Book 3
Chapter 1: The Awakening
This was a great episode. It was definately a great way to start off the new season after nine months of waiting. Particularly, I really liked the showing of Ozai's face, the in-depth explaination of the month we skipped over, and the extreme character developement for Zuko, Aang, and Katara. This is one of my favorites. 8/10
Chapter 2: The Headband
Now, we come to Fire Nation culture. I must say, that there wasn't enough character developement for the Gaang in this episode, as most of it was on Zuko's part, as his paranoia began setting in. One thing I really loved about this one was the in-depth look into Fire Nation culture, and how they have convinced their citizens that the war is justified. It's alright. 6.5/10
Chapter 3: The Painted Lady
Only two episodes of Avatar have been filler. This is one of them. I must say, that the animation in this episode just seemed a little off, and the environments just weren't pleasing to the eye. The fights were too short lived, and the jokes were pretty corny. One thing I can say, is that this episode does have Katara developement, but not much, just elaborating further on her "caring attitude." It's not one of the best, but it is Avatar, so it's not THAT bad. 5/10
Chapter 4: Sokka's Master
Before now, Sokka had pretty much just been the comic relief and scienfitic genious of the group, with not very much developement. This is one of the only "Sokka episodes," which is refreshing. This episode had great intelligence and fighting seqences. Plus, the comedy was pretty good, too. One thing that I REALLY enjoyed was the Iroh story. Finally, we get to see what Iroh is doing. And when you saw those muscles, you know you were shocked out of your mind. Great episode! 9/10
Chapter 5: The Beach
Wow, this has to be the ONLY episode in the series where the Gaang are NOT part of the A story. Instead, this focuses on the ZuCrew. I really liked the developement of ALL FOUR of these characters at the end of the episode, and partially throughout the middle. Also, we see in this episode that Zuko and Mai's relationship can endure hardships, but through the fire and the flames they carry on. Nice funny moments, and I loved Combustion Man. 7.8/10
TO BE CONTINUED...