S01.E02: Warriors

[The Crazed Spruce]

Episode description coming.

[The Crazed Spruce]

Quote

Aang, Katara and Sokka arrive at a small island, home to elite warriors named after Avatar Kyoshi. The Fire Nation gets wind of the Avatar's whereabouts.

 

[Stardancer Supreme]

Kyoshi Warriors!!!!! I am loving this adaptation.

[thuganomics85]

Nothing made me laugh harder than Aang's "Dude, I'm only nine, lived in a monastery my entire life, and been frozen for a hundred years and even I can tell you have no game, buddy!" grin when Sokka turned into a stammering mess around Suki.

Thought this episode was a pretty great follow-up that had a little "mission of the week" feel to it, but still plenty of world building and planting seeds for the main story.  Kyoshi Island and its warriors were awesome and I hope we revisit it at some point.  Great seeing Tamlyn Tomita as Yukari/the leader and the actress playing Suki was a great fit and worked well with Ian Ousley/Sokka.

Also hope we get more Kyoshi because I'm all for more Yvonne Chapman!  At first, I was prepared to say she is branching out a little, but once shit went down, she brought that same intensity and "you will regret crossing me!" attitude that she perfected on Kung Fu.  Wouldn't have it any other way!

Commander Zhao looks like he will be a fun secondary villain, who is always out for himself and can never be trusted.  So, of course, Ken Leung is perfect for the role!

Prince Zuko really seems to be a case of a character that has so many common tropes and personality, yet it somehow works for me.  It's not like they've made him unique, but these familiar themes are used very well and is well performed.  Kind of impressive.

Poor Uncle Iroh probably wishes he can taste local cuisine on this trip, instead of all of this violent stuff (although, judging from Zhao's remark, there seems to be a history there.)  I like how his character does seem to be guiding Zuko and wants him to accomplish his mission, but is trying to shape him in a way where he will have empathy and not just be a rage-filled killing machine.  Makes me curious to see how things will play out once it really starts to ramp up.

Whelp, I can definitely forgive no Daniel Dae Kim in the pilot, when he gets the grand big baddie entrance here!  Sinisterly reading a note with a raging fire behind him?  Yep, that's the kind of introduction deserving of his talents!  Might be hard to root against Fire Lord Ozari when you've got this man playing him! 

I guess you can't have too many animal sidekicks: especially when one of them's main purpose is to annoy Sokka!

[Valerie]

I WOULD DIE FOR SUKI. I loved loved loved this version of her so much. The way you could tell she was initially so suspicious of Sokka, but then curious, and then confused about her attraction -- the two actors had great chemistry and I loved the scene where she was taking off her makeup and her costume so he could see her as herself.

The giant Kyoshi spirit that Aang was channeling was also so cool. I hope we get to see similar scenes if/when the Gaang get to the other shrines.

DADDY OZAI. <3

Edited February 23 by Valerie

[The Crazed Spruce]

One little detail I really liked was that Gran-Gran's note was written in Inuktitut, the language of the Inuit people. I live in Labrador, in northeast Canada, and there's a large Inuit population up here, so I see it around all the time. Even though I can't read a word of it, I still recognized it.

It's a little thing, but I thought it was a nice touch.

Edited February 24 by The Crazed Spruce

[Lugal]

6 minutes ago, The Crazed Spruce said:

One little detail I really liked was that Gran-Gran's note was written in Inuktitut, the language of the Inuit people. I live in Labrador, in northeast Canada, and there's a large Inuit population up here, so I see it around all the time. Even though I can't read a word of it, I still recognized it.

It's a little thing, but I thought it was a nice touch.

Yes!  I caught that too and thought it looked so cool!

And for those that don't know what Inuktitut looks like (although the show had a more handwritten style):

[Spartan Girl]

People were upset that the new version made Sokka less sexist pre-Suki but I didn’t really see a difference. He’s still an insecure, pompous idiot, that’s supposed to be his starter from character growth. That being said, I did appreciate the shirtless scene, lol.

