peachy peachy

so sherlock is over, and these are my thoughts on the finale in order of appearance:

since when the show is a horror movie and why was there a fucking clown.

the motion sensor was activated after the drone had landed and mycroft obviously knew enough about those explosives to realise that’s how they work, so why the hell did they wait for that to happen instead of immediately running away? oh wait. the drama.

they actually put that horrible cgi explosion from the trailer into the episode… why. later, in the very end, i will be reminded of it while watching sherlock and john run in slow mo.

why couldn’t mycroft, an important government figure and a relative of eurus, officially check up on her instead of the whole dress up game? and then he obviously shows us that he can fire or order around anyone in that prison which makes their shenanigans even less relevant. it’s really sad to see non-existent problems beings “solved” just to use screen time and mindlessly entertain the viewers. detective stories are supposed to be reasonable.

okay, i’m sorry but i’m not buying that “enslaving” bullshit. i want to know how she does it, because all we were given is some pieces of weird bullshit that wouldn’t faze anyone in their right mind. it reminds me of the cabbie from the pilot episode that supposedly talked his victims into killing themselves. but in the end we learned that he just threatened them with a fake gun. ah those good old times when the show had its wits and integrity still intact…

they sure like to deliberately make sherlock obtuse. i just don’t buy him missing that there’s no glass when he’s close to it and there’s still no reflexion. and shouldn’t the music sound muffled too or did the fiddle had its own voice modulator installed? interesting.

i know moriarty being alive would make no sense, but the show is guilty of occasionally doing that already, and he’s such a believably smart and psychotic character that’s interesting to watch that i would have gladly used my suspension of disbelief card.

i thought the girl on the plane was an idiot because she kept giving useless answers to important questions, but the reveal in the end explained it. 1-0, touche. then again, surely eurus would be imagining herself as the young version of herself and the sole reason they used another child actor is to keep the mystery up, which is a pretty cheap trick. 1-1.

now the real idiot (or more like a dumb plot device) here is undoubtedly molly. she fucking knows what sherlock does and in what kind of situations he sometime ends up being, and he obviously sounded nervous and agitated from the get go and eventually resorted to fucking begging, so why the hell couldn’t she trust him and just say what he asked her to? oh i know why. the drama. again. also her making sherlock “confess” his love for her she knows he doesn’t have literally came out of nowhere and had fanservice written all over it. and that conversation was so unrealistic and forced for the sake of plot progression it honestly made me cringe. god i wish they were more subtle with molly and her sad love for sherlock and all the irene adler mentions before it instead of jamming them into the storyline and reinforcing their awkward attempts to bring to life sherlock’s absent libido. they even made him destroy that coffin in a melodramatic fit, which was ridiculous because compared to the other experiments the molly incident surely warranted that kind of emotional outburst the least, no one had died after all. but wait, some fans are gonna love using that as proof for sherlock’s romantic feelings for molly, so that’s why it happened.

mycroft goading sherlock into killing him was painfully obvious, considering he’s the one who has been quite vocal about his brother not being a pragmatic automaton but a quite emotionally driven creature, and that he would never kill john, regardless of his intellectual capabilities.

so the lesson here is that you should pay more attention to your little sisters?..

you can’t just switch psychopathy on and off. but of course eurus was able to. in once instance she’s a cold blooded murderer that doesn’t understand the difference between killing someone innocent and someone guilty, in general she has a spontaneous child murder on her record, but oh no, the episode is almost over and we can’t possibly kill john watson (like we couldn't blow up molly or shoot mycroft, but had no problem axing mary, a character that no one gave two shits about, dead or alive, or moriarty, who had basically been the best character; good job on fucking up twice), the fans would rage, so let’s make our villain a crying scared little girl that longs for brotherly love and make her suddenly change her evil ways, so we could wrap this shit up and move on.

and why did they put her back in the place she can easily break out from? what even has changed? can’t she make the staff into her bitches again just by talking to them (eternal eyeroll) like she did before? yeah she’s not mad at sherlock anymore (because he gives her attention now! how cute), but she’s still a mentally disturbed person and the cage must get boring when you have a fiddle as your only source of entertainment.

so yeah, i basically wrote a fucking essay or more like a hateful ode to the show, but i don’t actually hate it, i still adore first two seasons, tolerate the third and i have been relatively entertained by the last one, this episode included, even if i undoubtedly think the show hasn't been clever for a long time and it's finale was less a detective and more a weird left-field saw tribute without everything that actually makes saw enjoyable. i'm writing this as a former fan that for the last few years has been mostly disappointed by the show they once loved, that’s all. i’m also bored and writing this kept my mind busy. that makes this otherwise useless “review” worth it, i guess.

9.4/10. As this show has started to improve, I may need to start normalizing how I rate it a bit more. There's still a lot of filler episodes, but the show's impressed me with what it can do, to where giving it a high rating every time it puts out an above average episode is likely putting its ceiling too low. That said, this was a superb episode that gave us some great insight into both Aang and Prince Zuko, creating parallels and contrasts between them, even though it was mostly done in backstory.

I'm frankly kind of surprised that we got the dirt on both Aang and Zuko in the same episode. It seems like the sort of thing that the show would hold off for a season finale, maybe even the end of the series, but I liked getting to know more about the two of them here and now after enough of seeing their adventures to get to know each of them a bit, while not stretching things out too much.

What I like about Aang's story is that there's a certain Last Emperor flair to it, in that both feature a child striving to be childish thrust into a time of tumult where they're expected to be much more because of the times they were born into. I've also compared this show to Harry Potter before -- with its magical powers and world-building and trio of heroes facing a world-threatening big bad -- but this episode also makes that comparison more vivid by exploring something that franchise did with regularity -- the burden of being the chosen one.

After all, the fact that Aang has the weight of the world placed on his shoulders at the tender age of twelve is a little heartbreaking. We know him as this carefree kid, one who takes such joy in life through things like riding exotic creatures or playing "air scooter." To not only have that ripped away from him, to have the responsibility of being the avatar, but to have him rushed into that training because of a sense of impending danger among the monks makes his desire to run away sad but understandable.

But what I really loved about this episode is how it does the unexpected when juxtaposing Aang and Prince Zuko. The former has been portrayed as an innocent devoted to the good, while the latter has (with a few notable exceptions) been depicted as a pretty expectedly evil bad guy. In their backstories, however, we see that Aang couldn't handle the responsibility of caring for the many, that it was his responsibility to become the avatar to protect the world, and it was too much for him. By contrast, we see that Zuko was not an innately evil kid, but rather that he was punished and sent on this task for speaking up for innocent people who were going to be used as cannon fodder for the Fire Nation. Aang was too reluctant and anxious to defend his people, and Prince Zuko was too eager to protect his. That's what leads them to where each of them are today.

I like how it, again, complicates Prince Zuko. He is no longer a monolithic evil, but rather a naturally good kid with an abusive father, compelled by the horrible code of honor of the Fire Nation to go on what was thought to be an impossible task to get back in the good graces of the parent who disowned him. That's a complex motivation that make him unique as a character and gives him a rationale better than an "I'm fighting you because I'm the bad guy" fiat. What's more the glimpses we get of the Fire Lord (frickin' Mark Hamill!) emphasizes the cruelty Zuko faced, the place he grew up in and the experiences he had that both explain why he is the way he is, and give us hope for redemption for him.

It also makes Aang a little less pure, and a little more understandable. Learning that you are the reincarnation of the pseudo-prophet destined to protect the world is a lot to put on a kid who isn’t even a teenager yet. The episode does a nice job at showing how it changes his world, how the things that he enjoyed in life – playing games and being with his young friends, were taken away from him. His responsibility isolated him, and the threat that he would be taken away from the one person who had allowed him to remain a child, the monk who was his guardian, was enough to make him want to flee from having anything more taken away from him.

But what’s meaningful is that we see both Aang and Prince Zuko overcome their anxieties about their past. Aang feels guilt for what happened in the century since he was too afraid to face his destiny and froze himself beneath the water. And yet in the present, while the setup is a little contrived, he faces the same situation, but this time he sees Sokka and Katara holding onto Appa beneath the water, and he realizes he has something to fight for, using his Avatar powers to save them.

In the same storm, we see Prince Zuko, who in the beginning of the episode was parroting his father’s forceful lesson about how individual lives are inconsequential in the face of the Fire Nation’s goals, especially in relation to a task set by the Fire Lord himself, risk his own life to save that of one of his crewmen. It’s a sign that Fire Lord’s teachings haven’t poisoned him yet, that there is still the good kid who worried about the Fire Nation War Council sacrificing loyal but inexperienced recruits to win a battle. And he’s also willing to let the Avatar escape in order to preserve the safety of his crew, something that shows that goodness survives, and supersedes even his all-consuming quest to win back his father’s approval.

Both Aang and Prince Zuko reckon with their pasts, but emerge having made their peace and become able to move forward. Aang resolves not to be weighted by his past, believing, with Katara’s encouragement, that perhaps there’s a reason why he’s needed here now. And Prince Zuko shows that despite the trauma he experienced at the hands of his own Father, despite his devotion to finding the Avatar, there is an integrity to him, and sense in which the better parts of him may still be reclaimed. The protagonist and antagonist of this show are each deepened, not only by knowing where they came from and how they got here, but by seeing what they do in the here and now in the shadow of all that’s happened to them before.

