#natla initial thoughts

[tuiyla]

NATLA Ep. 4 "Into the Dark" initial thoughts

Okay wow, I think this is my fav so far in terms of changes they've made. The best ep so far is probs Warriors but this was quite bold in the changes it's made and you know what, the first episode made me fear they'd be too timid to actually lean into their changes but no. Just like Danny Pudi put his whole Pudissy into his role, this episode committed to its direction and I can respect that even in places where I don't agree with the changes. The only exception is Bumi's tests, a lot of the dialogue and other aspects lifted straight from ATLA didn't work because it felt more forced in this context than anything. And overall I think Bumi is my least favourite part of the episode and its adaptation.

I was glad to see Jet in this episode, too, even if it was brief. I'm still lacking stronger emotions and a stronger presence from Katara but I'm glad for this goodbye with Jet and how it sets up exactly what it needs to. We did lose Jet being a foil to Sokka and there was a major missed opportunity in having Jet actually interact with Sai but ah well, can't have everything.

Instead of Sokka foiling it out with Jet there's the surprise inclusion of basically Book 2 Chapter 2 which I did not expect but am pleasantly surprised by. This ep went hard on the music taken straight from ATLA between the nomads' songs and Leaves From the Vine playing over the Iroh flashback. And! And!! Oma and Shu are lesbians!!! This is not a drill, Oma and Shu are lesbians in love. If there was one thing I hoped for in terms of the live action show it was casual queer representation and I got it in the most unexpected but pleasant place. Love it.

And!! On top of the surprising but not unwelcome inclusion of The Cave of Two Lovers, the story is recentered entirely on Sokka and Katara. I'll share more thoughts on this later but suffice to say I always love me some Water Sibs appreciation and this was much needed in this version. I still take issue with essentially erasing Katara's mothering of Sokka but it's clear the impact Hakoda leaving had on them is the same and, most probably in lieu of Bato of the Water Tribe, we get this storyline with them. The fact that love being the answer was reframed as the love between these two siblings is honestly a galaxy brain change and decision and I respect the hell out of it. There's still much lacking in terms of really fleshing out our cast but I will never, ever say no to more Water Sibs content. If we were gonna spend so much time in Omashu and put so many familiar faces in there, makes sense to also do the Omashu backstory AND utilize it to shine some light on the sibling dynamic that otherwise doesn't have much room to breathe in the live action. This is the kind of bold new direction that they have to take and own to make this show work.

I also enjoyed the Zuko and Iroh stuff and that's some interesting inclusion of more Book 2 things as well. The way even their plot from the Winter Solstice part one ep was integrated here is quite clever and I enjoyed both the past and present Iroh scenes. We'll see how they handle the actual Zuko backstory and I do think this version of Iroh needs a bit more, how should I put it, softness, but there's much to like here. Especially giving Zuko the option to pursue Aang instead and having him choose to rescue Iroh. Similar to a choice he made in the above mentioned Spirit World ep but honestly, lowkey more poignant here.

That's it for me for today but I'll watch the second half of the season tomorrow. I have to say, so far it has at least provided some interesting new takes worth taking a deeper critical look at, and I don't agree with those who dismiss the show entirely. It has merit even if, halfway through the first season, it's yet to convince me it can justify its own existence.

[blluespirit]

Overall NATLA Thoughts

Okay, now that I've watched the series, I can give my thoughts.

Overall, I thought it was good!!! I had fun watching it! I'd rate it a solid 6.5/10. It's nowhere as good as the original, but it was definitely enjoyable and made some nice changes here and there that I liked. There were also some things I was also Not a fan of too.

I said in another post that it's best to treat this like an AU of the original. There will things that are great and things that are bad. That's the nature of adapting something.

Having said that, I need to get my initial thoughts off my chest... here we go.

Things I thought were good:

Sokka's characterisation - I really enjoyed him! I thought Ian did a good job! He played the funny moments well and retained the underlying seriousness/cautiousness. It wasn't perfect, but I enjoyed the changes a lot and think it was overall a solid performance.

Zuko's characterisation - Like Sokka, I do think I was most satisfied with their performances. A lot of Zuko's moments from the cartoon are sometimes... well, cartoonish and definitely wouldn't translate to live action, but I think Dallas did a nice job at balancing Zuko's desperate anger and that occasional sassiness well.

Zuko and Iroh moments were great. Had me on the floor crying. As it should have.

The bending looks a trillion times better than the movie - I understand it would not have been easy for the actors but, overall, I was very happy about it.

The scenery was stunning. It just looked so beautiful. I loved it so much.

Absolutely ADORE that they made Zuko a good calligrapher and artist. I read a fic about a million years ago where Zuko is a fantastic calligrapher and I thought it was perfect and made so much sense, and now I can say it's canon. This is perfect for me.

S U K I

The Freedom Fighters were ✨ perfect

They were so real for making Oma and Shu lesbians

Koh, Wan Shi Tong and Hei Bai looked fantastic, but I have more to say about all of them below, unfortunately.

I actually like the change they made that Katara is Aang's sole waterbending teacher.

Aang is not perfect, and needed more goofy scenes HOWEVER, I did like how they've had Aang's guilt more prominent in the story. The original didn't do a very good job with that, imo.

Zuko entering is breaking and entering era by breaking into an impenetrable Earth Kingdom prison is just perfect.

In Masks, I like how Aang and Zuko got a longer conversation - that was pretty cute.

I liked how they changed Yue a bit and got her out of the arranged marriage... how Yue saw Sokka in the Spirit World before meeting him in the real world.

Things I didn't like:

Far too much info-dumping/exposition. So much spelling things out. It was not as egregious as the movie, and I get there's a lot of information that needs to be conveyed well and quickly... but sometimes it really took me out of the show.

Why are Mai and Ty Lee here.... I was hoping the live action would give them a bit more depth (and they might as it goes forward!), but why put them in season 1 at all if they're just going to stand around???

Some odd changes - putting this as one point, but there are some bizarre changes that didn't make sense to me, as they did not benefit the story or deepen the characters. I have two main examples: a) making it so Aang didn't run away from home, and b) making it so Zuko actually fights Ozai in the Agni Kai.

Characterisation of Katara was Not Great. I don't think I got many hints of the reckless, compassionate, badass Katara until the end when she fights Pakku and rallies all the women together to fight (which happens off-screen). She was sweet and kind, but she just lacked the fire that OG Katara has.

