Avatar: The Last Airbender (TV Series) The Puppetmaster (2007) User Reviews

Avatar: Asian Horror Style

[injury-65447 · 10/10 · 25 August 2020]

All I can say is that the idea of a Bloodbending Crone is genius and the writers should be commended.

This is an amazing creepy episode with a fantastic setting and a bloodcurdling (literally) story!

The gang meets a mysterious woman

[unollo · 10/10 · 26 June 2017]

This is one of my favorite episodes of the Avatar series. It has a different tone than the other episodes, much darker and scarier, which I liked so much. The story, like many episodes recounting the past in the series, is really intriguing as well. Another great thing about it is that it opens up the boundaries of the fictional world created, by introducing the advanced water bending technique, blood-bending, which is a very clever extension and you can't just get not excited watching it (the mentality that leads to invention of blood-bending is also very smart, creating water out of thin air, using the flowers etc.). Of course, the ending is a killer. Katara is real happy to learn that Hama is of her own tribe at beginning, she relates to her, she embraces her as a Master, she learns something that she deems inhumane from her and realizes that she is not the ideal water bender she thought she was and she immediately needs to use this cruel technique, in a way to become a little like her, in order to get rid of her. It is realizing that she has to be cruel and violent in the world that is created by Fire Nation, that leads her to cry. At the end, she relates to Hama's wicked ways, in a way, too. It is heartbreaking, yet so powerful of an ending.

A masterpiece

[abdiluqman-47593 · 10/10 · 14 April 2020]

This is the reason why ATLA is a work of magic.This episode feels like a filler but at the same moment it is not.It is scary,mindblowing amd introduces the scariest bending of all,bloodbending

To the person saying that this is a "filler" episode

[Venom5970 · 10/10 · 18 November 2020]

What? How can this possibly even come close to being considered a filler episode? It gives Katara so much new found power while also showing that having so much power requires things she may not be comfortable with. On top of this we learn more about the history of the Southern Water Tribe. And also saying that "The Blind Bandit" was filler? That's even more crazy. That episode introduces a new character that would be with the gang for the rest of the series. It gives Aang a earth bending teacher and a really good one at that. So it your calling either of those 2 episodes "filler", then your basically calling every other episode in Avatar filler.

Awesome!

[ian_enrique · 10/10 · 27 July 2016]

This episode of Avatar The last Air Bender is the best.Why? because I wrote a review and this must be the most creepy and scary episode of Avatar.The character of Hama is Terrifying! don't forget about the Blood Bending oh my god! can't believe that water bender can control people using their blood! So evil and bad.I like this episode so much and I can watch it over and over again because they have element of I don't know maybe something surprise element you can't never guess that Hama is the witch that kidnapped all the villagers and the creepy laugh he give to Katara when He say her work is done and make Katara cry I don't know maybe she is scared that she will turn into a monster like Hama.What can I say about This episode that it is one of the best episode that I have seen I recommended you to watch it worth your time.

forget japan, possibly greatest animation so far

[A_Different_Drummer · 10/10 · 8 October 2013]

To excel at animation, you need several things. Great art. Avatar has it. The key to doing characters is the eyes, and while all the best anime from Japan tends to have the same eyes -- check it out -- the artists in Avatar somehow took their craft a step further. It's easy to miss but only in Avatar have I seen faces that show complex human emotions and it's all in the eyes. Next you need voice actors and Avatar has some of the best. Mae Whitman as Katara and Mako as Uncle Iroh are nothing less than brilliant in a cast that excels. Finally you need a narrative, and one of the astonishing things about the whole series is the deep metaphysical skeleton hidden beneath what appears to be a children's cartoon. (If you have doubts, watch the episode in the swamp where it is explained how all things are connected; or the episode in which Ang needs to master each chakra to achieve his skill). As was the case with Matrix and Lord of the Rings, you can have good entertainment with a weak story but you cannot have great entertainment without a great story. To see this all come together you need to pay attention to an episode like this one. Superficially this is just a ghost story stuck in the middle of the larger narrative. But on closer examination the story in fact serves the larger narrative well while standing on its own merit brilliantly. An astonishing example of the craft of animation at its best.

