5.7/10. This one was a little better than the pilot (though the pacing makes me think the two episodes were meant to be viewed as a whole.) The boost mostly comes from seeing Aang use his powers a bit, which allows the show to succeed visually while it still feels a bit rudimentary in terms of its characters. There's still a lot of that herky-jerky quality to the animation which throws me off, but the scenes where Aang uses his wind powers to disarm his captors "with [his] arms tied behind [his] back" had a fluidity and creativity that helped make up for less flattering bits like silly side effects and characters nigh-instantly having changes of heart.
Again, I find myself liking the idea of the story told in these two episodes than the execution. The notion of a "chosen one" who didn't want to be the chosen one has a lot of potential (this series, once again, makes me think of Harry Potter), and while it's been done, I also appreciate that while Aang's air powers come naturally to him, his Avatar powers play by Last Unicorn rules, where he can't quite control them or choose when they happen, and they take a lot of him to boot. The childishness that makes the character interesting -- someone with untold power and yet the mind and perspective of a typically hyperactive twelve-year-old--can also make him kind of annoying from moment-to-moment.
To that end, the voice acting on the show isn't great. Again, the sporadic stiltedness of the animation doesn't help, but there's an overexaggerated quality to many of the line readings that makes me feel, once more, like I'm watching an old G.I. Joe cartoon rather than something made in the new millennium. Katara is a major offender here, and while I like the idea of her taking a stand, the whole village turning against her and Aang so quickly, and then changing their tune just as fast when they learn he's the Avatar, is all very rushed and thus emotionally unsatisfying, something that the middling-at-best voice acting can't really save. I do appreciate that Sokka's characterization is a little less stock here, even if he gets a bog-standard "coming around to the good guys" arc here.
Overall, a slight improvement on the show's first installment, but a lot of shaggier elements that make me hope the show is still just finding its voice.
(Oh, and a blind guess, but Since Aang is an airbender, Katara is a waterbender, and the evil prince is a firebender, the law of conservation of characters suggests to me that at some point, Sokka becomes an earthbender.)
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2016-10-31T22:01:16Z
5.7/10. This one was a little better than the pilot (though the pacing makes me think the two episodes were meant to be viewed as a whole.) The boost mostly comes from seeing Aang use his powers a bit, which allows the show to succeed visually while it still feels a bit rudimentary in terms of its characters. There's still a lot of that herky-jerky quality to the animation which throws me off, but the scenes where Aang uses his wind powers to disarm his captors "with [his] arms tied behind [his] back" had a fluidity and creativity that helped make up for less flattering bits like silly side effects and characters nigh-instantly having changes of heart.
Again, I find myself liking the idea of the story told in these two episodes than the execution. The notion of a "chosen one" who didn't want to be the chosen one has a lot of potential (this series, once again, makes me think of Harry Potter), and while it's been done, I also appreciate that while Aang's air powers come naturally to him, his Avatar powers play by Last Unicorn rules, where he can't quite control them or choose when they happen, and they take a lot of him to boot. The childishness that makes the character interesting -- someone with untold power and yet the mind and perspective of a typically hyperactive twelve-year-old--can also make him kind of annoying from moment-to-moment.
To that end, the voice acting on the show isn't great. Again, the sporadic stiltedness of the animation doesn't help, but there's an overexaggerated quality to many of the line readings that makes me feel, once more, like I'm watching an old G.I. Joe cartoon rather than something made in the new millennium. Katara is a major offender here, and while I like the idea of her taking a stand, the whole village turning against her and Aang so quickly, and then changing their tune just as fast when they learn he's the Avatar, is all very rushed and thus emotionally unsatisfying, something that the middling-at-best voice acting can't really save. I do appreciate that Sokka's characterization is a little less stock here, even if he gets a bog-standard "coming around to the good guys" arc here.
Overall, a slight improvement on the show's first installment, but a lot of shaggier elements that make me hope the show is still just finding its voice.
(Oh, and a blind guess, but Since Aang is an airbender, Katara is a waterbender, and the evil prince is a firebender, the law of conservation of characters suggests to me that at some point, Sokka becomes an earthbender.)