Netflix ATLA: S2 Ep 7

So this is the season finale, huh? I could have sworn they had an episode 8 and was starting to feel the weight of this ordeal I'm putting myself through. In fact, Season 1 HAD 8 EPISODES, so I know I'm not COMPLETELY crazy. I'm guessing they let them have the seasons because they didn't want ANOTHER live-action attempt at this show to fall short (Lookin' at you M. Night), but didn't want to contribute as much cash as they did last time, which is a shame on multiple fronts. It only makes the bad show worse because the production team have less time to develop characters/ideas/etc. and cuts have to happen (STILL mad about the Drill). It also leaves the VFX/CG teams with little resources to devote to the show, which is a BIG shame this season because Season 2 setpieces are some of the most gorgeous in the entire show (The sprawling shots of Ba Sing Se's grandeur looked great & I'm glad the Library stunned me as I hoped. I continue to hope the Crystal Catacombs stun me as well, but I'm sad we unfortunately won't get the chakra training & see the "realized" Avatar Aang when he starts to unlock the Thought chakra). I'll elaborate more in the Season 2 wrap-up; Lets see what this climax (again to what most say is the best season in the show) has to offer.

So that Sky Bison selection scene is straight from S2E16 of the original (Appa gets captured & sold to a circus. He escapes & goes to various locales to try & find Aang, one of which is the Eastern Air Temple, where this scene takes place), and to give the show credit, not having the full showcase of what Appa did after escaping the circus allows us to take time with this memory & allows the emotion of the scene to attach & grow. However, we go back to my last problem with the last episode; Unless they only moved Appa there JUST NOW, there is NO WAY Toph, let alone Aang, couldn't have seismic sense'd him there previously. And that cheeky little horizontal direction change in the rocks is STILL not enough to assuage me.

Sokka being captured along with Katara is new territory, so we'll have to see what they plan to do with him & Sai (I can't imagine much). All this is doing is bringing up old bad decisions (Sokka not breaking into Sai's home after him disappearing for weeks). Toph getting cajoled by her mom is, again, new territory but my 2 problems are Toph not picking up that she switched teapots (but that can be hand-waived away with Toph believing what her mother is saying) and what her mom's plans are once she has Toph again; She can't just lock Toph away; They have to keep up appearances as a noble family. Any sliver of freedom you give Toph to do so will give her opportunities to use her master-level Earthbending to escape. Plus, if they kept Toph's ability to sense heartbeat, breathing patterns, etc. to indicate if someone's lying, she should've picked up on it no matter how subdued the signs were. ...Well Katara said it for me, her actions were "stupid". If only her "deeds" as the Painted Lady were more seen or impactful and if only she didn't go out again KNOWING that her actions, however noble, were harming the long term goal of the Gaang, interfering with diminishing Long Feng in the King's eyes and stifling his expulsion from the King's inner circle. Hopeful that we get the dialogue between her & Zuko and to that effect his push to good before his eventual fall.

Having Azula demonstrate her lightning generation to scare Long Feng into submission brings up an IMPORTANT question that SHOULD'VE BEEN ANSWERED A WHILE AGO: IS LONG FENG A BENDER IN THIS SHOW (He is in the original, but I cannot for the life of me remember if he's Earthbent on-screen in this show)? If yes, he could at least put up a fight against Azula. If not, the lightning is more threatening but is also a double-edged sword here; It gives more credence to his submission, but calls into question how he ever could have hoped to take control away from Azula. However, lightning generation is a rare, almost folklore level feat (1 practitioner in Kyoshi's time & only 3 members of the Fire Nation royal family are shown to be able to do it in the original (Azula, Iroh & Ozai)), so his shock is substantial. My only personal gripe (so not really a problem, more of a wish) is that I wish she took power from Long Feng from just having royal confidence like she did in the original (S2E20 "The divine right to rule is something you're born with.")

