I really enjoyed the dynamic set up between Jenny and Irving too! And at this point this is not about Black representation. It is them having strong black characters and exploring those characters well — with their extended families, giving them storylines, etc. It is pretty great.

Ahh, I see what you are saying. At that moment in time since we didn't know *what* the avatar state was, Aang going into it felt like a Deus Ex Machina.

The explanation for the 'cycle' in A:TLA was so that no one nation would develop into a sort of overlord type by gaining too much power from being the birth nation of the Avatar every cycle. Now…who knows.

I think in the Avatar world 'soul' is different from 'abilities'. Your soul (as in your personality) can be born wherever (I don't know if they bring in elements of Karma like in Hinduism and Buddhism) but your abilities will be a result of the genes from your parents and the environment you are born into.

Ohmygod, I just realized that! And the dragons are no longer the firebending masters.

Way more articulate expression of what I thought. :)

She was tied down while he tried to kiss her on camera. Not cool at all.

I agree that it worked as well.

I disagree — I think there was enough lead up and explanation of the
spirits of the Moon and the ocean for that to not qualify as a Deus Ex
Machina. In addition, if the Moon spirit *had* been permanently
destroyed, there would have been real and very widely felt consequences
for the Water tribes.

I am so excited to be seeing Nikita again. And so sad that it will be for the last season! :(

Exactly. But I still give them points for making me think they might be going in that direction. Then it could've been:

BUT…that was literally them justifying their previously dreamt up deus ex machina…

There are a bunch of serial downvoters on this site.

I agree. And actually, harmonic convergence type stakes might have been enough to drive the entire rest of the three books. I get that Bryke had these two books already planned out when they got the order for more and that threw a crimp in their plans. But if we'd had season two without any possibility of redemption…

It is rather inexplicable. :)

When?

I liked these last four episodes…I watched them all at one big gulp last week but didn't get a chance to comment then (which sounds like it might have been a good thing…?).

I watched the first two episodes of this show and I really wasn't that impressed. Mainly because it reminded me a bit too much of Merlin… ;)

Liked!

It's a psychological thing.