lead, from the get go.
That's why I think Katara makes a conscious decision to forge a very powerful alliance with Aang. Nothing in the show suggests that any of the characters would prioritize their romantic feelings over their politics and that's part of why Kataang makes sense. We might not love it or understand it, but we all grew up a very different way than these kids and thus our cultural values are bound to be a little different. It makes sense in-universe for them to be together.
PS: I personally think it would've been far--fetched that Katara would agree to take a firebender as man when she obviously has been so traumatized. I know we had some episodes where she worked through it a little bit, but her mother's death will obviously stay with her for much longer, happening at such an impressionable age.
I completely disagree. There’s many romantic implications within the story for katara and and aang I only that. Both characters feed off of each other and feed off of into their developments
Regarding the great divide. I always loved the episode and never understood why others disliked it. Another good point this episode has is that both Katara and Sokka after hearing their respective tribes version of story give in to the biased narrative without giving it a second thought, this moment is even further amplified by showing that they both were presupposed to support whom they supported because they liked those tribes habits and lets say hygiene? So the idea that our heroes consider someone to be truthful just because of their personal preferances was interesting for a 10-year old me. And the last point about the solution to the problem between tribes. I don't know how Aang's story being made up makes it somehow invalid, as we have never seen any of the tribes' interpretations to be 100% true. Aang just came up with a view to the story that emphsized two brothers' unity, and it being not necessarily true is not important, any other alternative is not either.
If the story told us clearly that Aang's story was true then it would give in to the idea that animosity and rivalry are justified if your version if history is true. And if Aang didnt know the truth(which he didnt), the problem of hatred between tribes becomes unsolvable.
The show here goes deeper and presents the ancient narrative as a myth and admits that the truth simply cannot be found. Before Aangs deception both tribes viewd their version of events as the only true one, but the fact that they wanted to see it as truth doesnt mean it is. We as viewers may even doubt that Wei Jin and Jin Wei ever existed. And Aang by adding another made up story to a pair of other made up stories in my opinion is not morally wrong. At least his narration emphsized unity and brotherhood.
@@sharif7099 It does also show the cultural significance and strength of (probably or absolutely scientifically impossible) mythologies.
The Great Divide was one of the most, if not THE most re-run episode of the show. Because it was isolated from other episodes and characterized Sokka and Katara well, I guess they thought it wouldn't be confusing.
I agree with the fact that Aang and Kataras relationship was pretty mid. But I disagree about Zuko and Katara. We don’t NEED a romantic relationship to make a story good. Besides we already have Suki and Sokka so they could’ve just flushed that one out a little bit more.
That’s fair. Sometimes forced ships can detract from a story.
To me it felt like at the time the main guy and main girl romance was kind of an obligatory trope. So they just followed convention even though it didn't actually make sense for the characters they'd written. Reminds me of Harry and Ginny lol.
@@IshtarNike "Reminds me of Harry and Ginny lol."
What you talking about? They are a great couple in the books. Its only the movies that gave them bad dialogue and welp, the two actiors having *no chemistry at all* together...
Thats btw one benefit of animation. You can bring all emotions that you want to the screen by having only talented voice actors. You won't have the risk of real life actors not having chemistry together or simply being bad at playing a character.
@@IshtarNike I believe there was an interview years later where the creators admitted to wanting to have Zuko and Katara get together, but higher upside at Nick forced their hand into that trope
@@soulsmith5935 I don't think that's accurate since the creators have implied that they dislike Zuko x Katara a lot.
1:29:40 well not really, the 1st book doesnt show us that Aang is a more natural water bender than Katara, it shows us that Aang caught up to Katara in a short amount of time and that frustrates her. We cannot discount the fact that Katara is the only bender from a tribe that has lost all its benders and its bending knowledge over the years of the war, from her perspective she might aswell be the first waterbender in the world, she didnt just have to teach herself, she essentially had to invent her bending style.At the start of the 1st book we see Katara struggle to even control the direction her bending goes in, she doesnt even have the fundamentals to build bending style upon. Aang on the other hand is already a master airbender (to the point where he has developed his own unique technique) by the time Katara teaches him waterbending so he has a very firm grasp on the basics like control and movement and thus needs only a little practice to catch up to what meagre knowledge and techniques she had developes over the years and that naturally frustrates her.
This was such a fun and refreshing analysis and review of a timeless show from a rare perspective of an adult. I would LOVE to see you do Korra as well -- a much more flawed show, but some incredible peaks and more deep storytelling.