Azula's characterisation - Azula is desperate to impress Ozai and so her character is just…. brewing with anger, frustration, desperation. I was SO excited to see the Azula we are introduced too… perpetually and irritatingly calm, calculating and ruthless. She's perfect, she's terrifying! She's literally the character of all time. But this Azula had more Zuko vibes? I don't think there's anything wrong with giving Azula more concrete motivation by wanting to impress Ozai and establishing that Ozai is abusive to both his kids, but I do think trying to do that right off the bat is a mistake.

WHY is Wan Shi Tong here. I love Wan Shi Tong, but like I said: Why Is He Here? Why could we not have his iconic, ominous as fuck introduction from The Library, and instead he's introduced in a random season 1 episode giving Aang Information(tm) about the Spirit World.

When Aang gave Koh the statue, and then he just takes it and immediately lets all the villages go, and neither of them even say anything, I actually laughed out loud. Like, I am so sorry, but what in the jesus fuck was that.

Speaking of Koh - I think Koh is better the less we know about him. Roku saying ~all Koh wants is a family like the rest of us~ just pissed me off?? I like my Koh the Face Stealer Terrifying and Unknowable, thank you.

NOTHING EVER REALLY HAPPENS WITH HEI BAI!!?? where's my precious spirit bear?? Like Aang never really does anything with him and the replacement Koh story is boring and it sucks.

Bumi.... sorry I just didn't vibe with him at all.

Things I can't decide on:

Fancy spirit knife to kill the moon spirit annoyed me a bit, but I guess they wanted to Kuruk something to work with and a little bit more interaction with Aang which I get but idk. I really flip/flop on this one.

I've been very on the fence about having Azula (and Ozai) being in the show in season 1 in general. I'm not sure if it benefited either of their characters.

Azula & Ozai's dynamic - Okay, so, I think they're trying to give Azula more depth, right? They're trying to establish what it was like for Azula to live with Ozai and that she's also (like Zuko) trying to desperately prove herself to him, but Ozai using Zuko's... achievements to do that just felt so weird. I get he's doing it to manipulate her, but that just felt so wrong when in canon it's very obvious that Ozai just didn't give a single fuck about Zuko. Ozai pits Azula against Zuko by saying he's a failure, he's a bad bender etc. Azula is born lucky, Zuko is lucky to be born - like, Ozai says that to Zuko's face. I don't know if I am communicating this point very well, but it just didn't seem right to me??

Zuko vs Zhao in the Siege of the North... I genuinely do not know how to feel about it! I didn't love it, I didn't hate it. I don't know how to feel about Zhao telling Zuko that his mission is a sham and that Azula is the prized one... It feels like it's saying the quiet part out loud? In the OG we all know that Ozai sending Zuko on that mission was an excuse to get rid of him, but we can work that out, no one actually says it. And then Iroh just fucking killing him/mortally wounding him instead of the Iconic scene where Zuko reaches out to save him despite everything Zhao has done to him, but Zhao's own pride gets in the way from letting him accept help from Zuko.

Zuko’s crew being the 41st is not necessarily a bad thing at all!!! But I do just want to say that in the original, the attack goes ahead, and presumably, those soldiers die. It’s horrible. Zuko’s sacrifice is in vain, and it was always going to be in vain because the Fire Nation as it stands would not allow Zuko's compassion to win. Ozai would not allow it. While not necessarily a bad choice (all the soldiers bowing to Zuko on the boat was so sweet I loved it!) but I think it does take away some of the horror of Zuko’s story (same as it does with making Zuko fight back in my opinion) because the whole point is that Zuko did the right thing - and he was punished for it, and those soldiers died anyway.

anyway...

Okay!! got that off my chest. I know I just had a big whine here, but I still had a lot of fun watching this show. I think some of the backlash is a bit over the top and unwarranted. It was never going to stand up to the original - and that's okay.

Enjoy it for what it is!

[thecaroliner]

NATLA: An Extremely Mediocre Mess

I spent the entire day watching Netflix's ATLA adaptation and oh boy was it...something.

I struggle sometimes with putting my full thoughts into words but here goes. No idea how long this will be.

Spoilers ahead, obviously.

I want to start out by getting a few things I thought were good or at least fine out of the way.

First off I wanna mention the acting (aside from Gran Gran) was fine. I think Gordon Cormier has a lot of potential and it really felt like sometimes he was being held back by the script and direction. Really hope this role opens up new doors for him in his acting career!

Not that I think ATLA needed more violence or anything, and initially I was against them adding more violence just to make it more "realistic", but I actually didn't mind it. It was way more gruesome than I thought it would be, both Sozin and Ozai literally set people on fire and burn them to a crisp. Kind of does help set in the actual horror of what they're doing. We even saw the same happen to Kya in a flashback. Again, this wasn't needed, but I didn't mind it.

The bending effects DID look a little better than in the trailers I thought. Firebending in particular I thought was decent, all the other elements were just okay, with waterbending I feel suffering the most from it. The rest of the CGI kind of sucked though which I'll get into later.

Having Gyatso be more of a presence I thought was nice, as I always felt like he could've been a little more to the front of Aang's mind in the original series than what he was. I honestly LOVE the idea of him hanging around in the Spirit World for Aang, as in the past I've thought of that idea and wished it had happened. Except....they just kind of throw this plotline away later for no reason. So that's great.

Lastly, it was neat to see Indian culture being represented in Omashu.

Now that that's out of the way....time to really dig in.

The series starts with the Air Nomad genocide, pretty brutal stuff but I don't have much to say about this aside from the moments with Gyatso being nice.

Aang can apparently just fly now, but he only really does it to show off in this first episode. Apparently it's because he's an Airbending prodigy, despite the fact that the ability to fly was established in LOK as being a very rare occurance that only comes after letting go of every earthly attachment. But sure, let's just have Aang fly now. Why even have his glider in the first place?

He gets frozen in pretty much the exact same way, which now leads us to the Southern Water Tribe, where Katara is practicing waterbending in secret in the abandoned Fire Nation ship. It's mentioned later that Sokka and Gran Gran forbid her from practicing bending in case the Fire Nation comes back and tries to kill her, which...sure, I guess.

They find Aang's iceberg, but since Sokka isn't sexist anymore, her anger at him isn't what opens the ice, it's her attempting to pull their canoe back to them and she accidentally splits the iceberg open.

Speaking of Sokka's sexism, remember when people were trying to say "Oh the show isn't getting rid of that arc, it's just updating it because a lot of moments in the original show were iffy!" Yeah, no, they got rid of that arc entirely. Which, honestly if they had just done that without making a big deal out of it in interviews wouldn't have been an issue. The issue is them trying to act as though the narrative of the show itself was sexist and not actively showing us that Sokka is in the wrong.

