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0:00Is Kiri one with Eywa? Will the tulkun abandon
their pacifist ways? Is there a future for Spider
0:06and Quaritch? There is still so much story to
tell at the end of "Avatar: The Way of Water."
0:12Perhaps the biggest question in all of "Avatar:
The Way of Water" is the one posed in the opening
0:17narration: Who is Kiri’s father? Jake Sully tells
us that after the death of Dr. Grace Augustine in
0:23the first film, they discovered a child growing
in the body of her comatose avatar. That child,
0:28Kiri, is adopted by the Sullys upon her birth,
but her actual origin remains a huge mystery.
0:34Throughout the film, numerous
characters, including Kiri herself,
0:38speculate as to who her father might be. There
are so few compelling answers that even Norm is
0:43mentioned as a possible candidate. In reality,
no one has any idea who the father could be.
0:48Given that Kiri has strange and powerful abilities
and feels so close to the natural world of Pandora
0:54that she can "hear Eywa’s heartbeat," it’s
possible that the whole father question is
0:58a giant red herring. When Grace died, the Na’vi
were trying to move her soul permanently out of
1:04her dying human body and into her avatar.
The process failed, but before she passed,
1:09Grace told Jake that Eywa was real. Sometime
afterward, the pregnancy was discovered.
1:14Could Kiri be a creation of Eywa herself,
the all-seeing goddess of Pandora? It’s
1:19very possible. While Grace’s soul was too weak
to survive a transfer into her Avatar, perhaps
1:25Eywa was able to put a child in her instead. That
would explain the unknown father, Kiri’s powers,
1:30and why Sigourney Weaver plays both her and Grace.
For now, though, we’ll just have to wait and see.
1:36"Dad, I know you think I'm crazy,
1:45One of the most interesting new characters in
"Avatar: The Way of Water" is Spider. He was
1:49a human baby left behind on Pandora when
the RDA was sent home. And as we’re told
1:54multiple times throughout the movie, you can’t
put a baby in cryosleep. While there are a few
1:59other humans around for Spider’s upbringing,
he prefers the company of the Na’vi. Like Kiri,
2:04he becomes a member of the Sully family. He
tries to fit in the best he can by adopting
2:09the dress and customs of the Omaticaya.
At times, he even paints himself blue.
2:13Perhaps the most interesting thing about
Spider, however, is that he’s the son of
2:18the villainous Colonel Quaritch. This causes
a good deal of drama when Spider is captured
2:22by Quaritch and his cronies, but we never learn
about his mother. Since Spider was just a baby
2:27when the humans were sent back to Earth, he
would have been born on Pandora shortly before
2:31the events of the original film. That means that
his mother would have been part of the RDA crew.
2:36So where is she? Was she sent back to Earth with
the rest of the RDA? And what was the nature of
2:42her relationship with Quaritch? For now, at
least, those questions remain unanswered.
2:47At the start of "Avatar: The Way of Water," the
Sullys are still living with the Omaticaya in
2:52the forest. Neytiri has stepped up into her late
father’s role as the clan’s protector, and her
2:57mother Mo’at remains their spiritual leader. The
community is torn asunder, however, when Quaritch
3:02returns with a squad of avatar hitmen, all of
whom have been sent to wipe the Sullys out.
3:07We don’t get to spend that long with the
Omaticaya before Jake and his family leave
3:11to join the Metkayina. And after their departure,
we never go back. This leaves the fate of the clan
3:17completely uncertain, though there are some clues
as to what might be going on back in the forest.
3:22We’re told early on that the clan’s mountain
hideaway is inaccessible to ordinary humans.
3:26Quaritch can sneak in because he’s in an avatar,
so with him and his squad hunting Jake, the
3:32Omaticaya should be pretty safe. This
theory is further supported by Norm’s
3:36visit later in the film. Since he’s still
stationed with the Omaticaya in the forest,
3:40you’d think he’d mention if anything
truly terrible were happening.
3:43Of course, the main RDA force is still on the
Omaticaya’s doorstep. General Ardmore is prepping
3:49for full colonization of the planet, and the hunt
for unobtainium is presumably still active. With
3:54all that brewing and Hometree already destroyed,
the Omaticaya may not be so safe for much longer.
4:00Spider gets captured by the RDA pretty early
on in "Avatar 2." He spends the majority of
4:05the film in their captivity, primarily
as a part of his father’s hunting party.
4:09While he clearly despises his captors and
rejoins the Sullys as soon as possible,
4:13Spider also seems oddly helpful to the humans
at times. In particular, he guides them to
4:18the hidden home of the mountain banshees,
allowing Quaritch’s squad to acquire mounts.
