10/10

When Iroh and Zuko reunited it was quite touching almost as much as Zuko screaming at the GAang to leave after Iroh gets hit in the Chase or Iroh yelling at Zuko in lake Laogai.

Infinity/10

While I too wanted to know where Zuko's mom is, It was sweet!

9.93/10

My only complaints: no lead-in from other episodes, and some dialogue was difficult to understand

I also would've preferred more waterbending action, but that's biased.

Personally, I thought this series finale was about as epic as it could've gotten. Ozai's plan was truly devastating and terrifying, and the fact that they let it start to happen (instead of having the Gaang just swoop in and save the day) really made the movie for me. The fight scenes were by far the best Avatar has produced.

I also thought that the Azula/Zuko battle was much more epic and amazing than the Aang/Ozai battle (plus, the music for the Zuko/Azula battle epic pwns any other music from Avatar thus far). And for some reason, I LOVED the way Katara subdued Azula. It was just genious. Originally, I had thought that she was ending it by freezing them both in the ice for the rest of time, but I was so glad that wasn't the case. Genious.

One thing I didn't like about the plot: Aang didn't kill Ozai. I was okay with it in the long run because of the prison scene w/ Zuko, but I felt like it really should've happened. Introducing that "take away your bending powers" at the last second seemed like a quick fix to get out of trouble with Nickelodeon. However, I think the writers did a great job of justifying that by putting in the prison scene, so in the end, I was happy with it.

I loved Toph. I wish there could've been more from Toph. I really loved her fighting scenes (especially when she knocks on the door), but I feel like she was a tool more than anything else. Just someone convenient to do things for the Gaang. I think that's why I kinda felt for her when she didn't get to have a secret super-cool adventure with Zuko.

I know this is really just my list of complaints, but I truly thought that the Avatar team ended the show beautifully. Bravo.

I give this finale a 5 out of a possible 10. I enjoy Avatar very much, but I feel that the final was lackluster and somewhat rushed.

1. It sets up for an obvious sequel or spin-off. I do not like this idea, as it will not be of the same quality as Avatar. The big bad is gone, going into the future would take away from the characters we like, but continuing with them would be pointless. Introducing new characters (like Yugioh GX) would possibly ruin the entire series. This leads me to ...

2. To many loose ends left. The most obvious: Where is Zuko's mother? Second: What happened to Azula? Third: Why was it never brought up between Zuko and Aang that they are actually related, with Aang being Zuko's quasi-great-grandfather because of Roku & Sozin.

3. Deus Ex Machina - Giant Lion Turtle. I'm aware that it's *likeness* appeared in several other episodes, but the concept was new. It was pulled out at the last minute as a way to push the plot along and a convenient time-filler. While these are not inherently bad, I feel that to use something like this, one must seed the rest of the series with references to them. This being appeared for no reason, with no backstory, with an unexplained purpose. We are free to *interpret* such, but as anyone can tell from looking at a shipping war, interpretation does not a good show make.

4. Lack luster fight scenes. Yes, they *looked* amazing and they were well done. However, I found them to be unoriginal. Ozai and Aang are the worst offenders. Their fight can be evenly divided into one of them beating the crap out of each other until the hero (Aang) suddenly regains his powers by looking into himself/trauma/etc.. Take your pick. DBZ has all of those. I wanted to see a fight of equal blows traded and a great finale. What I received was a pair of chases throughout a giant canyon.

In that same vein, the Zuko vs. Azula fight was brilliant. I enjoyed the whole thing, until Katara fought. I feel that Zuko's final crowning moment, defeating his sister fairly, was just pulled out from under him. Throughout the entire series, he has lost more battles than anyone besides fire nation soldiers. He surrendered the ultimate fight (his father) to Aang, and chose the penultimate (Azula) and was not allowed to finish that. Instead, Katara saves the day. I can't help but feel that the long-standing Zuko/Aang comparison was suddenly severed. Zuko was thrown out of the limelight to let the entire episode settle and center upon Aang, even though he had been the flipside/darkside of Aang's adventures for the past 2 seasons. He is traded out for a heroine defeating the villainess. I have nothing against girls being super powerful, but that was Zuko's fight, not Katara's. Katara was there as a final tease to shippers and to get her some screen time. There's no easy solution that can be had to give Zuko and Katara their equal due, but I feel that this was the worst decision they could have made.

5. Not enough screen time for other characters. The White Lotus army was more or less a sidenote throughout the entire thing. Even the blimp battle got more time. I'm not against that, but it feels like it was written up as a last minute idea to reintroduce all the old men (sans Guru) in the series as a single unit. I really wanted a brief back-and-forth between Bumi and Toph. I wanted Jeong Jeong to say something to Zuko about his firebending. Instead are only given the events of Zuko spending time with Iroh and Pakku geting a glomp from Sokka. I know Avatar has plethora of characters (only dwarfed by Bleach), but the important secondary ones were not given their due.

I liked the finale a whole lot. I just felt very unsatisfied. I want more, but there should not be a need for more.

10/10

Since they didn't answer the "where is my mother" question it leaves it open for a spinoff or at least hope for something new. I think that's a good thing. Just as long as Suki, Iroh, Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph survived, and just as long as Aang and Katara got together in the end, I was satisfied. Plus I don't think killing off Azula and Ozai would be the best thing to do. We all know Azula is in jail anyway.