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I'll keep posting my episode squee-by-squees on schedule if you pretend like I haven't watched waaay more than I should have at this point.
Episode 1.09
The first dud episode of the bunch. I'd just been preparing to wax rhapsodic about how one of the things I really like about Avatar is that the writers never rub the audiences' noses in the show's moral "lessons." People in the avatarverse are good people; they do good things, but there's no self-conscious pointing it out as the episode wraps, no "now what have we learned today, kids?" And that approach is precisely what makes them such good examples: they're assumed, and it's assumed that you the viewer get it without needing to have your hand held as its expained it to you. Except that's exactly what this episode did. Stealing is Bad. Jealousy causes Trouble. Do you understand, Children? Luckily, I saw it coming a mile off, and thus had ample time to prepare myself for the inevitable. So that made the half-assed backpedal towards the end ("Stealing is wrong." "But not if it's from pirates!") even more of a non sequitor. Ah well. A 1:9 ratio of suck to quality ain't that bad.
Episode 1.10
Okay, one of the things I really like about this show is that the writers don't crap out on the audience, even during the filler episodes, which 1.10 definitely was. Our Heroes encounter a charismatic Robin Hood type living in the abandoned treehouse set from Prince of Thieves or Tao's digs from Mysterious Cities of Gold, I can't decide which. Anyway, you know what that means: it's time for the gang to learn valuable Life Lessons about judging books by their covers, peer pressure, and standing up against the crowd for what's right. Only Avatar manages to inject a lot of good stuff into the otherwise tired formula.
For one thing, the psychology is pretty darn realistic. Too-good-to-be-true bad guy Jet takes a good look at the group, flatters the member he can flatter, sucks up to the member he can suck up to, and first isolates then reels in the member who's most likely to see through him. That is what guys like Jet do. But in another series it would have been Aang who, as the main character would have been the one to see through it all and spend the episode trying to get through to the less pivotal Katara and Sokka. But that's not how it works here; the writers allow Jet to go after the real weak link--the guy who doesn't have the cool moves, who probably feels like he can't live up to the benders. And for a while, Sokka goes along with it, because he wants to belong, as opposed to other shows, where the character who first spots the ruse sees through it the entire time and there's no subtlely depicted moral struggle between doing good or fitting in.
What else? Saw the ending coming again, but really dug the fact that Sokka got his day in the sun. I like how the writers spread the save-the-day points around to the characters pretty darn equally, instead of having Aang pull an Ichigo, always saving the day after everyone else almost has what it takes but ultimately fails. It's more realistic that way, and more importantly, it keeps me from getting disgusted with Aang. No Main Character Syndrome here. I also dug the whole leaping through the forest canopy scene toward the end. So reminiscent of Chinese martial arts/wuxia films.
So again, yay.
これで以上です。
Episode 1.09
The first dud episode of the bunch. I'd just been preparing to wax rhapsodic about how one of the things I really like about Avatar is that the writers never rub the audiences' noses in the show's moral "lessons." People in the avatarverse are good people; they do good things, but there's no self-conscious pointing it out as the episode wraps, no "now what have we learned today, kids?" And that approach is precisely what makes them such good examples: they're assumed, and it's assumed that you the viewer get it without needing to have your hand held as its expained it to you. Except that's exactly what this episode did. Stealing is Bad. Jealousy causes Trouble. Do you understand, Children? Luckily, I saw it coming a mile off, and thus had ample time to prepare myself for the inevitable. So that made the half-assed backpedal towards the end ("Stealing is wrong." "But not if it's from pirates!") even more of a non sequitor. Ah well. A 1:9 ratio of suck to quality ain't that bad.
Episode 1.10
Okay, one of the things I really like about this show is that the writers don't crap out on the audience, even during the filler episodes, which 1.10 definitely was. Our Heroes encounter a charismatic Robin Hood type living in the abandoned treehouse set from Prince of Thieves or Tao's digs from Mysterious Cities of Gold, I can't decide which. Anyway, you know what that means: it's time for the gang to learn valuable Life Lessons about judging books by their covers, peer pressure, and standing up against the crowd for what's right. Only Avatar manages to inject a lot of good stuff into the otherwise tired formula.