It’s on the docket 👍
Aw dang, that review is gonna be interesting
@@MacabreStorytellingSome of the dummest writing lol
@@K767-o1t book 2 💀
On watching this as a kid vs as an adult... Both me and a friend watched Avatar after we technically became adults (I was 20ish, she was 25ish), and we were both absolutely blown away by the series. She named one of her cats Zuko. It's still kidlike adventurous fun, lots of the episodes are basically just good D&D sessions, but it takes its subject matter seriously and indeed does not talk down to its audience. It's also just sheer good writing. Zuko's storyline is kind of a cliché but it's just so well done you can't help but feel blown away when he says sorry to Iroh, or the final Azula fight.
So to me, it's not rosetinted glasses. Literally can't be. Didn't watch it as a kid :D
My favorite season was season 2 too. I think Korra tried to hit the same strides a few times (the plot in season 2 was incredibly dense both in Airbender and Korra), but they just fell over themselves there. Stuff like that is hard to pull off! It's incredible that season 2 is so tight and works. So much stuff going on.
39:22 I think it’s the part of what makes Toph’s chemistry with the Gaang work so well especially because this matches 1:1 with how Toph herself actually wants to be treated; unabashedly and without coddling. But I also liked how even that still got some “pushback” with Iroh refuting the idea of there being any shame with (needing to) rely on others, particularly people who care and respect you, without at all throwing Toph’s desire to be free spirited in the trash.
I also think that with Toph not getting a stand alone story with Zuko was also becsuse she did have a really nice talk with Iroh. She knows who Zuko really is deep down because Iroh wouldnt stop talking about him. That along with her non history with him i think
She also finished her character arc before she even got introduced.
1:15:05
About the Western Air Temple, way I see it, Sokka being the one who ends up taking down Combustion Man and not Zuko is vital for the main message of Zuko’s arc, and portrayal of the Gaang. They end up accepting him because he proved his point not by stopping the assassin, but because he TRIED to do so despite the great danger (I mean he almost fell down).
The point of Ozai’s poor parenting is that he only rewarded his kids if they were suceeding no matter the ways they employed and so he didn’t care at all how much they tried if they didn’t.
In contrast, Iroh and the Gaang clearly value people’s intentions above the results (by the way, if you notice, in the episode Sokka goes like « Hey, what about me ? I did the boomerang thing ? » but they don’t give a damn because they already valued Sokka for his dedication (that he himself totally deserves) since the very beginning). Similarly, Toph dosen't get mad at him for burning her feet because she understood it was only accidental.
This itself also serves as a lesson of humility shown also in the finale as Katara ends up being the one taking down Azula, which is something Book 1 Zuko would never have accepted. The whole point of Zuko’s character being that he keeps trying no matter how often he fails.
oo amazing point!
Eh.. I don't think this is a very strong argument.
It's not about whether the Gaang would've accepted him regardless of his failure, its about the fact that having Sokka be the one to finish it didn't really add much to either of their arcs (it also felt rather anti-climactic, and less personal). Like you said, Sokka's role in it was glossed over. Whereas giving Zuko that hard earned moment of triumph would've meant more in the moment.
Absolutely nothing would've been lost either, because he would've still been putting his life on the line anyway. The Gaang could still acknowledge the way he proved his intentions 🤷🏿♂️
@@DLxxx It would have definitely still tied him being admitted in to doing that favor for them instead of an internally driven change.
I definitely gotta agree with the part on Azula's end, I know a lot of people think she should have been redeemed or her end is too cruel but I like it as the mirror to Zuko; she had opportunities to change and it's not that she just chose not to but that she lacked the positive influence and fell to despair, it continues the themes of environment shaping people and shows what Zuko could've been without Iroh and their experiences outside the fire kingdom. Whether or not it was intended it adds so much nuance to Azula and I think a huge part of that is because they grew up in the same environment, just with different people guiding them.
Also so glad you spotlighted Sokka so much, while he's one of the lesser used of the main cast his arc is perfect and his insecurities and more serious moments are so surprisingly realistic and handled with care.
Aang's final conflict I think works (deus ex machina aside) just fine if the idea is that he can't find a better way out, but the lack of setup with energy bending sucks the gravitas out of his decision. Perhaps you could've had him going into the fight prepared to kill but seeing Ozai defeated he tries energy bending, maybe if the bending fails it would kill them both or something and show him grappling with his choice after the fact too, wondering if leaving the world without an avatar would've been worth the risk just so he could selfishly preserve his own conscience, hammer home that he's still an inexperienced kid having to make hard choices and his role is needed in the post war world.