Anyways, Aang literally just falls out of the iceberg and it's lowkey funny cause he just slides out like he's going down a water slide.

They take him back to the village unconscious and once he wakes up, Gran Gran (who's acting was awful by the way. Not sure if it was the actress' fault or the direction, it really felt like the direction to me). She immediately recognizes Aang's tattoos and just tells him flatly that the Air Nomads are all dead. No compassion or anything. Oh, and she out of the blue begins narrating the original series' intro verbatim which was so out of place and funny. HEY REMEMBER THE OPENING FOR THE CARTOON?? THAT'S IN HERE TOO!!!!!

Weirdly enough....it almost felt like Sokka and Aang had more of a bond than Katara and Aang. Sokka was initially skeptical of Aang but then instantly wants to go save him and I swear they had more interactions than Aang did with Katara. The two of them don't even really feel like friends until the last two episodes or so.

Also, they go to the Southern Air Temple in the first episode where Katara doesn't calm Aang down from the Avatar State but rather a memory of Gyatso did. Okay....

Oh, this also had one more thing I liked, and it was Aang giving Gyatso a proper burial. I always assumed that happened at some point, whether during the series or sometime afterwards. Nice to see it here.

Okay, so my thoughts after this are just gonna skip around a bit because I was writing them down as I went. The first half the series really didn't have much egregiously wrong with it, it was mostly just mid.

It's mentioned briefly that...Aang's airbending went out of control sometimes? Like the reason he had to train with the monks was so that he would stop accidentally hurting his friends with airbending. Because why have the storyline of him accidentally hurt Katara with firebending when you could have this instead?

The like...purple and motion blur effects they used for the Spirit World scenes was such an eyestrain....

In the Spirit World, Kyoshi gives Aang a vision of the attack on the Northern Water Tribe. Before, Aang had no reason to even bother going here, because Katara is teaching herself waterbending (turns out Gran Gran had the waterbending scroll the whole time! But hid it from Katara til now). Aang also doesn't even attempt waterbending at all this season btw

The Gaang gets to Omashu, where they decide to combine The King of Omashu, Jet, The Northern Air Temple...and The Cave of Two Lovers. Despite this sounding clunky and weird, I think these storylines together actually did mesh well (except for the COTL, which OH BOY I WILL GET TO)

The idea here is that the Mechanist, whose name is now Sai (don't know if this was ever mentioned in any supplemental material or if it was just made up for this show) and Teo live here. Jet and the Freedom Fighters also live nearby, where they are trying to plant bombs around Omashu and make the Gaang think it's the Fire Nation.

One scene I wanna mention, and please correct me if I'm wrong, but I SWEAR Sai said he needed to control the "attitude" of the hot air balloon...not "altitude."

Aang ends up getting captured by Bumi's generals, and he almost immediately figures out who Bumi is. Which...I cannot believe Aang named his son after THIS Bumi. He's kind of a huge asshole and is mad at Aang for abandoning them for the past century. Like you really had to make the character angry at him Bumi???

So, um. Let's talk about the COTL plot now.

Katara and Sokka go to try and find Aang and find out that there's a series of elaborate tunnels underneath Omashu, where they run into the singing nomads. This was literally only a plotline so that they had an excuse to sing Secret Tunnel this season. They explain to the siblings the story of Oma and Shu (which is just verbatim from the original series), ending with "Love is brightest in the dark."

Remember that. They preface the storyline of the tunnels by explicitly telling Katara and Sokka about the two lovers. Very romantic.

Katara and Sokka quickly realize that the cave crystals glow in the dark and begin to follow the path. Love is brightest in the dark, right? Along they way they begin bickering because Katara feels like Sokka still sees and treats her like a child.

Eventually they get pursued by a badger mole who begins to chase them. They apologize to one another and hold hands as they think they're about to be killed but...the badger mole stops attacking.

Why does it stop attacking, you ask?

Because now apparently badger moles can feel human emotions. They don't like feeling people fight and want to feel the love between them instead.

I was LOSING IT at this part. "Love is brightest in the dark" was apparently metaphorical.

And don't get me wrong, I love seeing platonic and familial love portrayed in media...but like, to do this storyline...don't preface it with a romantic tale of two lovers????? It gives off a very unintentionally creepy vibe for the siblings. And I'm sure I don't have to explain why badger moles being able to sense love is just dumb as shit.

Moving on....Bumi is nice again. Yay.

They go to the town where Hei Bai is attacking and Aang somehow accidentally pulls Katara and Sokka into the spirit world with him because the writers also wanted to have The Swamp here. Oh, and the Koh storyline. He doesn't steal faces for showing emotion anymore either, he just captures people and eats them later and steals their faces then. Cool.

Oh, and Wan Shi Tong is there and he looks emaciated.

Katara relives the night her mom dies, while Sokka sees a mysterious looking fox in the forest. Initially I assumed this was one of Wan Shi Tong's knowledge seekers but oh no. Oh no, it is much, MUCH worse. We'll come back to it.

Aang manages to find Gyatso in the Spirit World, which again is an idea that I LOVE. Gyatso explains that after he died, he never moved on to the next cycle of enlightenment, instead choosing to stay in case Aang needed him. They have a really touching moment, and Aang promises to come find him again after he finds Katara and Sokka.........which we'll come back to.

The events of The Blue Spirit happen, not much to talk about here. Aang connects with Roku (apparently he can only connect with past Avatars at their respective shrines, btw) and finds out Roku stole a totem of The Mother of Faces from Koh and that's why Koh hates the Avatar. Why steal that totem?? Hell if I know. Roku's also a funny man now I guess.

Aang saves Katara and Sokka from being Koh food and all is well. Yay.

They finally get to the North and this is where the show really went from being mid to pure cringe for me.

The "women only learn healing" plot is still here. Katara is rightfully angry about it, but Aang's like "oh well maybe you should listen to them". Yes, really.

Here Aang is so worried about losing anyone else, which, obviously understandable. But he doesn't want Katara and Sokka, especially Katara, to fight AT ALL. Which I mean. OG Aang never once tried discouraging her from learning to fight. Obviously he loves her and does have concern for her safety a number of times throughout the show and comics, but he also knows she can kick ass and stand her ground on her own and never tries to stop her.

Katara fights Pakku, and despite literally the day before saying she still has a lot to learn and a long way to go, she's just instantly declared a master waterbender now!

And oh boy my friends, buckle in because now we're gonna talk about Yue.

