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[Avatar: the Last Airbender]: you DO always come back!
"What the hell do you mean Aang and all of the characters are one race, which also happens to be white? You racist bastards."
Race was not supposed to play a major part in the series. Everyone is basically the same 'race', with exceptions made for elemental manipulators. Notice how Aang, Sokka, Katara and Toph were able to pass for Fire Nation citizens at various points without someone going.... 'Hey, you're obviously not Fire Nation which I can tell because of your skin-tone.' How Zuko and Iroh were able to pass for Earth Nation until they used Firebending at different points? How the only obvious giveaway was a giant arrow tattoo? Or how Katara, a Waterbender, was able to successfully pretend to be an Earthbender to get tossed into a prison?
"Anyone notice how the Fire Nation, of a series comprised of mostly Eastern... cultural 'liftings', totally and unequivocally represents America? I think this is a totally fair and honest interpretation."
Because no other nation has ever used torture, constructed impregnable prisons or operated under a cultural mandate that they were doing everyone a favor by 'spreading their great and wonderful culture'. Yep, all of these are uniquely American inventions of the past sixty years. No other nation has done anything like this whatsoever and they would never dream of it.
"Anyone notice how the Fire Nation, of a series comprised of mostly Eastern... cultural 'liftings', totally and unequivocally represents America? I think this is a totally fair and honest interpretation."
Because no other nation has ever used torture, constructed impregnable prisons or operated under a cultural mandate that they were doing everyone a favor by 'spreading their great and wonderful culture'. Yep, all of these are uniquely American inventions of the past sixty years. No other nation has done anything like this whatsoever and they would never dream of it.
I did think Zuko's speech was intended as an explicit parallel to, and criticism of, then-current American foreign policy.
"What the hell do you mean Aang and all of the characters are one race, which also happens to be white? You racist bastards."
Race was not supposed to play a major part in the series. Everyone is basically the same 'race', with exceptions made for elemental manipulators. Notice how Aang, Sokka, Katara and Toph were able to pass for Fire Nation citizens at various points without someone going.... 'Hey, you're obviously not Fire Nation which I can tell because of your skin-tone.' How Zuko and Iroh were able to pass for Earth Nation until they used Firebending at different points? How the only obvious giveaway was a giant arrow tattoo? Or how Katara, a Waterbender, was able to successfully pretend to be an Earthbender to get tossed into a prison?
Or just that there is enough inter-breeding that an earthbender who looked ethnically water tribe would be unusual but not impossible, etc all.
Which still doesn't explain why all the good guys become whiter for the movie and all the bad guys darker. Occam's Razor, that's more likely to be the result of some kind of racial preference (be it simply subconcious on the part of the people doing the casting or a cynical decision that the protagonists need to be white for a predominately white audience to identify with them or whatever).
HamHamJ on
While racing light mechs, your Urbanmech comes in second place, but only because it ran out of ammo.
"What the hell do you mean Aang and all of the characters are one race, which also happens to be white? You racist bastards."
Race was not supposed to play a major part in the series. Everyone is basically the same 'race', with exceptions made for elemental manipulators. Notice how Aang, Sokka, Katara and Toph were able to pass for Fire Nation citizens at various points without someone going.... 'Hey, you're obviously not Fire Nation which I can tell because of your skin-tone.' How Zuko and Iroh were able to pass for Earth Nation until they used Firebending at different points? How the only obvious giveaway was a giant arrow tattoo? Or how Katara, a Waterbender, was able to successfully pretend to be an Earthbender to get tossed into a prison?
Or just that there is enough inter-breeding that an earthbender who looked ethnically water tribe would be unusual but not impossible, etc all.
Which still doesn't explain why all the good guys become whiter for the movie and all the bad guys darker. Occam's Razor, that's more likely to be the result of some kind of racial preference (be it simply subconcious on the part of the people doing the casting or a cynical decision that the protagonists need to be white for a predominately white audience to identify with them or whatever).
I'd guess typecasting, so that all the good guy actors are white.
For how they traveled, remember that these were subgroups of the same race traveling in the largest empires. In earth especially you can see quite a bit of diversity as they travel, and an island chain like fire would allow for a fair amount of diversity (not even counting the, ahem, new citizens) while separating them enough that many wouldn't have more than a rough idea what distant islands look like, which would be especially helpful if you're in a place that gets people from everywhere on a seasonal basis. Similarly, people from all over the place could have passed as a Russian, and a Canarian could probably go without remark in Ireland.
