Overall, the first four episodes have been a bit of a mixed bag for me. Ep 1 was rough, but after that there have been many scenes I’ve loved, and many I really haven’t. It’s not blowing me away, but I’m having fun seeing what they change and if those changes land. What do you think?

Merphy: gives a thoughtful and honest review Me: “hehe… different AANG-gle.”

Costumes not looking lived in seems to be a consistent issue with modern production particularly for streaming, and it bugs me a lot too.

My biggest problem is how they've rounded Katara's and Sokka's edges. Their flaws and them overcoming them was a big part of what made this story great.

It's kind of weird how the people at Netflix have talked about this being a more mature take on the source material, yet the dialogue often feels very heavy-handed, like they're constantly spoon-feeding their audience. There is some dialogue that's great, or at least really solid, but then there's also dialogue that genuinely feels like it's written by the kind of writers who think children or teenagers are stupid and constantly need to be talked down to. SPOILER for episode 4: When Zuko disguises himself as an Earth Kingdom soldier to sneak into the Omashu prison in search of Iroh, he's suddenly faced with the choice of either going after Aang, or continue on his mission to rescue his uncle. The moment where he has to make this choice is featured in the source material as well, but this time, unlike in the animated series, he also has an Earth Kingdom prison guard asking him out loud whether he's looking for the Avatar or their new Fire Nation prisoner. The fact that they can't just let the visuals speak for themselves, or trust their own ability/storytelling enough that they have to spell out Zuko's inner conflict in that moment is a sign that they either don't have much confidence in how they're choosing to tell their version of the story, or they don't think their audience are intelligent enough to understand what's going on without having the narration spoon-fed to them... Which is weird considering how this is supposed to be the version meant for a more mature audience. It just kind of reeks of "We need to tell you what you're supposed to think and feel in this moment rather than letting you do it on your own".

I hate that they miss the point of the subtlety of the original. Character development can happen without the overly heavy exposition dialog. The biggest example of this is Aang's first introduction in the air temple should have SHOWN him eating banana cakes and playing airball with other CHILD air nomads THEN talking to Gyatso so he doesn't have to then verbally say, "I like, "I know who I am I like to goof off and eat banana cakes" You never see him interact with another child in his ordinary life so you don't get gravity in the reason why he leaves or see the fun silly side of him.

My main issue is the mischaracterisation of Katara - she is motherly or holds a raging anger towards the fire nation in source material. This makes me worried about episodes like the desert, the painted lady, the southern raiders, the awakening, the runaway, & the serpent's pass. If they intend to adapt from those episodes, it's going to fall flat because they didn't understand her character & how her trauma affects her dynamics with every single character she interacts with. Also, her & Toph's dynamic is affected for the overall story.

I didnt want a 1 to 1 recreation because, like you said, its a different medium. But i didnt want them to completely change the characters, I cared less about the story as a whole and more about the individual character arcs. The character arcs seems to be completely different

Aang didn't waterbend once in the whole season (except during avatar state). It's so weird to ignore his learning, I know Katara teaches him but he still take the time to learn in the first season.

Avatar The last Exposition... also i hate how they messed up Hakoda? Not caring about Sokka engineering stuff he wants him to be a warrior... and Sokka is like choosing between the 2 things (so freaking cliche btw) Hakoda was a great father proud of Sokka being a smart guy not only a warrior. I feel like they literally messed up 2 of the best male role figures Hakoda and Bumi, why? One more thing i can't remember 1 instance were Zuko talks about restoring his Honor

Just finished episode 2 and i've gotta say, having Kyoshi be the first Avatar he encounters was off. Roku was the best introduction as an Avatar teacher. Being from the fire nation and that mentorship was significant to Aang's willingness to trust fire benders. Also the dialogue between Aang and Kyoshi felt like the conversation he has at the end of the animated series.

Kyoshi was a miss for me. She never struck me as an angry person. More so duty bound, headstrong, and direct.

Having badgermoles travel by sensing emotions instead of vibrations is going to open up some wild stuff for Toph. I mean, I know she could sense heart beats but I'm curious as to where this is going.

