Board 8 > TPLink ranks The Last Airbender episodes

(+) Yeah! (+)

Hey, B8! I just finished watching Avatar: The Last Airbender for the second time, and I've decided that is a great opportunity for another ranking topic!

My first watch was when it originally aired, and boy, that was a great show. I couldn't believe a Western cartoon could be so good, but I was hooked from the 2nd episode. Since then, I've been meaning to rewatch it for years, and it was worth it. Now let's rank it!

#61: Avatar Day (2.05)

I'm going to begin this list by telling you that it won't have a lot of negativity. Avatar is a very good show! Even the filler episodes tend to play some important parts in the characters' arcs, or be very funny. So even Avatar Day isn't completely unsalvageable. But it's mostly bad.

The issue is that the plot requires an entire town of stupid/selfish people to work, and I don't tend to like those very much. Sure, the Avatar killed their leader, but it was 300 years ago and their leader was kind of a dick? Also they forget the fact the Avatar is the only thing that can save them from the Fire Nation. But then once the FN actually shows up, the jerks promptly beg the Avatar to save them. The worst thing is that in 2020, this episode is now a realistic representation of a lot of countries. Not that it makes it more enjoyable to watch

The second thing it relies on is Sokka doing a Sherlock Holmes impression, which is a bit funny but kind of overdone after a while. It also has a plot about Zuko leaving Iroh, which is necessary so we can get Zuko Alone, but otherwise forgettable.

The good part of the episode is the Kyoshi scene. Boy, that was badass. Not very necessary for the main plot, but this show can do great worldbuilding and that's an example of it. It is also the first showing of lavabending in the series, which would eventually become a major thing in Korra. But aside from that, the episode is pretty lame.

At the end of it, Sokka says that is the worst town he's ever been to. I can't help but agree.

Tag

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Great Divide needs to go soon.

(Tag)

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#60: The Fortuneteller (1.14)

Look, I like love stories. But this episode is mostly just annoying. The show suddenly decides this is the time to have Aang fall in love with Katara, and he just obssesses over it all episode. Meanwhile, Katara obssesses about love too but not necessarily Aang, and goes bother the titular fortuneteller every 5 minutes for it, while some little girl obssesses about Aang. I feel tired just writing that.

The other side plot is Sokka trying to get another town of dumb people (again, I really hate those) to think for themselves. In the end, he never does, so the kids have to con them by messing with the clouds.

And then they have to stop a volcano. Which is a pretty cool scene, actually. And now that I think about it, Avatar Roku with decades of experience couldn't stop an active volcano, but two novice benders and a guy with a boomerang could! It ends with Katara realizing the prophecy about her marrying a bender maybe referred to Aang, and now this ship is oficially in the "will they or won't they" territory. That end of the episode is good, but I could have done without the love triangle and the dumb townies.

i liked both of these (and the great divide, which i'm sure comes soon)

expecting a lot more season 1!
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I think this is pretty balanced between seasons, tbh.

Although the seasons do have a difference in terms of how well they are put together. But they all have great individual episodes.

#59: Nightmares and Daydreams (3.09)

Now here's a bizarre episode. Aang gets too anxious about the Day of the Black Sun, so he gets a bunch of nightmares. Then he refuses to go to sleep, so he starts daydreaming. The majority of episode is watching those surreal scenes.

The scenes are of varying quality. Some of them barely made me smile. The samurai fight between Appa and Momo is pretty funny. But in the end, the whole episode feels pointless, since #1: This is not the actual final battle, and when we do get there, Aang doesn't need to waste a full episode having imsonia. And #2: The Day of the Black Sun ends up being a fluke, so this episode was even less necessary. Few episodes in ATLA are truly skippable, and this might be one of them.