I would (of course like everyone here) be interested in seeing your analysis of Korra, while I'm sure you'd pick up on all the same criticisms the show usually receives I'd be interested to see what positive aspects you take away from it, as somewhat of an outsider and self professed contrarian.I'm sure you'd find some interesting perspectives that make me reconsider my own opinions on the show.
Loved the video as usual, keep doing what you're doing, you've already gotten me to start watching 2 TV shows now and your passion is infectious! The new format is really excellent as someone familiar with the source material, it really gets to the meat of the analysis and has an excellent flow but I do worry about how it works for people unfamiliar.
Korra one day
That's crazy. I remember ending up rewatching just The Boiling Rock on its own lately for reasons I can't really remember and being smacked in the face at how fucking good this show is, yet again! It has one of my favorite dynamics ever. Zuko and Sokka being BFFs is everything to me. I think it makes sense for Sokka to go save his father. There's a difference between wanting to go see his father in Bato of the Water Tribe because he misses him, and then wanting to go save his father from a literal Fire Nation Prison after he got captured following an invasion planned by Sokka himself. This episode is also about Sokka as a leader making calls and trusting his gut. Yes, maybe going on his own without any real plan was probably a terrible idea, but I don't think the sentiment was off. I think the episode also once again shows Sokka ingenuity, coming up with the plan with the cooler, etc.
Also it being a two parter makes sense I think, especially compared to the other Zuko Fieldtrips. They literally got stuck in a Fire Nation prison, the one notorious for being impossible to escape. The other one was visiting some old ruins, and some guy at his mom's house.
I'm so happy to see an analysis from another Zutara supporter. I also watched the show for the first time as an adult and couldn't get past the mother/big sister vibe that Katara has regarding Aang. I wonder if that might have anything to do with the fact that I was older when I was introduced to the show and had a better grasp on what a healthy relationship dynamic is. There wasn't any nostalgia goggles clouding up my ability to see that a relationship where the power dynamics are uneven from the start because one person is clearly a caretaker or mother like figure to the other one is not a healthy start for a relationship at least not a romantic one.
Zurara ftw
As young teen without any real life romantic experience i was all-in on the classic "nice guy main char gets the main girl"-trope, but even after a few years seeing the finale of Avatar, i switched to the Zutara side (even tho i still would be fine with no romantic interest for Zuko at all). This relationship just feels more natural and poetic at the same time, just think about the amazing comeback to the fortuneteller quote "he is a powerful bender" in this way, which would be completely unexpected in season 1.
I also think that overcoming your first crush is a good lesson to teach kids. Aang literally falls in love with the first girl he sees (the air temples being split into one-gender populations) and there isn't actually much there for the relationship next to this "its my first crush"-situation. Even Aang and Toph have more on-screen-chemistry together than Aang and Katara.
Sometimes the lesson is "wait for the right one, instead going for the first option".
I was target audience when I watched the show and I also was team Zutara. katara having motherly/big sis energy with aang and ending in romance felt weird to me
Except Aang at the end of the show is not the same Aang at the start. The notion that Zuko fits better with Katara is a delusion. Saying she's essentially just "caretaker" is demeaning her relationship with Aang. Seeds were planted since the beginning.
I noticed that subtle shout out to Overanalyzing Avatar, nice editing!
Edit: Okay. Here goes.
I was right at the target age when Avatar came out, and was heavily invested in the show until the very end. I was born in 1994 and grew up on Toonami, mainly DragonBall Z, which was on the other channel, Cartoon Network. As someone who was there as it happened, who had watched the show every step of the way, who had grown up a massive animation fan, it never once occurred to me that Aang couldn't kill Ozai due to network restrictions. Avatar is most certainly anime inspired, and the most popular anime on cable (DBZ) had featured a violent death for all but 3 characters (Gohan, Dende, and Hercule), and the main character twice. Again, this was on the other channel for years before Avatar came out.
So the Lion Turtle works for me to this day. It's still rushed, but 1) I can buy in that Aang not killing Ozai is a choice that affects the narrative from a character perspective, and not a meta perspective, and 2) showing Aang bow to the Lion Turtle immediately speaks volumes, considering that Aang is kind of flippant towards authority figures, including spirits. The Avatar being the bridge between the spirit world and the human world is the least touched upon role of his throughout the show - which also works for me. It keeps the spirits mysterious and powerful, and Aang definitely has to place priority on his bending and the human world instead of interacting with spirits throughout the show. Considering this was the season 3 spirit encounter as well, it works for me. Last ditch Avatar-only options are being explored due to the pressure Aang is feeling now that time is up.
