State of the Media

[hymnia]

Things I am currently watching:

I'm still following Friday Night Lights and The West Wing on Mark Watches, and I really wish I could find more time to comment on episodes, because these are both great shows and worth discussing. I am keeping up with watching and reading Mark's posts (and reading a selection of comments), but, alas, I just can't

Comments

[hymnia]

Have you read them yet? I'm not sure if you're looking for low-spoiler comments or not, so I'm going to default to low-spoiler just in case. Let me know if you want me to get more specific w/ spoilers.

I liked the first story arc (The Promise) pretty well--I think I've already talked about that in a previous entry. But the current one (The Search--about Zuko's quest to find his mother) has a major plot twist that may be problematic in that it undercuts some of the themes and characterization from the original series, IMO. That said, it's hard to say how it's going to play out at this point, since there is one installment left in the story arc, which comes out in November. It's possible that things are not as they appear.

I've seen a lot of fans bashing on the comics in general, and I don't really agree with the heavy backlash. I think the comics are generally in tune with the characters and the general tone of the original series, for the most part--rather like a well-written fanfic. However, this particular plot twist feels off to me.

[mrs_bombadil]

I have read them and I know what twist you speak of. I don't love it if it's true either, but I think it's a red herring.

[hymnia]

A few years ago I read a manga series called Sand Chronicles in which there was a similar twist.

[Spoiler (click to open)]Basically, a character discovers clues he may be illegitimate, which presumably explains certain family dynamics. But later the twist re-twists, and it turns out his sister is the illegitimate child and he's the legitimate child. Anyway, the situation in ATLA is a bit different, but as soon as I read it, I found myself wondering if the twist was going to re-twist, perhaps in a similar way. Personally, I think it would be a pretty amazing twist if it turned out there was a misunderstanding and it's really Azula who is not Ozai's child.

But, yeah. If it's not some kind of red herring, color me not impressed.