More to the point, the way it used race was incredibly beneficial to the worldbuilding, as it showed the scope of the world through demographic diversity, as well as an attention to detail by having people correspond to those who live in similar climates in our world (although how much of that is historical rather than adaptive is a debate for another time).
Really, all the controversy and blah of the movie aside, what's exciting me most about the TLA is the fact that a tie-in manga is going to be drawn by one space coyote. You may know her as the person who drew that Simpsonzu/Simpsons Anime picture.
My only beef with the finale is that it ended too neatly. I don't want to be of the mindset that people have to die, but it does break suspension of disbelief when the climatic final battle in the war has no casualties.
I disliked energybending because, again, it made everything too perfect. Again, not trying to be bloodthirsty, but going into something like war everything shouldn't be going the way you want.
Ah well, still awesome nonetheless.
And what's up with Aang being cockblocked by the avatar state? I think I'd cry foul after learning Rokku had a fucking wife while some hippie is telling me to become asexual.
My only beef with the finale is that it ended too neatly. I don't want to be of the mindset that people have to die, but it does break suspension of disbelief when the climatic final battle in the war has no casualties.
I disliked energybending because, again, it made everything too perfect. Again, not trying to be bloodthirsty, but going into something like war everything shouldn't be going the way you want.
Ah well, still awesome nonetheless.
And what's up with Aang being cockblocked by the avatar state? I think I'd cry foul after learning Rokku had a fucking wife while some hippie is telling me to become asexual.
He wasn't so much telling Aang to be asexual, so much as telling him he needed to be prepared to give her up if necessary.
My only beef with the finale is that it ended too neatly. I don't want to be of the mindset that people have to die, but it does break suspension of disbelief when the climatic final battle in the war has no casualties.
I disliked energybending because, again, it made everything too perfect. Again, not trying to be bloodthirsty, but going into something like war everything shouldn't be going the way you want.
Ah well, still awesome nonetheless.
And what's up with Aang being cockblocked by the avatar state? I think I'd cry foul after learning Rokku had a fucking wife while some hippie is telling me to become asexual.
He wasn't so much telling Aang to be asexual, so much as telling him he needed to be prepared to give her up if necessary.
Alternately, giving up earthly attachments is a "fast mode" to Avatar State control. Roku and the other Avatars didn't need to worry about learning the easy way because they had years and years to perfect their skills, but since Aang only had (at that point) a few months to face the Firelord, the Guru decided to go for broke.
ShadowenSnores in the morningLoserdomRegistered Userregular
edited September 2009
The Avatar needs lovin' like everyone else. And that is the point.
In that digital comic (which is available on one of the box sets), it is pointed out that the Avatar must be human, rather than a perfect, all-powerful spirit, or what would it care for humanity?
My only beef with the finale is that it ended too neatly. I don't want to be of the mindset that people have to die, but it does break suspension of disbelief when the climatic final battle in the war has no casualties.
I disliked energybending because, again, it made everything too perfect. Again, not trying to be bloodthirsty, but going into something like war everything shouldn't be going the way you want.
Ah well, still awesome nonetheless.
And what's up with Aang being cockblocked by the avatar state? I think I'd cry foul after learning Rokku had a fucking wife while some hippie is telling me to become asexual.
He wasn't so much telling Aang to be asexual, so much as telling him he needed to be prepared to give her up if necessary.
I think it was more of a notion that "You have to realize being the Avatar comes before anything else."
Not that he'd have to give her up FOREVER, just that if push comes to shove, he has to let her go.
My only beef with the finale is that it ended too neatly. I don't want to be of the mindset that people have to die, but it does break suspension of disbelief when the climatic final battle in the war has no casualties.
I disliked energybending because, again, it made everything too perfect. Again, not trying to be bloodthirsty, but going into something like war everything shouldn't be going the way you want.
Ah well, still awesome nonetheless.
And what's up with Aang being cockblocked by the avatar state? I think I'd cry foul after learning Rokku had a fucking wife while some hippie is telling me to become asexual.
He wasn't so much telling Aang to be asexual, so much as telling him he needed to be prepared to give her up if necessary.
I think it was more of a notion that "You have to realize being the Avatar comes before anything else."