First off...her wig looks BAD. Like I'm pretty certain I saw her real hair sticking through a few times. Why not just dye the actress' hair....even Shyamalan's Yue hairstyle looked better than this, and we all know what that looked like.

So right off the bat Sokka asks Katara if Yue is at all familiar. Katara says no but Sokka keeps pressing and eventually follows Yue, where we learn she's a waterbender? Okay, not like her being a waterbender or not has any affect whatsoever on the story, but sure. We also learn that she had previously been engaged to Hahn but broke it off because he "wasn't the boy of her dreams". Not sure why they bothered to write him in the first place.

So...Yue and Sokka begin talking, and Sokka finally realizes why she's familiar to him.

I genuinely had to pause the episode to laugh when this reveal happened.

YUE WAS THE FOX SPIRIT SOKKA SAW IN THE SPIRIT WORLD.

Yes, I'm being 100% serious. When Yue was healed by the moon spirit, she turned into Danny Phantom and can now just hop in and out of the Spirit World. As a fox for God knows what reason.

BTW, this has jack shit to do with anything overall. It adds nothing. It serves NO PURPOSE. Genuinely do not know what the hell they were trying to do with that.

Um, so yeah. Moving on.

Apparently in this version, Tui and La only become mortal fish once a year or something? On the night of the "ice moon". Your guess as to what on earth an ice moon is is as good as mine.

Zhao begins to lead an invasion on the north and Momo is killed in the crossfire.

Well, almost.

Again I just busted out laughing because Momo has served NO PURPOSE until now, he's just been there because he was in the og series. I'm sorry Momo, as much as I love you....why were you here.

To save a kid from being crushed by falling debris. He just pushes them out of the way and is crushed. The reason is just so that Yue can take him to the Oasis and use healing on him with the Spirit Water.

Katara and Zuko have their classic fight and Zuko says "Oh you've found a master haven't you?" To which Katara replies, "Yeah, me" because she's a master now after 2 days remember?

Koizilla happens...the tribe is saved...Yue makes her sacrifice. So now she can go be the moon instead of a fox I guess.

Also, I think Iroh killed Zhao, despite earlier in the series refusing to kill the Earth Kingdom soldier who captured him because "we've all seen enough death."

And then...Aang goes back to the Spirit World, to find that the little "house" Gyatso was in is empty now. Gyatso is just gone now, with no explanation, although he seemed to know when he met with Aang beforehand that he would be gone from the Spirit World next time Aang tried to find him. Great job, taking the only interesting storyline made up for this series and just throwing it out the window for no rhyme or reason!

Now lemme talk about Azula....

She's not even Azula anymore. She's really insecure and worried about pleasing her father. Because whenever I thought of Azula, I always thought "insecure!" Like I get what they were going for, Zhao says this honestly kinda raw line about Zuko merely being the fire to sharpen the iron that was Azula, but like....why did she have to be this insecure person now? Also why is she even an archer now? It again has nothing to do with anything

Mai and Ty Lee are there for also no reason at all other than to be like "HEY REMEMBER THESE TWO CHARACTERS FROM THE ORIGINAL SHOW?!" They just stand there and watch Azula train sometimes.

The show ends with a Fire Sage showing Ozai through their planetarium (which they have now I guess) that Sozin's Comet is returning "soon." Who knows when! Just soon!

Also, Kataang shippers do not get your hopes up. Not that I expected much Kataang here at all, but I swear they barely even feel like friends until the end. It almost seems like Katara is more interested in him than he is in her.

My expectations of this series were low from the beginning. When it was first announced this project was in development, I said it was unnecessary and couldn't improve upon the OG in any way...and I was right. Even as its own thing entirely divorced from the cartoon, it's just kind of bland and downright confusing at times.

Anyways, my fingers hurt now so I'm going to wrap this up. Apparently I've been typing for like 1.5 hr now lol

Watch the original series instead :)

[the-power-of-stuff]

Just sat through the first three NATLA live els and have so many thoughts - the first thing I did was come straight over to your blog because why wouldn’t I?!?

A part of me LOVES Suki’s awkwardness. In fact, none of the gripes I have with Suki and Sokka aren’t about Suki and Sokka and their characterisation themselves, but rather just the execution.

But anyways — the vibe I’m getting is that Season 2 (Book 1? I’m not sure if they’re going by seasons or books) is laying down the groundwork for some of the characters. We know they’re doing that with Azula (and the Fire Lord fam as a whole), but it seems like they’re sort of doing the same with Katara, where they’re starting off with her being a traumatised, almost-shy 14 year old girl who comes into her own as the season progresses.

While I haven’t watched the show in it’s entirety — I probably should have before sending this ask in — I’m assuming this is all leading up to her confrontation with Pakku and role in defending the Northern Water Tribe towards the end of the season. And then that new found confidence in herself and her waterbending carries though to season 2, where we’ll (presumably) find a more fiery, outspoken Katara after I’m guessing a somewhat lengthy time jump?

Anyway — back to Suki. My question to you is, if I’m right in my theory about Katara (and all the others, tbh… I feel like what I said for K can apply to pretty much any of the gaang at this point), do you think the same could be said for Suki and her own development?

We see Suki at the start of ep 2 as a fierce yet slightly socially awkward, sheltered warrior who wants to leave her village and aid in the fight against the Fire Nation and travel the world. As it goes, she does leave her village, and perhaps becomes the confident and sassy (and awful at puns) girl we all know and love, all through her experiences aiding in the war and travelling the world?

Of course, this would mean that her development would largely happen off-screen… but even still, Suki was more familiar towards the end of the episode. She was the one who initiated the kiss, she made her feelings and mostly gratitude known to Sokka by giving him her fan, she told the gaang they had to leave.

It feels like that’s the route Albert Kim is going. He’s made it clear that it’s a re imagination and not a 1:1 adaptation. He clearly wants the show to have its own identity to some extent (e.g. the genocide actually being shown and basically being a mini prologue to the series) and this is his way of doing so through characterisation.

I’ve written way more than I intended, so sorry for this long winded tangent. But what I mean to ask is, do you think in season 2 we’ll see a Suki more similar to the og (while of course still being her own).

I’d love to know what you think! x

Ahh, this makes me so happy!! Thank you so much for enjoying this blog, and for sharing your thoughts and sending this ask! <3 (And absolutely no need to apologize for writing so much, either! Goodness knows I could go on forever about this stuff.)

I think you make a really good point about characterization in the LA, and the potential for certain traits (like Katara's fieriness) to develop more over time. And I've been thinking about it in terms of what we already know about LA Suki that could get built upon in later seasons.

