The baby was the best part of this episode
Last season's trek to Omashu was a fun diversion that served a greater narrative purpose in how it set up particular elements of the story subtly, particularly the battle against the Fire Lord and Aang's former life. "Return to Omashu" is a continuation of that, and far more narratively significant as it introduces us to the new status quo of the show with Azula. Her posse, Mai and Ty Lee, are likable characters in their own right, and serve as a new dynamic to the team and showcase new abilities that are different from that of bending.
The fight scenes in particular here, because of that, are excellent, and with this season in particular there has been a much higher confidence in them. From the way they are edited to how they use their powers and abilities, it's all incredibly unique stuff and the beat of Azula chasing down Aang the trolley system is inspired. The episode does seem to climax twice, which is an issue, but when it's this good it hardly matters.
The plot of the episode was 10/10....it was just a little fast paced. This would have served better in 2 episodes.
The second part of the episode shines though. Bending combat truely hits off from here:
- Water to manipulate environment in favor of defense
- Water to manipulate environment in favor of offense
- Water to immobilize with ice
- Water to freeze and shatter after making metal brittle
Blue fire to imply Azula is more dangerous
Blowing cold air to freeze metal and shatter it after it's Brittle
While not "realistic"... These are 100% grounded in reality where there's enough reality in there to make feel grounded in the avatar universe. It doesn't feel like "magic".
I love seeing 3 bad bitches maximising their joint slay. This introduction to Mei and Ty Lee was so fun. I loved seeing Azula's cunning and power in action. Also Tom-Tom is so adorable, love that little guy.
The Earth Kingdom is such a complex kingdom — it is, after all, the largest by land and population size — and it is fascinating to see the different aspects of its people. This second episode on the city of Omashu is really the first look into that world (the s1 episode Imprisoned doesn't really count, in my opinion), and it is fascinating. They're strong, confident in their fighting ability, and a proud people; they have, after all, held out arguably the longest of any nation in the war against the Fire Nation. Yet with that pride comes stubbornness, and a faith in their leadership that at times is unfounded. This episode is really only a test of what's to come, but I think it truly foreshadows the greater exploration of the Earth Kingdom as we'll see later on in Ba Sing Se. All in all a great episode, with a fantastic fighting sequence at the end, that hints toward greater things to come.
7/10
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2017-01-24T17:38:50Z
7.4/10. This was a pretty standard interstitial episode. It was fairly scattershot, jumping from everything like Aang searching for King Bumi, Azula getting a trio together, a Looney Tunes-esque lost baby bit, and a zombie-like horde of escaping villagers, without weaving it all together particularly well.
The whole "neutral jing" bit with Aang and Bumi was trite. There's merit in the idea that you don't always need to be active, and sometimes waiting for the right moment rather than acting just because you want to is the way to go. But it just comes off as kitschy inspirational sign logic. Again, it's important I remember that this is still a kids show and lessons that seem obvious to me may be less cliche to its original intended audience.
The rest of the episode is fine. Azula getting her band together didn't do too much for me, but at least they all have distinct, if somewhat stock personalities. Ty Lee is a spiritual acrobat, more interested in pink than missions. And May is the sullen teenager type, bored with everything though quick with a blade. Their introductions are not especially noteworthy, but they're distinctive enough to have promise down the line.
And they do lead to the episode's best element. Avatar has become very confident in its action sequences, and it shows. The battle between Team Avatar and Azula's gang was full of exciting moments, from the coffin-race down the earth kingdom's aqueducts, to Ty Le's pressure point attack on Katara, to May's blades just being barely stopped, until Sokka shows that non-benders can get in the mix as well. It's a thrilling group of setpieces, even if they go on a bit long, and the best part of "Return to Omashu."
The rest of it is fairly hit or miss. Baby Tom Tom's misadventures are kind of cute, but grow tiresome quickly. And while the resistance finding a way to give up and fight another day fits with the episode's themes, the whole "Pentapox" bit was too broad for my tastes, even with some fun Night of the Living Dead iconography thrown in.
Overall, the theme is a little blunt, and the comedy doesn't hit as well as it needs to, but the action sequences help make up for that.