4:23Why would Spider help his sworn enemies
in this way? It’s possible that the humans
4:27already knew about the banshee nest from
Jake’s spying in the first film. Also,
4:31Spider’s only alternative seems to be an
absolutely brutal form of brain-scanning torture,
4:36which looks like it might have killed him
if he’d been subjected to much more. He does
4:41resist helping the recoms on the reefs
when they start burning Na’vi villages,
4:44so the best explanation is simply that the
poor kid doesn’t have any other choice.
4:48However, things aren’t quite so simple. When
Quaritch successfully claims his banshee,
4:53Spider looks excited. He smiles at the sight of
his father soaring through the sky. Simply put,
4:59this makes no sense. Spider has
always wanted to be a Na’vi,
5:03and he completely despises his father. So why
isn’t he enraged to see Quaritch successfully
5:08bond with a mount? This should be a moment of
outrage, of indignation that the villain of
5:13the story gets to do something spectacular
that Spider can never have. Unfortunately,
5:18we don’t get enough reflection on this
moment to fully understand what’s going on.
5:22It’s no secret that Kiri is different than
the other Na’vi on Pandora. She has an
5:27uncanny ability to influence whatever
natural forces are around her. Fish,
5:31grass, trees, birds, all these and
more seem to bend to her will. It’s
5:36as if the very energy of Pandora flows
through her into everything around her.
5:40This makes it even more curious when,
after bonding with the Metkayina’s
5:44underwater spirit tree, Kiri has a
massive seizure. During the bond,
5:48she has a vision of her mother and asks
her questions about her father. But just
5:52as Grace is about to answer, she’s yanked
away, and Kiri’s body starts to convulse.
5:57Norm claims that the seizure is the result
of epilepsy and that the tree triggered
6:02hallucinations via electrical impulses
in Kiri’s brain. But this is Pandora,
6:06and nothing is ever that simple. The spirit
tree is supposed to be a strong link to Eywa,
6:11so maybe it’s that connection that causes the
seizure. Kiri seems to be a conduit for the
6:16power of the planet, so linking with it in
such a strong way may have overloaded her.
6:21Throughout the original "Avatar" and its sequel,
6:23we only get hints at what life is like
on Earth. From what is revealed, though,
6:27it doesn’t sound good. Jake says in the first film
that there’s "no green" left on his homeworld,
6:31and General Ardmore says that the Earth is dying.
The plans for a colonized Pandora show how extreme
6:37things must be on Earth, with humanity soon
intending to leave the planet for good. However,
6:42we still haven’t gotten a real look
at what things are like back home.
6:44Supplemental sources like the mobile game "Avatar:
Pandora Rising" and the official companion book
6:50"Avatar: An Activist Survival Guide" offer
a few more details. Corporate dominance,
6:55environmental devastation, and constant warfare
have effectively decimated Earth’s natural
7:00ecosystem by the time the films take place. We
also know from a handful of lines that classism
7:06is rampant. The super-rich can afford miraculous
surgeries and eternal youth with enough money,
7:11while the masses are left to fight for
survival on the planet’s desolate husk.
7:15Going back to Earth seems counterintuitive
to what the "Avatar" movies excel at,
7:19which is showing gorgeous alien
locales and exotic animals. Still,
7:23a trip home and a closer look at Earth
seem inevitable as the story moves forward.
7:28When Quaritch returns to Pandora at the beginning
of "Avatar: The Way of Water," he’s quickly
7:33brought up to speed by General Ardmore. She
informs him that the RDA’s main objective now
7:38is no longer the mining of unobtainium,
but the preparation of Pandora for full
7:42human colonization. With the Earth rapidly dying,
Pandora looks to be the best chance humanity has
7:48for a new home. Of course, that also means ripping
the planet away from its rightful inhabitants,
7:52decimating its natural landscape, and being
completely vile in basically every way.
7:58"The humans are returning. They're hunting us."
8:01The odd thing is that, later
in the film, we see another,
8:04very different part of the RDA’s operations,
the hunting of the Tulkun. The hyper-intelligent
8:09whale-like creatures are valuable for
the fluid extracted from their brains,
8:13which is said to "stop human aging" completely.
Like unobtainium, it’s a valuable resource,
8:18but not one that would likely benefit
the majority of humans on Earth.
