Review: Avatar's Ending, Sozin's Comet

WARNING: Packed with spoilers.

I have great respect for Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, the creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender. It is definitely an epic cartoon which I will enjoy re-watching for years to come. Sadly, as a fan following Avatar closely, the ending was terrible. Sloppy and unfaithful would be the two words that best characterize it. Sloppiness in story-telling and unfaithfully being uncreative.

Firstly, Princess Ursa. Where is she? Why the cliff hanger? How the heck did she get rid of her father-in law and make Ozai the Firelord? Wouldn't both Ursa and Ozai be accused of treacherous crimes instead? It really would be interesting to see what actually happened. Ursa's a reasonable relevant character responsible for Zuko's choice to be good and Azula's psychoticness. I now fear that there never was an explanation and the creators were trying to weasel their way through with an excuse as sad as "Where is my mother?", in the last few minutes of the series finale. (Loved the tension of the atmosphere in the prison until it switched to earth kids playing ball)

Sokka. I'm his fan and all. (Wished he'd polygamously ended up with Moon Princess, Suki, Toph and Ty Lee, but that's fine.) His whole episode of sword training and sword forging, gave us only one notable thrust on the cable car of the Boiling Rock. None, from Sozin's Comet, unless you count throwing as swordplay. Boomerang was pulled out too but nothing significant as well. He could've saved some time picking one of his master's sword instead of dragging meteorite and making a sword with it with no special abilities. Speaking of Sokka's sword, what about Suki's fans? And the whole fighting lesson Sokka learnt on Kyoshi island? Why don't they come into play?

The army of flying ships did nothing except set bushfires on isolated plains. And they were intercepted and destroyed before they ever saw another person other than the Avatar on the ground. The gold armoured ship was even the first to fall down, not a good start for a conquest. Suki, Toph and Sokka kept jumping around ships like monkeys. There was so much that could have developed. The only things I remembered were the birthday soldier and Toph's metal bending that saved the boredom. (Oh yeah, armoured Toph!) The lack of life around the battle areas, including Basing-Se, the flashback of Omashu and the Fire Palace made it duller than what it could have been. (Bumi's house bending and Azula vs Zuko still good nevertheless) The battles were cool, giving the White Lotus Clan the spotlight. But what happened to all the other people who could fight too? Hmmm...

The Phoenix King Ozai is laughable. He's only this powerful and agile with the comet. (Suggested solution: empower Ozai by a factor of ten , make him fly with Wings of Fire, not just rocket feet, then he'll deserve the title, Phoenix King) Against the Avatar State he was like a plaything. Which means if he was on a cruise around the South Pole in episode one and met Aang, he would get bullied by a glowing bald boy. Wait, doesn't that ruin the Avatar's purpose of being chased around the world while finding masters to perfect his bending arts? Why didn't Aang float with a celestial light this time after coming out of his shell while leaving his body exposed to lightning attacks? What if it's just continuing the Avatar transformation which he attains by letting go of Katara? Wait, didn't he kiss Katara in the end? Questions... questions...

And what's with not killing Ozai? (Voice in my head: "He knows where Ursa is!" Consciousness: "Cliffhanger!") Jet was killed by a rock. Zhao was drowned by the Avatar fish. Katara's mum was just killed by a guy who lives with his mum. It's alright if some there are other alternatives, even if all your past lives tell you to not make the same mistake, since Aang's a monk and all. But why must it come from a lion turtle from nowhere? Why not Hei Bai? Is the Turtle a reference to Stephen King's macroverse dweller which incidentally also was around since the beginning of time? And in the scene where Aang sucks the bending out of Ozai, a little 'flashback of reasons to fight on' wouldn't do much harm, when Aang was nearly overpowered, would it? (But it's pretty cool I admit, the idea of taking away bending abilities)


I am too tired. This was written within one hour after watching the ending. I shall leave here with a few unresolved issues.

Issues that can take up one whole page:
- Aang's sudden ability to re-use the Avatar State and all the chakra ramblings
- Mai's love to Zuko after getting dumped, deserted and having a history of ditching her baby brother
- Ty Lee's new Kyoshi warrior friends, even though she's the one that put them in prison the first place
- Azula's rapid mental degeneration when she's usually sly and calm (How else can she shoot lighning?)
- Katara was 'confused' the last time they met, and they're hugging/kissing the next time. Nothing happened in between.

Missing characters with influence:
Ursa, Guru Pathik, Earth Emperor, Toph's parents and bounty hunters (Toph didn't get her life-changing experience)

Missing characters that shouldn't be missing during fights:
Ty Lee, Mai, Everyone at Black Sun (Water tribe warriors, earth soldiers and miscellanous bunch)

Flawlessly done:
Azula's long hair(Why did she cut it? Darn...), Iroh-Zuko reunion, Aang's 4 elemental sphere, Visual beauty of Aang vs Ozai, Zuko's coronation(could be grander), Aang's final wardrobe


Lastly, I still enjoyed watching the ending. It's still Avatar. But I have a hard time accepting it.