I feel like people's mileage varies so much compared to mine because they look at the conflict outside of the narrative. The big argument I keep hearing is "Nickelodeon wouldn't allow Aang to ice this fool", but Nickelodeon definitely allowed the swamp bender kaiju to get blown up, Aang getting fake out killed by Azula in book 2, Jet getting killed but being very clever about it and then later lampshade it, and Aang definitely killing Zhao in book 1. On that last one: yes, the narrative says that Aang was in the Avatar state + ocean spirit and had no control, but standards and practices definitely says that Aang still just killed Zhao. If you think the Lion Turtle was rushed (which it kinda was, but it works for me anyway because seasonal powerful spirit encounter), then that's fine, but going "kid's show" on it just doesn't hold water to me.
describing the writing of zukos arc as "so good its almost stupid" is the most accurate description ive ever heard
Finally you made a vid about something I actually watched… I’m so excited for this
I fully feel vindicated by the whole Zutara thing now… it just makes much more sense. Would’ve been much better to have him end up with someone else
✊✊✊
I recently rewatched this series with my 7yr old daughter. She had loved Dragon Prince and Avatar had similar vibes. She loved it and even as a little kid she appreciated the complexity of the characters. And as a parent it’s nice to have something I can also enjoy (Minecraft let’s play are not my jam lol )
Your daughter has good tastes. Shows like this need to be seen at least once by children, if nothing else than to show them what real entertainment looks like.
34:04 they weren’t allowed to show murder on screen because it’s a kids show but Kyoshi makes it clear that she doesn’t value the distinction between Chin falling or her killing him. It still gives the same message that when the Avatar does something big, intentional or not heads will roll. That message later gets subverted of course so I think it all still works even tho Kyoshi doesn’t crush him with a big rock lol.
Hot take, but I love the way the Great Divide ended. Aang knew peace was more important than WHATEVER their petty squable was based on. Lying was the chaotic good choice, and probably the only choice that led to success. That's the act of a true uniter. They based their entire cultural separation on nothing more than an oral story. Why not unite those cultures with a new oral story?
Either way, one of the two tribes was wrong, and that would have only caused more separation. Aang's way had them both being wrong, and uniting in the end. Who else but the Avatar, with his age and authority, could have convinced these two cultures to completely rewrite their founding stories?
Katara and Sokka found themselves being pulled in by the stories of each tribe, only to come together at the end and realize they were only supporting the sides that favored them. As Sokka said "I only cared because they fed me" or something along those lines. They didn't care about the cultures stories, just that it supported their ideology and they felt validated. Aang didn't need any kind of validation from either tribe, and just wanted to make it out of the canyon. Sokka and Katara were doing what they felt they had to, and Aang was doing what he felt he had to. If it meant getting out of here alive, why wouldn't he lie?
Tl;dr, Aang sees fighting as a bigger "sin" than lying. He makes a judgement call, and potentially ends centuries of conflict. This idea informs a lot about who Aang is going forward. It's not a coincidence that this episode is placed right before he lies to Sokka and Katara about the message about their father.
can confirm, zutara was a wildly popular ship at the time the show was airing...like to the point that the creators got annoyed about it lol. you can tell because they poke fun at it in the Ember Island Players episode. tbh I don't think most of us really thought it would be canon but personally I was a little salty that they dismissed the idea so outright. but yeah Avatar was my first exposure to the whole idea of "shipping" and to online fandom as we see it today in terms of there being an actual dialogue between fans and creators during the run of the show
They created something beyond their control…
Saying the idea never even crosses their minds is just so blatantly untrue that it's insulting. They were playing with the "opposites attract" dynamic from the beginning. Just say you debated and decided against it omg.
I understand your take on Aang's conflict, but I think there's one thing you're forgetting: he's a literal damn child. He was 12 at the beginning of the series and we don't even know if he even reached 13 before the end of it.
Trauma and hard decisions weigh heavier on children than on adults. In fact, even as an almost 21 year old I can recognize how terrifying and life-ending certain circumstances and choices were to me back when I was 16, which wouldn't feel as awful or overwhelming now that I'm older. I could have never dealt with what I've had to deal with as an adult a few years ago back when I was still a teenager, and that isn't to say I didn't have to deal with a lot back then, but I can recognize now that I didn't have the right coping mechanisms to properly address the issues I was facing at that age. I'm better now but even now, as an adult, I can recognize that there are a lot of things that I need to work on and improve about myself and the way I deal with life in general. I know that there are certain harmful patterns that I need to correct and I'm actively working on them, but that doesn't mean I won't have any difficulty making decisions that might seem obvious for someone who doesn't have the same baggage that I do.
