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ameliatheamazing · 2 months

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I watched the a:tla live action and because I used to be the Posting My Thoughts On Avatar blog, I'm gonna share the lil reviews I wrote after watching each episode. spoilers ahead!

1- aang:

ok so far it’s actually really good! The actors are amazing, especially aang and zuko, but like everyone actually. They are kids. And that’s like the most important thing. (i just hope they’re still kids by the end of the series lol). The visuals are BEAUTIFUL, the lighting and color grading is really good, the effects are great, the costumes are amazing- it’s all really faithful to the show. And it’s so exciting too bc i know it so i’m like so hyped every time something new that i recognize comes along. So overall i’m enjoying it. The main thing is it’s pretty tonally different, like bc it’s a limited series they’re focusing more on the war aspect of it all and cut a lot of the filler. Which makes sense i guess but like.. I do hope they let these kids be kids! Like please let aang goof off and show katara and sokka that it’s ok to take a break and have fun as well. I feel like that’s a really important aspect of his character so we shouldn’t cut all the filler. Please. We’ll see. (i had this exact problem with the pjo series too.. feel like i’m getting deja vu)

2- warriors:

Episode 2! Was really good! They took out sokka’s sexism which ppl were mad about but i honestly really liked what they did instead, how he connected to suki through them both being leaders of their villages. He still underestimated her and she still taught him to fight (he just wasn’t wearing makeup. tragic) and i LOVED every scene they had together! I was like kicking my feet it was so cute. Kyoshi came in and was so OP. I think it’s weird that they started going to the north because of some omen and not because aang needs to learn waterbending?? Like what’s the reason for that. so many of the decisions made here just seem to be trying to move the story along as fast as possible. But there are still good character moments and it’s enjoyable.

I love zuko. I already did so i am biased but his actor is amazing he really has that anger but also like, a clear softness beneath that. (my only problem is his scar isn’t quite as nasty as the animated version. Like from far away you can’t even really see it, i feel like it should be bigger.) I’m still not sure about iroh’s actor he’s pretty different from the animated version and i just feel like no one can live up to the original, but his character is similar to the one we know and love. azula and ozai made an appearance which is wayy sooner than in the og lol. but both of their actors seem great i’m excited to see more of them.

3- omashu:

ok we knocked out a few major s1 episodes, with jet and the mechanist from the northern air temple being featured. neither of them were from omashu originally but combining them here actually worked out ok. i loved danny pudi as the mechanist obviously. they weren’t living in the air temple though which took out a pretty big struggle for aang, where he had to come to terms with other people living on the air nomads’ land. but they can’t include every detail and like i said, having them in omashu worked just fine. idk how i feel about the jet plot, it seemed pretty similar to the original episode it just had less focus so it was like weirdly paced i felt like. most important thing was we saw cabbage guy!! even in live action his cabbages aren’t safe

4- into the dark:

why did they have bumi like, literally try to kill aang? in the show they revealed he was bumi at the very end and he was like haha it’s me your friend! i was testing your strength or whatever. here, they had him be mad at aang for not being there during the war! like oh my god?? in the original series, not everything was about the war. you even forgot it was happening at times. here, they don’t let you forget.

so glad they included secret tunnel. also oma and shu were lesbians we love to see it. but it was so strange that the badger moles like… responded to love? what?? that’s not a thing. in the original cave of two lovers episode i remember katara thought love would be the answer at first, but then was proven wrong and the crystals actually just guided them because it was dark. but in this one, she was right and sokka looked like an idiot for not believing her?? ok. i am kinda glad they took out the kataang stuff, i don’t think we need it this early on.

i liked zuko and iroh’s plot, especially the addition that the guy who captured iroh had a personal trauma from iroh’s ba sing se attack. this show has so much depth and nuance rather than just having good guys and bad guys and this was a great way of showing that.

