Gone Viral

[bloodyrosemccoy]

Last night I managed to get my buddy Heather—you may remember my buddy Heather, the nicest person in the world—completely addicted to Avatar: The Last Airbender. After I assured her that there was no questionable content in it and in fact it’s a kids’ show, we spent a good three hours watching through it.

We’re still on season one, so I have yet to convince her that Uncle General Iroh is a god damn badass GQ motherfucker,* and she’s still dubious of my claim that Zuko’s character arc through the series is, in my conservative opinion, one of the greatest ever written.** Right now they’re just a goofy old fat guy and a bratty wounded teenage antagonist.

BUT SOON SHE WILL SEE THE LIGHT. She’ll be going back to school in Southern Utah in a couple of days, but she has asked if she can come over when I’m done with work tomorrow to finish the first season.

She is a little worried that she’s making me watch something I’ve seen before. “You have no idea how happy I am to have an excuse to,” I told her.

So I’m hoping Saturday will be Avatar Party 2: The Writers Realize How Cool This Show Can Be, And So Does Heather. And if she doesn’t make it, don’t tell anyone, but I may have to just watch it again. For … completeness. Yes. That’s right.


*Partly because one does not use such tawdry language around Heather. Hell, even “Iroh is a gosh darn cool GQ mothereffer” may be too saucy for her, but cleaning it up completely sort of loses something.

**No, really. Redemption, finding one’s own path, coming of age—they’re old tropes, but never have I seen it executed better.

Comments

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Not to mention his advice to the nice prison guard that maybe she should take the rest of the day off. That turned out to be very good advice.

It's interesting that a character whose major moments of growth and wisdom are behind him could still be so enthralling, too. But then, you kind of get his story in reverse when you get the flashbacks, which is still pretty cool.