I love that they addressed Iroh's past so much!! It hurt to see him hurting but it was so nice that it wasn’t just brushed off

"Everything I need is on this boat." 😢😢😢

Thematically, I'm still not sure the Bumi thing works. It'd work if Aang had ran like he did in the original series but, in the live action, he didn't. He got caught in bad weather...

Gran gran going into a schizophrenia induced info dump when aang just mentions a festival was what made me realize this is NOT the show I loved 🤣

I don't mind changes. I just dislike the quality of the changes. The dialogue being changed from "amazing" to "absolute fucking dogshit" is not a great change for example 😅 The entire series exposition dumps in the laziest, least entertaining way imaginable. And beyond exposition dumping, the dialogue is SO unnatural. "I am afraid of the responsibility", "we have been friends for years, you know that" level amateurish dialogue. Also, the way they rearrange the plot consistently manages to undermine the characters' motivations and lessen the impact of pivotal moments. Aang choosing to leave the air temple is a great example. In the OG show, Aang doesn't run away when he's told that he's the Avatar, he runs away when he overhears that being the Avatar means that he will be separated from his loved ones and he'll essentially lose the life that he loves. In the Netflix show he's basically like "let's go clear our head huh buddy?" And he conveniently leaves the exact night of the Air Nomad genocide. It robs his central motivation and conflict of all emotion. And it takes away the mystery of Aang's identity. I think it was far more effective to have Aang's first impression be the moment he leaves the iceberg and we see this God-like power, then the moment where Aang wakes up and asks to go play, that contrast perfectly captures the duality of this character. I hate the way they condensed plot points. Everything feels robbed of its proper impact as a result, and for the life of me I don't understand why (with all the rushed plot they already had) they decided to add even MORE plot points from later seasons. They ruin Ozai's reveal for no good reason. Nothing positive comes of it, they just ruin the mystery and menace of the character. They throw in Azula so haphazardly that, again, robs her introduction of its impact. Remember how Azula shows up in the original? Unforgettable right? Remember how they do it in this one? No? Shocker. And they don't even bother introducing May and Tai Lee. They just show up all of a sudden. Oh and the acting is mostly terrible and ruins believability and robs this already flimsy script of whatever limited emotion it had.

I'm giving the series a 6/10 overall. And a note to showrunners. Don't make some big deal out of things like 'oh we're toning down on Sokka's 'sexist' remarks...' only to have Suki appear in a doorway staring at the man while he's bathing...then continuing to stare until he's uncomfortable and covering up. What the heck was that?? Go away Suki, you creep.

I don't like how they handled Kyoshi. She was so shouty and critical. None of his past lives ever talked to him that way

They did Bumi so dirty, man. I was thinking the show was doing a solid job with some rocky aspects up to that point, but their betrayal to Bumi's character completely lost me. Why is Aang's oldest living friend and a member of the white lotus telling the AVATAR to abandon his friends and go through his journey alone? Why take his presence as a great ally and turn him into an antagonist in his episode? Why make him a roadblock as opposed to a wise, guiding force? Edit: I also want to add that I understand what the writers were trying to do with the feelings of abandonment and being jaded by the war, but I think it was a mistake to have Bumi be the one to raise these issues up to Aang. In the animated show, these topics were mostly handled in Two Storms when the fisherman calls Aang a coward for vanishing, which triggers his guilt over the situation. They didn’t need to make Bumi into a bitter man preaching callousness in order to address the themes they wanted.

I thought it was okay. But it makes small writing changes, but these changes fundamentally change the characters. Aang doesn’t really run away. he goes to clear his head. So Aang shouldn’t have the guilt when called a coward like he does in the original. But they still do it anyway. It has this weird Uncanny Valley effect for me. It gets so close to being exactly right but there's enough change that something feels off. And the Volume AR wall doesn't help. But they nailed Iroh and Zuko's dynamic. They're the best part of the show.

Interesting that you were so affected by the genocide prologue. I thought it was a poor decision to show it up front as the viewer had been given no chance to engage with any of the characters involved (since Aang was absent) meaning it was just empty violence. But maybe my reaction was uncommon. (I tend to tear up at poignant/bittersweet things rather than sad or tragic.)