Not that he'd have to give her up FOREVER, just that if push comes to shove, he has to let her go.
Exactly. It was just "if you need to choose between saving Katara and being the Avatar, you need to choose being the Avatar.
Which he did.
And then he entered the Avatar State.
And then Azula killed him during his transformation sequence because she's hardcore that way
The real-life cultural bases from which the show's concept of avatar draw from are all celibate.
Also, we get told specifically that the avatar's job is to be "above" the physical world, an objective arbiter of humanity. Having a physical relationship seems anathema to that.
They tried to do the whole "celibate/perfect Spirit being" thing AGES ago, but realized letting him just be human was probably a lot less dangerous than suppressing it until they snap.
The real-life cultural bases from which the show's concept of avatar draw from are all celibate.
Also, we get told specifically that the avatar's job is to be "above" the physical world, an objective arbiter of humanity. Having a physical relationship seems anathema to that.
Yeah. His job. Not his life. The avatar gets to run around and have a life too.
The real-life cultural bases from which the show's concept of avatar draw from are all celibate.
Also, we get told specifically that the avatar's job is to be "above" the physical world, an objective arbiter of humanity. Having a physical relationship seems anathema to that.
Yeah. His job. Not his life. The avatar gets to run around and have a life too.
And which culture? The air nomad monks?
Well, the Dalai Lama.
Actually, I rescind my comment: Rama and Krishna were avatars and they got all manner of pussy.
My only beef with the finale is that it ended too neatly. I don't want to be of the mindset that people have to die, but it does break suspension of disbelief when the climatic final battle in the war has no casualties.
I disliked energybending because, again, it made everything too perfect. Again, not trying to be bloodthirsty, but going into something like war everything shouldn't be going the way you want.
Ah well, still awesome nonetheless.
I don't see the problem with this. That's the result I would expect from four PCs going up against a bunch of mooks and one BBEG.
I find it far more strange all the people left behind during the day of black sun were just thrown into jail instead of being executed on the spot.
HamHamJ on
While racing light mechs, your Urbanmech comes in second place, but only because it ran out of ammo.
My only beef with the finale is that it ended too neatly. I don't want to be of the mindset that people have to die, but it does break suspension of disbelief when the climatic final battle in the war has no casualties.
I disliked energybending because, again, it made everything too perfect. Again, not trying to be bloodthirsty, but going into something like war everything shouldn't be going the way you want.
Ah well, still awesome nonetheless.
I don't see the problem with this. That's the result I would expect from four PCs going up against a bunch of mooks and one BBEG.
I find it far more strange all the people left behind during the day of black sun were just thrown into jail instead of being executed on the spot.
It happened because it was a kids show. because otherwise they probably just would have without a second thought
Well, some of them might have been useful prisoners. The Mechanist would be valuable to keep making cool stuff for them to use. Some might have been valuable ransoms maybe?
But yeah considering how pathetic the Southern Water Tribe is, there was zero reason to keep Hakoda alive, either as bargaining chip or potential informant.
It happened because it was a kids show. because otherwise they probably just would have without a second thought
They didn't kill them because the Fire Nation is the only nation that respects the sanctity of human life.
They're the most progressive technologically, and they're the only nation with women in prominent roles in government. And they don't drop babies off cliffs. Why is it so hard to believe that Ozai earnestly wanted to spread his superior civilization to the rest of the backwards feudal-tribal world?
Well, some of them might have been useful prisoners. The Mechanist would be valuable to keep making cool stuff for them to use. Some might have been valuable ransoms maybe?
But yeah considering how pathetic the Southern Water Tribe is, there was zero reason to keep Hakoda alive, either as bargaining chip or potential informant.
He's clearly valuable as an informant because he has connections to the earth kingdom and he lead a successful assault into the fire nation capitol. You'd want to take him out eventually, but there's no hurry. I mean unless you got people running around causing shenanigans and breaking everyone out of prison every few months.
Anyway I think the ending would have been better if
Ozai had showed some humanity and not been such a cardboard cutout. If after watching his fleet of airships crash and being totally curb stomped by the avatar he had come to the realization that he was leading the fire nation to its doom he had an epiphany. For a kids show appropriate ending anyway.
