Wow, the animation is so much better. Much more pleasant to watch
I don't know if I'm seeing too much into it, but Ying Yang makes me think of Aang and Zuko. Is it why Aang picked him up and didn't let him to die? or only bc they are the good guys?
Wow okay NOOOOWW I got the backstory that I needed about princess Yue to care about her and the romance with Sokka
OKAY BUT NO! I just started to cared whyyyyy for character development i know but still
I'm happy with the final. I feel like it' a big improvement from the start.
MY FATHER SAYS SHE WAS BORN LUCKY. HE SAYS I WAS LUCKY TO BE BORN.
"My father said she was born lucky and that I was lucky to be born." — Zuko
As season finales go, that was good.
7/10
6.8/10. I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed. I realize there's a debate about whether or not this show counts as anime, but however you'd like to define it officially, it uses certain tropes and ideas prominent in that strain of art that I've always had trouble jibing with. So when the crux of this episode involves the bad guy capturing a fish whose death, it turns out, destroys the moon and takes away all the good guys' powers, it was just a bridge too far for me. Why is a magical fish too much for me when people being able to manipulate elements telekinetically or Aang jumping to the spirit world or flying bison are not? I wish I could say. It just comes off as a weird to me, and my suspension of disbelief is suddenly and reflexively finished.
It doesn't help that the result of Aang going to his Avatar State, the peak of all of his power, is just him turning into a big glowing blue water Pokemon. The show's fight scenes have been some of its stand out bits, but just seeing a transparent Aquagodzilla smashing ships didn't do much for me. We got scant few scenes of the promised siege, and the liquid dinosaur attack felt like a pale substitute.
That said, there was enough cool and interesting stuff to keep my attention, even if it didn't feel like as epic a finale to the first chapter of this story as I might have liked. The focus on balance, while heavy-handed throughout the episode, was enjoyable, as was the twist that Iroh in particular, who's been shown to have a connection to the spirit world, is the most steadfast defender of the moon fish and the spirit that inhabits it. Iroh's the MVP here, between standing up to Iroh, showing his fire abilities, and giving Zuko a warm sendoff while telling him that he thinks of Zuko as his own, he was the best thing in this one.
I say that, but the other really neat thing here was the art direction. The whole fish-snatching escapade may have landed with a thud for me, but the way the entire screen was tinted red when the moon fish was captured, and the way everything, sans the avatar and the pupils of the Princess's eyes, went grayscale when it was killed, showed a commitment to artistry and a visual shorthand for the consequences of Zhao's actions that elevated the episode even when the plot mechanics were a little ridiculous.
I did appreciate Aang's adventures in the spirit world. The face dealer was nicely creepy, and the effort for Aang to maintain his emotionaless detachment was an interesting conceit for the encounter. Despite my fish-skepticism, I do like the show's commitment to showing this spirit world that intersects with the real one, and which has an ecosystem and figures all its own lurking at the edges of the frame.
Still, so much of what happened here felt pretty convenient. We never get a hint of Zhao having this fish plan until this episode, and then it immediately comes into play. The Princess's sacrifice would have more weight if we didn't get an exposition dump about her connection to the moon spirit just five minutes earlier. Even the tag, with the Fire Lord sending Zuko's sister after him would seem cooler if this wasn't the only episode where we've had any idea he even has a sister. I liked Zuko's monologue, blunt though it was, about him comparing himself to her, noting that he had to fight for everything, but that it had made him strong. Zuko started out as a one-note villain and has slowly become one of the most multi-dimensional and tragic figures in the series.
But overall, this felt less like the culmination of a great journey and more like a weird anti-climax, with a deus ex machina device introduced at the last minute, and other hastily deposited plot points having less impact than they should, even apart from the fish thing or the disappointing nature of Aang's water-beast. It's nice to see Katara become a master (it feels quick, but whatever), and to see the emotional toll of all of this on Aang, Katara, Sokka, Zuko, and even the head of the Northern Tribe, but on the whole, this finale wasn't as satisfying as I'd hoped.
Knocks it out of the park. What a stellar finale! Everything comes together in a way that's supremely satisfying while also has you craving for more - the kind of ending that feels like both the climax to a story while the beginning of something new and different, something the best season finales do. Aang's trip to the spirit world is a highlight in particular, and his meeting with Koh feels like straight out of a darker Miyazaki film. The spirits in particular continue to be wonderfully elusive here - Tui and La, the Moon Spirit and Ocean Spirit, have a mysterious nature about them that is best left up to interpretation. When Aang merges with La at the end, is it to help fend off the Fire Nation and protect the Water Tribe? Or is just vengeance against those that corrupt the natural order, only sparing those who worship it? It's these questions that make the spirits so fascinating in Avatar.
The character arcs are also a treat. Iroh is the MVP here, though Iroh is admittedly one of the best characters of the entire show in terms of how he represents the moral center of the cast. Sokka and Yue's romance is cut tragically short, even if it could have used a bit more time in grand scheme of things. But if it's this emotionally affective, does it matter? And of course, Zhao, who is a great villain who finally gets what is coming to him. Just fantastic stuff all around.
