Avatar Nation: S1 E08 — "Legends"

In this episode of AVATAR NATION, hosts Pauline and Wes delve into the finale of the Netflix live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender. They discuss key moments such as Yue’s decision, “Koizilla”, and THAT moment with Momo. They also read and respond to feedback from other Avatar fans.

00:00 Opening

02:56 Episode Tea

06:04 Cabbage Rating

08:15 Personal Key Moments

16:13 Episode Analysis

56:20 Favorite Bending Moment

57:49 Favorite Character

59:12 Animal Watch

01:00:47 Memorable Quotes

01:02:22 Question of the Week

01:25:49 Closing Thoughts

01:30:36 Outro

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Chapters

• 1:01 Opening
• 2:56 Episode Tea
• 6:04 Cabbage Ratings
• 8:15 Personal Key Moments
• 16:13 Episode Analysis
• 56:20 Favorite Bending Moment
• 57:49 Favorite Character
• 59:12 Animal Watch
• 1:00:47 Memorable Quotes
• 1:02:22 Question of the Week
• 1:25:49 Closing Thoughts
• 1:30:36 Outro

Transcript

0:23

Welcome to Avatar Nation, a podcast, all about the Netflix live adaptation

of Avatar: 0:27

the Last Airbender. Whether you're a longtime fan like us, or you're new to the Avatarverse, join us as we dive into each episode and analyze the retelling of TV's greatest adventure. Welcome to the finale episode. I'm your host, Pauline. And I'm Wes. And it is hot in this room. It is. Let's be honest with we're them. Well, because we're stubborn, we don't want to turn on the AC just yet. Because it's Missouri, it's the Midwest, you never know what you're gonna get. We It's like 90 today. We can get all four seasons in one day, so we didn't want to turn on the AC, but yeah, it's warm in this room. The window's open, so if you hear some alarms, or Background noise. Sirens, people, we apologize. Can you believe that we are finally at the finale? It's been a long road. Longer than probably most watchers. For those who haven't listened to some of our early episodes, Wes and I have been watching this just one episode a week, so that way we can really take everything in and do a podcast episode before moving on to the next. But we are finally here. Slow and steady wins the race. It's been a rollercoaster ride. Even though we said this is the finale episode, it is not a finale for us. We do have several more episodes planned for discussing this season. We're gonna do a season one wrap up, we, I think we're going to do an episode comparing the live action to the series. And then I even want to maybe do one about the movie. So we shall see. We'll see where this journey takes us. You talking about the movie that shall not be named? The movie that doesn't exist in Ba Sing Se, ladies and gentlemen, we may go there. We may need to drink something while we watch it. That'll be fun. If you guys don't want to miss out on any of those fun episodes that we have coming up, don't forget to follow and subscribe to us so that you don't miss out. Well, are you ready to get into the final episode? Yeah, let's do it. We're here. We're ready. And we have a lot of thoughts. Okay, so let's begin by talking about the Episode Tea, just like how we begin talking about every episode. The nitty gritty details. So the finale is titled Legends, and it is directed by Jet Wilkinson, who directed the previous episode. It's written by Albert Kim. And just as a reminder, Albert Kim is the showrunner and he's not going to be the showrunner for the following seasons. Moving on to Percy Jackson, right? Yeah, but he's still going to be part of Avatar. I think he's just gonna be, I shouldn't just say just because it's still a big deal. He's going to remain as one of the executive producers, according to different articles that I've read. Um, let's go ahead and have you read our episode recap, so then that way you can remind all of us what happened in this episode, because it was a lot. because Let's do it. In the season 1 finale, the Fire Nation launches a massive offensive against Agna Qel'a, unleashing their entire fleet. It proves to be too much for Team Avatar to handle alone, and the Water Tribe prepares to defend their home and people. Katara persuades Pakku to allow the tribe's women to join the fight. However, the Fire Nation's strategy extends beyond a mere attack. Zhao confides in Iroh about the Night of the Ice Moon, and when the Ocean and Moon Spirit manifest. His plan? To assassinate the Moon Spirit, crippling the Water Bender's abilities. Meanwhile, Zuko sneaks into the Water Tribe city with hopes to once again capture the Avatar. Katara slows him down in a one on one fight, allowing Aang to confront Zhao. Zhao's sinister plot unfolds as he extinguishes the moon, stripping the waterbenders of their abilities and tipping the scales in the Fire Nation's favor. In a desparate move, Aang risks his own life and merges with the ocean spirit, wielding the Avatar's might to transform into a colossal sea monster and devastating the Fire Nation fleet. With the Avatar being no more, Iroh finds Zuko amidst the chaos and convinces him to flee. Zuko crosses paths with Zhao once more, leading to a fiery confrontation, as well as a revelation that Azula was behind Zhao's moves and that Zuko is merely a pawn in Ozai's plans. Zhao meets his end at Iroh's hands. Despite the Water Tribe victory, Aang has lost himself to a tormented spirit, eternally searching for a partner he'll never find. Yue intervenes, offering herself as a new moon spirit, a noble sacrifice that restores balance, and Aang, but at a great personal cost. The morning after the battle, Aang, Sokka, and Katara take in the aftermath and resolve to press on with their journey to save the world. Back at the Fire Nation, Ozai reveals that the attacks on Agna Qel'a was but a diversion, allowing Azula to seize Omashu, bringing them one step closer to conquering the Earth Kingdom. The episode ends by introducing the imminence of Sozin's comet, setting the stage for the next chapter in the saga. The fight against the Fire Nation is far from over. Woo. Thank you for reading our final recap of this season. Yeah, I'm excited to get into this. The fight is definitely far from over. Are you ready to give our last cabbage rating for the season? Yes, I can't believe we're here already. Well, I shouldn't say already, it's taken It's taken over a month. so The cabbages are ripe and ready to be picked. be Yeah. Okay, so if this happens to be the first episode you're joining us on, Wes and I give what we call cabbage ratings for each episode. So similar to how Rotten Tomatoes does their ratings. Instead of Tomatoes, we just went with cabbages for obvious reasons. Do you want to go first or do you want me to go first? I can go first. what is your cabbage rating for the finale? Okay, my cabbage rating is Drumroll Nine. Woo! Okay. Yeah. So you really liked I really did. I felt like from the beginning to the end, was action packed and had my full attention. That's a nine. So it hooked you. Yeah. What was your cabbage rating, Pauline? So mine was, or is, an 8. 5. So it's still pretty close close to yours. Usually you rate, I think, lower than I do. But, I mean, not that 8. 5 is bad or anything. It's still one of my highest ratings that I've given for the season. But I did so because, the visuals, the lighting, the music, all of it just came together so beautifully. I will admit, it was going to be a 9 first. But the way that things were not set up well in the previous episode caused this one to suffer a bit and we'll get into that more when we really do our deep It was opposite for me. I mean, well because the last episode was so yeah you could like you said you could only go up Yeah, so I was like, oh, let's get this over with. But then, oh going I really enjoyed it. Yeah. Well that's good. I did enjoy it too. Don't get me wrong. But because the, this part in the cartoon was such a pivotal moment for me, while I did give it a high rating, I have to look at it very critically because of how important this episode was to me as a kid. So I can't wait to go over all of that. yeah. Do you want to go ahead and go over our personal key moments? Yes. And do you want to explain what our personal key moments are? Our personal key moments, we have the Avatar state, which is basically your best moment from the episode. We have a that's rough buddy moment because of our boy Zuko. Basically your worst moment of the episode. And then you have any honorable mentions you want to throw out there. Also for our boy Zuko and his honor. Okay. I'll go first this time if you're okay with that. So my avatar state moment was the whole scene with the wall breach where Chief Arnook, Hahn and several of the other non benders were putting up their defense after the Fire Nation had come in. That whole scene was my favorite because between the music, the cinematography the action, the emotion, everything came together so well. And it really gave me, I keep saying this in some of the episodes, but here it really gave me Game of Thrones vibes. You just really felt that scene. You felt the gravity, you felt the action. The colors and or lack of colors really was awesome. I just have to give Huge props to whoever the director of photography is for this episode. I'm assuming they have more than one, so I'm not sure exactly who it was for this one. This is what season two needs to be, embrace the dark, embrace the gritty. I can't speak for everybody because I know not everybody likes, Dark and, um, Those dark moments uh, they like the bold and colorful, but I was like, this is what Avatar needs to be, this right here. Do you know what scene I'm talking about? Yeah, when Hahn tells them they'll hold them off while they retreat. Yes. I really like what they did with his character. At first I didn't like it, but this episode was great for him. Yeah, it was a brief character arc, but I think they did his character justice, and all the cinematic elements just came together here beautifully, and I need more of it, and I wish there was more of it in some of