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[The Shadow Gentleman]

That's not the problem either. They could have resolved the conflict in a less rushed manner if they didn't keep putting Korra back at square one. Like we've been talking about, her impatience remained the same and they tried to make her Airbending such a last minute big deal but the payoff was terrible

And they could have shown her grow as a character if they didn't waste so much time with the "love" triangle.

Let's no show Korra learning to be patient and deal with complex problems non-violently, or some the relationship between benders and non-benders in this new environment. No, let's focus on Mako being a two-timer.

[The Shadow Gentleman]

Doug is doing a mini vlog on every single episode.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So, with Doug Walker finally doing a run-through of the series, I figured its probably time for me to finally just run through the entire thing from start to finish, as well. I never finished the series from before, but as you all know, I thought what I saw was good, but not as great as everyone else said. Of course, keep in mind that I stopped watching early on in season 2, so I haven't really seen much passed that. I thought season 1 was pretty solid from what I remember, and 3 episodes in again I can confirm that its generally good stuff, but not necessarily great. Of course the animation is amazing, but that kind of goes without saying in a show that clearly had a nice budget to work with. Now, my problems with the series were probably in season 2 (or Book 2, if you want to be anal about it). I just remember that the episodes didn't interest me as much, but once again, I only checked out the first few before I stopped watching the show. This is also yet another one of those shows where the rabid fan-base turned me off for a while, mostly because of the annoying implications they made that it put all anime to shame and shit like that. I mean, I'd probably agree that it easily puts most shonen-anime to shame, but I guess a lot of people who watched this show and claimed it was better than anime in general probably hadn't watched much beyond DBZ, Naruto, and Bleach.

But, putting all that stuff aside, I'm going back into this series wit ha fresh and un-biased mind, and just looking for a very entertaining show with maybe more depth to it than what you'd expect to find in any other typical Nickelodeon show. I think I'll enjoy it just fine, and if I like it enough upon completion, I'll probably go ahead and check out Korra next.

[LumRanmaYasha]

But, putting all that stuff aside, I'm going back into this series wit ha fresh and un-biased mind, and just looking for a very entertaining show with maybe more depth to it than what you'd expect to find in any other typical Nickelodeon show.

I might to this too. I've seen every episode more than thrice, but I've never gone through the series consecutively beginning to end before, and actually watching the show in order might help cement my final opinion on the series (it's mixed right now).

[Spark Of Spirit]

Season 2 gets MUCH better as it goes along. Barring the finale as that is far too contrived for my liking. I think season 3 is the best season despite the filler.

I expect you to enjoy it more than you did before.

[gunswordfist]

Season 1 is the most flawed imo due to the filler. Season 2 does get better (except for the fact that it's season finale is the worst in the show BUT The Earth King and the episode before it (withheld the name on purpose) has the best Team Avatar battles in the entire series imo, are some of the best episodes in the show (not necessarily among the very best but not toi far away) and are right before the finale so there's that. Season 3 is my personal favorite due to having the best episodes for Sokka and Katara respectively (I HATE Katara but her episode is great) and does a good job at being character focused overall.

Season 2 gets MUCH better as it goes along. Barring the finale as that is far too contrived for my liking. I think season 3 is the best season despite the filler.

I expect you to enjoy it more than you did before.

tl;dr What he said.

[Peanutbutter]

Wait, what was wrong with the Season 2 finale?  I'd get why some would feel that way about the season three finale. Is it because of Zuko not really turning yet?

[Spark Of Spirit]

Wait, what was wrong with the Season 2 finale?  I'd get why some would feel that way about the season three finale. Is it because of Zuko not really turning yet?

Spoiler

Azula's plan shouldn't really have worked. A war going on in a city for decades that Iroh (the smartest character in the series) couldn't crack was felled because a highly paranoid control-state didn't background check three girls? The Dai Li betrayed the Earth Kingdom for... the chance to be enslaved? She manages to beat the Avatar because she somehow knew that Zuko would help her (which she could not have possibly known) because of a decision that literally makes no sense given his character arc. A potentially incredible villain is written out and the final battle is anti-climactic since Aang had to be jobbed for it to make sense.