Having Iroh drop EVERYTHING after hearing of Zuko's capture. Nice funny moment & hopefully, we get to see why he's called "The Dragon of the West". So they have the audacity to SAY that Katara's actions kept the good people of Ba Sing Se "in the fight", but the examples we SEE are her healing a kid & fixing a fountain? That doesn't pass the smell test. I get that the woman wants to help Aang by tailing the Dai Li in his stead, but don't you think THE AVATAR is more capable of doing that? Long Feng still trying to connive by noticing Azula's change in demeanor at the realization of Zuko's capture (at least that's what I assumed by that one shot of him looking back at Azula here) is a nice touch; He's still gonna do what he does & try and twist his way out of this situation but ultimately be let down when Azula tries to kill Zuko (or Long Feng may meet his end when Azula tries to sway Zuko one final time, fails & he attacks her thinking it his last chance). And I know this Earth King is supposed to be naive about the war to some degree, but not questioning why the Fire Nation princess appears just a couple days if not HOURS after hearing of a war between your nation & hers is a little TOO naive.

Iroh finding the secret entrance to the Lake Laogai base is not crazy (In the original, he brings a captured Dai Li agent to the Gaang to interrogate & find Katara & Zuko). I am questioning how comfortable Aang is around him though. I don't remember them having many moments in this series before this point where Aang could assume Iroh an okay guy. However, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt because seeing all those Dai Li puts him into a "any-help-is-welcome" mood. These "new friends" Iroh mentioned HAVE to be his new White Lotus contacts, who must have been aware of Long Feng & the Dai Li's control, but waited for the Avatar to push for a true liberation. A secondary tunnel for the base made by Kyoshi is more than plausible; She created the Dai Li to protect the Earth King in response to a peasant uprising in her time (She also negotiated a new constitution that gave more power to the peasants & took some away from the King, balancing the scales).

So we got Katara confronting Zuko about his past & the actions of his family and it was elaborated on to a greater degree than what we got in the original; On top of getting the verbatim lines ("In your blood/Took my mother.../Something we have in common."), Katara having survivor's guilt about being the only bender in the South was a great, new touch. My only complaint is that I feel Kiawentiio Tarbell could've done more with her delivery. She's supposed to be laying into Zuko, who is turning a blind eye to Katara's focusing on his misdeeds. She could be more belligerent when piling on all those misdeeds, more baffled by Zuko's nonchalance, more expressive in the face. However, her face barely scrunches through most of this & only breaks down vocally at the end when she turns away from the camera.

Again, it's nice seeing character interactions we got little to none of in the original like Aang & Iroh here (the only point I can remember in the original is the same point here, where they travel to the Crystal Catacombs together). The beginning substance of their conversation is noticeably different however, that of Aang noting he knew there was more to Zuko. In the original, once finding Zuko & Katara, Aang was pretty antagonistic toward Zuko (S2E20, when Zuko questions what Iroh is doing with Aang, Aang sharply remarks "Saving you, that's what.") They must have him being more open to Zuko's change because they haven't had as many interactions compared to the original & their last interactions have been focused on other things other than each other (stopping Azula in Ep 2). If Aang continues to be more accepting toward Zuko, and Azula still plans on killing Zuko, I wonder what will push Zuko back over the edge & start attacking Aang. Getting back to the wisdom Iroh gives Aang here, I like it because it's a bit better than the original (He basically says he doesn't have the answers Aang seeks, but if Aang just keeps going, he'll come to a better place), but I still have problems with the lesson we got here; Yes, it's better to be yourself, but what if your changing something wholly detrimental about yourself, like selfishness? Again, the same good & bad part of Iroh actively changing himself applies here; We see the process in which he becomes the character so many fell in love with but him not being that character is counter to who he should have already been after the death of Lu Ten.

The notion of an Avatar door is cool an all, and I know the Air Nomads have doors that are unlocked by Airbending (S1E3) & Roku's Temple on Crescent Moon Island had the same but with Firebending (S1E8), but how can the level of in-universe technology both tell the difference between elements and how can it tell the elements are being bent instead of just added in?  It feels a little too out of the realm of possibility for me. The line about Sai's eyebrows just growing back is from the original (S1E17). I like this message from Sokka because it highlights the scientific process (failing multiple times to learn & eventually succeed) as well as the constant uphill battle to prove to others, as well as himself sometimes, that despite being a non-bender, he's a valued member of the Gaang (highlighted in S3E4).

