Ron Does Stuff

I know I haven’t been regularly writing about this live action adaptation of Avatar the Last Airbender, which wasn’t my plan when I started watching the show. But life has been hectic and I can just squeeze in non-work stuff when I either have some free time or if I want to push myself. And I hate being pushed.

Anyway! I have time for this now so I’m watching another episode of Avatar the Last Airbender!

The previous episode really did impress me more than I thought it would. So much so that my opinion of the show tipped a little towards “maybe this is bringing something new” from “this show is okay but unnecessary”. I’m going into this fifth episode with slightly higher expectations.

Titled “Spirited Away”, this episode adapts the Hei Bai storyline from the animated series, at least from the first few minutes I’m seeing. And right off the bat I also get a lot of one of the things I dislike about this particular adaptation — how they’ve turned Aang into such a typical dour hero. I definitely prefer the balance of childlike joy and growing sense of duty that Aang had in the first season of the animated series.

How they’ve crafted Zuko’s character in this adaptation is much better, especially now that I’ve gotten to the part that’s been featured in so many sassy Zuko memes. I couldn’t avoid it anymore, it’s been weeks since this show premiered!

The peek into the political maneuvering within the Fire Bender royal family is also something that I like about this adaptation, giving characters like Azula and Ozai a little more depth than what they had in the animated series, especially during the first two seasons. I just wish it didn’t come at the expense of the other characters in the show.

I also really liked how they had a callback to a lot of the episodes from the animated series that they were unable to include in this live action adaptation. It’s short and sweet mentions during that scene in the Earth Kingdom tavern but I really appreciated it as a fan of the animated series. The early introduction of June is also much appreciated.

But truly, this episode is a seesaw of emotion in my case because when the action heads back to the main trio everything gets bogged down with exposition. Maybe the showrunner had a personal vendetta against the main trio from the animated series because all the good stuff seems to have gone to the Fire Nation.

Like…planting the seeds of Azula’s eventual breakdown? Good job! Meanwhile, the main trio gets to tell the viewers that the world is divided into the spiritual and physical realms. It’s like they’re not the leads but are just NPCs explaining what’s happening to the audience.

Things finally pick up for the trio when they finally encounter the Hei Bai and get lost in the Spirit World in a sequence that truly did move me, get my blood pumping, and even unsettled me at times. Katara and Sokka facing their deepest fears? Aang reuniting with Gyatsu? That Gyatsu speech closing the episode? Perfect. Moving. No notes. These flashes of brilliance really are what get me to stick with the show even if there are parts of it that I really don’t understand or particularly like.