Cinepals - AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER (Netflix) 1x8 FINALE 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

This episode is called Legend. Legend. They should have had Jack Black narrate this one. It's the stuff of legends. It's legendary. Senna. Pals. What's going on, everyone?

I'm Jabby Kauai, joined by a Char Kirk. What's up? We are here for the season finale of Season 1 of Avatar, the Last Airbender, the live action adaptation from Netflix. Thanks so much for coming back, all 14 of you again. Oh, that's two more than the last episode. Yeah, but more people tune in for the last. Ah, yes, that's right.

Yeah, yeah. So, two more people. Overall, I enjoyed it. Well, Katara finally came through. I know. She finally had a moment. I'm like, all right, there. Yes.

Where was this lady the whole show? The idea is it's a journey, right? Like, she doesn't find her leadership until further on down the line after her experiences and her studies and just growing and becoming a more experienced human. So I can buy into that. Sure. Yeah, I'm not, I'm no, I'm not into disagreement with you. It's just like there was a lack of energy the entire season performance-wise. And so we finally got something meaningful from her here where I'm like, I see a human being. I'm feeling a connection finally. I feel like I'm accessing a person there. And I think what was helping, it was also the just the circumstance, the situation where it's like a desperate circumstance. I feel like anyone who's been through some shit might understand it. So you can kind of project onto her, even if she's not giving as much as she could. But I do feel like she was giving. more. I thought that they spent their money fairly well here. I'm glad we're watching on a nice big OLED TV because it looked beautiful. Yeah. On the water spirit thing. The moon spirit. Yeah.

Yeah. Ocean spirit. Yeah. Ocean spirit. Yeah. Because moon died. That's correct. Yes. The moon got stabbed in the face. Yes, the ocean spirit was doing some damage and it looked great. And you know, what was really cool about it was unlike something like we see in Godzilla versus Kong or whatever or Godzilla X Kong where the movement is very quick. Here, the movement was slow to emphasize its grandness, its size. Yeah. And I like that. I also just like the design of it, right?

And how they focused on it constantly undulating and moving, much like the water does. So it just like, it felt really cool. Like a lot of thought was really put into that spirit. It was a very epic final battle. Expensive. Expensive. Yeah, super expensive. I appreciate it, though.

Like, it felt like money well spent in an effort to bring. this scene to life in a convincing way. How do you feel about the change of Katara kind of naturally finding her own strength? I don't think I mind it. I can see audiences being bothered by it because initially, Ang was finding, he was waterbending just as good as her quicker than her, you know, and then he surpassed her. Midway through season one, he was already learning how to waterbed. He hasn't even touched water here yet.

I think it works for the story that, they're telling here, but I also did enjoy that little sub-story about how she was feeling jealous of him. And, and, you know, because she, she really does have that teacher energy. And, like, eventually she does become a master and a teacher of water bending. But it's just interesting to watch her have to deal with, like, being outclassed by someone who just, like, barely touches it and is like, oh, oh, this is easy. this is cool and it's just like, it took me so long to just do this one little baby thing. And here you are just going, like, oh, wow, this is really good fun.

That definitely worked in the cartoon. The choice that they made here worked for the story that they were telling. And I thought it was powerful to see a young girl, you know, come into her own and show her value to the tribe. I thought that it also lent itself to the theme that they're really trying to push in the show, which is like, we have to let go of out. dated ideas. We have to let go of the past and let the new generation lead. That's a common theme in a lot of stuff right now.

Oh, yeah. It might have something to do with the fact that we keep having really old presidents. That seems to be a common theme. And I was not at all surprised to see it woven into this. And I love how they kind of showed her character as being really smart and resourceful because she sees the earth benders do this really cool thing where they're like chopping out those discs. And she's like, huh?

I wonder if I could do that. And then so she does and she learns something new. And I think that's such a cool part of her character that they're showing here. I don't even know if I have confidence that if they included the bit with Eng learning quicker than her, if this actress would have been able to convey the feelings that we got from the cartoon of like the jealousy in a fun way. Right. For some reason, I don't know. They didn't want the thing where Ang kind of shows her how to do her job best.