Darkest episode in the series

[NCritz_ · 9/10 · 15 May 2022]

This BY FAR the darkest episode in this show. As a kid, i don't remember many shows even mentioning blood at all because it can be quite scary for kids to look at or even hear about. This episode is the first to acknowledge the fact that blood in the human body is considered water, hence why it can be bendable. We dont even see any, and yet this episode manages to make my skin crawl everytime I watch it. Also for the fact that Hana was about to make Aang and Sokka kill each other via bloodbending possession.

By the end of this episode, Katara is forced to learn how to bloodbend and is 100% traumatized by it and almost seeing her friends die in front of her. You can see her face twitch as she realizes she now has the ability to control people. Hana won. And a few episodes later, she uses bloodbending again for revenge, the same exact reason Hana learns it in the first place.

Excellent Stand-Alone Episode

[JustLantz · 10/10 · 5 December 2021]

Excellent storytelling and introduction of a particularly impactful water-bending technique. The episode has its own feel entirely different from the rest of the series, yet still woven well within the same world. It felt original with its own spooky ambience throughout the episode.

At its center was an age-old story motif-how a lack of love and forgiveness embitters the heart and how everyone at some point is faced with the choice: to use the power and self-righteousness our pain lends us to control and manipulate others-or-do we let it go and take an unknown path toward healing and peace... This episode told, remarkably well, the story of one who chose power in the past and one who's turn it was to choose...

Non anime shows don't have filler

[the-beast56 · 10/10 · 5 March 2021]

Filler only relates to something with source material and when they deviate from it. This episode is amazing and if you think it is filler, then you shouldnt be investing time in this show.

my all time favourite episode

[kabambalouspamana · 10/10 · 24 April 2022]

All the small details hinting that Hama is involved, her expressions when she says stuff is lowkey unnerving. Sometimes she seems like a sweet old lady with an inn, and the next that she has some darker plans, and is involved in the dissapearance of the villagers.

I love watching reaction videos reacting to this episode because I love it when the people slowly start to realise it's her, and then get horrified by the bloodbending scenes, because I was too.

My all time favourite episode!!

It's rly good

[avduckfan · 10/10 · 16 June 2021]

The most scary episode in the whole show, except for maybe kho the face stealer. But we learn a lot about blood bending, which is a big deal in Korra, it opens up a whole new type of bending.

Creepy

[matitya-33937 · 7/10 · 18 February 2024]

I still maintain that this episode (as dark as it is) isn't as frightening as City of Walls and Secrets. My reasoning is that (even though it's obviously exaggerated for the sake of effect by the show) the Orwellian nightmare of City of Walls in Secrets is something that (sometimes) can happens in real life. Whereas this episode isn't.

That having been established, if have a kid (or are a kid) I wouldn't recommend this episode unless you (and your hypothetical kid both) can easily handle supernatural horror stories (which, full disclosure, are not my cup of tea.) With that out of the way, there are good things about the episode

1) The new villain of the episode 2) The episode's climax and how it builds upon prior revelations about Waterbending 3) The fact that Sokka's intuition usually come from a place of reason (to avoid spoilers, I'll say no more on that.) 4) The fact that Sokka still remembers Princess Yue fondly

Flaws 1) This episode might be too scary for the show's main demographic 2) Relying on direct power scaling to solve a conflict seems to me to be lazy writing (to avoid spoilers, I'll give no more detail.

If you're a horror enthusiast then you'll love this episode. If your tastes are similar to mine then you'll probably like this episode but not love it.

Amazing and overdue concept

[sevskirita · 8/10 · 6 September 2021]

This episode is just a well-made episode. It introduces the logical consequences of water bending with some of the coolest powers resulting. The backstory for Hama makes perfect sense and is compelling, and the setting of this story was perfect for it. It's unfortunate that we always get a scary-dark-side take on superpowers in these type of stories, but that's the only real drawback.

8/10 because it's a good episode, but doesn't have anything that makes it *really* stand out well above other episodes.