For one thing, the psychology is pretty darn realistic. Too-good-to-be-true bad guy Jet takes a good look at the group, flatters the member he can flatter, sucks up to the member he can suck up to, and first isolates then reels in the member who's most likely to see through him. That is what guys like Jet do. But in another series it would have been Aang who, as the main character would have been the one to see through it all and spend the episode trying to get through to the less pivotal Katara and Sokka. But that's not how it works here; the writers allow Jet to go after the real weak link--the guy who doesn't have the cool moves, who probably feels like he can't live up to the benders. And for a while, Sokka goes along with it, because he wants to belong, as opposed to other shows, where the character who first spots the ruse sees through it the entire time and there's no subtlely depicted moral struggle between doing good or fitting in.
What else? Saw the ending coming again, but really dug the fact that Sokka got his day in the sun. I like how the writers spread the save-the-day points around to the characters pretty darn equally, instead of having Aang pull an Ichigo, always saving the day after everyone else almost has what it takes but ultimately fails. It's more realistic that way, and more importantly, it keeps me from getting disgusted with Aang. No Main Character Syndrome here. I also dug the whole leaping through the forest canopy scene toward the end. So reminiscent of Chinese martial arts/wuxia films.
So again, yay.
これで以上です。
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From:
no subject
What I didn't like about nine was Katara's jealously. That was painful. But at least she gets over it.
Icon from episode 10:
From:
no subject
But what I'm really objecting to here isn't the moralising per se, but how heavy handed it was compared to other episodes. I really felt like the writers were rubbing it in: "Do you get it? Do you get it yet?" whereas they usually leave the viewer to draw her own conclusions. And that, I think, was what really left me going huh? at the way the ep concluded with Katara's very immoral "But they're pirates!" bit.
Also: that icon is GOLD.
From:
no subject
I read the heaviness as a nod to viewer expectations XD.
From:
no subject
And I suppose said heaviness could just be a nod, but what I like best about Avatar is the way it invites your expectations to have a seat and then pulls the rug out from beneath them while they're still going, huh?
From:
no subject
I didn't see this ep as a Morality Lesson at all--it was simply a natural progression of the group getting to know each other, settling in to become a family; it just had to happen (and I'm saying this from the perspective of having already seen the epsiode and approving of the way it happened).
On the jealousy front: I completely empathized with Katara that Aang was picking up in minutes what took her months to master by herself. However, I thought it was apparent that Katara realizes how immature and irrational her feelings were; she immediately apologizes after she blows up in the heat of the moment. I was really impressed by how mature she acted in the face of her jealousy, and how quickly she gets over it.
I don't link her jealousy with her theft; that is, I don't believe that she stole the scroll solely because she was jealous of Aang, but more that she was out of new tricks: she'd taught them all to Aang. The point of the quest is for *Aang* to find teachers, and Katara has willingly put her own waterbending in the backburner for the greater good. Getting the scroll was her own, more selfish desire to continue learning.
What I loved was that the show was *promoting* an immoral way to achieve something societally acceptable; that is, gain knowledge.
Another thing I *loved* while watching was that when the realized what happened--that Katara had stolen the scroll?
Cast: *shrug* Oh well, what's done is done. Let's try to get the most out of it.
I was in shock! So practical! No "Stealing is Wrong. We need to return the scroll--EVEN IF THEY'RE PIRATES." No "We need to donate this to a charity or try to find the owner, blah blah blah."
Seriously, that is one thing that totally got my respect.
From:
no subject
Really? Cause I got straight moralising here, moralising the writers wanted you to NOTICE, as opposed to other episodes. I also wouldn't really consider this a settling in ep.
I'm not linking her jealousy with the theft either, or trying to argue that either element was unnatural or forced, rather, that the way they were portrayed was. So many of the previous moral lessons are handled so gracefully during the course of the story's progression that you're not even consciously aware that that's what they are, whereas they're both made much of here, and pointed out at every turn. Katara is jealous-->Katara does bad things because of it-->Katara gets group into trouble, for one. And it was done very obviously, very heavy handed.
And yes, the cast's reaction to the theft of the scroll was pretty neat, but what I'm focusing on here is where it lead in the narrative: to Bad Things. (Even if it ultimately worked out okay.) Which is why I found it so odd that the episode would end on Katara's line; it really seemed like the writers were ambivalent about which message they wanted to ultimately leave you with.
From:
no subject
I will hold my tongue on what I mean until later on when you get more into the series. No spoiling from me, nuh-uh.
From:
no subject
I mean, weren't those wanted posters of Jet and Zuko posted on that kiosk
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tweaking the hell out ofhis nephew.