I definitely think it would make sense for us to see Suki come out of her shell a bit more in season 2, although there are some things in the LA that make it hard for me to imagine Suki being quite as sassy as her animated counterpart, just because of the sort of foundation it gives us for her personality.

For one, there's Suki's interactions with her mother. If anyone were going to be on the receiving end of a teenage daughter's sass, even if that sass is buried too deep in shyness to come out around said daughter's crush, it would be her mother. And while we kinda sorta see Suki get a little petulant with Yukari (her delivery of "I'm not too young, I just haven't seen the world" is kind of a swipe? but is really very heartfelt), she overall seems like a well-behaved, obedient daughter. This isn't a King Triton/Ariel situation where you get the impression they've had this conversation a million times before and Yukari is exasperated by Suki always questioning her authority. In fact, it feels like the first time Yukari's even considered that Suki might want something more, and she seems pretty amenable to it, if the fact that she didn't storm into the dojo to break up Sokka and Suki's near-makeout session is any indication. So, even in these private moments where you'd assume Suki is more herself, there isn't much sass to be seen.

(Somewhat related to this, I had a funny sort of "Huh!" reaction to Yukari's, "Such a fierce warrior. And yet such a kind heart." Not that I don't think Suki is kind! It's just not one of the first words I would use to describe her. And not that I would've expected Yukari to say, "Such a fierce warrior. And yet also kind of a pill because you're always giving me lip." But that bit of dialogue is there for the audience's benefit; it was a choice the writers made to tell us what they think is important for us to know about Suki's character. So I had a moment of, "Oh, that's the takeaway we're supposed to have? Interesting...")

And then there's Suki's later interactions with Sokka. On the one hand, when they're training together, the romantic tension is through the roof; it's all very new and interesting for them and it makes sense that they'd still be a little shy about it. On the other hand, Suki gets comfortable enough around Sokka at this point to 1) remove her makeup, 2) have a deep conversation with him, and 3) touch him on the chest. We don't see her show the same awkwardness from earlier in the episode, but she also continues to be very serious. When Sokka pins her, and then she flips them over while he's mid-celebration, she follows up with a useful tip about fighting, and it's delivered completely straight (if a little breathless). No little jokes or jabs. No "Don't get cocky" or knowing smirks.

However, we are not completely without sass! There are a couple moments in particular that I feel have some of that familiar Suki flair.

First...

Lookit her smirky little "come at me, bro" face! That face 100% says, "C'mon then, let's see it, if you're so tough." There's a playfulness here, too, which we know is very much a part of her relationship with Sokka in the animated show. (This Suki up here? I could easily see this Suki saying, "😠I'm an elite warrior who's trained for many years in the art of stealth... I think I could get you backstage!😁")

And then...

The thing I love about this is that she's all, "Nuh uh, I don't think so" (her little head wiggle!), but a fraction of a second ago she was staring blatantly at that boy's mouth. Nice try, sweetheart, but you ain't foolin' anybody. (This Suki is the Suki who smacks her forehead when her boyfriend tells terrible puns to actor-Sokka but who later gazes at him adoringly when he absolutely loses his shit because actor-Sokka actually said "rocky relationship" on stage.)

So...I guess the tl;dr answer to your question is, kind of? I can't see LA Suki getting to "Sorry, Warden, you're my prisoner now" levels of sass, but that's not really the tone the LA is going for anyway. I think we'll see her being very bold (a la taking the initiative to kiss Sokka) and very compassionate (saving Appa—I hope!!), and it makes total sense that, next time we see her, she'll be way more confident than the girl who could barely say a single word to Sokka before attempting to strangle him by way of flirtation. I also hope we'll get to see more of her playfulness! Maybe even some successful flirting? Probably not as forward as "Look at you, sleeveless guy...been workin' out?" but I'd settle for a sly head tilt and a cheeky little grin. And based on what we know of her so far, I don't think that's too much to ask. ;)

[aanglican]

okay initial thots on natla episode 1:

gordon cormier can act okkkk

not really loving the changes with the intro narrator and the swapping of lines between characters but i can live with it… i guess…

i can finally understand the audience reaction saying that there’s a lot of exposition to get thru & that the pacing was a bit choppy. definitely felt like this pilot was geared towards first time viewers of the franchise.

the prologue was longer than i thought it would be & i’m glad to see some pre-war politics yipeee

i already know this will not be my favorite out of the 8 episodes. but anyways, onto the next!

[tuiyla]

NATLA Ep. 2 "Warriors" thoughts

Okay I have less to say and I wanna move on to the next ep haha but, overall, solid. Merging the Zhao storyline into Kyoshi Island was a good thing but I don't like the loss of the Agni Kai or that Zuko didn't technically attack the village. Suki is bae, love her and the Sukka interactions were good. Zhao as a ch is underwhelming so far and doesn't have the gravitas that the OG did but eh. I do think there's way too much emphasis on Kyoshi too soon and it feels wrong for Aang to "meet" her before he does Roku but I'm not writing the whole thing off yet.

The most interesting change to me so far is having Katara experience PTSD from her mother's death and being triggered by firebending. So in this version she was actually there when Kya died which is BRUTAL and I look forward to seeing how they reveal more about her trauma and the story goes on. I can see myself digging this take but NATLA needs Katara to have more to do in general.

Based on the description we're not only getting Bumi next ep but also the Mechanist AND Jet and the Freedom Fighters so, oh boy, let's see how that goes.

[tuiyla]

NATLA Ep. 3 "Omashu" initial thoughts

Okay real quick before I watch ep 4:

Azula's intro is solid, more thoughts on her later

I'm sorry Mai and Ty Lee are giving Ember Island Players

I like the combination of storylines more than expected, like placing the Mechanist and Jet both in Omashu. potentially a good dynamic, if they actually interacted. The Mechanist, whom Jet would despise even in the original show for being a traitor

Katara and Sokka do not have the OG dynamic of her lowkey acting older because of her mothering of Sokka, I'll wait to pass judgement on that

Zhao is so meh

okay fine I do like Jet but his story is super rushed

loved the Jetara scene and I dig this new take on Katara's emotions and her grief connecting to her bending

That's the main bits, now to what is apparently part two of Omashu. Who would have thought they'd make it a two parter.