My Top Ten Avatar Episodes: #6
Now things are getting REALLY great. We see Aang taking a spiritual journey to find a way to save the Northern Water Tribe, and he faces off against an incredibly threatening spirit, Ko. The facedown between these two is really engaging, as we watch Aang using his training as a monk to overcome Ko's incredibly terrifying threat of removing people's faces. Finding out the concept of the Moon and the Ocean, Yin and Yang, was quite an interesting revelation.
However, the real treat of this episode is when the Moon Spirit is captured, and the entire world goes red. This feels like a big burst of artistry and goes even further when Zhao kills the spirit, and the entire world goes dark. This is quite an intense turn of events for a kid's show, and from here on in I was extremely invested in this series, although The Blue Spirit may have been my turning point. Aang going into the Avatar State, saying that hope is never lost, and becoming a giant water monster was extremely cool, even if it was a bit out of nowhere. Yue's sacrifice is also quite intense, and I truly believe that for Sokka, it is extremely rough. Iroh was also awesome in this episode, helping Zuko whenever he can and facing off against Zhao.
Overall, a really great episode. It may not be worth the 10 I gave it, but this really felt like the point in which Avatar started to ascend to the heights it would eventually reach.
9.5/10
On visulas alone this is the best episode of the show so far. Just how it plays with light and color throughout was just stunning on another level. One of my favourite beats was seeing La posses Aang enraged at the loss of his lover. That entire rampage was awe inducing and impactful. Yue's sacrifice was also so beautifully rendered. And while I'd love to have seen more of her character before her death there's a continuity to her characterization and a genuineness in her relationship to Sokka that made that moment feel earned.
And as a culmination of the season this is fantastic. We see Zhao at his most purely evil. As much as Avatar is known for its one great redemption arc I need to shout out how well the writers capture villains. The thing about Zhao is that he doesn't feel inhuman or even mustache twirling. We see exactly how he's driven by ego, how self aggrandizing and stupidly loyal he is to the idea of the fire nation and his place in it. His death in the end is just so fitting. He dies at the hands of spirits he didn't understand and foolishly thought to control and by refusing the help of traitor because he'd genuinely rather die than admit that "defeat". Zhao isn't a complicated villain but he's a very well constructed one.
I loved the texture we saw in Iroh and Zuko's characters. Iroh's stand with what's right over the Fire nation is such a meaningful moment for a character who thus far has been mostly comic relief. We've continuously seen iroh's cunning throughout the show. How he uses his perception as a harmless old man to out maneuver. And earlier episodes highlighted his love of Zuko as a core part of him. but here we finally learn his principles and it leads to such a fun fight between Iroh and Zhao.
On Zuko's end we get more about his upbringing his resentments and what fuels him and his constant rage. I love how the show highlights how Zuko may be a shit person right now but isn't so to his core. The fact that he even tries to save Zhao after everything really says something about his character. And where he ends the season finally giving himself a break to give up on the Avatar for at least 1 minute was such an interesting place to leave him.
This was overall a great finale and sets up what sure to be a fun next season.
i still vividly remember watching this episode for the first time, sitting on the foot of my bed in my parents house during the summer of college with the laptop resting on the footboard, my window ac unit whirring in the background, entranced in the relationship of these humans to the spirit world and that final connection of aang and the ocean spirit... i dare say it changed my life.
and if I cry every time I see the water tribe members bow to the giant ocean spirit? what then?
I was impressed by the use of color in this episode.
Review by Julius S. PeytonBlockedParentSpoilers2017-03-02T04:02:51Z
The Spirit World finally explored and begggining to be understood. For Aang, this episode, I think, was a spiritual enlightenment of the first level. I love the fact that these Spirits chose to incarnate themselves as simple coyfish, forever living in a binary in one pool at the top of the world- it seems so much more simple and appropriate to have spirits incarnate as, not allpowerful gods like we are used to in the west, but instead into nature.
Aangs meditation in the grove found it's focus on the two fish swimming- and in their binary he saw the Yin Yang symbol. When in the spirit world, Aang talked to Ko, the face stealer- who proportedly steals faces from those who cannot keep their calm in his presence. Upon entering the spirit world, Avatar Roku warns Aang to "show no fear, show no emotion" in front of Ko.
Ko is extremely interesting and I dont know enough about eastern culture to sieght any ancient texts that might indicate the characters creation, however I am aware enough about the basics of meditation-living to be able to point out some valuable attributes of Ko.
Ko steals faces, but he is only able to steal a face that shows emotion. The face is the center of identity for people- so Ko is not only a face stealer but an identity stealer. Emotion is a conduit from the ego, identity, and want for survival- which is why it is so easy for Ko to steal a fearful face. Ko is a ransacker and collector of egoes.
Having an ego comes along with a sense of morality, and so it is interesting that they are discussing the powers of Push and Pull.
"Twi and La, your moon and ocean have always circled eachother in an eternal dance; push and pull, life and death, good and evil, Yin and Yang."
In meditation you are supposed to let go of the ego and become like the air. This is why Aang was so adept at dealing with Ko, because he was raised by monks who taught him to detach himself from the material world by not investing emotion and finding humility- furthermmore Aang was primed for his encounter with the face-stealer by his meditation in the grove. It is important that he saw the fish as yin and yang rather than good and evil. The realization that there is no clear colored good and evil is the enlightenment that will enable you to detach yourself emotionally and be like the wind.
asks him about the spirits in the pool
Surrounded by fire navy ships and warriors,