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Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005)
Worth the Praise
I missed out on watching this show when I was younger, so when it became available on Netflix I decided to check out why people love this show so much.
What this show does incredibly well is worldbuilding and character development. The world made sense and was very consistent, even holistic to a point. The Hero's Journey was incorporated very well into Aang's story. I'm also a sucker for redemption arcs and it was done well for Zuko. I could relate to almost all the characters very well.
The only things preventing me from giving this a 9 or a 10 are the fact that I'd have liked to see more of Aang's training and development (a couple of episodes, though still fun, felt a bit like filler and I feel like this attention could have been shifted) and how Zuko was handled at the end of season 2.
Now I'm not saying Zuko shouldn't have turned against the Avatar again, it made sense for him to take up the chance he had lost before to restore his honor. However, what then was this whole metamorphosis about? If he truly changed his character and wasn't handling out of selfish reasons anymore, why did he switch sides, and if he wasn't, why did he go through the metamorphosis? Also, when he switched sides again (twice), shouldn't he have gone through the metamorphosis again as well? I was totally convinced that Zuko was just trying to gain his sister's and the fire nation's trust to be able to help the Avatar at a crucial moment from the inside.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Gungan General (2009)
Where is the continuity?
To start out, this episode isn't so bad for a Jar-Jar centered one. It made sense for Palpatine to send Jar-Jar and he was tolerable. Also, the interaction between Obi-Wan, Anakin and Dooku was great, as was Hondo.
However, there are some plot holes. First of all, it's odd that the episode starts with Anakin and Obi-Wan being drugged, while at the end of the previous episode, they switched their drinks and actually the pirates got drugged. Secondly, it didn't make sense for Obi-Wan and Anakin to attempt to escape. Why didn't they just wait around for the Republic to arrive? They couldn't have known about Jar-Jar being sent and the pirates being betrayed, so they could assume the Republic would come with the ransom for Dooku. All they had to do was stay there. Dooku would be captured by the Republic and the war would be as good as over. They themselves could be freed later.
By attempting to escape, they risked losing Dooku, which is what happened eventually.
Limitless: Headquarters! (2015)
The power of NZT
Up to this point this series has been an interesting sci-fi detective that doesn't take itself too seriously. It's about what I expected it to be.
However, this episode subverted my expectations. This episode shows the true power of NZT by having Finch go after the top 10 most wanted of the FBI just to prove a point and he probably would have caught them all if it weren't for the FBI putting a halt on it.
Even though the plot of the episode is quite silly, the show manages to tell it in a consistent way. Finch has a wonderful personality that isn't compromised by working for the FBI probably because of his increased confidence caused by the NZT. This personality allows him to catch these criminals "just for fun" by creating a team of FBI agents under his supervision and even giving them a silly name: "The Bruntouchables".
It was also interesting to see another character taking NZT for the first time and seeing new ways (synesthesia and sculpting a face by only the sense of touch) these expanded mental capabilities are explored.
Moreover, we finally get some closure on the conflict between Brian and his father. I'm really glad they didn't leave this open until the end of the season and I'm now really interested what the consequences of telling this will be.
Lastly I really loved the ending sequence! This is where Finch's personality really shines through. I love how the show just does segments like these, it's weird and experimental, but it fits the story, as Finch just has a rich fantasy while on NZT.
The only negative is that Finch didn't really have any character development. He could basically do anything and had little problems. But I'll allow it for once, because the show is called "Limitless" after all and the plot itself was certainly moved forward.
All in all, this is my favorite episode so far and I'm really excited to where the rest of the series is going.