I don't know. I'd to think about it.

and i'm gonna stick with my opinion that the ending was a truism

honestly, i'd have to think about. I guess to me, all the loose ends were tied too quickly, and that everyone in a tea shop as one big happy family...ehhh. I don't like when everything works out perfectly.

Oh can it already. All we seem to hear from you people is how unsatisfying and cliche the ending was. Yes, its true. Epic legends have endings that are considered "cliche". It happened in Avatar. They did it in Star Wars. The ending of the Lord of the Rings was saturated in it. Harry Potter was not immune either. You would be hard pressed indeed to find a story written in the style that Avatar is written in that doesn't have such an ending. Even the ones that don't end with the heroes happy and celebrating their victory make sure to paint some happy vision for the future.

The fact is that Avatar (along with all the stories mentioned above) adheres strictly to the "Hero's Journey" storyline outlined by Joseph Campbell in his book; "The Hero with a Thousand Faces". A major part of the storyline consists of the requirement of a happy ending for the hero. The simple fact is that the two choices we have here for an ending are closure for Zuko's tale, and closure for Aang's tale. And as much as some of the more die-hard Zuko fans out their might insist to the contrary, when all is said and done, Aang is the main charcter that the story revolves around. If there was any doubt about this left when we reached the finale, Zuko confirmed it with his line "The real hero is the Avatar". So when forced to make a choice between wrapping up Aang's major side-story (his love for Katara) or Zuko's (his mother), the writers chose Aang. Live with it.

Now I want you to answer me this: In what way was the ending bad writing? Excluding the fact that Ursa's whereabouts were not confirmed, what on earth can possibly justify your statement that the teashop scene was "BAD, BAD, WRITING"? Before you say, there was plenty of evidence that Katara had feelings for Aang. You would have to be blind not to miss the evidence in "The Fortuneteller", "The Avatar State", "The Cave of Two Lovers", "The Desert", "The Serpent's Pass", "The Earth King", "The Crossroads of Destiny", "The Awakening", "The Headband", and DOBS part 1 (subtle but definite). Pretty much the only thing people have got left to throw at it is the scene in EIP. As to that, I would like to point out that Katara never denied having feelings for Aang, quite the opposite, she simply said that it wasn't the right time. Apparently she decided that once the war was over and there troubles with it, the time was right. Actually, if the writers had chosen to leave out the Kataang scene in favor of an Ursa/Zuko reunion scene, that would have been a true example of bad writing, dumping a romance side-plot that has been developed since the series first began.

Don't get me wrong; I would love to have found out where Ursa is. But I fail to see where you are coming from when you say that her reunion with Zuko would have been any more meaningful than the kataang kiss. In many ways I think that the cliffhanger was actually beneficial to the series, providing people with an unanswered question, something that could continue to intrigue them, fan the spark of their love for Avatar to keep the flame alive. Personally, I believe that the unanswered question of where Ursa is is tied to the unanswered question of whether or not Azula will be able to heal from her madness. I know that you've seen my thread about that, so I won't start going on about it, but I would like to point out that between "The Beach" and the finale, the writers have paid just as much, if not more attention to Azula's relationship with her mother as Zuko's. With Azula headed at least temporarily for a secure mental facility, the writers, possibly thinking she should have an influence on that storyline, may have decided to delay it.

I'll end here to prevent people from complaining that I've done another post that's too long. But I will say this. I have seen nothing in any of the complaints put forth by the complainers that suggest anything other than the fact that they did not like the ending. Well tough. From what I have seen so far, far more people liked the ending than did people who disliked it. You are entitled to your opinion and your right to give it to us, but do please stop harping on about how you didn't like it because you though it was too "sugary sweet".

Why can't everything work out perfectly? All three survivng nations have been returned to their rightful owners, everyone is commited to living in peace with eachother, after their herculean efforts, don't you think the gaang have earned the right to just sit around and relax a little?

QFT