[tuiyla]

Alright, NATLA finished. More thoughts and answering of asks to come later but now that I've seen all of it, can I just say, both the people calling it terrible and those saying it was the best we could have gotten are wrong. It's not terrible. Pretty decent for the most part, actually. It fumbles the bag in a few major, mostly character related ways but it's legit entertaining for the most part and the bold changes it made mostly paid off. But also, let's not pretend the characters were all fine because they really, really weren't. Overall, Sokka was done the least dirty and I love that for him but it's clear the writers' room Did Not Get Katara and that's a cardinal sin if I've ever seen one.

About the last two eps, I finally put my finger on what was missing from Katara. Passion. It's partly the script, partly I suspect direction but she's just not the feral 14 yo I fell in love with, the one you can't knock down and who will never ever turn her back on people who need her. I like that she empowered the women of the Northern Water Tribe but I do not like how she didn't end up being taught. No, a self-taught Katara should not be a master to Aang! The point of her Waterbending journey is that she is a prodigy and teaches herself a lot and adapts but her talents need to be nurtured. The OG already has her become a proper master wayyyy too fast; this change was very much unwelcome.

Even though I love my girl Seychelle Gabriel and her hair was wayyyyy better, I'm okay with this version of Yue. I don't think it was shallow girlbossery, as much as I love her she could use this extra agency that was given her here. I don't think she needed to be a bender but I can live with that. And I sure do hope she is the Moon Spirit now cause goddamn that wasn't shown. Also Yukka was way too fast hot damn. Don't do the one good het couple dirty like that. Correction, Sukka are also a good het couple.

The Fire Nation stuff, eh and eh. The end with Azula in Omashu was the perfect example of sloppy green screens oof, but it's a good story beat to have. Zhao was such a wet pathetic ch, not nearly as imposing as the OG Zhao. Zuko and Iroh are Not Great, I said what I said and no I will not elaborate now.

But Koizilla looked cool. Clearly most of the budget went to that.

[tuiyla]

NATLA Ep. 5 "Spirited Away" initial thoughts

Alright, the shuffling around continues even in an episode that generally follows its ATLA equivalent quite closely. The Gaang's A plot only diverts when both Katara and Sokka also get stuck in the Spirit World and I do like how we kept our team together as they can use the shared screen time. It seems we're leaving the Water Sibs mostly behind in the next episode, which is looking to be a mix of eps 8, 11 and 13 but I enjoyed this Swamp-like take on their Spirit World journey. The big shame about placing that here is that Yue can't be Sokka's ghost and there's some rewriting of Hakoda and Sokka's backstory here but it's a change I can get behind potentially. As for Katara, oh boy they really packed a punch for her. Her parts are obviously something I have a lot of feelings on and will get into later but I do find the framing clever overall. If very, very brutal for our Water Siblings.

Gyatso being there for Aang in the Spirit World, oh my, now this is a change I can really get behind. Wan Shi Tong's inclusion felt a little gratuitous but I like how they introduced something that is actually a LoK and not ATLA concept, the Fog of Lost Souls. And June's inclusion also makes sense, and will presumably lead to Roku's Island and the merging of The Blue Spirit plot. Overall, I dig how they merge chs and plots to make room for as much as possible and like how they reference eps they can't possibly cover. The tavern scene where eps like The Great Divide and The Fortuneteller are referenced feels like a good mix of humorous and a harmless homage, not too fanservicey and out of place so as to not work.

Another commendable effort from a mid season episode and I have to say, at the very very least I'm having fun and am infinitely glad that the show isn't the most offensive thing it could have been, which is bland. Even though the CG doesn't quite cut it sometimes there's still life in this show and there's a respectable attempt at a retelling, despite me still being sceptical as what it will ultimately add up to.

Two more random notes, one is Azula and how they're setting up Ozai manipulating her, which I like, even if that means this isn't quite ATLA Azula. And two, I think what I'm missing from Katara is that feral passion she's known for, and quite frankly the heart, which is her whole thing, so I'm really hoping she'll be allowed her female rage at least when they get to the North. So far, this version of Katara is unfortunately just a little too lukewarm, not the loud and proudly emotional forever girl I dedicated my life to.

[tuiyla]

NATLA Ep. 1 "Aang" thoughts

It might not be the Avatar but it's still an Avatar show which means I'm giving it the respect of not doing anything else while watching, so I'm not gonna liveblog, as such. BUT, I do have many many thoughts after just episode 1 so before I proceed I'm gonna digest a bit and do a word vomit of those thoughts. Maybe I'll get around to a more in-depth and critical examination later after watching the whole thing but for now, a few thoughts here and there. Spoilers inbound.

The opening

The first huge difference is of course how the whole thing kicks off. Trust me, despite having been a huge ATLA fan for over 15 years I'm not trying to approach this in a way where I automatically shit on everything the new show changes. It's a different era, different medium, different audience. Well, in a way. So some changes are outright necessary and, in some cases, even good! Therefore I don't automatically roll my eyes because we don't open with Katara's narration and the Southern Water Tribe. Modern audiences, Netflix audiences are more fantasy savvy than Nick's target audience in 2005 so it makes sense to open with the war's beginning. I'll even take the Sozin scene, though it feels a bit wrong, in a way, to introduce a character like him so early on. I wanted to say, without much sense of threat, too, but it's not live action movie Ozai levels bad and we do get our arguably most brutal scene when Sozin straight up burns an earthbender from pretty much inside out. This level of violence is something I'll perhaps get into more in another post but long story short, I think it's the right amount. This ain't a Nick cartoon anymore but it's also not gratuitous. What it is, is war.

Part of the opening is the intro, of sorts, a twist on the beloved opening sequence as narrated by Katara. The twist itself, I'm okay with, but I have Feelings on Kyoshi being our narrator that are again for a more in-depth look. In short, it makes no thematic sense for it to be the Avatar from before the last to narrate this. I know Kyoshi is the fan favourite, pun intended, but that's all the justification they have. If anyone other than Katara, who is done dirty by taking her narration away btw, it should be Roku. You know, the actual last Avatar? Having it be Kyoshi is fan service as much fans are symbolic of her. Bad pun, I know. I haven't seen ep 2 yet but do tell me we're shifting to Katara, pls pls pls. Another gripe I have is the title, "Aang", since the OG show has such beautiful symmetry with its first and last ep titles but this is a nitpick. Also, nothing to indicate that this is the season of water? Titling the seasons after the elements matters very much.