the other episodes. So that was my Avatar State moment, I can keep going on and on about that, but I want to hear yours! Well, we can get into that later, right? Yeah! My Avatar State moment was, and I've done this before, but it was literally Aang's Avatar State, when he went in and walked into the water, and became one with The ocean Spirit. Yes. That was almost my Avatar State moment. Almost. It was a good moment. I love the ocean spirit manifestation. Koizilla is what the fandom likes to call it. That's its nickname. Koizilla. Okay, what about your That's Rough Buddy moment? It was hard to find one because it really was a good episode. I mean, I was trying not to nitpick because of the last episode. I would have to say it was when the waterbenders that came up to Katara during the battle at the beginning, and he's like, we haven't finished our training, but we want to do anything that can help. You didn't like that. Well, what I didn't like was Katara's like, Oh, okay, yeah go help with that wall over there if you need me. It just, I don't know he called her Master Katara and she was like, oh, I'm not, oh, okay. And then that was it she just left them to die. You would think that she would be protecting them. I understand that her story took her elsewhere, but I thought that was weird they were like we were here to fight for you, almost. Basically, it was like they were coming to her and she was their commander. They should have went back to them at least one more time. And Katara was like, helping them. In some way. Right. I wonder, maybe there is more of that, but maybe it got cut out, but I think that would've had more impact sure. um, And oh, for my, that's rough buddy moment. I'm going to, maybe I'll get heat for this. If so, that's okay. I understand it was momo's near death. You're insane, dude. Not that it's a that's rough buddy moment because it's like, oh no, Momo. But it was clearly just a plot device and felt like it came out of nowhere. I just think the execution maybe could have been a little bit different, but then it was clearly like, oh, they need to get to the spirit oasis somehow and to bring that in. So I think it's just the way the context was set up for Momo's heroic act is what made that one a rough buddy moment for me. But, like like I said, I know I'm probably gonna get heat for this, and yeah, I can understand if people disagree because it was an emotional moment, and I feel like normally I would have been all about that, but it was a cheap shot. So yeah. I don't get that. it was a beautiful scene. We'll talk about it more later, because there is something positive about it that I do want to talk about. Like I said, it's the context surrounding why that happened I, Okay, so since you brought up the Oasis, right, can I tell you like my secondary That's Rough Buddy Oh yeah, you have a runner up That's Rough yeah. Can we do me, Hit me with Okay. To get to the most sacred place in the Northern Tribe is a swinging door. That anyone can walk into. Even if you don't know it's there, if you accidentally lean on the wall, you're in there. So you're saying it should be harder to get to? Well, shouldn't it? It's their most sacred place. By the way, there's two spirits in there, just swimming around at their most vulnerable state, and anyone can walk in there. They know they're in there, right? Security could have been better. Okay. Like a passcode to get in there or something? Face recognition. They put one security guard there. Let's move on to our honorable mention. What's yours? So this is a little dark, but that's why I liked it, was when they showed the blood on the bag, that he put the moon spirit in. When Zhao swooped the moon spirit up, when he stabbed and twisted, and then the blood slowly came up, rose up through the wool in the sack. Whatever it's made of. I don't know if it's wool. Burlap or anyway, details. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I'm gonna have And then everything went gray. I was like. And even the blood may have been coming up grey like, it was, everything had Maybe that's why I didn't But oh my gosh, it reminded me of like Sin City, if you ever watched that. I don't know, it was so dark. And I really loved it. Okay, I'm gonna have to re watch for that detail. What's your honorable mention? I guess this is kind of related to what you just said. My honorable mention isn't really one specific moment, but it was the use of color or lack thereof. Again, I gotta say props to whoever the director of photography is. At first, the scenes turned red, and then became devoid of color. I was really nervous about how they were going to pull that off, or if they were even going to do that, based off of the cartoon. Because that was one of the reasons in the cartoon, when I came to this episode, I was like, wow, this is really different for a cartoon. As a kid, I, I feel like a lot of us appreciated that. And the colors, whether it was the combination of the blue in the water, contrasted against the orange of all the fire. That was amazing. The fire amongst all the black and white, every time someone would firebend and you'd get that pop of color, that's how it was in the cartoon too and I felt like it was pretty unique for a cartoon of that time. They did it beautifully in the live action and adapted that so well and yeah, it was just awesome. The coloring of the whole episode. I agree. No one can complain about that. Yes. That was my honorable mention. Awesome. Okay, let's really get into this finale. How do you want to go about dissecting it? Okay, so a lot happens in this episode and there is a lot to talk about. So I think what we'll do first is we'll talk about the thematic elements like we usually do and just go through the plot. I think the easiest thing to do is just go through the major events that happen in this episode and talk about what happened and give our thoughts. And then A good chunk of our episode will probably be dedicated to answers we got for our question of the week. We did get several. A lot of you guys had thoughts that would come up in Wes and I's conversation anyways, so I wanted to focus on those comments and discuss them and give our thoughts, because I feel like we're gonna be saying a lot of the same things, or, who knows, there's some things that we may not agree with, and I feel like it deserves some attention. Um, Does that sound good to you? It sounds painfully, No, it's gonna be great. Like we've said in past episodes, Wes and I, we don't talk about our thoughts and we don't exchange notes or anything. We'll see where it goes, and I have a feeling this episode might go longer than some of our previous ones, but we're at the finale, so I feel like that's okay. Yeah, I'm uh, we can't hang out with our friends because we end up talking Avatar. And I'm ready to get back to hanging out with our friends. No, I'm just joking. Okay, so let's start off with the theme. I want to see if you agree with me or not, but I feel like this episode brought up quite a bit about letting go of the past for the sake of the future. I feel like this is a theme of season one, but yes. I mean, maybe that's what they wanted to do was bring it all together for the finale. Yeah, that's true. We have Pakku just to give some examples of how some of the characters go through this. We have Pakku who learns to let go of rigid traditions to save their tribe. Lets the women out of the kitchen. Right? Okay. Well, I mean, Yue was in the kitchen. They had her, which, can I just say that Avatar's all about empowering women and they wanted to make Yue a strong character and then they put her in the kitchen. But maybe that's their culture. So, so. Um, Um, And then we also have uh, Sokka, who I had to learn about letting go of past expectations, you know, being a warrior in order to help others and this was brought up in his conversation with Chief Arnook at the end. So I feel like he had to do a little bit of letting go of the past, again, recalling back to our conversation in the episode Spirited Away, I think it was, when they were faced with their flashbacks and figuring out what seeds to water what seeds to not water so i feel like this you know calls back to his conflict about that. Interestingly enough now he's gonna have to work on letting some of that go when it comes to not being able to save Yue so i do feel bad for Sokka here. That's a big burden. Well, they show how Sokka is starting to lead. He's a great leader. You know, beginning of the episode where he's flying around directing them while they're on the ship. So plays they're showing that he's a good leader, and you can lead without being a warrior. Yeah, it's not all muscle and fighting. You don't have to be, you don't have to do that to be a hero, is what he was saying, right?. Yeah, I'm trying to steer clear of this Okay, we'll save it, we'll save it. Let's see we also have Aang, and, his letting go of his guilt over all the loss to continue his journey. I feel like this is something he's having to remember time and time again, first with the loss of all the Airbenders, and now with the loss of some of the Water Tribe people. Yeah, I'm tired of Aang being so down all the time. I'm ready to see the playful kid who will actually start bending different elements. I You know what, I can appreciate that. I get that. And then we also have Zuko, and he's also having to learn the lesson of the theme here. Because he's having to let go of the Avatar in order to, I guess, save himself. He could have tried to go after Aang after he became Koizilla, but he probably could have died too, and Iroh had to tell him, we need to go, there's no more Avatar, so Zuko had to let go of what he's been working towards for, what is it, three years now? Yeah, who is Zuko without the Avatar? Maybe that's what he's afraid of. So those are the main characters that I thought had to learn the lesson of our theme here. I don't know if you could think of anybody else, letting go of the past for the sake of