so i read the spoilers quite a while ago, but i still decided to watch the finale of avatar today. i had hoped that it would all be executed well. that it wouldn't be as stupid as it sounded. no such luck.

first off, i have to say that zuko's confrontation with iroh was very well executed, a real "d;awww!" moment. but more importantly, azula was easily the highlight of the whole event. i knew she was gonna lose it, but i coulnd never have predicted just how loopy she would get. she went a whole new level of batsh*t insane and it was absolutely glorious.

but plot-wise, those were honesly the only good points. it all went to hell in a handbasket. now before you write this off as teh bitter ramblings of a disgruntled zutarian, let me say that despite being all for zutara, i would have been ok with any ending IF it was well written. but they didn't even write an ending, they just slapped one on, and it was bullsh*t.

the last few minutes honestly felt like they were tacked on by a bad fanfic writer.* they jsut didn't fit the rest of the story. we get a cliffhanger on ursa at teh end of the show? what the hell? you end an episode on a cliffhanger, not an entire series.

second, the maiko ending, it was bad enough that mai suddenly grows a heart in the boiling rock when she didn't even flinch at the idea of leaving her infant brother at the mercy of enemy rebels when she was first introduced, but zuko didn't even bother getting her out of prison. you'd think that if you're in love with someone, one of the first things you'd do when you take the throne is have them released from prison, but her creepy transvestite uncle was the one to let her go! (that's right, i know i'm not the only one who thought the warden looked like a hideously old native american woman.) he had no idea she was even out shen she showed up, and this fact didn't seem to trouble her in the least?

and the kataang ending, how the hell do you jump from katara's 'gtfoff me' moment in the ember island playes to her suddenly realising she's in love with this hairless prepubescent boy? i'm not saying 'zomg she should have picked zuko,' i'm saying they didn't write a kataang ending, the attached one to the end with no story, and no resolution.

and while i'm on the subject, the ending completely ignored everyhing guru pathik said. 'you must let her go if you are to unblock the final chakre and master the avatar state.' that is, unless you poke the magic charka reset button. what the hell? all that intense spiritual meditation and sacrifice was jsut replaced by accupressure. and he pops into crazy elemental gyroscope of doom mode, and even then ignores everyone's advice and throws together the most contrived and poorly written excuse for an ending since the invention of the "it was all a dream" device. for a fight that started off with such impressive action, it had a horribly weak conclusion.

i say all this not from the perspective of a shipper, but as a writing point of view. the ending ships, among other things were quite frankly, poorly written, and it's a disgrace to take what could have been an absolutely gorgeous show and sh*t all over it with such a weak conclusion. as far as zutara goes, i will say that it undeniably would have fit into the story perfectly after zuko took a bullet for katara, but that's just something i would have liked to see. the presense or abscence of zutara wouldn't have detracted from the story as a whole the way the points above did.

that's my review of the avatar finale. you're more than welcom to comment, but if you're jsut gonna whine about me insulting your precious cartoon, take it to your own blog. avatards have a way of getting way too defensive whenever someone doesn't hail the show as the greatest invention since penicilin. it was turning out to be a brilliant show, but with a crap ending, my final review is that as a whole it was mediocre at best.

i will add, however, that suki is the sh*t, and azula is easily one of the top 3 best villains of all time. i don't even have a top 3, but i know she's up there.

*i'm not saying fanfic writers are bad writers, btw. but we all know there are some really bad fanfic writers out there. you know the kind i mean.