8:22The RDA is pretty clearly two-faced, claiming
to be fighting for the survival of the species
8:27while using its immense resources to
further enrich Earth’s elite. Their
8:31duplicitous nature begs the question, who
would actually get to come to Pandora if
8:36it were colonized? The masses? Or just the
rich, propped up by their hoarded wealth
8:40and a healthy number of Na’vi slaves? Ardmore
only has a small role in "The Way of Water,"
8:44but she’ll likely be much more important
and villainous in the following films.
8:49One of the main storylines in "Avatar: The Way of
Water" is the adorable friendship between Lo’ak,
8:54Jake and Neytiri’s second son, and Payakan, an
outcast Tulkun who saves his life. The tulkun
9:00has been ostracized by the rest of his kind
for rejecting their strict policy of pacifism.
9:06Specifically, he led an attack on an RDA
ship after his mother was killed by humans,
9:10leading to the deaths of many
other Tulkun and Metkayina Na’vi.
9:14It’s a tragic story, but the timeline of it
is pretty confusing. Humans only returned
9:19to Pandora a year before the events
of the film, and as far as we know,
9:23the RDA’s operations during the first film
had nothing to do with the sea. That means
9:28that it would have only been a year ago
at most that Payakan’s mother was killed,
9:31but that doesn’t really make sense. We see
that the Tulkun hunters target mothers with
9:35young calves because they won’t abandon their
kids. While never explicitly confirmed, it’s
9:40implied that that’s what happened to Payakan’s
mother. And yet, he’s a full-grown adult.
9:45Maybe he was already fully grown
when his mother was killed,
9:48but that also creates some weird discrepancies.
The Metkayina talk about him like he’s a legend,
9:53someone they grew up hearing stories about.
So was Tulkun hunting a thing during the
9:58original "Avatar?" Is there something else
going on here? Or is this just a plot hole?
10:03After a long battle with Jake Sully at the
end of "Avatar: The Way of Water," Quaritch
10:08is strangled out and left to drown. Of course,
the unkillable man makes it out once again,
10:12this time saved reluctantly by his son. Spider
doesn’t seek his father out. He’s looking for
10:18the other Sullys when he comes upon Quaritch’s
comatose body. Despite his hatred for the man, he
10:23grabs him and carries him to the surface, allowing
him to fly to safety on the back of his banshee.
10:28Why does Spider do this? Well, there are a
couple of explanations. Just moments prior,
10:33he was under Neytiri’s knife, who threatened to
kill him if Quaritch didn’t release Tuk. In a
10:38surprising twist of fate, the villain agrees,
showing that he does care for his son despite
10:43his claims to the contrary. In addition to
this recent display of affection, Spider
10:47probably just doesn’t want to be responsible
for his father’s death. Leaving him to drown
10:52would basically be killing him, and killing your
father is a big ask, even if you loathe his guts.
10:58Spider hisses at Quaritch when
he’s invited to flee with him,
11:01choosing instead to rejoin the Sullys. However,
11:04he doesn’t tell them what he’s done. Will
Quaritch continue to torment the family,
11:08putting blood on Spider’s hands? Or will this
experience cause him to rethink his heinous ways?
11:13Quaritch is about as cartoonish as a movie villain
can possibly get. Stephen Lang is masterful as the
11:19detestable baddie, spewing hateful monologues and
cheesy one-liners in the same breath. And yet,
11:25despite how over-the-top hateable the character
is, there are hints that he could redeem himself.
11:29In his first real conversation with Spider,
Quaritch apologizes for being a bad father,
11:34something that doesn’t make sense
given that he was killed when his
11:37son was just a baby. This whole scene
is a pretty obvious manipulation,
11:41and he even drops the same line he
used on Jake in the original film.
11:45"You've got some heart, kid,
showing up in this neighborhood."
11:47Spider doesn’t buy it, but he chooses to
go with Quaritch rather than be subjected
11:52to more of the RDA’s torture.
However, by the end of the movie,
11:55there’s at least a shred of begrudging
loyalty between the two of them.
11:58Calling it love might be a step too far, but
there’s something there. Maybe Spider’s hatred
12:03of him will be the fuel that makes Quaritch
reflect on his past actions. Given all the
12:07evil he’s done, though, full redemption
would be a tall task. At the end of "The
12:11Way of Water," Quaritch says that he and
Spider "aren’t even the same species,"
12:15and that line has more meaning than it may
seem. Though he’s the one in a Na’vi body,
12:20he clearly thinks of himself as human and
his son as something else. Nonetheless,
12:24he surprises himself and everyone else
by actually begging for Spider’s life.
