No I don't want to battle from beginning to end
I don't want a cycle of recycled revenge
I don't want to follow death and al his friends - Death and All His Friends, by Coldplay
And really, that was the whole point of the episode, wasn't it?
This is going to be loooooong.
I gotta say, I went into the episode with a lot of excitement, but knowing that there is potential for major disappointment given my distaste for everything Zutara. Yes, even Kazuko. I am ashamed to admit it, but in all my time participating in Kataang-Zutara debates, I've grown sour of the latter. Very sour. More like pure hatred. I can't stand it. Replacing it with Kazuko doesn't help matters much either. This is definitely a personal thing and it has nothing to do with anyone except me taking things too seriously.
And therefore it was completely understandable why I came away from the episode underwhelmed, and that it took a few hours for things to settle before I can even begin to feel motivated to write a review. However, I don't think that that was the major thing. The other, more serious complaint, which I'm relieved to see from others as well, is that it was rushed. Way too rushed.
It was just bad timing. I had been doing a Stargate marathon ever since the beginning of May, and I was used to hour-long shows that touched on many character repercussions within each episode because they had the time. And now this episode comes along. Don't get me wrong, I loved many, many moments, but there were just SO MUCH untapped potential. So many scenes that could've been there to pull at our heartstrings, to make character development more smooth, etc. Still, now that I think about it, I realize that I liked it anyway, despite the rushness. So, as Katara says...let's do this.
They were totally playing with the fanbase when they had Zuko saving Katara from the rocks. Lulz.
The opening battle was KICK-Equus asinus. That I cannot doubt. Azula's high-pitched, cruel line was clearly indicative of something beginning to snap in her mind. Yes, she was cruel before, but this was just downright cold and evil. That leads me to assume that Mai and Ty Lee had always been forms of moral centers for her; they were human connections that prevented Azula from going deeper into her sociopathic tendencies. With them gone, she's free to dwell on those tendencies and go nuts. This is further supported by her actions before meeting up with Mai and Ty Lee, namely in "The Avatar State", where she was all ready to kill Zuko with lightning. So yeah...pretty disturbing lady.
Enough psychobabble. The battle was freaking awesome. Zuko looks like he's evenly matched with Azula, easily taking the bits of fire thrown at him and brushing them away. Though I have to add that I was incredulous when they decided to show a long scene of the rest of the Gaang right after Zuko fell. I believe I yelled out "what the hell are you guys doing?! Do you realize that Zuko is still falling?!" It was funny. Anyway, Azula rocked out loud in stopping herself falling, and it was just lovely seeing her hair down.
Though...talk about your Deus Ex Cliffbranchas.
Oh, and I loved Suki's little quip, "um, there's an awful lot of fire in that general direction". Ah, I've missed that little attitude of hers. ;D
Ok, moving on. I completely understand Katara's behavior in the last few episodes, and I even empathize with her here. Still, I do believe that the writers have achieved an imbalanced in her character in the last few episodes due to the fact that every scene involving her have had her being bitchy and crabby (the end of TBR being an exception); she can't be constantly angry, but it's hard to think otherwise when we almost never see her smile or laugh without it being somehow an insult to Zuko. Therefore, when she walked out on the Gaang in the campfire scene (and it was a pretty cute/sweet scene before that), it was more like "here we go again" instead of "what's her problem?" And the fact that Zuko was THAT clueless was a little...too much. Does he really think that Katara's being a surd to him for no apparent reason? Didn't he listen at all to her death threat? She outlined it right there that it was because of his betrayal that she's so mad at him. Still, it was nice seeing Katara setting the record straight, and you can see right there that Zuko was going to try all he can to make it up to her (well, ok, he also said that out loud). More on this later.
At first, I was not happy with how Katara just brought up her mother for no apparent reason when she yelled at Zuko. I mean really, there was no reason other than to get the plot moving. But then I thought back to COD and it became quite clear: Katara is STILL equalling Zuko to the face of the Fire Nation. I was pretty shocked, as I thought she had made good progress in slowly seeing Zuko as a human being with her severity-diminishing insults in the last few episodes but...I guess not.
Oh, and Katara looked pretty crazed when she said those things about Zuko getting her mother back and taking back BSS. Her eyebrows were all raised and stuff. Sarcasm at its best.
And what follows is one of the funniest bits of Avatar I have ever seen. The moment Suki appeared, all ready for HOT HOT HOT SEX, I knew exactly what was coming up. I paused the video, and laughed like a crazy person.
It just kept getting better from there on out. First, Suki lies and walks away. Some say she chickened out, but it was obvious to me that, at that moment, a lightbulb appeared over her head. Instead of telling Zuko that, yes, she had to talk to Sokka first to get the HOT HOT SEX, she decided at that moment that a practical joke on Sokka is much more important. And so, she told Zuko to go in instead her, knowing that there will be mucho awkwardness for the boys, and mucho lulz for her.
Suki's awesome. ;D
Then, came the face:
...Yeah. Awesome. Many icons of this plz.
