Hello, everyone. I'm Corey. I'm Eric. I'm Kate. And I'm Alec. And this is the Utini Avatar Show, proud partner of the Utini Network. We are discussing Avatar The Last Airbender. on netflix now this week as our final episode of season one of the teeny avatar show we are looking back at the entirety of the Avatar Last Airbender series on Netflix. This is the finale of our season of the show and also the sort of conclusion to...
you know, the Avatar The Last Airbender show. So thanks for tuning in. If you like what you hear, please leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. Before we get in this week's conversation, we do have to thank our sponsor of this week's episode, who has been our sponsor this entire season. which we appreciate, which is the United Patreon community. That is Utini's Patreon. We have lots of fun things happen over there. We have more things to tell you about that later on in the show.
All right, friends, let's hit it. This is our finale, right? We're looking back at... We made it! We made it. Looking back at where we've been. I have to say, I want to talk about the experience just right out the gate a little bit because we did something unique with this. I've never done this with a Netflix show as I watched it incrementally.
Oh yeah, we didn't binge it. We didn't binge it. There's a lot of conversations about this. Now we talked about this, I think, very briefly in one of our early episodes. is what do you think about that as a society? Like, we did this in a very incremental way where you save it and you watch it, you talk about it around the water cooler. What do you think about that? Are you going to...
You going to try to use that in the future? Are you going to go back to your binging ways? Do you prefer binging? Do you prefer this? What do you think, Kate? You said no. Kate is going to sit and rot and binge. That is what I will probably forever do. Alex, take your head. Absolutely not. Here's what I'll say. When you don't have a podcast that you're doing, you're going to binge it. I think the reality is that if it's available, you will binge it.
Because you have no reason to wait. But that doesn't make it right, okay? Just because everybody else is doing it doesn't make it okay. Did your parents ever tell you that? Yeah, but you can't tell me that when the final season of Stranger Things comes out that you're not going to watch that whole damn thing. Yeah, but you can't binge it all in one day anyway. It's just, it's ridiculous. No, but you're going to watch about...
Half the season and one sitting. And then the next day, because you can't stop thinking about it, you're going to finish the story. It's creating instant gratification. It is. It's part of the. The overall debacle of the world. Maybe it's girl rot. I don't know. There is a hangover at the end of the binge, so. I have a middle ground. If a show is released.
as a binge model i will watch it as a binge and if a show is released weekly i will watch it weekly because i think what i see now in the aftermath of what we've done here i think this show was definitely meant to be binged. I think Netflix, when they're making it, when you know you're making them to be released on one day, you do it differently. One of my favorite things to do with Netflix is Bridgerton. I always watch every season of Bridgerton in one full day.
It is a romance. Really? Yes. All three seasons. Did you do that? Yep. It's always been an electric weekend. We'll be doing it in one day. Next time we're gone. And it's lovely. Now, if I waited week to week, would those characters stick with me? It's possible. But, like, that's not how it was, I think, intentionally made from Jump. Whereas, like, Succession, Game of Thrones, that was made to be a weekly show. So I think I'm in a...
Again, when you're doing a podcast, who knows things are different, but I think I'm going to try to follow the model that's being made by the creators because I think we're getting better at creating for the release model that is intended.
I think a decent model might be to binge it, and then if you want to talk about it in an episodic way, you kind of slowly reconsume it if you're going to try to do it. I like that. I also think that there's so much content nowadays that not everybody's watching the same thing. so those water cooler moments that we long for that we used to have I don't know if they happen anymore really I do agree with you there they definitely do happen
When you put yourself in situations that allow them to happen. Yeah. If you go on like a Reddit channel or something, right. Or yeah, you're like in a community. Or they happen live. Like HBO Sunday nights, whether it's like. Game of Thrones, Succession, White Lotus, like, the hour after those are done on, like, Twitter and Reddit and then Discord's like...
That's the water cooler because everyone's like, oh my God, and the gifts go up and this just happened. Oh my gosh. The day after the Red Wedding was a national holiday. You know what I mean? That was water cooler. Do you go to work and you talk to, well, I mean, you might be talking. I work for Corey. I go to work and suffer. Our community doesn't literally happen around a water cooler anymore, Alec. It's not 1974.
That's just a device. All I'm saying is, whenever the Game of Thrones was going on, I was working part-time in the summer. I don't even remember what season it was, but I remember very distinctly it was the episode where Oberyn got his face smashed in. And I went to work the next day. I was working part-time at the UGA bookstore. and i was in the back just like marking things for clearance and like me and the dude next we're just like
we're talking the entire time about the episode and how crazy it was and what's going on. And like, I don't like you had time to be working harder to me. I'm just saying, if you had all the time to be, if you got time to lean, you got time to clean. okay that sounds like there's a rhyme yeah so uh yeah i mean i don't know i miss those times for sure but i also feel like the media that i watch and what all my friends are watching like they're both good but a lot of times they don't match up
Yeah, that is true. And it's artificial, I think, too. I think like you have to make your water cooler moments like with like whether it's with this podcast, like we've done it or if it's like a book club kind of thing like.
If you're buying a book and it's not the way it came out, like, right now I'm reading a book that our buddy Charles over in the UT show told me about. And I'm texting him as I read it. And he's read it before, but I'm kind of having water cooler moments daily in micro doses. So, like, I think they're just kind of...
created in different ways but I hear you there's not the you can go into a public space with a bunch of people like in the office in the morning and be like yeah catch the game last night like I guess sports are that now sports or reality TV is I will say that the creators and the streaming services have control over this, and Netflix has chosen the binge model, and pretty much everybody else has not. Hulu, Disney+, we're all doing their weekly release.
thing and i like that hulu and disney plus have taken it away from us i've taken it out of our hands because it does seem like it does seem like in shows like avatar where they you can wire and air senior things there's another one for me on netflix when they release all on time
Nobody comes up for air in between the episodes. Just binge it, and there's no conversations happening while it's happening even. But at Uteni, the current recurring show we have right now is The Bad Batch, the animated show. And it never fails. Every Wednesday today, our Bad Bass channel just lit up. People talk about the new episodes that dropped. And that part is fun. And because they take away the control, you can't binge it.
you can't like, you can't say like, I want to talk about this cool thing that happened, but I don't want to spoil it for someone who hasn't gotten to episode five by now. Like it's hard to have that community interaction when it's not for frozen cons, frozen cons, frozen cons. I agree.
Let's transition a little bit, talking about the meta from watching it. Let's talk about, this was an adaptation of an animated show. I want to have a little bit of a conversation, just big picture. How do we feel about the... uh the adaptation right like what do you think works not quite as well what worked a whole lot better than the animated show you know we'll try to steer it as positive as we can here because i think we all really enjoyed the show but it's different yeah i like um
I was just, you know, kind of absorbing, you know, what people were feeling online. And I saw a breakdown on YouTube and somebody was talking about how like the show does really well. When it when it like stops or when it expands on something within the universe that that wasn't already touched on or, you know, spends spends time kind of just expanding the universe.
And where it does really poorly is where it tries to like speed run through things. Right. Where it's basically when it's expanding, it's good. And when it's condensing, it's bad. And I really, really agree with that. Yeah, I mean, I think some of the high, the most consistent highlight, I'll say the one that like every episode we knew was going to be a banger was anything that expanded Fire Nation.