Personally I would have preferred if Aang had reduced him to putty by pulling the comet out of fucking space and smashing it into ozai
Well, some of them might have been useful prisoners. The Mechanist would be valuable to keep making cool stuff for them to use. Some might have been valuable ransoms maybe?
But yeah considering how pathetic the Southern Water Tribe is, there was zero reason to keep Hakoda alive, either as bargaining chip or potential informant.
He's clearly valuable as an informant because he has connections to the earth kingdom and he lead a successful assault into the fire nation capitol. You'd want to take him out eventually, but there's no hurry. I mean unless you got people running around causing shenanigans and breaking everyone out of prison every few months.
Anyway I think the ending would have been better if
Ozai had showed some humanity and not been such a cardboard cutout. If after watching his fleet of airships crash and being totally curb stomped by the avatar he had come to the realization that he was leading the fire nation to its doom he had an epiphany. For a kids show appropriate ending anyway.
Personally I would have preferred if Aang had reduced him to putty by pulling the comet out of fucking space and smashing it into ozai
Space Bending!
but yeah.. I was okay with the ending because it showed that the avatar was far more about the continuation of life than a harbinger of death.
but honestly? it would've been more satisfiying for him to smash ozai with rocks. lots of rocks.
Well, some of them might have been useful prisoners. The Mechanist would be valuable to keep making cool stuff for them to use. Some might have been valuable ransoms maybe?
But yeah considering how pathetic the Southern Water Tribe is, there was zero reason to keep Hakoda alive, either as bargaining chip or potential informant.
He's clearly valuable as an informant because he has connections to the earth kingdom and he lead a successful assault into the fire nation capitol. You'd want to take him out eventually, but there's no hurry. I mean unless you got people running around causing shenanigans and breaking everyone out of prison every few months.
Anyway I think the ending would have been better if
Ozai had showed some humanity and not been such a cardboard cutout. If after watching his fleet of airships crash and being totally curb stomped by the avatar he had come to the realization that he was leading the fire nation to its doom he had an epiphany. For a kids show appropriate ending anyway.
Personally I would have preferred if Aang had reduced him to putty by pulling the comet out of fucking space and smashing it into ozai
Space Bending!
but yeah.. I was okay with the ending because it showed that the avatar was far more about the continuation of life than a harbinger of death.
but honestly? it would've been more satisfiying for him to smash ozai with rocks. lots of rocks.
Well
Both solutions kind of fall flat. Aang isn't a very good Earthbender (Toph points this out).
I think seeing him use Air would be nice, but kind of defeats the purpose of mastering every element if he uses the one he's ALREADY mastered ages ago.
Well, some of them might have been useful prisoners. The Mechanist would be valuable to keep making cool stuff for them to use. Some might have been valuable ransoms maybe?
But yeah considering how pathetic the Southern Water Tribe is, there was zero reason to keep Hakoda alive, either as bargaining chip or potential informant.
He's clearly valuable as an informant because he has connections to the earth kingdom and he lead a successful assault into the fire nation capitol. You'd want to take him out eventually, but there's no hurry. I mean unless you got people running around causing shenanigans and breaking everyone out of prison every few months.
Anyway I think the ending would have been better if
Ozai had showed some humanity and not been such a cardboard cutout. If after watching his fleet of airships crash and being totally curb stomped by the avatar he had come to the realization that he was leading the fire nation to its doom he had an epiphany. For a kids show appropriate ending anyway.
Personally I would have preferred if Aang had reduced him to putty by pulling the comet out of fucking space and smashing it into ozai
Space Bending!
but yeah.. I was okay with the ending because it showed that the avatar was far more about the continuation of life than a harbinger of death.
but honestly? it would've been more satisfiying for him to smash ozai with rocks. lots of rocks.
Well
Both solutions kind of fall flat. Aang isn't a very good Earthbender (Toph points this out).
I think seeing him use Air would be nice, but kind of defeats the purpose of mastering every element if he uses the one he's ALREADY mastered ages ago.
Do the ultimate air bending - remove all air from around him, so he has nothing to breathe.
There's really tons of ways to abuse these things if you think about it
at the very least couldn't he have used the removal of air from any specific air to totally foil ozai's firebending and smack him around with his less masterful earth/water/fire bending talents?
or you know, they made such a big deal about learning to redirect lightening, maybe using Ozai's own ultimate power against him?
btw. I fucking love that Ozai is such a master of fire bending that he can create jets from his feet and fucking fly. all fire benders should learn that.
