You know, It seems counterintuitive that John O. Bryan didn't handle the second part of this finale, because this kind of stuff is all planned out by one writer, at least, as far as I can tell. But, instead, Aaron Ehasz, handles this part of it. Even though the style of the storytelling seems a bit different in Episode 20, it still more or less holds up.
Yeah, I was pretty unfair to this Episode the last time I reviewed it, and I'm sorry about that. So, to start on the way to rectifying that, I love the first four minutes minutes of this Episode. It may just be because it's been like, forever since I last saw an Episode of this show, but the way they set up the atmosphere is amazing, with the ambience they set up as Aang enters the Spirit World, only to have this freaky music slowly creep in right as Roku mentions Koh. It's all done so subtly and smoothly and as a result, they really do a good job of setting up Koh...
Although, I have to say, it still strikes me as weird that Koh is really the only able to remember about the Ocean and Moon Spirit. As a matter of fact, instead of just sending Aang off by himself, why didn't Roku just go to Koh and find out himself if he knew about this? Seems like it would've saved Aang a lot of trouble. I'm also not totally clear on why showing emotion somehow magically stops Koh from stealing your face, but hey, magic mythological creatures. If there's one thing I've learned from mythology, it's that almost
nothing makes sense when it comes to some animals.
Anyways, it's too bad for Zuko that that sheet of ice and rock had to crumble beneat him, because it looks like Sokka is now right on his tail. That certainly couldn't have helped him hide.
Zuko: You're like my sister. Everything always came easy to her. She's a firebending prodigy, and everyone adores her. My father says she was born lucky. He says I was lucky to be born. Ouch. What, did Ozai pull a King David or something and bone some guys hot wife, then kill the guy and force the woman to be his wife to cover up an unforseen pregnancy? Or am I interpreting this too literally? Seems awful hard to imagine that someone as vile as Ozai would make any effort to restrain himself on that front after all...hmm...
Come to think of it, I wonder, who exactly
is Ozai's wife anyway, if he has one? I would imagine he doesn't have several, since this
is a children's show marketed in a society where polygamy is generally looked down upon, so, I'm
assuming he has only one (possible mistresses not withstanding). I mean, we have Zuko here, and Azula is introduced in this episode, and Iroh is the uncle of both of them, so who's the mother of the two?
As a matter of fact,
where is she? That is the question that comes to my mind right now. I've been thinking about everything Zuko has ever said about his relationship with his dad, especially Episode 12...and I've just realized this. We have never once been given any insight into what Zuko's mother thinks about Zuko, or what her relationship with Zuko was like. Why is that? Doesn't it seem rather odd that she was nowhere to be seen at any point in Episode 12, where Zuko was reminiscieing about his banishment? Where was
she when all of that was happening?
....................
Well, I'll tell you. This is going to be a plotline further down the road, where all of us are going "Jeez, just where the heck is Zuko's mom? What did Ozai do with her"? And I'm sure it's all going to be very thrilling and mysterious and all that.....(P.S., I'll bet you anything that Ozai had her killed at some point). It's too bad I've already been cursed, due to the fact that I had already watched a few Episodes before ever starting these logs...ayeye...
Still, can I at least pretend that I would've figured out that something was up even if I didn't know of that little subplot ahead of time? Sigh....at any rate, if I'm correct, it adds a lot to Ozai's "you were lucky to be born". Maybe Zuko's sister isn't really his full sister. Maybe Zuko's mother was replaced at some point. Who knows.
So, anyways, some more good fighting, and then an interaction with Zhao and Iroh. And oh boy....this is a tough one. To this day, I can't tell whether I should be laughing as hard as this as anything else in my life, or be irritated as all getout. You know how for two whole Episodes, we've been building up this great conflict about Yue being forced to marry a jerk, and how trapped and hopeless it seemed for her?
