Greetings Ladies and Gents! It is I, The Shaman of Animation back once again! You know, it's crazy to think it's been five years since I created this blog. Doesn't feel anywhere near that long. But alas, another year, another season of Avatar to review. Let's not waste any time and hop into Avatar Book 2! Warning: Spoilers will come your way.
Book 2 sees Aang begin his Earthbending training as he continues his journey to master the four elements. Along the way he, and his friends, Katara and Sokka, meet new friends and enemies, and learn key information that will help them defeat the Fire Nation. This information will see them venture into The Earth Kingdom.
If you were to twist my arm and come up with one negative thing about Book 2 of Avatar (which is more nitpicking than anything else is that it doesn't feel like Katara and Sokka change all that much throughout the season. That's not saying their characters were bad or they didn't do anything but compared to the beginning and end of Book One where there was a significant difference in those character, here in Book 2, the only real difference they have is that Sokka has a new girlfriend. With that said, they're still really likable characters and they still are important and help in the plot; and considering what happens with these characters in the next season, this complaint feels moot.
Perhaps the reason I feel that those two characters feel underutilized in the development department is because there are 4 new major characters introduced this season. The first of which is Toph Beifong: a blind Earthbender who left her overly protected rich girl life behind to teach Aang Earthbending. This gal is a great addition to our cast of heroes. Her rough and tough attitude gel well with the rest of her cast and the blind jokes they tell with her never get old. Despite having seen Earthbending prior to her debut in the show, her style still manages to be very unique and make for great visuals.
The second is the lady in the center of the picture above: Azula. Azula is someone we got small glimpses of the previous season but she is out and about in Book 2 and oh boy, is she a different kind of breed compared to Zuko. Compared to Zuko, who was something of a sympathetic villain who was shown to have multiple layers to him, Azula is just cutthroat, showing no mercy to anyone that tries to oppose her, which is assisted by the fact that she's also known to shoot lightning from her fingertips. This creates a villain who commands your attention whenever she is onscreen.
With this new antagonist running around, you may be wondering what happened to the ones we were following around in the previous season. Well, after his failure in the North Pole back in Book One, Zuko and his Uncle Iroh are now wanted by The Fire Nation and are on the run, and it presents this great inner conflict for Zuko who has everything taken away from him now that he's a fugitive and he's trying to figure out what he should do. His journey throughout Book 2 is easily one of the biggest highlights of the Book and his decision in the Season's final episode will absolutely shock you.
These two characters showcase what I think is one of the Book's strongest positives and that is showcasing the complexity of The War. While the Fire Nation are clearly the bad guys in the war, you also have members in The Earth Kingdom doing very underhanded things to get what they want. The prime example of this is in the episode 'Zuko Alone' where Earth Kingdom soldiers abuse their power to steal goods from innocent town folk as compensation for protecting them. On top of that, later on in the Book, when Team Avatar reach Ba Sing Se, they come across the Dai Li and their leader Long Feng who try to keep the War a secret from the Earth King and the city's residents for the sake of order. Shades of Gray is something the show has and will continue to attempt in the previous and next season of the show, but never does it feel as strong as it this season.
And finally, I can't talk about the show without bringing up the title character himself. Aang goes through a lot in this volume and the challenges he faces: whether its learning to Earthbend, figuring out and mastering the 'Avatar State', or the lost of his flying Bison, he's put through new and interesting challenges that allows more moments of vulnerability and show different sides of him. Like everything else this Book, it's really top notch stuff.
When I first started watching Book 2 for this review, I was a little nervous. It'd been a long time since I'd seen it from start to finish, and I hold it in such high regard I didn't think it would hold up as well. It is with a breath of relief that I can say that Book 2 of ATLA is as close to a perfect second season of ANY television show as you can get. With its world established last season, it perfectly ups the ante in every way possible from character, to action, to conflict, and to story; and it has a season finale that to this day still blows me away and leaves me excited for the future.
But that future will have to wait for next year. Thank you one and all for being on this ride with me these last 5 years. If you've checked this blog out for even a second, it's much appreciated. But tomorrow marks the first of October which can only mean one thing here on this blog...
Strap in folks, as next time Scooby-Doo Month begins once again. Til then, I'm The Shaman of Animation.
Take Care...
No comments:
Post a Comment