I have a strong inclination that firebending is a lot like magic in the "sword of truth series".. which is too say that most people follow the massively indoctrinated methods because it minimizes risk, but the few benders who take the time to explore the art that is their craft can really push the limits of the imaginations with their talents.
So I liked the show back when it was on the air. Not so sure about the movie. I'll wait for the reviews, and see how Shayamalan'd it gets.
I think the show would have been better if it didn't focus nearly as much on Aang or Katara, the two blandest characters ever, neither of whom make much progression beyond a mystical plot advancing device and cardboard cutout romantic interest.
That said, it's a great show, and anybody comparing Avatar in even the slightest way to the shitfest that is the Sword of Truth series beyond the fact that they both are somewhere within the fantasy genre needs to get their brain checked out.
at the very least couldn't he have used the removal of air from any specific air to totally foil ozai's firebending and smack him around with his less masterful earth/water/fire bending talents?
or you know, they made such a big deal about learning to redirect lightening, maybe using Ozai's own ultimate power against him?
btw. I fucking love that Ozai is such a master of fire bending that he can create jets from his feet and fucking fly. all fire benders should learn that.
I have a strong inclination that firebending is a lot like magic in the "sword of truth series".. which is too say that most people follow the massively indoctrinated methods because it minimizes risk, but the few benders who take the time to explore the art that is their craft can really push the limits of the imaginations with their talents.
I think that's just during the comet, as other firebenders were doing absolutely ridiculous shit too. My main disappointment is that he
just learns firebending and BAM series over, it felt like it should have been a season longer
So I liked the show back when it was on the air. Not so sure about the movie. I'll wait for the reviews, and see how Shayamalanded it gets.
I think the show would have been better if it didn't focus nearly as much on Aang or Katara, the two blandest characters ever, neither of whom make much progression beyond a mystical plot advancing device and cardboard cutout romantic interest.
I agree, many of the other characters have more development.
Aang never really develops much as a person, he's still kind of an evasive wimp at the end, with the whole world riding on it even. Sokka and Zuko I think develop the most. I especially liked the latter's storyline. I mean in episode one I was already groaning at his "I MUST FIND THE AVATAR" spiel, but so were the people in his life. From the very first episode he wasn't a bad guy, he was doing morally reprehensible things to win approval and the love of his father that he knew were wrong.
I even liked his sister, who is practically a cardboard cutout villain for most of the series, she manages some changes. There's the whole overt going crazy paranoid thing from her friend's perceived betrayal, but it's more than that, the character realizes that all anyone had for hear was fear. Her friends didn't betray her trust, they never trusted her in the first place. They really weren't ever her friends at all, the only person who ever cared about her was a woman who she had nothing but scorn for.
I mean it's not super duper deep or anything, but it's far better than most shows on television in terms of character development and plot pacing
Posts
"What the hell do you mean Aang and all of the characters are one race, which also happens to be white? You racist bastards."
"Anyone notice how the Fire Nation, of a series comprised of mostly Eastern... cultural 'liftings', totally and unequivocally represents America? I think this is a totally fair and honest interpretation."
Or just that there is enough inter-breeding that an earthbender who looked ethnically water tribe would be unusual but not impossible, etc all.
Which still doesn't explain why all the good guys become whiter for the movie and all the bad guys darker. Occam's Razor, that's more likely to be the result of some kind of racial preference (be it simply subconcious on the part of the people doing the casting or a cynical decision that the protagonists need to be white for a predominately white audience to identify with them or whatever).
I'd guess typecasting, so that all the good guy actors are white.
For how they traveled, remember that these were subgroups of the same race traveling in the largest empires. In earth especially you can see quite a bit of diversity as they travel, and an island chain like fire would allow for a fair amount of diversity (not even counting the, ahem, new citizens) while separating them enough that many wouldn't have more than a rough idea what distant islands look like, which would be especially helpful if you're in a place that gets people from everywhere on a seasonal basis. Similarly, people from all over the place could have passed as a Russian, and a Canarian could probably go without remark in Ireland.
More to the point, the way it used race was incredibly beneficial to the worldbuilding, as it showed the scope of the world through demographic diversity, as well as an attention to detail by having people correspond to those who live in similar climates in our world (although how much of that is historical rather than adaptive is a debate for another time).