I think you're the first opinion that I liked. You said it with a leveled head of the good and the bad instead of screaming at how horribly bad it was. Well said!

I think a way to fix the ending of Bumi and Aang's fight would be Aang doing the power for friendship speech to Bumi in a plea for help. Get rid of Katara and Sokka last minute rescue. Have Aang break down, admitting that he can't do this alone, but with his friends help, there just much be a light at the end of the tunnel. Let Bumi see that his friend is still his friend and that there's someone to believe in again. Overall, I'm more neutral on the series as a whole, maybe 5 or even 4 out of 10, but i don't hate it.

I personally have a major massive massive complaint about the ending of this series. But I guess I'll wait till next week's video

I really didn't like that Aang didn't run away in ep1. He just basically "went out for some air" (no pun intended) and was fully planning on coming back in 2h. That was so important for me in the animation that all of this happens because HE made a decision and the entire world had to live with the consequences of that choice. Idk, it didn't feel as impactful here somehow: knowing he was always planning on coming back, not shreaking his duties :/ That's one of my biggest complaint, so far the rest is very good and I enjoy most of the changes! IOf the 4 ep I've seen, this show seems fun, entertaining and still rather emotionally impactful so I'm happy with the result :)

Playing leaves from the vine in two"emotional" scenes takes away how special it is in tales of ba sing se

I’m only two episodes in and I hope it gets better. So far there is just very little joy in it. And the two things people were worried about: removing Sokkas sexism and Aang instantly accepting his role Absolutely happened.

5.5 / 10 maximum. the pristine costumes, the bad acting of a lot of actors,the uneven writen or just bad writing can't balance the heavy hitters doing a great job.

The idea that Aang can only contact previous Avatars in their shrines sounds like it could go wrong later on very fast. Roku appears in a lot of very random places to share important wisdom. The idea suggested in the video to explore more Avatars than just Roku and Kyoshi sounds like a "Wide as an ocean, shallow as a puddle." approach. Especially with the characterization of Roku. Also what does that imply about the Lion Turtle scene in the end?

***Ep 2 spoilers*** To me sokka and suki felt very off. Suki barely talks. She doesn’t say one word in the entire target practice interaction. It doesn’t seem like they connected at all. it was only physical attraction. To me it seemed like the writers said “let’s take out sokka’s sexism and just have these two objectify each other rather than building any relationship” And you have it backward. Things should be slowed down in live action. Not sped up. Cartoons as a medium are supposed to be taken less seriously so love at first sight and short character arcs are more acceptable. In live action things need more time to breathe. The kiss came out of nowhere and was super unnecessary and uncomfortable. A kiss on the cheek would have been much more appropriate, and would have supported the point that it was more than just physical attraction

i think the acting does get better as the show goes on and i tend to look past it for the most part when it comes to younger actors. my biggest issue as a katara fan is her characterization in this show, which feels like one of the most lackluster aspects of this adaptation. she feels like a totally different character than her animated counterpart, and also doesn’t even feel like a main character at all. like, she’s literally the narrator of the animated show and the first character you get to know, so it’s just incredibly disappointing to see a character known for her strong personality/presence be so passive and cast aside.

I think the longer you think about this show the worse it gets. They took the fun and family out of the story and made it serious and fast-paced. Writing is very poor, imo. But the fight scenes are good and i did enjoy some parts.

The tunnel thing felt so weird. I was questioning my sanity thinking they are gonna make katara kiss sokka. But yea it probably means they are gonna make it to where katara and aang aren´t gonna be a thing. In the animation katara was also the first thing aang saw, here it isn´t. I´m pretty sure there where some awkward looks here and there in season 1, but I did not catch that in the life action. They did not go penguin sliding. And they made sure they are never gonna go into this tunnel together.

