By the way I love when shows redesign their standard models and the new fire outfits are 


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Day of the Black Sun: MY GOD. Where to start? Let's go chronologically 1. Look there's a certain cathartic power to "getting the team together" with everyone you met along the way, but it's even better when that's A DELIGHTFUL SURPRISE
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2. Sokka having no idea how to give a power point / speak publicly is perfect, soooo much subconscious emotional vomiting 3. The amazing preparation montage with appa's armor etc. but ending it with little sheep is exactly what makes this show so damn humane. No tough guy B.S.
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4. The speech about moments of truth 5. Again, the action in this show is so freaking inventive, creative, thoughtful while being grounded in the basics of clarity, objectives, stakes, I'm in awe. What an attack. 5. "yes... he has." 6. Holy shit the lightning reversal callback
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The Western Air Temple 1. Zuko rehearsing his job interview! HE IS MY NEW NEW FAVORITE NOW (the show is so good at employing empathy in the right times / ways) 2. The ethos of "why am I so bad at being good?" so understands the muscle memory of anger / trauma. 3. The portrait
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The Firebending Masters: 1 "jerkbending... still got it" 2. RAIDERS VIBES 3. "He had a complicated past... family tradition I guess" 4. the way it reshapes our understanding of fire (a little heartbeat) is another reason I adore this show and it's philosophical underpinnings.
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The Boiling Rock: The first time I'm not sure it had to be a two-parter? But a bunch of moments I loved. Like Zuko thinking he can just say the punchline of a joke and be funny (but right after it shows how much growth he's had when people make fun of him back and he smiles) ...
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But the real coup is the way it elevates into the Zuko / Mei stuff and then dominoes into ty lee along with it - perfectly motivated stuff I loved it. And lastly, "My first girlfriend turned into the moon"
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The Southern Raiders: MY GOD THE SOKKA TENT GAG. / "why don't you take my mother?!" - But there's a bigger story about Zuko here (in chasing his own validation) is exacerbating and feeding the rest of the group's darker impulses... to a point, of course.
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The Ember Island Players: "This is the kind of whacky time wasting nonsense I've been missing!" The mission statement for this tremendously funny, but also thoughtful episode. There's so much in the layers in which we see ourselves and our own stereotypical behavior. And so many
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great gags like Zuko's long hair, toph as a tuff dude, the peter panning of Aang. But really the episode is about reflection "it takes all the mistakes in my life and shoves them back in my face" and serves to remind us yet again of just how impossibly young Aang is...
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It's sitting with the journey that got them here, all before before going into the deep trench of the the grim future that awaits...
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Zosin's Comet: There's much I could say about the finale. From the little delights of the Melon Lord, to Azula's angry haircut, to "I can't believe the captain remembered my birthday!" to the deeper callbacks and pay-offs and holy crap Katara's ingenious bending move.
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But the biggest delights come in the moments of genuine catharsis. There's a reason I cried at the "... when we build it together" line and it's not just the mere affectation of the moment itself, it's the history of "almost tragedy" that led to it.
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Which brings me to Iroh's hug. A moment that not only makes me think of the joy and loss of Mako (the role is no doubt his greatest work), but also makes me think about their entire journey of what has come before.
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Such catharsis is often critical in finales, but here it is so necessary because what we are really talking about is the *completion* of stories that have long been heading toward these very moments (without ever "teasing" in withholding fashion)
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Which all makes for a very different kind of finale, not one where we say goodbye, but one where it is as if we are finally, truly saying hello. But it's just one of the many reasons the finale feels transcendent.
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I know we throw around the word epic a lot, but that's often a failure to understand what that word really means. Because it's about lot more than dangerous battles and literal physical journeys through strange and distant lands.
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Genuine Epics understand the biggest journey is often from who you were to who you are... Along with all the ways we can stay true to our most moral and aching hearts. And embracing all the forms of power that are so much more intimate and emotional than the political.
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Avatar: The Last Airbender understands all this with wit, humility, humor, non-toxicity, and open heart that few shows ever manage to display. It is at once a glowing beacon of youth as it is a sobering lesson for adulthood (especially our own blocked chakras, etc)
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And for me, I don't forget that I began this journey at your recommendation. As the thread grew and grew, I remember someone commenting that the ravenous reaction to the thread was largely about "much needed validation" and it's a strange thing to think about.
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Because whatever I think no more or less valid than what anyone else says and I know this is a beloved show, but I also understand critical discourse (sadly) exists in a space of actual cache. One where most of the best work goes unrecognized in award seasons or by older critics.
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And I imagine superlatives are harder to come by in a world that might have assumed this or that about a nickelodeon show or just missed the boat on the shining star of your youth. So I'll say this...
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When talking about "The Best Show" of all time I always have a simple answer and total cop out. Because I answer "The Sopranos, The Wire and Buffy: The Vampire Slayer" all at once. Why? Well, in looking at the merits of each...
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The Sopranos had its scorching psychological insight and morbid coen-esque hilarity, all from a showrunner hell-bent on thumbing his nose at the "bad fans" en route to the ecstatic truth of the sublime.
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Meanwhile The Wire was marked by its aching empathy for everyone on screen, oft as they got the screws turned on them by the fates of our modern institutions. And in doing so they crafted one of the most "note-perfect" bits of plotting from start to finish.
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And finally Buffy, for the endlessly surprising and thematically-driven teen monsters adventures that doubled for the trials and tribulations of growing up. And it was a show that often dared to fail in order to hit unimaginable heights along the way.
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It's no accident that all three were perhaps the most thematically-driven shows of our time, yet none sacrificed any bit of entertainment in that pursuit. They showed us the joys of what is possible. So there's no way I could make an argument for one over the other...
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And now, I happily include Avatar: The Last Airbender in their company. Because it is among the best televisions shows I've ever seen. But it doesn't need me to say that... It validates itself.
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