Welcome back for another weekly review of Avatar! This week, we meet the Blue Spirit. How does the episode hold up? Here are my thoughts.
1. This Changes Everything.
Wow.
Quick history lesson: Avatar was initially picked up for only 13 episodes. So, over this batch that would become the first two-thirds of the first season, there’s a lot of establishing things and episodic adventures. But when it came to the final episode of that order, the creators wanted to go all-out: the best animation, the best directing, and a story that would all but ensure Nickelodeon would order more episodes.
Well, they did it. They achieved a quality of story, animation, directing, and design that would completely define the direction of the series going forward.
2. I Repeat, This Show Would Be Nothing Without This Sound Design.
I’m really sounding like a broken record with this, but Jesus H. Christ on a Biscuit, The Track Team does absolutely stunning, fantastic, incredible, I’m running out of superlatives, work.
Where should I even start? With the individual themes that play for each scene, like the heavy percussive tracks during Aang’s fights against the archers or the mysterious horn and softly ringing bell that appears every time The Blue Spirit shows up? With the way the themes overlap later in the episode and layer their crescendos to create a sense of constant excitement? With the way the music and action-related sound effects are choreographed with each other, taking turns being at the forefront, building up with each other, and coming to sudden halts with each other?
On this rewatch of the show, I’ve been paying far more attention to the sound design than I ever have, and there is so much to unpack in every single scene. And until The Track Team outdoes themselves again (which does happen pretty soon), this episode’s design was groundbreaking.
3. Suspense!
With the Blue Spirit’s mysterious nature and role in this episode, the creators get to stretch their suspense muscles. Some scenes seem straight out of a horror movie, like one where the guards hear what happens around a corner (there’s that sound design again!) and have to decide what to do from there, getting knocked off one by one offscreen. The Blue Spirit’s musical cue has a bell (triangle, maybe? Can’t quite place what instrument it is) that’s constantly dinging, getting louder and softer, ebbing and flowing, keeping us on the edge of our seats as the character moves around in the shadows.
The entire episode has us in extreme high-stakes situations: Aang needs to escape or else he might never get another chance. With such high stakes, every little movement has an element of suspense.
4. Still Finding Time To Be Funny.
As enthralling as all of “The Blue Spirit”’s action and suspense scenes can be, there’s always some joke or lighthearted moment to keep the mood up. Aang’s primary objective, to get medicine for his friends, keeps coming back up during the serious action scenes. While he’s dodging the archers’ arrows, he’s also diving into the lake and collecting frozen frogs. As he’s running from guards, he’s also running after these half-frozen frogs which are jumping out of his shirt and using their few unfrozen legs to inch away. These little touches add a great sense of fun to what is otherwise a fairly tense episode.
Oh, and don’t forget the cut-aways to a delirious Sokka and Katara. Appa, you card.
5. This Changes Everything, Redux.
So, how about that reveal, huh? I’m not going to get into detail for those who may not have seen the episode, but that moment and its aftermath upend all expectations and set all of our characters on a completely different path than we could have thought. It will take the rest of the series for things to fully play out, but there’s no turning back now.
Once again: This changes everything.
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What did you think of the episode? Did you find it as enthralling as I did? Are you latching onto the sound design the same way I am? Let me know in the comments!
