The Great Divide

A terrific allegory on the pettiness of superficial prejudice (and its long-lasting consequences) based on miscommunication, misinformation and different interpretations of cultural lore. It works as a stand-alone episode so some people that are hungry for more long-term plot candy don't give it the love it deserves for just solid ethics building for adolescents.

I'm in the middle of watching Avatar: The Last Airbender since I have heard of its status as one of the greatest cartoons ever made, and it's anime-style animation. At first, I was a bit skeptical about watching The Great Divide, since I was aware that it is regarded as the show's worst episode, but after watching it, my feelings on the episode is pretty... mixed. Honestly, I can't think of a complete mix of feelings, as I have mostly positives, but not that many negatives. For example, Aang was still his heroic self, even if that infamous lie he told at the end of the episode wasn't necessarily justified, as he was trying his hardest to stop the tribes from arguing and bickering, even if it got him frustrated, something that I've normally haven't seen much in his character yet. I get that lying can be "the worst thing a human can do", according to my mum, but I personally don't agree, as that example with Aang's lie is that he just wanted the two factions to stop fighting, and to resolve their issues. This episode is mostly positives, very few negatives for me, as even though some of Aang and Katara's actions were a bit out of character, it was still a pretty good episode.

This episode does not contribute much to Aang's growth in strength and power, but is in no way a bad episode.

The Avatar has long been hinted to "bring balance to the world", and we've seen times-a-plenty that Aang does it by taking part in the war - This is the most intuitive solution you'd expect of a cartoon. However, this episode shows that there is more to the character of Avatar other than pure power - it's spontaneous wits and problem-solving abilities - aspects of the character that weren't highlighted until this very episode.

The conflict between the two tribes, depicted humorously and light-heartedly, is a direct reflection of how ridiculous tribal prejudices and rivalries are - ones that even modern humans are guilty of committing. Partial judgement is internalized within a community, and as the boundary thickens, they become more polarized, and this just feeds to the perpetual vicious cycle.

An interesting allegory is that the ancestors of the Zhang and the Gan Jin have nigh-identical names - they are birds of a feather, separated by misunderstanding and polarized in tribes. Sounds familiar? That's because it's homo sapiens.

Skip it if you will. But this is a solid and entertaining episode that I am glad I didn't skip over.

Genuinely one of the worst episodes or might as well be the worst episode that has ever been a part of the avatar series. I mean, literally, the show literally pokes fun at it by Skipping it LOL. I understand how the episode does its take on familial conflict or conflicts between generations can be mistranslated and create a grudge on other people, but the take on here is super weak and the even the main cast feel their most flat yet.

Still better then the movie.

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