Overanalyzing Avatar: The Deserter

avatar does this weird thing sometimes when it's first shot it tries to actually convey something like the messenger hawk and the blue spirit here we see chase sneaking around in the trees but i bet you really never noticed because it's literally the first shot and like your brain isn't really turned on yet am i off base here kind of weird that there's this like info board out in the woods with both advertisements for carnivals and wanted posters for some of the most dangerous enemies of the fire nation pretty obvious one but there's also water posters for che zhong zhang and the blue spirit which is a nice touch i like the blue spirit one the most because it makes it feel like zuko's actions were really felt by the fire nation you guys stay at a site here while we go to the festival [Music] momo great job oppa good hustle we get a weird little xylophone rendition of the fire nation theme here super quiet in the background don't worry loyal citizens no one can surprise the fire lord this is the first time we ever see the fire lord all the way back in season one crazy that they actually revealed them so early no one can surprise the fire lord it's him the legends are true the pigeon bender also normal doves i think me what do you think you're doing i want to get a closer look aang is a little idiot for the most part in this episode the closest he gets to the archetype of annoying child main character i will tame this fiery beast he actually bends the fire lasso here which is like wow you can make a fire lasso this guy is the most intricate firebender in the show ag does the same move as the mysterious shadowed airbender from the intro right here i've always loved this moment something so funny to me about jumping on stage ruining an act getting food and then trying to play it off weird seemed like everyone at the festival was wearing a mask earlier but now it seems like there's barely any i'm calling up i hope we can really hear that bison whistle okay it's kind of odd that the fire nation has fireworks in handheld explosives but then in the coming years they never developed guns like i get that they have fire bending but like guns are pretty useful or at least cannons i'm no history expert but i'm pretty sure the discovery of explosives and gunpowder led pretty immediately to the idea of wow we can shoot people pretty good with this stuff and i think the fire nation would be pretty about shooting people i serve a man more than a man really he's a myth but he's real a living legend zhang zhang the deserter zhong jong's a firebending genius some say he's mad but he's not he's enlightened shay doesn't do a very good job of selling zhongzhang here does he he's trying but all my cult leader alarms in my head are going ballistic these guys are super weird if you haven't watched this episode in a while you probably don't even remember them they really needed a stinger to have before the commercial break so they just added these guys so they'd know you'd come back after hearing about hot wheels and fruit gushers let's go but they don't really play a role in the episode at all told you not to look for avatar why waste time say lot word one few words do trick so the avatar was here and you let him slip away yes sir but other than that the festival went off without a hit no fights theft was way down i really wish there was a way for me to be funny over top of avatar every time but sometimes it's just funny he says you're not ready says you haven't mastered water bending and earth bending yet wait how does he know that he saw the way you walked into camp he can tell zhong zhang being able to tell aang isn't ready but just the way he carries himself is super cool it immediately tells us jon jong is on some destiny what would a boy know of destiny if a fish lives its whole life in this river does he know the river's destiny no only that it runs on and on out of his control he may follow where it flows but he cannot see the end he cannot imagine the ocean all right avatar philosophy comprehension challenge what the hell is this guy talking about what i gleaned from it is that i mean aang is obviously the fish and the river is either his avatar journey or just the world at large the world at large makes more sense i think considering the rest of the quote he's saying that the world will go on with or without aang i think and the ocean parrot is just like some macrocosmic spiritual universal stuff maybe i don't know this part always went over my head if you have any answers or theories on it leave it in the comments i'd love to hear you must learn water and earth water is cool and soothing earth is steady and stable but fire fire is alive it breathes it grows i really like john john's reasoning he's right on all counts fire is nearly impossible to control and it spreads wildly it fires nature to spread just like the fire nation is doing to the rest of the world trying to consume it all you are not ready you are too weak you think i am weak oh that ain't good what a nice way to do this super subtle the light goes down and when it comes back on roku's just there no bombing circumstance no explosive entrance just roku i have mastered the elements a thousand times in a thousand lifetimes now i must do it once again i like how roku talks as if he's all the avatars ang included in my head this is honestly just all the avatars at once they just chose roku as a visualization because he'd be the most recognizable to zhang and i like how even they're like man the learning cycle we gotta get this done really that's great so from ag's reaction here all that he experienced was this you are too weak i will teach you really that's great power in fire bending comes from the breath power and fire bending comes from the breath it's cool that the two wise firebending masters we've seen share a line it somehow validates their position as master even further oh just needed a few more frames of animation on zhongjung here guys gotta tighten up the graphics on level three this episode is the exact opposite of a training montage that's awesome too often shows