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sinope at 12:28pm on 10/08/2011
sinope at 12:28pm on 10/08/2011So, marphod and I had been watching through Avatar: The Last Airbender on Netflix, and last night we finally got to the series finale.
• Katara remains one of my favorite characters, ever ever ever. OMG. I love her combination of maternal nurturing, BAMF ass-kicking, and slightly-preachy self-righteousness. She's just. Amazing. And her amazingness makes me empathize even more with how pissed off people got when they whitewashed her in the movie.
• Like many of the best "kids' cartoons," its balance between "kid stuff" and "adult stuff" was impressive. (In an odd way, it reminded me of the movie Up: some people loved it for the exquisite emotions of a couple growing old together; others loved it for the talking dogs.) Except.
• In some ways, it ended the way we expected it to. Some things were in doubt (whether Uncle or Zuko would become the Fire Lord; how they would take down the old Fire Lord without killing him directly), but it worked out pretty well. Except.
• Except: seriously, wtf is with that ending? It was as bad as the Harry Potter Epilogue of Infamy. I admit, I was shipping Katara/Zuko, but I didn't need to see them kiss as the sun went down; I also liked his relationship with Mai. ("You're so beautiful when you hate the world.") What I found implausible is that a) all the various political powerhouses in the world (the Dai Li, the Fire Nation generals, the Earth King, etc.) just happily sat down and declared peace after a hundred years of warfare and racist propaganda; and b) Katara, a surprisingly mature 14-year-old woman, would have any interest at all in making out with a 12-year-old boy. And then marry him and have babies and live happily ever after. Because as J.K. Rowling taught us, that's what happens when 12-year-olds get crushes on you.
Gah. Ending a series is always tricky, I admit, but I kinda hate that when the cards were all on the table, they opted for the "and they all lived happily after!" artificial kid-friendly ending.
All that said: if any of you haven't seen the show, I highly, highly recommend it. We've really enjoyed watching through it together.
marphod and I had been watching through Avatar: The Last Airbender on Netflix, and last night we finally got to the series finale.• Katara remains one of my favorite characters, ever ever ever. OMG. I love her combination of maternal nurturing, BAMF ass-kicking, and slightly-preachy self-righteousness. She's just. Amazing. And her amazingness makes me empathize even more with how pissed off people got when they whitewashed her in the movie.
• Like many of the best "kids' cartoons," its balance between "kid stuff" and "adult stuff" was impressive. (In an odd way, it reminded me of the movie Up: some people loved it for the exquisite emotions of a couple growing old together; others loved it for the talking dogs.) Except.
• In some ways, it ended the way we expected it to. Some things were in doubt (whether Uncle or Zuko would become the Fire Lord; how they would take down the old Fire Lord without killing him directly), but it worked out pretty well. Except.
• Except: seriously, wtf is with that ending? It was as bad as the Harry Potter Epilogue of Infamy. I admit, I was shipping Katara/Zuko, but I didn't need to see them kiss as the sun went down; I also liked his relationship with Mai. ("You're so beautiful when you hate the world.") What I found implausible is that a) all the various political powerhouses in the world (the Dai Li, the Fire Nation generals, the Earth King, etc.) just happily sat down and declared peace after a hundred years of warfare and racist propaganda; and b) Katara, a surprisingly mature 14-year-old woman, would have any interest at all in making out with a 12-year-old boy. And then marry him and have babies and live happily ever after. Because as J.K. Rowling taught us, that's what happens when 12-year-olds get crushes on you.
Gah. Ending a series is always tricky, I admit, but I kinda hate that when the cards were all on the table, they opted for the "and they all lived happily after!" artificial kid-friendly ending.
All that said: if any of you haven't seen the show, I highly, highly recommend it. We've really enjoyed watching through it together.
calm