Yeah. I mean, because I think the whole thing was she didn't have a teacher and he was like, oh, these are just forms. I understand forms. I had to learn forms for air bending. Let me help you with that. But I think eventually she does become like a really great master. Oh, yeah. She destroys. Yeah. Down the line. Yeah. But they kind of got her there, I think, a little early. But she hasn't gotten to the bloodbending yet. And so I think that when she hits bloodbending is when it's like, yo, she is. She's a force to be reckoned with. Yeah, she's sick with it. So that's later. So there's still room to grow. I kind of enjoyed the little subplot with her learning from that guy. That's kind of the point of the story is going to different, like learning how to do these things from different teachers and stuff like that and collect and bringing all that data together. That knowledge. Yeah.

And so that's a little bit not here. It's fine, I guess. I still enjoyed this episode quite a bit. Like right from the word go, outside of like seeing them jump onto APA, I thought the effects look great. Yeah, that was a little bit ropy. Yeah, I thought the effects were quite strong and just helped to sell all of it and allow me to kind of just be in this world for a second and the carnage was fun, you know. Yeah, especially like when they had those, you know, firebenders just like being thrown up into the screen just like, you know. I'm a little bit exhausted with Aang's woe is me. I'd like them to stop doing that if they could. And they did it a lot in this season. I was like, okay. I get it. It's hard. Yeah.

He's hard. He feels guilty. Yeah. Stop, stop with the guilty. Like, I get it. Stop. Just like, get towards the, because he was fun. He had a balance of fun and then he would get smacked with a dose of reality and is like, oh, God, I feel bad. And then go back to having fun again.

The fun, Ang, is really not here. Yeah. They're really leaning in hard to the whole war side of it, which is an interesting way to go. Obviously, it's a. different way to go because, you know, the, I guess the cartoon was more looking at like characters coming of age and dealing with that, whereas this is like, no, this is the reality of war. People die.

Like, you actually see people lose their lives here and it's horrific. The guy playing Commander Zhao, or who did play Commander Zhao because that character's dead now. Ken Lung. Yeah, he had two great moments here. Right before he killed the moonfish. and when he was, right before he died, when he was telling Zuko what's up. That was savage. Yeah, those are two great shining moments for him.

And I'm like, okay, see, that's why you hired that guy. But like, I just would have reduced a lot of the Captain Kirkisms from him. The, like, over-dramaticism. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, obviously there is a desire or maybe a... Impulse? Yes, impulse, thank you. There is an impulse to kind of play these roles very big.

because you are acting in a fantasy, right? And, but there is a certain, like, amount that you could do that still feels grounded in the world. And I feel like whenever you're in a fantasy show, it requires a certain amount of that because that is the content. But it, yeah, you can go too far sometimes. How did you feel about UA and her storyline here? I was touched by it.

It didn't have, it didn't have the same height. that I felt in the cartoon. Agree. But I was definitely touched by it. I felt bad for Saka more than anyone. It's because it might be that when you have 20 some odd episodes or whatever, it's more spread out. Yeah.

And so it almost feels like just the other day he had a mad crush on Suki. Then he loses her. They let it linger a little bit with the fan and he misses her. You know, he doesn't know if ever were going to see her again, right? Right. And so then he moves on and meets this girl and she's really cool. And then he loses her. I felt bad for him.

more than her so see for me i i was a little bit worried as i was watching it because like you i was kind of like oh i just remember feeling a lot more for ua and i think maybe it's because like yeah we got to spend a little bit more time with her in the cartoon and stuff and she's really cool and she's sweet and all of that but i think that amber mid thunder like really gave it all in that final scene where she like gives herself up to the to the spirit and that did a lot of the heavy lifting for me in terms of the emotions i thought she elevated the material yeah i mean she there's clearly some kind of struggle here with with some of the actors because ken lung is a guy who works a lot and so not everybody is able to play in this sandbox as well as ever is like

dallas yeah it's a very very specific sandbox you have to understand what what the content is that you're making. It's hard. And I thought that for how difficult this material is, I thought she elevated it. Yeah. You know, she lent it a degree of,

I don't know, grounded authenticity. Like, it just felt like, that's a person, you know? She felt like a person that I was watching and not a performance.

And that was nice. So, yeah, she was cool. I liked her. It's, that was a tough scene. Um,

there seems to be a thing that, I don't know if I can articulate this well. I might need to watch the show again to like, like really identify this, whatever I'm feeling. The impression I get with everything is things are done with budget in mind. It didn't feel as lived in as it could be. It felt like we just got to get this coverage and move forward here. I'm editing this conversation right now and yes, I'm wearing the same shirt.