Yeah, well, Hahn, in a display of stupidity that makes the abridged series Zuko look badass, loudly announces his presence, and is killed in what I swear is the most hilariously nonchalant way I've ever seen a major character killed. I now cannot help but wonder if it was a good thing, or a bad thing that they bothered to show Hahn onscreen. I mean, I actually thought it was a good idea at first, making Hahn this totally unsympathetic douchebag, just to add more weight to Yue's situation, but if they were going to do all of that just to make him his whole character, and by extension,
the whole entire subplot into a throwaway gag...I'm not sure they should've even bothered.
I mean, this is funny and all...but at the same time, I feel like it sort of cheapens the whole "arranged marriage" subplot with Yue. Basically, now when I look at this, I see all of Sokka and Yue's emotional hurt, all of their struggles and conflicting beliefs, it makes all of that just one long setup to what basically amounts to a punchline. A really good punchline, sure, but it doesn't change anything in the long run. I would've liked to have seen some sort of revelation on Yue or Sokka's part, where both of them learn some really important lesson about sticking up for yourself and not letting society screw you over, or a revelation upon how wrong arranged marriage is when one or both of the parties don't have their hearts in it.
If it seemed like I made too big of a deal of it in the past, it's for this reason. If you look at Episode 18, one of the subtle themes is how much damage an arranged marriage culture can do to people when their happiness doesn't enter the equation. Pakku and Katara's Grandmother themselves are a product of this, and it's implied that a lot of hurt could've been avoided had Pakku not been in an environment where his marriage to Katara's grandmother was supposed to be a guaranteed thing. Right after Katara and Pakku have their fight, Pakku reflects on his past and as he does so, Katara chimes in, saying that it was an arranged marriage. At this, the camera cuts to Yue, who is crying. Katara then mentions her grandmothers motives, and talks about how much courage it must've taken to run away the way she did. At this, the camera again cuts to Yue, and she runs away in tears.
All of this, both of the fate of Katara's grandmother and what eventually happens to Pakku, is something I interpreted to be foreshadowing at what would happen to Yue and Sokka if Yue couldn't find the courage and the will to challenge her customs, then Sokka, who was an intelligent, stubborn, somewhat cynical warrior, just like Pakku, would end up heartbroken, again, just like Pakku, and perhaps a bit bitter at having lost the love of his life. Yue then, would end up alone and sad and all of that if she couldn't summon up courage to challenge the Water Tribe customs. I believed all of this would end up leading up to some big resolution where Yue or Arnook would have some sort of revelation that allows them to break up this tragic cycle, perhaps involving a speech by Katara about what her grandmother told her about the subject, and the rights of human beings and what they should be entitled to....
Instead, we this scene, seemingly ripped straight out of a Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged Episode......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbvWoS-KS4w Yeah....not QUITE as fulfilling or powerful as I originally had in mind. I mean, it's funny, yeah, but...I just felt a little unfulfilled, that's all.
Anyways, this next part is quite interesting. You know how Zhao is somehow able to navigate his way to what was supposed to be a hidden shrine without any apparent difficulties or problems? Well, I remember lambasting that whole thing, citing that it didn't make sense that Zhao should know where it is. After all, why would he know? Just where the heck did he find a map that had a completely accurate floor plan of the entire Water Tribe? Who would have such a thing....and so I got this awnser, from a very helpful bunch of guys and gals, including SMBH, that ol' forumite I keep mentioning.
Apparently, this specific library is going to play a crucial role later in the story for some reason or another, and it has ahold of all sorts of juicy tidbits like that. So, apparently, this isn't just any old library, this is the sort of library you'd find in an RPG, where there's information on just about everything in the world, and it's been there from the beginning of time...or something like that. That's about the gist of it I think, though I'm not so sure about the "since the beginning of time bit".
Oh, and don't worry about Zhao somehow being able to sneak past everyone without being targetted, despite being a general. The Water Tribe doesn't have any knowledge of what the current Fire Nation costumes look like, so they don't have the ability to distinguish Zhao from the regular foot soldier. So that's yet another question that was answered to me.