[9.5/10] If there's one thing I really appreciate about Avatar, it's the way it manages to balance world-building and character. One the one hand, this is such an important episode about understanding the world of the Four Nations and the hundred-year war. We learn what the world was like before the war started, we see the motivations behind its beginning, and we learn why Ozai's grandfather was so intent on neutralizing the avatar to make his waging of that war possible.

But it's also a character story, about two friends and de facto brothers whose lives took them on different paths. The reveal that Avatar Roku and Fire Lord Sozin were best friends is a pretty shocking revalation, but one that has power in the way the whole series up to this point has been founded on the way that these things are all connected, that the people and personalities of these conflicts are as important as the world-shaking consequences of them.

It also creates a sense of tragedy and betrayal to that living history. Roku died at the hands of his best friend, in the same of aspiration and ambition. They cared for one another, grew up together, and built friendships that exceed lifetimes, but in the end, after a long life lived, that fell apart. That is heart-rending, and yet it also gives us so much more complicated insight into the lives of an avatar and a fire lord.

But it doesn't stop there -- with the lessons extending to our heroes in the modern day. I love that Aang takes it as a sign that there can be powerful friendships that matter to an Avatar, and that there is good and bad regardless of affiliation. It underscores the importance of Team Avatar and is another step in the evolution of the series to where not every person in red is bad and not every person in green is good.

By the same token, I love the revelation that Zuko is descended from both Fire Lord Sozin and Avatar Roku, and that this generational intertia helps explain the conflict between good and bad within him. It's nicely and subtly represented by Roku riding the red dragon and Sozin riding the blue dragon, the same ones that appeared to Zuko in his fever dream. The fact that he receives the head-piece that belonged to both of these great grandfathers signifies the way he may unify these impulses, and realizes who he is as an heir to the throne.

The episode just does so much in such a short time, it's hard not to be impressed both at the multitude and variety of its accomplishments.

[9.2/10] I've said before that I am particularly receptive to episodes of these mythos-heavy shows that get a little spiritual and philosophical about their worlds. I don't know why it appeals to me exactly, but maybe it's because it's the show doing what reviewers often do -- try to extract the deeper meaning and symbolism of the proceedings. So having Aang trained by Toph and Katara on the one hand, and Zuko trained by Iroh on the other, with lots of parallels and maxims and spiritual interludes really scratches an itch for me.
I particularly like the way that the episode compares and contrasts Aang and Zuko. Both of them are trying to learn a new skill to complete their challenges, both of them struggle with it because it calls upon them to do something unfamiliar and outside their natural skillset and mindset, and both of them connect these new skills with personal connections.

But what distinguishes them rather than unites them is the way their specific difficulties are different, even if they take the same form. Aang has proven to be preternaturally adept at each new form of bending (as you’d expect The Avatar to be) so the fact that earth-bending, which Katara explains must be air-bending’s opposite, is so unintuitive and hard for him is unusual. Zuko, on the other hand, has always struggled to learn how to use his powers, as we’ve learned from his flashbacks, so his inability to perform lightning-bending is just one more frustration on top of his usual struggles.

The reasons for their difficulties are also distinct. Aang is used to the malleable, adaptive nature of air, so the ethos of earth-bending, which requires standing your ground, facing your challenge head on, and simply out-willing it rather than finding a creative solution is unnatural and unintuitive for him. He starts to wonder if he has the mettle in him for earth-bending, if he will ever be able to call upon that instinct. Zuko, however, has a near-opposite problem, where he cannot find balance or peace or humility sufficient to learn how to bend lightning. Rather than being unable to stand his ground, Zuko feels the ground constantly shifting underneath him, and so, oddly enough, lacks the stability to control something as mercurial as lightning.

But their solutions are different. What allows Aang to break through his struggles is what always pulls him through in difficult times – his connections to his friends. The fact that Sokka’s life is at stake in the face of a charging saber-toothed moose lion (???) is enough to make Aang stand his ground. A bare rock hurtling toward him just prompts the usual ways of sidestepping for Aang (which is reductive of his past, but works for the story the episode’s telling), but one of his best friends being at risk changes the stakes and gives him the courage to stand his ground.

Zuko’s only connection is to his uncle, who offers one of those creative solutions that Aang is trying to avoid. There’s such intrigue in the notion that Iroh is interdisciplinary in his bending. Again, there’s a thematic contrast, where Aang is trying to learn to hold firm so that he can earth-bend, where Zuko is trying to learn to be balanced and use defense as offense, by learning Iroh’s lightning-channeling technique. But unlike Toph (who probably had control of the situation if things had started to get bad, though who knows) Iroh is unwilling to put his pupil at risk.

And yet, Zuko seeks it out on his own. Zuko standing on that mountain, offering angry pleas at the heavens for lightning to test him, is a heightened emotional moment, bundling up Zuko’s passion, his regrets, his insecurities, his anger, and his pain in one grand gesture. Zuko doesn’t get that lightning, merely prostrating himself against a sky that is as uncaring as his father, but something tells me he’ll have his chance before the season is over.

But even apart from the larger Aang-Zuko parallels, the episode is supremely enjoyable and compelling. For one thing, the discussions from Iroh, Toph, and Katara about the different natures of the four elements and their practitioners is fascinating. Iroh’s descriptions of the four disciplines fall a little too much into the often reductive Hogwarts House phenomenon, but still does a good job at tying the qualities of the elements themselves with the qualities of those who wield them. And the fact that he promotes the idea that understanding all four and taking things from each is important helps sand down the edges of some of the categorization. From last season’s reveal that Iroh can see into the spirit world, there’s always been hints that he’s more attuned to these things than others, and it’s nice to see that explicated a bit.

There’s also a nice contrast drawn between Toph and Katara. Rather than the pair of them butting heads, it shows the two of them as essentially parents with conflicting styles who both want the best for the kid they’re “raising.” Katara’s encouraging style, focused on positive reinforcement and motivating Aang through compliments and gentle correction have gotten him far, and Iroh’s speech implies it’s the correct technique for learning water-bending. But Toph’s hardnosed, Rocky-montage routine seems to be equally appropriate for learning earth-bending, where her subtle nods and harsh tones eventually effect the right change in Aang to make him able to move rocks.

And I haven’t even gotten to the great comic relief from Sokka being stuck in the ground! (Shades of the Robot Chicken “Giraffe in Quicksand” sketch!) First of all, the saber-toothed moose cub is the most adorable creature A:TLA has offered thus far, and Sokka’s name for it only added to that. But just seeing Sokka, in a comic mirror of Zuko, plead with the heavens for salvation, promising no more meat-eating or sarcasm in exchange, was hilarious. The comic writing for Sokka has improved by leaps and bounds, to where he is a consistent highlight and great break from the more serious side of Avatar.

Overall, this is one of the show’s best episodes so far, even as the batting average for A:TLA has much improved in its second season. The thematic parallels and distinctions between Aang and Zuko provide a nice spine for the episode, and the philosophical discussions about the various elements make for an interesting look at the spiritual side of the Avatar world. “Bitter Work,” and the show as a whole, offer the story of two young people, trying their hardest to achieve something that doesn’t come naturally, and finding very different choices and different outcomes based on who they are, and who they have helping them along.

[9.2/10] Hell yeah, Zuko solo episode! I adored the structure of this one. Telling two stories about the same person – one with Zuko in the present playing the ronin, and one with him as a child pre-exile – made for some interesting stylistic contrasts and thematic connections.
The ronin part in the present was fairly standard Yojimbo/Man With No Name-style stuff, but still impeccably cool. Zuko is a nigh-silent badass, wandering into town, not complaining about anything but holding his ground and quietly doing what he needs to do when he needs to do it. Little grace notes like him forbearing when he sees the pregnant couple, or hitting his thumb when the local kid asks how he got his scar show the ways in which Zuko is both changing but also unable to escape who he was.

That connects with the themes laid out in the flashback segments. Getting to see Zuko as a child informs who is as an adult in interesting ways, and also adds to the A:TLA lore as to how Ozai became the Fire Lord.

On the one hand, these scenes feel very domestic and down-to-earth. Meeting Zuko and Azula’s mother is very interesting, as her loving but firm hand cut a sharp contrast from what we know of Ozai. There is a warmth there, if you’ll pardon the expression, that shows the sweetness in Zuko’s old life. But there’s also difficulty. His relationship with his sister with one of the best-sketched of the episode. She is, on the one hand, exceptionally cruel, with a seeming taste for violence and humiliation and the magic powers to help her enact both. But at the same time, she is also just a standard ribbing kid trying to get the better of her brother in a typical sibling rivalry. That adds believability but also harshness to moments when she tells Zuko that their father is going to kill him.

That threat dovetails with the Shakespearean and biblical vibes to the flashback scenes. The line of succession and plotting to that effect has an epic feel to it, even apart from the King Lear/Jacob and Esau/Abraham and Isaac character of them. It adds depth to the world, with the sense that Ozai learned abuse of his children from his own father, and turns Iroh into a wronged party. The revelation that Iroh lost his own son, and that is what led him to lose the war (or at least contributed) adds another sympathetic dimension to him, and a cruelty or at least cravenness to Ozai. It clearly divides the Fire Nation potentates into the harsh and power hungry (Ozai, Azula, Azulon) and the sensitive (Zuko, Iroh, Zuko’s mom).

