Cinepals - AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER (Netflix) 1x7 Review & Discussion!

Episode Date: February 25, 2024

This is our honest and immediate thoughts on Avatar The Last Airbender Episode 3 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

Sinha. Pals. What's going on, everybody? I am Jabby Kauai, joined by Azula Kirk. Oh, what? Achara Kirk. And we are continuing forward with Avatar, the last airbender. Yeah. Episode 7, the North.

I think they missed a trick there when her hair came down. She should have looked at Ang, like, a little bit panicked for a second. He could have been like, damn, girl, when your hair came down, oh, as a new you. Something happened. Stop. I think I'm in love. They're not really leaning into that. No, why not?

I'm a little bit, I'm a little bit frustrated that they have, I mean, maybe they're saving it for the next season and third season. Yeah, probably because he just looks so young right now. I don't know. She looks just as young.

She just got her growth spurt before he did. That's all. True. In the, I actually rewatched it the other day after our conversation. In the cave, it was them. They didn't show you,

but I think the implication is they kissed in the dark. And that's what lit up the cave. But they swapped it out for the anyway. This was fun, but there were definitely some moments where it was like, okay, that's a little cheesy. I mean, yeah, well, I'm glad you said that. This was definitely cheesebender. This was definitely the cheesiest episode, but it was still really fun. I really like Yue.

I'm looking forward to seeing more of her story because she has like a really nice kind of tragic story. I love a tragic story, and I love a love story, so I'm here for it. We're big fans of Amber Mid Thunder, so, you know, super happy to see her in the show. Avatar, The Last Cheesebender. The Last Cheesebender. The highlight of this episode was when she fought The Master. Yeah. And so there was a lot of effects there.

That's where all the money was spent, not the dessert. And when there was like some really strong moments there, and then there was all equally some very moments there. You know, like when she flipped over him, it looked a little goofy. He definitely has the vibe that I feel like I recall from the cartoon of that character. You know, that same resistance. Right. I had forgotten that they were all like, oh, no, you can't be a warrior or whatever. It's been a minute since I've watched it. And I don't actually remember that plot point of him saying you can't fight.

What I remember is him being a bastard. Yes, that I thought casting-wise, you could tell right from looking at him. I was kind of like, something. kind of off with this guy. Like, he's saying nice things. Kind of reminds me of the kind of Zhao energy that we got when he first came on the screen. Well, he's being respectful and he's saying all the right things, but there's just something about him, which makes me not trust him.

I got the exact same vibe when I was looking at the master, and I was kind of like, oh, there's something about you. It's just rubbing me the wrong way, but like, excellent casting. Have you noticed when Zhao talks? Yes. He uses his hands a lot when he's talking. Very dramatic. And I'm like, what is happening, Captain Kirk?

Captain Kirk? Like William Shatner. Oh, I think you. It's just like, it's very start, very first Star Trek kind of vibe, you know? And I'm like, all right, I can maybe, okay. It's a choice. It's a character choice. I feel like it's the style that was asked of him, though, because I noticed that in the same

scene, Iro was kind of doing the same thing. thing a little bit. Now, when Zuko came back and he's like, I know, I was, I just swam from the burning boat that exploded behind me. Yeah. Like, that was a lot of mouthful shit to say. You know what I mean? Like gobbledygook. Yeah. It's just words. Yeah. Totally. And, and Dallas, Lou, he owned the complicated, difficult line that needs to be there. The clunky line. The clunky line that needs to be there just for the audience. There is a lot of expository moments throughout the show. To be fair, just with how clunky that line was, I really don't think it needed to be there.

Obviously, he swam off the burning ship in order to get back. There's no need. He's there. I can put two and two together. Yeah, but I don't think you've been paying attention to the style of the show. Like, the whole thing has been very handholdy. Sure. Yes.

Yeah. Like, extremely. There have been questionable blocking and scene work throughout the show. It was most apparent here where it was just like, it just felt strange. and awkward. Saka was doing his best with it, the actor, Amber Mid Thunder was doing her best with it. And like, their scene in the kitchen was my favorite scene, I think. Yeah, it was very cute. That was the best scene in the whole episode. Otherwise, it's just, things don't necessarily feel natural is the easiest way to put it. I would say this episode maybe more than the other ones felt like that to me. It's kind of cheesy and clunky. I still enjoyed it, though. It was still very satisfying to see certain beats play out and especially to see Katara stand up for herself and come into her own and be like, no, this is stupid. Yeah. Let me fight.

