Avatar: the Last Airbender Review - The King of Omashu

Okay, gonna do another one of these before I blog more about art.

I thought the last episode was okay with Sokka and Suki being the high points and anything relating to the Aang x Katara being low. It made me chuckle here and there, but nothing really stood out to me.

As for this episode, I don't remember too much about it other than it is the introduction to Bumi. I like Bumi. I found him pretty entertaining back then and am looking forward to see if I still do.

All right, on to my points.

1. Right off the bat, we get Team Avatar arriving before the city of Omashu. Straight to the point.
2. Katara and Sokka comment on their amazement on how different Omashu looks in comparison to the Southern Water Tribe. This part always struck me a bit odd. I mean, they already went to the (very well preserved) Southern Air Temple, a place with much more intricate architecture and design than the traffic cones-style of Omashu. I could believe it if they were just impressed with it, but the way they talk makes kind of makes it sound they never saw such amazing buildings in their lives.
3. Aang gets a disguise, and his old man act makes me chuckle a bit.
4. Katara mentions that Aang is technically 112 years old. You know, a lot of people don't normally bat an eye on that technical age difference between Aang and Katara, myself included. I believe the reason for that is because Aang was in suspended animation and thus didn't really live 112 years, unlike Marco Diaz and Star Butterfly (I still raise an eyebrow on that one), but, if anyone said they had a problem with the age difference between Aang and Katara... I don't think they'd be technically wrong. I'm not gonna think about this too much
5. I guess Appa is just going to hangout elsewhere.
6. The path to Omashu is very narrow. I might be remembering wrong, but, couldn't Omashu have stopped the Fire Nation invasion by just having their Earthbenders take out that narrow path?
7. "People here are the friendliest in the world." Then, we proceed to see the opposite. Butch Hartman would be proud.
8. Oh, the cabbage merchant. I forgot about this guy. I sometimes thought his schtick was funny and other times felt sorry for him. That's just me.
9. Aang's act is enjoyable though I'm not a fan of his long name.
10. Also, do the guards not question the obvious style and feature differences between this "old man" and his supposed grandchildren?
11. Guard orders Sokka to be respectful towards his grandfather and carry his bag. I chuckle.
12. They enter Omashu. It looks much more impressive on the inside. This is when Katara and Sokka should've been amazed.
13. Aang mentions the mailing system is miles long. Just me but why not use the metric system in this show? Much more conventient.
14. We get our first look at Bumi through a flashback. He's an... interesting fellow to say the least.
15. I like the idea of Team Avatar being a little reckless and sliding down the mailing system, but I can't say I'm a fan of the property damage they commit. Kind of a dick move on their part.
16. I do laugh a bit at the cabbage merchant in this instance, but how did he get his cart and produce back after that guard bended it off?
17. And now we meet the King of Omashu, and, if you have any detective skills or television tropes (they name-dropped him how many times, now?), you can tell it's Bumi. The only thing that could possibly stop anybody from reaching that conclusion is that we don't know the typical life-expectancy in Avatar.
18. The cabbage merchant wants their heads. Geez, dude, a tad extreme, don't you think?
19. Sokka laughs at Bumi's joke, and I laugh at Sokka's laugh. He is indeed the funny one and has been my favorite member of Team Avatar so far.
20. Bumi throws chicken at Aang so that Aang reveals himself. I know I should still be referring him as "the King of Omashu", but, come on, it's obviously Bumi.
21. I might as well mention this now, but I'm split as to Aang not recognizing Bumi. I get that Bumi has aged considerably since Aang last saw him, but, from what we're told, Bumi is someone very important to Aang (I mean, Aang ends up naming his first son after him). Shouldn't Aang recognize someone so important him? I know he's aged, but he's acting a lot like the kid we saw in the flashback and even has the same left eye as him. It's clearly Bumi.
22. Also, Bumi is the king. Was he not royalty back in Aang's day or what? I doubt that's the case, but, if it is, how did he become king? Wouldn't Aang have known Bumi was royalty or at least in line for it so he could therefore make the connection between his childhood friend and this king? If he didn't know, than I question the closeness between these two. Where I'm getting at is Aang not recognizing Bumi raises a lot of questions.
23. At least Bumi entertaining. I like this guy.
24. A guard Earthbends the wall and wakes up Aang. Aang see Sokka and Katara are gone. Um, wouldn't the guards have woken Aang up when they first went to get his friends? Earthbending isn't exactly the quietest bending.
25. Aang demands that he and his friends be let go, but Bumi puts a something deadly on the siblings, forcing Aang to cooperate. Essentially, Bumi is holding hostages against Aang, and it's working. You hear that, Zuko?
26. First challenge is receive the key from the waterfall. Aang shows off his acrobatic skills and tries to climb the latter.
27. I guess being the Avatar doesn't grant immense physical strength as evidenced by Aang failing under the pressure of the waterfall. This isn't a problem. I'm just pointing out food for thought.
28. Aang tries diving through the waterfall at a higher height but still falls. Bumi keep commenting until Aang finally launches a piece of stalagmite through waterfall. On to the next challenge.
29. The second is hardly a challenge. Seriously, this one was so fast and obvious, I'm only gonna comment on this thing right now. Weak stuff.
30. Final challenge is a duel. Now, we're talking.
31. Aang chooses Bumi and we immediately see that was probably not best life choice he's made.
32. Bumi claims to be the most powerful earthbender Aang will ever see. Too bad we never saw an animated duel between him and Toph.
33. Aang makes me laugh with, "Can I fight the guy with axe, instead?"
34. And now we get a duel. Throughout all the rock throws and dance steps, Bumi keeps trying to emphasize creativity, in other words: MORAL OF THE STORY.
35. As for the duel, itself, it's all right. Bumi is certainly the highlight of it, and it's certainly a good thing that this guy is on Team Avatar's side. He's a pretty darn good earthbender. It's actually our first introduction to some genuine earthbending, far more than what saw any of the guards.
36. The duel ends in a draw, and Bumi asks for one more challenge: his name. Huh. Thinking about, it's pretty darn lucky that no one has said "King Bumi" throughout Aang's entire time there. Just hearing that would've derailed this entire episode.
37. Sokka makes me laugh with "Rocky". Lol could you imagine Bumi being Sylvester Stallone?
38. Okay, I've been criticizing Aang not recognizing Bumi this entire time, but him finally recognizing his friend is legitimately nice, a little touching even.
39. Bumi: "You haven't changed a bit... literally."
40. Bumi states he did all this because Aang is going to need to use his head throughout this journey (and because he likes messing with people). Bumi really does come off as wise.
41. Bumi also comments on Momo, but that never really goes anywhere. Sorry, Bumi, but the idea of Momo being the reincarnation of Monk Gyatso was never used, rendering Momo to be a rather meaningless part of the series.
42. And finally, we end on a pretty touching scene of Aang and Bumi riding the mailing slide, together. Even the cabbage merchant part didn't ruin the moment and was actually funny in this instance.

