I'm going to start with a summary of things that I didn't like about The Promise.
The first is the titular promise. While an interesting idea in that it shows that Zuko understands his potential for "relapse", it doesn't really do anything here except to try to shoehorn in some tension. The obligatory misunderstanding at the middle of the story is a good example of how. While I understand that it is part of Zuko's character to be rash and impulsive, his decision to simply hole up in the colony and not let anyone in makes no sense. How will walling himself up in the town and attacking anyone who tries to come in help with the situation? Did he really not understand that people outside would see this as an aggressive action? The answer is: It doesn't matter, as this part is only here to add an unnecessary segment where Aang thinks he's actually going to have to kill him and put in some action.
My other big problem is with Kori, the ninja assassin girl. I know Mr. Yang was trying to set her up as some sort of anti-hero driven by desperation, but since we don't see her trying to take any other sort of steps to fix the problem, she comes across (at least to me) as a violent psychopath whose first reaction to someone doing something she doesn't like is to KILL THEM. Not only that, but apparently, after she explained her situation to Zuko in the town, he just completely let her off without any consequences. Dude, she tried to kill you!
A smaller issue is the "sweetie" and "oogies" thing. I know that Mr. Yang sets these words up as jokes, with the other characters having an appropriate "WTF?" reaction to them, but then he just keeps using them. Aang and Katara are teenagers from another world, please stop making them talk like a middle aged married couple living in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio.
The thing is, despite these faults, the underlying story here is really compelling. The question of the fate of the colonies is not only interesting but is resonant with problems we face in real life. Hell, Israel and the Palestinians have been fighting over similar questions for over 60 years now. I think that if this story is allowed to shine through and take center stage, without all the additional aforementioned fluff, it could be a truly worthy addition to the Avatar franchise.
Good, but disappointing
I'm going to start with a summary of things that I didn't like about The Promise.
The first is the titular promise. While an interesting idea in that it shows that Zuko understands his potential for "relapse", it doesn't really do anything here except to try to shoehorn in some tension. The obligatory misunderstanding at the middle of the story is a good example of how. While I understand that it is part of Zuko's character to be rash and impulsive, his decision to simply hole up in the colony and not let anyone in makes no sense. How will walling himself up in the town and attacking anyone who tries to come in help with the situation? Did he really not understand that people outside would see this as an aggressive action? The answer is: It doesn't matter, as this part is only here to add an unnecessary segment where Aang thinks he's actually going to have to kill him and put in some action.
My other big problem is with Kori, the ninja assassin girl. I know Mr. Yang was trying to set her up as some sort of anti-hero driven by desperation, but since we don't see her trying to take any other sort of steps to fix the problem, she comes across (at least to me) as a violent psychopath whose first reaction to someone doing something she doesn't like is to KILL THEM. Not only that, but apparently, after she explained her situation to Zuko in the town, he just completely let her off without any consequences. Dude, she tried to kill you!
A smaller issue is the "sweetie" and "oogies" thing. I know that Mr. Yang sets these words up as jokes, with the other characters having an appropriate "WTF?" reaction to them, but then he just keeps using them. Aang and Katara are teenagers from another world, please stop making them talk like a middle aged married couple living in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio.
The thing is, despite these faults, the underlying story here is really compelling. The question of the fate of the colonies is not only interesting but is resonant with problems we face in real life. Hell, Israel and the Palestinians have been fighting over similar questions for over 60 years now. I think that if this story is allowed to shine through and take center stage, without all the additional aforementioned fluff, it could be a truly worthy addition to the Avatar franchise.