Here we are at the end of all things. It's the series finale, which is comprised of four episodes that are shown back-to-back in a feature-length presentation. Since the episodes have individual titles, I'll look at them in turn. I'd get a comfy seat and stick the kettle on. This may take a while.
Part One: The Phoenix King
Sozin's Comet is due to arrive in three days, but Aang believes that it's not going to be a threat since the Fire Nation have already seized Ba Sing Se. Sokka's proposed beach episode is cut short when Zuko reveals what he'd been told in the war meeting back in "Nightmares and Daydreams"; Fire Lord Ozai intends to torch the entire Earth Kingdom using a fleet of airships on the day of the comet. They soon realise that they need to defeat the Fire Lord before the comet arrives, but Aang gets cold feet when he realises that everyone expects him to take his opponent's life; something which goes against the pacifist beliefs of the Air Nomads. Frustrated, he wanders into the sea towards a mysterious island.
This episode is largely dedicated to frantic training while Aang deals with his moral quandary. One notable scene involves Katara showing the party a picture of baby Zuko, only for Zuko to reveal it's actually Ozai. This serves to make Aang feel worse, to the point that he yells at Sokka for making a joke about it before storming off. It's a truly powerful scene.
Meanwhile, Ozai decides to name himself "The Phoenix King" and elevates Azula to the now-worthless position of Fire Lord. It was Azula who originally suggested the scorched earth plan, but Ozai intructs her to remain behind. While she was often seen as her father's favourite, the scene with them in this episode hammers home the point that he sees her as little more than a means to an end. It actually gives her some depth and almost elicits sympathy in places.
There's still some humour, like with the beach episode segment at the beginning with Sokka trying to make a sand sculpture of Suki after Aang makes one of Appa and Toph makes a miniature Ba Sing Se (complete with the Earth King and Bosco). There's also the meme-worthy "melon lord" as they're training. And when Aang disappears and the party splits up to find him, Toph immediately latches onto Zuko, lampshading the fact that "everyone else went on a life-changing field trip with Zuko". In fact, Toph gets most of the funny lines in this episode.
One thing that strikes me as odd is Aang's firebending lesson with Zuko at the beginning of the episode. Zuko is telling Aang to be aggressive, but that's kind of contradicting the philosophy they learned in "The Firebending Masters". Then again, it's probably necessary, given the situation.
Part Two: The Old Masters
There's some great drama in this one.
The last episode ended with Zuko taking the party to the Earth Kingdom to seek out June the bounty hunter. But when she's presented with Aang's staff, she determines that he's somehow disappeared from the world. In response, Zuko suggests they find Iroh and convince him to fight Ozai. June's shirshu leads them to Ba Sing Se, where they encounter mentors from earlier in the series (King Bumi from "The King of Omashu", Jeong Jeong from "The Deserter", Pakku from "The Waterbending Master", and Piando from "Sokka's Master"), all of whom are members of The Order of the White Lotus.
The old masters lead Zuko to Iroh's tent, and it leads to one of the most powerful moments of the episode as Zuko contemplates what to say to his uncle after turning on him in Ba Sing Se. He goes inside, finds his uncle asleep, but doesn't wake him. As his uncle wakes and turns away, Zuko tearfully begins to apologise. Iroh simply cuts him off mid-speech and embraces him. He then admits that he was never angry with Zuko, just sad that he was lost. Once again, this is a moment in the series that made me tear up when I saw it. Seeing how forgiving Iroh is just helps to illustrate how awesome he is.
Meanwhile, Aang explores the mysterious island with Momo, and seeks advice from his past lives, but even they seem to be in favour of killing Ozai. Roku tells Aang that he should have killed Sozin when he had the chance, telling him to act decisively. Kyoshi states she likely would have killed Chin the Conquerer herself when he threatened her home, even though she didn't do so directly. Kyoshi's predecessor, Avatar Kuruk, talks about how a period of relative peace and stability led him to not take his role too seriously until his wife was targeted by Koh the Face Stealer. He tells Aang to shape his own destiny. Even Yangchen, the previous Air Nomad Avatar, states that Aang's spiritual beliefs are detrimental to his duty. It puts Aang in a bad position, but he then discovers that the island he's on is a Lion-Turtle who gives him some mystical gift.
Most people have said that the Lion Turtle seemed like a bit of a deus ex machima, and I'm inclined to agree. I'll talk more about that later, so hold onto it. Granted, it was foreshadowed by some wall art in the air temples, and the being's significance would be explored in the sequel series, The Legend of Korra.