I guess seeing his friends make a bed to him was cute, though. Made me realize those kids rarely get to sleep in beds too, so that was probably a luxury.

tag, really excellent show

but yeah, The Fortuneteller would've been near the bottom of my list too. The Aang/Katara romance subplot was definitely one of the least interesting things about an incredibly excellent series (which was ultimately much more disappointing once Legend of Korra went all in on the romance drama in its first season)

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I liked the romance in some episodes, tbh.

But most of the time it's awkward. Those writers don't know how to do romance, and ATLA is saved by the fact they are shy about it. In Korra, they get confident about it, and that ends up hurting the first half of the show pretty badly.

You have asked for it, and now you shall receive it.

#58: The Great Divide (1.11)

I don't actually get the hate for this episode. I mean, it's near the bottom here, but that's because the show is great! But The Great Divide isn't much worse than most of the filler stuff, and it's pretty enjoyable.

I suppose it's a bit too silly, though. And again, it relies on dumb NPCs to push its plot forward, and this time Katara and Sokka actually side with the NPCs to stall the plot further. It is also one of those few episodes that are entirely skippable. I guess the episode is trying to say something about how being everyone's savior is hard, so in the end, Aang improvises to get the job done, but this doesn't really connect with his overall character arc, albeit it makes for a funny last scene.

Two high points: the action involving baiting those monsters to turn them into rides (you can always count on ATLA to have solid action, even in the weakest episodes), and the animation in the flashbacks of the two tribes (it's very cartoony, but it's well done and adds flavor to the episode).

It seems like I'm defending this episode more than attacking it, but it's just that I think its bad fame is not proportional to its quality. It's filler, it's dumb, but it's fun. There are just 57 episodes that are more worth watching.

tag

was about to rant about how Avatar Day is a lot worse than Great Divide but nvm

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tag

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Tag for one of the greatest shows in the multiverse

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Tag

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Theres really no place to stream this legally right now? Damn

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i think avatar day was the episode where aang befriends a bunch of prisoners, right? i loved that scene
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tag

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I would've put The Fortuneteller a little higher but it's still pretty bad. The silly girl is rather annoying and Katara's at her worst, but Sokka has some great lines and the climax with the volcano is really well choreographed. Can get why the "town of stupid people" episodes are at the bottom - it's the least interesting episode dynamic.

I would have a separate tier for TGD and Avatar Day. The only episodes that are plain bad. At least Nightmares and Daydreams has a surrealist vibe to it, even if it's complete fluff.

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WazzupGenius00 posted...

Theres really no place to stream this legally right now? Damn

It's on Netflix where I live.

SeabassDebeste posted...

i think avatar day was the episode where aang befriends a bunch of prisoners, right? i loved that scene

Oh I totally forgot about it. Yeah it's good.

i'm in the uk and i believe it's available on both netflix and prime last i checked.
i tried rewatching it last year sometime but both use the DVD versions for season 1 which is notoriously bad quality. hope the blu ray versions come available to stream sometime.

Ok the next one might be a flaming hot take. Or not. Not sure where the fandom stands these days.

#57: Sokka's Master (3.04)

Sokka has a pretty great character arc, overall. In Kyoshi Warriors, he becomes a warrior. In Bato of the Water Tribe, he becomes an adult. In the Day of the Black Sun, he becomes a general. In Boiling Rock, he becomes a hero.

So it's strange that in the middle of that, we have this little episode where he regresses all the way back to the start of season 1. Sokka suddenly starts making a big deal about not being a bender, after 43 episodes of not minding that. He also suddenly decides he needs to be a swordsman, after being fine with the boomerang for a long time. He seeks a master, and then he spends the entire episode telling himself that he is not worthy of being a warrior while the master tries to convince him otherwise. Before rewatching this, my memory of it was the master being much less friendly to Sokka, and Sokka having to prove himself to him. When I actually watched it again, I realized the master was all in on Sokka from start to end, just Sokka himself couldn't accept it. Eh I just dislike character regression, honestly. Sokka has inferiority complex issues but here it felt like the writers forced it.

