Netflix ATLA: Season 1 & Thoughts about Seasons 2

In order to quantify Season 1, I'm going to do what I did at the end of each episode; Outline the major pros & cons, but break it down with what I think the season did well/right & what it did poorly/wrong.

Season 1 Pros:
Character focuses/connections/development: Making "a more serious" adaptation of anything is usually cause for concern, especially a cartoon show. However, because of the shows already advanced material (genocide, war, segregation, etc.) this series made the wise decision of not just making it more gruesome & instead explored the material already established in the original and went more in-depth with how they changed the characters than the original allowed. Sokka & Suki's discussion in episode 2, a lot of the additions for Iroh in episode 4, nearly all of Zuko in episode 6, Sokka & Katara's discussion before her fight with Pakku in episode 7 & more. These came largely from episodes that used material from just one of the original's episodes, but not exclusively (Katara & Aang's dialogue after Aang realized it's been 100 years for him comes to mind as well.) They were also memorable because we got nothing like them that early in the show. At the end of Season 1, the original needed to pivot from the episodic nature of television (standalone problem that is solved in that episode, next episode doesn't have effects of previous) to the serial nature (episodes follow the main series plot more & episodes have lasting effects) to establish the weight that Season 2 & 3 was going to have, so while those connections were focused in those later seasons, these scenes in the adaptation show that these focuses/connections/developments aren't being misconstrued; They are being understood correctly & further developed, fleshed out and strengthened. Does this mean that when they establish these connections in later seasons in this adaptation, they'll be repetitive? Once I give my guesses as to what they're keeping & cutting from Seasons 2 later in this review, I'll let you know my guess, but so far, this is a BIG pro.

Online problems before release weren't a concern (despite what people are STILL saying): Short one but still important to note; Seriously, if people would just stop enjoying being angry, they'd look back on the original & see that Sokka's misogyny & Katara's feminism was only prevalent in episodes 4 & 18 respectively & Aang's side trips were minimal compared to all the episodes in Season 1. If this series had shown us early on (during the pre-war flashback in episode 1) that Aang was fun-loving, then everything would be intact. It didn't do that as effectively as it could, but the actor is still carrying a fun-loving attitude along with being challenged by his Avatar responsibilities well enough. It's not as strong a pro as above, but it not being a con is a win in my book.

Season 1 Cons:
Zhao: This was almost going to be about Gyatso, but they made his fault a realized fault. Zhao on the other hand... Hoo boy. Since it was the end of the season & the character, I pretty much just laid it all out in last episode's cons, but I cannot overstate that they wasted who was suppose to be the antagonist in Season 1's climax. However, I'm STILL gonna elaborate HARD why this is the most egregious thing, so strap in:

In the original, Zuko started as the main antagonist for the Gaang, but as they started to move away from episodic tales and shifted to the serialized, larger plot of the series, he became the secondary threat while Zhao took over as the primary in Season 1. This makes sense in both what Zhao could accomplish compared to Zuko & in the grand scheme of the series; Firstly, Zhao is a commander at introduction, admiral by the end. He has FAR more resources & pull at his disposal with which to be a bigger threat to Aang compared to Zuko, who yes, is on a mission from the Fire Lord, but is also still disgraced & banished. Secondly, Zuko's redemption arc needs him to start as a villain, start to feel the pulls of changing his ways, hitting rock bottom (S2E1) & understand his choice matters (S2E17), have a character crisis which offers him the choice between his own life ("good") or his old life ("evil") (S2E20), choose the more alluring "evil", realize it's not what HE wants (1st half of S3) & change for the better (S3E10, 11). In both regards, Zuko needs to feel outpaced by Zhao & his resources in order to feel the desperation in his task.