Was anything with Ozai, anything where we saw that throne room, anything where we saw the soldiers, like the mask episode where we found out that was all Zuko based and how he saved the battalion? All that stuff, I think, was great. And I think world expansion and world enrichment, I think, is something that this does very well. And I hope that they continue that in the next season. And I'm kind of just going to read through right there, Alec, again on the stuff that...
Didn't work quite as well as, I think for me, when they tried to one-to-one things that were so iconic in this show, but maybe worked better in animation because they kind of defied physics and defied logic, which you can do a little easier in animation.
I think that worked. I think that because we had more episodes in animation, the character relationships were a bit more fleshed out in the animated show. So I hope we actually, ironically, get a few more quieter moments in season two and three, I think.
The soft moment, I think, with Zuko and Aang in the masked episode of live action was one of my favorites. Like, how'd you hold your quill? You know, how'd you do it? That was beautiful. And I hope that they let the actors really play with each other more in seasons two and three to grow those stronger. I would agree with you, Eric. I think that's where I've been disappointed with the show is the lack of these quieter moments like Katara.
still to me doesn't have much of a personality because we missed a lot of her quiet moments and she is a more quiet character. I don't know if I agree with the condensing argument because they've done it well. a few times like the when Zuko walks into that like earth nation fire nation thing yeah i mean they're like oh the pirates and the oh yeah like we know him and they like condense everything really fast yeah but it was actually really
I thought some of it's been done very sort of very cleverly. I think you're onto it, though, both of you guys. I think when it's more of a subtle nod to something that can happen offscreen or something that was in the original show. Like, you know, I think it works to it. I think it would have been a little smoother if we had if we had seen a little a little reference of like.
You know, the only way to get into the Earth Kingdom is or get into Amashu is through the secret tunnels. And there was like, oh, yeah, talking about the legend of the two lovers. Right. Yeah, that's exactly it. Then we moved on past. We didn't have to see it. We're like, oh, yeah, cool reference. Like.
The spirit world reference, the spirit world, we speed ran it. We had three different spirits. That was also beautiful. That was one of the few examples I think that was done incredibly well. But there was a lot of moments that it felt like...
Rushed. It felt a little rushed. The first Amashu. The first Amashu. Yeah. It was rushed. Which is interesting because obviously we're going kind of there. They say like obviously we're going back to Amashu plenty in season two. So I wonder how our relationship to that city.
will change because we didn't get as much in the first season like how will they supplement that knowing it's going to be a major player in season two oh man oh yeah we have to oh dear it fell baby yeah if you thought jet was pissed the first time Oh, no. Jet's furious. He shows back up in Ba Sing Se, doesn't he?
He's brainwashed. Yeah, he gets brainwashed, more recently, in the animated show. Interestingly, my favorite stat, the most shocking stat that I've seen is that the runtime of the animated season is almost...
identical to the runtime of the live action show. And that feels mind-blowing. Yeah, that's even possible. But, I mean, that would have been crazy and weird. And also, with animation, your budget is also... your imagination to an extent obviously you need to play the animators but the travel the the sets the like you can if you can draw it you can do it which i think also helps that runtime like feel different because you can fit more
characters you get well you this does so you have eight eight episodes versus what like 22 episodes or something like there's there's the way i think about it is you have eight eight episodes if they just start like cutting to each little different story it's gonna feel so weird
It doesn't work in live action. Absolutely not. And with the cartoon, you have 22 episodes that have 22 starts to show 22 different stories, and that's what they do, right? So, like, of course, yeah, we're not going to be able to put all of that in there, even if the runtime's the same. And it still felt like a speed.
run sometimes it did 100 i think this has been this has been one of the only shows it might be it might be the only show i can think of actually the only show ever that was truly just a banger in, in animation that they made like a true adaptation of live action for like, there's just not very many that like, They truly tried to copy it, you know what I mean? The dialogue was the same at times, the characters were the same. On this level, it was like, in a lot of ways...
It was like a, I would say like a 60-ish, 65% one-to-one comparison at times. Because even if they have, if they remake animation, they usually remake it. Animated. So you've seen the episodes now, right? You've finished season one. Yeah. So if somebody asks you the question, who is this show for? How do you answer that? People who haven't seen the animated show.
I think it's teenagers. Not in a mean way. I think, like, legitimately. I think you're making it for an audience who doesn't know the mythology and isn't bringing in expectations. And I think that, obviously, all of us saw it. You can enjoy it. But the prime audience, I think, are teens that were like five or six years old when the original came out, so they didn't watch it, and now want to binge it with their friends over a weekend.
They released some of the statistics and stuff about maybe the most watched. It's actually 60 to 70 year olds. It's actually Grand Grand. It's Grand Grand's audience, you know, 100%. No, they released the stats, so just saying it was how viewed it was. So I was just going to ask the question, like, what percentage of that viewership do you think watched the original series? Because I actually think it was probably really freaking high. Oh, I assume it's astronomical.
I think that is what happened. But I think the intended audience for the narrative, I think it helps if you didn't see it. I'm sorry, I don't want to make that distinction. One of the reasons that I would agree with Eric is just the amount of spoon feeding we get in the show.
And that's kind of why I bring up the statistics thing, because I think that's a little it's a little goofy, in my opinion. Like when you have a new show like this, of course, the vast majority of the audience is going to be people that have some experience with.
with the show i mean i like i i just can't imagine that 51 percent of the people that watch this show were like oh yeah i've heard everyone can't watch this like i agree really doubt that's the case i could be wrong i don't know what the hell i'm talking about like netflix would never tell us that like
But, you know, if it was supposed to be the show, I agree, like kind of coming up with who this type of show is for is is hard and sort of sets the tone of the entire narrative. And it seems like sometimes they want to be. And...
They want to be a show for everybody, whether you've seen the show or not. Other times it just wants to be for the animated fans. Other times it wants to be for someone who's never seen it. And I think that makes it a little wishy-washy in the storytelling. I don't know who I want this show to be for. four because like i'm thinking about my nephew here and they're about like 10 9 10 and i'm like i don't i don't know if he's ready for this yeah there's so much about i don't know
I don't know if this is actually a kid's show. I know. So, like, this is actually quite interesting. I don't know if it was intended to be a kid's show. No, because they made a big... deal about them wanting this to be like their game of thrones like their fantasy epic style and i think i mean they light too many people on fire well this is right and i think it's it's a deal of
of trying to do a lot like when you're trying to please every master you please none of them right and i think yeah this first season i'm glad they're getting seasons two and three because season one is kind of like When, a little behind the scenes, when we are working on our YouTube videos for you, Teenie and Katie didn't, like, you test a lot of videos and then you figure lots out and adjust them. Yeah. With the binge model.
They had to make all the episodes. They're like, hopefully this sticks. Yeah, I think we saw them testing a lot of things for a lot of different audiences. And season two, we'll see if they kind of lock into a singular path. Yeah, I think, Eric, I think you touched on this in our very first episode, just kind of setting up for us watching the series. And, you know, what is the benefit of making a live action? Right. You've got such a good.