Aang's conversation with Koh comes next, and even though so many people have said otherwise....I just didn't find him that scary. Maybe it's just something I've gained from my martial arts training, i.e., the ability to control my emotions and stay calm. I've always been good at that sort of thing, so maybe I'm overestimating other peoples ability to do that. Plus, for someone whose lived for thousands of years, I found him rather uncreative in his methods. I mean, he...
1) Tries to rush in real close to Aang's face suddenly...
2) Tries to talk really creepily into his ear...
3) Creepily morphing his face that one time...
And that's about it really. Really, the scariest thing about Koh is how erratic he can be, but to me, that's undermined by this one thing. Aang accidently lets loose once, showing excitement and triumph in his tone of voice, sturring Koh to action. Aang corrects this mistake however, and looks at Koh impassively. Does Koh, knowing that Aang must've had some trace of emotion in here, do anything to pressure Aang into expressing emotion, knowing that he's probably panicked at how close he came to losing his face?
Nope, he just gives up apparently. The thing I took from this is that it doesn't matter whether or not Koh knows that emotions are stirring inside you. As long as he doesn't actually see your face with an expression, you're in the clear. So basically, if he happens to be looking away, just have your hand near your mouth the whole time, and when he comes rushing in, you can pretend your just scratching your nose, or bow your head down with your hand in front of your mouth, pretending that you're deep in thought as he rushes towards you....and that's all assuming he doesn't allow you to use a mask (out of some sense that Koh might think would be "disrespectful", as some of my previous readers suggested). I dunno, I just didn't find him that scary...
Still, kudos to Koh's voice actor. He was awesome.
This next scene is pretty cool though. Again, good action, good music, and seeing Pakku summoning a tornado was extremely cool. It's a nice, thrilling, intense looking fight, as opposed to the one right after this, in which Katara confronts Zuko for a second time, and just wastes him in seconds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H1Q_LVyBc4 Grab the plates Zuko, BECAUSE YOU JUST GOT SERVED!! I'd offer my condolences, but then, I honestly think Zuko's better off this way. Lord knows if I were him, I wouldn't be able to
wait to go back to this......
Unfortunately, I had a rather important tidbit spoiled for me thanks to Miles and Noah Antwieler's review of "The Last Airbender" (so, thanks again M. Night Shyamalan. As if it wasn't enough for you to make that terrible movie...). So, for those of you baffled by my comment about hooking up with Yue being a bad idea, I'm going to admit this, I knew all along that Yue was going to have to sacrifice herself at some point during this finale. Just for that, I'm going to be more generous than usual in how I rate Episodes, because I'm sure that everything that transpires next would've been far more dramatic had I not had that spoiled.
It's a good thing to, because I
LOVED the next four minutes. Just about
everything takes a
huge jump up in quality. Every single voice actor turn in some of their best performances in the show, the animation and artwork suddenly get a lot better, everything that happens is dramatic, and the music almost sounds like something out of an animated movie, like a Hyo Myazaki film....
Admittedly, I was a little disappointed by the fact that Aang just whipped Koizilla out of nowhere and just solves everything way easier than I was expecting, but I have to say, it's beautifully done, showboating the power of the spirits and the Avatar, and accompanied by gorgeous artwork and music. One thing I will not overlook though, is Zuko's fight with Zhao. Yeah, wondering how Zuko got out of his restraints? Well look at the Episode again right after Iroh chases off Zhao, and look at how the camera zooms into Yue, and look very carefully as she moves off of Appa. See that rope sitting on Appa? Looks like Zuko managed to escape in all of the confusion, just as he did in Episode 7 where Roku went ballistic on Zhao. So anyways, what about the fight itself?
Well, it basically sucks. To begin with, I was sort of annoyed that we were going through this all over again, with Zhao vs. Zuko. For whatever dumb things I may have said the last time I reviewed this Episode, I will not retract this statement. This fight was completely pointless, or at least it came across that way to me. I mean, Zuko already won! I think he pretty decisively proved who was the better fighter back in Episode 3, even if he did win by the skin of his teeth. So I thought "what's the point of going out of your way to include another brawl between the two?" And yet, everyone kept on telling me how there was loads of buildup to their next fight, and how
clearly there was going to be some sort of epic confrontation between them.