Nice that we're seeing this discussion between Katara & Zuko (it's assumed they had a similar, but off-screen discussion in the original) and it's a great touch seeing Zuko elaborate on his upbringing, deep-seated harmful reverence of his father & deep self-hatred. My only gripe is the level of fire resistance Zuko expounds on here; Sure Firebenders can be more resistant to fire, but he says it's something Firebenders are born with, while in the Kyoshi novels, Rangi (her eventual Firebending teacher) tells her that Firebenders go through a lot of practice and discipline to not burn themselves with their own fire, making it a learned tolerance, not an at-birth one. Katara seeing Zuko's face as the face of the enemy is straight from the original (S2E20). Props to Dallas Liu for this scene, esp. the emotional apex ("I hate it more!") as well as the connection between Zuko's scar and the scar his family has left on the world (the healing doesn't happen, but it's a good message that even if you can't wipe the slate clean, you can still make an effort to correct the past's mistakes).

Long Feng realizing he's nothing more than a lackey rather than 2nd in command under Azula is a nice comeuppance moment, but I'm not sure about this "zero-ing out" moment from him; Is he learning his place and relinquishing to it or is he plotting a move against Azula? It's ambiguous to me. ...Holy crap! That Joo Dee mind-breaking scene is next level. There's something similar in S2E17 where they move past a room of Joo Dee being indoctrinated, but they seem to already be complaint. Here, we see the rigors that the process puts you through. The uncomfortable close-up, the smile/cry and MAJOR props to the actress for adding NO BLINKING. It's SO unsettling to watch, but it works perfectly. Wait, how did Aang unlock the cell? No, seriously HOW? You might think this is trivial, but stay with me here; If the keys are near the door, if not right next to it, can't a bender (they've presumably locked up a bender before) just grab the keys by bending them with Earth or Water? If they're not near the door, how did Aang & Iroh find/get them? Moving on, the "good in/outside" exchange Iroh & Sokka have is straight from the original (S2E20). Is Sokka's burst here enough to push Zuko over the edge? Because in this series, Azula seems resolute on killing Zuko instead of trying to ally with him in the lead-up to the original's season finale fight. Hey, yeah, WHERE THE HELL IS TOPH?! She has one of her most important moments in the finale (discovering Metalbending) & she helps Sokka & The Earth King escape prison (though that seems to be written out), but it almost feels like she's being written out nearly entirely. Zuko leading the charge out of the prison is again significant. If Azula's temptation to return home isn't the play, what could possibly make Zuko change? They're trying to shoehorn Aang loving Katara here? That's what happens when you don't adequately set up these things; they feel rushed & misplaced. There were so many times it appeared before this point in the original (S1 E1, 12, 14, 15. S2 E2, 12, 14, 19 & 20) whereas here, I can't recall a single moment in season 1 & MAYBE 1 OR 2 instances of it this season & it REALLY feels ham-fisted here.

And WHIPLASHED into some action scenes! Aaand it's gone... But Toph's FINALLY back. Eh, they're certainly trying to make this moment epic with the choir & all that, but her reasoning for trying to bend metal here irks me a bit. In the original, one of her captors, Xin Fu gives her the idea, saying "You might think you're the greatest Earthbender in the world, but even you can't bend metal!" She, along with an overlayed monologue from Guru Pathik (the guru Aang trains with to learn mastery of the Avatar State) stating that metal is just earth that has been purified & refined, then seismic senses the imperfections in the metal (aka earth), dents a panel on the back of her cage & plans her escape. Here, she's trying it because her friends knowing her true self (the Earthbender skilled enough to teach the Avatar) give her the idea, as the greatest Earthbender, to just try & bend the metal. Sure, it's off the idea that she's the greatest Earthbender in the world (and she is), but the notion that metal has impurities that can be bent coming from Guru Pathik made it seem like that knowledge wasn't widely known, if known at all. Again, it's just an irk because if any Earthbender can "see" these inner impurities, it's Toph, but it undercuts the profundity of it. Also, the metal of the cage looks incredibly fake and I'm not just talking about the CGI. The actual material for the practical cage looks like paint-spattered cardboard.

