In Which Pants Are an Illusion, Just Like Death In a random episode of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer the character Xander recalls many of the misadventures he’s had over the course of the series. The fact that he both accidentally got wrapped … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “The Day of Black Sun”
The Puppetmaster Third time’s the charm for this particular format of the show. Once again we have an episode of the third season that focusses on Katara and demonstrates that life in the Fire Nation is more varied and textured … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “The Puppetmaster” & “Nightmares and Daydreams”
The Avatar and The Firelord There is an undercurrent in Avatar that runs through the narrative with deep implications but never becomes the primary topic of conversation for the show. In the lore of the series, The Avatar is a person who … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “The Avatar and The Firelord” & “The Runaway”
In Which We Will Be Changed Like Sand in the Sea From a macro perspective “The Beach” seems like a perfectly normal episode of the show. It has an A and B-plot, it’s got a big action scene, it follows … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “The Beach”
The Painted Lady There’s an episode of the sci-fi show Fringe that aired in its second season, but was filmed to fulfill the order for the first season. The network thought it wasn’t worth airing the first time around, but needed an … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “The Painted Lady” & “Sokka’s Master”
The Awakening How do you build back up after tearing everything down? Eventually all great storytellers arrive at this problem, one that’s so difficult to solve that many just tumble through it and let things be. Hell George R. R. … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “The Awakening” & “The Headband”
In Which The Stars Turn and a Decision Presents Itself Avatar has never been shy about its influences. The creators are open to the fact that they cribbed from most major pieces of genre storytelling at the time. The stew of Star … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “The Guru” & “The Crossroads of Destiny”
Lake Laogai Avatar has always been a show haunted by death. Hell even its title is a gesture to the genocide that serves as the thematic underpinning of the whole fair. A rather grim cornerstone from which to build a program … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “Lake Laogai” & “The Earth King”
Tales of Ba Sing Sae It’s always fun when a TV show breaks its format. Throwing expectations to the wind to do something unique or unexpected. However it’s rarer for such a thing to happen with two back-to-back episodes. Avatar isn’t your … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “Tales of Ba Sing Sae” & “Appa’s Lost Days”
In Which There’s No War in Ba Sing Sae In many of the previous recaps I’ve used the words unsettled and uncertain to describe the state of our current narrative. Indeed the life of Team Avatar has been incredibly tumultuous. … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “City of Walls and Secrets”
The Serpent’s Pass In my recap on “The Desert” I noted that the midpoint of the series featured another downshift in the tonal texture of Avatar. That what was once a cheery piece of adventuring was slowly morphing into a story with … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “The Serpent’s Pass” & “The Drill”
The Library Halfway through the second season of the show, the writers for Avatar know it’s time to refocus the story. The first half of the season honed in on two story tracks: Aang getting an earthbending teacher, and the ongoing conflicts … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “The Library” & “The Desert”
The Chase The thrill of season two of Avatar is that you can have an episode like “The Chase”: a fun, thrilling, and action packed adventure that would be a highlight from the first season, sandwiched between two of the best episodes … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “The Chase” & “Bitter Work”
In Which This Man Does Have a Name Avatar has always excelled at being a show of genre, a blending of multiple influences and ideas that synthesizes them instead of merely replicating the experience. Avatar is a melange of Harry Potter, Lord of the … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “Zuko Alone”
In Which Toph Joins The Gaang From this moment to the finale of season two, Avatar goes on a astonishing run of episodes. Perfectly balancing out singular episodic stories with grander narrative moments, blowing out our characters in new and exciting fashion, … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “The Blind Bandit”
Return to Omashu Avatar is a show that does not forget its past. Such a tool can be wearying as writers have to navigate reams of important canon and context when they tell such a long story, but it’s also a … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “Return to Omashu,” “The Swamp,” & “Avatar Day”
The Avatar State If you’re a reader joining the watch of Avatar: The Last Airbender for the first time you may be a touch consternated by the lavish high praise that the show has received. While the first season is an … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “The Avatar State” & “The Cave of Two Lovers”
In Which There’s a Giant Fish In all ways that Avatar is a response to the renewed interest in fantasy during the 2000’s, in its production it is fairly modest. For all the epic questing and grandiose sweep, it’s still a TV … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “The Siege of the North”
The Northern Air Temple As I’ve noted multiple times throughout this series, the first season of Avatar has constituted a string of introductions. A show thoroughly laying the groundwork for the epic fantasy story to come. Sometimes those openings are cleaner then … Continue reading Re-Avatar State “The Northern Air Temple” & “The Waterbending Master”
The Fortuneteller After finally fully grounding our characters, setting up the stakes for the series, and providing thrilling spectacle in the past few episodes, Avatar does a curious thing. Just when it seems like the engines are kicking into high gear it … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “The Fortuneteller” “Bato of the Water Tribe” & “The Deserter”
In Which There’s More Than There Seems There’s always a moment when the beloved TV show becomes the beloved TV show. It can happen sooner or later in the run of the program, but when it hits it becomes clear … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “The Storm” & “The Blue Spirit”
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