I realize the other thing is you're working with kids and with kids you have way less time to work with them than you do grown-ups. Not a lot of moving shots with characters walking and talking and stuff like that. It's all locked off. Locked off. We've got to get through this. It's expensive That's kind of how it felt

Or could it also be Because they're shooting In something like the volume Where it's like Yeah I think Gachara was actually right about this I was looking over some of the scenes again From Avatar the Last Airbender

And I'm just trying to study it And understand what it is that was bothering me What it comes down to is When you're shooting on something like the volume You're not actually at location You're in front of a screen There is a really hard limitation On what you can kind of explore

In blocking out stuff with the actors There's no cliff to look out over. There's no other stuff to really move through. It's just like you're in front of a screen. And I think that when most of the show is shot that way, you start to feel it. But that's my feeling. Maybe most of you guys didn't notice it. There's a budget in mind. There is a production timeline in mind. It just feels like there's not a lot of flexibility to get creative with the camera in terms of the scene work. And we have to save our money for the costumes, for the sets, for the CGI, for the music. You know, all of this is quite expensive. We can only

only do eight episodes. If this show does well, which it seems to be doing, I don't know. I have no idea. I don't know. If they get an order for a second season, maybe they will have more leeway to be a bit more creative with it. USA Today, Avatar, The Last Airbender Review, Netflix gets it, oh, so wrong. Oh, dear.

Your diabolical laugh. I'm just like, dang, that's mean. I didn't think it was that bad. I enjoyed it. I liked it on a scale of like this to One Piece, right? Because for us, coming into One Piece, we had no frame of reference at all. So it's a completely different experience. I don't know if fans of One Piece watched the Netflix show and felt like, yeah, that was good.

It seems like most people were like, yeah, they got it. Vox liked it. The Ringer says Netflix's Avatar isn't as bad as we expected or as good as we hoped. Netflix Avatar Review, another live action cartoon. misfire. Netflix's Avatar, the last Airbender's review, much better than you thought it would be. Well, there you go. It's kind of mixed. It's like a little bit of both, I feel. It doesn't feel like it's a fresh rotten tomato rating off of this. It feels like 6040, 60% bad, 40% good. What I'm just off of this. Oh, I would have said the other way around. But yeah,

I mean, it's pretty close, I would say. I mean, the CBC says, does Netflix's Avatar prove that good life action adaptations are impossible? No, because we got one piece, obviously. We don't talk about death note. In any case, I don't know if it's getting renewed. I would, you know, I would want to see more of it. If my vote counts at all, I would watch a season two and a season three. I feel like this deserves more, a lot more than the I'm Night Shyamalan version does. I have my grievances that I've expressed over the course of watching this and I still stand by most of those, I would say. You know, obviously I haven't had time to reflect because we've watched all of those really fast. I would watch more of it with frustration.

but I would watch more of it. And I think also that it might kind of be a similar feeling that I had with Harry Potter when I first started watching it because I thought, and like, I don't know, you guys can come at me or whatever, but I really didn't think that Daniel Radcliffe was that good. He was a kid. He was not good in the first movie.

I didn't like the first two films, but I would disagree with you about that. Okay, see, I'm sure there's going to be some people who are going to come at me hard, but I was like, eh, I don't know. I'm not really feeling this kid. And so I feel like as, you know, the show progresses and in much the same way as when Harry Potter progressed, all of their acting really leveled up as they got older and as they

had more experience. Sure. So I feel like... It's like acting class. Yeah, exactly. It's acting class. You're getting on the job experience. And so, you know, I think that...

It's kind of like being president in America. Yeah. You know, like I think our Ang will get better. He's not bad. Don't get me wrong. Like, he's not bad, but I think he'll, he'll improve. Like, get into, just relax into the role a little bit more. You know, like, you don't have to try so hard.

It's fine. We may not get to see that. This may be it. So enjoyed that. I really enjoyed that more than the film. And so I guess that's that. I guess I'm never watching the film. Thanks so much for hanging with us.

Hopefully you enjoyed some of this. I'm Jabby Kui. This is Achara Cook. Peace out.