There is also a mystery element. How exactly did Azulon die and Ozai come to power? Was Azula right that Azulon demanded Ozai sacrifice Zuko? Did Zuko’s mom live up to her turtleduck lesson and take out Azulon herself so that Zuko wouldn’t be killed? What convinced the seeming resistant Azulon to put Ozai in power over Iroh? Is it just a lie! So many intriguing questions.

But it amounts to a revelation in the present, and a cool one-on-one fight between Zuko, who’s connected with that local kid, and the local army ringleader/bully who’s kidnapped him. “Never forget who you are” is a pretty trite moral, but coupled with what we see in Zuko’s past, it fits well. He embraces his position as the Fire Prince, no longer hiding his abilities or his past, even knowing that it will make things difficult for him and bring him scorn. It’s being true to himself; it is not giving up without a fight, and it’s what his mother would have wanted.

I absolutely did not understand this episode but...I still liked it? Does that make any sense?

I often find myself tempted to delve into symbol hunting and interpretation when trying to unravel Adventure Time's headier episodes, but that can leave me removed from how an episode made me feel. And that, after all, is the ultimate goal of art, right? To provoke some kind of response, some sort of emotion in the watcher?

So here's what I got. The entire episode, Finn is trying to find a way out, to hang onto something, "breadcrumb" style to where he can go back the way he came. This whole dungeon is a puzzle that he keeps trying to figure out, and every time he thinks he's got it, every time he believes that he has an exit, it sucks him back in.

So after dozens of different methods, he eventually stops trying to backtrack and just lets go. He kisses Jake goodbye. He gets a thread caught, a way to go back the way he came, and he gets rid of it; he gets rid of all his clothes and says "no egress."

There's a big part of me that wants to compare it to Sartre's No Exit, another instance where the main characters were trapped with no escape. And I'd bet dollars to donuts there's some connection there. But more than anything, there's a firmly present idea that it's only when Finn is able to let go, to stop trying to find a way back from what brought him to where he is, that he's able to move forward.

As I recall, there was a similar message in the doom train episode, that the adventure was a way for Finn to avoid confronting his feelings. This seemed to be a different shade of existentialism, some kind of idea about blocking it all out, and then finding some kind of enlightenment at the end (a place that matches up with Finn's map), before finding oneself again.

The episode made me feel Finn's loss, his sense of inevitably, that no matter what he did, he could either keep his eyes closed forever or let go of his attachments until he found his way back for real. Again, there's a lot to unpack, but there was something tragic about Finn's wandering and something unbelievably joyous when he breaks through. I'm sure it's a metaphor for something, but more than that, it was an interesting, mind-bending episode that has hints of inscrutability, but also of profundity, and I found myself captivated even when I wasn't entirely sure what was going on.

[8.1/10] If we take Sister Michael at her word, God is indifferent to the Derry Girls. But that’s the central referendum here: does he love them or does he hate them? For half of the episode, the universe bends in their favor, only to bend right back just as quickly. It’s a marvelous, albeit gutting structure to build the episode around.

First they just so happen to get the last five tickets to the Fatboy Slim concert in Derry. Then, they lose them when they're challenged for them by an angry bloke who goes by Madstab. But wait! Michelle peddles their (ever so slightly exaggerated) sob story to the local news and gets them VIP passes to the show! They’ll even get to meet Fatboy Slim himself! Except, Clare’s search for the girl she met at the record store not only reacquaints them with Madstab, but gets them kicked out for fighting to where they don’t even get to see the concert, let alone meet the headliner. Still, it’s not so bad! Despite everything, Clare gets the kiss from the girl of her dreams and is on Cloud 9! Only to be brought crashing back to earth in devastating fashion when Gerry comes to tell her that her dad had an aneurysm, and he eventually passes away.

It’s a brilliant sort of emotional whiplash. For ninety percent of the episode, Derry Girls plays the back and forth for laughs. The Derry Girls’ changes in fortune are comically exaggerated, involving fibs to the news and tough guys obsessed with Fatboy Slim and playful bouncers dressed like Cher from Clueless and an entire bar area filled with folks dressed at clowns. The silliness of our heroes stepping out as angels but being mistaken for swans, or yelling about the semantics of what a collection of clowns is called, is hilarious.

The parents’ story is nearly as funny. The absurdity of Sarah accidentally getting engaged when she accepts a ring without understanding the meaning behind it is classic her. The equal absurdity of her enlisting Gerry to have to break it to the poor fella that his engagement was a ridiculous misunderstanding (with Joe blaming the unfortunate guy for the trouble), is very amusing thanks to Gerry’s bewildered reaction to the whole situation. But the punchline is the piece de resistance. The clockwork gag of Sarah and Mary having rented Sister Michael’s nun habit, whose availability was established earlier, to where Ciaran believes Sarah’s “married to God” now is an utter hoot.

Even when it’s not being funny, “Halloween” is a sweet episode for most of the way. There's a comic goofiness to Clare’s dad showing up in a tiny car and joking about “stacking” the girls into it. But the reveal of him pulling them along on a float in a local Halloween parade, watching them enjoy the night of their lives, is a rousing moment.

The same goes for Clare getting her first (I assume?) kiss from the girl she met at the record store. It’s not as cheer-worthy as it might be since the girl is more of a thinly-drawn bit of wish-fulfillment than a full-fledged character with any kind of developed dynamic with Clare. Still, if anyone deserves a little wish-fulfillment, it’s Clare. Her stammering reaction to someone liking her is adorable, and her palpable joy at getting that kiss is infectious.

Until it’s ground down in the grit of tragedy. She goes from that riding high moment to mourning her father in a matter of minutes. It’s one hell of a gut punch. Nicola Coughlan does an outstanding job selling her grief at this sudden hardship. While I don’t normally love slowed down covers of pop songs, doing a solemn version of “Praise You” is more than poignant under the circumstances.

I expected Derry Girls to go for something more dramatic and heart-rending eventually, but I expected it at the end of the season, not now. The show caught me napping, and I wasn’t anymore prepared for such a sad development than Clare was. You feel so much for her, and the way her friends rally around her without question is a reminder that, for as loose and goofy as their friendship, and the series is, it’s also founded on some true and heartfelt bonds.

I don’t know if, in Lisa McGee’s conception of this story, God loves or hates the Derry Girls. He certainly toys with them given the mercurial way in which their fortunes change. And he gives Clare an immense trial to face at such a young age. But he also gave her a collection of friends to help cushion the blow and see her through this. That is fortunate amid such tragedy, and maybe even a saving grace.

[8.2/10] An Appa story that is essentially a one-bison version of Homeward Bound with a little Frankenstein thrown in for good measure? You can bet your behind I’m there.

What impresses me with this show is how much it conveys using just its visuals, without any dialogue. Particular kudos belong to Dee Bradley Baker, who gives the audience so much to go on as to what Appa is thinking and feeling through this ordeal with just a variety of grunts and groans.

When he’s fighting the various sandbenders, we feel his struggle and how hard he’s fighting. It’s a pretty easy bit, but when he’s captured by that jerk in the circus, we want nothing more than for him to escape such harsh and unfair environs. (And the connection to the kid who reminds him of Aang is a nice touch in that regard.)

My god though, those flashbacks to the little baby flying bisons melted my cold cold heart. Not only is a nice excuse to see some mini-bisons being cute out there, but it deepens the connection between Aang and Appa and helps explain further why Appa is so determined to get back to the Avatar.

His running into Suki is also a nice touch, if only because of how hurt and afraid he is at the time. The whole fear of fire gets overplayed a bit, but the way he’s clearly been through so much and is struggling to go on when Suki finds him creates such pathos in this poor mistreated creature. The scenes where he has spines sticking out of him, his fur looks haggard and fray, and he’s fearful of anyone coming near him create such a sense of pity for such a kind, gentle animal.

I don’t know that we really needed the run-in with Azula & Co. immediately after, but it was entertaining enough to see her and her compatriots clash with the Kyoshi Warriors. And the follow up, with Appa trying to return to familiar surroundings and ending up meeting a Guru at the Eastern Air Temple, portends all sorts of interesting things. The Guru is an appropriately weird character, but the way he bonds with Appa and sends him toward Aang, speaking in broad strokes mysticism all the while, made for an interesting denouement to all this excitement.

Of course, he has to get captured by the guy who seems to be the season’s big bad before we can go, which ends things on a bit of a down note, but still, it is, true to the Homeward Bound influence, an incredible journey that owes a great deal to the animators and design team for communicating so many emotions and so much character from a big fluffy sky buffalo. The fact that a wordless beast can inspire so much feeling is a testament to how good the A:TLA team is, even when they’re working with one hand tied behind their backs without the use of dialogue or typical story progression.

[6.4/10] The Good Place is getting a little too simplistic and didactic for my tastes here. The premise of the A-story is a good one -- Michael is an immortal being and so has never had to really consider morality because he’s never truly had to face the concept of death. So when he is facing the real prospect of “retirement,” at Chidi’s urging, he has a breakdown. That leads to some great comic acting from Ted Danson as his face practically melts with anguish and he curls up into a ball on Eleanor’s lap. It’s a heady thing to play for comic notes, but it works.

Buy then the show gets really broad and obvious about it. Having Michael shift from “existential crisis” to “mid-life crisis” is a clever enough twist, but the episode goes really cheesy with the humor, and it doesn’t land. At the same time, the flashbacks with Eleanor learning about death from her crappy mom have some decent laughs in them, but their message is too blunt. Eleanor considers how damaging ignoring your bad feelings about death is given the source, and then delivers an aesop to Michael about it. It’s too neat and too easy.

