Many
ATLA fans would consider “The Great Divide” to be one of the worst episodes of
the series. Whether it was the hackneyed story or the horrible twist ending,
ATLA fans seem not to agree with it. I can completely understand these
sentiments. The plot was over-the-top with its forced agenda of comparing the
literal and figurative great divide. The stories, the legends of each tribe,
which were also not creatively named, were not very original. I mean, hate
derived from wrongful imprisonment because of a crazy ritual (I mean, some
people juggle chickens). Of course, the
*SPOILERS* tale that Aang made up to convince everyone that the ritual was a
game was a complete sham of an ending. Yes, the inevitable alliance between the
previously warring tribes was foreshadowed in the battle, but the reason for
this peace was ridiculous. I know that the ATLA team has used deus ex machina to get out of some jams
(haters of the LoK ending can certainly attest to that), but this story may be
the most egregious case of this because it does absolutely zero in terms of
character or plot development. But I think this is the largest problem of this
episode. It had no bearing on any other episode. In the “The Ember Island
Players”, the actors play at this idea by merely flying over the Great Divide,
because any casual watcher of the series does not need this episode to
understand the story. But what could they have done to make this episode important?
It
is clear that this episode is removable. While it shows the gripes that Aang
has to deal with as Avatar, it pushes them aside in an unremarkable way. This
is a problem with ATLA because they are so limited with what they can
reasonably do with Aang. While they have been given more reins and leniency
throughout the series, there is no such thing as a “gritty” Aang. He cannot go
about dispensing vigilante justice, nor can he impose divine judgment on
anyone. His actions are limited in these scenarios, but what can he do? He can
grow as a character. In the first season, he is still growing into his role as
Avatar. He is reluctant to take charge and be decisive, something that
contradicts his airbending nature. The great divide should not have been focused on two opposing tribes in the Earth nation, but rather on the struggle Aang faces to
unite these tribes. If this were the case, we would not need any silly legends
about the tribes or any wrapped-up ending. We could have Aang, fight within
about which tribe is right and which is wrong. Maybe it could about whether
either tribe is even morally obligated to be right or wrong. This forces Aang
to become decisive…or it does not. They easily could have created an unsolvable
problem that haunts Aang, something that causes him to be so indecisive that it
ruins his entire psyche. The episode already has the scene set-up for something
like this. The two tribes have very vague places where they derive their hate.
This ambiguity could lead Aang to make a decision, whether it is wrong or
right. He could doubt this decision to Katara or Sokka. It could harden his
resolve. Creating a problem like this would have turned the Great Divide from a
bad episode, into the turning point of the series.
Of
course, the question is, how does this affect the rest of the series? Much of
the first season is Aang growing into the role of Avatar. He realizes that his
actions have resounding impacts. He learns that he no longer is a
representative of the airbending nomads, but the world as a whole. He has to
bear this responsibility. What better way to shape this idea than by giving him
problems that the world will ask him to solve? Questions that he will have to
solve, but is not capable of doing so. That type of episode would have unbelievable
repercussions for the series as a whole. Of course, we have an episode, which
forces the issue, which has its own agenda, which shows the growing pains of a
new show. Now that shows a great divide.
