Everything That's Wrong with Season 2 of the Netflix Series

THE SERPENT'S PASS

“The Serpent's Pass” was an episode with several objectives:

- First, Aang and his group show that this is a detour to get to Ba-Sing-Se, since the ferry is inaccessible. AANG AND HIS GROUP DON’T EVEN TRY TO TAKE THE FERRY. What’s the point of going that way?

- Aang and his group are forced to travel overland, since Appa has already been captured at this point. APPA IS RIGHT THERE. Are you guys really that clueless?

- Aang had lost hope after Appa’s capture, but regained his motivation with the birth of Hope. A birth that’s absent from the series, BUT we see the couple with the pregnant woman on the road, who crosses paths with Zuko just like in the original series... And Zuko... steals the bag? Even though the original series showed that he refused to do so out of the goodness of his heart? So what’s the point of that couple, then? To show that Zuko’s a jerk?

What’s with this whole thing of completely beating the crap out of the Serpent of Serpent's Pass, but then healing it “because it’s wrong to kill it”? By the way, when the water closes in on the Fire Nation soldiers chasing them, it’s a lazy rehash of Moses parting the Red Sea.

BA-SING-SE

At the start of the series: everyone insists that they need to hurry up and quickly bring the news to the Earth King to defeat the Fire Nation. Upon arriving in Ba-Sing-Se: everyone goes about their trivial little business, and the way it’s portrayed makes it clear that this goes on for WEEKS.

In the original series, Aang and his friends stay in Ba-Sing-Se for a long time because they’re looking for Appa. APPA ISN’T LOST UNTIL NEAR THE VERY END HERE. Why are they hanging around in Ba-Sing-Se? The TV series tells you, “Yeah, but they’re waiting to see the Earth King”—but wait, after a while, the actual characters just said, “Oh well,” used their trick, and went to see him! Oh right, they do that too… But only after weeks of dithering!

Why does Katara really need to dress up as the Painted Lady to help the people of Ba-Sing-Se? OK, like the rest of the group, she’s being watched by Jo-Dee. But was it really necessary for her to disguise herself to pull off her plan? She was creating fog to avoid being detected, and that was it—problem solved, without a costume... Not to mention that this arc completely undermines the message of the “Painted Lady” episode from the animated series: that the people can’t just rely on help—they have to be proactive.

Sokka, who does nothing but knock on Sai’s door for weeks, and only decides to break the lock when the plot demands it—it’s pathetic.

As for Toph, I didn’t understand at all why the blackmail about what her family did had anything to do with her. The Toph from the animated series would have laughed in that person’s face or buried him under rocks.

The drill is missing from the series. That makes sense—I think they’re totally incapable of animating it; it would cost too much... But as a result, it’s impossible to convince the Earth King that there’s a war with the Fire Nation! So they come up with this ridiculous plot where the Earth King knows there’s a war, realizes the Avatar shouldn’t just be telling him lies, but since the Avatar’s companions are suspicious (yikes, one of them actually helps people, can you believe it!), well, in the end, he doesn’t believe them anymore!

That argument scene after the visit to the Earth King—oh my god… It was the equivalent of those recap episodes every show used to have back in the day. The dialogue was terrible—it was all, “Look, let me remind you what happened; you’ve already forgotten.” Argument scenes can be well-written, but that definitely wasn’t the case here. I didn’t see the point in making it so long, especially just to end up saying, “Guys, we’re splitting up.” That could have been said much more quickly.

THE LIBRARY

The library IN Ba-Sing-Se is just total nonsense: how come no one around there reacts when a giant building sinks into the ground?

What’s with this nonsense of Avatars appearing at the library? Okay, Yangchen appearing to Aang makes sense (he is the Avatar, after all), but why does Kyoshi appear to Toph, other than to say, “Oh look, the fans thought of you—what happens when the greatest Avatar on Earth meets the greatest Earthbender?”

The scholar who betrays the group—that was the last straw, I think, especially when the bird tells him, “You, too, used your knowledge to betray humans, so I’m punishing you!”—and just like that, it devours him T-Rex-style, like in Jurassic Park. They could have just done it like in the animated series: the bird is omniscient, so he figures out the deception that way. But that would mean the scholar stays a prisoner by choice, just like in the original series, and therefore, that Aang and his friends didn’t save him—whereas if he’s a villain, he dies devoured by the spirit, and so Aang and his buddies are the good guys through and through, no regrets!

