Anime
Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 (Episodes 1-18) Complete
I think the fact that I've yet again watch an entire season of Avatar this week and as you'll read later in the blog (even started to work my way through the final season) that this show is so bloody addictive and such an easy watch and still manages to carry some gravitas in terms of story and characters. I think that instead of talking about or reviewing the second season I'll rather just make a comparison to the first season; as lets be honest if you were a fan of season 1 then you're on board and if you didn't enjoy that first season what could I possibly say to sway you to revisit the second season? Overall the second season of Avatar has pretty much been at the same level as season 1 in terms of quality and enjoyment - and while the Earth Nation hasn't been able to deliver the same intrigue levels as compared to what the first season and the Water Nation had to offer; where this season has improved is in the development of the background and character building of the shows 'bad guys' for lack of a better term - with Prince Zuko and his uncle former a much larger portion of screen time here and a deeper look into their characters and the paths that have brought them to their current situation; there are times that we can really connect with their motivations and seemingly at times don't come across as the evil of the show but rather the victims that have lead them astray; now that's not to say that the pair don't become the focal point at times for Aang and his band in the second season, but it's not a case of us wanting to see Zuko fail because he is the villain, because you do feel for him with his failures and with a number of scenes between him and his uncle providing some of the better emotional pulls that the show has to offer up in this season. Looking back this season has it's positives and negatives when compared to the first season but they all pretty much balance out against each other for me to say that the second is just as strong as the first season and if you were a fan of that first season you really owe it to yourself to get straight into this season of Avatar: The Last Airbender as it is truly a wonderful piece and animated storytelling that is up there with the best shows available on Netflix. Highly recommended as essential viewing.
9/10
Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 3 (Episodes 1-9)
Straight off the bat of the Season 2 finale, I couldn't help but jump straight into season 3 of Avatar: The Last Airbender and this week I've pretty much managed to plough my way through the first half of the third and final season of the show; now it's still early days to start drawing comparisons to the first 2 seasons and knowing that this is obviously the final chapter in the overall story of the series, it's not surprising to be mentioning that the show has become more noticeably drawn out with build up towards what I'm imaging will be an epic finale of the battle against the Fire Nation with Aang and his merry group of followers/believers. Part of this noticeable change of pacing and development has come from the fact that the show has become more level in it's screen time to play out a stronger role of Prince Zuko when combatting against Aang's story and ultimate goal - to be fair this was always going to happen, you could see that even very earlier on in the series back in the early days of season one that Prince Zuko was going to be the key player in the battle that Avatar Aang faces and with the show still not begin shy of the odd 'filler' episode, overall this season to this point has felt a lot slower in it's story development and in terms of distance and ground travelled as the season has gone on; not to say that the show has lost any of it's charm or enjoyment factor, but it's certainly been a different kettle of fish in structure of the story and lack of new characters, where instead we have lots of returning characters returning to the fold with some feeling like that haven't been that long away. At this point in time I'd probably say that the show hasn't been as good as those first two seasons, but in saying that - if the second half of this season and more importantly the series finale can deliver something that makes great use and explains the slower build up in this first half of the show, then there is potential for which I could turn around and say that the show goes out with a bang and it could end up being the highlight season of the series as a whole - but at this moment in time the jury is out and I'm still on the bench in terms of my feelings towards the finale season; though its a 'good quality' bench with a wonderful view to be sat on.
TV
Sense 8 (Episodes 4-11)
Last week I mentioned about my concerns over the quality of storytelling with this show or better put the lack of storytelling that Sense 8 had to offer in those first 3 episodes and to be quite honest, despite the fact that the show did seem to spend a little more time and effort to reveal some of it's background and over arching story since episode 7, it really hasn't been good enough for me to say that I'm invested into not only the story of the show, but also the characters. Far far too much of the time of the show is just centred around a couple with the Sensate group and their stronger bonds that grow as the show progresses forward as this big events become a force that pushes together the group to share their experiences and exploit each others talents to help save themselves from the predicament of the week that Sense 8 seems to have become at this point. And unfortunately the quality of characters across the board is certainly not as strong as each other, some of them are interesting and enjoyable to watch, but on the other hand some of the characters I find to be truly dull, it's not even a case of hating them per-se; but rather they are so boring that I couldn't give a rat's arse what their situation is, I just want the show to skip it and get back to the more interesting characters within the group. Sense 8 has become a show that I had really easy just to sit back and relax and watch, that at times will be really engaging and at other times I will find myself zoning out, waiting for something exciting or gripping to happen to pull me back in. With only the finale of the show now left to watch, I think I can say with a degree of confidence that I will not look back at this show with any affection or admiration; instead I fear that this will be a show that I look back upon that had so much potential, yet ended up feeling like a complete mess that lacked any true sense of narrative and backbone and essential being an overpriced wafer thin project that has been mismanaged - much like the careers of The Wachowski's post The Matrix, one could argue they seem to be this generations George Lucas.
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