the future. Or do you think there's like another theme fitting here for, if you had to choose just one. No, I think what you picked for the theme is spot on. You nailed it on the head. Head. Thank you. Yeah. Okay. So now let's talk about what happens in chronological order, I at least try to keep it chronologically in order. We'll see. We'll start with the arrival of the Fire Nation. I thought it was a great opening scene, where Team Avatar swoops in and they take out that one Fire Nation ship. It was very much like the cartoon. The best opening scene they've done so far. You think so? I think it's one of the best ones for sure. Whenever they go back to the Water Tribe to warn how big the fleet is, a couple things. One, I feel like there wasn't A great sense of urgency from Chief Arnook and Pakku and the Water Tribe as a whole. And then two, I'm a little bit confused, maybe you can help me clarify, but They mentioned how long it was gonna be before the Fire Nation was gonna be within firing range. And I believe they said like an hour or two. Correct me if I'm wrong. If they had an hour or two to prepare, technically they had more than that because the Water Tribe knew before Aang even arrived that the Fire Nation was coming so they probably started preparing before Aang got there. But then Are you thinking they weren't prepared? I don't think they were that well prepared. Why do you say that? It felt a little bit chaotic. You would think oh, everybody would get into their, or would get to their posts or have formations or build additional defenses with ice. It's like nothing happened within that one or two hours. They were all scrambling as if they were caught by surprise. It looks like they did a pretty good job until, which we're skipping here, but until Zhao stabbed the moon spirit. I mean, they were holding them off. I was just confused a little bit about what has the Water Tribe been doing between the time that Team Avatar says, hey, their fire's gonna be able to reach us in an hour or two, and then to the point where you do see the fireballs. I mean, they could've been fortifying their wall. I mean, they were staving them off. It off. It didn't look like they were at their posts. Okay, General Pauline. I Did you recently read the book of war, or what? What kind of strategy? Okay, never mind. I did like, though, to get off the negativity train, I did like, How Katara brought the women waterbenders in and Yagoda came in and called Pakku a fool because somebody needed to say it. Yeah, more bodies for war is always nice. One thing that came to mind though was That they needed to save some of them to actually be focused on healing. Like maybe have a healing station to bring in wounded people. Like you don't want, you don't want everybody to go fight. You need to have some people that are healing. Well, they're healers. I mean, I'm sure that was mostly what they were doing, was healing, correct? No, And of course, at that time, they weren't getting hurt a lot. You just need to be prepared though. Let's move on to Momo. Okay, so the whole Momo Yes. Momo's actions and then getting into the spirit Oasis. As you can see in my notes here, I have WTF Momo. And I already mentioned his actions itself. That's not why that was my That's Rough Buddy moment. It just felt like it can't, like it was, at first it felt kind of random. It was great way to bring in the spirit oasis, right? Come on. It was, it was maybe too easy? I don't know. Here's the thing. I think the Spirit Oasis should've been introduced in the previous episode, as part of the world building. If the Spirit Oasis is this important, you can't just spring it on us because. Okay, well just focus on this episode because if start going back and saying, well they should have done this sooner. But the thing is, it's tied together though, like it's part of the storytelling. I'm saying that the impact of the Spirit Oasis and the whole Momo thing, it fell flat because the Spirit Oasis wasn't set up very well to begin with. Well, I mean, Zhao was talking to that spirit or the fire maj, whatever. The fire the fire. Sage maj mage. but, and then they didn't they talk about that before Momo did his thing? Did they bring up the Spirit oasis? They were talking about the, you know, that's where. They come to hang out for one day during the ice moon. Yeah, but that still wouldn't be a very good introduction of it. So yeah, I think if other things fall into place a little bit better than the whole Momo part and him needing to be brought to the Spirit Oasis would have had a better impact for me. This is just me personally, I'm not you're alone on this island. Maybe, and that's fine. I mean, I can't agree with everybody and I don't expect everybody to agree with me. That's the great thing about this fandom is that we have, Differing opinions, and that's all right. I will say, the positive thing with with what happened to Momo is that it showed the relationsh He No, I mean, story wise, like, why it happened. It showed Sokka and Momo's relationship and you can see that they've become buddies, sokka cares about Momo, and I mean, it was cute. It was a heartfelt moment. I did like that aspect of it. But yeah, I was just like, what the heck? Like, when it happened, I was like And I will say, maybe it's because it didn't come as a surprise to me. We did get this part spoiled for us. And so I did know that it was coming. I didn't exactly know what happened or the context or anything like that. So maybe that's why I'm looking at it with a more critical eye. Yeah, I feel like if you didn't know something was coming with Momo, You would appreciate it more. I appreciate what he did, I appreciate that Momo is at least more helpful than the Avatars, but I think that scene could have just been executed a little bit better, that's all I'm saying. It was a great scene and a great sequence to get into the Spirit Oasis. Speaking of the Spirit Oasis, just as a side note, another reason why I am looking at this with a more critical eye is because the Spirit Oasis is supposed to be a big deal. It's the most sacred place in the Northern Water Tribe. They could have showcased the beauty of it more or shown it during the daytime. Like they should have shown it before the attack, before the invasion. I think there's even a moment in the cartoon, where Aang comes in to see the Spirit Oasis, and you see joy on his face because it's such, it's this beautiful, spiritual place, and in the cartoon it was set up as a very positive place, but here, we're being introduced to the Spirit Oasis amidst chaos and loss, and feel like this show did more than the cartoon. You could see the beauty, the vegetation, the warmth. dark though. Okay, It didn't look warm think I'm going to win this one. Agree to disagree. Agree to disagree. I even made, so back when Animal Crossing was everybody's lives, especially during the pandemic, I tried to make my own little Spirit Oasis on my Animal Crossing island. That's how much I love it so, I just wanted them to do the Spirit Oasis justice. It was beautiful. Yeah, we didn't get to see very much of it before things went dark, Did you put any guards on your Animal Crossing? No, I did not. It was, It was vulnerable. Your neighbors couldn't even help you. You have anything else to say about the spirit oasis? I feel like we're opposite on this. don't see anything wrong with what they did. Okay, we can move on. Yeah, let's move on. So, wrong. Next we Let's Let's go ahead and talk about Kara, Kara, Katara and Zuko's fight. Which, it didn't go on for too long, but No, but Katara whooped that ass. I mean, I should say that different. I'm sorry. I mean, Sokka said it, so Oh, he did? He said, he has said ass quite a few times in the Northern Water Tribe. Sorry about Feeling a little feisty. Language. Katara whooped his butt. And I think she was gonna keep on beating him. Yeah, for sure, We got that line from Zuko where he said, You've found a master. Yeah, but but I wish we could have got the one where he's like I rise with the Sun or oh my gosh, that would have been great been great. The you rise with the moon, I rise with the sun. Something like that, I love that line. We didn't get it, but it's okay. But we did get Zuko getting burned by Aang, and I don't mean firebending. That was pretty funny. Um, I wish we had more of that, but yeah. Yeah. He says, I wasn't talking about you. I was like, oh, burn. We should set that up better, but I guess if you're listening to us, you've watched that episode. You know what we're talking about. Yeah. Whenever Aang just says. go easy enough people have been hurt, Zuko thinks that he's addressing him, but he's talking about about Yeah, Yeah, he's talking to Katara. If Aang's words actually had some fire to it, then Zuko would have gotten another scar on the other side of his face, so. mic drop.. Okay, we can move on to the First of all, Zhao has to look for the ocean and moon spirits, and this is probably where we're gonna, where we are going to disagree as well, but this is another thing I feel like they didn't set up very well. The ocean and moon spirits, our introduction to them. What didn't you like? I mean, they're fish. I like how Zhao said the reason why Iroh's there is to point out what the spirits look like, right? And Iroh's like, you know, they could be two trees, Yeah, that's true. I mean, I mean, you don't know. I think the fish should have been shown either earlier in the episode, but really, ideally, ideally, I I did. Okay. I, I like I, I like, I do like this episode, but I have to nitpick. It sounds like you didn't really like the episode. The whole ocean and moon spirit, I loved it so much as a kid that I have to look at it more critically. I mean, not that I have to, but that's why I am looking at it more critically. I guess all I'm trying to say is I wish, I feel like there should have been a little bit more focus on the fish because if I am a first time watcher, maybe I would have felt like, oh, this came out