Thoughts:
It's hard to say what I think with this episode. I mean, I think it's mostly dull; we didn't get to explore much of Omashu and the challenges weren't that interesting but rather obvious, save for the the duel with Bumi, and the whole "secret" of the King being Bumi was so obvious that I just kept finding myself shaking my head over Aang not recognizing his dear friend or mannerisms (or that his friends was in line for the crown?). This just kept lingering over my head throughout my watch and hindered my experience.

That said, Bumi really is the highlight of this episode. He's certainly an interesting and entertaining character and is definitely the only thing that kept my attention in this episode. Moreover, his friendship with Aang and him being one of only connections to Aang's past is endearing (even if it's never really explored again). His hug with Aang and riding the slide together in the end is actually a little moving, and that's definitely worth something.

My arbitrary grade for this episode: C+
Sentence: Aang's and Bumi's friendship is touching, and it's too bad we never really get to see it, again.

So, those are my thoughts on this episode. What are your thoughts on this episode? What are your thoughts on my thoughts of the episode? Was there something I missed that could've made me enjoy it more? Did I give you more food for thought? I'd really like to know!

I'll try to review the next episode in week but also might decide to take a break until the week after to talk about art. We'll see.

Either way, see ya later!

Comments

[Radiant Sparkle]

From the times you see Bumi using earthbending in the show, it's pretty clear the fight with Aang was intentionally stepped down. He's acting as Aang's earthbending teacher, instead of an actual opponent. It's just that the avatar is so new to earthbending that he's too caught up in the moment to notice.

[Herosoul]

Bumi is cool

[RS-Belle14]

5415368
Yeah, Bumi was definitely not fighting to kill in that duel. Still, he was very impressive with what he did do.

[RS-Belle14]

5415630
Indeed. Like I said, he is the highlight of this episode. It's too bad we rarely get to see this guy in the future episodes.