The B-story is solid, until the end. I like the idea that Tahani knows she’s intended to be “tortured” by having her great party be upstaged by one the demons are throwing, but that the realization that she still can’t beat them in party planning nevertheless bothers her. It’s an interesting opportunity for Tahani to have some self-reflection, and Jason offering her some comfort and support in his typically dim-witted way is sweet.

But man, having them sleep together feels like such a standard sitcom move. Not every instance of someone being nice to a member of the opposite sex needs to lead to romance. And it comes off like the show needing something for Tahani and Jason to do while bigger plot stuff is going on in the rest of the show. I’m not a fan of that choice, to state the obvious, though maybe I’m just salty because I was oddly compelled by last season’s Jason/Janet pairing.

Overall, one of the more standard-to-cornball episodes of the show thus far.

[9.4/10] I like Team Avatar. The group dynamic is fun, and the way the connections between them have been tested and strengthened over the series has been endlessly impressive. I like Aang, with the weight of the world on his shoulders despite his carefree personality. I like Katara, trying to hold everyone together despite impossible odds and omnipresent obstacles. I like Sokka, full of irreconcilable insecurity and overconfidence, coupled with sarcastic wit. I like Toph, who’s curt and non-nonsense in a way I appreciate. And I like the animal sidekicks, who provide physical comedy and adorable charm to the group.

But in the end, I’m most invested in Zuko’s story. Despite Aang growing and changing as he masters the four elements and trains to face Ozai, Zuko has the largest and most significant arc across the series. I’m not sure I would have believed it if you’d told me that’s how I’d feel after the first couple of episodes, where Zuko seemed like a generic evil prince with as much depth as a pancake. And yet here we are, where I’m not only glad that he is a regular presence in the show, but more excited and compelled by his turn to good than the course of any other character in the series.

Which is part of why it is so engaging, so endearing, to see him struggle to figure out how to be good, and also to convince others that he has changed. The way that Zuko practices his speech to Team Avatar on a frog, stumbling over his words and trying to apologize for his past misdeeds, state his intentions, and account for a gradual transformation that took fifty episodes is endearing. As Aang often does, Zuko seems like a real kid -- unsure of himself, plagued with self-doubt, and trying to encapsulate feelings and history that he doesn’t fully understand himself. Zuko is trying to outrun his own past, to make amends for it, and that is not and should not be an easy process.

That’s why I particularly love who is resistant and who is more open to embracing Zuko as a part of the group. Each has their reasons for being mistrustful or more welcoming to him. Sokka has the most generalized reasons, noting the laundry list of things Zuko’s done to them over the past weeks and months. Katara’s are more direct, with the events of Ba Sing Se leaving her feeling betrayed after she trusted and felt sorry for Zuko in the crystal caves, only to see him turn on her and Aang at the moment of truth.

And Aang himself harbors the sort of mistrust from being the object of Zuko’s pursuit, but there’s also a moment when Aang betrays his true motivations, or at least, feelings that muddy the water. Zuko rightly points out that Aang once said they might be friends in other circumstances, and both recently learned that the connection between the Avatar and Fire Nation royalty used to be much closer. Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but there’s a sense that Aang might want to forgive Zuko, to believe that there is good and him and help it flourish, but that doing so would mean that Aang has a mechanism to learn firebending, and that he must continue on this quest and face his destiny, something he seems very ready to avoid at all costs here.

But Toph is the perfect person to understand and be more willing to give Zuko a chance. For one thing, she hasn’t been with Team Avatar as long, and for much of her tenure, Zuko was figuring himself out rather than attacking the Aang gang, so she has witnessed less of the harm he is capable of inflicting. More to the point,.Toph understands what its like to have a family that doesn’t understand you, that tries to fit you into boxes and punishes you when you act outside of them. She is uniquely positioned to be a bridge between him and her friends, and it’s a nice use of the character.

It also doesn’t hurt that Appa licks Zuko with little-to-no resistance. It serves as a reminder that whatever ill Zuko’s done, he’s also done some good, including freeing the flying bison from Long Feng. It also speaks to a sort of instinctive endorsement from Appa, a sense that if this noble creature likes Zuko, he can’t be all bad.

Of course, it can’t be as simple as that. This is an action show and the people demand action. So beyond a simple, humanizing plea for forgiveness for the terrible things he’s done and for acceptance for the corrective things he hopes to do, we see Zuko lay himself on the line to try to stop Combustion Man even after he’s been rebuked.

It’s a nice sequence. I’ve come around on Combustion Man as getting by on presence and the coolness of his powers, and his (seeming) demise here plays to several things that have been previously set up. For one thing, it represents a present example of Zuko trying to correct for his mistakes, attempting to call off his goon, pay him double to stop, and then fight him when his efforts to implore his henchmen to relent fail, nearly plummeting to his doom in the process. If he were fully accepted after that, it would be too much too fast, but it works as a demonstration of the change he’s trying to convince Team Avatar of, and Katara’s continued mistrust prevents it from being too easy or convenient.

But it’s also a win for Sokka! It’s nice that this provides a unique opportunity for his boomerang to truly come in handy. At the same time, it shows off the incredible “set” of the Western Air Temple. The upside down buildings carved into the underside of a canyon shows great imagination, and it makes for a great playground for Aang and company to fly around in, but also a great setting in which to do battle, which heightens the thrill of the fight.

The funniest part of “The Western Air Temple” is Zuko’s impressions of his uncle and sister. Dante Basco outdoes himself here, not only capturing the affect of Zuko’s mentor and tormentor, but conveying the inner turmoil and abject hope the character has at this crossroads. Those impersonations are humorous in the moment, but call back to those dragons in his fever dream which spoke with the voices of Iroh and Azula, representing the battle of good and evil within him. We hope that this battle has been won and that Zuko is walking down the path of good, but it is an uneasy path, one where he must constantly account for his past mistakes and make assurances that his next steps will be different. That journey has been long, but it’s resulted in AtLA’s most complicated, interesting, and well-developed character, whose induction into Team Avatar is a cause for celebration.

[8.5/10] It’s amazing how far A:TLA has come as we reach just past the halfway point of the series. It is almost effortless in how well it combines comedy, action, lore, romance, depth, and continuity at this point, and “The Serpent’s Pass” is a great example of all of it.

Let’s start with continuity. Jet, frankly, annoyed me the first time we met him, so I’d be lying if I said I was terribly excited to see him back, particularly when he’s stealing without remorse. But pairing him up with Zuko is an interesting choices, and his talk of getting a fresh start in Bah Sing Se has some potential, so I’m willing to give it a pass for now.

But the other part of the episode that dips into continuity also adds romance to the broth. Suki, of the Kyoshi warriors, is back to lend our heroes a hand and flirt with Sokka. It’s a much more welcome return, if only because the episode quickly wrings some meaning and pathos from her reappearance.

There’s a nice mini-arc for Sokka here. He is extremely overprotective of Suki, neverminding the fact that when they met, she was a much better warrior than him. It’d seem patronizing but for their moment together at the camp later, when Sokka confesses that he’s still struggling with the memory of Princess Yuweh, and the fact that he wasn’t able to protect her. It’s clear that he still has guilt over that incident, and the way that the moon is framed between Sokka and Suki is a nice visual reminder of that.

But it’s not all sadness! After Suki stages a daring rescue, Sokka realizes that she’s been protecting him, not the other way around, and he’s able to let go of his insecurities. His returning Suki’s “you talk to much” line, and also her kiss, is one of the most heartwarming moments in the show so far. Again, Avatar is really good at earning moments like that, and having Sokka and Suki go through something once more before they get that kiss makes it all the sweeter.

There’s also some excellent action that leads the way. The water serpent that attacks our heroes has such a cool designs, with multicolored scales and a devilish tongue. But even if they’d never crossed paths with it, the sequence of Katara going all Moses and parting the sea, Toph raising a miniature island when they’re attacked within their little air bubble, and Katara and Aang ice-surfing and walking on water respectively to make a whirlpool were cool uses of the elemental powers and made for some fraught moments and exciting visuals.

Still, there’s more than action and romance. We’ve hit a lot of emotional states of Aang lately. After the fever pitch of his anger in the last episode, Aang admits that he’s been running away from his feelings a bit. It would be easy to try to be detached, to feel numbed, after not only losing someone you love and feeling like you can’t do enough to get them back, but also feeling like your emotions lead you to hurting others. There’s a metaphor there for young kids getting angry that’s potent, but it works purely as text to.

That’s what makes it so heartening when Aang sees a baby born amid all this tumult (from the woman they were escorting through the Serpent’s pass) and cries. However much Aang may want to give into the monk-like detachment he’s been schooled in, however much he may want to shut himself off from his feelings so as not to let them have power over him, he cannot see the creation of life and not be moved.
The episode underlines that fact a little too strongly for my tastes, but some allowance must be made for it being a kids show that needs to explain some of its heavier stuff for a younger audience. Still, Aang embracing his feelings, even at the risk that they’ll hurt him, and telling Katara how much she means to him, is a powerful moment in the show.

A:TLA is so adept at everything it’s trying to do at this point. Whether it’s reunite two characters after a minor romance that gets deepened considerably, stage an exciting battle with an aquatic reptile, or explore the ideas emotional numbness after loss and fear, this show is up to the task.

