"The Great Divide" in Avatar: The Last Airbender gets a lot of flack within the series as being one of the worst episodes there is. The overall series is considered to be utterly fantastic, a neatly packed show where every episode (even the fillers) typically leads to some kind of progression, whether it be the plot or the character arcs.
While this episode is pretty disliked, it also seems like a lot of ATLA fans acknowledge the fact that it isn't actually that bad. In a series so amazing and perfect, it is the one weak spot but doesn't actually hurt the show in any way. The creatures are cool, Aang learned a bit about conflict resolution, and the old man tour guide was probably one of the coolest earth benders we had seen up to that point. So why is it so hated?
10 The Weakest Episode In A Fantastic Series
As mentioned, this episode appears to be the weakest episode in the series. It has the lowest overall rating, with an IMDb score of 7. The next lowest-rated episode is "Avatar Day" with a 7.5, and the rest of the episodes range in that area or higher. This episode isn't necessarily bad, it's just the goofiest and most forgettable in the overall series of highly memorable and amazing episodes. It is also a pretty strange episode in the fact that it doesn't really teach any good life lessons, which is important to consider ATLA is technically a show for kids.
9 Tropes
This episode plays on really popular TV/sitcom tropes over and over again, which made a lot of fans pretty unhappy. Tropes aren't necessarily a bad thing, they're common for a reason, just sometimes overdone. But in the case of this episode, they may have used a few tropes that are deeply played out already while also being bad. This caused a lot of problems within the episode to increasingly make "The Great Divide" unlikable.
8 Sibling Rivalry
One of those tropes was the sibling rivalry, which was even overplayed within the episode itself. They have Sokka and Katara mirror the tribe rivalry between the Zhangs and the Gan Jins, as they act as personifications of the water tribe sibling's opposing personalities. The theme of sibling rivalry is continued when Aang tells his story of the "actual" Jin Wei and Wei Jin, the forefathers of the two tribes who started the conflict between the two. Aang tells the clans that the two men were actually baby brothers and that it was a silly misunderstanding.
7 Appa
Another big issue people have with this episode is the lack of use of Appa. This solution kind of feels familiar to the argument of why the Fellowship didn't use the Eagles in Lord of the Rings. Fans have argued the same for Appa. Why didn't he do roundtrips, why didn't he carry some of the food across to make it a less dangerous task?
While they definitely should have utilized Appa for more than just the elders of the clans, it also has to be remembered that the Divide was extremely large. It took them a couple of days to traverse through, meaning it also would have taken Appa a while as well. And the giant flying bison also needs rest as flying all the time wears him out.
6 The Side Characters Are Frustrating
More than anything in this episode, the side characters of the two clans are deeply frustrating. They never listen to Aang and just continuously create useless conflict. They bring food into the Divide even though they were instructed not to, and cause an even bigger rift between Sokka and Katara. Even when the first crisis happens and the tour guide injures his leg, they still don't let up on their feud and only make the situation worse, threatening their lives and others around them
5 Makes Team Avatar Act Out Of Character
Pretty much everyone in the Aang Gang act out of character in this episode. They each act more like their characters in the play of Ember Island than as they normally do throughout this series. This episode takes place near the end of season one, so not a ton of character development has occurred just yet, but definitely enough to warrant some kind of growth. The episode before this was also "Jet" where Sokka and Katara shared in some pretty deep trust issues and conflict with one another. To have this episode air after, showing that they still have petty issues with each other almost feels too much.
4 100% Filler
While there are definite apparent filler episodes within this series, like "Nightmares and Daydreams," each of these filler episodes seem to continue the story in one way or another, whether that be through character development, like in "The Painted Lady," or moving along a subplot, like in "Avatar Day" which was the direct lead up to "Zuko Alone."
However, "The Great Divide" did neither of these. This episode can be skipped and not impact the series in the slightest. Aang's decision or conflict resolution never comes up again, the conflict between Sokka and Katara never comes into question, and we never see either of the clans ever again.
3 Know-It-All Katara
As mentioned, this episode deeply makes all of Team Avatar act out of character. They act as extreme versions of themselves in order to go along with the plot of the episode. But each exaggeration makes the characters deeply unlikable in this episode. Katara sometimes acts a bit pushy and very much so like a know-it-all, especially in earlier seasons. It's nice that she is flawed, and that she continuously works on bettering this, but this episode brought the know-it-all Katara to its peak without making her likable at any point.
2 Brute Sokka
The same could be said for Sokka. He acted brash and like a brute. He was lazy and just "hungry" the entire episode. At one point, he even says that he traveled with the Zhangs because of their food. This version of Sokka sounds more like the Ember Island play version of Sokka, that was just there for comedic relief the entire time. This version of Sokka was useless, far from the leader of the group, and also acted kind of like a know-it-all which made his conflict with Katara even larger.
1 Aang Lied
One of the worst aspects of this episode is its resolution. In order to get the feuding clans to quit arguing and holding this ancient dynamic over each other's heads, Aang decides to tell them the story of the "real" Jin Wei and Wei Jin. Only, his story is a lie. He made it up in order to settle the conflict, make it seem like a massive misunderstanding. And he totally gets away with it. The fact that fans see the Avatar lie, in a kid's show, sends a pretty horrible message and doesn't really feel like a sound way for Aang to deal with his problems.