Reviews of television shows
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”
Each week in Late to the Party, someone posts about an older piece of media that they’ve just experienced for the first time. This week, Dramus18 watches Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender, which originally ran from February of 2005 through … Continue reading Late to the Party: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Love, Victor follows a Latinx teen who transfers to Creekwood High School in Atlanta, GA. This was the setting for Becky Albertalli’s Creekwood novels and Greg Berlanti’s 2018 film Love, Simon. Simon was embraced by friends and family after being … Continue reading LGBT Media: Love, Victor (2020)
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”
The Spirit World The first half of Book One of Avatar has been defined by introductions. Introducing the audience to the myriad of details and concepts that will define a high fantasy epic. We’ve been shown the elemental powers, the intricate societies … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “Winter Solstice Parts 1 & 2”
The King of Omashu The prerogative of this pair of episodes is to finally introduce the audience to the magical environs of The Earth Kingdom and display and the power and possibility of earthbending. It’s a bit odd that it … Continue reading Re-Avatar State “The King of Omashu” & “Imprisoned”
The Southern Air Temple Most of the first article of this series was dedicated to the delicate process of introducing an audience, especially a young audience, to the intricacies of a high fantasy tv show. And how the writing staff … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “The Southern Air Temple” & “The Warriors of Kyoshi”
In Which Everything Changed When the Fire Nation Attacked Making a good pilot is hard, making a good pilot for a high concept genre show is next to impossible. For the start of such a program, whether fantasy, sci-fi, or … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “The Boy in the Iceberg” & “The Avatar Returns”
Book 0: Introduction As an individual in their mid 20’s the animated Avatar franchise means a hell of a lot to me. Coming out right at the moment a kid becomes obsessed with the media around them, Avatar: The Last … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: An Avatar – The Last Airbender Rewatch Series
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