A beautifully artistic soul-sucking disappointment. I quite enjoy the original animated TV show and believe it to be some of the best storytelling of a generation; that being said I will do my best to remove my bias from this review. 

Now, let’s get to it. Like I said this show looks astounding across the board. The bending CGI is cool and certainly makes for some entertaining fight choreography. I also found that in most cases the casting worked pretty well and every actor felt like they were bringing their all to the roles. This show was also pretty great because it gave people who don’t like animation a way to experience the characters and world of the original show. I’ve too enjoyed all the references and nods to the fans the show has done throughout the season chief among them the addition of Cabbage Cart Man and Secret Tunnel. I think these are great ways to show where you’ve come from while laying the ground for a new adventure. I loved most of the additions they made to the first season including a much more emotional exploration of Iroh and Zuko’s relationship and the extermination of the Airbenders. I think these more serious tones really set the show apart from its predecessor and while I think it started out successful the changes they continued to make to the story got progressively worse. Yet still, the show carried one with a burning passion that was frankly infectious for a while. 

Unfortunately, that level of passion cannot save this show from the soulless creators of this live-action adventure. There just isn’t any heart to any of these characters they all feel like cardboard people with exaggerated emotions. Only a few moments in this show did I feel like there was s genuineness to them. Another issue I found myself having with the show which seems to be the case with lazily written live-action dumpster fires is the fact that the characters KNOW EVERYTHING! And when I say everything I mean everything. They have no obstacles or puzzles to solve because they simply already know the answers. Can’t figure out what to do as the avatar? No problem we’ll just meditate in front of the various statues around the world and get told how to do everything. Villagers going missing? No problem, Aang already knows how to get to the spirit world and It’s the spirit of the local forest so that solves that issue. Sorry for the rant, I have passionate feelings about that issue. I understand that you only have 8 episodes to tell this story but if your characters don’t have any growth then what’s the point? Why not instead cut those parts out because they’re clearly filler. 

Next up is all about our young characters. Why is them being young important you may ask? Because they’re reflections of our generational divide and can do no wrong! I am 24 years old and consider myself part of a generation where we’ve taken to communicating more directly and openly with our elders but this show; oh boy. Azula in this show can do no wrong and it is insufferable. Not only that but the writers clearly tried to make them relatable to people’s parental trauma and it just destroys their characters. Azula is evil because her Dad neglects her and therefore it’s not her fault. Pakku says women are healers, not fighters so naturally the show Pakku thinks women are weak and Katara ain’t gonna stand for that because women are strong. Sokka has hurt feelings because his Dad called him a disappointment and Bumi hating Aang. I mean seriously, it’s ridiculous and here we are going to compare shows. 

First and foremost Azula, she’s evil in the original because that’s who she is. She’s a manipulative, vindictive, and cruel person who hungers for power so much it makes her mentally breakdown. Ozai (her father) does play a part in this arc over the course of the show but it’s not to neglect her. He puts her on a pedestal in season 3 and ultimately that pressure gets to her but in the end, she is still the main cause of her issues, not her father. 

Pakku was a jerk in the show and he’s a jerk in live action but there was one key moment in the show that drove me up the wall about his character. When Katara confronts him about women only being healers live action Pakku straight up calls women WEAK! Like what? What drives me insane about this is the fact that animated Pakku clearly respects the healers of this tribe and thinks they’re quite talented. It’s just a part of their culture that women don’t learn to fight and it’s a culture that Katara defies paving the way for change in Water Tribe customs that we see in Legend of Korra. Not only that, but Katara learns both fighting and healing and is considered one of the greatest waterbenders of all time. While the live-action version of the conflict is still handled very well and Pakku is put in his place I think him openly saying women are weak and can’t fight adds an unnecessary layer of hate against women. It’s no longer about how culture affects female equality and how we can see that around the globe but another story of another man who hates women. 

Wow, I guess I had passionate feelings about that too.

My final point about this show is about the plot and here end my comparisons once again. I’m not sure what the plot of this entire story is. Other than Zuko hunting Aang there’s no real overarching direction that this show is going. Aang learns zero waterbending and has zero goals other than saving the North from a “disaster”. I think the show could have benefited from pushing the narrative that he needs to learn the elements. At least that way they’d be establishing a multiple-season arc for us to follow. Overall I don’t think this is a great adaption of Avatar and I’m a little disappointed that they dropped the ball so hard. I can’t believe I’m saying this but outside of casting and effects M. Night Shyamalan may have squeaked out a victory over this show.