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edenfallingStill watching Avatar! Here are some thoughts on episode 20:
The Siege of the North, Part 2:
1. I am confused at the massive, abrupt weather change between the sunny city and the howling blizzard on the ice above it. There can't be more than, say, two miles of distance between the sea wall and the waterfall above the secret garden. Meteorology fail for the lose.
2. The spirit world reminds me of Alice in Wonderland -- it has that same hallucinatory not-quite-logic to it. Also, is that a mangrove swamp?
3. Dramatic collapsing glacier is dramatic! (And unrealistic, too -- I am pretty sure you cannot outrun that sort of thing. But whatever, it looks cool so I will let it slide.)
4. Oh, Zuko. He's so desperate for a friend he will talk to Aang's unconscious body. Oh, be friends already, you two! You were born to be friends! Oooh, wait, he's talking about Azula now. Ah, so this is the source of the 'born lucky' vs. 'lucky to be born' comparison. Good to know. And I think Zuko has done pretty damn well for himself without Azula's so-called luck. (He has his own type of luck; it takes the form of ridiculous coincidences. *grin*)
5. And Hahn for the stupid comedy interlude! Okay, I forgive him for existing; that was pretty funny.
6. Iroh looks really worried when Zhao talks about removing the moon as a factor. And if Iroh is worried, then this is Bad with a capital B.
7. Okay, that faceless monkey? Is creepy. Brrr.
8. Creepy spider talon thingies in the ceiling... *anticipates*
9. Yep. Koh is one creepy centipede monster thing. Also, skeevy and sleazy and a massive jerk. I am very impressed at how well Aang is keeping a blank expression so far! (Random side note: if Koh encountered Kuruk about eight hundred years ago, and Kuruk was the Avatar before Kyoshi, who was Avatar before Roku, who was Avatar before Aang... then either the gap between an Avatar's death and the next Avatar's birth is pretty variable, or Avatars live a hell of a long time. I am just saying.)
10. Huh, if you want to use reluctant respect as a basis for shipping, I am still seeing more Zukka subtext than Zutara. Sokka says that Zuko never gives up -- and he's right, of course -- and uses that to explain why they shouldn't give up hope of Aang surviving.
11. I am amazed Aang got out of Koh's lair without losing his face or having to waste time in a battle. I mean, obviously there isn't time at this point in the episode, but still. That was a lot of self-control for a normally happy-go-lucky kid!
12. Also, ha! Symbolic fish are totally symbolic! (And Momo is going to get creamed...)
13. Master Pakku is epic. That is all.
14. Hei Bai panda for the win! You tell that disdainful baboon who's boss! (I swear, the baboon reminds me so damn much of the caterpillar from Disney's version of Alice in Wonderland. It's positively eerie.)
15. Aang returns to where he left, but his body isn't there anymore. Oops?
16. Aang won't let Zuko die! Yay, compassion! (Also, come on, you idiots, be friends already!)
17. Hi, my name is Yue and I'll be your guide to the Department of Backstory and Plot Twists today...
18. Zhao, don't you know better than to go on Evil Overlord rants? The minute you got to 'invincible,' you were just asking for a smackdown. Yay Momo for obliging! (Also, yes, history will remember you -- as an IDIOT.)
19. Zhao, you IDIOT.
20. And the moon goes out. (Hey, we're in black-and-white now! Neat. I also liked the red wash earlier, when the moon went bloody.)
21. Unconvincing giant Godzilla monster is unconvincing. I am just saying.
22. Zuko goes after Zhao for the rematch! (And tacitly admits to being the Blue Spirit. Zuko, you had better win now, or you are seriously in for it when Zhao gives a report to your father.)
23. Wah, doomed love. *weeps, pro forma*
24. Zuko was beating Zhao again, until... oh no, the glowing hand of the Godzilla monster ocean spirit thing. *sigh* You know, I really wanted to be blown away by this climax, but I am just failing to be impressed all around. The music is the only suitably epic part. (Well, and Master Pakku.) The battle is too static, the love story is okay-ish but too rushed, and the whole 'take my hand' thing is too badly staged.
25. Zuko and Iroh float off on a makeshift raft through the wreckage of ships. But I am fairly sure the ships the Godzilla fish-monster was facing at the end weren't destroyed yet... I suppose they steamed off in retreat as soon as the monster dissolved, to report on their loss?
26. Aha! Ozai's voice, and Azula appears in present-day instead of just in flashback. (And she wears lipstick too. So it's not just Yue. Still, I could have done without the whole lipstick conceit at all.)
27. I... hmm. You know, I am not sure what I think of this episode. The invasion was quite convincing, and the blizzard, and so on, but as soon as Aang dissolved into the water (that part was well done) it just got... well, stupid. I could not convince myself of the reality (physical or emotional) of the Ocean spirit's rampage. It was just too static and stagey, which is a bizarre complaint to level against animation. And the emotional tone of the aftermath is scattered, at best. It's not triumphant, it's not weary and devastated, it's not even joyful through sorrow; it's trying to be all three at once and only really achieving a confused muddle.
But whatever. I have season two to look forward to, and I hope that one will have a better finale!
-----
And now to bed, as I have to be at work for nine hours tomorrow and need my sleep.
The Siege of the North, Part 2:
1. I am confused at the massive, abrupt weather change between the sunny city and the howling blizzard on the ice above it. There can't be more than, say, two miles of distance between the sea wall and the waterfall above the secret garden. Meteorology fail for the lose.
2. The spirit world reminds me of Alice in Wonderland -- it has that same hallucinatory not-quite-logic to it. Also, is that a mangrove swamp?