On 2/22/2024 at 8:53 PM, thuganomics85 said:

Poor Uncle Iroh probably wishes he can taste local cuisine on this trip, instead of all of this violent stuff (although, judging from Zhao's remark, there seems to be a history there.) 

That food did look delicious. 

 

[Lugal]

I think I'm in love with Suki!  That Kyoshi Warrior makeup looked incredible and I wasn't sure how it would translate to live action (can't wait to see the Wolf Warrior makeup).  I liked Sokka and Suki's little moments and the fact that neither of them really knows how to act around the opposite sex.  And Tamlyn Tomita as Suki's mom! Now we get to see where Suki learned her fighting style.  Sokka uses his boomerang as more of a throwing axe so I wonder if Suki throwing the fan inspires him to create the returning boomerang.

I haven't seen Yvonne Chapman in much but damn did she embody Kyoshi!  Awesomely terrifying!  I hope we get to see more Avatars like that.

2 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

People were upset that the new version made Sokka less sexist pre-Suki but I didn’t really see a difference. He’s still an insecure, pompous idiot, that’s supposed to be his starter from character growth.

I really didn't miss or notice the absence of his "girls aren't good warriors" attitude.  Seeing the Kyoshi Warriors, now he just realizes he has a lot to learn, which will be interesting when he meets Piandao.  Although he's still the guy that Aunt Wu had predicted a lifetime of "struggle and anguish, most of it self-inflicted"

And I almost forgot, we got to see Fire Lord Ozai at the end.  Daniel Dae Kim does menacing well, and I'd swear he's taking a little bit from Mark Hamil in the voice.

Edited February 24 by Lugal

[Maelstrom]

This was such a fantastic episode I had to watch it twice.

The Kyoshi Warriors were incredible! I wasn't sure how the makeup would translate to live action, but it looked fantastic and I absolutely love Suki. The actress was perfect. I'm so glad they've fleshed Suki out from the start, and I really liked the theme of her wanting to go out into the world, and admiring/being jealous of Sokka for doing so. It's a smart move to set up what's to come (we need seasons 2 and 3 to happen!!)

Avatar Kyoshi was always a hard-ass in the original but she was outright terrifying here. Giant Scary Lady indeed! The tough love Avatar. Her final battle with fire benders was fucking awesome, I can't wait to see Aang as a fully realized Avatar one day. I liked the bit of backstory they gave her, I'm guessing that came from one of the comics, but it was a nice touch to humanize her a little. I like how this version is expanding and clarifying just what the Avatar state is, and what it means.

Sokka was the star of this ep, his awkward teenage bravado with an equally awkward Suki was awesome. He's less of a buffoon here than he was in the earliest eps of the original, which I'm glad for. I'm really loving Ian Ousley's take on Sokka. Jack de Sena's voice performance is one of the most iconic for me of everyone in the original, so I was skeptical about anyone bringing the character to life as well as he did, but Ian's done wonderfully as Sokka.

Likewise with Dallas Liu - Dante Basco *is* Zuko to me, and I didn't see how anyone could capture Zuko's troubled, conflicted nature like he could - and with only his voice, no less. But Dallas is absolutely perfect, as is his dynamic with Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as Iroh. I'm actually glad they had Zhao be the one to destroy the village rather than Zuko, though the whole nearly incinerating Katara at point-blank range thing might be a little tough to come back from (that's rough, buddy). Speaking of Zhao, he strikes me as a cross between a used car salesman and the guy at work who "accidentally" forwards his coworkers' emails where they bitch about the boss *to* the boss.

And Gordon Cormier is a true gem - he's really impressed me with how easily and believably he portrays Aang's playful side as well as his serious side. He's a real find. Sad to say that Kiawentiio has been the weakest performance for me so far, but we'll see what happens from here.

It makes perfect sense for Gran Gran to give Katara the scroll, though I admit I'm a little sad we won't get to see the pirates (stealing is wrong, unless it's from pirates)

Uncle mentioned Pai Sho! Momo continues to vex Sokka and steal his food! Ozai! Daniel Dae Kim clearly has a portrait hidden away in an attic somewhere.

[JustHereForFood]

On 2/24/2024 at 9:14 PM, Spartan Girl said:

That being said, I did appreciate the shirtless scene, lol.

