This review will consist of a General part, in which I will talk about the experiences I had while watching the episode. For those who don't like to read much, all Negatives and Positives will be put together in short after the General part.
6.0
"Fair"
General:
So.. here we are.. The the worst episode so far and maybe even the worst episode of all.. Ah well, let's get this over with..
We see the gAang flying above a big forest.. But there's a huge black mark on the landscape.. The gAang decides to investigate and when they land they discover that the black 'scar' on the landscape used to be part of the forest, before it was burnt down by the Fire Nation..
Aang is really hurt to see what happened during his 100 year abscence, and he blames himself for what happened to the forest.. Being the Avatar, he should have protected nature.. Aang explains how he has no idea of how to be the Avatar, and that he has no one to teach him.. Katara tries to cheer him up by showing him an acorn.. -_-'
..Well, the acorn symbolises that the forest will grow back and everything will be okay.. Then.. an old man shows up and asks Aang to help his village. We discover that the village is being terrorized by Hei Bai, a spirit who shows up every night and destroys the village and takes people with him as he leaves.. The villagers are even more frightened because the Winter Solstice is drawing near.. We discover that a Solstice is a time in which the line that seperates the natural world from the spirit world is blurred completely. This is important imformation! Aang, being the Avatar (the bridge between the spirit world and the natural world), is asked to put a stop Hei Bai's terror.. And, even though he has no idea how to, he agrees.. Some encouraging words from Katara and some sarcastic humor of Sokka did the trick.. xD
Meanwhile.. Iroh is wasting time somewhere and taken captive by a few Earth Kingdom Soldiers..
So.. the sun sets and Aang tries to call out for Hei Bai... Then he suddenly shows up and starts destroying random buildings in the village, while Aang tries in vain to reason with him.
Sokka can't stand it anymore to do nothing and decides to go and help Aang, but is captured by Hei Bai after which the enormous spirit monster runs off. In the mean time.. We see Zuko discovering that his uncle has been captured by earthbenders.. Aang still chases Hei Bai and is able to grasp Sokka's hand.. However, just when he does so, Hei Bai returns to the Spirit World with Sokka by walking into a statue of a bear, and Aang falls on the ground unconscious, in front of the statue... When he wakes up.. He's all blue-ish..
Meanwhile.. We learn that Iroh is taken to Ba Sing Se.. The Earth kingdom capital where he, when he was still a general, laid siege to for 600 days, before leaving in defeat.
When Aang returns to the village, we discover that he is all blue-ish because he's in the Spirit World somehow.. Must have had something to do with holding Sokka's hand as Hei Bai entered the Spirit World.. As Aang cries for help from Avatar Roku, he is approached by a flying dragon... Aang tries to fly away but discovers that airbending is not possible in the spirit world.. As the dragon lands in front of him, he shows Aang an image of him and Roku, revealing that he is Avatar Roku's animal guide, like Appa is to Aang. Then, Aang asks the dragon to take him to Roku..
When Aang flies above the earthbenders and Iroh.. Iroh notices them, while no one else does.. This is very important! Iroh can appearantly see spirits.. Interesting... Roku's dragon takes Aang to a statue of Roku within a temple. Then he shows Aang two images.. The first image shows a falling comet, which Roku appearantly wants to talk about with Aang, When Aang asks when he'll be able to talk to Roku, he shows him the second image, showing how the sunlight will reach Roku's Statue's eyes through a hole in the wall and revealing that when it does reach his eyes, Aang will be able to talk to him.. That will happen on the day of the Solstice.. Ah well, Iroh attemps to escape but he is recaptured soon after.. The earthbenders decide to do something about Iroh now, as it is to dangerous to carry him to Ba Sing Se this way.. We also see Katara looking for Aang while flying on Appa, and Zuko noticing them. When he must chose whether to cahse the Avatar, or save his uncle.. Aang is taken back to the Natural world when Roku's dragon flies into the bear statue.. Aang looks upon the statue as if he just realized something... After that, Aang returns to the village..
The earthbenders decide to crush Iroh's dangerous hands, so that they can safely get him to Ba SingSe.. And just when they attempt to do it.. Zuko arrives! Saving his uncle! =D
This reveals that Zuko does love his uncle and that there are things more important to him than capturing the Avatar.. Perhaps this even shows that there might be some good in him.. Who knows..? =) Together they defeat the earthbenders in a pretty cool fighting scene..
Back at the village.. Aang is waiting for Hei Bai to show up again.. And when he does.. Aang finds out that Hei Bai is actually the spirit of the forest.. A gentle panda spirit who's just been hurt by the fact that his beloved home was burnt down..(We know now that the 'bear' statue was actually a 'pande' statue... But we couldn't have recognized it as it was a brown statue)
Aang shows Hei Bai the magical acorn and everything is okay again.. -_-' ugh... *no comment*
Hei Bai picks up the acorn and leaves the village, returning to his gentle panda form.. Where he leaves the village, a few bamboo stalks appear.. And Sokka and the other missing villagers mysteriously return coming out of the bamboo stalks..(ugh.. Come on, what's next.. Flying boars..? -_-')
Anyway, Aang tells the others that he'll need to go to Roku's temple on the day of the Solstice in order to be able to talk to him.. But the Solstice is tomorrow and the temple is in the Fire Nation..
In short...
Negatives:
BOOORINGG!! Nothing happens in this episode.. I mean, sure things happen, but no cool stuff happens at all!! Only one very short cool fight scene with Zuko and Iroh against the earthbenders..
No humor! Compared to the other Avatar episodes, this episode had NO humor!
Ridiculous story.. Come on.. a ferocious spirit monster when angry, and a panda when happy? And bamboo stalks where missing people come out of..? This has got to be the most unrealistic episode untill now, maybe even the most unrealistic episode ever! I mean.. Sure it's hard to make a story with a Spirit World realistic.. but it could have been much and MUCH better! It's like the creators didn't even bother to do it the right way this time.. This is a VERY big negative!!
Positives:
We get a little hint about Zuko's good side..
We learn more about the Spirit World. And about Iroh's connection with it.. We also learn about Aangs responsibility towards both the Spirit and the Natural World..
We get to know Roku's dragon.. a little..
Favourite quote(s) of this episode:
[Aang:] "Maybe whatever I have to do will just.. come to me?" [Katara:] "I think you can do it Aang." [Sokka:] "Yeaahh.. We're all gonna get eaten by a spirit monster."
[Chief of the Village:] "Thank you, Avatar. If only there were a way to repay you for what you've done.." [Sokka:] "You could give us some supplies.. and some money.."
Favourite quote so far:
[Fire Nation Soldier:] "That lemur.. He's earthbending!" [Sokka:] " No you idiot, it's the girl!"
My grade for this episode:
I think this might just be the worst episode of all.. I hate it that it's so unrealistic and that actually nothing happens here.. I mean.. the point of this episode is to get Aang to meet Roku, to find out about how to be the Avatar and perhaps more.. And we have to find some things out about the spirit world.. This could have been achieved in a much better way than this episode.. It could and it SHOULD have been done much better.. Don't misunderstand me.. I still think it's fun to watch.. compared to other shows that is.. But my task is to compare it to other Avatar episodes, and when I do that, I'm forced to realize that this episode was very boring.. It was needed, but boring..
After some comparing, I think I will give this episode a 6,0
(My apologies to all who love this episode, but it is my honest opinion..)
[NOTE:]
Of you want to correct me on any errors I might have made or just tell me your opinion about this episode, or Avatar: The Last Airbender in general or if you want to tell me what you think of my opinion, all your responses to this are more than welcome and I'll be happy to read them. =)