12:29When Payakan leaps out of the water to attack the
RDA ship at the end of "Avatar 2," you might think
12:34that the rest of the Tulkun are close behind
them. Sure, they despise violence and killing,
12:39but they’ll make an exception to defend
their home, right? Not exactly. Fortunately,
12:44one Tulkun proves to be enough, because
Payakan’s brethren never surface during
12:48the final battle. Whether or not they’ll
change their ways remains to be seen.
12:52To be clear, there can absolutely be
a role for nonviolent resistors in
12:56instances of oppression. But when the very
survival of your species is on the line,
13:00that role can be hard to find. Humanity
isn’t going to stop their conquest with a
13:04few whales and a little bit of forest. They’re
coming for the whole planet. And when they do,
13:09a whole herd of Tulkun could be a
valuable weapon in the fight for freedom.
13:13Maybe Payakan can convince his community
to break their rules just this once. At
13:18the very least, it would be nice to
see him readmitted into their ranks.
13:21The first "Avatar" doesn’t provide a lot of
details about how the Tree of Souls works,
13:26but "The Way of Water" gives us some
interesting new clues through the
13:29Metkayina’s underwater spirit tree. We see
multiple characters bond with the tree and
13:34have curious visions. However, it’s still
not entirely clear what they’re seeing.
13:38When Kiri bonds with the tree, she sees
her mother working in a lab. The two have
13:42a conversation that’s quickly cut off after
Kiri starts asking questions. Grace appears
13:47to be yanked away from her, and Kiri starts
convulsing from a seizure in the real world.
13:52Later, at the end of the movie, Jake and
Neytiri bond with the tree and see their
13:56son Neteyam. This vision is different from
Kiri’s because it appears to be a memory,
14:01an echo of a moment at the start of the film
that shows Jake training Neteyam how to fish.
14:06Because Kiri never met her mother, her
vision couldn’t possibly be a memory.
14:10So what’s happening here? Are Jake
and Neytiri actually communing with
14:14their son’s spirit? Is Grace’s soul
still alive in Eywa as a result of
14:18how she died? The spiritual aspects of
Pandora may never be fully explained,
14:22which isn’t a bad thing. But in this case,
it would be great to learn a little bit more.
14:27The Na’vi rid their planet of humans at the
end of the original "Avatar," but things
14:31aren’t so simple in the sequel. The big action
climax sees the RDA’s whaling ship destroyed,
14:36but humanity’s operations back in the forest
are presumably still going strong. So what’s
14:42next for the RDA, and how will they
respond to the battle on the reefs?
14:45If General Ardmore is to be believed, more human
forces are coming. She says that she’s been sent
14:51to "tame this frontier," gesturing to Pandora
at large. It’s to be the new home for humanity
14:57if the RDA get their way, which would surely doom
the planet. With the very survival of the species
15:02apparently at stake, we’ve likely only seen a
fraction of the military might that’s coming.
15:07The Na’vi will have a big fight on their hands if
the colonization efforts continue to gain steam.
15:12How that fight takes shape, however, remains to
be seen. Could humanity create a whole army of
15:17avatar soldiers to adapt to Pandora’s environment?
It seems likely. Could they start plundering the
15:23spiritual energy of the planet in addition to its
other natural resources? Also a possibility. The
15:29future looks grim for the Na’vi, but with
a united front, they still have a chance.
15:34Though he’s a trained soldier, Jake Sully
is running scared for most of "Avatar:
15:38The Way of Water." When he realizes how
great the danger to his children is,
15:42he completely abandons his crusade against the
RDA and dedicates all his energy to keeping his
15:48family safe. Throughout the film, we see Jake
humble himself to the Metkayina, Quaritch,
15:52and others to protect his own. But by the end,
he realizes that isn’t going to cut it anymore.
15:57Jake says in the film’s closing narration, "I
can’t save my family by running". This suggests
16:03that he’s accepted Tonowari’s invitation to stay
with the Metkayina, rather than flee again. The
16:09death of Neteyam has changed Jake’s perspective,
and he now knows that fighting back is the only
16:13way to earn peace. However, he doesn’t give
us many real clues about his next move.
16:18"Let's get it done."
16:19Staying with the Metkayina could have some
benefits for sure, but so could moving on to
16:24yet another Na’vi clan. If the RDA is to be fully
defeated, Pandora needs to be united. Staying on
16:30the move also isn't a bad idea, and it isn’t the
same as running away. Whatever happens, the Sullys
16:36have their work cut out for them, but they seem
more than up to the task after "The Way of Water."