From there, we have Sokka eating (!!) the rose, and being all awkward. After the flashback, we have Sokka looking for that HOT HOT SEX, only to have Zuko standing right there being all like "Dude...patience." XD
At this point I like to just talk about the flashbacks. Kid!Sokka and Kid!Katara were soooooooo cute and adorable in every way: the snowball fight; the way Kid!Katara laughed when she hit Sokka; how Sokka tried to strike back with that huge snowball that's bigger than his head and that which he can barely carry. And then just the way they delt with the attack; with Sokka fighting even though he can't compete with the adults (the little snowball he hit the FN soldier with...so CUTE!), and Katara running worriedly for her mommy, and then shouting for dear daddy to help in that high-pitched, adorable voice. That said, it wasn't nearly as tearjerky as I thought it'd be given how much M&B talked about it, and I really think this was one of those times when Avatar should've been longer. The rushness really killed any significant emotional impact this could've had on me. Imagine if it had more time; we could've seen how Katara and Sokka delt with the loss.
Imagine a scene where Sokka and Katara cried into a similarily-mourning Hakoda's chest, their saddening wails echoing around the village's walls, while every other tribesman watched on with pity and sadness on their faces. Wouldn't that have been more impacting? I think it would've. The reveal of why Kya (yeah, I yelled out in happiness when they revealed her name) died didn't really impact me, as I've heard it far too often in the form of a theory. So yeah, nothing surprising there. This whole section really could've been given more time to sink in. I would've loved a whole episode of this, actually, as then we can actually see Katara and Sokka interact with Kya under normal conditions, to see how good of a mom she was, making it more emotional when she died.
Ok, moving on. Being a diehard Kataang shipper, the Aang scenes made me uneasy, even though I know that it's just a stumbling block before endgame. Ultimately, he was indeed very wise and correct, and he was the perfect one to deliver that message given his past. I LOVED how he referenced The Desert and the fact that his people got wiped out, as well as what the monks have taught him. This shows that he's developing as a character and I just LOVE that. Oops, I already said that. Heh. The fact that Katara didn't really listen to him was interesting. It disturbs me that she didn't seem to give a second thought at that point to her best friend's words (even if there is no romantic feeling there, they were still close), but I guess it showed just how angry and determined she was, which was kind of proven when she said those horrible words to Sokka. Zuko, meanwhile, totally egged her on. I don't see this as him condoning Katara's actions (though I can see why it's easy to assume he was), but rather him realizing that this is a way for him to be redeemed in her eyes. He wanted to settle things between them and this was the way to do it. He is going to help her with whatever she wanted to do. As I said, he was going to do anything to make it up to her.
Hmmm...that almost makes it seem like he's being selfish...but I don't want to conclude that. Someone help me out here?
Ultimately though, it's Aang's words that form the theme of the episode. Yes, at the end, Katara didn't forgive Yang Ra, but this was still closure for her. Aang was right, she had to take this journey. It was Katara's turn to face her crossroads of destiny. As with the Avatar State and the choice between Ozai and Aang, both shadowing their respective characters' personas, so was Katara's unresolved issues with her mother's killer. Aang gave her a choice: revenge vs. forgiveness (or at least "not revenge"), and Zuko took her to her limits, just as the Guru did for Aang, and Iroh and Azula did for Zuko. The stage was set, and at the end, Katara chose to spare the pathetic man's life.
Before thinking about this, I had a hard time understanding why Katara forgave Zuko, and then after forming the thoughts I just typed out above, it became clear: Zuko provided a way for Katara to release her burden, to give her a chance to face her demons. Zuko didn't bring Katara's mom back, but he did help to calm Katara's memories of her, and that counts for something.
Lastly, I just like to touch upon a few more scenes where it was too rushed. First, the bloodbending. It was cool and all, but I did not like how it was downplayed. Zuko reacted, but it was too quick, and only his eyes showed, that I barely noticed it. Then, it was never mentioned. It felt like the writers just wanted to being it back so The Puppetmaster isn't a complete filler, but ultimately did nothing relevant with it...other than showing just how angry Katara was. Hmmm...I suppose that counts as something; oh, and Katara's voice definitely reflected some fear when she realized that the person she was bloodbending didn't actually deserve her hatred as he's the wrong person...but I still would've liked some more reaction from Zuko. I mean, just one scene, where Zuko asks her about it, could solve this problem. He asks her, she tells him what it is, he's horrified, and we see that Katara is a little disturbed too, though her anger still controls her. That's all I would've wanted, just to see that Katara's not all vengeance, but a little human too. Also, more time devoted to Katara making her choice would've been nice. I think the writers overdid it with the intenseness of Katara's resolve, so that her sudden switch around at the end came waaay too fast. I also didn't like how Yang Ra went from joking with Katara about his mother, to suddenly groveling in a high-pitched voice for his life. It felt like something was cut out there.
So yeah, ONE-HOUR AVATAR EPISODES PLZ.
Final thoughts: A good episode that dived into Katara's psyche, but which could've been sooooo much more if there were more time.
Score:
9/10So...did you read it all?