5- spirited away:

idk what to think of this one. it was kind of an all over the place infodump. they clearly used this one as a way to put in a lot of stuff they weren’t gonna cover otherwise, like sokka’s trial thing. it didn't flow together very well. but i still enjoyed it i guess. we met a bunch of spirits that normally don’t show up until later like koh, wan shi tong, and the fox that i’m pretty sure was yue. interesting choices. ok and why the fuck did they have june flirt with iroh?? bc in the og series he makes comments towards her that are a bit gross. and instead of taking that out altogether, they reversed it?? what the fuck? that’s not better. i think my favorite part of this episode was gyatso telling aang it wasn’t his fault. he needed to hear that.

i’m starting to get pretty annoyed that aang hasn’t learned waterbending AT ALL? by this point he had been practicing with katara quite a bit! like we are way behind on the mastering elements thing when that was literally their top priority in the main series.

6-masks:

that was actually amazing. pretty spot on 1 to 1 of the blue spirit episode, at least the second half. except at the end aang and zuko talked a lot more, they’re really pushing zuko towards that redemption more than in the original. zuko’s backstory also had a lot added to it which i really liked. ozai’s characterization is so interesting, he has a little more depth (we’re just seeing more of him rly) but he ofc is still the worst human being ever in the world. but the actor who plays him is so good and we're really seeing why he makes the decisions he does. the agni kai was more drawn out which made it even worse, and we saw the actual moment of zuko’s banishment which was also extremely painful to watch! :D when he was crying in his bed ugh i couldn’t take it. and i love the detail that the soldiers he wanted to save were assigned to be his crew, which led them to respect him more once they heard his story. i loved that.

they really dumbed down commander zhao in this, i watched the original episode again and he was so much more threatening. idk why they gave that asswipe more comedic relief than aang. let aang be silly!! i’m also craving more appa in this show.

7- the north:

this was pretty much just an expanded version of the waterbending master episode. (although aang is STILL not learning waterbending?) the katara vs pakku fight was amazing and really accurate to the original scene, which was one of my favorite fight scenes so i’m glad for that. although they took out the whole thing with pakku noticing katara’s necklace but that’s fine tbh. but yeah she had her girl power moment! slay. yue is amazing and her and sokka’s interactions are so great! although i wish sokka and suki hadn’t actually kissed in episode 2, bc i feel like it took away from the importance of his and yue’s relationship! like she was his first kiss in the series and now she’s not. she’s not even necessarily his “first girlfriend.” so yeah weird choices all around. i also found it interesting that she dumped hahn and was not even betrothed to him. and he was way less of an asshole so it's not even clear why she did that. i guess trying to give her more agency? but like it doesn't make sense.

8- legends:

this one was good, again pretty accurate to the season 1 finale. the fight scenes were really drawn out to the point where it felt like they were just padding time lol, but aang’s avatar state fish suit thing looked really cool. i don’t remember if aang’s conflict here was in the original but i don’t think it was? where he’s like “i have to bear the burden of being the avatar alone” i remember him struggling with that in season 3 but not s1. idk how i feel about that. I love that katara got her moment and got to not only fight but be a leader! also momo like, sacrificed himself to save someone but it fell pretty flat bc if you're just watching this new series, you would barely care about momo. he's like not in this at all. zuko was the highlight once again. i just love him. i think that's all i have to say? again, pretty much the same story as the original.

TLDR i didnt hate this series, most of my problems with it just came from the fact that it's a live action remake and i hate those as a concept. as a fan of og avatar it was really enjoyable! I didn't like the shift in tone very much but I knew it was coming. (i'm probably gonna rewatch the og series as a palette cleanser lol). The cast and overall visuals were great and the story, although condensed, was fairly accurate. I'm excited to see how they do s2 but i'm not like super invested and my hopes are still not that high.

#avatar the last airbender #atla #natla #review #man it's been a long time since i used those tags #i did that liveblog 4 fucking years ago. my god

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kristallioness · 7 years

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"North and South: Part Two" - a review

My copy of "North and South: Part Two" arrived last week and I reread it. Now, I'm gonna write down my thoughts and opinion as a contrast to some of the critique I've already seen.