They changed that up in this series by not having those episodic tales that had little to nothing to do with the larger plot, meaning they needed to establish Zuko as a formidable antagonist if not a primary one. And to their credit, without those smaller stories, Zuko was a decent antagonist for Aang, actually accomplishing far more than he did in the original (most notably, actually capturing Aang with June's help in episode 6). However, the problem with that is they still needed Zhao as someone who deserves to be the leader of the siege fleet for the climax at the end of the season, so they also needed to establish him. And if you've been reading, you know that they failed to do that on EVERY metric and that is no exaggeration; I can chart out EVERY INSTANCE & APPEARANCE of Zhao in the original, how it helped establish him & HOW THEY CHANGED IT OR REMOVED IT WHOLESALE FOR THIS SERIES SO THAT IT DIDN'T ESTABLISH HIM:

E3: He had his soldiers interrogate Zuko's crew to learn about the Avatar under Zuko's nose, tries to take the task away from Zuko & almost bests him in an Agni Kai (Fire duel) in order to do so. In this series, he still interrogated his soldiers to find out, but didn't get in Zuko's face about it, making him more of an opportunist & not only did they cut the Agni Kai outright, they only had him throw one fireball at Suki, which Sokka deflected with no effort, making Sokka look good for going toe-to-toe with a bender, but making Zhao less threatening as a fighter in the process.
E8: Under command of a Fire Nation blockade, he showed no care for Zuko's ship while trying to shoot down Appa headed to Crescent Island, figured Zuko used his ship's smoke from blowing out an engine as a disguise to use a smaller ship to track the Avatar & captured Zuko at the temple. In this series, no blockade, works with Zuko until he can take the Avatar after Zuko captures him. No sign of intelligence, just more opportunism.
E12: Zuko's flashback, one shot, no dialogue. No change.
E13: Once he was promoted to admiral, as the higher ranking officer, he took the Yuyan archers from Colonel Shinu who was using them as security guards (using the pull he has) & used them to capture Aang, made sure Zuko knew he was given the right to hunt down & capture Aang, mocked Aang while captured (showing his ruthlessness) & gave a bolstering speech to his soldiers. In this series, he was gifted his promotion & the Yuyan archers for brownnosing all Zuko's progress to Azula, didn't capture Aang himself but stole Aang from Zuko, didn't mock Aang while captured & gave an Ambien-fueled cringe-inducing speech.
E16: It was revealed that he was Jeong Jeong's (Fire Nation army deserter, Firebending master & high-ranking member of the Order of the White Lotus) former pupil who cared only "to destroy his opponents and wipe out the obstacles in his path" & had no self control (speaking to his ruthlessness). In this series, COMPLETELY CUT.
E18: Took Zuko's crew to be part of the siege, eliminating Zuko as a threat to capturing Aang, recognized the broadswords in Zuko's ship as the ones The Blue Spirit used, (showing HIS OWN intellect) & hired the pirates that had a previous run-in with Zuko to assassinate him (thus having the suspicion to who wanted Zuko dead stop at them, again showing his intellect). In this series, he had no middle man in Zuko's assassination & HAD A RETROACTIVE SCENE SHOWING HE NEEDED AZULA TO IDENTIFY THE BROADSWORDS FOR HIM.
E19 & 20: He revealed he had found a scroll in Wan Shi Tong's library, showing the forms of the Moon & Ocean spirits, escaped with the information alive, fought through Agna Q'ela to get to the Spirit Oasis, killed the Moon Spirit, tried to escape, but ran into Zuko who fought him & refused to take Zuko's hand when the Ocean Spirit claimed him (at the time thought he was dead. In Korra, found out he was trapped in the Fog of Lost Souls forever). In this series, he didn't get the scrolls himself, didn't know the spirits forms & couldn't get ANY information out of the scrolls so a sage had to tell him everything, used the war balloon (that he was given) to circumvent fighting through Agna Q'ela, spouted his aspirations of being the Fire Lord after HAVING NOTHING TO ESTABLISH HIM AS CAPABLE & ADMITTING HIS OWN INEXPERIENCE IN EPISODE 7 & after killing the Moon Spirit, fought Zuko after only having ONE FIGHT SCENE in episode 2 throw ONE FIREBALL that was EASILY deflected.

Last but not least, this was all so that they could build Azula to be this menacing force before her introduction in the major plot. Two things wrong with that: 1) She has a WHOLE SEASON COMING to do that for herself & 2) To do this, you sacrificed Zhao, who is supposed to be THE menacing force for your SEASON CLIMAX! Knowingly & actively reducing your season's big antagonist who causes such destruction & chaos and degrading him to an opportunistic, dim-witted, unskilled patsy is nothing short of character assassination.