3. Dramatic collapsing glacier is dramatic! (And unrealistic, too -- I am pretty sure you cannot outrun that sort of thing. But whatever, it looks cool so I will let it slide.)
4. Oh, Zuko. He's so desperate for a friend he will talk to Aang's unconscious body. Oh, be friends already, you two! You were born to be friends! Oooh, wait, he's talking about Azula now. Ah, so this is the source of the 'born lucky' vs. 'lucky to be born' comparison. Good to know. And I think Zuko has done pretty damn well for himself without Azula's so-called luck. (He has his own type of luck; it takes the form of ridiculous coincidences. *grin*)
5. And Hahn for the stupid comedy interlude! Okay, I forgive him for existing; that was pretty funny.
6. Iroh looks really worried when Zhao talks about removing the moon as a factor. And if Iroh is worried, then this is Bad with a capital B.
7. Okay, that faceless monkey? Is creepy. Brrr.
8. Creepy spider talon thingies in the ceiling... *anticipates*
9. Yep. Koh is one creepy centipede monster thing. Also, skeevy and sleazy and a massive jerk. I am very impressed at how well Aang is keeping a blank expression so far! (Random side note: if Koh encountered Kuruk about eight hundred years ago, and Kuruk was the Avatar before Kyoshi, who was Avatar before Roku, who was Avatar before Aang... then either the gap between an Avatar's death and the next Avatar's birth is pretty variable, or Avatars live a hell of a long time. I am just saying.)
10. Huh, if you want to use reluctant respect as a basis for shipping, I am still seeing more Zukka subtext than Zutara. Sokka says that Zuko never gives up -- and he's right, of course -- and uses that to explain why they shouldn't give up hope of Aang surviving.
11. I am amazed Aang got out of Koh's lair without losing his face or having to waste time in a battle. I mean, obviously there isn't time at this point in the episode, but still. That was a lot of self-control for a normally happy-go-lucky kid!
12. Also, ha! Symbolic fish are totally symbolic! (And Momo is going to get creamed...)
13. Master Pakku is epic. That is all.
14. Hei Bai panda for the win! You tell that disdainful baboon who's boss! (I swear, the baboon reminds me so damn much of the caterpillar from Disney's version of Alice in Wonderland. It's positively eerie.)
15. Aang returns to where he left, but his body isn't there anymore. Oops?
16. Aang won't let Zuko die! Yay, compassion! (Also, come on, you idiots, be friends already!)
17. Hi, my name is Yue and I'll be your guide to the Department of Backstory and Plot Twists today...
18. Zhao, don't you know better than to go on Evil Overlord rants? The minute you got to 'invincible,' you were just asking for a smackdown. Yay Momo for obliging! (Also, yes, history will remember you -- as an IDIOT.)
19. Zhao, you IDIOT.
20. And the moon goes out. (Hey, we're in black-and-white now! Neat. I also liked the red wash earlier, when the moon went bloody.)
21. Unconvincing giant Godzilla monster is unconvincing. I am just saying.
22. Zuko goes after Zhao for the rematch! (And tacitly admits to being the Blue Spirit. Zuko, you had better win now, or you are seriously in for it when Zhao gives a report to your father.)
23. Wah, doomed love. *weeps, pro forma*
24. Zuko was beating Zhao again, until... oh no, the glowing hand of the Godzilla monster ocean spirit thing. *sigh* You know, I really wanted to be blown away by this climax, but I am just failing to be impressed all around. The music is the only suitably epic part. (Well, and Master Pakku.) The battle is too static, the love story is okay-ish but too rushed, and the whole 'take my hand' thing is too badly staged.
25. Zuko and Iroh float off on a makeshift raft through the wreckage of ships. But I am fairly sure the ships the Godzilla fish-monster was facing at the end weren't destroyed yet... I suppose they steamed off in retreat as soon as the monster dissolved, to report on their loss?
26. Aha! Ozai's voice, and Azula appears in present-day instead of just in flashback. (And she wears lipstick too. So it's not just Yue. Still, I could have done without the whole lipstick conceit at all.)
27. I... hmm. You know, I am not sure what I think of this episode. The invasion was quite convincing, and the blizzard, and so on, but as soon as Aang dissolved into the water (that part was well done) it just got... well, stupid. I could not convince myself of the reality (physical or emotional) of the Ocean spirit's rampage. It was just too static and stagey, which is a bizarre complaint to level against animation. And the emotional tone of the aftermath is scattered, at best. It's not triumphant, it's not weary and devastated, it's not even joyful through sorrow; it's trying to be all three at once and only really achieving a confused muddle.
But whatever. I have season two to look forward to, and I hope that one will have a better finale!
-----
And now to bed, as I have to be at work for nine hours tomorrow and need my sleep.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-12 04:44 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-13 03:26 am (UTC)In the real world, it would be more likely to be the other way around, I think. The poles create stable high pressure zones, such that Antarctica is actually a desert -- that is, it gets hardly any precipitation. So a storm on the coast and clear inland is much more realistic than clear on the coast and a storm inland.
I know they needed the inland storm for plot reasons, but it still bugs me that they didn't have that same storm extend over the city. It would have made the invasion much more interesting!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-12 04:59 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-12 06:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-13 03:30 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-12 08:02 am (UTC)Also, the pond area is... I think rather special. Also, wait til season 2 for the fallout of what Aang did there. Just wait.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-13 03:28 am (UTC)Season 2 is not available for instant viewing, but I have disc 1 from Netflix and plan to watch it Friday and Saturday. So yay!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-13 03:31 am (UTC)