Newsarama has posted a review of the next Avatar DVD, due to be released on May 6th. Although a good portion of the review is dedicated to Day of Black Sun, there is also quite a bit about The Western Air Temple, The Firebending Masters, and both parts of The Boiling Rock, episodes that have yet to be aired in the U.S. Obviously, that means major spoilers. Click the below link to read just the spoilers, or click here to access the full article.
Click here to show or hide the spoilers:
“Without giving too much away, what’s important here is it establishes a bond between Sokka and Zuko. The overall plot is the two breaking into the Fire Kingdom’s ultimate prison with the intention of liberating Sokka and Katara’s father. This time, the prison itself is as much a character in the overall plot. This is one case where one wishes DiMartino and Konietzko did provide a commentary track. I would have loved to have heard how they thought this one up.
More important is what Sokka and Zuko find awaiting them once they’re inside. These two episodes are loaded with incredible plot twists and surprises, but all fit seamlessly into the overall story. My favorite though is the final confrontation between Sokka and Zuko against Azula, Ty Lee and Mai. It pulls off one final rug out from under us viewers, one that if we thought the entire thing through, should have seen it coming.
The final opinion is when push comes to shove, “Boiling Rock” has to be the best written and executed episodes of this series, at least so far. It’s an incredible study in character development and maturing for the two primary boys.
In fact, if one has to make one interesting comment about this disk, it’s really more about Zuko than any other character here, even Aang. In “Western Air Temple” Basco has a fairly long monologue with himself that is another standout performance. By the time he is done, one realizes he’s finally starting to enter the terrain previously only occupied by Iroh, even if he still has a ways to go.”
…
“Western Air Temple” is about the Gaang and Zuko coming to terms to each other. Personally, I found it the weakest of these four new episodes. Not that it is a bad episode. More so I found it just a bit too pat. I mean c’mon Avatar fans, we all just KNEW Zuko was going to end up being Aang’s teacher, especially after Azula was introduced. The way the various kids react to Zuko is also highly predictable, although how he finally wins them over has its moments.
On the other hand, what truly is outstanding is Konietzko’s art design. The Temple itself is admittedly one of the best bits of background work the man has ever done. It’s a site that if it was designed by MC Escher, the great artist would have called it one of his masterworks.
Still, if we didn’t have “Western Air Temple,” it would have made the next episode, “Firebending Masters” rather clumsy to execute. It kicks off with a small twist, that Zuko’s fire bending ability was triggered by the years upon years of rage that had built up in him throughout his life. With his finally being accepted by the Gaang, the rage level drops to virtually nothing and his ability with it.
This sends Aang and Zuko on a one episode quest to meet the original fire benders, a race that is rumored to be extinct. As forumites know all too well, that certainly isn’t the case. More important, it introduces an interesting twist that harkens back to the wisdom of Zuko’s Uncle Iroh. Long term, I found this episode exceedingly satisfying because of DiMartino’s ability to weave in the unexpected in a truly logical way. We have always accepted Iroh as much wiser than he makes himself out to be. With this episode, his wisdom borders on being truly enlightened, as an action he performed way before the kids were born has long term effects even in the present.”
Once again, the full article can be accessed here.
Post Last updated: May 1, 1:32:29 PM
This news post was made
on Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 at 7:20 pm and is filed under
Waterbender.
You can subscribe to the RSS feed of the comments on this entry via the
RSS 2.0 feed.
If you wish, you can
leave a comment, or
return to the main page.
Newsarama has posted a review of the next Avatar DVD, due to be released on May 6th. Although a good portion of the review is dedicated to Day of Black Sun, there is also quite a bit about The Western Air Temple, The Firebending Masters, and both parts of The Boiling Rock, episodes that have yet to be aired in the U.S. Obviously, that means major spoilers. Click the below link to read just the spoilers, or click here to access the full article.
Yay! I always love spoilers. Maybe I’m crazy. My brother always yells at me if I try to spoil something in the plot though.
Comment made by Jeremy on May 1, 2008 at 5:44 pm
I always remain spoiler free (as best as I can) until I actually see the episode, or read the book, or watch the movie, or whatever. It was kind of annoying trying to copy and paste the spoiler quotes without actually reading them.
But then the episodes got leaked online, so I got to see them before reading the spoilers. The funny thing is, for some reason I enjoy going back and reading spoilers to things that I’ve already seen. It’s kind of dumb, but it makes me happy for some reason.
Comment made by James on May 1, 2008 at 8:12 pm