of nowhere. R ight, but as for all episodes, they are pushed for time. i And there are things we get irritated about, but overall, Ten episodes, Netflix, go to ten episodes, please. But the things that I'm harping on, these are just the things that brought it down a half point for me. Because like I said, I was gonna give it a nine, so I have to bring them up. I have a question, since we're to the point where Zhao kills the moon. He kills him, or it, with Avatar Kuruk's knife. Was there something, asides from it being made from, what was it that Kuruk said? was Materials from the spirit world. Yeah asides from that, did it have any significance? Did it have to be that did it have any did it have to be that knife? That's why, Avatar, Kuruk, had to, was like, Aang, my knife's back in the Northern Water Tribe, this can't be good. Yeah, I guess I was just wondering, knew, cause he knew the Fire Nation had it. So maybe, that's the only thing that can kill a spirit in our world, is Something from the spirit world. Okay, that's Okay. That's what I thought it was implying, but I was thinking maybe I'm wrong. So, But if you weren't really paying attention you would have missed that Right. Yeah. Let's see. I'm so glad we did get Iroh's quote, Whatever you do to that spirit, I will unleash on you tenfold. Which he didn't do. What do you mean? When did he unleash death tenfold? He did he fire bend it at Zhao. Okay. He did not hit Zhao until he hit him later. He didn't do enough fire bending? I didn't think. like it was delayed though. Because he knocks the moon spirit out of Zhao's hands, right? Aang's for some reason air bending the sack up in the air, Instead of towards right. Yeah, you could, Or push it. I don't know. Yeah. Anyway. And then, Uncle Iroh, they show him like, I don't know why he's running towards Zhao when he has fire, but That was kind of odd, the whole slow motion thing. I think it would have been more impactful if it was quick and made it seem like Aang had successfully got the sack away from Zhao and then all like out of nowhere the knife comes through but because it was slow motion it's like you knew Zhao was going to stab the fish. I mean nothing bad with that I just think maybe if it was more of a surprise they would have had more impact to I'm not sure how many times they've put Iroh in slow motion, but I would have done him justice. Not to dwell on this too much, but I feel like some of his scenes in this episode were some of his weakest. Those some of it felt forced or slightly cheesy, but other times were great. Some things there that didn't do Iroh that uh, justice. of the cartoon. Yeah. I like that they're building their own characters. This whole series. True. There's hints of the cartoon, but I like that they're giving the characters different personalities almost. Yeah, like a different flavor. Yeah. Yeah, I like that. I, some of it, I like, some of it I of it I don't. I'm not liking what, I'm not liking what they're doing with Iroh, but. oh, really? Well, you know what, we'll save it for maybe our season one wrap up. Yeah. While we're still on this scene though, the, I already brought up the coloring, but just when everything goes red amazing. And then to black and white was amazing. Adapted so well. I don't know if any other TV show has done this or any other cartoon. You've watched way more things than I have. Can you think of anything? So I've referenced the movie Sin City earlier. So if you ever get a chance to watch that movie and you haven't watch it. Because sometimes there's color. Sometimes there's not, which they almost do, you know, like with Who Framed Roger Radgett, Rap, Who Framed Who Framed Roger Rabbit? I love that movie. So it really, for us older people, we've seen that, so it makes, and we watched that when we were younger, so it really harkens back to when we were younger, so that probably gives you that feeling of being younger and watching. probably right. probably right. It was just great. And once the moon is gone, and we talked about the non benders and how they had their last stand. If I were To describe any of the scenes as like maybe a jaw dropping moment when they first breached the wall, the water tribe person fell and the ship comes through. Oh My gosh, that was amazing, and then the fight, the camera movement, again, I gotta say, director of photography, amazing job and the whole production crew. Like I said, just reminds me of some of the battles in Game of Thrones. Who knows, maybe it's also because there are dragons with fire and then you have the what's the Ice King? Red Sea? The Ice My god, it's been forever. The the King The Night King? King? The Night it's been too long. I just miss Hodor. But, no but, but you see how it gives it that feel and just how the camera moves with the characters fighting. yeah, and the CGI was way better in this episode than when they've used it in previous. yeah, Just because of all the action. it, that's why I just had to bring this up twice because I feel It deserves it. You can tell this is where a lot of the budget went. Speaking of budget I know where the animal budget went to. It went to Koizilla. They had to went to. It went to Koizilla. Aang becomes the ocean spirit and he becomes what we've nicknamed Koizilla the ocean spirit monster. And Yeah, I feel like that's where the whole animal budget went to. Koizilla ate all the animals, and but it looked awesome, though! I will say, it looked awesome. I loved it. It gave me chills just like in the cartoon. I wanna just give one more Negative thing. I say one more, but this I'm telling you, Love the episode, but But this is one of the bigger points for me. So when Aang fuses with the ocean spirit and he goes down into the water, that part fell flat for me. What?! And here's why, okay? I know that this is not gonna be everybody's opinions because I I'm referencing my childhood here, but it was that moment in the cartoon when I was watching it as a 12 year old when Aang looks like he's on top of the water, And he says, no, it's not over. And he goes straight down. It was this chilling moment as a kid. And that was where I was just completely hooked with Avatar. And I thought this is going to be the best series ever. That's where I knew that Avatar is special. did the exact same they did not do the exact same thing. I think if he was on top of the water and then he went straight down, it would've given it almost Stranger Things vibes, with his voice and his eyes glowing, and then he just gets sucked down into the water completely. In this adaptation he like waded into the water, and While you hear the voice? while you hear the voice, don't hear the voice before he goes but then when he do you hear any voice? Yeah, he has like that big boomy voice, but here, when he wades into the water, and he goes down it's almost like don't really see Aang go down. The Netflix version was just a slightly more tamed version of the cartoon. And you would think it would be the other way around. In a, you're so frustrated right now. Like a satanic voice, which was awesome. was Before he went down. He's glowing. Huh. And boom, like someone threw a ball and he got dunked into the water. It was very tame, it wasn't, it was like, What did you, what did you want? What do you want? More intensity. Was it the music director's No. I don't know how else to explain it without showing you a side by side. Which is not great for a podcast format, but, the impact felt more tame. That's it. That's Okay. Okay. But I just had to bring this up because this was the main thing I was looking for when we started this episode. How are they gonna do the moment that Aang goes down into the water and becomes the ocean spirit. That was the main thing I was looking for. And they almost had it. They almost had it! I promise I still loved it, even though it doesn't sound like it. Do you agree with her? I mean, didn't get pulled down in the, No, he got pulled down in the water, but it just felt more tame. Okay. Okay. Um. But to top it off with something positive, because I feel like I have to, I already mentioned this, the blue and orange together, when Koizilla came up and is, going after the Firebenders. The combination of the blue and orange, oh my gosh, just so beautiful. So you like the color scheme. The majority of my Cabbage rating and why I rated it so high a lot of it is due to the cinematography, I will say that, and the music, and but then there were and but then the of The cinematography did the heavy lifting here. the heavy lifting. Going red and gray. So anyways, we'll move on, we'll move on. So what happens after this one? So, oh. Zuko and Zhao's fight. Their confrontation and the end of Zhao. As I like how you didn't say that, because there was no body, you didn't see Zhao die. Did Zhao die? It was a little unclear. you saying that they've been hit with fire all season, right? A lot of characters have Never killed one other than, Ozai burning those, uh, people. Yes. But are you saying that Iroh killed him with one blast? Is that what they were implying? It was a little it was unclear. Okay. And maybe that was on purpose. The rule is if you don't see a body Was the water glowing blue when he fell fell into the water? It was. From what Netflix has shown us at face value, Zhao has died because Iroh killed him. That is what they're showing us. They had a brief but a great fight. I did love that whole sequence. I love Zhao's final spiel to Zuko. We didn't talk about Zhao's turn, like his character arc. Before he stabbed the fish. What the heck? Now he wants to be the Fire Lord? I don't think he wanted to be the Fire Lord. He was just wanting to be legendary. Oh, legend! Oh! Maybe that should've been the theme. The title. What makes a legend. But I mean, now he's telling Iroh that, you can back his legitimacy. What did you think about that? I thought it was stupid. You didn't like it? Can I say stupid? Yeah. That was stupid. don't know why they did that. Why did they give him that