This isn't about revenge, but the tone of the series. I have no feelings about getting even, my focus is on continuity in the themes of the show. Think about the effects of the war we've seen in the past 3 seasons.
The genocides, decimations, and wiping out of the air nomads and the southern waterbenders, the seizing of control over villages and suppressing populations into submission, imprisoning all potential threats, the many prisons holding war prisoners, traitors to Ozai, or those who's crime was only that they bent an element other then fire, vigilantes who've had their families and lives taken away by the fire nation and are thus hell bent on spending the rest of their lives dealing vengeful retribution against anyone of the fire nation, the third-reich-esque regime and the air of domination and superiority existing among the military, and the similar attitude among the civillians who cheer on this domination of other nations, and the propaganda machine that shapes public schools into factories of future soldiers and lovers of war, the families separated by the war for years, the outcast status of anyone fire nation who sees the madness of the war, the mass migrations of refugees who've had everything but their hope destroyed, and often that hope destroyed as well, the refugees who find shelter in the former homes of those even less lucky; the exterminated, the seiges, the destruction, the scarred memories that will be around forever, the desperation of the defending militaries who are so used to war, the towns that were once Earth Kingdom years or decades ago, but are now Fire Nation, the assassins and the terrorists, those violent ambitions that have worked for years or decades to achieve what they need only for their missions to have been a waste in a day's time and in that time they're expected to forget it, the cities that have been driven to conspiracy, brainwashing, treason and corruption to hide the scars of the war, the destruction of cities simply by the presence of Fire Nation cities and factories and the Fire Nation soldiers who have been used to these rights of superiority all their lives, the people who've had family members killed by the fire nation and their murderous vendettas against the guilty party . . . a war of this magnitude is no less then a climate to be adapted to, an atmosphere that fills the day to day life, the tone of a story. Over many episodes over the whole of the series, many dark themes have been discussed. I always felt that, in a kid-friendly way, the show revealed almost all the faces of war with refreshingly realistic darkness.
The dark themes present in almost the entire show previously was not present in the defeat of the fire lord OR the aftermath. Instead, Aang refuses to sacrifice his spiritual well-being to defeat the fire lord and instead we get a light-hearted light show of magic and fantasy that seems totally out of the blue like the writers just jotted something down on the script at the last minute because they couldn't think of anything more clever. Ozai's fate did not seem to fit with the more realistic themes of the rest of the series, IMO. And following that it seemed like all the problems were automatically solved. After 100 years of war . . . peace in a single day? After 3 generations of dedication and ambition to an epic cause . . . it's forgotten in a matter of hours? Friendship and carefree, perky feelings came far too quickly, creating what came off to me as a cheesy happily ever after.
In the original post I went into a lot of detail about the lingering effects of the war. Many who had adapted to a life in a war climate would be ill-adapted to peacetime and would attempt to continue the war as they'd been doing all their lives, lest a massive chunk of their lives be wasted and amount to nothing. There'd be loyalists, terrorists, assassins, etc. What of the Zhaos of the Fire Nation Military? What of the Hamas and Jets of the world? The aftermath of a war I see as not one of celebration but one resembling the aftermath of a natural disaster; people trying to find loved ones (and what of war prisoners released from prison with no family or home existing any longer to return to?), healing wounds, etc.
War is a climate, and the finale's last 8 minutes seemed way to drastic a climate change to adapt to.
Your thoughts?
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