Man, you really enjoyed this way more than I did, like way more

Haha I thought Jet was Haru too!

i only watched the episode 1, my own notes are as followed the change of monk gyasto letting anng be taken away for training is an odd change, in the original he was strongly against him and anng separated, and the tragedy was that anng ran away before they could talk.....this was an odd change, can someone explain why they did this the fire nation attacks my issue is with how the fire benders were portrayed during the comet, they didn't seem all that different without the comet, we should have seen giant fire balls and guys flying spraying massive flames, completely overwhelming destruction, unrestrained fire power.....the first episode didn't show that

I too thought Jet was Haru based on where they were at! I did my best to stay away from any news after the 1st full trailer so I didnt see Jet's actor face enough to realize who he was before being told who he was ha

I can see what they were going for with bumi because they cut out the whole fisherman making aang feel guiltily but did it have to be bumi?? In the cartoon he was there as a friend Disguised as a foe to teach aang a lesson "open your mind to the possibilities" But in this it was aang reminding bumi to trust in others. Didnt sit right

My biggest complaint is Azula is NOT AZULA. They are portraying a completely different person and calling her azula

Kyoshi unleashing absolute havock on the fire nation soldiers made me collapse to the floor in amazement, Yvonne Chapman is Kyoshi, I kinda want a full live action Kyoshi series lol

It's so funny to see how different episodes have worked or not worked for different people. I personally had the hardest time with ep. 3 so far.

I made it 20 minutes through the first episode and had to stop. What Aang was told prior to leaving in this was different than the original and that change, though seemingly minor, changed everything moving forward.

The more you love the original show, the less you’ll enjoy the live action show. I’m a casual fan, and while I enjoyed the animated show I don’t have a deep connection with it like others might. I really liked the live action show. It was a lot of fun. It doesn’t match up with the animated show, but the different approach is interesting and I liked it.

I personally feel like we didn't actually need a live action

All I know is that I intended to watch the first episode last night and ended up watching 4, bye bye sleep. It has a few problems and many many weird choices, but godammit I want more. Also I know I would have absolutely loved this as a kid if it were my first introduction to the world of avatar.

There is so much joy in the delivery of your reviews and I love seeing your perspective and how much you love the worlds and stories that you talk about! Its such a breath of fresh air. The commentary community seems more than ever to have so much cynicism, possibly rightly given all the live action adaptations and whatnot but its so nice to see the beauty of these stories through your eyes

To Gordon's defense on his acting, he IS still a kid. Dan, Rupert, and Emma weren't exactly giving phenominal performances in the first Harry Potter film.

You're right about them having different goals, due to the medium and different perspective. But Imo they are failing at achieving their own goals. It's the worst case scenario of it being mediocre

Thanks for your spoiler free thoughts! I'll be back to this video when I'm done watching.

Avatar: the last exposition bender

Love your honesty, your one of the only reviewers that isn't just saying ''i like it, i liked it'' every other sentence. i feel like the acting and dialog falls flat as well. I loved Sukis casting she was perfect but what i didn't like about the 2nd episode is that Suki's character felt trapped on an island and wanted to see the world but her mother wouldn't allow it, but she also takes pride in being a protector but still wants to explore the world. it was unnecessary. Also having Kiyoshi talk to Aang and she just keeps telling him about war and the responsibilities blah blah blah, its kind of repetitive through the show. Its like the show is trying to remind us constantly that war is bad and it has an effect. We get it we know what happened in episode one.

changing the story is fine, but changing the characters so much was a bad choice. the show feels like a wiki summary without any depth to it

The pacing issues are inexcusable for me because this show has a longer runtime than s1 of the anime. Its not like one piece where there were logistical needs to compress and distort the story. Somehow, this feels simultaneously too fast and too slow.

Also watched up to episode 4. My main issue is I feel like they are speed running the core themes of the show. Like, they spend a lot of time saying the ideas behind it like somebody saying "Yeah, no, the Avatar story was good because...". The OG series hit very hard with things like Iroh's backstory and Aang's issues with responsibility because we saw the characters develop and we understood them through their actions in the story. Here, it's episode four and it feels we got all of that screamed and explained to us several times.

Can we give a shoutout to this Earthbending soldier/captain?! The acting on that man really got me. That conversation between Iroh and the soldier was so well done. When it went back to team avatar is made me say: Wait stop, i dont care about team avatar...i want to follow the story of this random Earthbender soldier!

