Hmmm, yes, I think not laying it out directly sooner helped - keep the suspense going, and yes, if we'd had longer to think about it we might've figured it out. I also think the writers were also brilliant about where they put the question. With Harry Potter, 'one must die' isn't that dramatic, really, because you know it's not going to be Harry. If they both might die, yeah, maybe it's a question; but there's no way a fantasy series is going to end with the villain winning. But Avatar didn't spend much time wondering if Aang would win - the bigger question was how he was going to win, how much of himself was he going to sacrifice. I genuinely didn't know if he was going to kill Ozai - I thought not, but the show is dark, and Ozai was an adult char, so not off-limits like the kids...yeah. Wow, I'm so impressed by the storytelling here. I know of so few non-anime shows this tight from start to finish (Babylon 5 is one of the only others I know that had a clear end from the start, and even that one had problems reaching it...)
Gah, I wish I could've watched this as a kid. There's so much about it that thrills me now even when I'm experienced with and jaded to the tropes - I can't imagine how in love I would have fallen if it had been my first...!
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Date: 2008-07-23 06:05 am (UTC)Gah, I wish I could've watched this as a kid. There's so much about it that thrills me now even when I'm experienced with and jaded to the tropes - I can't imagine how in love I would have fallen if it had been my first...!