Knowing what to prioritize and what not to, what's more important for the greater good, is something that comes with age and experience, something that an already traumatized 12 year old is in no way equipped to handle. So I understand his struggle and why it was such a hard choice for Aang to make, in the end.
(English isn't my first language so I hope you all can keep that in mind if you're gonna correct my grammar or punctuation. I don't mind criticism, I just don't like it when people are mean about it for no reason)
3:07 im loving the subtle hint towards Overanalyzing Avatar
Believe it or not that was completely unintentional. I am aware of OA’s channel but in that moment I just decided to put that clip of Sokka there and then only realized after the fact that it came off like a reference lol
I didn't watch this show until I was 20, right before Korra came out. It was still great then, and I'm rewatching and it's still great. The world building is remarkable and thought out, I'm seeing so much I missed.
So with the evil avatar idea, this is kinda covered in expanded material, the avatar is responsible for maintaining balance between humans and spirits, and many avatars kinda pick one over the other, Yangchen didn't really help the spirits, so Kuruk had to pick up the slack, which put Kyoshi in charge of fixing the human world, which made Roku have to work harder with the spirits, which led to the world Aang now has to navigate.
Roku never engage with the spirits lol.
1:25:07 You don’t have to be the “chosen one” to be the hero. Being a hero is a matter of choice through discipline, perseverance and the biggest desire to fight for what’s right.
👆👆👆
I grew up with a blind father, i loved toph it was just so natural i even forgot she was blind just like i often forgot my father was,
blind people are amazing with how they can still do things even with limited/ no vision
I follow a few analysis content creators and I really love your work. I wanted to comment fresh because I know I will love this but I'm just about to go to bed and want to give this my full attention. I watched Avatar for the first time at almost 40 and fell in love with the show. It's a great show for kids too, but as an adult, I love the humour and love how wholesome the characters are. Although my favourite character is Toph, there are no weak or annoying characters for me.
Great video, but I gotta say…
To me, Aang’s whole thing about pacifism THROUGHOUT the show is what, in my opinion, makes his solution to Ozai work.
The idea that he even could solve the Ozai problem by taking away his bending is 100% out of nowhere (and they should have had something to hint at it sooner).
But Aang’s approach to everything was always naive and silly. When things got serious he did get that spirit-bending cop out.
BUT thematically it goes with his character. His airbending teachings got him to the point he was at. And he stuck true enough to ignore everyone else’s guidance that killing Ozai was the only option. That kind of shit is what makes Aang. A 12 year-old forced to save the world. And he did it without shedding blood.
Again, my opinion here. But I do love this show because even on rewatch that sentiment that drives his character, as the main, is what earns him his victory.
Aang doesn’t need to be tragic.
I personally love the fact that Toph never got her Life-Changing Zuko Adventure; it's just really funny. It makes sense to me, too, because Toph already trusted him from the start, and therefore didn't actually need to go on adventure with him to build trust.
I think living homeless and as a commoner is what really helped Zuko became a very humble man. Luckily, he had his uncle, who was already experienced in living in the wild.
Great video I’m glad you brought up flaws that alot of the fandom neglect to mention
Im contrarian af
1:19:29 I loved and hated her, even back then. I definitely thought she deserved her ending, but man, I'm ashamed to admit that my 13 yr old self crushed on her. This definitely didn't cause problems for me later, I swear.
It’s always the bad bitches
@MacabreStorytelling Yeah, it really is. Edit: Great job with the video btw, its one of my favorites!
Honestly for me zutara is really more of a "katara+aang sucks but if they want to stick her with somebody..." type situation.
Like I'm not mad that she got with Aang rather than Zuko, just that she gets with Aang. I feel like they really setup the dynamic of them being familial well, and forcing a romance was a kick to that. Like I know theyre only 2 years apart, but he is constantly characterized as younger than her. She's a teen/young adult, he's a kid. And, I feel like it really undercut the care and love she already had for him to make it romantic.
Honestly I think the show wouldve been better without katara or aang ending up with anyone. Zutara would've been interesting to explore, but I just don't see how it could work in the current structure. Zuko's redemption takes too much time. If there was a season 4 after the war, the seeds were totally there for them to be endgame, but that just isn't the case.
ZUTARA! YEAH BABY! One of us! One of us! One of us!
✊✊✊
1:52:30 I don't want to bend over to much on your analogy with star wars, since I don't think it fits as perfectly as you made it sound like, but I disagree completely that there wouldn't be consequences. In star wars, sure we knew exactly what would happen if Luke gave in to the dark side, but knowing what would happen if Aang killed Ozai would be completely against avatar moto about fate being "doubtful".