And then, just when I think we're jumping to 100 years later, we meet Aang. I'm already going into more detail with thoughts here than I intended but I just do not like how we drag this on and on. Show Aang's backstory and the details of the attack later, mid-season. Yes, like the original did it, because the original did it for a reason and that's to not info dump in the very first episode and have sloppy exposition that would have felt more natural had it been delayed for later. We don't need to know everything about the world and the role of the Avatar right away. I do like how the Aang and Gyatso relationship was established but we didn't need All That, and we could have had the vast majority if not all of this as a flashback later on. Random idea, but maybe even in the episode where Zuko's backstory is covered. I'm really innovating here, I know. I'll explain why this was too much in another post, maybe, but for now I'll say the positive that I do think these scenes are done well, I just don't like their placement. And I don't like what we're doing to Aang's ch in terms of his responsibility and role so far, such as him not actually wanting to Run Away run away, but I'll wait and see where they take him for the rest of the season.

Wolf Cove

Omg what, the Southern Water Tribe? Finally. The ch who started off the whole thing in the OG appears 21 minutes into this episode, almost the length of an entire ATLA ep. So far, the sibling dynamic is Fine. Again a bit too heavy on the exposition but what can you do when you cut Katara's opening narration about their family and tribe. Some things I take issue with include the way Katara breaks the iceberg open, i.e. lack of feminist rage and in general her lack of strong presence in this first installment. It feels like they're trying to give Sokka more but you can showcase Sokka without making it feel like Katara is less of a presence, less of a driving force, and frankly more of a kid than she is in the OG. I do like her and the actress, her interactions with Aang and role in the story just feel lacking so far. And then they actually include her intro word for word, just said by Gran Gran! Like yeah we know Katara tells the story like Gran Gran told her but damn, straight up theft.

I'm also not satisfied with Kanna's place in the story. Her breaking the news to Aang feels flat and devoid of the tension that was present in the OG where Aang and Katara put two and two together on their own. Also no goodbye to Gran Gran? No big sendoff to her grandkids? No speech about destiny? Disappointing. What is done well is the sense of dread when the Fire Nation ship arrives at the village and Zuko's whole entrance, that's good. But again, he and Iroh give away way too much way too early about his mission and banishment and such. You guys, you have a whole season to get into it, why rush. I have a fear as to why they're rushing but we'll see. It just feels like a rookie mistake to try and shove so much into the first ep. We get it, the world is so much bigger and these chs so much richer than they first seem but that's the point, the audience will watch and learn as the season goes on. Just because Avatar has all this lore way beyond the first installment doesn't mean we have to go back to Wan and explain everything before we can head to the North Pole. I joke and exaggerate, but there were times I rolled my eyes at the dialogue. Again, not Shymalan levels bad but that is not where the bar should be.

Overall

I have less to say about the Southern Air Temple as it is quite brief, all things considered and because we already got so much of it before even making it to the present. I do think it's funny people thought the live action would let the story breathe more just because the eps are longer because look, here we are, three 23 minutes eps shoved into less than an hour with expanded stuff from the very beginning. This is not it breathing more because there aren't 20 eps to work with. They have a lot of content to get through and as a viewer you can feel it, which doesn't bode well. The whole script does have this first/second draft smell which is sus, when this thing has been in development since at least the end of 2018 and the OG eps it's based on just turned 19. Yeah, that's right, nineteen.

As for things like the visuals, the costumes, the acting, the score, bending, I think it'll make more sense to pass a judgement at the end of the season. Besides, what I'm most interested in is the script and I don't pretend to know much about things like costuming. First impression, it looks good. CG is a bit stifled at times but I like how oversaturated it often is, especially with the nations' colours. It's probably the closest we'll ever get to Avatar in live action and I'm okay with that, since I still believe they should stick to animation anyway. But yeah, good. Nothing mindblowing and bending so far but I'd also rather it didn't try to razzle dazzle with just flashy CGI and no substance. As is, there's not too much substance so far anyway so I'm waiting for subsequent eps to be more confident in what they're doing, whether that's building on or steering from the source material.

[tuiyla]

Won't even do a "proper" ep 6 post lol because, eh. This one both tried to be a shot by shot and also failed to capture what made the original Zuko backstory so effective imo. And it's crazy to think the Gaang is getting to the North Pole next ep, feels like they've had way too little bonding time.

[highfantasy-soul]

NATLA Episode 6 - Masks (1/5)

[Masterlist of my NATLA thoughts]

An explanation of what I'm doing here and my history with ATLA.

Of course, full spoilers ahead.

<previous/next>

This is a LONG one, so strap in for many parts. I have essays.

Opening with Zuko's side of The Storm animated episode was amazing. The way the camera starts from behind and Iroh's voice-over talking about masks and former excitement to show the world your true face - before that joy is beaten out of you - was such a strong way to introduce the themes explored in this episode. A new watcher wouldn't initially know that's Zuko, and the shock of seeing him without the scar was a great reveal that this is a flashback. Iroh already stepping into the mentor position with Zuko, helping him with his armor and giving him advice just fleshed out their connection even more. The way Dallas Liu played young Zuko was so great - from the way he walked, how easily he smiled, and even the different inflection of his voice, you immediately saw this was a younger, less tormented Zuko than we had seen before. Which then perfectly seeds in the dread of finding out what turned him from this tolerably happy kid into the surly, hurt boy we've seen in the other episodes.

Zhao's take-over of the Avatar hunt is so good. All the emotions racing across Zuko's face, the way Zhao clearly never respected Zuko and then the crew letting loose their frustration at the way Zuko treats them. Even though we've been primed to 'root' for Zuko (even in the animated series, we had that weird desire to see Zuko beat out Zhao), everyone's reactions to him make perfect sense. Of course Zhao isn't going to see Zuko as an equal - he's 16 years old! And Zuko HAS been treating his crew like shit, so their anger and lack of loyalty to him is justified. The show did such a great job at adding layers even within the ranks of the bad guys.

The Crescent Island looks PERFECT! All the sets are fantastic and I adore how Aang just assumes that even though the sages are fire nation, they'll respect him because he's the Avatar. After all, that's what they're supposed to do - but how Ozai has a tapestry of himself in the temple of the Avatar, we see the hints of how the Fire Nation has been led to treat the Avatar. I really like the addition/clarification in the live-action that the fire lords have placed themselves above the Avatar as the spiritual leader of the world - they've undermined the authority of the Avatar, no doubt due to Sozin's anger at Roku for standing against his bid to colonize the world. Even cultures where religion is seen as all-important, corrupt leaders have no problem co-opting that religious devotion and placing themselves in the position of power and adulation. Of course, as with all societies that try to do that, there will always be those who condemn mortal leader's attempts to usurp the power of the divine and hold to the 'old ways'. Love how we see that in the fire sages and the one who aids Aang - fulfilling the 'true' purpose of their order rather than the twisted one the leaders of the fire nation have turned it into.