9.3/10. There's a lot of cool and important stuff that goes on here, but something has to be acknowledged out of the gate -- Sokka is funny. He was likely my least favorite character out of the gate, but he's settled nicely into a Xander-esque role in the main trio, and his sarcastic asides and near-meta jokes about how their seemingly innocuous adventures never go well really landed for me. He's become something of a one-man greek chorus, and I appreciate it.

But man, there's a lot of cool stuff in this one. I just loved the training between Aang and Jeong Jeong, and the chance to learn a little more about the Fire Nation and firebending in general. The idea that fire is the most temperamental of the elements, that firebenders have to walk "a razor's edge" to control it without destroying everything in its path gives an added dimension to the differences in powers among different tribes. Thus far, the powers have mostly been interchangeable, more of a rock/paper/scissors setup than abilities with meaningful differences. But Jeong Jeong's philosophical description of what it means to wield fire powers, and the importance of discipline in controlling it relative to the other bending disciplines adds more character to the world and its central mythos.

It also leads nicely into a fairly simple but solid story of growth for Aang in learning how to use Zhou's impatience against him. Aang himself spends much of the episode learning lessons from his own lack of patience and overeagerness. He exposes the gang in the midst of a Fire Nation festival by diving in too quickly; he grows frustrated with the slow pace and lack of fireworks in his initial training from Jeong Jeong, and his attempt to take on too much too fast with regard to the firebending causes him to burn Katara. Sure, that last one is a bit of a cliche in terms of character beats, but it still works as a means of Aang recognizing the importance of taking Jeong's lessons seriously and controlling the fire he can now summon, not just treating it as something else he can play around with. The way he turns around and uses that lesson to defeat Zhou, by goading the General into fireblasting his own boats, is a nice button for that story.

Zhou's part of the episode was interesting in and of itself. It's not shocking in a show that's playing in the same Joseph Campbell monomyth space, but there was a lot of Star Wars and Harry Potter here, with an old master trying to train the new chosen one, while telling him of a former apprentice who was too thirsty for power and became a major evil in the world. The tropes are familiar, but in a good way, and it instantly adds character to both Jeong and Zhao.

Lastly, it's some of the best designed and animated the show's been thus far. There's a golden hue to the whole region around the Fire Nation City. The way the episode depicts the fireworks and flame tricks amid the fire festival was legitimately dazzling, and the final fights between Aang, Zhao, and Jeong (not to mention the lighted hue of Katara's healing power) were all creative and visually arresting. Even the brief lighting shift when Avatar Roku confronts Jeong to train Aang (a really cool scene) helped sell the weight of that moment. The show's stepped up its game in terms of art direction, and it's great to see.

Overall, this is the show firing on all cylinders, giving us comedy, worldbuilding, character development, action, and art in one exciting package.

Weirdest finale ever. Were the writers high this season?

I liked that the show brought back the rest of the family like Jenny and Eric for quick cameos. That Blair and everyone seemed happy but come on. William got Lily? Nice message. Bad guy gets the girl. Not romantic at all.

Lily had no character development at all in the series since she was the same manipulative person. Jack was forgiven so easily after being a total a-hole to his nephew for so many years?

I wish the writers would have done to following for season 6:

• After his marriage Rufus meets a pretty/cute woman and strikes up a flirtation with her. 5 yrs later, he’s married to her. Not much screen time needed.

• I wish Lily lost her fortune due to Khama for years of manipulations. She is alone for awhile and gets a real job, makes real friends, and meets someone new and good then her finances get fixed. 5 yrs later she’s married to him and thus has one of her longest marriages.

• I wish Eric had much more of a storyline but I get the actor was on another show...

• Nate’s plot the last couple years was flimsy. First off, they referred to him as going to school while working at the Spectator. Riiight. No, for Nate he should have lost the job as a result for not paying attention to it since he paid more attention to women. He should have finished school having met some new friends and then partner up with one of them for a news magazine or something that becomes a success.

• Blair, I really like how she worked with her mom in the end. I wish there was a little more of that. She was still a bully this season which was a reversal of her character growth in season 5. The writers messed up. They should have shown her as more compassionate to people like Nelly.

• Serena...sigh. Flaky Serena. I actually like that Dan wrote the bad version of her. I would have liked her to do soul searching because of it instead of running away. Read more, get some tough jobs where she struggles a bit. Makes friends with people who have little money and you know, grows as a person. After season 5 her character needed that. I grew to hate her character and while I love Dan for everything up to the final season, I had zero reaction about their wedding and it was because I didn’t like Serena anymore.

• Chuck. Ugh!!! Seriously he’s done some horrible things and then he keeps pushing Blair away. WHY are we supposed to root for him? He’s a jerk and aside from the occasional good one liner he’s not worth rooting for.

The Chuck and Blair relationship is passionate but unhealthy.

• Dan should have been shown leaving New York and building a life in London and traveling with new friends or a girlfriend. Eventually finding his way back to NYC. I loved him with Blair but if he was to be with Serena then he should have run into her 5 yrs later where they had both grown and changed and fallen in love as the new versions of themselves.

As for Gossip Girl, if it were me, I’d have made it someone in the background. Someone barely in season1 then occasionally shown at the school and the city. That minion Hazel or even Mrs Waldorf (mother of master manipulator Blair) would have worked. She could have sent GG blasts to test her daughter and to punish her. Maybe it was her dark side?

Dan as GG would have worked except the scenes that made it look like he was shocked and upset at the GG blasts when he was alone. Who was he putting that show on for? No it didn’t fit. Now if he hadn’t had those scenes and didn’t attack his friends in the blasts (unless it was for their own good) then I’d buy it.

Yeah I wasn’t impressed with the final season at all.

I did however like the little details like the newspaper article with Lola Rhodes starring in the movie based on Ivey’s book. Nice little touch.

Overall good series but terrible ending. Weird final season that felt like it was a grab for ratings. Writers/producers seemed to care only about making people gasp instead of staying in character and trying to better the story.

[8.7/10] One of the defining Finn moments for me will always be his refusal to kill an “unaligned ant.” Finn’s not above kicking butt when necessary, but killing, particularly someone who has at least some good in them, is the sort of thing that understandably rocks him to his core. So accidentally killing not only someone who means well, in his own twisted sort of way, but who is a reflection of him, is an understandable heavy thing for him to confront.

There’s a mournfulness, a regret that hangs in the air as Finn makes his way back to the treehouse. Jake immediately knows something’s wrong. BMO recognizes that Finn has killed someone (maybe from her experiences with AMO?). And it’s the perfect sort of shock to keep the show’s main character in after such a harrowing, soul-straining experience.

It reaches that point after Fern tricks Finn into entering some old ruins, and then aims to trap him there so that he can take over as the “real Finn” (having mastered his shapeshifting ability to pull off the impersonation). It’s a nice touch for Finn to get so frustrated so quickly and admit he has abandonment issues that exacerbate his problems. And as I mentioned in my write-up for the last episode, there’s something understandable, if terrifying, about Fern’s pretzel logic here and attempt to take over Finn’s life to try to self-actualize.

Finn manages to solve his problem via his PB-constructed robot arm. In the bit that brings most of the episode’s comedy, Bubblegum’s little voice message to Finn (particularly her little hand-puppet bit) and deadpan responses to Finn’s unrelated questions (“what are you doing?” “I’m a weedwacker!”) brought the laughs in an otherwise heavy episode.

It’s heavy because Finn gets out of sorts enough to attack Fern, because his great goal in life is to make everyone happy and see the best in people, and having to see a version of himself that would not only lock him away but try to take over his life has to be an unmooring experience for the young hero. His pleas that it doesn’t have to be this way resonate, and add another level of tragedy when his hope to avoid such “finality” is interpreted as “fatality” and obliterates his doppelganger. The mysterious wizard who collects the remnants of Fern suggests there’s more to come, but the power of the episode comes from Finn crossing a line he’s never crossed in this way before, even accidentally, and the magnitude of force that event has on this kind, decent kid.

8.8/10. Maybe, just maybe, this is Avatar turning the corner. Or maybe I'm just starting get wrapped up in the awesome mythos of the show. I could be biased by Dave Filoni's involvement, but it feels like there's a lot of very positive Star Wars influence here -- the idea of a young kid with powers he doesn't understand trying to fight against an evil empire that controls the world, while attempting to recapture the powers and spirit of a lost age. I've been conditioned for that sort of thing to appeal to me, as the characters settle a bit, and I get more used to the animation style, Avatar is starting to cast its spell on me.

To the point, the opening sequence where our heroes and Prince Zuko try to run Commander Zhao's blockade is pretty much just empty action, and yet the flaming balls of fire in the sky, Appa ducking and dodging, the smoke billowing out of the back of Prince Zuko's ship, were all pretty stunning images that made for an exciting set piece. The show's started to find a balance of the cool action it's been capable of from early on and the mythos and worldbuilding that are its greatest asset.

There's also some clever writing at play once they get to crescent island. I love the notion of the once noble monks who lost hope and kowtowed the the Fire Nation, but there being one true believer who's willing to go against his brothers for the Avatar. And even the video game-esque plot obstacle of needing to open the giant door was fairly clever. The whole lamp oil plan seemed like kind of a cheat, but then using it as a fakeout to get the Fire Monks to open the door by convincing them Aang's in there and then sneaking in when they do is a very nice way to go about it. Even though the fight, including the renewed presence of Commander Zhao, is cool but a little convenient to getting Aang into the room with Roku by himself, it's a nice progression of events.