IMHO the reason Aang chooses not to follow the other avatars' advice is pretty clear. Aang sees how *every other avatar* misunderstood what being the avatar meant: Kyoshi thought the avatar should be a merciless warrior and because of that her island was isolated from the world for a long time leaving her people "abandoned"; Roku thought because of Kyoshi's failure he should be the perfect diplomat, but doing so and refusing to be a warrior when needed lead him to basically "creating" the fire nation that attacked the world; Kuruk devoted so much time to the spiritual that his duties on the physical world were neglected.
Basically when Aang asks Yangchen for input and her reasoning is the same as all the other "failed" avatars Aang understands that all these past avatars lost what the avatar is about, balance, he understood that to be the better avatar he should not abandon what he believed, but embrace the balance between all the facets being the avatar, instead of deeming any of those more important than the others.
w take
Very happy to see you covering one of my all time favorite shows, both from childhood and adulthood. I grew up with this show and it's always wonderful to see someone else discover and enjoy it.
PS: If you ever want to dive into another "kids show" that enjoyable for all ages, I'd recommend Gravity Falls.
I have heard good things about Gravity Falls. I'll add it to the docket!
@@MacabreStorytelling Fantastic. Hope you enjoy it man.🫡
@MacabreStorytelling definitely check out gravity falls. !
If only you were working on the Netflix adaptation. They have the chance to improve aspects of the story, but no live action version can capture the same charm and humor as the animated original. Both could stand as absolute must watch experiences.
Im excited to see how it turns out. Fingers crossed.
The thing people often forget about aang is that being gone for 100 years was a minor setback, there was no way his friends and family were still alive, his devastation in the air temple was not that his mentor figure was dead we know this because he regards the statue of gyatso as him. The monks would have taught him that life is a period of transition, his devastation was at the reality of their suffering and the reality of what had been taken that could not come back. Had he found other monks lemurs and bison I think he would have been just as happy.
Yeeees, which is what makes the finale that much more impactful. His entire culture is completely wiped out, and (though I hold to the theory that some escaped and lived under the radar), Aang is the only one left with any living memory of his culture. Being told by a fellow ethnic airbender avatar that he needs to destroy Ozai really is the last bit of his culture that will also be destroyed. I don’t know that he would have had the same exact struggle had some of the airbenders still been alive to guide him. It probably still would have launched into a similar duty vs culture debate but with a different amount of context and hurt.
Regarding Aang’s arc criticisms and specifically how Yang Chen kinda reprimands Aang for wanting to hold on to his personal philosophies, I think a crucial difference between them is that when Yang Chen was alive, there were other Air Nomads to keep the culture and practices alive even if she couldn’t because Avatar duties require that she breaks her philosophy. Aang *is* the last Airbender. So to him, breaking the final code of his Air Nomad philosophy is tantamount to losing his people all over again. And it isn’t like he isn’t capable of taking a life. We see him kill a buzzard wasp in S2 after Appa is lost and the creature threatens to take Momo away as well and it isn’t played as a good thing by the show (Momo lingers and lowers his ears after Aang saves him and the music is somber). While criticism regarding how the Lion Turtles and Energy Bending seemingly coming from nowhere is valid, I think it does Aang’s character arc a huge disservice to call him “selfish” for wanting to preserve some last remaining shred of his culture and not want to kill Ozai.
I always believed being kind to everyone is not kindness. To not recognise evil is to spit on the real kindness around him. Those who are really innocent.
To pick the Fire Lord as a target for his compassion is really the worst part of him to me.
Definitely. Thats wats so frustrating. Wztendinf conpassion is great but there has got to be a limit. Otherwise you are enabling bad behavior. M
I just wanted to say I love your choices of clips to pair with dialogue, they're perfect and create some hilarious moments (eg failure to capture lightning in a bottle, both clips were perfect)! Also as an Aang defender who was initially sceptical when I saw the title of the Aang section, your point about not having any explicit negative consequence to justify him not killing ozai story-wise was great and I fully agree (and I don't think I've heard it being argued that way before either) - obviously we can come up with arguments but they're not stated in the text of the show itself, and your idea about the consequences of Aang being worried he couldn't control himself is so good! Interesting to explore in fic territory as well...
I have to disagree on the ending - it is what Boomie has taught him. Think out side of the box, it is exactly what Aang did. If they would‘ve hinted at it in any other way, it wouldn‘t have been a surprise. What you said is just a usual solution with a usual problem. But thats not the goal here, it is to find a solution no avatar before thought about. I have watched it the first time in my late twenties haha I love this show 🥰
1:49:55 "even though it will result in Aang betraying his oath of pacifism thus leading to..." -> bending/corrupting his spirit.