I know. Established, animated. 10 out of 10. It's a risk, dude. It's a huge risk, right? So, you know, why do you make this? You know, I think, you know, again, just something I heard somebody talking about with it is... you know, you make it for adults who feel like they can't watch cartoons, but want to still enjoy the story. You know, it's like, that's interesting.
It's definitely not a kid's show, right? There's so much violence. I mean, last episode, we literally talked about how Iroh burned Zhao alive. Yeah, because Tara's mother was very brutal. Maybe even crossing the line. Yep, yep, yep. The Momo thing. There's a lot. It was almost incongruous.
Eric talked about it, too, where it's like sometimes it goes maybe a little too far. You know, like it's not it's not necessary, but they do it anyway. This is a I think this is a common issue just in general, like not even not with the show, because I think I really like the show. Yeah. I think this is a common issue with TV storytelling and movie storytelling in 2024 is streaming services have really just kind of changed the nature of...
TV, this was as much of a test for Netflix as it was an experience for the viewers. Absolutely. That sucks, right? I mean, it's kind of... It's not what you want. it's corporate it feels very corporate it's like let's test the users let's do the stats let's read the watch times look at the click-through rates it feels very corporate right and like
I would have rather just very artistic creators been like, you know what, I really just want to make a really great Avatar show and do it justice. But it didn't feel like, there were definitely moments that... felt like, like I can feel like producers looking over their shoulder in scenes. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, but the great, great epilogue in there.
What if she just read it? You've got to do that stuff. I think we see that a lot in TV. Before we get too hung up on that, I do want to talk about some of the growth we saw specifically from... um a couple key things because like you guys have said there there were some there are some big scenes that uh were hugely different from the original show that worked really well so one of the questions i want to ask you guys is are there any
Any specific characters that you thought was like, I would maybe argue this has done better than the animated show rather than even then. Yes. Caitlin. So I would argue that Zuko is probably being done better than the animated show right now. And on the flip side, I think Katara is being done better.
worse than the animated show right now. Let's come back to Katara. I do want to talk about Zuko, though, because I think I made the comment in one of our early episodes that Zuko is, in my opinion, the greatest character arc in animation history. I genuinely believe that. I think a lot of people would agree with that. Yes, genuinely believe that. But do you think the show is doing it better even? I think they are because the many times that I have cried during this show has been for him.
and his story and how they've been telling it so far. Yeah. I really appreciate it. The way that they're playing him and Iroh together and the father figure, the one scene when I think about both of them is going to be... When Iroh finds Zuko in the ship and Zuko's presumed dead. And he's like, so what's the plan? And he's like, the plan is to capture the Avatar. The plan is to get my rightful place on the throne.
And I was like, so no plan. And he's like, I'm working on it. I loved it. It's fun. It's funny. It is so funny. We totally changed our tune on Iroh and Zuko, too. Because early in the season, we're like, oh, I don't know about this. I didn't know about how they improved. I think it's like a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Well, the writing improved vastly. Yes. Yes. Yes. The writing, the dialogue between you can only say the words on the page. That's right.
That's right. George Lucas would know. The early episodes were the prequels, you know what I mean? But the sand is coarse. I know. But then later on, we get friggin' bangers like you were my brother, and everything I need is on this boat. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah.
Like the middle of the season with Iroh and Zuko was like, it was like Ridge of the Sith, man. Those are the lies between them are just phenomenal. Yeah. I think Zuko for me is easily the best character of the season. I think I won't go so far as to say. He's better than the animated show only because I agree. Corey, I think his animated arc is the best and like one of the best character arcs I've seen. So like that bar is just impossible, but I think he does the best.
I will say the character that is done better only because of the expansion is Fire Lord Ozai for me. I think we... Oh, yeah. He was a shadow for season one for the most part. It was a mystery. Yeah, eventually we get Mark Hamill voicing him, which is great, but I think...
the direction they took to bring him out of the shadows pretty early, change up his relationship with Zuko, make him a much more intentional, hard father. I really enjoy him, and I think they're going to definitely use him a lot more in seasons two and three. He's the one I think that benefited the most from this format. I don't necessarily agree with this, but I think you could definitely make a case that Admiral Zhao...
is done better. I think there are definitely people that are going to watch this and walk away feeling like he was done because it's such a different character to me. If you like this type of character, then yeah, clearly it's better because it's purely preference. You're absolutely right. But I do feel like the character that I'm most anticipating to probably surpass their animated version is Azula.
Because they have spent so much time building her up. I'm interested. I feel like when we get to season two, she is going to be, well, she's definitely going to be probably the main character. They'll probably focus more on her than they do on Aang a lot. Interesting. I feel like this first season was not book water. It was book fire. Definitely not.
It was kind of book fire in a lot of ways. And I was shocked as how much of Zulu we got, especially in the later part of the season. And I also totally changed my tune on her as well. I mean, I was. Yeah. you know the the facial features and structure like she has such a like iconic look i think and she has in the in the live action she has a softer face she does and it works the angles are not as
That's right. Particular. That's right. I think it could have been one of those things early on where she just didn't have a lot of dialogue and a lot to say. And we got kind of hung up on the appearance, which happens, I think, sometimes. And I felt the same way about the Ahsoka TV show when it came out. I'm like, she looks weird. She looks weird.
What's up with her forehead? I don't like it. Because you're used to seeing the cartoon character. But the more you see them talk and act. I truly think the lightning scene towards the end of the season was maybe... one of the best. Is that what changed? I don't know. What changed for you? I think it was just, I think it was.
The scene where I was like, oh, oh shit, I actually really like Azula, was when she was trying to manipulate Ozai, and he was like, you know. I care more than coy whispers and manipulation or whatever he said. They flesh her out by fleshing Ozai out. And then they also do a great job of using her friends in a way to humanize her. Yes. The show like she's still, you know, just a teenager. And all of that is character development for Zuko. It's truly really...
I think it will definitely end up being that way, but I feel like her character arc is going to be really fun. It is going to drive a lot of the next season. Yeah, right there with it. I think so, too. I think so, too. What about some of the world-building elements in this TV show?
I do want to come back and talk about Katara kind of, I think, next and some of the bending. I think it's the next little conversation. We'll start with the world building for a second. The world bending. We got hell bending. Why not world bending? I know, seriously. We've had some discussions about this, but I'm just as pleased as I was earlier in the season with the sort of different depictions of culture and that sort of thing.
There was a subtle sense of that in the original animated show, but not as heavy as this. This is very different, right? I don't know if it had to be like explicitly told to me as a child. Maybe that was the difference. But like I didn't see as many cultural shifts in the animated show as I did here. I think that's definitely something where, you know, this, this is an animated show, right? Originally that, you know, I would hear people talking of like,
you know, I was young and I had a babysitter, but it was like the only thing that me and my babysitter could, could, could watch together. Or yeah, like I was a younger kid and I had an older sibling and it was like, wait for us to bomb. Maybe one of you guys even said that when we were talking originally, but.
You know, this show is, it did a great job originally in the animated of kind of throwing in a lot of adult elements into a kid's show so that even the adults who could read at a higher level. of what was happening could find things to really gravitate towards. Yeah. That's true. It feels like every location that we went to felt very distinct as well. Omashu felt very distinct. They captured that well. How about that? Kiyoshi felt distinct. It did.