The whole finale feels like it was concocted because they wanted it to be the way it came out, not because it fit for it to be that way. It's a hard feeling to explain, but I've never shaken that feeling since first watching the episode.

[close]

Though Gunswordfist might feel differently.

[gunswordfist]

Wait, what was wrong with the Season 2 finale?  I'd get why some would feel that way about the season three finale. Is it because of Zuko not really turning yet?

Spoiler

Azula's plan shouldn't really have worked. A war going on in a city for decades that Iroh (the smartest character in the series) couldn't crack was felled because a highly paranoid control-state didn't background check three girls? The Dai Li betrayed the Earth Kingdom for... the chance to be enslaved? She manages to beat the Avatar because she somehow knew that Zuko would help her (which she could not have possibly known) because of a decision that literally makes no sense given his character arc. A potentially incredible villain is written out and the final battle is anti-climactic since Aang had to be jobbed for it to make sense.

The whole finale feels like it was concocted because they wanted it to be the way it came out, not because it fit for it to be that way. It's a hard feeling to explain, but I've never shaken that feeling since first watching the episode.

[close]

Though Gunswordfist might feel differently.

No, I have agreed with most of what you said before, if not multiple times before. I actually agree with all of it, it's just that I don't remember talking about how magically well a certain character's plan worked. I was just thinking about how silly it was. It basically consisted of this character saying a few sentences, then voila! Only for Batman in JL's Injustice For All episodes would I find that to be acceptable.

[The Shadow Gentleman]

Wait, what was wrong with the Season 2 finale?  I'd get why some would feel that way about the season three finale. Is it because of Zuko not really turning yet?

Spoiler

Azula's plan shouldn't really have worked. A war going on in a city for decades that Iroh (the smartest character in the series) couldn't crack was felled because a highly paranoid control-state didn't background check three girls? The Dai Li betrayed the Earth Kingdom for... the chance to be enslaved? She manages to beat the Avatar because she somehow knew that Zuko would help her (which she could not have possibly known) because of a decision that literally makes no sense given his character arc. A potentially incredible villain is written out and the final battle is anti-climactic since Aang had to be jobbed for it to make sense.

The whole finale feels like it was concocted because they wanted it to be the way it came out, not because it fit for it to be that way. It's a hard feeling to explain, but I've never shaken that feeling since first watching the episode.

[close]

Though Gunswordfist might feel differently.

No, I have agreed with most of what you said before, if not multiple times before. I actually agree with all of it, it's just that I don't remember talking about how magically well a certain character's plan worked. I was just thinking about how silly it was. It basically consisted of this character saying a few sentences, then voila! Only for Batman in JL's Injustice For All episodes would I find that to be acceptable.

Spoiler

So basically, the season 2 final is exhibit A on why Azula is not all that great.

[close]

Anyway, I think I'll watch through Avatar again too, but probably just season 2 and 3. I'm already trying to get through Monster, the Simpsons, and Superman:TAS, so I probably only go slightly faster than Doug.

[gunswordfist]

Wait, what was wrong with the Season 2 finale?  I'd get why some would feel that way about the season three finale. Is it because of Zuko not really turning yet?

Spoiler

Azula's plan shouldn't really have worked. A war going on in a city for decades that Iroh (the smartest character in the series) couldn't crack was felled because a highly paranoid control-state didn't background check three girls? The Dai Li betrayed the Earth Kingdom for... the chance to be enslaved? She manages to beat the Avatar because she somehow knew that Zuko would help her (which she could not have possibly known) because of a decision that literally makes no sense given his character arc. A potentially incredible villain is written out and the final battle is anti-climactic since Aang had to be jobbed for it to make sense.

The whole finale feels like it was concocted because they wanted it to be the way it came out, not because it fit for it to be that way. It's a hard feeling to explain, but I've never shaken that feeling since first watching the episode.

[close]

Though Gunswordfist might feel differently.