Once he gets in there and talks to Roku, things slow down a bit. There's nothing especially novel about Roku's reveals -- there's a big event coming up that will make the bad guy even stronger, it's how he got his powers immediately, and you have to get strong really fast to beat him. That's pretty standard fantasy epic stuff. But still, the comet, the Fire Lord, and the guidance of a voice from the beyond work well enough as hints toward the future, something to direct the trajectory of the series that it works. And Aang coming out as Avatar Roku and destroying the temple had a pretty epic feel in and of itself, something eventful and symbolic of the old era, the era of Roku ending, and a new era beginning.

Overall, these past two episodes have hopefully been the show finding it's groove. They've been exciting and compelling and further developed the contours of the show's world.

9.2/10. Best episode of the series so far. Both the A-story and the B-story built the world in interesting ways and added some character development to the major figures in the show.

On the one hand you have Aang figuring out his bond to the spirit world without really having any guidance to do so. I enjoyed the show exploring this mythos. There's a cool world that this show has set up, and a noteworthy mythology. It's a deft move to have Aang figuring both out at the same time the audience is. Having him slowly but surely piecing together his abilities, through trial and error, makes him more relatable, and leans into the better side of the character -- the one who's in over his head and trying to good, rather than the annoying little kid.

The spirit world journey was pretty cool in and of itself. Having the animal guide of the former Avatar lead him around the spirit world, showing him visions of what's been and what's to come, is a novel way of providing some exposition and foreshadowing. The prospect of the solstice as an important time for these spiritual bonds works well, and the ancient temple that contains the promise of Aang getting to meet the man who could actually provide him some guidance in this mystifying journey is an exciting one.

I also liked the resolution that Aang figured out that the local spirit of the forest was angry. I have to admit, the whole "spirit of the area" thing is still a little new and unfamiliar to me (it definitely threw me off in Spirited Away), but it works as a unique spirit-based hurdle for Aang to have to leap over, finding a connection, a sight through to the spirit world, and the promise that the forest will regrow (thanks to Katara) that mollifies the beast rather than slaying it.

The implication seems to be that the forest was so devastated by Iroh's siege many years ago, and his story is interesting too. I've always loved the trope of the powerful old monk who employs obfuscating stupidity or impishness to belie the nature of his powers (see also: Yoda). So the idea that Iroh was captured, but found subtle and tricky ways to leave a trail behind and torment his captors is something I really responded to. Iroh's quickly become a favorite character on the show, and his mischeviousness (not to mention the abilities he shoes in the fight with the earthbenders) reinforce that.

At the same time, we get another layer to the Fire Prince as well. Rather than leaving him as a one-note bad guy, the fact that he's willing to ignore a chance to chase the Avatar in order to save his uncle shows that he has attachments and cares beyond his quest. It humanize's the show's antagonist, and provides a small but effective way to deepen the show.

Overall, it's the most I've liked Avatar thus far. "The Spirit World" not only heightens the mythos of the show through the journey to the spirit world and hints at an appearance from the last Avatar, but it gives us new dimensions for Aang, Iroh, and the Fire Prince (and even Sakara is growing on me as the Xander Harris of the group -- the less adept or tactful but brave one). An encouraging step for the show.

When you think it can't get any more insane... introducing: killer hypnosis. I must say, I like seeing Evelyn again. I don't really know why but I always thought she was the only good thing that came from this Farm storyline and I was a little bit sad to see her go. But seriously though... Tangerine? So IF Jughead is really dead (which is a big IF... the writers would be crazy to let the most beloved main character go) it's because Betty is under hypnosis on a killing spree to kill her dark self. Can we just let dark Betty go already? It never worked.

Good seeing Mama Blossom again. We could have seen that one coming. I'm glad Cheryl didn't kill her. Penelope has always been one of my favorite characters. Glad they finally got rid of creepy Jason... I can't believe this entire storyline though. Toni is all up in that crazy, seemingly okay with it. This ruined the sweet romance between Cheryl and Toni for me. How would she be okay with her girlfriend keeping the body of her deceased twin! Glad it's over.

Veronica does not learn. She continues to blab all of her plans to Daddy dearest and ends up being surprised by his comebacks. Girl, just stop talking. At least this episode didn't feature the words 'Daddykins' or 'Archiekins'... cringe
Speaking of Archie... I hope the writers give him something else to do now. All this beating up people is getting old. I love the moment he had with his mom though and I'm interested in seeing who his uncle is.

7.0/10. Solid enough episode. It's nice to see Katara be shown as a little bit flawed and not just and endlessly trusting, endlessly supportive sidekick. The fact that she was frustrated by Aang having waterbending come so naturally to him when she had to struggle so much to reach her meager level of mastery was a nice, human moment from her. Still, it was a bit cheesy that in the end, it was her and Aang's combined waterbending skills that got the pirate ship out of the harbor and stopped it from going down the falls long enough for Appa to save them.

And my lord, the fight with the pirates went on forever. It was done well enough, with the hand-to-hand combat stuff fading into a big water-bound chase, but it was just nothing but undifferentiated action that felt like it needed another quiet moment or two to get the pacing right. There was nothing wrong with the episode exactly, and Uncle Iroh dragging Prince Zuko around for a minor game tile was good for a few laughs, but for the most part this one felt like solid but unspectacular filler.

But hey, I've slowly but surely realized that I'm endeared to Appa because he reminds me a lot of my cat, so that's something! Still, mostly a filler episode, albeit a perfectly fine one.

Very interesting coming back to this one having finished the whole series. What's funny is that I expected to have more affection for this episode given how much I came to care about and enjoy these characters in the subsequent 60 episodes of the show, but I ended up pretty well agreeing with my original review. If anything, I probably feel even more strongly that this is a pretty subpar introduction to a superlative series.

Oh sure, it sets up the basic dynamic of the show well enough. Aang is a spritely kid. Katara is determined but a little lost. Sokka is...way more of a jerk than he would later develop into. And Zuko is intense and angry and determined to catch the Avatar. But everyone on the show seems much more childish and caricatured than they would become. The animation is less finished and there's less aesthetic beauty than the show would hone later. And above all this just seems like a paint by numbers chosen one story to kick off a series that is anything but.

Rest assured, if you heard the hype and walked away from this opening chapter underwhelmed, you're not alone and not unjustified, and the show gets much, much better.

5.3/10. I'm excited to watch this, because of how much fandom buzz there is for it, but I can tell it's going to be tough sledding for me (no pun intended) until I get acclimated to the series. The anime art style has never really clicked with me, and it results in a lot elements in the episode leaving me cold. For instance, there's a stop-and-start quality to the animation that makes things like Aang and Katara's penguin sledding sequence feel like a particularly fleshed-out animatic rather than full-fledged and fluid scene. In addition, the exaggerated expressions from the characters at various emotional moments--what I would call mugging from live action actors--strikes me as cheesy and makes it harder for me to connect with these characters as real people. Still, director Dave Filoni had similar growing pains and bumps in the road with The Clone Wars and Rebels in the Star Wars franchise, so I'm willing to give him some time here to get everything right and to get used to the show's style of presentation.

There is, as you expect from a pilot, a lot of exposition, which comes off as pretty clunky but is also a necessary evil in establishing a setting like this. I have to admit, I like the idea of the world more than the way it's presented here. The concept of four "nations" of peoples across the world, with different types of magic-wielders is a neat idea, and the notion of a hundred-years long war that has left the magic-wielders scattered and possibly extinct in the face of an evil force creates an interesting sense of a generational, historical context to everything we see now. (It retrospect, with that premise, it makes total sense that Dave Filoni was tapped to work in the Star Wars Universe after working on this show.)

I also like the interesting theme that there is, in effect, a missing generation here. Everyone we meet in "The Boy in the Iceberg" is very young or very old. There's the sense that this war has decimated the people who should be leading the world right now. Instead, you have a bunch of kids who are too young to have the maturity or wisdom to know how to handle the difficulties of life trying to hold things together, and a bunch of older people with the wisdom, but not the vigor, to keep their descendants safe and well trying to guide them. Aang being over a century old, but mentally only twelve, works as an interesting way to put a character on both sides of this notion.

That said, the actual setup of the characters and immediate conflict didn't really grab me. Aang, Sokka, and Katara are all pretty basic archetypes, with semi-annoying qualities grafted onto them for good measure. The impish chosen one, the doubtful and pesky big brother, and the preternaturally sharp normal person thrust into this situation leaves a lot to be desired as a main trio coming out of the gate. Plus the Fire Prince kind of feels like a G.I. Joe villain with his evil evilness and single-minded plan. (Though I do like his sort of world-weary, somewhat impish great uncle.) Still, there's time to develop all three of them (and those same criticisms basically apply to the main Harry Potter trio and their antagonist in the franchise's early outings) so I'm trying not to put too much stock in the failings on this front just yet.

Overall, the premise of the show is great, and I like how quickly the intrigue of the mythology locks into place (not to mention the pretty adorable flying fluffy bison), but I'm still not quite on board with the characters who are populating the world just yet.

[7.4/10] This one took a bit to get going, but gained momentum as it went.

Once again, I wasn’t crazy about the girls’ story in this one, since the prospect of a haunted house, even a mistaken one, is once again too out there for my tastes. Them freaking out about curses and hauntings and other ghostly bric-a-brac was a big yawn for me. The laughs weren’t really there and everyone mugging with exaggerated screams wasn’t my jam either.