And this is why. And I did enjoy the scene where she fought the master for what it's worth. You know, like, yeah, maybe effects could have been a little bit better at certain points, but it was really thrilling to just see her take him on and use what she'd learned and learned on the fly and everything and, like, really show what she is. Azula has been a concern for me for a little bit. good actress she's she's she's really good but i'm not seeing like i have a history of dating crazy that's like almost exclusively what i go after you're like red flag yes please exactly you know is that

toxic oh cool so that's that's been my experience right i i'm not i'm not i'm not seeing that too much there she just looked angry she doesn't look crazy like azula was crazy she was crazy she was fun they they when i watched her in the cartoon i'm like why does this feel so familiar i'm not seeing that here but she's also younger and they're aiming for the younger character who's like almost like zuko it feels a little bit like succession in that way you know it really does it's like no pick me i'm the best love me most yeah i want to take over they're definitely playing into that a lot more and and so i guess yeah her energy is quite similar to zuko but i feel like zuko has softer edges than she does her edges are much harder that's all we've gotten from her well yeah exactly also her friend

who's supposed to okay that's this is a detail from the show and this is me being persnickety but her friend from the show had this very kind of sleepy vibe may may yeah of course she was very deadpan you avatar like i'm trying to i'm trying to think of a line on the fly and i couldn't think of anything but like no you're doing really good i do i do remember that about her character very distinctly that she was very deadpan and there have been moments where the actress playing her her first line has been her first line was deadpan yeah after that it was gone it's colorful yeah i'm like no oh no you are dead pan yeah perhaps what happened was they they were doing that initially and kind of like henry cavill had to switch over to just copying the game for witcher

it just wasn't working yeah whatever was done first exactly they're like yeah let's let's add some flavor there it just needs a little something. Yeah, or else maybe people would watch it and they'd just be like, why is this girl so wooden? Like, why does she suck? But then you look at someone like Aubrey Plaza. She does that, like...

She made it work. Deadpan really well. She's like the queen of Deadpan. I thought she was a great flavor, a great addition to this episode because she has like that smile and everything in the... Wait, I'm talking about Aubrey Plaza. I'm talking about...

I just keep thinking about Amber Mid Thunder. Okay. I was like... Aubrey Plaza was not in the show. No, but Amber Midthunder was. Yes, okay, cool. Sorry, I wanted to talk about something else. Go ahead.

I'm going to go get on the phone now. You keep talking about Amber. No, no, no. Aubrey Plaza. I was just, I was just saying. When you said Aubrey Plaza, my brain did a substitution. I know exactly what happened. Madlips.

Yes. And it was like, she said Amber Mid Thunder. I have something to chime in with that. No, go ahead. But you know who Aubrey Plaza is. I know Aubrey Plaza is. I watched a lot of the show she was in with Chris Pratt. Yeah, Parks.

Parks and Recreation. Yeah. Yeah, she is very deadpan and it works. So it is possible to do... They should have cast Aubrey Plaza. Deadpan. A dead plot. They should have just cast her.

She's too old. He's got CGI. This show's full of it. No, they need to save all the CGI for the bending in Appa and Momo. Because there's so much Appa. Oh, man. Yeah. We need more Appa.

Appa is a character that has been relegated to off screen as much as possible. Too expensive. Too expensive. Too expensive. it. I do miss him. Like, he's just not there like he was. It's not the cartoon. I have to accept that. It's just, you know. The episode is left off at a fun point because we know that the finale episode is now going to be like this massive battle. The biggest thing that I just want to remark about and I hope they do not do it in season two is just how expositional everything is. It doesn't have subtlety,

you know, like Daniel, Dallas Liu, whatever scene work he's given, he somehow finds a way to Ryan Gosling it or something. Like, he finds a way to have subtlety. in it that allow us to kind of project onto him a feeling of some kind. Right. I don't get that with most of the scene work in the show because they're too preoccupied with making sure you understand everything. And it doesn't leave room for just interpreting the human condition at all. You know, like the guy, Saka asks him, so are you in the princess?

He's like, well, see, about five years ago, we were betrothed, but then she decided she wouldn't want to be with me anymore. I wanted to be with her. My heart is busted right now. You know, it really sucks. I think she wants to be with you, though. So if you go into that room and you just keep saying dumb shit like you normally do, she'll fall in love with you.

And then she'll kiss you. It's like he's, I know he didn't say all that. I'm being very. Facetious. It just is all very spelled out. They are moving through it at a clip. And even in the show, it's like some of these storylines, and especially with like his character or whatever,

I don't think that they take that much time to like develop that. So it's just like, hey, what's your deal let me tell you what my deal is exactly and I'll tell you right now that's a better version of my joke yeah exactly so even more so here it's like no we've got like so many episodes from the show wrapped up in one episode of this show so like we don't have time to show him being jealous of soccer or whatever it's just like yo bro yeah yeah this is what's up and my last note to Netflix and the producers is make them dirty everything is so clean it looks brand new Everything looks so brand new.

That was one of the cool things about Star Wars. Everything felt used. Right. Yeah, yeah. And it's like, you're talking about the Southern Water Tribe that barely has a pot to piss in a window to throw it out of, right? And so, like, they should look a little bit more shabby. Shabby.

You know, no one in this world, everyone looks like they are upper class. Yeah, everyone's been doing laundry. You know what I mean? Exactly. Everybody got tied. And taking showers. It's like, no, when have you had times? The costumes, while they look great.

And they're designed well. They don't look lived in. That's it. They just needed to like raggedy them up a little bit. That's all. A little bit. So anyways, you guys, thanks so much for hanging out. I'm Jabby Ko.

This is Achara Cook. Peace out.