No, I have agreed with most of what you said before, if not multiple times before. I actually agree with all of it, it's just that I don't remember talking about how magically well a certain character's plan worked. I was just thinking about how silly it was. It basically consisted of this character saying a few sentences, then voila! Only for Batman in JL's Injustice For All episodes would I find that to be acceptable.

Spoiler

So basically, the season 2 final is exhibit A on why Azula is not all that great.

[close]

Anyway, I think I'll watch through Avatar again too, but probably just season 2 and 3. I'm already trying to get through Monster, the Simpsons, and Superman:TAS, so I probably only go slightly faster than Doug.

Spoiler

Also, Aang having to drop everything to save Katara because they turned her into a damsel in distress also sucked.

[close]

[Spark Of Spirit]

Wait, what was wrong with the Season 2 finale?  I'd get why some would feel that way about the season three finale. Is it because of Zuko not really turning yet?

Spoiler

Azula's plan shouldn't really have worked. A war going on in a city for decades that Iroh (the smartest character in the series) couldn't crack was felled because a highly paranoid control-state didn't background check three girls? The Dai Li betrayed the Earth Kingdom for... the chance to be enslaved? She manages to beat the Avatar because she somehow knew that Zuko would help her (which she could not have possibly known) because of a decision that literally makes no sense given his character arc. A potentially incredible villain is written out and the final battle is anti-climactic since Aang had to be jobbed for it to make sense.

The whole finale feels like it was concocted because they wanted it to be the way it came out, not because it fit for it to be that way. It's a hard feeling to explain, but I've never shaken that feeling since first watching the episode.

[close]

Though Gunswordfist might feel differently.

No, I have agreed with most of what you said before, if not multiple times before. I actually agree with all of it, it's just that I don't remember talking about how magically well a certain character's plan worked. I was just thinking about how silly it was. It basically consisted of this character saying a few sentences, then voila! Only for Batman in JL's Injustice For All episodes would I find that to be acceptable.

Spoiler

So basically, the season 2 final is exhibit A on why Azula is not all that great.

[close]

Anyway, I think I'll watch through Avatar again too, but probably just season 2 and 3. I'm already trying to get through Monster, the Simpsons, and Superman:TAS, so I probably only go slightly faster than Doug.

Spoiler

Also, Aang having to drop everything to save Katara because they turned her into a damsel in distress also sucked.

[close]

Spoiler

I also think it's the only time in the series where that happened. It makes it feel even more out of character.

[close]

I mean I've tried to give the finale a chance multiple times even knowing how the show ends and I still can't quite accept it. The thing still doesn't feel right to me.

[gunswordfist]

I didn't like it ever since the first time I ever saw it. It was an hour of them receiving a pointless setback.

Speaking of setbacks, today I've been thinking of how the season 3 sun warriors episode may have been a pointless setback. It's not like Aang or Zuko learned extra strong firebending, Zuko still couldn't even come close to beating Azula and of course Aang was still way behind (and he should have been but still). There was no payoff for Zuko losing his bending, nor did he become a better person, despite what was said at the end.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'm almost done watching season 1 (or Book 1, if you're a nerd), and overall the way I see it is that the material itself is stuff that has been done before many times in various shows, whether they are anime or not, but the actual execution of the episodes is done very well. Of course, having a budget clearly helps with the good animation and art design, but to be fair, the series doesn't seem to just use that as a crutch, and it has dome genuinely good moments. Its just that as far as the first season goes, a majority of those good moments are stuff that I've seen done well before, as well. And, yeah, I know everything is a little unoriginal in some way, but with the 1st season of Avatar, it seems a little bit too focused on paying homage to a lot of classic shows and whatnot to the point of kind of relying too much on episodes with predictable formulas. As it stands, I'm OK with that since, like I said, the show executes that stuff pretty well, for the most part. Having said that, in order for me to see the series as great, I'll need to see it kind of branch out and be its own thing in the later seasons. Based on what I've heard, I'm sure it will, but I'm just assessing what my initial problem was with the show back when I watched the first season when it was airing as new episodes on Nick.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I think you'll like the next seasons better since they stand out of the shadow more and it becomes its own thing. The first few eps of season 2 and 3 are a bit slow, though.