As the lion turtle said, only an unbendable, uncorrupted spirit could take away Ozai's bending.
And what you (and actually most people 😁) miss is that Aang was only able to take away Ozai's bending, because by choosing to *not* kill Ozai when he had the chance he kept his spirit unbendable, which means he didn't let himself be corrupted - just like Luke (to stay with your comparison) didn't let himself be seduced/corrupted by the dark side by killing Vader and the Emperor.
However the show should have established that better, since most people don't get the "unbendable, uncorrupted spirit because he didn't kill Ozai" thing. ^^
Excellent essay, although I don't agree with all of your points (like you critique of the Boiling Rock two-parter)! 🙂
Yooo its finally here been waiting on this one for minute! Glad to see it out. I pray one day we will get a paranoia agent vid too🙏
We better. Been wanting to talk about it for so long.
Every other book 1 episode has a call-back at some point, EXCEPT the Great Divide. People show up during the Day of Black sun, or The Library.The only reference to it is in the Ember Island Players, where they say “let’s skip it”.
I actually like your slight recapping of the plot points your talking about. It makes you easier to follow
Yeah I’m trying to find a balance. Enough to get the gist but not enough where it becomes a complete recap.
@@MacabreStorytelling
I think it worked, though the show has long been ingrained into my brain so…
Oh my God, I actually got teary eyes at your description of Zukos arc! 😅
Huh, I never really thought about the Bato episode that way. You make a really good point. I can now more see Aang's perspective there and I think it really works well, once I understand it from that perspective. Those two are basically the only people in the world he knows and his jovial demeanor is larely the only way he can cope with his immense loss, and that relies on his new family.
You also make a good point about how the fortune teller does a pretty bad job exploring the theme of destiny. I generally enjoy that episode because I don't take it too seriously. I honestly like the romance dynamics in that one. But yeah, when you consider that the concept of destiny is pretty central to the show and this episode is probably the place where they address that the most directly, it does not deliver much that is meaningful to that end.
Also hard agree that the great divide could have been a lot better if they had treated Aang lying as something serious that he has ethical qualms with but did anyway for the greater good, rather than just treating it as a joke.
Hard disagree about Kataang though, I am a fan of that.
Very good suggestions on how to make the conflict between killing Ozai or not better. Dark side avatar being explored more would be cool. Though if they did that, I think ending the series with killing Ozai would make even less sense than it would currently, so you'd still be stuck with the energy bending deus ex machina. Only way to solve that would be to introduce energy bending earlier I guess, but then you don't get the rock and a hard place conflict.
If they were to actually have him kill the firelord, I think you would need a bit more time afterwards to deal with the consequences. But it's hard to do that well if the climax is in the last episode. Could do a flash forward a few years or something but that would be hard to do well. Really there is no winning, lol
I do disagree with the idea that they should have had Ozai personally going and crushing the eclipse invasion. It works better when he is a mysterious threat and they don't know how strong he is.
And honestly I feel like he shouldn't be able to do that anyway. He's not like a god, he's just a very powerful dude. Feel like he should be like... maybe 2x Azula threat level without the comet, tops.
Also hard agree about the Northern Air Temple episode. They absolutely could have ended it better by having the mechanist agree to respect the temple more, rather than just portraying it like Aang was being unreasonable.
Late to the party due to life kicking my ass, but this has to be one of my favorite videos from you. It was great seeing the show that kickstarted my love for storytelling be praised (and critiqued) by someone who never watched it as a kid or teen! It definitely isn't perfect in every aspect, but damn, is it a great piece of timeless media! It really set the precedent for serialized kids' shows moving forward.
Also, nice to see another Zutara fan in the wild! Though I'm thankful you didn't give much time to talking about the ships of the show, I think we were seriously robbed of a thematically excellent enemies-to-friends-to-lovers dynamic between them. There were hints and everything...
Hey! Not sure if you’ve gotten this but Zuko‘s mother wasn’t just banished because of Zuko‘s life, but was also banished because she killed Zuko‘s grandfather for Ozai so that he could take the throne
I did!
My take on the whole romance thing of ATLA is that it's such a tiny part of the plot, that it wasn't written PERFECTLY. I thought all relationships were fine, but flawed, and to me, that's what made them more real to me.
2h8m and all I'm thinking is... never took my man for a Zutara shipper.
Okay.
Great video as always
Bring on the Kataang stans
@@MacabreStorytelling I personally prefer "Aaara" but maybe that's just me
@@MacabreStorytellingbet
He's done it. Another top ten of the century under Macabre's belt.