Neat little final confrontation of Long Feng and Aang that we didn't get in the original (they learn of his manipulation of Ba Sing Se & The Earth King straight from him in his debut ep, but they need to stay in Ba Sing Se to find Appa, so they "play along" until they do. Once found, they charge the palace & the King "handles" Long Feng by arresting him after the Gaang reveal to the King that Long Feng stole Appa to keep them quiet as well as reveal the war to him (using the DRILL as the final piece of evidence)). Nice flex for Chin Han (gotta watch more stuff with him in it) and, now knowing that past scene (zero-ing out) WAS him recognizing his reduced position & wanting to get outta dodge before the hammer falls, the scene makes sense; He's trying to get into good graces with Aang again just so he can save himself while Aang, rightfully, is having none of it. ...Okay that door ABSOLUTELY started to open before the air VFX made contact with it. Missed cue from the stage crew. Nice moment of Aang reuniting with Appa that mirrors one from the original (S2E17), but that was not a lot of Earth that Aang had to bend to get to the surface. Meaning, if Aang could sense where Appa was all that time, Toph ABSOLUTELY SHOULD HAVE SENSED IT!!!

Any particular reason why Zuko isn't Firebending to help beat these Dai Li? That's more like it, and the sound design for Azula's blue fire is cool and all, but they're starting to push it a bit too far. "Boomerang! You do always come back!" is straight from the original (S2E5, IMO Sokka's most memorable quote). What do you mean "How long are you going to keep doing this?" You RESOLVED TO KILL HIM, SO THE ANSWER TO THAT SHOULD BE "NEVER AGAIN"! Why now of all times is she hesitating? I know the answer is so she can tempt him back to aiding her & trying to kill Aang, and in the original, she outright says she can't take Ba Sing Se without his help, but that was when she didn't have control of the city. She already does here! That means she's hesitating for the pre-established plot, not for natural reasons. This is ENTIRELY COUNTER to how she's been the ENTIRE SEASON, right? Her long-term goal is to usurp Zuko for the Fire Nation throne, and when "long-term" turns into "RIGHT FUCKING NOW", she has a change of heart? On TOP of that, once their affairs in Ba Sing Se are done, she even tells Ozai that Zuko killed the Avatar because 1) she already has the claim of single-handedly taking the capital to gain favor with Ozai & 2) she intends to undermine Zuko's part in everything should the Avatar survive MAKING IT SO OZAI SKIPS OVER ZUKO TO INHERIT THE THRONE! There's NO REASON for this!

The Crystal Catacombs look nice, but I feel it looks too big; It feels like part of Ba Sing Se above would destabilize & crumble into it. And for how big it is, they barely use any of it for the fight. Speaking of the fight, it is almost beat-for-beat the same as the original (The whole standoff at the beginning where Zuko decides to attack Aang, Katara frowns & Azula smirks/Azula gets trapped by Katara & Zuko cuts the water whips/"I thought you had changed" & "I have changed"/Aang's crystal armor attack/Katara going octopus form to fend off the Dai Li) And we're back to my problems with how they're handling the Avatar State... Probably gonna save this for the season 2 retrospective because it's a sizable chunk about the chakras and what they did for Aang's character. Just know I'm not happy with this whole "Mastering the elements will give you mastery over the Avatar State".
In my view, there are 2 levels of bending an Avatar has: their own mastery & the mastery the Avatar State allows. There are also 2 levels of control the Avatar has over the Avatar State: no control a.k.a. reflexive state & full control. Overlapping some of these instances gives us 3 levels of control for the Avatar:
#1) their own skill at manipulating all 4 elements (own mastery & State isn't a factor).
#2) their past lives amplifying the scale & exponential power of their bending (when their own mastery isn't enough, they use the reflexive state).
And #3) their control over that exponential power increase through full control of the Avatar State itself.

#1 is largely control of oneself mostly physically and somewhat internally (e.g. Aang needed to stand his ground, counter to being an Airbender, to become an Earthbender), #2 is losing control of one's will to that of the will of Avatar, and #3 is gaining that control (a more spiritual control) back over all their past lives. Laid out this way, accomplishing #1 should not influence #3 by that large a margin. Aang has yet to realize the past Avatars (or at least the majority & most prominently the ones we know of) put aside their own beliefs & ways of being in order to be "Avatar". They lost themselves to the role. It's only when Aang decides to keep his own spirit, his own beliefs alive & not kill Ozai at the end does he gain a whole sense of oneness strong enough to overpower all his past lives & gain control of the Avatar State.