Anyway, by her sketch of Zuko it looks fairly promising-- it's a nice merge of the show's style and the movie's actor: http://spacecoyote.deviantart.com/art/Zuko-sketch-136606488
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I disliked energybending because, again, it made everything too perfect. Again, not trying to be bloodthirsty, but going into something like war everything shouldn't be going the way you want.
Ah well, still awesome nonetheless.
He wasn't so much telling Aang to be asexual, so much as telling him he needed to be prepared to give her up if necessary.
Too good to be consigned to the bottom of the page. I heartily endorse this event or product.
So it shall be done
Alternately, giving up earthly attachments is a "fast mode" to Avatar State control. Roku and the other Avatars didn't need to worry about learning the easy way because they had years and years to perfect their skills, but since Aang only had (at that point) a few months to face the Firelord, the Guru decided to go for broke.
In that digital comic (which is available on one of the box sets), it is pointed out that the Avatar must be human, rather than a perfect, all-powerful spirit, or what would it care for humanity?
Not that he'd have to give her up FOREVER, just that if push comes to shove, he has to let her go.
And then he entered the Avatar State.
And then Azula killed him during his transformation sequence because she's hardcore that way
3DS: 1607-3034-6970
Then shit ACTUALLY got serious.
Also, we get told specifically that the avatar's job is to be "above" the physical world, an objective arbiter of humanity. Having a physical relationship seems anathema to that.
They tried to do the whole "celibate/perfect Spirit being" thing AGES ago, but realized letting him just be human was probably a lot less dangerous than suppressing it until they snap.
And which culture? The air nomad monks?
Actually, I rescind my comment: Rama and Krishna were avatars and they got all manner of pussy.
I find it far more strange all the people left behind during the day of black sun were just thrown into jail instead of being executed on the spot.
It happened because it was a kids show. because otherwise they probably just would have without a second thought
But yeah considering how pathetic the Southern Water Tribe is, there was zero reason to keep Hakoda alive, either as bargaining chip or potential informant.
They're the most progressive technologically, and they're the only nation with women in prominent roles in government. And they don't drop babies off cliffs. Why is it so hard to believe that Ozai earnestly wanted to spread his superior civilization to the rest of the backwards feudal-tribal world?
3DS: 1607-3034-6970
Anyway I think the ending would have been better if
Personally I would have preferred if Aang had reduced him to putty by pulling the comet out of fucking space and smashing it into ozai
but yeah.. I was okay with the ending because it showed that the avatar was far more about the continuation of life than a harbinger of death.
but honestly? it would've been more satisfiying for him to smash ozai with rocks. lots of rocks.
I think seeing him use Air would be nice, but kind of defeats the purpose of mastering every element if he uses the one he's ALREADY mastered ages ago.
There's really tons of ways to abuse these things if you think about it
or you know, they made such a big deal about learning to redirect lightening, maybe using Ozai's own ultimate power against him?
btw. I fucking love that Ozai is such a master of fire bending that he can create jets from his feet and fucking fly. all fire benders should learn that.
I have a strong inclination that firebending is a lot like magic in the "sword of truth series".. which is too say that most people follow the massively indoctrinated methods because it minimizes risk, but the few benders who take the time to explore the art that is their craft can really push the limits of the imaginations with their talents.
I think the show would have been better if it didn't focus nearly as much on Aang or Katara, the two blandest characters ever, neither of whom make much progression beyond a mystical plot advancing device and cardboard cutout romantic interest.
That said, it's a great show, and anybody comparing Avatar in even the slightest way to the shitfest that is the Sword of Truth series beyond the fact that they both are somewhere within the fantasy genre needs to get their brain checked out.
I think that's just during the comet, as other firebenders were doing absolutely ridiculous shit too. My main disappointment is that he
I agree, many of the other characters have more development.
I even liked his sister, who is practically a cardboard cutout villain for most of the series, she manages some changes. There's the whole overt going crazy paranoid thing from her friend's perceived betrayal, but it's more than that, the character realizes that all anyone had for hear was fear. Her friends didn't betray her trust, they never trusted her in the first place. They really weren't ever her friends at all, the only person who ever cared about her was a woman who she had nothing but scorn for.
I mean it's not super duper deep or anything, but it's far better than most shows on television in terms of character development and plot pacing