speech on, becoming Fire Lord, I mean, did he ever respect Ozai then? So he was always scheming against Ozai? Yeah. I don't know if he necessarily liked Ozai. I will, I think I am okay with this. I'm not saying that it's not stupid. Because I think that's correct. Who are you, Zhao, to think that you could accomplish this, but I think it's a good final look into Zhao's character. Because, let's be honest, Zhao is a little bit delulu here, and, I think this is a good way to show that delusion. I like that you did bring that up, it's interesting that they brought this aspect to the adaptation but I think it was, I think it was fine. I don't think believes that he could become Fire Lord, but he believes it. It's like, really dude? Okay. Right, it was just I thought was out of character for him. And we're not just talking, we're not talking about the cartoon. I mean, even in previous episodes, he never, did he ever reveal or any hints that he wanted to be the Fire Lord? No, and I don't think we're to believe that he had that goal to begin with, but I think maybe the more recognition he got, the more power he got, it just snowballed and he was just drunk on that ambition. But, yeah, but like we mentioned earlier, we didn't see a body, so i, think that they left it ambiguous for a reason, because then it opens doors for Season 2. I don't think I liked that it was Iroh, though that quote unquote killed him. Um. That seemed a little out of character. Is that something that you were referring to earlier with some the out of character things that Iroh did? I wish they would've followed the cartoon right there. Me too. Where Zuko's defending himself, he reaches to save Zhao and Zhao declines he'd Oh yeah, so for those who haven't seen the cartoon, the ocean spirit comes out from the water part of it or something, but basically the ocean grabs Zhao and pulls him down and it's the ocean that kills Zhao and before he goes down, Zuko reaches out a hand to him. So that he can help him, and Zhao refuses his hand and accepts his fate. So I agree with you there. I think it would have been more impactful if they kept it that way, not for the sake of Oh, I needs to follow the cartoon, but because of what it says about Zuko's character. Yes, his honor. Um, okay so let's move on to Yue's sacrifice. So this was the cartoon, it was Iroh that pointed out that she'd been touched by the moon. And this one, it was all her choice. Yeah, I liked it. I liked the change. I liked that it was her idea because it gave Yue more agency. What are your thoughts though? Do you like that it was her idea or do you think it they should have had it be somebody else's? it was okay. She realized that she was touched by the moon, and could make that sacrifice. I've grown to like Yue's character in this adaptation. Not that I did not like her. Right, Right, and Well, okay, well, okay, it's not her I didn't like. It was the wig. That's it. wig that I didn't like. And the cartoon, it's not that I didn't like Yue. I did like Yue as a character. I feel like it could have been done better, but with it being a cartoon and the episodes were so short, I understood why They were pretty quick with some of the things with Yue, but with Netflix, they gave us more to like about her and her character. And I like the actress. I wish that they gave her better hair. I feel so bad that they did her dirty like that. But I really did like her acting and thought she struck a good balance between that poised regal princess and Somebody that's also strong and down to earth and relatable and likable. I like what they did with her, because she's not just a figurehead in this, she is the spirit uh, counselor? Um, Priestess, or, yeah, she had some kind of spiritual leader title. she's not just Yeah. Yeah, that's true. I don't think we've brought that up before. But that was the end of Yue, and she became the moon. And I'm pretty sure her name m means moon or something about the moon. We didn't talk about it last I don't think so. you, okay. I didn't think so. Um. About the aftermath? Of the battle. Yes, this is when we see the people that have died, and you find out that Hahn, and that other kid, I'm, I feel bad. Did he have a name? If he had a name, I'm so sorry. think it was Icebender 4? No, I don't think they, I don't think he had a name. Maybe he did. that. Han had an awesome last scene. I with Han, and that they didn't shy away from result of war. You have people on both sides that Chief Arnook, I will say he didn't seem as devastated as Sokka, the way that they show about losing his daughter? Can we say it at the same time? Sorry. That's okay. Something I forgot to mention earlier, the emotion with Chief Arnook and Yue's relationship, I feel like, wasn't quite there. I wish that they had built on their relationship as father and daughter a little bit more in the previous episode. I know you said not to bring up the previous episode. But there wasn't really anything shown about it except during the attack and Chief Arnook is like, No, Yue, you need to go because you are the future of our tribe, that was really the only thing you saw between the two of them. I feel, so then the impact of Chief Armook losing his daughter was a miss here. I felt more for Sokka losing somebody that he hasn't known for very long compared to the Chief losing his daughter. think? Your daughter, but I think as a leader of the Water Tribe, Arnook had to console Sokka because he is a leader. So he was trying to make Sokka feel good. Maybe he, as a leader at this point, he didn't, he doesn't have time to mourn. Yeah, I think that could be true too. Let's see. Over to Zuko and Iroh. They are back on a boat. What a coincidence. It is a great bookend, because they started on a boat, they ended on a boat. It was like the end of the cartoon, too, so I can't give all of the writing credit to be on a boat. They were talking about Lieutenant Jee and trying to speculate. I think Iroh was trying to make Zuko feel better about his crew because they died, didn't they? they show? Was there any, were there any Firebenders that survived that? They didn't show any retreating like they did in the cartoon Because in the cartoon I don't think want to ever, I don't think they ever suggested that the whole fleet was destroyed. Right? They showed a lot of boats exploding and the moon spirit pushing, just like in the cartoon, pushing them away. The moon spirit comes down and smashes the water and sends a big wave. Did they survive that? I mean, if you're far enough back, yeah, you guess it's, It's just the way Iroh brought up Lieutenant Jee and the others and it's like, well, oh, I'm sure they got away. But if he says Jee was smart and wouldn't be at the front of the battle. So I think Iroh was just trying to make him I think you will see the 41st division Do you think so?'cause it's like, did they die anyways? They got sacrificed. Anyways. With the way things are going, I bet we see them again. I just feel, I feel bad for those guys. Because they were going to be sacrificed to begin with and then their whole journey ends with them possibly meeting that same fate anyways, just three years later. That was just Ozai's plan. This whole attack was just a diversion to capture Omashu. Yeah, how whole attack was just a diversion to capture Omashu. I did like that they brought this did like that they brought this in, though, because I feel like this is a good tie in with what happens to King Bumi and we know that some things are going to be skipped in Season 2, but I feel like this was a good way to still tie in that part of the storyline, and how Azula, takes control of Omashu but Yeah, are think they need to. don't think they need to. I don't think they need to. But now we know what Ozai was doing with Azula, because in a previous episode, we were wondering what is Ozai's game plan here? It seems like he's toying with Azula, and now we know he was trying to get her fired up, no pun intended, with, everything going on with Zuko and that was Ozai's plan all along. It also, I guess, answers my question that I had before about whether or not Ozai actually cares about Zuko. Because whenever the Fire Sage mentions like, oh, you know that Zuko was there in the Northern Water Tribe too, and Ozai kind of pauses, and I was wondering oh, is he going to show grief for possibly losing his son? Or Is he not gonna care at all? And who says? Sometimes you have to sacrifice the weak or something like that. He was right, though. Like, If Zuko was strong, he would survive. Do you think is that? Do you think that he thinks that Zuko is strong? He said, if he's strong, he will survive. But do you think, genuinely, Ozai thinks that Zuko would have survived? if I was, if I had only watched this, I would say, yes, he's still testing Zuko to become the next Fire You think so? That's interesting. Cause I don't know don't know Oh, and then finally, Sozin's Comet gets mentioned. They haven't said anything about Sozin's Comet until the very end. Do you like that they saved it? Yeah, I like that it was over and then we had this special ending. It's the next journey, right? It's a good cliffhanger for, to wait for season two. I was gonna be mad if they didn't mention Sozin's Comet at all, because I thought maybe they just completely did away with Sozin's Comet. So then they're not tied to that timeline. But Sozin's Comet is the impetus for everything, the events that, happen later. So I was really worried that we were not going to get any mention of Sozin's Comet at all, but they left it just for the very end, which I guess that was a smart move. For the very end, which, I think that, I guess Lots of wait later though. We will have an podcast episode on what we think will happen or any future concerns and we'll make sure to tag that episode a spoiler because if we're going to talk about it, we have to give spoilers. Do you have anything else as far as the events that happened with this episode? No, I'm ready to move on. Okay, then let's move