are the struggles and hardships of learning a new skill or mastering one summarized into a quick series of shots with catchy music hey i'm all for a training montage once in a while but it doesn't really feel like you or the characters are learning well only in the most surface of ways maybe we don't get to see the blocks they face mentally which is what ang's struggling with aang's having trouble with the philosophy and the logic behind zhongjung's teachings not the physical side which is something you can't just training montage away i mean let us begin that was the coolest thing i've ever seen i did it i made fire ang wanting to learn quickly has already been shown in the water betting scroll as soon as he learns something on a surface level he wants to move on to something else and not truly master what he's already done looks like i got the hang of that move what else you got that's what zhang means when he says to master the bending disciplines you must first master discipline itself you can actually hear inhale and exhale as he does this move i'm so sorry what did you do it was an accident i was a guitar i'm so i love that soccer just completely decks aang after he burns katara hell yeah soccer that's what big brothers do what's weird is that he tackles and head on but when they land aang is face down [Music] you burned my sister this is a classic ongoing soccer trope to cut to commercial come back saka summarizes what happened just before the commercial cut happened i'm gonna throw them a secret dance party go to your room i can't believe we're having a dance party it seems so silly it happens a lot and i laugh every time and i mean i'm gonna point them out going forward you have healing abilities oh okay the great benders of the water tribe sometimes have this ability it's cool that zhang jong is cultured too he knows more about water bending abilities than even katara though it could be that he just fought against water banners back in the day and he killed a bunch of them damn maybe it's not that cool but fire brings only destruction and pain i really like the dichotomy of zhang's philosophy and the sun warriors philosophy later on fire is life not just destruction i have a lot to say about it but like many things in this series i'll mention it when we get there dude they both only react on the second giant fireball lobbed at them guitar maybe but come on zhang jong you're a master be on your toes okay so zhongzhang is by far the most powerful firebender in the show absolutely look at this there's some comment level and he's just doing it no problem we never see anything on this level before or after without it being common enhanced zhang jong number one do not try to fight him you are no match i think i can handle a child i have never seen such raw power this line holds weight because of the line chad gave us before says you haven't mastered water bending and earth bending yet wait how does he know that he saw the way you walked into camp he can tell zhong hasn't seen much of the vang but we know he can extrapolate stuff from tiny details which also explains why he's so so so diligent about discipline with ang his teaching style seems like it would have already centered around discipline both angst and eight power he had to drive it home even more [Music] it's a trick he's run off into the woods find him a trick who is he chris angel a trick how did you do that i mean seriously okay when we hang out tonight just don't mention my friend joe's weird enormous hand he gets really self-conscious this fight is fine i guess the dynamic of and getting him to burn his own ships works with the theme of the episode and it keeps up the fact that aang is quick and resourceful i don't like what it does to zhao though zhao was so cool when he was first introduced cool-headed somewhat soft-spoken conniving join me for a drink this episode really bastardizes all of that we've seen him get understandably angry after a loss that's fine earlier in the episode he's shown at some common guards for not being able to capture aang something he and his entire fleet haven't been able to do either and now he's getting goaded into a blind rage by a 12 year old throwing insults out i don't know why but i thought you'd be better than zuko it's just it doesn't seem like the zhao we were introduced to this seems like a kids show villain and you're better than that avatar [Music] aang's clothes do get beat up sometimes in this first season which leads me to question like how do they seamlessly get repaired so well but then i also think shut the up who cares all in all this is a pretty good episode the philosophy behind john john's fire bending is my favorite part even if i don't really know what the hell he's talking about with the whole fish thing it adds more of a mental side to bending than we've had before and i do think that was missing intent and drive are big parts of firebending and zhongjung shows that that drive must be met with equal parts discipline or you end up like bozo over here guitar and soccer don't really get a lot to do but i don't feel like that really hurts the episode at all real quick shout out to the patrons really appreciate it guys and more content is in the works special shout outs to my top patrons code connect derek cornwell fritz sullivan mana ormana parker gas ricardo varto skylos and super sniper you guys are legends the next full episode of over analyzing avatar is available to watch over there on patreon so if that sounds interesting and you want to be one episode ahead going forward link's in the description next up we have the northern air temple and black right see you then

Channel: Overanalyzing Avatar

Views: 568,103

Keywords: Overanalyzing Avatar, Avater the lastairbender, Avatar the last airbender, Avatar the last airbender book 1 chapter 16, React to avatar the last airbender, Avatar Jeong Jeong, Avatar the last airbender season 1 episode 16, avatar the legend of aang, aang learns firebending, avatar the last airbender memes

Id: dJky-KxDd8g

Length: 11min 22sec (682 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 23 2021