So is this supposed to be making fun of goku because I dont know what a goku is i just know it has spikey hair like cloudpic.twitter.com/5ovTe5BrQn
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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
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...
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...
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.
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.
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.
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)
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.
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.
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.
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)
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.
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.
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...
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...
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
Fo Avatar: The Last Airbender is the best interpretation I've seen of the epic tradition that I've seen on television. It nails journeys both small and large, internal and external, from moment to moment and to the grand distances of our beautiful arcs.
And so, all I can really offer of substance is my deepest thanks to you for sharing it with me. And I just hope you know how endlessly lucky you were to have had it in your lives. Because I now feel that way too. <3HULK
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