The Legend of Korra (2012-14)

As an independent show, The Legend of Korra is pretty good, but it cannot escape comparison to Avatar: The Last Airbender, to which it pales. For one, it lacks the cohesion of Avatar, which tells a single grand overarching story over 60 episodes. Korra has four seasons, each season with a new enemy. Korra also doesn't have the rewarding story arcs that Avatar did. Everyone on Team Avatar was a sympathetic, relatable character that grew over the course of the series. On the other hand, Mako and Bo Lin are extremely annoying. There are some cameos from the old characters; some serve more purpose (Katar and Iroh) than others (Zuko and Toph). The newer show updated the graphics, creating 3D depth, that admittedly look kind of weird sometimes, especially the robots. The style is also more overtly anime than the unique Western/Eastern hybrid from Avatar. The music is not as hauntingly beautiful as in Avatar, though the 20s jazz is a welcome touch, along with the old-timey newsreel recaps.

Now for what Korra does well...It continues to build on the themes that made Avatar so good: real-world politics. Republic City is the bustling immigrant city that transcends the boundaries of nations. Such a United Nations is what follows a world war. Season 1 is about The Equalists. They are portrayed as a domestic terrorist group on the surface, but there is always some ambiguity as to their evil, after all they're only asking for equality in a land that may or may not deny them their (super-)humanity. It is similar to X-Men, overtly political. It might not be too off to compare them to the PLO or the Black Panthers. Season 3 is about a group of anarchists and in parallel rebuilding a culture nearly lost to genocide (a beautiful example of the type of balance that the Avatar is meant to restore to the world).. Season 4 is about a warlord who has taken advantage of a power vacuum to seize legitimate control. Season 2 is the outlier, portraying an irrelevant and unrealistic civil war between the Northern and Southern Water Tribes. A big caveat though is that the best episodes of the series come in Season 2, that's the two-part story of the first Avatar, told in beautiful Kaguya-esque animation.

The bending in Korra is also pretty cool. All the elements are taken up a level, unlocking new bending styles that make sense in the established magic system: lava bending, flight, expanded metal bending, etc. I was slightly disappointed that Korra didn't really discover her spiritual side until Season 2, because the spiritual balance the Avatar brings is really the defining characteristic of its purpose, rather than the flashier mastery of the four elements. When she finally does find her inner spirit, they muddy the rules of the Avatar state and the spirit world almost beyond recognition.

In conclusion, not as good as Avatar but a worthwhile viewing experience.

Quiz (2020)

Quiz is an enjoyable dramatization of the Charles Ingram scandal on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. It is part courtroom drama, part heist, part game show drama. The genius of Millionaire was always its simplicity: questions, and four possible answers, unlimited time. It was unbelievably suspenseful. Quiz is about appointment TV in an era that no longer has appointment TV thanks to streaming. I readily admit that there is a nostalgia factor to this miniseries.

I really appreciated the different perspectives displayed in the movie, not only from Charles and his wife, but his brother-in-law, and the showrunners. There is a very real community (especially in the land of the pub quiz) of trivia enthusiasts that only formed by word of mouth in the early internet era, before the advent of Facebook and Reddit. And while they didn't break the game, they very cleverly broke the process to get on the game. The show rightly asks whether that is against the spirit of the game, and if that's even a real problem? A show would kill to have a community of devoted fans; publicity of that sort is priceless. In the era of James Holzhauer, is there something wrong with studying for a test of knowledge? Is there something wrong with preparing for a once in a lifetime chance at a million pound prize? And then the central tension of the plot is whether Ingram cheated at all. Episode 2 certainly looks like cheating but Episode 3 throws in sufficient ambiguity to raise serious doubt. You sympathize for this couple who was skewered in the tabloids and by the public. The Army Major is portrayed as a simpleminded guy compared to his wife, but he earned membership in Mensa, he answered many questions without any coughs, and maybe he just got lucky? And didn't he make for great TV?

Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005-8)

The greatest children's show, maybe the greatest TV show period, recently came to Netflix, and it holds up really well fifteen years later. As a kid, watching the animated bending was really cool. But as an adult watching again, I appreciate how complex and beautiful the plot and character development are: Zuko has a highly satisfying redemption arc. Drawing heavily on Asian (and Inuit) philosophy, martial arts and design, the creators put genuine thought into world building at a level we wouldn't see again until Game of Thrones. Ba Sing Se is a clear reference to Beijing, complete with the secret police and oppression.