First off, I'd like to point out that I've already established how I feel about Sokka and Katara considering Malina as their stepmother dad's new girlfriend, Aang and Katara naming their daughter Kya, as well as Hakoda and Katara's heartfelt conversation over here (I'm forever glad I managed to see this before the rest because I loved it so much and could analyze it to pieces without focusing on the mess that goes down later). Plus, a few other things here and in the description of this mournful drawing.

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Let me start with the way Katara acts towards Malina. Since they met, Katara has felt offended by Malina and the way she (unintentionally) insults her culture. Katara comes from a culture that's always had a rather simple, freer, more gender-equal lifestyle, nothing fancy, strict or patriarchal like in the north. Because of this, she and the southerners as a whole are considered to be lower class, even less competent or intelligent, if you will. Hence the idea that they might not be ready to handle the extracting and shipping of the oil that rightfully belongs to them (as it's found under their land). Offering to build a fancy palace, saying the taste of their food is "off", that their tribe needs lifting up, leaving the impression that they're just stupid snow rats who can be easily manipulated or used - I for one can clearly see why Katara is offended and damn right she should be (I'm most likely gonna protect her a lot in this discussion, so be prepared).

After her conversation with her dad, Katara feels a bit more reassured that Malina truly is trying to help them. It's very important that it was her father who helped her come to this point. Hakoda has known Malina for a longer period of time, so it's logical that Katara eventually believes him when he comforts her that she's not up to anything nefarious. I mean.. it's Hakoda and Katara, father and daughter - she trusts her father, there's no doubt about that. And he certainly helped along by letting her see things from his point of view, plus making the connection with how she feels about Aang was lovely.

So Katara lightens up and sort of understands that Malina is still learning their ways, that maybe she shouldn't be so hostile towards her and instead give her a chance (or much rather, the benefit of a doubt - I'll come back to this soon). But just then, Malina reveals what their initial plans were. Here's something that's worth noting - Katara wouldn't have jumped up on that stage to protect Malina (and Maliq) if there hadn't been a tiny part of her that still believed she was telling the truth and didn't want any harm to the southerners. Yes, Aang did say that they didn't deserve to die and hoped that Katara would go protect them while he dealt with the soldiers, which definitely was the main reason she slid to the rescue. But at that moment, I believe her feelings about Malina were so mixed due to the betrayal that she didn't realize this yet (and I hope she will in the third part).

Finally, I reach the part that has the most parallels to certain scenes, even episodes from the original series. Where have we seen the same events play out? When was the last time Katara used to hate somebody because he was their biggest enemy, then let her guard down when he sympathized with her, which ended up with him turning his back on her, her loved one (almost) getting killed and her having to heal them back to health (not to mention the emotional pain she had to live through)? That's right - with Zuko. When they were trapped in the Crystal Catacombs.

In the end, Katara is acting towards Malina just like she acted towards Zuko, justifiably. Whenever she lets someone she doesn't completely trust too close, the people she loves almost get killed or hurt as a result because that person ends up betraying her. Katara is vicious and overprotective by claiming that Malina doesn't deserve to say goodbye to her dad. Don't tell me I'm the only one who doesn't blame her. I wouldn't want someone like that anywhere near my dad (or loved ones) either, especially after everything that's happened. This is an amazing parallel to the death threat she gave to Zuko after he'd joined their group. She's letting them know that she doesn't trust them and wants them nowhere near her family. This raises the question of how will Malina regain Katara's trust, which is one of the most intriguing aspects I hope to see getting a solution in the third part. Because Katara can hold a grudge.

While I was writing my opinion about Katara and Malina's relationship, I realized that Jet would actually be a rather good parallel besides Zuko, too. But since she didn't dislike him at first and everything else went pretty much in a similar pattern, I chose to leave him out for now. Plus, Zuko and Malina's betrayals sort of go deeper.