Season 1 Neutral? (things that had highs & lows enough that I couldn't write off as wholly pro or con, but still needed mention):
The acting: Leaning more towards con with this but there are a lot of moments that have genuinely great acting that I can't say it is wholly bad.
The exposition: Exposition is usually never good, but for this series, it only seems like a complaint if you've seen the original. It'll factor into my judgement in that regard, but it's kind of needed for someone unfamiliar with the original who'd need to be told those things, especially for a world as fleshed out as ATLA.
The CG: Same as acting, but even less bad. Animals sometimes look good, sometimes bad. Some obvious green-screen shots, some not. but a big plus for me are the stylized landscapes. It makes it feel more fantastical while still trying to be grounded. Which flows nicely into...
The style: Some people say the cast's wardrobes looks too stylized like their cosplaying the characters they are, but again I think it's not as bad as people are making it out to be.

BIG QUESTION: DO THE PROS OUTWEIGH THE CONS?:
If you don't know the original, sure. The major con (What they did to Zhao) is almost non-existent. Zhao was just a guy who got lucky A LOT. It happens. Trying to speak from the perspective of someone whose 1st exposure to Avatar is this, the acting, CG & style I don't feel is enough to take you out of the world.
If you do know the original, NO. Keep in mind that this is from someone who appreciates not only that they get to narrative point A to point B, but also HOW they get from point A to point B. With that regard, Zhao's "luck" was just an easy narrative convenience for him to APPEAR as a threat instead of ESTABLISHING himself AS one.

THAT SAID, I will still watch the other seasons. I'm not expecting a turnaround in my opinion of the show (though one would obviously be most welcome). I just like talking about the show again in any capacity and I know it's not just me. The characters & plot were still being talked about and discussed before the announcement of the Netflix series & rightly so. I think it has some of the most fully realized, fleshed out & interesting characters in an animated show to this day. It is my favorite animated show hands down and even recalling my memory of it to write these "reviews" of the adaptation makes me happy.

So what do I expect out of Seasons 2 & 3? We can get an idea of that by guessing what story beats they will & won't use for 8 episodes (if they stick with that format.) So, breaking down Season 2, we get this:

("X": I think they'll cut the episode or a large majority of it, "O": I think they'll keep the episode or a large majority of it)
Season 2:
X 1 (Avatar State's weakness & Zuko/Iroh as fugitives is crucial, but not the whole episode. Likely added to episodes 3, 10 and/or 14.)
X 2 (Material was used in this season's episode 3, so most definitely cut.)
O 3 (Crucial; They try & liberate Omashu & Bumi explains why he can't be Aang's Earthbending teacher, setting up Toph.)
X 4 (1st appearance of Toph but not crucial & Swamp Benders are part of invasion but so was Haru who was cut, so likely cut as well.)
X 5 (2nd weakest episode of the SERIES, pretty much filler, definitely cut.)
O 6 (Crucial; Toph's introduction.)
X 7 (Zuko backstory/Ursa introduction is important, but if they use it, will likely merged with episode 9.)
X 8 (Azula & her crew hunt the Gaang, Katara & Toph bond, Iroh's hurt but it doesn't lead to anything. Probably cut.)
O 9 (Crucial; Aang Earthbends & Zuko learns lightning redirection. However, likely merged with episode 7's important material.)
O 10 (Crucial; learn of the solar eclipse which de-powers Firebenders. Likely spot for Aang to learn of Avatar State's weakness?)
X 11 (Shows the Gaang's struggles to travel without Appa & Aang's rage after losing him, but can be tacked on the end of last ep.)
X 12 (Restores Aang's optimism in finding Appa, but not integral to plot, probably cut.)
O 13 (Crucial; The Drill is what sways the Earth King to mistrust Long Feng/the Dai Li.)
O 14 (Crucial; Need to show the Dai Li's efforts to hide the war from Ba Sing Se's people & their brainwashing of people/Jet.)
X 15 (Heartfelt moment for Iroh (Leaves From the Vine), shows Appa is in Ba Sing Se (Momo's Tale), but if needed, added to another ep.)
X 16 (Has Suki vs Azula (est. why she has Kyoshi Warrior disguise to get in Ba Sing Se), but not enough material for a whole episode.)
O 17 (Crucial; Jet uncovers where the brainwashing takes place, the Gaang gets Appa back, Zuko has a crisis of character.)
O 18 (Crucial; The Gaang sways the Earth King, gets his backing for the invasion & cliffhangers for finale BUT can be condensed.)
O 19 (2-part season finale. Going off Season 1, will be a single episode with 20)
O 20 (2-part season finale. Going off Season 1, will be a single episode with 19)