The Avatar is the bridge between the physical world and the spirit world, and it is the Avatar's responsibility to maintain/restore balance in the world. The Avatar has the ability to bend all four elements: Earth, water, fire and air. And the Avatar is a spirit reincarnated in a different bender based on a cycle. Over the last hundred years, while the Avatar Aang has been frozen in an iceberg, the Fire Nation has embarked on an imperial war of world domination, committing genocide in the process. Yes, that's war crimes, refugees, and totalitarianism in a children's show at the height of America's war in Iraq. It is profound.

Even the Art of War is explored in the show. Omashu surrenders to fight another day. Earth benders are masters of "neutral jing", waiting for the right moment to strike. I'm not sure how I feel about the ending watching it back. The penultimate episode sees our hero struggling with having to kill the Fire Lord. It is a serious and deep introspective exploration that looks like he is about to come to peace with his fate. The show acknowledges the idea of just violence in which it is necessary to be violent to stop further violence (a just war). And Aang must selflessly put aside his own reservations for the greater good of the world to fulfill his duty as Avatar. That is a profound message for a kid, but the show ultimately goes in another direction. Aang unlocks a new superpower and saves the day in a non-fatal way.  It is visually awesome but I think not in line with the serious themes that the show explored throughout.

The music is beautiful. The writing is smart and funny and poignant. The animation cleverly combines both Japanese and Western elements. All the characters have fully realized arcs that develop over a tight three seasons. Even having a series-long episodic plot was pretty unique for a TV show in 2005, let alone a children's show. I can't wait for the live action remake of the series; hopefully M. Night Shyamalan stays far away. I think we'll give Legend of Korra another try now.

When They See Us (2019)

Ava Duvernay's signature style of gut-punch filmmaking puts the viewer in the shoes of Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, Korey Wise and Raymond Santana, the five young boys who were coerced to make false confessions by the NYPD under duress, skewered by the mainstream press, wrongfully imprisoned, dehumanized and finally vindicated in 2002 after 13 long years. The story of the Central Park Five is infuriating, and though the press, police and prosecutor are specifically blamed, everyone is at fault. Blinded by institutional racism and contempt for poor black and brown kids, the white public (and specifically Elizabeth Lederer and Linda Fairstein) condemns the five kids, deluding itself into believing an obvious fabrication.  What is extraordinary about Duvernay's miniseries is that she manages to still display the incredible strength and resilience of the oppressed, not just the boys in prison and their families outside. Further still, she portrays the cruel and punitive criminal justice system at every stage, from the corrupt police, to the baiting press, to the biased courts, to the atrocious prisons, to probation, and the institutional obstacles to life on the outside as a convicted felon. Jharrel Jerome as both kid and young adult Korey is a standout, but the acting is phenomenal from the entire ensemble cast. It's emotional, devastating and absolutely required viewing.

The Last Dance (2020)

It's no coincidence that The Last Dance was released at the height of the Coronavirus quarantine, while everyone is stuck at home, while all live sports are on hiatus until further notice. If the world, of sports and period, ever needed saving, the time is now and Michael Jordan maybe the hero we need. The Last Dance features unprecedented footage from Jordan's final season (the second time in 1998--the series ends before the third time with the Wizards) and cuts back and forth between the final season (the eponymous Last Dance) and his legendary career up to that point from the beginning. The time jumping is a little confusing, but it serves for heightened drama. The really unprecedented access is only the final season footage, so it's sprinkled through every episode. At a time when there is no sports, we were pleasantly reminded of the reason we love sports. It's not just the competition, it's the stories. The playoffs are exciting, but it's Dennis Rodman disappearing to Las Vegas that makes them interesting. In recent years, LeBron James and Stephen Curry may have soaked up all the thunder, in an era that the NBA has gone global thanks to Michael Jordan, but Jordan has returned to remind the world who the boss is. He's a competitor at heart; pushed by his drive to take revenge on anyone that ever "showed him up," even if he had to fabricate the sleight. You don't have to be a basketball fan to enjoy The Last Dance. It's accessible to everyone as a reminder of the outside world we used to enjoy.