Okay, so, first episode. A lot to look at. I’m gonna start with the fact that for a show from the 2000′s, ATLA has a very low key ending theme (at least for the first episode, it could pull an SU and evolve). I’m sure that’s a bold choice for a reason. Something subtle, but with a nice beat. Nothing to write home about yet but we’ll see how it ultimately fits.
SO! First episode. Honestly I’m not feeling one way or another about it. That’s typical for a first episode, though. It crammed a lot of information into it but at the same time didn’t really say much of anything. There sure were an awful lot of plot conveniences for a first episode, but until I know how the rest of the series plays out I can’t really say for sure whether that’s a good or a bad thing.
I had previously believed that -bending was an innate ability of the people of each tribe, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. I don’t know the typical ratio of -benders to general population but thus far either the only Waterbenders in the Water Tribe are either the men + Katara or just Katara. I can’t wait to find out more about who gets to be a -bender and who doesn’t!
Uncle Mako is my favourite until The Boulder shows up. He genuinely surprised me, not only in how he reacted to Zuko yelling at him, but also by telling me a bit about how he views Firebending. Whereas I had always assumed it was purely a “be powerful, make fire” kind of power, the way Uncle Mako explains it makes it sound like it’s more about having control of one’s self. I discussed that a bit in the post itself, so I won’t go too far into detail here, suffice to say I bet most Firebenders are more of the "Power is Power” type while Uncle Mako is the “Control is Power” type and he’s the one that’s gonna end up being correct.
So! Let’s talk about the colour thing I mentioned earlier.
Aang is friendly, sunny colours. This lines up for what I know about Airbenders. They’re fun! They’re friends! They like animals! The Water Tribe, however, is clad in blue. They’re standoffish to outsiders from what we can see so far, and Sokka in particular is pretty cold toward Aang and his entire existence. Katara is an outlier, since she’s very friendly and warm to Aang and immediately embraces him. This makes perfect sense, since they’re gonna get married. She takes him into her world and connects with him in a meaningful way. I’d have liked to see her with one accessory in a sunnier colour to emphasize this, but maybe we’ll get it when they change clothes after leaving the South Pole. (A side note; WHY ISN’T AANG COLD? I’m assuming it’s Airbending shenanigans keeping the old air away) The clothing metaphor is a little flat though when you remember that they’re kind of just wearing the colours of their element. Though I have something to say about that when we actually meet the Earthbenders, too, since they’re in greens and tans and not just browns and greys. I have too little information about that at the time being, but we’ll try to circle back to it.
War! War has been raging apparently ever since the Fire Nation attacked the Air Nomads. It’s a century long war and you can feel it taking its toll even when we’ve only seen a small part of it. Katara, as warm as she is, is nervous about leaving her home and she briefly talks about herself as if she’s not a child anymore. This could be nothing, but it could be something huge. It could be because of the added responsibilities she has as one of the few remaining members of her tribe left behind as the others go off to war. She also appears to be the only Waterbender currently in the village, as we learn that Sokka is not one. She’s learning on her own, and that has to be a huge shift. Her and Sokka, still children, can’t really let themselves be children. They have to be strong for the younger and older generations.
I also got the impression that the Southern Water Tribe and the Northern Water Tribe probably don’t see each other because there’s no methods of flying without the Airbenders and their boats were very primitive compared to the Fire Nation’s war ships. The Fire Nation is probably controlling the world’s oceans and that’s a big problem for any kind of economy. I’m sure we’ll get more information on that. The Fire Nation in general seems more advanced than the others, and I don’t know for certain if that’s because the other nations are fine that way or if this is a matter of war suppression. Either could be plausible. I’ll just have to wait around and see.
It was a little shocking that they haven’t left the Water Tribe yet, as usually stories like this get their journeys going in the first episode, but it seems there will probably be a bit of horrible tragedy to go through first as Zuko’s war ship heads for the small village.
Overall it’s not bad. It’s nothing too amazing, either, but it wasn’t so bad I wouldn’t want to keep going. I’m somewhat interested in seeing answers to some of these questions. The whole process took about 3 hours for a 23 minute episode, though, so I might try to limit doing these so I don’t go crazy, lol.
Hope y’all enjoyed, and I hope to hear from some people about how they feel about my liveblog! No spoilers in the askbox please. :3