But I liked a lot of the other elements of the main story. James having an awkward conversation with the officer at the checkpoint was good for a laugh. So was the big realization that the girls’ had actually been “cleaning out” the wrong house, and had stumbled onto a stranger’s cottage rather than Sister Michael’s aunt’s place. Sister Michael getting them out of trouble by explaining that they’re from Derry and have thus suffered enough was the funniest part of the whole thing.

God help me I was downright touched by James confessing his feelings to Erin. We had hints of this when he took her to the dance, but it’s nice to see it come to fruition. There's not a lot of depth to it, but it feels lived-in and real in a way not much this season has for the girls. Orla makes a solid point about it threatening to mess up their group’s friendship, but the kiss and James’ “IIt’s okay, I can wait” is very wholesome and endearing. It even dovetails nicely with the grown-ups’ story after a fashion.

That subplot, with the adults going to a psychic to make a connection with Mary’s dead mother, is a laugh riot. Conleth Hill remains a charming screen presence (hello Game of Thrones fans!), and between him doing the “affected psychic” routine and grousing at his elderly mother, his scenes are the comic highlight of the half hour. Gerry’s skepticism, Mary and Sarah’s fervent belief in finding a conduit to the great beyond, and Joe’s focus on having his dead wife locate his old electric razor all lead to plenty of laughs too.

Yet, this one lands on some place earnest and sweet too. There's a funny poetry to this one, where in one part of the episode, the characters have some reason believe ghosts are really there, and it turns out to be one big mix-up, whereas in the other, the whole thing seems like a goofy farce, but the psychic is genuinely onto something! (Or so it seems.)

Carlos Santini seems to be applying the standard cold reading techniques, but him locating the American Air Force officer who’s apparently pestering Aunt Sarah from the great beyond, or getting a message about water and a red box from their mom seems to have some validity to it. Maybe it’s just coincidence, but I love the choice to make Joe’s silly quest to find his razor into something more genuine when he’s touched by finding the razor in a red box under the sink. Ian McEllhiny gives a great performance, showing that beyond the bluster, he really does love and miss his wife, with Derry Girls giving him a characteristically oddball reminder of hta.t

Overall, the haunted house bits, which take up a good portion o f the episode, fell flat to me, but the rest of what “The Haunting” had to offer was quite good.

8.5/10. I have to admit, I'm a sucker for the Banana Guards, and they brought a lot of laughs here. The "infiltration" by Finn and Jake during the changing of the guard (replete with Banana cream pies!) was a Three Stooges-esque delight, and their affable, loving stupidity tickles my funny bone every time.

But what I really loved about this episode was how it played on the way different people see Princess Bubblegum. Finn sees her as "cool," and can't shake that image of her, which is why he's kind of upset when he originally sees the graffiti. Jake sees her as just a part of the continuum, which is why he appreciates the art and is able to look past who it's representing. The Banana Guards in general look at her as an object of worship, as a benevolent if frightening persona whom, as PB herself points out, they both love and fear. Banana Guard 16 in particular sees her as a cold and unknowable deity, with the way she destroyed candy people and tampers with their minds and their very beings. And Princess Bubblegum sees herself as "just a person." The leader of Ooo has had a lot of shades added to her over the years, and her acceptance, or at least attempt to vindicate the idea that she's no longer a god on high, but a part of the community, on the same level as her creations, is a nice grace note to the opening of the season where we see her bitter and disappointed at having been ousted by the candy people.

Because at the end of the day, she accepts and loves them. She's not the same PB who would mess with Banana Guard 16's brain; she's the one who recognizes that these big yellow dopes she's been frustrated by and indifferent to have special talents that she may never have imagined (and which, in a kind of weird sequence, drive Jake crazy). The idea that Finn and Bubblegum see that in them, that but for a few genetic bumps in the road, they can be different and unique and just as valid, thinking and feeling being as anyone else in Ooo, is a nice little breakthrough for the show. It's wonderful to see Adventure Time still adding wrinkles to its characters and its world as it closes out the show's seventh season.

(Also, Banana Guard 16 was giving me mild flashbacks to "Princess Cookie.")

[6.0/10] I admire the show for having the gumption to do an episode where we barely see the title character at all, but if anything, this exposed some of the weakness of her supporting cast when they don’t have Korra to play off of.

The adventure of Mako, dogged detective, didn’t do much for me. It’s a trite story, where the young cop has a bead on a conspiracy but can’t get enough evidence to convince the by-the-book chief that his leads are real. (Though the two humps on the force who are giving him a rough time remind me of Polk and Mahon from The Wire.) I’ve often found Mako to be kind of bland, and when he’s just following leads and playing the hard-boiled cop, that issue only feels worse.

It doesn’t help that the mystery feels pretty academic. Again, I’m not sure if I had the contours right, but it seemed pretty likely in prior episodes that Varick was setting up a lot of this to, at a minimum, strengthen his business position. Mako working the beat and halfway renewing his romance with Asami doesn’t add much to that. There’s some local color in the form of the Triple Threats, Shady Shin, and Two-Toe Ping, but otherwise his chasing down the attacks on Asami’s boats is thin broth.

By contrast, I usually really like Bolin and find him to be a character who really leavens the proceedings. But having him star in Varick’s “movers” (which are homages to the propaganda serials of old), and get a big head from it is another cliché story. His decision to kiss Ginger despite her clear lack of interest is uncomfortable, and his refusal to help Mako just feels out of character. It’s not crazy for Bolin to get too wrapped up in his celebrity, but it happens very quickly and gets annoying just as fast.

The non B-team teases we get are decent. I like that Unalaq is traveling from pole-to-pole through the spirit world, and that he seems taken aback when his kids tell him Korra’s dead. As for Korra herself, I’m always very very leery of amnesia stories, since they tend to be kind of dumb, but I’m intrigued by the helpful people who rouse her when she washes ashore. Maybe they’re from that Fire Temple Aang visited in the first season of AtLA? Just a guess. Either way, has more intrigue than the fairly rote stuff the show gave us in her absence here.

[8.3/10] Avatar goes Indiana Jones! There was a lot of good world building and character development here, albeit some that was a little blunt in its messaging at times. Still, more added wrinkles to the world of AtLA and some really great design and animation and other visual touches as well.

The episode centered on something I neglected to mention in my write-up for the last episode that helps explain why Zuko makes for a good firebending teacher for Aang. Aang’s hang up is a fear of hurting people after his last experience with firebending. That’s something Zuko knows too well, the risk that a fire gone out of control can be dangerous. The episode emphasizes a lot of ideas of balance, and then extends to its two leads, where Aang is too timid when it comes to using fire and Zuko can be a bit overzealous. The show isn’t particularly subtle about this, but the pair still make for nice counterpoints to one another in their approaches to firebending, hardship, and really everything. The odd couple idea works.

So do the Sun Warriors and their settlement. There’s something inherently cool about the faux-Mayan setup in terms of design. There’s a bit of unfortunate exoticism to it, but still, the ancient temples and Indy-esque booby traps and ancient puzzles make for some cool moments. At the same time, I like the idea that Zuko’s firebending abilities came from anger and drive, and that with him joining Team Avatar, that is gone and he needs to find a new source of bending ability. By the same token, I like that to do so, he has to go back and find the original source of bending, like badger moles as the first earthbenders (which adds detail to Toph’s backstory) and sky bison as the first airbenders. The whole dragon mythos continues to develop the red dragon/blue dragon dichotomy that the show has been stewing over for a while.

It also leads to one of the show’s most visually impressive scenes. The design of the Sun Warrior city and the surrounding area is cool all around. But the piece de resistance is the moment when the dragons emerge, swirling in sync with Aang and Zuko’s forms, and then surrounding them in multi-colored light. There is visual splendor, signifying both the awe and harmony of these abilities, and the diversity of it -- a swirl of the different colors enmeshed in the fire.

It also brings forth that idea of balance -- the notion that fire is not just destruction, it is creation. All life, all energy, comes from the sun, and the ability to firebend is tied to that same idea, allowing it to be a positive force, not just an annhilating one. Aang describing his piece of the eternal flame as like a little heartbeat drives that home.

Overall, the episode is a bit heavy-handed with its points, but makes up for it in the texture it adds to the already expansive mythos of the show, the way it develops Aang and Zuko as foils for one another who nevertheless learn to act in sync, and the visual acuity it shows off here.

7.8/10. A vast improvement on the opening pair of episodes. I liked both the A-story and the B-story here, as both added depth to the protagonist and the antagonist of the show thus far.

Aang visiting the Southern Temple, and realizing that only is everyone he knew and trusted gone, but they were murdered, is a pretty intense story. There's something that always gets me, whether it's anticipatory or imaginary nostalgia, about stories of a lost civilization, a way of life that was stamped out. The great design on the Air Temple evoked this very well, with glimpses of the old air bending monks, and things like the circle of stone avatars which evokes a certain generational legacy and spirituality without having to underline things too much. At the same time, I appreciate the notion of Aang as someone with "phenomenal cosmic power" but a great deal of immaturity, to where times of great emotion and stress provoke his avatar powers to come forth in a way he can't quite control. I'm sure there's a metaphor for kids not having control of their tempers or emotional stability just yet, but I think it works well just as text too.