Of course, this episode has some highlights. Iroh working out in prison is badass. Katara trying to come up with jokes in Sokka's absence is hilarious. And the final fight between Sokka and the master is pretty good, in a classic Sokka way. It's just that in this show, nearly every episode has highlights, so the ones with things I dislike more will show up closer to the bottom.

By the way, what was up with the master giving them that white lotus piece at the end? It's never used for anything! The white lotus just introduces themselves in the finale. Feels like an abandoned plotline.

I think it's going to be a major pattern here where if I don't like the main plotline (usually the Aang one, but sometimes the Zuko one), the other plotline being good will probably not save the episode.

sokka's master is pretty forgettable. i think there are some S1 episodes that i found more outright annoying though. painted lady (or whatever that episode with katara in the first half of S3) ain't great either.
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#56: Bato of the Water Tribe (1.15)

Like the previous one, this episode is in this position for making Sokka act out of character, only it also extends to Katara this time.

The main plot is that Aang is feeling jealous of Bato for hogging the attention of his friends, and he is afraid of them leaving him, so he acts selfishly and hides a message from their father. The friends eventually find out, and they react by... deciding to leave Aang permanently.

Look, Aang made a dumb mistake, alright. The episode is about him growing up. But all of those kids make dumb mistakes every other episode, and they never react like they did here. Sokka and Katara suddenly forget all the shit they went through with Aang. They also forget Aang is the only hope of mankind, who Katara herself spend years dreaming about finding. It's very forced.

What ironic is that Bato is the most mature one here, not making a big deal about Aang's mistake and constantly asking Sokka and Katara if they are okay with leaving. This is a rare case where the NPC is the voice of reason trying to keep the protagonists from acting in a dumb way.

The good parts are the scenes with Zuko and Iroh hiring June to track Aang, Iroh hitting on June and Aang figuring out how to defeat her beast. Sokka's ritual of adulthood is pretty cool, too. Another episode where the Zuko side is pretty solid, but not enough to carry the episode.

#55: The Boy in the Iceberg (1.01)

The first episode might as well be our fodder line. I have nothing bad to say about it, but I think I don't have much good either?

It's the first half of a double episode pilot, and almost all the stuff that made me hyped about the show when I first watched it happens in the second part. Here, what we get is some exposition, Sokka being kind of an ass, Aang's iconic defrosting scene, Aang and Katara playing in the snow, and then they accidentally activating a fire nation ship. Oh, and Zuko and Iroh saying generic Zuko and Iroh lines so they are introduced to us.

Wish I could say more. Avatar has a pretty good start, but I guess this is the effect of ranking individual episodes of a pair rather than the pair itself. I guess I'll have more to say where when get to 1.02.

Bato is indeed an episode with strange out of character behaviour - hard to believe Aang would actually be that petty, and hard to believe Katara and Sokka would both react so severely to it (not like he hid the correspondence for weeks). The confrontation is really good though - especially the sequence where Zuko and Aang fight over the necklace.

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#54: The Swamp (2.04)

Between this episode and Avatar Day, it kind of feels like the show is just stalling until we get to The Blind Bandit. Which I think makes sense, since from that episode until the end of the season, it's a virtuous ride of great episodes. So I guess they decided to put the filler in the beginning instead of placing it in the middle of that streak (the notorious exception being Tales of Ba Sing Se, but it's there for specific reasons).

So The Swamp, in the end, is a glorified Toph trailer. Its point is to tease for the great things yet to come. And I guess help Aang identify Toph as his master when he finally sees her later (though let's be serious, you don't need a vision of the future to realize that Toph is awesome).

It does some pretty good worldbuilding, though. One thing about the Avatar world that I love is how you can find those little communities with different styles of bending in random places. There is a secret civilization of waterbenders in the middler of a swamp, and they can even use it to make giant plant monsters! Those swamp guys are not very likable though, and the humor in their dialogue doesn't really land for me.