ZUKO'S STORYLINE

Zuko is angry about being a fugitive and blames his uncle for it, so he walks away (just like in the animated series). He acts like a jerk along the way (he steals the pregnant woman’s bag). But he’s a nice guy to the little boy and his older sister. Eventually, he leaves with his uncle for Ba-Sing-Se. There’s NOTHING that motivates his change for the better, considering that in the series there was a trigger (he finds the Avatar’s bison, his uncle shows up and tells him he has to do what’s right). But in the end, he still has his fever, and when he wakes up, he’s a good guy?

Same goes for Aang, who can’t master earthbending, just like in the original series. But eventually, during the reception at the Earth King’s palace, he stands his ground against Toph? Yet it still takes him several more episodes to get there? There’s never a definitive motivation for his actions (in the animated series, it was to protect Sokka).

Zuko meets Azula, who wants to win him back to her side, and reminds him that their mother told them to always stick together. So rather than luring Zuko back to the villains with the temptation that has always been his (power)... the show uses something positive—namely, their mother’s message? Because sibling love can’t be a bad thing. So, Zuko returns to the palace based on that positive sibling love, and since he’s going to have to join the Avatar… Is he going to have to destroy something positive to become good? That’s completely ridiculous—and to a fault!

The scene where Zuko and Azula’s mother tries to take them away but gets captured was the only addition I found coherent… But they could have made the effort to find kids who act properly! It completely ruins the immersion.

Overall, I think the actors lack emotion. I felt nothing when Iroh looked at Zuko as he was being captured at the very end, whereas I’ll remember Iroh’s disappointed and disgusted look from the animated series for the rest of my life.

A quick note on “The Blue Spirit”: It was originally an episode in Season 1 that served to establish that Aang and Zuko could work together—even as enemies—and that, under different circumstances, they might have been friends. But in the end, Aang and Zuko don’t run into each other while Zuko is in disguise; Zuko runs into Katara; Zuko recognizes Katara but she doesn’t recognize him… so… what’s the point of this disguise, honestly?

TOPH

Toph is deceived and drugged by her mother: does that mean she doesn’t sense the lie the way she’s supposed to? Same goes for Long Feng. Yet, at this point in the series, we’re supposed to already know that Toph can sense the heartbeats that signal a lie.

Toph manages to control metal because… she has faith in her cards—uh, her friends? Is this some kind of damn manga or what? Plus, WHY is there a slit for her eyes in the box, when she’s BLIND?

SCENE ORDER

They wanted to mix up some scenes and move others around, and that causes consistency issues.

- Toph joins the group in the scene where Azula injures Uncle Iroh with her lightning. Iroh doesn’t actually speak, but normally, Toph can identify people with her feet. In the original series, we’ll recall that at this point, Toph knows Iroh (without knowing he’s Zuko’s uncle), since she’s had tea and chatted with him. In the Netflix series, Toph meets Iroh again at his tea house in Ba-Sing-Se. She doesn’t recognize him, but Iroh does (or at least, he seems to recognize her). They chat, and Iroh talks about the delight of having tea with a stranger. Yes. Except that quote made sense in the context of the TV series, where neither of them knew the other’s identity. But here, at the very least, Iroh knows that Toph is part of the Avatar’s group!

We can draw two conclusions from this scene: Toph can’t recognize anyone with her feet, and Iroh either has no memory or is a complete hypocrite.

- Aang hasn’t mastered the Avatar State; but by the end of the final episode, he has? In the animated series, that made sense because Aang meets the guru, who explains the chakras to him. But here, that part is missing!

IN GENERAL

Overall, it was really the “Wish” version of the cartoon. Lots of things happening in the background:

- Katara heals a guy, but we don’t see the animation of her healing the wound: BACKGROUND

- Appa gets captured, but we don’t see the guys taking him away: BACKGROUND

- The drill doesn’t even exist.

And I’m sure I’m forgetting some...

Suki asking Katara to join the Kyoshi Warriors, VS “Sokka, who isn’t a warrior but an engineer”: it’s so clearly the “look, we’re reversing gender roles—see how progressive we are, huh? See, see!” trope.

Mai and Ty-Lee have absolutely no on-screen charisma.

They tried to keep some humorous moments, but it falls flat:

- The cactus juice: it’s utterly pathetic—one of the worst “cinematic” moments I’ve seen in recent years. It made sense in the original series (Sokka drank it in the desert because he was thirsty), but here it’s just “Hey, let’s throw in the cactus juice scene”… So Sokka is offered a glass right in the middle of a reception, a guy tells him it’s really bad for his health, so Sokka… drinks it anyway?

- The haikus: in the original, it was just a funny little moment; they tried to turn it into a totally lame discussion about friendship.