Eh, how old is he supposed to be? Wikipedia says 16. That makes me quite uncomfortable to see that they try to make him some sort of sex symbol.

[Bookworm 1979]

1 hour ago, JustHereForFood said:

Eh, how old is he supposed to be? Wikipedia says 16. That makes me quite uncomfortable to see that they try to make him some sort of sex symbol.

The actor is 22.

[tennisgurl]

I'm so glad that we got to spend so much time with the Kyoshi Warriors, I was grinning for the whole episode! I love this version of Suki, I like that they expanded on her a bit more than in the show, wanting to leave home and explore the world even if her mom doesn't approve, plus she and Sokka are ridiculously cute. This was a great follow up from the first episode, its a bit of an island of the week episode that allows us to get to know the characters more and start their character arcs, and gives us some fun world building. 

I know that the show got some flack early on for removing Sokka's sexism, but I never thought it was that important, especially in relation to his relationship with Suki, they still got the basic point here. Sokka is clearly full of blustery teenage self importance at being their villages protector and leader which is obviously all poorly masked insecurity, Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors humble him a bit and he grows as a person. Suki and Sokka were super cute, I found their awkward teenage flirting to be ridiculously adorable. They both had this vibe of "I have basically never seen a boy/girl my own age who I think is cute and now I don't know what to do with my hands" which was just so very endearing. The Kyoshi makeup looked great, I was a bit worried about how that would translate into live action but it looked awesome. 

It was great to see Yvonne Chapman as Avatar Kyoshi, she's such a badass, nailing that mix of inner calm and Don't Fuck With Me. Having her actually show up to fight the soldiers was a great change from the source material, I hope that we see more of it at other Avatar temples. 

And we have Fire Lord Ozai everyone!

[Maelstrom]

1 hour ago, tennisgurl said:

They both had this vibe of "I have basically never seen a boy/girl my own age who I think is cute and now I don't know what to do with my hands"

So true! Plus, I always figured anyone that might be near either of them in age would be related to them - Kyoshi island is so insular their family trees must get kind of tangled, and we know the population of the SWT had taken a lot of hits over the years of the war.

[PurpleTentacle]

This was a lot better than the first episode. But I'm still missing the playfull nature of Aang and the other kids.

Also I guess that means all the Roku stuff is getting cut out? Not quite sure how to feel about that yet.

Hate that we see Ozai this early and that he was on the posters.

[Trini]

Two episodes in, and I think this is a good start so far!

Kyoshi was great, but I think they may have made her a tad too harsh with Aang -- even if she does have a point. But I wonder why they added that limitation that Aang can only contact other Avatars at their shrine?

Also this is doing so much better at portraying bending and fight scenes than the movie that shall not be named, thankfully!

I get why they excised Sokka's sexism (and they made the plot work fine without it), but I still think it would have been a good character beat for him. But I already knew some things were going to get cut or condensed, so I'm not mad about it. However, I actually did want to see Sokka in the full Kyoshi Warrior outfit training with everyone.

Edited April 29 by Trini

[Maelstrom]

2 hours ago, Trini said:

But I wonder why they added that limitation that Aang can only contact other Avatars at their shrine?

I think this was touched on in an interview somewhere but I can't find which one... But I believe this limitation was added to define the extent of Aang's Avatar powers, so he wouldn't just be able to ask one of the other Avatars to get them out of whatever problem was at hand. Apologies if I'm misremembering but that was what I understood. (Avatar State, yip yip!)

Kyoshi definitely is even more of a hardass in this version than the original, which is saying something.

[Trini]

2 hours ago, Maelstrom said:

I think this was touched on in an interview somewhere but I can't find which one... But I believe this limitation was added to define the extent of Aang's Avatar powers, so he wouldn't just be able to ask one of the other Avatars to get them out of whatever problem was at hand. Apologies if I'm misremembering but that was what I understood. (Avatar State, yip yip!)

That's reasonable; but Aang is really young and new to this Avatar thing, I think they still could have accomplished that without that specific limitation.  ::shrug::