Ron Does Stuff

It’s the penultimate episode of the show! It’s taken much longer than I thought I would, but I’m actually about to finish watching this show! I have to say, despite my earlier misgivings this show has slowly but surely won me over.

Do I think it’s better than the animated series? Definitely not. But I think it’s brought something new to the table that justifies its existence beyond just being a cash grab for Avatar the Last Airbender fans, who quite understandably have been burned badly by a live action adaptation before.

It’s good enough for me to continue watching, so here we go!

Aang has saved his friends from Koh the Face Stealer in the previous episode and now the live action gaang is on the way to the North Pole. But just like every other episode in this adaptation, we check on the Fire Nation first and Zuko is on the run after he finds out that Ozai has sent his personal guard to arrest him for treason. Good thing his crew began to respect him in the previous episode because they had his back this time around!

And in a twist that had me smiling because I didn’t expect it, turns out it was a ploy by Zhao to get rid of the prince! Poor Uncle Iroh thinks he’s lost two sons now!

Meanwhile, Aang is setting up Zuko’s redemption arc in the coming seasons as he tells Sokka and Katara that he and Zuko have a lot of similarities. Aang also points out that he hasn’t learned how to do any other bending aside from airbending and good lawrd thank you for acknowledging this.

They finally arrive at the North Pole and you really have to give the production props for the sets — this is probably digital but I don’t care — because it really does look beautiful, at least to me, a person with no VFX background. I wonder how they’re going to make Ba Sing Se look?

The wig budget on this though. Princess Yue has on a wig. She is wigged at the gig. Is that even human hair? That looks synthetic. Give Yue a better wig! Well, I guess you won’t be able to give her a better one considering what’s going to happen. You had one chance to give her a human hair unit!

Back on the Fire Nation ship Iroh and Zhao are in the Untucked Lounge and being shady towards each other. Iroh calls Zhao inexperienced and Zhao calls Iroh a failure and then the shade rattle echoes throughout the ship.

Over at the Fire Nation Royal Palace, Ozai is truly leaning into his Worst Father of the Year award and is destroying Azula’s already fragile self-esteem. This is going to be intense in the next seasons as Azula slowly cracks under all that pressure.

At the Northern Water Tribe, they’ve perfectly set up the conflict that’s going to arise between Pakku and Katara. Katara thinks she’s going to be treated like a waterbending warrior, but she’s going to be in for a shock when she finds out that women of the Northern Water Tribe are only expected to be healers and nothing else.

Meanwhile, Sokka tries to rizz up Yue and her synthetic hair unit but he’s the one that makes a fool out of himself and I feel like they really got a good actor to play Sokka her. He really fits the character!

The next day the gaang realizes that they are woefully unprepared for the coming conflict. Aang can’t even bend water! Katara, despite showing a skill at picking up healing, knows that she needs to be a better waterbending fighter. And Sokka is still hypnotized by Yue’s synthetic hair wig.

Seeking answers, Aang talks to Avatar Kuruk and I don’t know if his backstory was told in the comic books but I love the backstory they share here. It also sets up maybe a The Legend of Korra adaptation if that’s something Netflix finds interesting down the line.

While Aang is over in the spirit world trying to get things done, Yue tells the story of how she ended up a synthetic hair wig, which totally amazes Sokka and they end up kissing. I’m sorry this scene was just exposition and Yue’s wig is such an easy target I just have to do it.

Katara finally confronts Pakku about the way things are at the Northern Water Tribe when it comes to gender roles and while the sexism is still there, I do appreciate how they give Pakku a little more depth, bringing out his fear that what happened to the Southern Water Tribe could also happen to the Northern Water Tribe. Katara’s frustration is further compounded by Aang’s whole lone wolf schtick which I feel I’ve been consistent about disliking over the many posts I’ve made about this show. This change was so. not. needed.

Zazzy Zuko thought? The one with no plan? A welcome change. I get to see him in this episode!

While Iroh and Zuko are being the sassiest firebenders up at the North Pole, Ozai continues to mentally and emotionally abuse Azula and to Azula’s credit, she isn’t taking any more of Ozai’s shit. She shows him she can bend lighting and tells him he should set her loose in the world and show everybody else what terror really is.

Back at the Northern Water Tribe, Katara and Pakku finally have their confrontation and maybe it’s because of the budget constraints but I wish they had more bending fight scenes. This is another thing that this live action adaptation got right. Or as right as they could because you don’t need to worry about the physical well-being of animated characters and they can do all the crazy stunts need for a visual feast. But this adaptation really translated the bending fights really well!

Katara is defeated by Pakku, but there’s no time to dwell on that as soot begins to fall from the sky. The Fire Nation armada has arrived.