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Jul. 20th, 2008 10:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsLAST AVATAR POST REALLY. (Spoilers ahead.)
First and most importantly, I enjoyed the finale TREMENDOUSLY. I don't think it was perfect, and I actually think Day of the Black Sun and Boiling Rock were better episode sets, but it was NOT a disappointment by any means.
It did feel a little rushed, and there were things I would have liked to see more of, MAI AND TY LEE first and foremost. I think I am most wistful about the fact that not only do they not show up until the end, but especially about the fact that after the EPICness that was Ty Lee's choice we don't even get a scene between the two of them; their respective endings are perfect (Ty Lee becoming BFF with the Kyoshis in prison! HAH!) but their bond was important enough that they deserved a scene of closure together. In a more meta sense, the way the finale played out meant that Mai and Ty Lee's choices became much more about their impact on Azula than about the development of those characters themselves, and because I love Mai and Ty Lee that made me a little sad.
As for the other thing I wanted to see and didn't, I thought bloodbending was going to play a much bigger role than it did - that Katara, as well as Aang, was going to have to face a significant moral choice. I guess Southern Raiders filled that role, but . . . I don't know. As central as Katara is, and as creepy and important as bloodbending was made out to be I kind of wanted that to come during the finale. (I would have found it a more important choice than Katara Decides to Make Out with Aang, anyways - I mean, I don't have hugely strong feelings about that one way or another, but I do not think it is the most important note in the show. But anyways.)
I would also have liked to see Team Sidekick doing something to make themselves useful, but hey, Team White Lotus/Team Old Man was also pretty badass, so considering the time limits I'm not really complaining about that. (Katara and Sokka have a new grandfather! *dead* ALL OLD PEOPLE KNOW EACH OTHER. Though, where were the old ladies? We certainly met enough of them over the course of the trip . . .) AND SPEAKING OF BADASS. One of the things I love most about the show is its dedication to making sure everyone gets to be useful and everyone gets a moment to be UTTERLY BADASS; Team Suki-Sokka-Toph illustrated that maybe best of all. GUNDAM TOPH. SOKKA USING HIS ENGINEERING KNOW-HOW TO DESTROY AN ENTIRE FLEET OF SHIPS. SUKI STEERING HER OWN SHIP TO THE RESCUE. MY ALLCAPSING SHOULD SAY IT ALL HERE. (Am I allowed to OT3 'ship them a little? I am, right? >.>) Zuko and Katara also both got majorly significant roles to play in the battle with Azula, and I was good with the balance there. Aang and his Wonderball of Bending, obvs., was ridiculously awesome - as was the parade of past Avatars, especially for all the continuity callbacks with the rest of the show. The face-stealer! Oh man. The Avatarverse is such an incredibly rich world.
Speaking of . . . there are hints, obviously, that there's room for more in that universe, and I for one would love to see the Zuko And Azula Deal With Their Mommy Issues show. (To be honest, I was totally expecting to see Ursa in the finale, but not in the way we did!) Ursa fascinates me - she's the Good Parent for Zuko, the Descendent of the Avatar, but she also murdered a man in cold blood in order to save Zuko, which pretty clearly implies to me that she has a core of damn steel. I want to see her in person. And it was left pretty deliberately ambiguous what happens to Azula at the end, so, yeah, here's hoping for something interesting with that. Either way, this universe is full of depth and potential stories, and there's definitely many more stories to be told there, whether these creators decide to do so or not.
And in the end that's one of the things I love most about it.
First and most importantly, I enjoyed the finale TREMENDOUSLY. I don't think it was perfect, and I actually think Day of the Black Sun and Boiling Rock were better episode sets, but it was NOT a disappointment by any means.
It did feel a little rushed, and there were things I would have liked to see more of, MAI AND TY LEE first and foremost. I think I am most wistful about the fact that not only do they not show up until the end, but especially about the fact that after the EPICness that was Ty Lee's choice we don't even get a scene between the two of them; their respective endings are perfect (Ty Lee becoming BFF with the Kyoshis in prison! HAH!) but their bond was important enough that they deserved a scene of closure together. In a more meta sense, the way the finale played out meant that Mai and Ty Lee's choices became much more about their impact on Azula than about the development of those characters themselves, and because I love Mai and Ty Lee that made me a little sad.
As for the other thing I wanted to see and didn't, I thought bloodbending was going to play a much bigger role than it did - that Katara, as well as Aang, was going to have to face a significant moral choice. I guess Southern Raiders filled that role, but . . . I don't know. As central as Katara is, and as creepy and important as bloodbending was made out to be I kind of wanted that to come during the finale. (I would have found it a more important choice than Katara Decides to Make Out with Aang, anyways - I mean, I don't have hugely strong feelings about that one way or another, but I do not think it is the most important note in the show. But anyways.)
I would also have liked to see Team Sidekick doing something to make themselves useful, but hey, Team White Lotus/Team Old Man was also pretty badass, so considering the time limits I'm not really complaining about that. (Katara and Sokka have a new grandfather! *dead* ALL OLD PEOPLE KNOW EACH OTHER. Though, where were the old ladies? We certainly met enough of them over the course of the trip . . .) AND SPEAKING OF BADASS. One of the things I love most about the show is its dedication to making sure everyone gets to be useful and everyone gets a moment to be UTTERLY BADASS; Team Suki-Sokka-Toph illustrated that maybe best of all. GUNDAM TOPH. SOKKA USING HIS ENGINEERING KNOW-HOW TO DESTROY AN ENTIRE FLEET OF SHIPS. SUKI STEERING HER OWN SHIP TO THE RESCUE. MY ALLCAPSING SHOULD SAY IT ALL HERE. (Am I allowed to OT3 'ship them a little? I am, right? >.>) Zuko and Katara also both got majorly significant roles to play in the battle with Azula, and I was good with the balance there. Aang and his Wonderball of Bending, obvs., was ridiculously awesome - as was the parade of past Avatars, especially for all the continuity callbacks with the rest of the show. The face-stealer! Oh man. The Avatarverse is such an incredibly rich world.
Speaking of . . . there are hints, obviously, that there's room for more in that universe, and I for one would love to see the Zuko And Azula Deal With Their Mommy Issues show. (To be honest, I was totally expecting to see Ursa in the finale, but not in the way we did!) Ursa fascinates me - she's the Good Parent for Zuko, the Descendent of the Avatar, but she also murdered a man in cold blood in order to save Zuko, which pretty clearly implies to me that she has a core of damn steel. I want to see her in person. And it was left pretty deliberately ambiguous what happens to Azula at the end, so, yeah, here's hoping for something interesting with that. Either way, this universe is full of depth and potential stories, and there's definitely many more stories to be told there, whether these creators decide to do so or not.
And in the end that's one of the things I love most about it.