Having a devout fire sage collect relics of past Avatars to keep in Roku's temple, I think was a great addition. It also makes a lot more sense to me that Zhao would have easy access to the info (and weapon) needed to kill the Moon Spirit rather than that shlub somehow finding the super hidden library that an archeologist spent YEARS exclusively searching for. While it was a cool foreshadowing of the library in season 2, having Zhao discover the moon and ocean spirit stuff in Avatar Roku's temple in the live-action I think makes more sense. I'll get to why I also think it was a good choice to have to attack them on a specific moon phase with a specific knife once those episodes come around.

The other fire sages truly believing that Ozai is the only one who can 'bring balance' is an interesting philosophical idea that the fire lords have implanted into the culture of the nation - and their ability to skew what 'balance' even means is really great work too. Not to bring Star Wars into this, but when one group tries to dominate the world (galaxy) fully so that they can control everything that happens, that's NOT 'balance' and forces will rise up to upend that system of control. Like Ozai said in episode 3, the way they've all been taught to 'create balance' is actually just an intense form of law and order where they control everything. It's an argument used liberally today that many fall for as well, so clarifying that here in season one instead of waiting all the way to season 3 like the animated show did really grounds the story in reality and lets viewers sit with the lessons and interrogate how they see it happening in their own lives for 3 seasons rather than just a few episodes.

It is a bit iffy world building from the animated show to have Aang only be able to talk with Roku on the solstice in his temple when later in the story, he can just connect to his past selves as long as he's meditating, in their clothes, or in a spiritual place - I think the animated show just really wanted to add in the temple and manufactured a reason for Aang to have to go there specifically on that date in the animated show. Not bad, but also makes the 'connecting to Avatars at their temple anytime' fit with the worldbuilding just fine. Like many first seasons (or books) of series that aren't all pre-written, the world building of early installments is usually a bit shaky and ironed out in later seasons, so I like that they've already started to do that here.

Roku, like Bumi, was another character that they shifted the tone of for the live-action. I think they chose to introduce Roku as a more fun-loving Avatar to really contrast him with Kyoshi (and later Kuruk) as well as most of the adults who've interacted with Aang so far. I think Gyatzo took the role of the more serious mentor that Roku had in the animated show and the live-action Roku really needed to be a stark contrast from the adults in Aang's life who blamed him for what happened with the war. I think they may have overdid the jokey nature of Roku a bit but as we see in the flashbacks with him in season 3 Roku always had been a more fun-loving guy. He does get serious and gives Aang some good advice - even though part of that advice is like Kyoshi's and Kuruk's that Aang needs to be careful about his friends. Though, his advice is distinctly different from Kyoshi's or Kuruk's in that he doesn’t say Aang can't have friends or let them help him, but rather that they can become liabilities and Aang will need to make decisions that sometimes could harm his friends for the sake of the world - not letting the lives of the few outweigh the lives of the many. Including lore about the Mother of Faces (full disclosure, I've never read any of the comics or books, so I just heard about that stuff second-hand) was really cool - and also ties back into the theme about identity and masks this episode is going hard on.

I also love how each of the Avatars Aang talks with have different ways they fulfilled their duties: Kyoshi through force and combat, Roku though diplomacy, and Kuruk through protecting the veil between the spirit world and the material plane. While they each caution about needing to be more than a singular thing, we can see Aang identifying more with Roku and his mention of diplomacy - as evidenced by his plan to use the Mother of Faces statuette to bargain rather than to lure Koh out and use force to try to kill or restrain him as Kyoshi might or further anger him like Kuruk. Aang always leads with kindness and understanding, even to his enemies who've harmed him and his friends. There's no reason for him to immediately jump to giving Koh what he wants, but the fact that that's what he thought of first really says a lot about his character. Yes, he was warned about not being strong enough to 'defeat' Koh, but that he didn't initially think about tricking Koh or trapping him shows us who Aang is - and that same kindness and urge to talk it out with enemies is echoed at the end of the episode with him talking to Zuko.

Removing the comet deadline I think was a smart move for the live-action both for practical and storytelling purposes. It would add a whole lot more things the characters are needing to do prematurely - let's focus on getting to the north and figuring out the Avatar state first, then we can put a timeline on Aang's bending journey, plus irl kids age - it's just a fact of life and it's taken like, 3 years to cast, film, and get this season out onto Netflix and they haven't even started season 2 yet, so who knows how much older the kids will look once we get to season 3. Having Roku instead provide a different take on what the Avatar's personality can be, warning him about friends, and giving him the answer to the issues Aang is facing with the spirit world was justification enough to have him show up the way he did, even if he didn't give Aang the info on the comet.

Though I do miss Roku going apeshit on the fire sages who have forgotten what they're supposed to stand for, I understand through the storytelling aspect why they shifted that and didn't allow Aang to escape the temple unscathed. Again, due to the episodic nature of the animated show, every 20 minutes ends with the characters no longer in danger, having escaped certain doom. That structure doesn't flow when you only have 8 episodes, so continuing the danger from the fire temple right into June having caught up to Aang (like she did in Bato of the Water Tribe in the animated show) makes the story flow better. In the animated series, Aang gets caught as he's zipping around a mountain looking for frozen frogs to heal Sokka and Katara from a fever. Random guards see him, send a message to Zhao, and he sends in the Yuyan archers. For such a pivotal episode as The Blue Spirit is, the events that kick it off don't really connect to much - very episodic in nature. I think having it all connect with Zuko coming THIS CLOSE yet again to capturing the Avatar and regaining his place in the Fire Nation was a good choice.

Love that not only do we combine June into these episodes so it's her skill that once again finds and captures the Avatar, we also get more view points of people around the world through this time of war. In the animated series, much like Suki, June is just there to be hot, useful, and the muscle for the main male leads (plus she was there to be creeped on by Uncle Iroh in what I feel is one of the worst writing of his character of the whole show). The live-action, like with Suki, gave June an actual character - she had motivations and goals that had nothing to do with the male characters and more depth than just 'want money'. She's jaded and accepted the war, she's going to use it for her advantage.

It's also another view we get to see of how people in the world have adjusted to the lack of the Avatar for 100 years. They've had to make do without him, so the fire nation has placed the Fire Lord on that pedestal, and people like June have decided the Avatar isn't really necessary - after all, why would you think they would be if you've lived your entire life without one and have never seen a world where the Avatar does keep balance. It's hard to imagine a fundamentally different world that you've never seen.