on to favorite bending moment. And we'll try to fly through these pretty quickly because we do need to get to comments from other people. But, what was your favorite bending moment? Um, it's probably, didn't write it down, did no I wrote it down, but I'm going to go with something different because, my Avatar state moment goes along with my favorite bending moment. I'm going to go with the beginning bending with Aang and Katara fighting on the ship. I like how fast paced it was. It wasn't like the last episode where everything was in slow motion. I'm like, they coulda dodged that. They coulda dodged that dodge that it was a lot faster. faster. I just liked liked it. I like that they did that, because it immediately pulled me into the episode. They got, Oh yeah, it's like a good the bendings like real fast. And I'm like, they got right into be a good one. That's why the opening was was great. So what was your So mine would be the firebending during Zuko and Zhao's fight. Just because that's where it really showcased the color of the fire against the lack of color and everything else. So every time that there was fire, it lit up the characters and the scene just briefly and before it went back to completely black and white so i'd like to i need to find like a video where maybe they talk a little bit how they lit all that and what they had to do in production bending, it was the colors around. I so i guess so. Awesome. Okay, then let's do favorite character. Who or what was your your favorite character? Who or what? My favorite character This is a tough one because I almost had a tie, but I chose Zhao. I feel like every scene that he was in in this episode, and really the whole season, I enjoyed his scenes. And even though some of his lines were delivered a little bit more subtle and, there wasn't anything big and flashy about him I just like how they did his character. Did his do you mean obviously? No what favorite character. Just because his acting, really. He's really killing it. I agree. I was going to, I mean, I wanted to pick Zuko, but it's I feel like I always brag about Zuko. pick Zuko, but it's I feel like I always brag about Zuko. Yeah, the emotion. It was the emotion. It was great. I loved it. And I also loved when he told Uncle Iroh that Liu Teng would have been proud of him. That was a touching moment that we didn't talk about earlier, but that we didn't I thought it was worth mentioning. didn't like that as much, but yeah. compared to the cartoon you're saying? Yeah. I mean, I'm with you there. Okay, let's do the Animal Okay, the Animal Watch. That didn't have the budget because I went to Koizilla. Wait, Koizila, is that part of our Animal Watch? No. No. It's spirit form, I guess. But we did get the ocean and moon spirits as mortal fish form. It they got tons of screen time, I don't know. Why you think they did uh, I could Talk a long time about it, so I'm not gonna backtrack to that because you're going know I was trying to push But I'm not taking the bait. No pun intended there too, but so while they're not hybrid animals, I mean, they were still animals in this episode. Did you notice, unless I completely missed this, they did not give the names of the ocean and moon spirit. No, they did not. so anybody that hasn't watched the cartoon, the ocean moon spirits names are Tui and La. So Tui means push, and that's the moon spirit, and La means pull, which is the ocean spirit. And I don't know why they didn't mention that. They, They brought in Push. I don't think so. He said Push and Pull, but we didn't get the names of of the spirits being Tui and La. And I feel like that's a really cool piece of lore that should have been included. We don't give us a lot of animals. Hopefully in the next seasons, they will introduce us to some different different animals. Yes, that's what they need to up that budget for the animal department, okay, let's do our memorable quotes. What was your favorite? have an obvious one, which is, you don't have to be a warrior to be a hero. Mhm. Which was Chief Arnook saying to Sokka, I think that's going to be huge for Sokka. I really like that one, too. And then I have, change is a way to new life. Who said that? It was towards the end I think it was Pakku. Talking to Katara. You don't hold on to the past. Also, which is your theme. Oh yeah, good point. Yeah, I didn't catch that one. It is part of the theme. What's some of your memorable quotes? I think you already know what my favorite quote was. It was Yagoda when she said, What good is it relying on the past when it stops us from having a future? I'm glad that Yagoda was the one that said it. And like I said, she called Pakku a fool. And it's like, Yes, Yagoda, you tell him. But it I don't need to talk at length about the quote because this was the theme of the episode. And then the runner up was Zhao's line when he said, you are the fire in which her iron was forged. Talking to Zuko about Zula and this was just, it was just such a delicious quote. It was so good. And Zhao has a way with words. I'm not gonna lie. It was really, a really good piece of writing. Yeah, it really stood out in that scene. I liked it. Okay, We've talked so much, like I said, this episode is gonna be a lot longer than what our usual episode runtimes are. Let's go ahead and get into our question of the week. So I put out a question on Facebook and Instagram. I also put it out into just some of the online communities on Facebook, and we got a lot of thoughts. Our question of the week was, what were your thoughts on the finale, and was it enough to excite you for seasons 2 and 3? So I think we got most of them from Facebook, so I wanted to go ahead and go through and read them. Since we got so many comments, there are some that we want to save for maybe a future episode, and I wish we had time to read all of them but there is just a lot, and we're already over time here but we'll try to get to as many as we can. Let's go ahead and start with this first one and I'll, let me make it bigger because because daddy blind. Our first comment comes from Krista A. They say, I thought they handled the last two episodes very well. The Ocean Spirit Kaiju, the Ocean Spirit. looked great and there were many moments where I felt the emotion hit home. I hope they take criticism going into season 2 and 3 and improve upon the area of the show that need it. I 100% agree with Krista. I hope that they take some of the things that the fandom is saying. to, As constructive criticism and improve the next season. I like the previous episode for this one, but I thought that despite all of my complaints earlier, I still think that they did this one very well as far as the cinematography they're doing. With certain characters that aren't following the cartoon, I like what they're doing. And also, I hope they listen to the fandom, but I'm guessing that they already have two in at least season two ready to go. Go. Probably set on on what they want to do. So we just gotta cross our fingers and Hope But, if, I mean, if you're playing off this episode, I'm re I'm excited for season two. Okay, let's go to our next one. So this is from Rainier D. And they said, Stakes being raised with how Aang agreed to be a conduit of vengeance and could possibly have been lost forever, fueling a bit of that, in the wrong time and era headspace he's in really amped up the weight of the scene for me because back then it was just, when they say back then I believe they're referring to the cartoon, It was just Aang speaking with the avatar's voice sinking into a pool with no real understanding of what's happening and then Yue's death hit harder here for me than it did in the cartoon, since we got quite the amount of time getting to know her character more. And I loved how the actress portrayed her. That wig, though, girl, they did you wrong. Um, to choose just a couple points here, cause it would've Yeah, Yeah, we didn't talk about the, how they added in the possibility of Aang being lost forever. Yue had done that explanation which I guess was okay, but I do like that they increase the stakes a little bit. it felt a little bit exposition y to me in a moment that needs to be like quick and, it's such a crucial moment at that point, but, it is what it is. I do agree that Yue's death here hit harder for me than in the cartoon. Know her kind of in a different way. Rainier seems to think that the Avatar scene going in the water was good. I agree! Pauline does not. Rainier. Um, They didn't pull him down in the Oh yeah, I guess that's one part that I don't quite agree with, but that's okay. That's the great thing about the fandom. We don't have to have the same opinions. Okay, you want to read next one? one is from Kevin K. You know who that is! Right, Wes? says, Zhao seems to have become a spirit expert awfully quick. Also went from finally getting in the game to, I will replace the Fire Lord, a bit quickly. Overall, I enjoyed this entire season and I'm excited for next season. I like that they are not following cartoon too closely. I hope they change more. What fun is it if you already know the ending? And Kevin is an Air Nomad. they said that they are a self proclaimed Air Nomad I happen to know Kevin, and he's not an air Nomad. You don't think so? I think he is. he needs the Um, But going to what Kevin said here you guys happen to actually agree with the whole Zhao wanting to, saying that he wants to become the Fire like it just came out of nowhere. No, I mean Oh, I was just saying Oh, I was just saying you already know that I don't 100 percent agree, I mean, that I liked it, I was fine with it. was fine with it. can see that. I can see that. I will agree with Kevin when they say that that they like the cartoon isn't following too closely. And that it's more fun if closely that it's more fun if Back when we first started this journey. Mm-Hmm. I'd be like, well they better, we were all like, they better do this right. You know, I was okay with changes. Okay, mind then, I'm gonna