It's one of the cool things that I think in the animated show you have a little more freedom to because you can just draw this crazy city and all the things. Yeah, yeah. There was a distinct culture and feeling amongst all the different people, I think. The water tribe built a very specific way, right? It was a sort of kind of old school tribal type of vibe, right? And then Obashu is like, is a little more modernized and it's the mechanist and like...
Captured that really well, I thought. I think in truth, the live action show really only made a huge change with the Earth Nation. Yeah. The Water Tribe and the Air Tribe are basically the exact same in their appearance. Yeah. I think the Fire Nation is about 98% of the way there, but the Earth Nation is very different.
The Earth Nation has the most, like, diversity in it. Yeah, definitely. Water Nation is very indigenous. It's very, like, Inuits and things like that. And then we move to, like... The Fire Nation, and it also feels very imperial Japan. It feels like that. And then the Air Nation, which also feels Buddhist, it feels very like Mongolian or something. Well, it's Tibetan monks. Yeah, Tibetan.
Yeah, I think so too. Let's swing around from kind of the world building and talk about the bending because I do want to talk a lot about that. Overall, I would say I want to talk about kind of the visualization of the bending because we talked about this a lot throughout the season of the Avatar show of...
We've all been very impressed, I think, with the CGI and the martial arts. And what did you guys think about this sort of overall depiction of this? This was a common complaint and criticism of the... M. Night Shyamalan movie. Oh, my goodness. It was so slow. The movie that must not be named. Yeah, right. Thoughts about sort of the depiction of bending? Really nice overall. I think I really enjoy the look of it. I think.
We talked a little bit in our talk about the finale, about the lack of kind of training-ish. I would have liked to see a little bit of... The nuts and bolts, I think that they do a really nice job in the animated show of showing, like, and then you push and pull the water, and then you do this, and then you get to kind of see it evolve into, like, the tornadoes and all this kind of stuff. But for what we got, because...
critiquing something that didn't happen is not helpful. But for what we got on screen, I thought it looked really good. I thought Aang, especially, the airbending was very powerful. I see why it worked. I get things like fire. The firebending looked terrifying. We didn't get as much Earthbending. I think that's the one where I'm still a little curious as to how that will eventually look. It's the one that looked a little, you know, probably the most CG of them.
But overall, I had a really good time with the action scenes and I hope they get bigger and broader in seasons to come. Yeah. I'd echo all that. I mean, I think I was really impressed with the CG or the bending. I thought it looked pretty real, and the way the mood looked real. I mean, they clearly did their work with the martial arts background stuff.
Man, I don't think I have really lots of complaining about the bending at all. There was not much that looked goofy or fake or weird, and that was the hugest complaint about the In My Shalom movie. Have we finally hit a point where... There's enough ability in CGI and post. And now with this show, even some pre-production stuff that's getting done to where this kind of show is going to hold up 40 years from now.
You know? Man, I don't know. I don't know what 40 years from now is going to be. No, I know. But you know how when you go back and watch an early 2000s movie, you're like, oof. Oof. Yeah. You know? It's like, oh, I love this movie. But man, that does not hold. I think the only thing that'll stay is, this is my old man yells at cloud, is practical effect movies will stay longer than CG, because CG will keep evolving, like...
Even Mando season one that came out, we're like, the volume's amazing, and now we're like, oh, now I can see the volume three years later. But Lord of the Rings still looks sensational. And that's 25 years old. It was all practical. Gollum doesn't hold up. I think Gollum looks more real than a lot of characters now. But I digress. I think that...
We're getting closer, but we're not quite there. I would be curious to... I hope they add more of the martial arts style, especially when we go into Earth Kingdom, because it is... a distinct like different style than what we've seen. I think the Fire Nation bending has been great. And I hope they keep developing Aang to be this kind of evasive bending. I wish we saw a little bit more of that. Yes. But I hope they keep the martial arts style.
I think that's a good point to jump into and ask the sort of looming question. I think that we and a lot of other people who are listening to the show or watching the Avatar show have, which is... How in the hell do we make it through an entire season without seeing Avatar Aang bend anything but air? Legitimately shocking. I don't know. Legitimately shocking.
I was really upset with it for a while, but after re-watching the original series, like, there was... I talked about it in the last episode, but they still end the animated show with... guitar telling paku like well he still has to learn waterbending like he hasn't actually learned how to waterbend yet so i i think you know for for what we did get to see Yeah, it doesn't bother me as much. The only thing that's going to bother me is I know when this next season starts.
He's going to be able to waterbend. I know. I know. And it's going to hurt. The sheer absence of it in the season.
made it a louder and a bigger deal yeah but but one thing we know with child actors they age fast oh yeah so yeah do that so they're gonna they're gonna have to they're gonna have to either just allow that to be part of the story like large portions of time go by or they're gonna have to film season two and three at the same time do that lord of the rings stuff where they get it everything done and then spend a lot of time in post and then
you know, pace it out as best they can. Yeah. We get, we get to the beginning of season three and Aang's like, Hey, Katara, we got to go to the fire. Yeah, dude. When, when I kid basically gets a D voice and then there's no coming back. Yeah. Sozin's come and it's coming, Katora. I need to learn how to... I'm still 12. Oh, man. Yip, yip. Not in between. Do we get a single yip, yip? Yip, yip, yip, yip. Oh, yes, he did in the finale. Wow. We got a couple. What a crumb.
You know, just a crumb to get. Here you go, nerds. Dig it. I'm genuinely shocked. It wouldn't have taken much, I don't think. I think we could have had a couple small scenes where Aang tried to learn how to do it. I mean, we had the one scene where Katara tried to... Yeah. All we had...
Yeah. All we have to do, and this is what I hope they continue to do, is like the practical effects in the CGI. That's beautiful. It's great. That's honestly... I like, yes, I want to see that, but that isn't what I. care about in the story I want to see him learn the foundations which is like that back and forth movement of water that breath work that Toph teaches him about you know like the stance like if he doesn't have a ground
grounded stance while learning is earthbending i'm gonna be upset we're so all they have to do like i want to know i can't learn look i've i even i was show him how to dribble i was raised on shonen power escalation animes Okay? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. All we have to do to fix this, to be clear, is if we open season two...
The very first scene of season two needs to be shirtless Aang and Katara on a beach. Montage. Pushing pool. Yeah, that's it. And Katara... I know that's what we're going to see. Katara comes up behind him and says, Aang, you're really... getting good at the waterbending foundation. That's really all I need. That's exactly what's going to happen.
Something, something, anything should have happened in this first season. The first season of the animated show, is that where we have the disgraced Fire Nation guy? Yes. Yeah, I really miss that character, man. Corey mentioned that. Yes. It's called At the Traitor. Yeah, he is. The Deserter. Yeah, I really, really miss that character this season. I could have really, I would have really appreciated this season. It's a standalone. It would have been hard to.
hard to do but there is this nature of there is this this matter of like it's hard to learn bending and you have to really focus and and that was missing i thought it was interesting because that was like the it's the bending that he picks up the fastest And he didn't talk about it at all in the show, right? Other people did. Well, it sets up his fear of his own power. I know. But we didn't even do that, though. He didn't talk about this at all.