Oh yeah, and there is a Zuko plot where we see the constrast between Iroh who will gladly dance like a fool for money, and Zuko, who sees that as a demeaning and prefers to rob people as the Blue Spirit. It's interesting how each one has a different concept of honor, and Zuko's will shift along the show.

i thought aang's jealousy in bato was pretty good to watch - these are kids, after all.

the blue spirit was the stupidest thing. boy in the iceberg was also pretty bad; i might drop it below others you've got.

swamp is pretty meh, agreed that it does more for the world than for its characters.
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SeabassDebeste posted...

i thought aang's jealousy in bato was pretty good to watch - these are kids, after all.

Aang's jealousy is fine, the siblings' reaction to it was forced.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

One thing about the Avatar world that I love is how you can find those little communities with different styles of bending in random places. There is a secret civilization of waterbenders in the middler of a swamp, and they can even use it to make giant plant monsters!

This was one of my favorite aspects of the show

In particular I was fascinated with the sandbenders that appear later on (and I kind of wish they had gotten more focus), since Toph specifically points out how sand directly contradicts the flow of most earthbenders since its much more fluid compared to things like stone that most earthbenders are used to

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And then you get to the series finale and Toph can now build ultra detailed city models with sand, after practicing for a couple months.

Toph OP.

#53: The Awakening (3.01)

Another fodder episode, the main plot has Aang waking up, getting exposition from the stuff that happened so far, seeing characters we haven't seen in a while, yadda yadda. It also has him doubting himself and blaming himself for the fall of Ba Sing Se. It's decent writing, but not very memorable. The whole episode feels like it's just here to check some boxes, and tell us what the season is going to be about.

It has a sequence where they fight against a Fire Nation ship, only to be bailed by a giant monster. Okay, I guess.

The highlight of the episode is the Zuko side. Here, we learn that Azula told her father Zuko killed the Avatar, after realizing Zuko has reasons to think he's alive, just so the whole situation can blow up in ZUko's face later on. It's deliciously evil, and shows what a true psychopath Azula is. It also helps set the last arc of Zuko's development in motion, as he gets the first sign that his new life in the Fire Nation is actually very fragile.

is 3x01 the one with the weird cersei/jaime vibes between azula and zuko
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Starting to have a hard time deciding the order of the episodes, everything here feels like it's too good to be in the 50s.

Man, what a good show.

SeabassDebeste posted...

is 3x01 the one with the weird cersei/jaime vibes between azula and zuko

Hmm I think so?

you've got all the bad episodes

#52: The Western Air Temple (3.12)

Another box checker. This episode is important plot wise because it's when Zuko finally joins Team Avatar, though his actual conversion to good happened in the previous ones. The episode itself is mostly a sequence of awkward attempts by Zuko to convince them that he is now good, in a way that is so sloppy it almost feels 4th wall breaking. It is pretty funny, though. There is an action sequence in the end against Combustion Man too, which I'm glad was the last one because Combustion Man is kind of lame. He only has one move!

After watching the show, I've come to the conclusion Zuko's biggest weakness is emotional intelligence. If this was DnD, his dump stat would be Wisdom. He just isn't good with people, he doesn't know what to say or how to please others or how to read others, and this episode shows. Heck, the rest of the season keeps showing it as Zuko becomes the default target for jokes.

But Zuko is fundamentally good, he has a moral compass that shakes but ultimately doesn't break, and he doesn't want to hurt people unecessarily. That's what makes him the best firebending master for Aang.

The other interesting thing about the episode is how Toph tries to reach out to Zuko more than the others. Which makes sense, since she didn't spend a full season being hunted by him. She makes some solid points, and even tries to meet him by herself, though Zuko blows it again by accidentally burning her feet. Well, in the end it works out, and that's the phrase that best describes this episode.

that episode feels way too low. zuko rehearsing his lines to introduce himself to team avatar is one of the best scenes of the series!
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"Hi. Zuko here!"

