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Oh yeah…we’re going there! Doug counts down the 11 worst Avatar The Last Airbender episodes.
Tagged with: avatar cartoons dante basco doug walker nickelodeon nostalgia critic tamara chambers television Top 11 top lists worst avatar episodes
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It’s a shame that the only episodes of this show I actually saw when they aired on TV were “The Water-Bending Master”, “Jet” and “The Great Divide”. To be honest, that’s probably why I never got into the show. I only saw the worst of the best episodes.
Interesting choices Critic, very interesting.
One thing I’d like to point out about Sokka’s master is that maybe it had nothing to do with trying to make Sokka more important or relevant to the group. Maybe it had more to do with his self-esteem and taking a great character and giving him a badass sword made from a fucking meteor (seriously, how awesome is that?)
And on the subject of the dance party episode, was there not a message about treating your enemy like a person because that’s what they are? I believe that’s what the episode is really getting at. That, and that kids should be allowed to be kids. God forbid they should have “imagination!” *rolls eyes*
Here’s what I took from the Great Divide episode: firstly, no feud is more important than friendship, nor survival. Secondly, Aang is the avatar and a monk, and he can still lie. He isn’t perfect, he’s still human. And you know what? sometimes good does come from lying, though usually only when done in the way that Aang did. For example, one of my college professors told my classmates and I about a time when he was a practicing counselor and he lied to a client about some mood elevators that he gave her to help her with her depression/suicidal thoughts. Was it wrong of him to lie like that? I don’t think so, not if it got her to a place where she could talk about her problems and ultimately come out of it feeling better. Same sort of situation in this episode. Also, he tried everything else. Sort of holding rocks over their collective heads and forcing them to get along by threat of violence, how else could he have kept the peace?
The issue with Sokka’s Master is that after 2 and a third seasons, this is the first time he ever showed himself to have issues with self esteem. And personally I would have loved to have seen the meteor metal turned into a new boomerang. It is much more unique and expressive of Sokka’s personality. I didn’t have a huge issue with the episode, but I didn’t find it added anything to the series either.
Also re: your professor lying to a patient about the drugs he’s putting into her body. Yeah, that is so bad. As in, if his bosses found out he would be fired and have his license revoked. It’s called informed consent, and people with depression and related mental disorders have enough issues with trusting people without having the people treating them, who should be working to gain their explicit trust, lying to them. Your prof was a jerk.
Seriously? I didn’t put the only bad key episode of all Avatar? The end of the last season, a coup, a military batrayal that not only came from nowhere, but pick the entire army. This kind of thing, don’t happen, and there is no reason for that to happen. Exchange the king Azula, what kind of idiot woul want that?!
Actually that sort of thing does happen all the time. Consider that Princess Azula was going batshit insane, most of the Fire Nation Army was overseas engaging in a campaign of genocide (which many in the military would be opposed to) and Zuko did have a legitimate claim to the throne. All it would take is a popular general that has decent intelligence contacts to throw support behind Zuko and it would be done. Someone like old uncle Iroh perhaps?
Sure the show glossed over a lot of the details of how that coup was orchestrated, but all the pieces were there. The your leader is going completely insane and a general you used to serve under offers a solution to that problem, you’ll probably go along with it. That’s all it takes for a coup to work.
Aang and Katara actually didn’t bicker that much. A few episodes had them argue, but for the most part they got along really well despite the romantic tension. (A refreshing change from Ash/Misty in Pokemon, much as I love them.) One thing I liked about them was that they DIDN’T use too many romantic cliches, at least compared to most movies and TV shows.
As for why they didn’t get together early on, I guess the creators and writers felt that their youth and Aang’s destiny wouldn’t mesh well with that, and wanted to create a “worth the wait” message. (Though even some fans of the pairing were sad that it took them the entire series!)
Everything that The Last airbender did that annoyed me so much was fixed in The Legend of Korra, (which I like a lot more) I agree with this list actually, a lot of episodes annoyed as did the characters, even my favorite Toph frustrated me at times, and she was really unappreciated by the other characters. I will await for everyone to kill me now…
Many of these were also the ones Nickelodian ran ALL THE TIME
Avatar is dogshite and only gaylords like that garbage
Aang also had his entire culture wiped out, that probably played a role in his decision in Bato Of The Water Tribe