Personally, I think a better resolution to the Bumi boulder scene could have been as Aang's strength gives out, he uses the last he has & both hands to (air bend) push the boulder over Bumi out the way, choosing to save him as the other falls toward Aang. Then Kitara or Sokka shove Aang out the way to save him also That way Aang makes a choice, the selfless one, but his friends have his back

If you haven’t seen Kim’s Convenience, you should give it a watch. Iroh’s actor runs a convenience store, and it’s a beautiful and funny story of a family just struggling to be a family. The emotions are really really good.

I know it was just a slip up haha but it will bother me until I point it out. You said Sozin was a prior avatar when you meant Roku haha. Great video! I've only just finished episode 2 and I'm sadly not in love with it but I now want to rewatch the cartoon for the 100th time so I'll take it

"The Power of Friendship" is an anime mainstay because it speaks to an inherent truth of humanity. Alone we might have to make impossible choices but with friends to help the impossible becomes more plausible. It is Cheesy. But Cheese is delicious and good. If he killed Bumi or Bumi changed his mind. Those are also very common because there was only 3 options a writer can pick. Person A in forced dichotomy picks one or does nothing. Third option Person B picks one enabling Person A to pick one. Of course, that is cheesy. Give me the Gouda.

The changes they made to characters they didn’t have to, they destroyed the royal family dynamic that built the characters of Iroh, Azula, Ozai….Zuko was the only person that stood out, I don’t know if it’s a credit to the actor. Ozai being a terrible father built Zuko character and Azula downfall. Lastly, They made Zhou an idiot, the most knowledge fire bender they turned into a complete moron

As something that stands on its own, 7.5/10 for me. For episode 1-6, the story decisions that i didnt like is more so a matter of preference (at least that is what i'm telling myself 😅). But for episodes 7 and 8 there are clear facepalm-level storytelling flaws. As an adaptation, 6.5/10. With each passing episode it becomes clearer and clearer why the original creators left the series. To give credit where credit is due, the Zuko-Iroh dynamic was done perfectly.

LOVED this review. Thank you!

I always feel blessed when murphy takes a break from roaming the cold London street’s looking for puppies to kick just to make a nice video like this for us all🤗

They watered down the themes and character motivations. Took things that were for their time “progressive” and actually well executed and turned it into a mid non political mush. I am genuinely surprised that someone who enjoys and delves deep into themes and such is not bothered by them? It would be like if they made one piece and removed the biting criticism of imperialism and systemic oppression

that leaves from the vines bgm was a dirty move, but dammit! that hits so hard 🥲

yeah very torn overall on this series im at a 6-7/10 for myself for the whole show. Its really the writing that sours it for me.

I LOVE the relationship between Zuko and Iroh in this live action. For them *alone* this show is worth it. Other elements were hit or miss, but overall I had a great time. Agree about the exposition dumps being clunky... thankfully that trails off after the first couple eps, lol.

When you were talking about the kyoshi makeup, which I agree looks great, right as you were saying you noticed the change in spectrum, I got a spectrum one add, incredible.

I told myself I would try the first episode long ago before any promotional material. I gave it a try and the first 30 minutes was enough for me. I'm personally just not a fan of narrative changes to my favorite show of all time.

i think there were characterization issues, but ultimately I just wasn't having fun with it. there was a couple good parts but nothing that really grabbed me.

Thank you!!!! Finally someone does an honest review that is actually positive and able to appreciate the good things. I'm not saying this show is perfect but it's very good and though people are allowed to dislike it, most videos (all that I've been able to find) of old fans of the show are so negative and it's bumming me out! I love all of your points and I'm really excited for your 2nd video on this. I have loved the original since I was 8 (now 24) and have watched it a million times and this show obviously was never going to be as good but as you said, I had a good time watching it. I can always go back to the OG whenever I want.

7.5/10 for me. I’ve watched the whole series now, so that is my final ranking. I do hope they come out with a season two, and with it show more than tell.

I love it! Loved the animated series and this is different but it is amazing!

This show constantly feels like its trying to justify its own existence - like the show runners knew they'd get push back for certain changes and are actively writing in little scenes and pieces of dialogue to argue away criticism. It feels like a hyper serious fanfiction that skipped/cut all the "boring" parts, and inserted/changes things to make it more "grown up." After finishing the recent Percy Jackson show and now this, it feels like all these show runners are taking old cherished IP's and using them as a vehicle for their own stories and ideas. It's incredibly disappointing and definitely not what I signed up for as a fan.