No, but you were you No! Our,, our next comment, You read it because I have it in blue and I, it messed up my pattern, so I I get to read two in a row. Yeah. Our next comment comes from Robert J. They say, I just hate that they didn't show him waterbending. That's the point of book one. Other than that. Can't wait till they drop the second one. Robert is talking about Aang Which he's correct. Book one. so we, I did ask Pauline a question while we were watching this last episode. Was Aang waterbending when he came up in the ball of air at the Or water. of, well yeah, so was he waterbending? And you brush it off as, well, he's in the Avatar state. Yeah, I don't, I mean I mean he was waterbending. But He was channeling all the past avatars, so it's not that he learned waterbending. That's just Avatar State stuff. We can't count that. we got to see him waterbend I don't think that was for like When he When he was in the ball thing. Yeah, I don't think that's waterbending. think that's waterbending. Yeah, Yeah, I didn't see any waterbending. I know we didn't talk about it, I don't think we talked about I know we didn't talk about I don't think we talked about it too much in the previous episode, but I also wish that they had shown Aang learning some waterbending from Katara, or at the very least, Pakku being like, Oh, you haven't learned waterbending? Well, let's Teach you something, but it is what it is. Hopefully they rectify it in season two. So moving on, let's read thoughts from La'shandria W, and they said, The only thing I'm mad about with the finale is that General Zhao's speech about Azula would have been an excellent introduction For her for the future series if they hadn't ruined her character. What do you think? Do you agree that Azula character was ruined? I think this speech would've been an excellent introduction, but I'm curious to see or to hear what you think about just her character in general. Yeah, I would say that, how they ended this episode. Kind of makes me not like her. But this was like the first time where I was like, okay, what the heck? Because So she shows up and Omashu has fallen. We don't know how, don't know what capacity she had in Omashu falling, but then she's like, takes off her mask. Okay. What's next? What did you do? Just your presence there? There's blanks we have to fill in, and I don't think they have to show it. Okay, they have to show it. There's some things about Azula that I liked and then some things that I didn't. Mainly because I don't know what it means for her character moving forward, but we will see, for her character moving forward. But, we will see. It didn't show it, but It didn't show it, but we find out in what he says that, oh, that is how Zhao found out because they didn't show that they No, no, no, no. Because Zhao apparently at some point wrote to Azula talking about some sword, and she's like, you know what? That sounds like my brother's brother's sword. Yeah, there are no photographs. Those sound exactly like my brother's swords. Yeah. No I could see it happening. Okay, do you want to read this next one from Tony? Next one's from Tony S The finale was okay. Didn't like how Aang didn't learn any water bending, you know, Pakku, All that time you were telling Aang he should have been learning on his journey. You could have been teaching him water bending. Preach. season one was mostly good, not great. I have my issues with it, but I can see it improving if done right. So I'm looking forward to season two and three. It will be cool seeing them in live action, even if they're not good. I watch with my sister who, along with me, grew up on the cartoon and love it. We do a rewatch every year. Oh, I love that. Yeah, sharing it with the Yes, for sure. And I think I'm in the same boat that, some things there were issues and then other things He's right though. Pakku didn't teach Aang anything. Yeah, Paku, you could have been a reason? He didn't even give us a reason why. Because he taught Katara, right? No, he didn't. In this, he hasn't taught Katara anything. That's true. So yeah Pakku, useless. Okay, so then, we have Robert r. says, I loved some things and did not like others. I wanted Admiral Zhao to be taken by the ocean spirit. I loved the idea of the ocean getting revenge for the moon's murder. Even so, this is way better than the movie that does not exist. Yeah, I agree, Robert, I wish that they had kept it, because that's how I saw it as a kid, was that was the ocean getting revenge for, kid, was that was the ocean getting revenge for So, but, you know, but, who knows, maybe they have special plans for the next season, in regards to this, You want to read this next one. Okay, our next comment comes from Carlos L. They say, I was highly disappointed. There are so many things to discuss, but I'm going to need some tea first. Hashtag, so disappointed. Get that tea, Carlos. There are so many things to discuss. I wouldn't say I'm super disappointed because I still enjoyed it quite a bit, but I can appreciate their opinion, and that's fair. There were, so there were some highs that were really great about this series, but there was also equally or maybe more, some lows. Oh, you think more so? there are so many things to improve on. Yeah. yeah. Okay. Okay, so then we have thoughts from Maddie K. They said, I thought it was okay, good even, but not great. I have a couple gripes about how some things were done. One, Yue's sacrifice, it didn't really hit that hard. And also, waterbender? Two, Aang didn't water when was she a waterbender? yeah, okay. This is a lot. Okay, so I was in the same boat at first in the previous episode about like, why is Yue a waterbender? They better have a good point to this or else it's, pointless. But upon rewatching this episode I think it was it was okay. And she was able to waterbend Sokka to um, like waterbend the ice around his feet so that he couldn't move. waterbend the ice he couldn't move. And it's okay that she's a waterbender, I think, because she's their spiritual guide and she's a healer. Yeah, well, people have different opinions and that's, it's okay. So two, Aang didn't waterbend like at all, which we agreed on that one. Number three, Katara went from zero to 100 in two episodes and everyone started calling her a master, but I don't know, her bending is still just okay in my opinion. I'm not getting the quote unquote master vibe yet. Uh, I do think Katara, uh, Katara's skills grew a little too fast, or in an unexplained way. I disagree on that because that's what makes Katara so special is that she can pick up just by watching other waterbenders now She can pick up so fast, which does not necessarily mean She shouldn't be called a master right now. I agree some that part. Yeah, like you ain't even close But It's okay that she picked up so fast because that's what makes Katara so unique as a waterbender. I can't say that I 100 percent agree, but I can see where you're coming from. So four, and this is still Maddie, I didn't like the whole thing where they were like, Aang doesn't exist anymore, he's given his body over to the ocean spirit and he's gone forever now. Like, No he's not, he went back to normal a few minutes later. Why so dramatic for no reason? I normal a few minutes later. Why so dramatic for no That was pretty quick, I will say. JK. JK. and they rushed in that piece of information when it was like most convenient. And yeah, I don't have an idea of how they could have done it better, but just, yeah. It's awful! I think we Rose and Titanic have all been in an uproar. I think we would have all been in an uproar. Interesting thought, though. And then Maddy goes on to say, I did think the live action Ocean Spirit was cool though, a bit of a Godzilla vibe. This show has so much potential to be good with a couple changes in directing and writing, agree there, and the internet has certainly been giving this feedback, loudly. I have some hope that the writers will take this feedback and seasons 2 and 3 could be better. I'm really enjoying Zuko's arc too and excited to see Toph in live action. So, I'm definitely going to keep watching. Zuko's arc too and excited to see Toph in live action, so I'm definitely going to watching. Yeah, and well, I would much rather do that trend versus, oh, the first season was great and then it fizzles out. So I'd rather have it be that way. Okay. Do you want to read the next one? you want to read the next one? I hate how Katara doesn't study with Pakku, and has just declared a master. I'm all for demonstrating strong women, but she had zero instruction and was just declared a master. The show at least portrayed her excelling as a student under him. It feels so lazy to just declare her a master. I Interesting. What do you think? mean, I agree. But, you could look at it, if you hadn't seen the cartoon, you could Yeah, but I think for me, the problem with that, though, is that it doesn't leave much room for growth with It didn't have to be Pakku that was teaching her, but I could have been fine with that too. But if, one, it showed just a little bit more of a struggle for her, so then you can feel that growth at the end when she is a little bit more skilled at the end of this season that would have been better. And then two two, um I feel they did, but that I feel they did, but that was also with the help of Aang, too, though. We could get into that whole get it to that point. Yeah. I think if Yeah I think if they just showed a little bit more of her journey as a waterbender, it would've been a lot better And then we could have accepted that, Pakku didn't have to do any instruction with her. I do agree that she's not a master. But no, it was no, it was just that kid. I mean, I can't say like, this is the show saying, oh, she is a master. That one kid just happened to call her master, she doesn't even think she's a master. But, They, yeah, they just need to do better in the next season with Katara's arc and allow room for her to grow. So, okay, so I'll go ahead