He was an airbender. And I think the whole season, he really just, he was the airbender of the group. And it wasn't like, I saw that we have to get to the water tribe. We got to stop the fire nation. And just for the structure of the story, I missed the idea that was. Because Aang has to learn the other elements. I think we could have sprinkled that in just a little bit more. Yes. It was truly absent. I'm starting to question whether he needs to learn. I know.
The four bending elements. Hey, look, as Zhao said, Master of Three Elements doesn't sound as good, does it? He needs to sound cool, guys. He has to get to... four. In the animated first season, Aang is in denial. That's the theme of the season. He's like, I don't have to learn this. But even that wasn't in this realm. The war isn't real to him. I know. It's not real. So even in this live action show, we didn't even have any of the...
you know, Katara's trying to get him, like, come on, you really should practice this with me. He's like, no, I'll do it later. None of that even. It was just... That's true. It was like it was avoided, weirdly. It felt so absent. It was very... Hey, writers, writers, you've really got to write some waterbending.
I don't want to write that right now. I don't want to do that. I'll do it later. Yeah, they just didn't do it at all. It was very weird. And I think another way that you could maybe explain this is that the... The passage of time and mastery of elements was certainly a problem, I think, in the season that I'd really like to see improved a little bit. Caitlin, you brought up Katara earlier.
It seems like the internet, this is the probably most criticized character, I would argue, of anybody that's in the show is the sort of depiction of Guitara. Sort of fast progression of her bending without even implying that things have happened off screen. What do you think about Katara? Someone that's near and dear to your heart, Caitlin. And what do you think they can do a little better, I think, in season two? I think they just...
Okay, this is probably, like, one of my favorite characters ever in the fictional world. All deserve. Like, this is a very important character to me. I... have been disappointed with her and... What do they need to do better, you think? How do we need to evolve her character, I think, in future seasons? They need...
They almost need to like mature her faster. I read something to you this morning, Corey, where it was. Sorry, I'm going to get therapeutic for a second. Do it. I read Corey this thing that was like. if you have kids and they're like immature and you think that they're immature for their age But because they weren't as mature as you were, that just means that you stopped the generational trauma and they're actually being kids. But maybe this is where I feel like Katara has not been...
well-developed yet. Because she has been through a severe amount of trauma. Her mom died right in front of her. Her dad left. She's been raised by her brother and grand-grand. And she's she's basically a latchkey kid like that. That's what she is. And she should feel more resentment. She should feel more angry. She should be.
she's finally off on her own and independent she should be expressing this anger and resentment like there's this female rage that is just not portrayed well yet and maybe that's a maturing thing like maybe so she's still a child right now and as a child like being a girl child like we don't notice it as much but as we grow up we do notice it yeah she was probably the most mature and adult character i think in the original
Yeah. Yeah. Well, they call her mom. Yeah. She's clearly the leader of the group. Like, wherever they go and they land, she's the leader. And I think in the Netflix show, it really did feel like Aang was the leader. I feel like he was the one directing and Katara was like along for the adventure. And in the finale where she was like, you're my family. I can't lose you. I'm like, it kind of didn't ring as true as I wanted it to because I didn't see.
her kind of having that that level of depth with him and also in the final battle you're like we're gonna follow katara and i'm like i get why we should but she doesn't really have that the gravitas that builds because that's One of the best things, like you said, Kate, about Katara, as she's written originally, is that she grows from a person who's angry that she doesn't have power to a person that unquestionably leads. And it's like, even by the end of...
book one. She doesn't wait for the whole series. She is doing it. Well, we missed some pivotal moments of her character that we get in the animated series. The part where she steals the scroll from the pirates. Yeah. You know, and you get and you get to see like independence. Yeah. And she tries to teach herself and fails. Remember, she opens it on the stump and she almost gets it wet. And it's like a whole thing. And she sucks at it. And we went from we went from.
like not even being able to hold water. She's like slinging stuff around very quickly. Yeah. I taught myself. I'm like, you have to show that stuff. You have to show it. You can't just tell it. Show, not tell. Show, not tell. Yeah. I would agree with visual medium, baby. I would like to see more training. Listen, she has to level up in her anger in order to bloodbend.
Oh, my God. Yeah. She's like, if they do not write that into the show, that was probably one of my favorite things about Katara. I cannot. I cannot see. There has to be some evilness. I cannot see someone Katara right now. No. I can't even. That was so weird. I can't see it at all. That is season two, is it not? It's...
Season three. Oh, it is season three. Season three. Zuko takes her back. Okay, great, right, right. Yeah. Well, she learns. We got to get her there. It's at the very end. She learns it from the witch, though. The witch. She does. She is bloodbended. But she uses it on the. She uses it on.
the guy that she thought killed her. She uses it on the witch to get away from her for a second. Is she not? Oh, yeah, she does. That's what I'm saying. Out of torment. She has to unlock, like, yeah, this Katara has to unlock that rage, like you're saying, and then overcome it.
That's key for her character development is she's angry and just to overcome her. She has to channel it. She has to forgive. That's the message, right? But yes, it doesn't seem like she seems like too weak of a character right now to forgive, to have the angry. It's not. It's not weakness. It's not weakness. It's just very different. It's just empty, perhaps. Flats or something is there that was missing, I think, in the original. Who is the live-action Katara right now? Who is she?
What are her values stand for? I'm not sure yet. Yeah. I think we need to see her evolve. We need to see more of her story. We've heard it from Sokka. Sokka has developed a lot. Yes. Yes, he has developed a lot. And he's coming around. He's had mentors. He has questioned himself. Katara so far. And maybe maybe that is it. We have not seen her be vulnerable yet. And I think that's what we're missing. I should have trained her. I think if I could change one small thing about the season is is is.
She should have kicked his ass early in episode seven. And then there should have been a moment where he's like, all right, I'm going to teach you this and this is what you do. And then we just zoom out and we see him training together. That's it. Yeah, like some humility or something. Yes, and then move on.
I do want to correct. Um, you were right. Um, the blood bedding does not happen until season three, episode eight in the original. So like we do, we do have quite a while until I used to happen. So. That is room. There's room to improve guitar, I think. I think this is the character that I hope gets the most improved award by the end. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I think there's certainly potential for that. No question.
Before we talk any more about most improved characters, I do want to take a break to thank this week's sponsor of the show. We'll be right back. Hello, friends. We're taking a short break from the show to talk to you about our vibrant Patreon and Discord community, which we call The United. The United is the heart of the Uteniverse, where fans of Star Wars, nerd culture, and even sports unite.
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Or to patreon.com slash futini to jump into Patreon. Let's make this community stronger together and dive into a world where your passion for fandom becomes a shared adventure. Now, let's get back to the show. There are two more small points that I want to hit before we finish up our sort of look back at the entire season of Avatar The Last Airbender. And I want to talk about the theme of war because this was, in my opinion...
A stark difference from the animated show. We've talked about this a little bit already about some of the violence depicted, but there has been a much more obvious... effort to paint a picture of a world that is at war and has been at war for a long time in this show and I remember in the animated show it was kind of like it was kind of like in the Phantom Menace when
Padme Amidala says, she's like, we have to go back. My people are dying. And you're like, where? Where are they? We must see them. Are they are? Because I don't know. And I'm the viewer, so.