I think the resolution to the boulder problem was the perfect one, it just wasn't executed as well as it needed to be to land properly. I think that's been the case with most of the flaws in the series thus far. But when they have executed their ideas well enough, they've been powerful.

I loved the display of irohs and zukos relationship. It was beautiful, and i cried a little bit.

I loved it when sokka said, "its sokking time" and preceded to sokk all pver the place.

I love Avatar so much, i grew up with it so I binged it all yesterday to not rely on someone else's opinion but the more I watched and now the more I think about it the more I hate it. The complete lack of respect they had for the audience with the unnecessary and cringeworthy amount of exposition, awful dialogue, close to 0 attention to detail, clunky and ugly fight choreography with a couple exceptions and worst of all by far the lack of respect to the source material by sanitizing it, thinking they could do a better job than the original creators at injecting their moral views on the story... tell me how these people who glaze diversity for diversity's sake fumble one of the most organically diverse and most beloved stories ever... make it make sense.

I'm sad about Aang not really running away. One of the interesting complications for Aang in the original is that people like Kyoshi are, essentially, right. Aang *did* run away from his duty. When faced with that conversation, he can't easily say "you're wrong". He has to confront - "I *did* abandon my people, but: 1) I couldn't have saved them by being there and 2) The culture I love was wrong to put me in that position."

Leaves from the vine is always instant tears

I refuse to watch a show that doesn't understand what its audience actually is because if they can't even get that right then they're clearly incompetent as shown directly by the dialouge

It was so hard to put aside my intense fandom and appreciate how they are telling the story again. I ended up loving it at the end. Truly looking forward to season 2

Im so, so conflicted about how I feel about this. Generally the production is good, CGI is amazing and some of the original scenes are incredible and add some depth missing from chacters/adding a new twist. Seeing details of Azula's relationship with Ozai was nice and led into understanding the character of Azula. My main issue are some of the creative choices with blending arcs (first seen in ep 3 and 4). The whole understanding of the Mechanist's son gliding in the air is because he went to the northern air temple and learned from what was left after the gennocide, placing him in Omashu (still gliding) for me doesn't make sense -- they don't even attempt to justify the inspiration for the inventions. Having Jet there is, not my favourite thing, but him blowing up buildings and getting no blow back from the earth kingdom soilders rang hollow. Even trying to blow up innocents, thats when smeller bee and the duke stepped in and was like "are we sure?" but in this version they just okay with hurting innocents. In isolation, it's fine I guess, but you write yourself into a corner for upcoming arcs (book 2 and even book 3). I feel like a lot of the changes they made will have massive ripple effects no only for the story but for character choices down the line -- which makes me worried for future seasons. Edit: The 'change' to the avatar state is that he can only be taken over by them in their shrines/spaces. This is actually the same effect (I think) in the cartoon, until book 3 just before he goes to talk to the last 4 avatars on the turtle's back.

I watched it with my family. They had watched parts of the original with me growing up. I think we are all a little disappointed with the first, although some moments were nice. As I was always the bigger fan of it... I was kinda disappointed about the sheer amount of repetitive on the nose exposition and that Aang was just stepping away instead of running away. To me, it's not too much of a big deal them stepping back/changing some of Katara's and Sokka's flaws, but Aang's journey of accepting responsibility is made sharper by him actually running away and later always trying to have fun. And not everyone needs having their life lessons hamfistedly stated every couple of minutes. SInce you enjoyed it, I'm hoping the next episodes are better for my family and I.

I’ve been waiting for your review

I like the new perspective on a story we are all used to. It’s not the same but I don’t think it is trying to be.