and read the next one. So this is from Dale W. And they said, so this is them saying how the original is versus Netflix. They said, original, it's like, No, it's not over, which is what Aang says, then fuses with the ocean spirit, and then Netflix says that Aang's like, no, it's not over, insert overly long monologue, adding useless melodrama, and then fuses with the ocean spirit. Haha. I think this is exactly what I'm what I was trying to convey earlier. I think Dale just Conveyed it for me. in the cartoon, Aang does the Avatar state voice, says, no, it's not over, and then just immediately goes into him fusing with the ocean spirit, and it's a little bit mysterious, and you're looking to see what is going on, But then, in this version, there's, I think it was just like the monologue and the exposition that was shoved in there that made it less intense for me. I think this is what I was trying to say earlier. Does it make a little bit more sense now? No? Well, I like the monologue, so I can't say it both ways. But I like the monologue. Like, Yeah, I'm not, something about not being a part of this time? I couldn't save my people, but I could save these Is that where we got the flashbacks of the Avatars, too? When it flashbacks to what Kyoshi said, what Kurek said, what Roku said. Yeah. that was just a lot shoved Okay. Well, I liked it. Sorry. Well, you're so excited about it because he's agreeing with you. Well, I'm just well, they, it in I'm just saying Dale put it in, Dale put it in better context than I did. Okay, we'll Okay, we'll move on. Thank you, Dale. Thank you, Dale. Okay, Moving to our next comment. It's from Taylor C. They say, First time I watched it, I gave it a 7. 5 out of 10. Using the cabbage rating. The finale definitely raised my opinion of it. When I rewatched it, I felt it deserved a 9 out of 10. They kept true to the story. later seasons, I think because they weren't sure if they would be renewed for them, and wanted us to enjoy those characters if they only had one shot at it. CGI was great and casting was perfect in my mind. Huh, Taylor does Bring up a good point that, um, whenever shows are made, you don't necessarily know how many seasons you're gonna get or if you're gonna get a new season. So, I guess they had to keep in mind that they possibly weren't going to get a second season. I wonder if that is part of the reason why they brought certain things from season two into this one. So, That's a good point. a great different viewpoint of watching it, not knowing if you have a next season. Yeah, and, uh, they agreed things that that you may not have, you know, upon watching it the first time. And they agreed that CGI was awesome. Yeah, I mean, I think everybody could agree. I don't know. I don't think I've seen a negative comment about the effects in this. Oh, yeah, I'm sure. Okay, so then the next one is from Robert R., and they said, I loved some things and did not Wait, did I already read this? I did read this. Oh, it's a duplicate comment. That is my bad. Oh, did I accidentally write over? over So I got the last get the last one. our last one for this podcast. Our last one for this episode is from Sarah S. They say, I enjoyed it. I'm actually watching the whole season again for the second time, and picking up things I missed the first time around. I love the animated version, but I enjoy the live action as well. I'm really looking forward to season 2 and 3, and hope they smooth out some of the kinks. My dad watched it with my daughter and I. He never watched the animated. He liked it and has since watched some of the animated version with me. Awesome. I love that! Um, I do agree that there are some kinks to smooth out and hopefully, they do that. I think it's awesome that Sarah has pulled her dad into this awesome cartoon series. I wonder how many, People watched the live action adaptation without having seen Avatar before and then went back and watched the cartoon and what their thoughts are. So if this is you, if you're in this boat where you've never seen the cartoon before and then went back and watched it because of the Netflix series, we'd love to hear what you Oh gosh, that would be crazy. It's much different watching it when you know what's going to happen and also watching it as an adult versus a lot of us who watched it when we were much younger. So I would be interested to see what those Their, yeah, their opinions would be interesting. Interesting. Back For those who, you know, want to engage and join in on our conversation we post things on Facebook and Instagram, and so if you have any thoughts, just comment on anything that we post or comment on any question of the week that we put out there. I'm sure we'll have some more even after this episode, so just keep an eye out for our socials and stay in the loop that way. Before we close out this very long episode, do you have any closing thoughts, Wes? I am feeling optimistic. I think they've done just enough well, obviously they've done just enough to get a new season, yeah. Not only that, they've got two more seasons. I think they should Shortened that leash and gave them one more season. But there is a lot they need to tweak. Mm-Hmm. like, I like some of, the comment, you know, kinks, they got a lot of kinks that they need to work out. Yeah. But this has potential, I'm not giving up. It does. I really, I truly did enjoy this episode. Even though I had some gripes, but this was just an episode that I really cared about, therefore I had to bring some of those things up. But even though some of it may have sounded negative for me, it was I still really enjoyed it, so don't get me wrong there. I'm looking forward to the next season. It's gonna be a while. I want to point out how super hard it was to watch one episode a week. sorry fellas, guys, gals. It was super hard and it shouldn't have been because I'm older. I came from a time where we had to wait to watch stuff. But now I am conditioned to binge and it was super hard and it felt wore out by the, since now that we're here, I've kind of wore out. I don't know why. Well, because it felt like homework of Felt like sometimes. And, well, I guess it's because, I guess my memory's not as good as it used to be. Same. Harking back on other episodes is hard to do. It is. But I've enjoyed our journey and It's not over for our next episode, Our podcast Yes. which we're going to talk about what? So I think, well, we're going to do a season one wrap up and just talk about everything as a whole. And like I said, we'll, I want to have an episode where we do more like comparisons between the cartoon and Netflix. So that'll be a more of an episode for longtime fans and that'll have More spoilers to it but yeah, I mean, I think we have at least six more episodes planned regarding season one of the live action and then we might possibly get into recapping the cartoon, at least for season one, while we wait for Netflix's season two as well as some other media, but Yeah, I'm excited where this journey is gonna take us. I know it was hard to do one episode a week, and there were some weeks where it's like, man, I wish we hadn't decided to do it this way. But I really like extending the conversation and and what's the word I'm looking for? Basically, I don't want to stop talking about this because with Our binge culture, if we binge something in one weekend, we talk about it for, a shorter amount of time and then we're on to the next thing. So as hard as it was, I'm glad that we were able to slowly take in the season and really savor it. Yeah. I think we need to rethink our schedule a little bit for the next season and trying to get feedback from people. But we're learning, too. This is our, I don't know if we've mentioned this before, but this is our very first podcast and we've learned a lot through this season. And hopefully we can improve upon it and bring you guys even better content. So I'm actually, I'm excited to restart this season and just binge it. No. Oh. I'm excited I'm excited, but I'm like, I'm excited for the original, but, cause we watch that every every night. But, I'm I'm excited to sit down, lay down, I don't know, and just binge this series. Like you're supposed to do. it is a little bit different with a series that puts out episodes once a week because then everybody is on the same page. But this one was hard because we had to avoid spoilers, we had to avoid other people's thoughts who did bench all eight episodes in one weekend so that was the tough part for me to avoid all of that noise so but i am excited for the next season. It's gonna be nice to sit we're to it. Forgetting what happened. We gotta, We gotta re watch this. we do that for our season one recap? Is just watch it back to Yeah, because we might have different opinions than what we've had in how it feels, how it flows. Yeah, I agree. That's a good idea. But yeah, that's all that I Mark it down people. She said I had a good idea. I'm gonna put that in my diary, Pauline. Alright guys, that's our show. Thank you so much for listening to us. We have much more planned for this podcast, so if you've enjoyed our conversation this season, do us a favor and leave us a rating on whatever app you're using, as well as a written review on Apple Podcasts. It really makes a difference for a small podcast like ours. And of course, make sure you're subscribed to us so you don't miss out on any of our future episodes. Mm hmm, like we said, we have a lot more coming. But you can also stay up to date on all of that by following our socials. Um, We are at AvatarNationPod. You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. And we'd love to hear your thoughts, even if you just want to say hi. Um, But we've really enjoyed You know, engaging with you guys and hearing what you have to say. And we hope that you've enjoyed listening to us as well. So with that said, and now that we've finished the finale, I'm Pauline. and I'm Wes, you've been listening to Avatar Nation. See you next time. Love ya.