7.5/10. Neat episode, if a little standard-issue. While I'm obviously firmly on Katara's side, the whole "old master won't train girl, but then she proves herself" feels played out, though obviously not to an audience of children who are being introduced to the trope. That makes it fine for that part of the audience, but a little unadventurous for its more mature viewers.
Still, the conflict was solid even if it wasn't stellar. The fight between Katara and the old Water Bender in particular was a great sequence, with the ice-to-water phase changes particularly well done. This show has gotten quite good at staging action and finding creative uses for the various bending abilities. The ways the episode showed members of the Northern Water Tribe raising and lowering their walls or moving through the canals of the city were inventive and shows the time and care the series's braintrust has put into thinking through what a society of people who could control water and ice would look like.
And while the main Katara story was a little trite in conception, I actually liked the resolution to it a lot. The episode set up the reveal nicely (though it tipped its hand with the shot of Katara's necklace during the fight.) The fact that the Old Master turned out to be Gran Gran's former beau could have been a cheesy bit, but tying it to the idea that Gran Gran left because she didn't want to be bound by the strictures of the Northern Water Tribe, and that being what changes the Old Waterbender's heart is a deft move.
As for the other stories going on during the episode, Sokka falling in love with a Princess was fine, though again not especially compelling. It's another stock plot, but Sokka's delightfully inept attempts at courting give it a lightness and charm that make it works. And Zhao piecing together that Zuko is the Blue Spirit, trying to have him killed via the pirates we met several episodes back, only for Uncle Iroh to surreptitiously smuggle him onto Zhao's ship as Zhao leads a fleet to attack the Northern Water Tribe comes off more like table setting than anything, but it has a lot of intrigue and some cool moments in between, so it gets a pass too.
Overall, a nice setup for the season finale!
Glad that Katara hit that old man with feminism and water bending
“It’s a lovely night for a walk. Why don’t you join me? It would clear your head. [silence] Or just stay in your room and sit in the dark. Whatever makes you happy.”
"It's a nice night for a walk. Why don't you join me? Or you could sit in the dark. Whatever makes you happy." — Iroh
"I'll be outside if you're man enough to fight me." — Katara
The Northern Water Tribe is such a fun Katara centric episodes. I love seeing her righteous and entitled. Her refusal to be denied by Pakku and the fight that comes from it was so fun to watch. And the ultimate message that bigoted cultural traditions and values should be discarded was a good one.I will say similarly to Sokka in The Warriors of Kyoshi Paku divests from his deeply held misogynistic beliefs very quickly but given the constraints of a 24 minute children's cartoon I don't begrudge it too much its expediences.
Another think that makes this episode great is Sokka and Yue. They have the honoured distinction of being the only romance is season 1 I enjoyed. Seeing their adorable mutual pining and awkward stumblings towards romance was toe curling sweet. Plus those sprinkles of angst woven in was fun to relish in.
Overall great episode. My favourite moment is probably Yue and Sokka's final kiss. What can i say I'm a hopeless romantic and that sweeping score got me.
A setup episode for the finale, but it's important, necessary setup as it gives us the stage for what is sure to be a great climax. As such, the story in this episode is small scale and personal, focusing on Katara's attempts to become a better Waterbender. Throughout the entire show up to this point we've seen her get better and better but still struggling, and that comes to a head here. Sexism seems to be still alive and well in the Avatar universe, and Katara's dismantling of social norms is something we've seen before but I like how it's done here - young audiences will surely appreciate it especially well. And that fight between Pakku and Katara is one of the best of the show yet, a glorious display of animation, choreography, and creative animation.
Everything else is great too! Sokka and Yue's little fling is really fun, and ends on a note of uncertainty which leaves Sokka is a much more emotionally vulnerable place then usual, which is perfect for his development in the next two episodes. And everything with Zuko, Zhao, and Iroh is simply excellent - smart storytelling that brings back a multitude of elements from the rest of the season and uses it to it's advantage and sets the stage for the invasion to come. Fantastic.
Shout by KiBlockedParent2020-01-22T04:21:48Z
That fight sequence between Katara and the Waterbending master was EXCELLENT.