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Moving on, I'm gonna speak about another one of my favourite parts - Aang and Katara's reunion. Starting with the impression like Aang's arrival seems to be too well timed. I don't believe this to be the case (because then we could say that things are too well timed throughout the series), even though it does give such an impression. During the events of "Smoke and Shadow", it took them a couple of days to solve the mystery. We should add the hours or days Aang needed to travel from Ba Sing Se to the Fire Nation capital, then to the Southern Water Tribe. It's a long journey, so it's highly likely that Aang would've made a pit stop on some island or in a village along the way. Sokka and Katara had to walk to the train station, take it to the Outer Wall, then reach the shores of the Earth Kingdom (probably on foot), find a boat that'd take them to the Southern Water Tribe (maybe even switch boats if it wasn't heading home directly) - all of which would've taken a few days too, plus the two days they actually managed to spend at home. I find that Aang's arrival at the Southern Water Tribe isn't as random as we'd think, it seems to be quite realistic.

Enough of that, it was just something that someone pointed out and it kind of irked me, so I wanted to present my arguments. Onto the sweetest part where my favourite young lovers reunite and hug each other. Let me just say - it was beautiful! I loved that Aang asked for permission to kiss her first. I've recently learned that it's such a sweet and polite thing to do, especially if you're not sure whether your partner is okay with it (something I've put to the back of my mind when I eventually have a boyfriend/ develop a crush on someone and am not sure whether he's okay with it/ knows about my feelings). And what's most important - when Katara said that maybe not now, Aang respected her choice and didn't kiss her. Also, they were holding hands practically the entire time and that was so adorable! I love the way this heartwarming scene ends, with the loving way Katara looks at her dad - I had the most beautiful father-daughter feels.. I still do (with every moment the two share tbh).

Let's continue with some other small tidbits I found to be rather lovely, starting with Sokka. I remember how I burst out laughing when he began riding and eventually crashed that forklift at Satoru's factory - his enthusiasm about the machine is so funny. Besides that, Sokka claiming Malina is his dad's new girlfriend had me with such a Jinora-like vibe, where she told the Equalists to stay away from her dad's ex-girlfriend. And speaking of Malina, I have to admit that she really is a beautiful woman. Also, did you notice Momo blushing after he finds a plush version of himself in the pile of prizes Toph's carrying and hugs it? So cute!

There's also a mysterious matter, namely what is up with those two little southern waterbender girls? They're from Katara's tribe, right? Pakku said they were hiding deep in the mainland, in a village that wasn't visible from the shores, which is probably why they survived throughout those hundred years of war (the Fire Nation didn't search for waterbenders so far away). I know I've heard that the small village where Katara and Sokka lived at the beginning of the series wasn't the only one in the South Pole.. but this is intriguing. Katara has always been the last southern waterbender, but this would mean that she isn't anymore (plus, her daughter Kya wouldn't be the only southern waterbender besides her many years later), which is unbelievable, yet great news. What I don't seem to understand is the reason why those two don't wanna share their waterbending with anyone else but themselves. Does it have something to do with the war and having to hide their abilities in order to protect their village (like Haru was forbidden to earthbend)? I'd really like to see an explanation for this and I'm hoping this subplot in the third part will end with Katara and Pakku teaching the little girls together while Aang observes them proudly (or joins them to teach, too), just like Katara watched him teach the air acolytes at the end of "The Promise".

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Onto more serious matters from now on, like the way Katara's worried why it'd be a good thing to have so many machines in every part of their lives. To understand this better and be aware of what I'm talking about, I specifically reread "The Rift" (and shed tears since I didn't even remember half of the story, which had one of the most bittersweet as well as beautiful plots) to see how everybody reacted there. I can see why, she reacted the same way - what if there's an accident with the oil rigs inside the factory and the machinery fails? How will that affect their environment, her home? They saw what'd happened to the river near Satoru's factory, Katara even supported Aang that they shouldn't have built the refinery there. To add to this, after there were three major earthquakes, each stronger than the last one, they witnessed what happened - one of those machines broke, a secret mine collapsed, with them getting trapped underneath it, and a lot of people suffered from various injuries. Katara's afraid that something similar might happen, which explains why she's unsure about all of this, because she's seen the negative effects.

