Cinepals - AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER (Netflix) 1x2 Review & Discussion!

Episode Date: February 22, 2024

This is our honest and immediate thoughts on Avatar The Last Airbender Episode 2 from the new live action adaptation by Netflix. What did they get right? What did they get wrong? Does it work? The live action show stars: • Gordon Cormier as Aang  • Kiawentiio as Katara • Ian Ousley as Sokka • Dallas Liu as Prince Zuko • Elizabeth Yu as Azula • Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Robocop, Rainbow Six: Vegas 2, Total Recall 2070, Ahsoka) as Uncle Iroh • Daniel Dae Kim (Hellboy, Lost, The Legend of Korra, Saints Row IV, Spider-Man 2, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Crash, 24, ER, Star Trek Enterprise, Hulk, Angel, Star Trek: Voyager, The Practice, Seinfeld, The Pretender, NYPD Blue, Law & Order, The Jackal, Walker Texas Ranger, Cradle 2 the Grave, The Divergent Series) as Fire Lord Ozai • Ken Leung (Rush Hour, The Family Man, Vanilla Sky, Saw, Inside Man, X-Men The Last Stand, Star Wars Episode VII, The Blacklist, Old, Inhumans, Joker: Folie à Deux) as Commander Zhao Join our Patreon www.Patreon.com/JabyKoay for the full length reaction to this show and many others ans subscribe to our YouTube channel for the cutdowns www.youtube.com/@cinepals   SOCIAL MEDIA ~CinePals~ Twitter & Instagram: @TheCinePals ~Jaby Koay~ Twitter & Instagram: @JabyKoay ~Achara Kirk~ Twitter & Instagram: @AcharaKirk

What? What? Your name is just too perfect for it. That's all. It's just yip, yep, yip, y'all. Sinha. Pals. What's going on, everybody?

I'm Jabby, Kauai, joined by a Characirk. What's up? Continuing with Avatar, the last airbender, the live action adaptation. Sorry, it's late. By Netflix. And we're doing episode two now. I would normally just start over and be like, let's get a clean one. But I figured there might be some comedy in the goofs, in the snafus.

In the snafus. So. The comedy that we're hoping to have more of. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Here we go.

I liked that episode. I thought it was quite fun. Yeah, it was really fun. There was a trade-off. You know, there was some warnings. I forget where, like, on the internet. Osaka, they kind of like got rid of the sexism from his character. We were worried about that.

Yeah. I miss it because I miss the sexism. No, I miss the arc that he had. Yeah. But the trade for the development of the relationship between him and Suki, I think maybe made it worth it like because it was, like I was buying into that, you know, like there was, it was familiar, you know, I remember what it's like to be a teenager and discovering those feelings for the first time, even in a martial arts environment.

Like, I'm like, oh, this is kind of familiar. And like, I liked how clunky it was for her as well. She was like, this is how I flirt. I don't understand why it's not. working. I thought that was funny. And so it was giving the, their relationship and the development of its own identity for this, for the live action. It worked, especially if you're coming at it, like, fresh. I did kind of miss his little quips about like, yeah, that was pretty good for a girl, you know, like. Well, he just had a great line where he was like, who are you people and

where are the men that did this to us? I'm paraphrasing, but it was just so, like, so sexist. And then he got his ass handed to him and had to dress up in their gear and everything. I wanted to see that so badly. Like, I was like, I did want her to kind of do a little bit of that, like, bullying him or humiliating him in front of the rest of the warriors and just being like, oh, yeah, oh, so you want to train with us? Cool. And, like, just making him go through it, you know, and making him dress up, learning all

the stuff. Like, I thought that would have been really funny. It would have been really fun to see him in makeup. Ken Lung is the guy who plays Commander Zau, and he's been in so many things. I think he was also the bad guy in Rush Hour, if I'm not mistaken. He was in A-Up. Yeah, he's a bad guy in Rush Hour. He's an X-Men.

He's also an old. Like, he's been in so much stuff. As soon as I saw him, I'm like, he looks so familiar. But, like, the makeup they did was really good because they made him look different from his previous roles. I like what he's bringing as well, like just his delivery. His interpretation of the character's cool. Yeah. Yeah.

I liked where he went with that as this character who you're kind of like, I get a bad feeling about you. And I don't trust you, but you're saying all the right things. You know, like he has like a pretty good poker face, which I like. The stuff with the avatar, Kiyoshi. Kiyoshi, sorry. The stuff inside his head looked a little weird to me. But as soon as she showed up and started doing damage, I thought it looked great.

I'm a little bit warmer to Katara than I was in episode one, but I'm still like, you're kind of forgettable, though. Like, I'm not, I don't know, I'm not rooting for her, you know. Yeah, not so much yet. Like, because there are so many other characters as well as, like, the way that they're being played by the actors, which are really outshining her. Like, Saka is amazing. Like, he's really fun to watch, you know.