There's a definite skewing in crucial moments in the latter half of Season 2, but that's to be expected; As I've said before, the transition from episodic to serialized will give more importance to the season finale episodes. Also, in the original, after Toph joins the Gaang, they don't have much of a narrative thrust, so learning of the solar eclipse that negates Firebending as well as losing Appa are responsible for their traveling to Ba Sing Se (narrative thrust for the 2nd half of Season 2). They need to tell the Earth King of the solar eclipse (S2E18), to get his support in an invasion of the Fire Nation (S3E10 & 11) as well as find Appa, who was sold to there, escapes but winds up there anyway (S2E11, 16).
Looking at crucial episodes & merging contiguous crucial episodes together, we're left with 6 episodes (3 6 9-10-11 13-14 17-18 19-20), which leaves us some room to both let crucial episodes have more room to work with by separating them & reintroduce some important but not crucial character episodes. If these are the choices & we can only spilt one, I'd choose 13-14; 10-11 were released as a 2-parter in the original, 17-18 put together makes too much sense (18 starts EXACTLY where & when 17 ends) & 19-20 being the 2-part season finale lines up with Season 1.
Also, reintroducing important character episodes like episode 7 merged with 9 would be nice. 7's revealing flashbacks for Zuko being paired with his learning lightning redirection is a nice parallel & Aang learning Earthbending (E9) being at the end of an episode helps his 1st Earthbending moment feel more momentous by having it be a slow buildup & end on it rather than have it be put at the top of the proposed 9-10-11 merge. If we implement that, we get:

3
6
7 & 9
10 & 11
13
14
17 & 18
19 & 20

I feel like this is the optimum spread of having episodes that deal with only 1 of the original's material, which as I said in the Season 1 pros above gives more room to flesh out characters & look at unexplored character avenues that we didn't get in the original, as well as moving the plot along without it feeling rushed or bloated (a problem I had with early Season 1 episodes).

What complicates things is that at the end of Season 1, we're already made aware of the Gaang's plan to go to Omashu to have Bumi teach Aang Earthbenidng, BUT they don't know of Sozin's Comet, so they don't know of the time limit it puts on Aang's journey. I would figure they intend to reveal it to Aang through one of his past lives, and if they do, they might as well throw in the Avatar State's weakness revelation to knock out two birds with one stone. Because of the "commune only at shrines" rule, they're more likely to use Kyoshi because the majority of Season 2 takes place in the Earth Kingdom. Maybe there's a Kyoshi shrine in Omashu that Aang will visit to try & get her help in saving Bumi & liberating but not destroying Omashu, remembering he destroyed part of the Southern Air Temple in the uncontrolled version of the state. While helping, Kyoshi tells Aang of the Avatar State's weakness & the comet, but doesn't give Aang a vision of a Fire Nation-controlled Ba Sing Se because he'd likely fly straight there right after (I don't like the removal of Roku in this scenario because the Avatar is supposed to have the strongest connection to their most recent past life, but at this point, it can't be helped). Then, same as original, Bumi says he can't be Aang's Earthbending teacher because as an Airbender, he needs to master neutral jing to bend Earth, the element opposite of his native element, which have opposing mentalities in their martial arts (Air vs. Earth, movement & avoidance vs. rooting & stubbornness. Fire vs. Water, energy directed straight at opponent vs. redirecting flows of energy, which is WHY I LOVE BENDING AS A MECHANIC) thus setting up Toph & the next episode.
I don't see any need to deviate Toph's episode from the original, and with Aang not accessing or needing to control the Avatar State until the finale, there's actually not much need to change the originals either (though they probably will somehow). Based off that, I think I'll hold off on thinking about Season 3 until we have more of an idea if any changes from Season 2 will affect Season 3 as well.

And with that, Season 1 comes to a close. Again, I knew it wasn't going to beat the original in terms of impact, and it wasn't too good with the knowledge of the original in mind, but it's not unredeemable, has room for improvement which they can see people's problems with Season 1 and adjust, and at the very least, has me excited to talk about Avatar again.

On to Season 2...