(NON MLP) Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Beach Rant

So as you probably know, I love Avatar. However, just because I love a show, doesn't mean I can't be critical of it nor does it have no bad episodes. Even the very best shows of all time have bad episodes. Batman: The Animated Series had too many to count.

Avatar: The Last Airbender is one long epic tale stretching out 3 seasons, and to be fair, there haven't been many bad episodes, but there have been some. The Great Divide, Avatar Day, and The Headband, were all complete trash, however no episode has come even close to the episode that just didn't get it, didn't understand the show it was in and was a giant middle finger to everything it was, and worst of all, got a free pass from Nostalgia Critic. That episode is The Beach.

So, in this episode, Zuko, Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai are going to the fire nation royal family's old beach home and are going on holiday. Yep, that is really the plot. No invasion of territory they haven't invaded yet, no trying to catch Aang, no, just going to the beach, and that's the whole episode.

You know, the first half of season 3 was really there for Zuko to reconsider if this is really what he wanted now that he's got his fathers honor, and see's himself as a changed man regardless of his betrayal of his uncle and his alignment with Azula and Ozai. I will say this right now, Zuko's arc was the BEST THING in Avatar: TLA. The show would not be what it is if it wasn't in there. It's what brought it from a simple fun and enjoyable, anime style action adventure cartoon to a marvel of dramatic storytelling. Zuko's character is flawlessly executed, from his dedication to his father, to his scar, to his past and his relationship with various members of his family... There are little pieces of this episode which focus on Zuko's arc and it is a stage which is needed for his arc, but it's so far in the background that we might as well forget about it.

Although in season 3 this reconsideration was VITALLY important to the story, unfortunately it was a subplot going around in various episodes of pure and utter filler for Team Avatar. Their in the fire nation because Aang needs to learn fire bending, but Zuko's the one who teaches him that in the end, and of course we can't have him do that if he hasn't joined their side yet, so basically the first half of the season is just Zuko's highly important choice.

This episode doesn't focus on Team Avatar, it instead focuses on the three girls, but it is still complete and utter filler, and the worst thing is that it's boring filler. Filler is okay if it's entertaining but this was NOT. It was complete joke of an episode that should burn in hell.

So you already know that all that happens in the episode is that they go to the beach and do stupid irrelevant things aside from Zuko's thing which IS SO FAR IN THE BACKGROUND. All Zuko really does in this episode is whine about his relationship with Mai, and it's a fucking insult to everything his character is. Azula's also completely out of character, her main goal of this episode is to hook up cute boys. Yep, the sadistic princess of the fire nation is interested in something as stupid and as trivial as that. Oh, she also has this whole jealousy thing with Ty Lee, because she can hook up all the boys with her sexually suggestive movements or something, and SHE wants to have sex with the boys, not her stupid underdog.

Is this starting to sound like a god awful fanfiction? Well let me assure you, this is a real episode.

Zuko in this episode is at his absolute worst. He whines all the way through about trivial, stupid, things, and him and Mai argue nearly all the time until he get's abusive. You will want to strangle Zuko by the end of this, he is so annoying, just so bratty, just UGHH!!! And this is a complete and utter shame because Zuko most of the time is my favorite character in the entire show, due to him being so complex and identifiable.

In fact, Azula behaves in a much more civil way in this episode than Zuko does. She's explaining her problems to Tai Lee in a civil manner, and trying to make relationships, and this is out of character for her because Azula does not behave like this. She has NO HUMANITY in her soul. She was a bad egg from absolute birth, and continues to cause pain to everyone she doesn't like. She's not a villain in this episode, she's completely comedic and harmless, and I say FUCK THAT!

I will say ONE, ONE good thing about this episode, and that is towards the end when all the crap has finished. This is when Zuko's conflict moves forward slightly which is needed for his arc, and we do learn more about Ty Lee and Mai. But why couldn't we have had that without all the shitty beach? WHY? Why couldn't we have had an emotionally involving episode which just focused on this?

So, there's my rant.