You know, and like, like it was this kind of weird thing. The war is going on. It's been happening for a hundred years, but there's no evidence of war. You know what I mean? There's no fire nation. You know, you run into little guys every once in a while and they want to fight you, but that was it. Right. But in this show. We are at war. Are we opening the show with the annihilation and genocide of the airbenders? We've seen the soldiers talking to Iroh. We've seen soldiers marking into Amashu.
We saw the fleet siege of the North. Like it feels like we're at war, honestly. Yeah. It's different. That's different. Yeah. And I think it's almost refreshing. Yeah. It's refreshing and also, I think, really gave into some of the total inconsistencies we've talked about. When it got too much or something, I think they're still finding that balance because they're like, it is war. When it hit, it really hit, and it was very impactful.
And then I think they're like, and then we're going to get my throws to fire. We're like, no, no, no, no. You gotta dial it back. You don't have to get too gruesome, too murdery. Hey, we didn't get any dragons in this, okay? There were dragons in the animated, so... That is true. Just wait. We have...
We have a few more seasons. Yeah. Well, yeah. But in the animated, you get to see the blue dragon, you know, take. Oh, that's true. Oh, yeah. With Roku. Yeah. We don't get to see a dragon in this one. So is it really Game of Thrones? Yeah. Bye. But yeah, I do. I completely agree. I love that the war feels real as it should. I think that since the show came out as well, I think.
that almost the responsibility of how war is portrayed in media based on world events as well like it's very much in the minds of folks like you can't just be this is the fun backdrop for a story like war is bad especially for young kids and i think they really they handled that very deftly for the most part yeah i think the character that embodies kind of the most of it is is iroh and we get to see that with his
wonderful scene uh when he's captured by the earth earth nation and being being transported on the back of that little carriage you know and he has a scene about you know we were at war you know I was a soldier. No, you were a butcher. Torched the East Wall. My brother was there. This is violent language. We've talked about that. He was 19, right after getting a story about how he was giving away his rations to the kids.
It was beautiful. It was good. I think this show has always kind of done a good job. And I think they've just done it better in the live action is not romanticizing war and really. telling the story of the lasting effects it has on a culture, on people. It's true. And there's been a lot of denial from, I think, Zuko in the animated show about like the worst happening. And you're like, this is him. But like Zuko is kind of living in, you can see him kind of already.
Kind of struggling. He's tired himself. He needs to rest. The war has been tiring. The man needs rest. I also appreciate that contrast with Iroh as well because this is one of the things that it told but didn't show in the animated show. was Iroh kind of coming to terms with maybe I'm on the wrong side, right? And this show, it looks like it happened much earlier in his career, and we're seeing it, and he talks about the challenge of war, and it changes you, and all that is right out the gate.
I really appreciate that difference. And it was much needed, actually. Yeah, it works. I mean, it just implies that basically as soon as he lost his son, he gave up on the war and gave up on wanting to be a part of it. And lost any reason he had to participate. And that part of him died. Like, he died that day. And now his sole reason for living is to help Zuko. Yep. 100%. It just helps, man.
And so you see, what I like about Iris' character is that he's not trying to force Zuko to be anything. Yeah. You know, he's allowing Zuko to find it on his own. Yeah. But he's kind of guiding him through it to just keep him alive. You know what I mean? Yep, absolutely. The last thing I want to do before we wrap up our show tonight is I want to look forward to the future. I want to kind of predict and hopes and dreams for, you know, Netflix has announced two more seasons, at least.
I did finally see that video, by the way, where the guy that plays Ozai tells everybody in the Zoom call, have you guys seen it? It's so good. Yeah. It's very wholesome and fun. The fact that it's Ozai just makes it really weird. Absolutely. I've not seen the guy, like, read much. Yeah, so sweet. Dude, what a zaddy. Yes. A zaddy for sure.
Are there any specific story arcs, characters that happened in the animated show that you would like to maybe see in season two and three? One thing I don't think we touched on at all last episode, but it was at the very end, is they do bring up Sozin's Comet. Yeah, they do. But they do it. We've been talking about this Game of Thrones thing because they threw it out there. Now it's known that they have this like...
Like that's their benchmark that they want to hit. So now every time I hear something, all I think about is Game of Thrones. So he says like, the comet is coming. You know, it's like their version of winter is coming, right? Oh, the winter is coming. But we don't have a timeline. We don't have a date. We don't know how fast. That's true.
I like the way that they put it off, too. The guy said, like, we've only recently discovered how to read the stars. That was cool. It's like, oh, okay, that's why we haven't heard about it until the final episode of the season. You know what I mean? Like, I was kind of goofy on the news, but I kind of liked it, honestly. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you can see the active progression in engineering and science within the Fire Nation that they're pushing. And now...
Now they're capturing other engineers from other nations and working on things to improve their war efforts. You know, that storyline, I don't know what we're going to see. I don't know how fast. I would imagine that it's one thing I'm certain of is it won't be the same as the animated. Yeah. But I think they're going to, with the live action, they're going to have to figure out how to either film this quickly with the actors aging or they're going to have to space it out more.
So I would imagine that we'll have a decent amount of time before the comet shows up. Enough time for Aang to learn, to grow a little bit, and for them to make the story feel natural with him aging. Yeah, I really hope this. I don't know how they're going to do this just budgetarily. The Aang Zuko Dance with the Dragons episode is such a great moment.
And there's a couple reasons why I think it won't happen. One, the budget of getting two giant dragons for basically a single kind of one-off part of the arc is very hard, but they might be able to do it because it's short, so it kind of works both ways. Also, it's all about training and all about kind of slow methodical improvement, which we all want. We don't do that, though. We don't do that here. Yeah, I hope.
I hope they'll do it. Obviously, they'll bring Zuko into Team Avatar and help him evolve in some way with them. So maybe they'll do that as more of an animated story that they tell. But I would really love to have that full... go to the plays, go up the steps, do the choreography, bring the dragons in. Like it's, it's such a great moment, but my, uh, we'll see. It's.
That's how Zuko learns the true meaning of firebending, right? Yeah. Well, they're the original source, aren't they? Yeah. He loses his fire a little bit. Yeah, because he loses his anger. He's not angry anymore, so how does he find it? It's a beautiful story. It's so good. Do we get Spirky Spirky Boom Boom Man in season two? Season one. It's season one in the animated show. Is it? It is. No. It's very early. Yeah, it is. 100%. I guarantee it.
What? Okay. No, I think it's- I like your funny words, Magic Man. Oh, man. Oh, no. Actually- I think it's season three. I might be wrong about that. Oh, gosh. Is that season three? I'm thinking of the guys early on that attacked-
No, Cyclops, maybe. Oh, the Kiyoshi. The Swamp. That's who I'm thinking of. I'm thinking of that. The Kiyoshi Village people. Oh, yeah. Warriors early. Yeah, yeah. No, not them. Sparky Boom Man. Mm-hmm. It doesn't last for a while. He gets his ass to you pretty early. I know, but that's such a... He gets...