He's got a lot of charm and character, and I'm really, really loving Prince Zuko. I particularly loved that scene where he was just talking about how, you know, it's been three years since he's been banished. And you really feel just like the weight of that and like how much that means to him. His performance is so good. Like he really knows the character, even this early on in the show. It's like you get a sense of the vulnerability. And also even in Zuko's relationship or like how he is relating

with General Zhao, you're reminded he's just a kid and they're all just kids. You know, like we're kind of going, no, don't give too much away. Like, you're talking too much, Zuko or whatever. But it's like, yeah, he's 16. What does he know? Yeah. I love how we're just kind of getting that sense of like, yeah, these characters are children, but they're being faced with like really big, heavy tasks and like important decisions.

Yeah. Yeah. I thought it was a nice episode. It changed some things up because I don't think Kyoshi shows up like that in the, in the, in the, in the cartoon. Yeah, I don't recall that. I recall something like that happening with, uh, Roku. Yes. Yeah.

Yeah. There was this whole introduction of, uh, Suki and her warriors, the Kyoshi warriors. Yeah. That was lost here. Like we got to, you know, the introduction is like showing that they're a badass and like, their ninja like ways and all that. They kind of just showed up and apprehend them. And then, you know, Kiyoshi does her thing and kind of interrupts everything right away, right?

I thought it was kind of funny. Like, there would be a sign. There's a sign. Yeah. The, her eyes light up and all that stuff. So I do think it's kind of neat for them to expand the lore and make it that we get to kind of get a sense of what those avatars are like for a fleeting moment, you know, not just Roku. Yeah, that is really cool. And also, I love the exchange that Suki had with.

with Saka as well. He was like, oh, you know, you're so cool. You're so brave because, you know, you can't even bend. And you're such an amazing warrior, paraphrasing, obviously. And she's like, no, but like, we have to be. And I think that's like such a cool thing as well to just be like, you know, just because you might not have all of those special abilities inside you, like you can have the willpower to train really hard and to work hard

and just hone your craft and be the best that you can be, I think that's such a fantastic message. Yeah. You know, especially in a world where there's so many characters, so many people who are born with this amazing power. How did you feel about them revealing Daniel DeKim's face so early? Didn't mind. Didn't mind?

Yeah. With Avatar The Last Airbender, the cartoon, they did this Inspector Gadget thing where, did you ever see Inspector Gadget? I used to love that cartoon. I don't remember it very well, now, though. Well, with the bad guy, that's another cartoon, I've got to go back and revisit because I never saw the bad guy's face.

I only saw him petting the cat, which was kind of like the godfather. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so, like, they kind of followed suit with Avatar, The Last Airbender, like, for the longest time, you never really properly saw his face. Yeah, it was always, like, in silhouette or something.

Exactly, or from behind or, like, his chin or something. Like, you didn't properly get to look at him. And it made you so curious and anxious, like, what does it look like? And so you had, it's like just another thing to keep you watching, right? And so they gave a, you know, they didn't bury the lead very long on that. I mean, if you've got Daniel Day Kim,

you kind of have to just... I get it. I'm just saying like... With that face? I get you ajarra. I'm just saying like you could have held out a little bit longer. God day.

No. You know? The last thing I'll say is I really appreciate the scene by the stream because like one of the things that just like is completely absent is the playfulness of of Aang, right? Yeah.

But they gave us it... They gave us two instances of him being playful in this episode which I'm happy about. By the stream like they were kind of splashing water on each other. That was one. And then the other was when he was like

actually like on his little air ball flying around and then bumped into the statue. Yeah, that was like straight out of the cartoon. That was cool. I like that. Yeah. I guess they got rid of this whole element of, I don't know, we have yet to see. The fan club.

Well, that's gone for sure. Yeah, it's not necessary. I thought it was cool, but it's fine. It's fine. I can let go of that. Yeah. But there was this whole thing with the pirates and the water bending scroll that she got from her grandma instead of the pirate ship, right?

Yeah. And I just remember there's a moment of like she's like trying to show Ang how to water her bend and stuff like that and the heat upstages her and destroys her you know and it was really funny and cool and there's just like a lot of comedy in there but like I guess what we're getting instead for the live action is cool I have to keep making that concession it's like okay this is his own thing it's fun yeah so far so far like just looking at it on its own detaching it from the animation I'm like yeah yeah this is this is fun it doesn't have as much of the like playfulness and lightheartedness as the animation had that they're definitely

leaning into like the seriousness, the high stakes of the situation, which like the animation did for sure. But, you know, it was shorter episodes and more. And so you had more time to just kind of be a little playful and have those little segways. Well, what I think about sometimes is just rewatchability, right? I've watched Avatar the last Airbender so many times over the years. Like, I'll go through the whole show and then I'll let a few years go by and then I'll go through the whole show again and then a few years go by like again and again and as i'm watching this i'm like i don't feel like i would do that with this show however it's so pretty that i would put it on as a screen saver at worst you know yeah no it really it really is pretty especially when you get those

shots of like so much of the world like when when upas like flying away somewhere and you see a lot i also loved in the first episode when they did that like iconic frame of them just going up into the clouds and it's just like up up oh my God, I'm so happy. You guys, thanks so much for hanging with us. I'm Jabby Kui. This is Achara Cook. Peace out.