With this episode configuration, probably in the 1st episode of season 2 we will have the team back to Omashu, with the reappearance of the scientist, AND THE HIPPIES, using the secret tunel to escape Omashu while Aang tries to save Bumi

I would love to see a video from you on character changes and your takes on those changes

I also thought Jet was Haru at first! The Jet reveal was actually really good though and they way they fit his story in here was done really well. I’m excited to see him in season 2. Parts of The Mechanist story made sense in Omashu, but felt a little forced, and I am hoping they still have plans to include the Northern Air Temple in another way. I think regarding Aang’s connectrion with past lives, my understanding of the dialoge is that he was just saying the previous Avatars can’t physcially manifest themselves unless via a Shrine. I believe Aang will still be able to contact with them via simple spirit connection. I have only watched up to ep4 so far, but I think that this is a really great adaption of the story. It has the same heart of the original while giving us new ways to be entertained. I don’t know why anyone would want a 1:1 adaption, I think this is a great way to do it. By biggest gripes are the direction and some of the CGI. I feel the bending doesn’t always fit and some of the backgrounds look unreal. Eg a bad example is how Aang can just magically hold two giant boulders with just his hands in the air rather than having to move his hands to maintain the airflow. Makes it just levitation rather than air *bending* - likewise I don’t like the way he flies, it just looks cliumsy. I think all the actors are doing a pretty good job, particularly Zuko and Iroh, and I also think Gordan has done a great job, however it feels like a lot of his scenes are rushed and he isn’t given clear direction at times. Potenially could be due to him having restricted hours as a child actor. Also some scenes are not shot in a way that tells the story clearly and some scenes, like the first young Bumi scene are super rushed unnecessarily. I wish they hadn’t gone so over the top with the My Cabbages line. He didn’t deliver it in the original tone, which defeats the purpose of bringing the OG actor, and the direction just focusses on it too much which would look really out of place for those who haven’t seen the original. I loved how funny Bumi was. He delivered “Let us leave.” and “Throw him… a feast!” so perfectly. and SECRET TUNNEL!! I think the tunnel plot was really contrived but it was worth it for the song. I was a bit confused by what happend with the soldier and Iroh. It looked like Iroh literally killed the main antagonising solider, and the second one who he showed mercy on was a different solider. I liked some of the interpretation of Leaves from the Vine, however the faster paced piano meoldy was quite distracting and unnecessary, only there to be an easter egg to the audience. The slower strings part that came after was really good though. Overall I feel they have tried slightly too hard to get a reaction out of us who have already seen the show, and while I am enjoying how emotional I am feeling, I do wonder what this is going to be like for new unfamilar viewers. So far I couldn’t reccomend anyone should watch this interpretation without having first seen the entire original show.

That is why there was no VLOG yesterday...

Watched episode one and was debating dropping it due to the info dumps, good to hear that it’s front loaded with those

Bumi needed to be tricking Aang the entire time. To be tricking him into learning the lesson, and not just being grumpy.

Great takes Father Par 🤓 I think you got Dragon Spot-on tbh 💯

I think the idea to bringing jet and the mechanist to omashu was a very good. I really dont like the northern air temple episode, because in the end aang forgives destroying his heritage a bit too quickly, so dont mind using the mechanist for something else. The jet part is not as impactful as in the original show though I guess. But still a nice creative choice to bring them here, so there's more focus on omashu.

Thanks for the video, Merphy! I.. am a bit torn on the first 4 episodes. I LOVE the aesthetics of it.. The stages are BEAUTIFUL, the costuming and makeup is SO perfect.. But yeah, it's really difficult for me not to compare the story. Squeezing 3 or 4 storylines all into one was just.. so messy. It probably flows fine if people don't know, but ughhh.. Separately, they were able to flesh things out a little better for each story, and make them all a bit more impactful. Ah well, I'm still enjoying them bringing it to live action, at least because of how it all looks. Also Iroh!

I loved the kiyoshi appearance scene and fighting zhaos forces because I just read the kiyoshi novels and noticed a lot of references in that episode to the novels

The Intro (that's tradition of the franchise) Gran Gran saying it (that's the story internal to the world) I don't remember the third or fourth time. What am I missing?

Something i find a little weird too is that they say the mechanist created the mailing system. But just before they got to omashu aang said that they have a cool mailing system. Which doesn’t make sense. Ps: i think momo and appa were so cute especially momo. Edit: why is there a place only airbenders can open in omashu?