They finally get beaten in season three, I think. I just love that they establish there's four types of bending, and then they're like, oh, but here's this one-off dude who can do this thing that nobody else can do. And here's this lady who has arms that are made of water. And here's this dude, you know, it's like, there's all this weird shit that you're like, yeah. Okay. But, okay. But you can also blood bend. Okay. But you can metal bend. Okay. But you can lava bend. Okay. But you can.
Ancillary bending is responsible for the overturning of the Fire Lord. The thing that Aang learns from the turtle is what he uses. Oh, energy bending, yeah. Yes, energy bending. It's not even the four elements, right? It's something else. Yeah. I think my biggest hope for season two is I really want to spend some time in Boston say, and I'm a little worried about this. Like,
Ba Sing Sing is such a huge part of the animated show. Like literally like a third of the season takes place in or around Ba Sing Sing. There are no episodes of Ba Sing Sing. That's right. There are no episodes about success. And I, too, have seen some of the comments about how, yes, we're going back to Amashu and doing all this stuff. I'm a little worried that we're going to replace it.
I will also be a little upset at that. I mean, Ba Sing Se is like, that's a huge part of like how the world has evolved. It's like, we don't talk about the war in Ba Sing Se. There's no war in Ba Sing Se, right? It's the major culture of... The Earth Kingdom. The Earth Kingdom, yeah. And that's where Toph comes from, isn't it? No, it's not from Ba Sing Se.
I thought she was, like, from the outskirts of Ba Sing Se. Maybe the outskirts. I'm not sure. She runs away from home, though. Oh, yeah. Toph. I mean, we're going to get her at all. I mean, we have to get Toph. We've got to get Toph. I hope they get the blindness rights and the sensing of the movies. She's going to sense through love, okay? She's like a badger ball. She can only sense love. She can smell it.
She's got a good sense of smell. You know what I mean? Okay. I will say there are a lot of things that I want to happen. I want to see the bloodbending. I want to see Toph. What I do not want to see. And this might be a hot take. I don't want to see Appa get lost. Okay. Yes. Well, it's the whole like kind of end of season two. Yeah. It's like a major plot point. And. i think it's just very it's very upsetting to me and it just i don't know i don't want to see it i don't want to see it
They don't love having an op on screen for more than three seconds. I know, so I'm kind of hoping that they'll just skip it. I saw a really funny comment on Reddit that the joke was, like, they cost too much as actors. You have to pay them too much? That's kind of true in a weird way. It is. It's like having Brad Pitt come to set. You can't do that. It costs too much money, right? You can't have Appa and Momo come to set because it costs too much money. Yeah, you just kill them with a rock.
Kill him with a rocket. Oh, my God. We don't have the budget to do other things, and we can spend a whole thing on putting him in the pool. That was weird. We don't have to animate him. We just give Sokka a really believable fur puppet. a top a tuft of hair they'll just put keep putting tufts literally whenever he was walking into the oasis i was like is he just carrying a blanket like what
I will say something we've hinted at already, the opposite of the Boston State thing. We've hinted at the fact that we're coming back to Amashu. That was kind of weirdly missing from the animated show. We didn't really see a lot of the conquest of Amashu. We went back, right? We saw it, but like...
It was already conquered. It was already conquered, and that happened in this show as well, right? We had to get King Boomy, and he was like, no, I'm good, and then he puts himself back in the conveyor belt, and he's like, and you're like, you know, bends himself away or whatever, but like... I would like to see that developed a little more. Craziest prediction. Craziest prediction for just season two or for all of it?
Season two. Season two. Crazy prediction. Aang doesn't learn any bending. I don't like that. I don't like it, but I like their prediction. I don't like the idea, but I like you having that as a prediction. Todd doesn't actually teach him earthbending either. Yeah, I mean, and then someone makes the line. They're just going to Power Ranger Ozai. Power Ranger Ozai. Someone says the line.
Two elements of bending. It doesn't have quite as a ring to it, Dustin. Every season we just lose one element. Craziest prediction? We don't see the spirit world again. That would be heartbreaking. Okay. Yeah. Crazy thing that could happen, but it could also be plausible, maybe? Yeah. I could see that. All right, crazy prediction. They... Because the actors still look a little too young...
They completely ignore the Katara Aang love story that's starting. And then in season three, they pretend like it's been happening the whole time. Oh, I'm going to be so mad. But I think, I think that, I think they might get to the point where like they look, they earnestly look too young or they don't have time. I think they'll completely ignore the romance and then put it all. Now the, the, the writers, writers and producers are secretly zoo to Tara fans. And, uh,
That's it. I get the shift that makes more sense anyway. If we go to Ba Sing Se, I could see maybe we... completely avoid there's no war in boston say like that really yeah that's like not brainwashed brainwashing brainwashed none of that's part of it at all like it's just a prison and they imprison iroh and
or Zuko or whatever. And it's kind of like that wasn't the first season. We just ignore that whole element because it is kind of deep, a conspiracy theory. We have to explain all that. That's a lot of details to hit in the Die League. You remember that? Yeah. Not bad. Yeah. Yeah. So we'll see that. But the dailies are so cool, man. I know. I hope they do it. They throw hands. Literally, you want to throw some hands? And they're like, yeah, we'll throw hands. Hands are so cool. Yeah.
I don't know. The idea to me, the Fire Nation very much has that... I like World War II stuff, but it's very much like... they have superior scientific research. They have, you know, the superior element. They have all of these things that make them like very, very good at war. Yeah. So drill. Oh, what if they avoid the drill? That's real expensive. That is real expensive. Yeah, interesting. Okay. That sounds good. A lot of possibilities.
Let's look back really fast and do what we do with every episode. Let's think about Saka Saks and MVP for the whole season, the season as a whole. I know there's a lot of moments to think about. I have one off the top of my head, actually. You go first. I wonder if you're going to take it. Go for it. My Sokka snack, as I've said this a bunch of times before, was the Earth Kingdom, the Earthbender scene, the soldier in Iraq.
That was my favorite scene in the whole series. That shocked me. It was really good. It told us so much. It told us the world's at war. It told us the Iroh has changed. It told us that he used to be brutal. There was a lot of... A lot of sort of secondary exposition to happen from that, like through the dialogue there. And I love this. I thought it was fantastic. Mine is the flashback in Fire Nation.
where we hear the instrumental tears in the vine and this is the vine wherever it's called and Zuko talking to Iroh about how he wouldn't how you know your son died and that's sad and then all the way up to Iroh saying everything I need is on this boat That section. That's the moment when I'm like, okay, they're in it. That might have been the best line in the whole series, honestly. Everything he needs on his boat. Yep, good stuff. Hey, you got one? I mean...
Those two are probably, like, I would say the funeral, but also everything that Eric said. Yes. If I were to say what moment made me the happiest in the, like, just... offshoot the secret tunnel song made me serious happy it genuinely made me happy to just hear it it was fun nostalgic It wasn't depicted quite the way that we expected, but it was nostalgic. And I was quite happy with it. In the retelling of Omashu and the two lovers, yes, I liked it. I like it with you.