That said, not everything in that part of the story was great. Sokka's entire M.O. in the episode being endless attempts to try to get something to eat got old fast, and made for a pretty weak attempt at comic relief in the midst of some legitimately interesting mythology and worldbuilding, not to mention character development for Aang. Beyond that, Katara telling Aang that she knows he lost his family, but that she and Sokka are his family now felt really rushed and trite. And as cute as Momo is, I don't know that we really needed a Disney-esque animal sidekick.

But the B-story picked up a lot of slack on that front too. Again, it's nice worldbuilding to show that Prince Zuko isn't a monolithic villain, that he is, in fact, something of an outcast within the Fire Nation, who's challenged by his people's generals and ostrasized by his own father. It makes him sympathetic rather than the one-note villain he's been thus far. In addition, I loved the story told in his fight with General Zhou, where he's initially overwhelmed and emotional, but finds his focus and uses the basic to recover his pride and win the match. It was a well-animated segment (and I enjoyed the design work in this episode overall even when the animation left a bit to be desired) that hewed toward emotion and flow over pure visual spectacle. To the same end, I love the hint that Prince Zuko's uncle has more power and ability than he lets on. The old master who's obfuscating goofiness and hiding his true abilities is a trope, and the hint of it here is intriguing.

Overall, it's still early, but this is the first episode that's made me excited to see what else the show has in store. Hopefully it's a harbinger of great things to come.

I'm usually not a fan of musical episodes (though I hate black-white episodes even more), but I didn't really worry when I heard about the musical episode because so far Riverdale has really nailed all music scenes.
The only complaints I have is that some scenes had some really bad lip-syncing, and that Jughead's camera scenes seemed weirdly out of place and pointless the whole time. It was just a bit too much - I would have rather seen a different episode where they focused on these camera scenes instead of a musical episode and the reality show camera at the same time.

Some random comments/thoughts:

- I have to admit Archie made me laugh again - Once again he's overshadowed by all the other actors who have impressive voices while he sounded so... normal.
- Why does the whole Hiram/Archie story seem more and more like some weird love relationship? "A young man never forgets his first car" - Hiram made it sound like he just stole Archie's first kiss, Jesus.
- Ugh, why did Hal and Alice have to get back together. I feel like they have no chemistry at all (and Hal no personality) and I would rather see them separated and see how Alice slowly starts a relationship with FP (which would make Betty/Jughead awkward, but it wouldn't be the weirdest thing we have on this show).
- Also, we're still not considering therapy or any kind of help for Cheryl? Really? No one? Well, then...
- What the fuck was that ending? It was so absurd and so typical Riverdale, Jesus Christ.

8.4/10. One of the things I love about Adventure Time is it does a really good job of capturing things that feel very human, even within its fantastical setting. We've all played a game, or engaged in some activity with someone who's way more invested in it than us. We've all come up against someone who is both a sore winner and a sore loser. "Card Wars" does a great job at taking the show's two lovable characters and throwing them into those scenarios, where you get Jake excitedly and haughtily telling Finn about the game, and Finn struggling to walk the line between standing up to Jake and setting him off.

It's relatable but also has enough of *Adventure Time*s whimsical flair to keep things breezy. Card Wars itself has the perfect blend of feeling just real enough to be a futuristic version of Magic the Gathering or something, but just goofy enough to feel like a parody and not something you can actually try to nitpick the rules of. B-Mo is adorable, from her line about not wanting to play such games with Jake to the immortal "B-Mo" chop. And Finn's "dweeb" vs. "cool guy" drink switcheroo is the perfect way to defuse the situation with Jake winning. Overall, it's a nice little look at a minor but recognizable moment most everyone has experienced at some point.

[8.1/10] I really like the approach of this one, with Korra being out of options and having to go to the source of her PTSD in order to move past it. Consulting Zaheer directly is a really interesting way to go, both because it gives the show a chance to go a little Hannibal Lecter with the proceedings, but also because it shows more depth to the series most complicated and interesting villain.

I also like the message of the episode, that part of Korra’s breakthrough needs to come from accepting what happened, not trying to ignore it, outrun it, or overcome it. Dramatizing that through her trying to meditate into the spirit world, and only making it there once she plays out her worst and most harrowing moment is a nice touch. The show does well to play that theme of acceptance in the face of trauma, that it’s not something that can be ignored or expunged, merely faced and accepted. Strong thematic material.

And again, bringing her face-to-face with Zaheer and having him help her through it is a really interesting choice. I like the idea that his interests are aligned with hers because Kuvira is just another tyrant in his eyes. It’s a little convenient (and Korra’s a little too trusting) but again, she’s exhausted all other options. His statements that Korra’s powers are limitless and she’s only holding herself back are interesting, and even the imagery of him floating while in chains is a striking one.

I also really liked the Bolin/Opal story. It’s a little cliché, but it’s nice that a well-meaning romantic gesture isn’t enough to simply wipe away all the bad blood between him and Opal, but that him taking real action to right the wrongs he (however inadvertently) helped create is what gives him a chance to make things work between them again. It’s not the deepest storyline, and parts of it feel justified enough yet a little convenient (like Lin telling Opal they can’t ask others to put their lives on the line to save the other members of their family) but I like the fact that it shows trust has to be earned again.

The rest of the episode feels like table setting. The spirit vines going nuts ‘round the world is a nice touch, and it’s interesting seeing some international diplomacy (even if it’s mostly an excuse for Wu to be an idiiot), but that part of the episode feels like table setting.

Still, overall, this was one of the strongest episodes of the season, and presents a satisfying turning point in the season-long plot of Korra’s recovery.

[7.1/10] I’ve come to really enjoy Varick. Maybe it’s just that his clownish antics get more amusing as you acclimate to them, or that comedy vet John Michael Higgins brings his A-game to the outsized character, or maybe it’s just that he’s TLoK’s answer to Iron Man (replete with his own Pepper Potts), but his cartoony presence was a treat here, and I’ve come to welcome his interludes rather than disdain them.

By the same token, Asami has often felt like a wasted character on this show, with really just the undercooked estrangement from her father in Season 1 and a couple of awkward love triangles to show for so far. But I really like the storyline of her father seeking forgiveness and her deciding whether she wants to grant it to him and if so, how much and how soon. The notion of someone doing unforgivable things but being the blood of your blood, and the person who raised you is a rich one to explore. The story is brief in this episode, but it’s still compelling.

That said, much of “Enemy at the Gates” feels like it’s rehashing points the audience already knows or stalling before the inevitable confrontation. We get backstory on the schism between Suyin and Kuvira, and it basically comes down to things that were already implied in prior interactions and comments, with the only true reveal being that Kuvira worked behind Suyin’s back and took Zaofu’s security forces with her.

Again, I like the conflict here -- where Kuvira sees herself as making hard choices to keep things in order in the Earth Empire and Suyin sees herself standing on bigger principles and Korra is just trying to keep the peace -- but it needs to be advanced, not just rehashed. It also doesn’t help that Kuvira continues to be mustache-twirlingly evil with how she threatens Varrick and Bolin, which undercuts the idea that Korra should try to find a diplomatic solution to this.

Still, there’s plesantness in the attempts from both her and Korra to broker peace. Bolin’s defection is quick (and the mecha battle with him, Varrick, and Zhulee turned pretty generic pretty fast too) but it’s still an interesting story to see someone’s pollyanna view of their leader deteriorate. By the same token, I at least appreciate the conflict from Korra’s point of view, where she has preferences in the standoff between Suyin and Kuvira, but doesn’t want to fight for fear that it might just make things worse.

This is a season where the politics of the Four Kingdoms are front and center, and the ensuing clash of ideologies is fascinating. But making it as interesting in terms of the story being told, and not just in the ideas at play, is something this episode could have done better, even if the medicine goes down easier with the help of Varick’s clowning around.

[7.1/10] I appreciate the show wanting to use some time in its season to tell a story about the airbender kids who, outside of Jinora, don’t really get much flavor. Ikki’s running away back in Season 2 was a nice counterpoint to the sibling issues her dad was facing at the time. But there’s not really enough to grab onto here.

I like the idea of exploring Ikki as a middle child, but the show never rises above the usual sibling rivalry clichés here: seeing her older sister as supercilious and her little brother as inappropriate and rude, leaving her feeling overlooked. There’s some decent comedy between Ikki and the local Earth Empire guards (who have a real Bert and Ernie vibe to them), but the “my siblings don’t understand me, but I have contributions to make too” bit is a little too generic of a middle child story to make much impact.

Korra’s part of the episode is better. I like her being in the swamp where (presumably) Aang saw his first vision of Toph and finding her way toward healing. My worry when we started this mini-arc was that the show would have Korra get her groove back too fast out there, and that’s still a bit true. But I like that at least we get Toph (a.) telling Korra to learn from her enemies and even see the good in them and (b.) telling her not to keep re-fighting her old battles as a way to move on. Sure, it’s all broad strokes pop psychology, but given the *Star Wars*ian undertones of a wrinkle guide giving the chosen one life advice in a swamp, it totally work.

It is a nice moment where the two stories collide, the airbending kids meet one of their grandparents’ best friends, and there’s a happy reunion with Korra. The final Red Lotus Venom exorcism scene is well-done and well-animated, and heck, even the one handed hug and pat between Korra and Toph hits the right balance between sweet and “just barely tolerating this.”

Overall, the Ikki material is fairly rote and weak, but the Korra/Toph business is good, and the episode benefits greatly from it.