Personally, I never got those kinds of hints. As a matter of fact, I thought the whole point of Zhao's antagonism was to make us feel sympathy for Zuko. I mean, here we've got this guy who's more deserving
and more talented than Zhao in every possible way, and yet Zhao, this egotistical bottom tier hack, keeps reaping the fruits of Zuko's hard labor. He's like Hercule from Dragon Ball Z that way.
I thought that that was what the writers were focusing on with Zhao antagonizing Zuko every step of the way, the thought of all this building up to one big season finale fight never occurred to me. I just don't get how there's supposed to be any dramatic tension when the entire show seems to hammer in how much Zhao sucks, and defeats himself due to his own overinflated ego, as opposed to Zuko who not only beat Zhao literally in the very first Episode Zhao appeared in, but has spent all of his time after that improving himself both mentally and physically. I suppose you could've had a pretty dramatic fight had the show had Zuko suffering from both exhaustion and the beating he took from Katara, but it didn't so....Zuko wins....no shock there.
Plus the fight itself wasn't that good, and was over in pretty much the blink of an eye. It was actually unusual bad for this shows standards, especially given that we don't even get to actually see most of the fight, something that never happened in any of the other fights in this show. I just...wasn't interested in it, at all. So...
I suppose you guys are expecting me to go on another tirade about how stupid Zhao was for accepting Zuko's help? I always
love bashing Zhao, right? Well, I don't know why, maybe it's because I used up all of my anger the last time I did this log, or out of reverance for Jason's acting, but I'm actually going to
defend Zhao for once.
Look at how far apart they are. What difference would it have made had Zhao not retracted his hand? I kind of figure Zhao figured this out, and just said "screw it, whatever. If this is how I'm going out, I'm not going to do it like a whimpering dog".
As a matter of fact, maybe it's more than just simple pride. Maybe Zhao's had some sort of change of heart...maybe he's done a little soul searching, and has discovered that his way is not so good....maybe he's even becoming a....
....NAH, this is Zhao we're talking about. No way is he going to be more than an unrepetant douche. Oh well.
Master Pakku: I've decided to go to the South Pole. Some other benders and healers want to join me. It's time we helped rebuild our sister tribe. Sister tribe, eh? Sure there aren't any
fine sisters you're trying to get with Pakku? Like a certain old granny?
Chief Arnook: The Spirits gave me a vision when Yue was born. I saw a beautiful, brave young woman become the Moon Spirit. I knew this day would come. So not only did you arrange for Yue to be married to a total douchebag, but you
knew that Yue was eventually going to end up going away from this world, yet you still got some poor saps hopes up, probably knowing that if he did happen to be a good guy, then his spirits and heart would be crushed one day. Yeah, remind me not to ask your advice on who to marry, ok?
Zuko: I'm tired.
Iroh: Then you should rest. A man needs his rest. Now that's an understatement if I ever heard one.
We end off this Episode with Ozai and our Mistress of Pain. And I swear, Ozai has one of the scariest voices I've ever heard from a childrens cartoon. Forget Koh, Ozai is where it's at. Koh's voice was more weird than scary.
I like how Avatarspirit simply describes our Season 2 Antagonist as simply "cruel-looking". I don't know why it's simply "cruel-looking".
Vicious is the word that comes to my mind when I look at her. Nice way to introduce her, with that nasty grin and that scary frickin music used for the reddening of the sky being used for her.
And that my friends, marks the close of Season 1. So, seeing as how it's been like, forever since I've last seen this show, I'm gonna wait until I've refreshed myself on the Episodes before I give my opinion on Season 1 as a whole, alright?....oh, by the way...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlANVGuNvk4 ...Ha, ha, ha! Man I love Guile's theme...it really does go with everything! IT EVEN GOES WITH ITSELF!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZhB442pQBU
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