Which brings me to an argument that I've seen and really bothers me - Katara is out of character. I totally have to disagree with this (considering everything I talked about before as well). Katara wasn't really excited like Sokka when Satoru gave them a tour around the Earthern Fire Refinery either. She's acting rather similarly to Aang (hence her flashback in the end of the first part) - this is her home that's been rebuilt (her sacred place). Nothing seems familiar to the round igloos and uneven paths between them like it used to be (in her dream) - it's in orderly fashion, angular, straight, more like the buildings in the Northern Water Tribe. This unfamiliarity is what bothers her - she'd like the image of her tribe to reflect what it used to look like, not how their sister tribe looks like. This doesn't feel like home to her, which is hard to accept, and that's the problem. I just don't get it, why does this seem so weird for some people? It's completely natural to feel this way.

One more thing to continue with the idea like Katara isn't quite herself here. She's never thought of nonbenders as not equal - this is true. There are several examples from the series to back this up, which helps make sense. When Sokka was downhearted because he felt like the regular guy in their group, it was Katara who comforted him because she knew very well that he was an irreplaceable asset to their team and capable of so much more as a nonbender. Katara was completely defenceless against Mai and Ty Lee three times during their battles. The point is that she's seen what nonbenders can do using their own special skills.

And now I reach Maliq, the boasting arrogant northerner, who can't see beyond his own innovative plans. He blatantly believes that the citizens of the Southern Water Tribe are a bunch of morons who don't know anything, not to mention how to live in a civilized way. Simple country folk, like Toph once joked.. Being a nonbender, he sort of has this need to prove himself - because he's more educated (having gone to Ba Sing Se University after all), he thinks he's smarter and better than the southerners and has the right to decide what to do with their resources, how to organize their life. But these are his greatest faults, which ultimately turn against him.

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Now I can talk about Gilak and his extremist views. First off, he accuses the northerners for hiding behind their snowy barriers to stay safe while the southerners had to sacrifice blood just to survive. Gilak is playing with our emotions, but it won't work on me (nor Katara). I can easily counter his accusation with a simple question - what were they supposed to do? Take a long risky trip down to the south, to the other side of the world, abandon their homes and leave their tribe even more defenceless with no guarantee of returning safely, avoid dozens of Fire Navy ships and hopefully not get captured, or worse? No. This is where the Northern Water Tribe did the reasonable and right thing - deciding not to send their already small number of warriors into certain death. We could say that the south shares the blame for not sending anyone up north to help them (neither side knew what condition their sister tribe was in!), but I won't. Since the Southern Water Tribe was raided more often, after the last raid, they couldn't just sit by and do nothing anymore. Yes, I believe them leaving to fight in the war was influenced by Hakoda's personal loss as well.

So I've nullified one point Gilak's using to win us over. Secondly, he believes that the northerners living in the south have to be wiped out or driven out of there because they're not a part of their tribe (or culture) and have to pay for their actions. Because the Southern Water Tribe is in danger of losing its identity by being forced to become a colony of the Northern Tribe. Is this.. xenophobia? When I read the description in English and Estonian, it sure sounds like what I'm trying to say in one word. This is where Gilak's crossing the line again - it's immoral to kill someone just because of their ethnicity. These are the reasons why Katara doesn't support him either, remaining a neutral party (which gives him a reason to attempt to kill her, or Aang, since she was the one who stopped him, foiling his plans to take Malina and Maliq, even Hakoda out of the picture).

I'm gonna take a sudden leap to the end of the second part so I could provide a real-life example. The last things Sokka and Katara say to each other before leaving their Gran Gran's igloo actually show that they're both correct. It's a new era where the nations cannot remain separate anymore, a parallel to "The Promise" where the Fire Nation colonies elected governments of mixed nations, so they do need to get with the times. But.. without forgetting who they are, a parallel to Aang deciding to begin teaching the air acolytes about the ways of the air nomads instead of keeping that knowledge to himself. That's what the southerners should do - teach the northerners their culture and ways of life, if they want to become a part of their tribe and settle there.

