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*** Actually, I found that to be the biggest saving grace of the episode. I really hated Aang (I've grown to cordially dislike reluctant heroes. I'm just tired of the trope) early on. And I utterly hated the episode when it seemed like he was telling the truth. But once Aang revealed that he lied, I started respecting him a bit more. Aang resolved their stupid conflict by lying, simply because it ''doesn't matter'' what really happened in the past.
*** Like I said, I've seen more pointless fillers in the series.
*** It's so widely disliked because some fans are too obsessed with Moving The Plot Forward. Like the much maligned "Jack's tattoos" episode of [[Lost]], this episode doesn't add much to the overarching war story, but when viewed in the correct light, it serves to flesh out the main character and his role in the story. It features him doing that whole "bringing balance to the people of the world" thing that he's supposed to exist for. As for the other criticisms: people really do start feuds over stupid crap that spirals out of control after generations, the show ''has'' actually indulged in satire on other occasions, and there's absolutely no rule that every episode of a TV show must be identical in tone to the others. Two off the top of my head are the light and funny [[X Files]] episode "Bad Blood" immediately being followed by a [[Myth Arc]]-heavy two parter, and [[
** "The Great Divide" is NOT disliked because it's filler ("The Runaway" is one of the best episodes of the series, and it's completely filler). The fact that it's filler simply makes it easy to ignore. The episode would be perfectly normal quality on most other Western cartoons, but it's not up to the standards of storytelling and complexity set on ''Avatar''. The Flaws of "The Great Divide" are:
### It's [[Anvilicious]], the entire point from beginning to end being to hammer home the message that prejudice and holding grudges are wrong. It's not delivered the least bit subtly or enjoyably.
### The conflict this anvilicious plot requires is solved by ''lying''. Hypocrisy.
### The conflict is stupid and executed inappropriately for the context. Two tribes hate each other over differences of opinion over cleanliness (and an ancient dispute between two people that should no longer concern their descendants). Yes, in some contexts like [[Dr. Seuss]]' ''The Butter Battle Book'' or the first book of ''[[
### The conflict is juvenile compared to the other fare usually seen on ''Avatar''.
### The things the show is normally careful to pay attention to are disregarded. Notice that Appa is treated as an [[Automaton Horse]] in this episode, suddenly effortlessly able to carry two tribes' worth of sick and elderly people across a canyon it takes two days to cross when carrying 7 kids is too much for him in "The Western Air temple."
### Aang's job of keeping peace and solving conflicts is treated way too lightly, like a comedy, when the show otherwise tries to show that his job must be taken seriously.
** So, what episode do you feel is worse, for instance?
*** ''The Beach''. Why does no one else find this episode, a piece of [[Beach Episode
**** I'm with you on ''The Beach''. You know how sometimes when someone is doing something embarrassing on a TV show you feel embarrassed too? Yeah, that pretty much sums up the entire episode for me. I know they're supposed to be awkward, poorly socialized teenagers and all, but the sheer level of awkwardness is just overwhelming. I would agree it feels more like a fan fiction than a real episode of the show. Not only that, but the supposed "character development" at the end felt tacked on just to give the episode some sort of point, because it was either something we already knew (You mean Zuko is angry and conflicted? Who would have guessed?), or entirely unimportant (Was anyone really dying to know why Ty Lee is so kooky?). The only sort of interesting one was Azula admitting she ''was'' in fact troubled by what her mother had thought of her.
*** You know that these people that you are talking about are teenagers, right? And teenagers don't always have problems that most people deem "serious," right? And on some bease level, they are concerned with who they will end up with and what their friends think about them, right?
**** The Beach is more than just a fanservice-y episode. It sets up Zuko beginning to doubt his decision to side with Azula, which ultimately leads to him joining the Gaang, and shows that Ursa's low opinion of Azula actually bothered her, which becomes crucial during the finale. It's an important episode in terms of setting up the plot.
** While I personally feel the episode wasn't particularly amazing, some of your points aren't exactly accurate. I'll focus solely on three since it's the most inaccurate: the two tribes didn't dislike each other over cleanliness. That was merely one of the things they chose to hate about each other due to the much deeper-rooted issue of their mutual history. Secondly, saying the feud is the result of an "ancient dispute" that shouldn't concern their descendants completely dismisses human nature. Many real-world peoples and cultures violently ''hate'' each other for things that happened ''thousands'' of years ago. If anything, the feud would have gotten ''worse'' over time if not for Aang.
** Well, speaking personally, the reason I hated the episode had nothing to do with the fact that Aang lied - he was dealing with a dangerous feud and the truth of the matter had been lost to time, [[Family
*** When I saw that, I also thought it was weird, but if you think of this as a contrst to other problems in the story that can't be so easily solved- the annihilation of the Airbenders, Firebender imperialism, Katara's unwilling ability in bloodbending- it was a big change to see a big problem with an easy fix. I felt at the time that they were trying to make a point.
*** In truth, by the end of the episode both sides did seem reasonably willing to let bygones be bygones already after what they'd been through recently. I never thought Aang's story ever simply fully convinced them; rather, it gave them the ''excuse'' they needed just then to be able to set aside their differences without losing face to the respective other side.
*** Well, Aang is the Avatar and he was alive at the time of the original dispute, so it's not ''so'' unlikely that they would swallow his story without questioning it.
* Calling Avatar an anime. Technically it is one since it's animation (anime = the JPN word for animation) but they use the western meaning. It's a ''western'' cartoon. No one calls ''[[Western Animaation/Teen Titans|Teen Titans]]'' an anime.
** Yeah, no excuse for that. People who say that are probably 1) pretentious gits who use "anime" to mean "all animation" because they say that in Japan and Japan is obviously better, or 2) idiots who haven't seen any actual anime and therefore can't tell the difference, but are trying to sound smart online.
*** And some (if not most) legitimately think it's the English translation of a Japanese series.
*** I imagine that the obvious eastern influences present in the Avatar world add to the confusion. ''[[Teen Titans (
*** It does not "make perfect sense" to call Avatar anime, because it isn't anime. "Anime" does not automatically mean "high quality." Nor does "western cartoon" automatically mean "low quality". That's like saying that it makes perfect sense to call ''[[The Lion King]]'' a live action film because it's so good. Anime just refers to the production being Japanese animation, full stop.<br />That said, I can see ''why'' people would think it's anime. As mentioned, it has a ton of eastern, both Chinese and Japanese, influences, plus all the writing shown in the series is in Chinese characters, which makes it look like it's being translated from those languages.]
** You guys do realize that it is an anime right? Ignoring all the connotations of the word, Avatar is, by definition, an anime. People who claim otherwise are just idiots pretending to know Japanese.
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[[Category:Avatar The Last Airbender Fandom]]▼
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