As for action, there's a brilliant flashback scene which shows how Bumi escaped captivity during the Day of Black Sun and single-handedly drove the Fire Nation out of Omashu. This includes escaping his metal coffin by using his face to earthbend roof tiles and use them to pry it open. However, it's the next episode that's for the action.
Part Three: Into the Inferno
How is Toph not cooking in that metal armour?
It's the day of Sozin's Comet, and the party are splitting up: Aang has returned to the mainland so he can confront Fire Lord Ozai; Katara and Zuko return to the Fire Nation to seize the throne; Sokka, Toph, and Suki go to disrupt the Fire Nation's airship fleet; and the White Lotus move to liberate Ba Sing Se.
Meanwhile, Azula is preparing to be crowned Fire Lord, but her paranoia is worsening. She banishes a servant for not pitting a cherry, and then banishes her Dai Li agents for being five minutes late. She even banishes her advisors Lo and Li for suggesting she postpones the coronation (kind of). Eventually, she begins having hallucinations of her mother, who talks about how she's only ever been able to get what she wants by making people fear her (even Mai and Ty Lee). Ultimately, she's actually lonely.
This episode is where all the action happens. All the old masters get their moment to shine during the battle of Ba Sing Se. Pakku creates a tidal wave and freezes it so Piando can skate and lop off the soldiers' spearheads. Jeong Jeong obliterates Fire Nation tanks by redirecting the supercharged fire at them. In the Fire Nation, Zuko and Katara disrupt Azula's coronation, and she challenges her brother to an Agni Kai.
It gets intense too, when we see Ozai begin to carry out his attack. He and other firebenders torch a forest in the Earth Kingdom, and we see the devastation it causes. Aang and Ozai have a Dragonball Z-style battle across the region, and Ozai almost kills Aang with lightning until he redirects it. The look on Ozai's face makes him realise that Zuko made good on his intent, and taught Aang that move. Even then, Aang refuses to direct the lightning back at him. At the same time, Azula attempts to shoot ligtning at Katara, incapacitating Zuko when he redirects it.
Despite the intensity of the episode, there's a decent amount of humour in this one. When Sokka's team successfully hijacks one of the airships, and Sokka lures all the crew to the munitions bay under the guise of a special birthday celebration (and it actually was somebody's birthday). When Lo and Li suggest postponing the coronation, Azula asks who suggested it and they both point to each other. She then demands they settle the dispute via an Agni Kai, but neither of them are firebenders. Azula banishes Lo and permits Li to stay, but was pointing at Li when she made the declaration.
Part Four: Avatar Aang
The battles continue to rage, during which time Sokka breaks his leg and loses his space sword. All seems lost until Suki hijacks another airship and rescues him and Toph. Meanwhile, Ozai's attempt to deliver the final blow to Aang unwittingly unlocks his blocked chakra, allowing him to access the Avatar State again.
Meanwhile, Katara is able to outsmart and subdue Azula, resulting in the princess having a full-on breakdown. Some people have criticised how it was Katara who defeated Azula rather than Zuko, but I personally have no beef with it. Even Dante Basco himself has talked about how Azula's attempt to harm Katara during the Agni Kai was breaking the initial rules of engagement for the duel, in line with her character and deteriorating mental state.
As for Aang, he has Ozai on the ropes, but still refuses to end his life. Ozai attempts a sneak attack which is foiled by the tremorsense Aang learned from Toph, and he stops it. It's then revealed that the Lion-Turtle gave Aang the power of "energybending". It presents an impressive light show as the Lion-Turtle provides an expositionary voice-over, and results in Aang taking away Ozai's ability to firebend. While it's very much a deus ex machima, it does show Aang nearly being consumed by Ozai's corrupt energy, indicating there was still a risk to using it. On top of that, it's ultimately satisfying to see Aang being able to defeat the Fire Lord without taking his life. It's like Bumi said at the beginning of the series; he had to think like a mad genius by playing a hand that wasn't on the table.
The ending has a strong Return of the King feel to it, but that's not a bid thing. After all, it's such an epic story and so many characters are finishing their journey. Zuko is the new Fire Lord and declares an end to hostilities while offering to help Aang rebuild the world. He's hooked up with Mai, while Ty Lee has joined the Kyoshi Warriors. After the coronation ceremony, he visits his father in prison and demands to know his mother's whereabouts. We then cut to Iroh's tea shop in Ba Sing Se, where the party are just chilling for the first time in a long time, ending with Aang and Katara kissing.
Phew, that took some time. This is probably one of the best finales I've ever watched. It's such a satisfying conclusion to an epic journey. I hope you enjoyed sharing this journey with me, and I'll do the obligatory wrap-up post tomorrow.
Until then, stay flamin'.