1:23:05 Good God, I agree with everything you said there. Easily one of the best dynamics I've seen in media.
For the algorithm!!!
Freaking spectacular analysis brother, glad to have found your channel. God speed!
Kyoshi would have offed that man but u gotta remember that this is a Nickelodeon show
Ayyyy, just when I started to miss your videos. Welcome back, king. These are always worth the wait.
Fun fact: All of Macabre's picks for GOATed TV uncles are in shows that have aired on Nickelodeon
😎
Jet starts the great part of ATLA (In my opinion) then it leads into the storm perfectly. It's incredible how 2 of the best episodes are right next to eachother.
Hell yes. I’m glad you were able to get this out! I’ve been looking forward to it a tonne.
I haven’t finished it yet but you’ve done a bang up job and should be proud of it.
I hope you are feeling better and that that medical crap is all small in the rear view mirror. Happy holidays.
-Kal
🙏
The way you make points is incredible. I felt myself getting excited and saying “you’re right!” multiple times. Youve gained a subscriber
This whole series is the definition of balance. Even at 25 i still binge the show over and over. When i have my down times uncle Iroh's words hit like the clearest bell.
I think something that is lost a lot of times when one rewatches AATL as an adult is that Aang is still a 12 year old kid at the end of the day. Yeah he was a master air bender and is more than likely more mature for his age than the average kid and even more so by the end of the series but I think that exemplifies even more so that this is that one boundary he does not want to cross. I do agree it would've been interesting to see this pov that Aang was worried about him losing himself if he takes this easy end but I think its unfair of us to assume he could have that kind of foresight as to how his actions would ripple from him ending Ozai. I think another point, sorry if you've mentioned this, is that with him being the sole remainder of his culture, killing Ozai would be like accepting the end of his culture by the hands of the fire nation. So symbolically to beat Ozai without ending his life is like an added victory and keeps his roots alive. Still great video though!
I 100% cannot disagree harder with you on Ozai bending before the comet. I think that level of restraint is a good thing.
I am GLAD we only have context for Ozai's bending ability when it is comet enhanced. It maintains his dangerous aura in my mind that the only fire I associate with him is continent spanning annihilation. That is just good character presentation. Everything you suggest to "fix" him only diminishes him to the same level of other fire benders.
Great video overall though so far. I just had to stop here and say no to that.
Nah. I would agree with that if his powers were demonstrated in Books 1 or 2 but the mid season finale of 3 would be perfect. You could argue it already did so by showing his lighting bending abilities.
@@MacabreStorytellingI think seeing his... Ahem... Lightning quick display was a nice taste and confirmation that he was powerful but if I were in their position, I would have done the same thing. I don't know, it feels like magnification through subtraction. We know how good Azula is and she is terrified of her dad. It's a subtle storytelling trick. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.
Still making my way through the video and it continues to be good.
Also, the comment by Iroh saying he doesn’t know if he could beat ozai, knowing how much a badass iroh is, holds weight for ozai’s power levels.
It's a surprise to see ATLA covered on this channel, but it's definitely a pleasant one. Regarding The Great Divide, I agree it was unclear.
One interesting solution would be to have Katara congratulate Aang for resolving the conflict, then criticise him for lying. Aang could respond saying
"I couldn't figure it out. I thought I had to. But then I remembered an air nomad saying: "the truth only appears to unfixed eyes" and then it hit me. Even if I knew the truth it wouldn't have helped because they've been fixed to a lie for generations, so I swapped out a harmful set of lies, for a peaceful one."
Obviously Aang doesn't talk like this, I'm not practiced at writing dialogue, but this would be the sentiment.
I feel vindicated after you mentioned zutara. When I originally watched the show as a kid I thought that was what was going to happen, and when it didn't happen I was genuinely confused. Watching the show years later I still feel the same way, but I thought I was crazy because basically every ATLA talking space is genuinely hostile to the idea of zutara, and it's basically written off as "crazy female shippers think Zuko is hot and use Katara as a self-insert". Glad you see it similarly.
Kataang stans can fight me
Kataang is weak, but Zutara gives me "Internet woman thinks she could have fixed Ted Bundy" vibes
I think the show runners were originally planning to do that but changed their minds after season 2
@@warlordofbritanniakutaang makes perfect sense
I mean that’s literally me so…
You are severely undersubscribed. Fantastic video. Great takes, especially considering it was your first viewing. I’ve seen videos from people who’ve watched it 12 times that had less detailed, analytical, and insightful points on the show.
Thank ya! But to be fair, I did watch it 4 times through while making the vid and had a lot of insight from friends who were beloved fans of the series 👍