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I thought it was funny but doesn't really register as "one of the best in the series" to me, tbh.

don't you dare speak ill of Sparky Sparky Boom Man
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SeabassDebeste posted...

one of the best scenes of the series!

There's about 200 best scenes though

Half of them involve Toph in some way

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NFUN posted...

don't you dare speak ill of Sparky Sparky Boom Man

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#51: The Warriors of Kyoshi (1.04)

This episode is... okay? I can't think of anything bad to say about it, but it feels like a pretty basic episode. It's the first Sokka centric episode in the show, and it does that job pretty well, forcing Sokka to face the fact he sucks and humble himself to learn how to fight from someone better, even if that's a woman.

He succeeds and gets a kiss, while Aang gets a cool little fight against Zuko, after learning a lesson about how it's not polite to stay in towns for too long when there's a violent and angsty FN prince chasing you. Oh, and we get to see Aang trying to ride some giant monster because why the hell not.

Another episode that feels like it should be higher but there are so many great episodes that I don't see how it can be much higher than this.

#50: The Ember Island Players (3.17)

This episode kept being bumped up as I worked on the list, but eventually I had to draw a line for this obviously filler episode. It's the quintessential breather episode before the final battle.

It's pretty funny, actually. Its whole point is to show exaggerated versions of the protagonists, that are not entirely honest but are not completely wrong either. Katara is very emotional, even if she isn't really a drama queen. Aang is a clown. Sokka can't stop making silly jokes. Zuko in Season 1 was veeeeery monothematic. And Toph might as well be a 2 meter tall hulk. I loved how Toph actually enjoyed it though, and so did Sokka, once his actor started using "real Sokka jokes".

In the middle of it, we get Aang awkwardly trying to get shipping closure from Katara, only to hear a "maybe after the war is over, kid". Not one of the best romance scenes of the show. And Zuko angsts over his guilt about what he did to Iroh, which is well done but not very novel since this is like the 4th time he does that.

The end of the episode features a clever moment in which Ozai and Azula win the final battle, and the crowd cheers. That's when you remember that for the Fire Nation, the good guys are their royalty, while the Avatar is the bad guy. Really puts things into perspective.

This episode is entirely skippable, but it's good overall. Just felt unfair to put it above episodes that actually move the plot or character arcs forward (except for the Aang/Katara scene, but I can do without it).

#49: The Deserter (1.16)

In the last third of S1, we get this weird S3 tease. Aang randomly bumps into a firebending master, and decides to, why not, learn firebending from him. But DESTINY does not want Aang to change the natural sequence of the elements, so as soon as he starts bending fire (and showing that he is great at any element not called earth), he accidentally hurts Katara. This results in a show-long trauma that scares the kid away from learning firebending until episode 3.12, after they try to abuse a solar eclipse but DESTINY once again intervenes to force Aang to go back to his normal path.

Honestly, I didn't like the firebending trauma that much. I think it's partly responsible for the first half of S3 being full of filler, because Aang wants to avoid firebending, and it also results on us seeing very little firebending by him in the show overall.

The other thing I didn't like about this episode is how Sokka reacts to the event. Aang hurts Katara, and his first reaction is to throw him onto the floor and scream at him like he's some random fire nation soldier. I mean I get it, he is very protective about his sister, but like the Bato episode I already mentioned, it's weird when those kids react violently to small or honest mistakes, while worse things in other episodes don't cause the same reactions.

The episode is not that bad, though. First, the concept of a group of firebender deserters who got tired of using it for violence is pretty cool. Next, I like how it tied to Zhao's arc, and how Aang defeats Zhao by realizing that his biggest weakness is not really controlling the fire he creates, so he baits him into burning his own ships down. It's a nice touch, and adds some character to what is otherwise a rather generic Season 1 villain.

Ember Island Players somehow still did it better than M Night Shamalayn though

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