I don't know. Man, I've gone back and forth so many times. I know. I think, honestly, the Saka snacks, they're... The casting has been pretty good. I really think that the writing... The writing was a little tough, I think, the first couple episodes. And then it really fouled its way. Yeah. The overall balance between giving us what we want and what they know that we want while also making it their own, I think is something that they could have.
very easily fell on their face with. And I think we can all agree that at the end of it, while we have our little gripes and we have our things overall, it was, it was a great experience and there's a reason that they're getting a second and third season and it feels justified.
Especially for Netflix, who's very good at canceling things. I know. I'm shocked they didn't cancel this, honestly. I guess the numbers did it. The numbers did it. Like, it's always really... They still could. They've canceled things they've ordered. Eric, Eric. Make sure that we don't put the cabbages before the card, whatever. You know what I mean? I know, I know. My cabbages. Dude, that actually might be another saga snack. My cabbages guy reveal was 10 out of 10. That was pretty great.
It was 10 out of 10. That was great. The way they built up to it. And it was the guy. Okay. It was the guy. Yeah, that was great. I might change mine. Sokka and Suki. Yeah. Oh, God. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I'm like so excited to see Suki again. She was wonderful. I'm ready for it. Yep. MVP of the season for you guys. Zuko. I mean, yeah, that's the obvious answer. Open, close. Zuko, man. Iroh. I'll steal Zhao from Alec. I'll take Iroh. Sorry, Alec.
Wait, so hang on. You're telling me Zuko's gone, Iroh's gone, and Zhao is gone. You got Fire Lord Ozai in the full sleep. Snooze you lose, Alec. No, I think the Fire Nation is definitely the best. They gave them the most. episode one everybody they did and and it it you know it shows like we have the most emotional ties with the fire nation so you know if i had to pick somebody that like for my for for my mvp
I mean, it has to be Zuko. There's nobody else. You've already picked him, and I feel like I should pick somebody else. So I will give it to Sokka. I feel like... I feel like Sokka was very good. He was what I expected. He was kind of ad-libby and fun. He gave the comic relief in a very serious version of the show, which I don't think any of us kind of expected to be this serious.
Yeah. You know, so having that character and giving him, you know, whether some of it's the written lines or some of him ad-libbing, but, you know, what's his name? Ian did a very good job portraying Sokka. And overall throughout the series, I really didn't have any major flying cows with him at all. And he was great standalone, but he was also incredible when he was with Suki or with Yue.
Like, he does a great job of playing off the other actors that they have come in. It's good casting, I think. Of the original three... He's a perfect... Oh, yeah, it's not good. I think he's the best one. Out of those three. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure. I think the other two still has some growth to do, but... I don't think that's a bad call at all. It's a good one, I think, actually. Like it a lot? I think that's going to be it. That's going to be it. This is the closure of...
Several fun things, right? This is the closure of Uteni Avatar Show, season one of this show. This is the end of our first real test of branching outside of Star Wars into a... Kind of another nerd fandom a little bit. I had fun with the show overall. This was a fun experience. It was fun. Yeah. Getting together with your friends and talking about something that's so nostalgic. Just Alex in a bird out of his pants. Gosh, dang it. I got to have a second MVP.
I'm sorry. Who is it? Gyatso. Gyatso. Gyatso. We forgot about him. Lem K. Sue, I think. Is this the actor's name? Yeah, dude. Incredible. Every time he's on screen. The only person on screen who made Gordon as Aang seem like he really had it down. Them playing on the show is awesome. Great scenes. Great scenes. Okay, sorry. I just hit my elbow so bad. What a great ending note. I heard that. I think that shows how excited we've been about this show. It's like...
We've been bouncing off of each other and we've been like naming all these characters, but then we're like, oh yeah, and this character and this character. It's been really exciting to talk about. Any final closing thoughts before we finish up our final episode of the Avatar show? Fire Nation was right. Fire Nation supremacy. There's a reason that they conquered the nations. The Avatar will fall and fire will rain.
Jesus. Wow. Caitlin, final thoughts? Eric, get out. No, I'm just really excited to see where it goes and I'm excited to get into the Earth Kingdom. Alec, what's you? My final thoughts have nothing to do about the show necessarily. Just truthfully, this is my first podcast on the Uteni Network. I've done some things in the past, but it's been a while. I've really, really enjoyed spending time with all three of y'all and getting to watch the show together.
But, you know, hopefully we'll get to do some more things. Definitely season two and season three, if they don't take five years and we're, we don't all have like three kids and, you know, doing different things in life, but. This has been a wonderful experience. If we had one viewer, if we had 500 viewers, I would do this every day. This has been a lot of fun. I really, really enjoyed it. It's given me a fresh take on the show. I think we can all agree.
that you know watching something alone it's very easy to be negative but when you when you come together and you really talk it out and you realize how much fun you've had You get to feed off the other energy. So I hope that people that are listening and stuck with us through all of these episodes, if you're still here.
I feel the same way. I love listening to podcasts. And part of the reason I love listening to podcasts is because I want to have people to talk to about it. And if I don't have people to talk to about it, then I can listen to other people talk about it. And I still feel like I get to hear and feel the... energy than other people have so this has been wonderful and uh you know hopefully we can do something again in the future soon and uh you know go on to season two when it comes out love it
It's rare as an adult, I think, that you get to look back at something so nostalgic to your childhood and like... Like remember the experience and kind of relive that in a way. And, you know, I think I've said this a thousand times that that is like the whole purpose of Uteni is to find the things that you love and unabashedly celebrate them. And if this is the first show you've ever listened to from.
anything in the UTE network. This is our thing. This is our vibe. We talk about fandom, and we have a good time, and we try to be as positive as we can, and we just recognize how much effort and nuance it takes to really look for the joy and the good in things, but... I can assure you, if you seek to do that and live your life that way, and you consume media in that way, you will have a better experience. And it's just fun to...
You know, you don't have to be a shill, but it's fun to look for the things that you love rather than kind of latching on to the things that you dislike. It takes a lot more effort. It's a lot more difficult. It's like following the light side in Star Wars. The dark side is the easy path, right? You know, if you can find joy in the things that you love, then you will turn out to be a better person. And on that note...
That's going to do it for this week's episode of the Uteni Avatar Show. If you're looking for other fun shows, be sure to check out the rest of our lineup in the Uteni Network. Again, a special thank you to everyone who has supported us so far in our Patreon community. Brian Dooley, Carl Sander, Michael Fry, and Raymond Bozinski on our high council. And James T., Ashley Ingalls, Colton Fyfe, and Chris Carrizo at our captain tier.
Thank you guys for your amazing support. Huge shout-outs for our behind-the-scenes folks. Kyle, making it sound good, my fellow host, and for Wes for the Uteni Network support. To our fantastic listeners, our friends.
You guys are really the heart of this community. It's your story, your voices, your passions. That's really what makes this thing special, and I wouldn't have it any other way. All right, that's going to be it for us. Keep exploring, keep sharing. We'll keep having a great time together. We will see you when the Uteni Avatar show returns. See you next time.
Support for this show and all Uteni Network podcasts comes from the United Patreon community. At the heart of the Uteniverse, the United is where our most passionate fans gather to deepen their journey through the worlds of Avatar, Star Wars, and the broader universe of nerd culture and sports.
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