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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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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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.
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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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End of conversation
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