new Avatar episodes

[bagheera_san]

I was looking forward to the last couple of Avatar episodes, but the two before the finale both rather disappointed me.

3x16 was way, way too preachy about forgiveness, and thus almost redeemed by the last couple of seconds, since it's pointed out that Aang won't defeat the Fire Lord with forgiveness and pacifism. It's the old Harry Potter dilemma: to save the world, the child hero will have to become a murderer. Avatar has always been a war story that doesn't gloss over the nastiness as much as other children's TV, so I don't doubt that Zuko's father will die one way or another. Still, the episode didn't really get the show anywhere other than Katara forgiving Zuko, and honestly, why does it matter?

3x17 was good old wacky fun, but it squandered so many brilliant opportunities to comment on propaganda. But the play wasn't propaganda at all. The play was good and pretty realistic, people laughed and cheered for our heroes, there are little kids cosplaying Aang, and then in the end they just accept their death with a round of applause? This isn't a Fire Nation ready for a change of regime. And why isn't that play getting censored? I was expecting that the episode would end with some kind of reveal: that maybe the producers are pro-Avatar, or some kind of resistance, maybe even the White Lotus. At the very least, there should have been some Fire Nation people leaving the theatre with doubt in their hearts. But we didn't get a glimpse of that, just cheap jokes and pointless romance.

What I expect from the finale:

- some closure on Iroh and Zuko's story
- an ending for Azula and her girls that makes sense without killing them
- the White Lotus coming into play!
- proper scaryiness from the Fire Nation and the comet
- well, Aang can't really die, since someone has to resurrect Air Nomad culture... but still, the fight should be hard, and come at a relatively high price, because Aang *so* isn't ready for it
- politics, morals and honest emotion. Come on, show, you used to be good at that!