All of this is very similar to what's happening in the real world, in my country, too, which is why I can relate. Estonia (along with many other countries) is facing a similar problem with the refugees (and other immigrants of foreign cultures). Our President talked about this in her speech on our Independence Day this Friday, urging us to be more tolerant without forgetting our identity (which I believe is the right thing to do). Populists (the EKRE party in our Parliament) are spreading hate and toying with our emotions to get us to support them by claiming that we shouldn't support the refugees (only a select few have terrorist ties or committed terrorist attacks) because they are the threat and we are superior, preserving our culture is the most important thing that matters. Honestly, this attitude drives me mad and makes me sick at the same time. And it's the exact same rhetoric of Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen and other populists here in Europe. They take their views too far, exactly like Gilak has, and become extremists. I just wanna scream some sense into them and their supporters (that refugees and foreigners are simple, normal people like us) and kick their pathetic butts out of politics. I was already so frustrated with this situation that I actually wrote my feelings down through Katara's eyes in a fanfic called "Seeking refuge" last year. I'm ashamed to see how such idiotic politicians keep winning people over, all over the world. But that only fuels my anger and passion to keep fighting against their nonsense and fake news with intelligence, awareness and traditional media that speaks the truth.

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Okay, I wanted to show how I can connect these events with real-life events. Enough ranting, let's focus on some stuff that happens during the fighting. For instance, I'd been trying to figure out the meaning behind Thod's story by reading it several times, especially since I felt like it wasn't put in there randomly and it must've been foreshadowing something. But I didn't fully get it until I'd read the second part. Thod turning out to be a chi blocker made him seem even creepier and more terrifying - Katara's face says it all after she's attacked. I'm glad he underestimated her, which provided her with an opportunity to detain him in that ice by waterbending using only her feet. Proof that Katara is one of the best waterbenders in the world.

Plus, those two kids, who also turned out to be chi blockers in training, are really annoying and I hope they get what's coming to them (thank you for not letting them escape, Aang!). Some of Gilak's troops are actually kind of stupid - let's grab the Avatar's hands, then he can't bend (I think you might've forgotten his legs, dumbbells)! This sounds like I'm hinting that the southerners really do tend to be less intelligent than the northerners - no, this isn't my intention. I'm trying to point out that, other than being nonbenders, his army has weaknesses (or is weak, Sokka beat those two guys with his boomerang so easily). And speaking of revenge, I'd like to praise Toph for getting those three construction "artists" for beating up Katara. Those jerks totally deserved it, that blow to the back must've been pretty strong and dangerous for her. A few pages forward and there's another powerful parallel I'd like to bring up here - Hakoda saying he believes that people can change is exactly what Iroh said, not to mention they're both referring to Zuko.

Like I stated in the very beginning, I've summed up my feelings about Hakoda getting stabbed in the description of my drawing. What I didn't mention though is that every time I read Malina and Katara's screams, I can hear them so loud and clear in my head that it's heartbreaking. Seeing that blood on Hakoda's coat makes my stomach churn, even drawing that crimson in the midst of all those blue tones was a sharp contrast. And Katara's genuine reaction when he finally wakes up.. can I just cry forever together with her?

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My expectations for the third part? I haven't really thought about those, though some ideas did come up within my discussion, so I guess those are the ones. The Southern Water Tribe must remain a colony in some acceptable way, because that's what we see during Korra's time. We know Hakoda will remain chief (most likely, hopefully until he passes away) and Sokka will be his successor at some point. I'd like the third part to offer some clarity to some extent, and see in what conditions do the two tribes come to an agreement.

In conclusion, this discussion became way longer than I'd originally wanted.. I spent hours trying to figure out how to get my point across, that I didn't use the wrong words which might give the wrong idea and that I didn't forget anything important I wanted to mention. Well, I hope you've enjoyed reading my opinion! It's my first thorough review I've written for any of the Avatar comic trilogies, so I hope you liked it!

Btw, Caroline (@thecaroliner), to answer your question of where is Bato? With everything that's going on, I think he would've gotten in the way of the plot, so that might be the main reason why he was left out. Or who knows, maybe we'll see him in the third part?

#personal #shards of Kristal #North and South

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