Long and short of it: Him mastering the state like this hurts Aang's larger character growth & maybe even the cap for his growth in the Season 3 finale. Anyway, home stretch. Nice visual of the staircase of past lives & got a brief glimpse of the "realized" Avatar Aang in the BG, but I can only hope we get the full version of it from the show (it's a cool visual) instead of the Marvel's Uatu version (shape of a head/shoulders in the sky/stars). Wow, what a punch from that lightning hit, but couldn't we see more of the wound? Even in the original, we got Aang's body twitching & contorting from the electricity in a reflection of Azula's eye, but that's still more than a darkened hole we can't see anything from in those shots. I mean, we had Ozai LITERALLY IMMOLATING people from the 1st episode, the 1st SCENES of this series! Some nice shots of that spiritual staircase & Aang falling away from it. Katara holding Aang's body is in camera exactly like the original, but fun fact, the pose the animators chose in the cartoon almost exactly mirrors a Michelangelo statue called La Pieta, depicting Mary holding the body of Jesus after being taken off the cross. Not exactly matched here and I'm not mad they couldn't replicate it here, just a little bummed. Iroh to save the day showing off his ease of repelling Azula. Unfortunate we didn't get his fire breath technique earlier this season, but him holding Azula off & willfully backing down only when Katara escapes shows his capabilities. There could have been more furrow in the eyebrows when he gives Zuko that glance, but not enough to show fury, because in S3E19 of the original, Iroh says he was never angry with Zuko, only sad that he had lost his way.

Okay, final scenes of the King... not getting picked up by the Gaang. Honestly, it's fine. In the original, he leaves the group to "travel the world" (S3E1) and they can get the Earth Kingdom troops for the Day of Black Sun invasion by saying they gathered or contacted loyal Earth Kingdom troops. Even though it's brief, I love this shot of the Fire Nation troops marching in Ba Sing Se & terrifying the people in the city (similar shot in the original (also S3E1) but it was rather quick). Oh, there doing this scene in the daylight. Bit miffed about it. Doing it at night would match the mood instead of a bright sunlit scene. THERE'S a decent looking wound. In the original, the spirit oasis water glowed when Katara bent & applied it to Aang, highlighting its "special properties". Having it not glow makes sense, but undercuts its difference from regular water. And ending on a cliffhanger? Oh, I kinda like it. But the other thing I like is that SEASON 2 IS IN THE BOOKS!

PROS:
New & expounded character moments again are the highlight: Giving more time with Katara & Zuko in the cell really let them delve into unexplored territory for both. Long Feng talking with Aang one last time before we never see the former again was a cool touch & nice foreshadowing for the finale fight. Even Sokka & Sai's interaction in the cell was a nice highlight for what makes Sokka special in a world of benders.

That Joo Dee scene: I want to go back & watch it, but I'm apprehensive because it was so unnerving. But that's PRECISELY what they were going for. If I didn't care about these characters as much as I do, it'd be the highlight of the pros.

Most of the CGI looked purrty: Crystal Catacombs, despite the size disparity, looked excellent. Nice bending effects. Wish I could say more, but we spent most of the episode underground, so it didn't leave much for the CGI teams to work with.

CONS:
Same old baffling choices/changes, but for the new characters of the series: Why couldn't Toph sense her mother was lying? WHY DID AZULA CHANGE HER MIND ABOUT KILLING ZUKO?!? The former was a technicality because they don't go into Toph being able to sense heart rate and the like, but there is no reason for the latter other than to fit the plot of the original. If that's the case, DON'T CHANGE SO MUCH!

Mastering the Avatar State too early/easily: Went into it here & I'll expound on it in the Season 2 retrospective, but this is the biggest thorn in the side. It's literally the entirety of Aang's character arc for the ENTIRE SERIES and it's being thrown out the window.

OVERALL STANDALONE: Some questionable choices, but some bigger climax moments.
OVERALL KNOWING ORIGINAL: Outlook looking dimmer than Aang's tattoos... Too soon?