;D ;D ;D
This episode was like "The Gaang explores Internet fandom".
But MAN, this was freaking hilarious! I was grinning the whole way through (well, almost; more on this later), and laughed out loud many, many times. It was just brilliant how the writers poked fun at themselves, which is something I value A LOT when it comes to my favorite shows, that they don't necessarily take everything so seriously. The funniest part (and saddest as well) was the Gaang's reactions. Like I said, it's like they were browsing ASN or DeviantArt. ;D I loved every one of those moments.
Did anyone notice how meticulously-animated Actor!Zuko's "hair" was when he turned away from Iroh during the "split up scene"? It was like a Pantene commercial.
I also loved how Actor!Jet had to crawl while pretending to die to where the "rock" was going to land.
And talk about your references; the music during Actor!Aang's "death" in COD was the same as during the real scene.
And is it me, or did Actor!Toph only have 2 lines in the episode? Yeah, another reference.
And it was hilarious when EVERYONE turned around after Azula tried to distract Zuko with his honor. Why would anyone else care about Zuko's honor?!
Anyway, if I keep going like this I'd just end up listing most of the episode's moments. So I'll just say that I thoroughly loled from this episode. All I know is, much icons shall be made from this. ;D
I also loved how they made all the effects in the show. And boy, it was an effects-heavy play! All the tricks were genius, I thought; the various machineries, the glow-in-the-dark paint, the puppets, the streamers! And of course, that last bit with the action was surprisingly well done as well. Loved it. The overall play was indeed horrible, but it was hilariously horrible and ultra-melodramatic at the same time.
Anyway, speaking of hilariousness, I LOVED LOVED LOVED the Sukka in this episode. See, I didn't before since I found Suki a little dull, for the most part, but ever since TBR she's been AWESOME, and this episode really capitalized on that. I guess she needed imprisonment. LOL.
Every Sukka moment was great: the way she snickered at Sokka during the Warriors of Kyoshi part; the way she was quick on the uptake with Sokka's universal bad jokes; the way she totally WHIPPED him with the "are you trying to get on my bad side?" quip; the dead-serious reminder of her skillz before smiling oh-so-sweetly to satisfy her boyfriend's wishes (but I was ticked off that Nick decided to put an ad for Sozin's Comet over her face at that point; looks like we'll need the DVDs for Suki-Smile icons
), the way she totally face-palmed when Sokka was talking to Actor!Sokka; the way she reacted to Sokka when he was spazzing because he got his jokes published, etc. etc. etc. Just perfect.
Suki completes Sokka. It's that simple.
And I'm a Tokka fan...well, I guess not anymore. Meh, I can ship both.
Speaking of which, the Toko scene was just wonderful, and really helps to bring home the meat of the episode, which is basically our characters dealing with all these things all over again. The way it affected Zuko was just painful to watch, but in a good way. A great way, actually. This has been eating away at him all through the season, and while we have had small lines here and there telling of Zuko's frustrations at not having "fully" redeemed himself, this was really the first time he really spilled his guts about it. Having Toph trying to cheer up Zuko with her experiences with Iroh was just heartwarming, and I loved the way Zuko smiled at her as she said her piece. It was just...GAH. AWESOME. I MISS TOPH. A great friendship can form here. Forget Kazuko, Toko is where it's at.
But, of course, Avatar's founded on parallels, so if Zuko's troubled, you can bet Aang is as well. So, the Kataangst. I'll admit, as a Kataang shipper and someone who can relate to Aang very well, it really hurt watching Aang react to all of this the way he did (so yeah, I didn't grin here). But, that's just my shipper brain talking. In all respects this was a phenomenal scene, and as far as I'm concerned, perfectly fitting the characters; it also explains a few things from the past seasons. Obviously, Katara is confused. I still loved how they finally made her say it even if most of fandom have figured that out already, and I don't blame her for "hurting" Aang one bit. I may be male, but it doesn't take a genius to know that young love is very, very hard, and Katara is currently in turmoil over this. It explains her look in DOBS, as it was basically a less-advanced version of this scene, with Aang declaring his love, and Katara being confused and thinking it's not the right time, thus distressed over the fact that she may have to disappoint Aang and say that she's not ready. I had a hard time putting the "she's just worried that he's going off to war" theory with the side-ways glance we got in DOBS, but this "confused" stuff fits that look MUCH more comfortably. It also explains why there's been very little Kataang since then, as both parties must be trying to avoid the issue. Katara's as confused as ever and don't want to pick a side, and Aang realizes that Katara didn't run to his arms as he had hoped. It was a bad situation. It seems to be me that Katara's attitude towards him in The Southern Raiders finally told Aang what he thinks is the truth: that she wasn't just confused, but that she may not even be interested at all, thus leading to an increase in Aang's effort to get close to Katara in this episode (but Zuko totally cockblocked him XD). The play just made things worse, feeding on all of Aang's doubts regarding Katara's feelings, thus making him overreact and storm out of the play. It certainly didn't come out of nowhere. Like I said, young love is hard and confusing, and the situation Aang was in was OH SO FAMILIAR. I mean, guys, how many times have we said something stupid or noticed something suspiciously disconcerting about that special someone we wanted to court (i.e. oh noes! I made a joke that she didn't laugh at! etc. etc.), and self-doubt just erupted into your head, filling it with countless horrible scenarios? Aang was getting antsy because of this, and this led to a lack of forethought. All of his frustrations in the past few weeks bubbled to the surface, and he acted irrationally. There's no other word for it. He kissed her without thinking and lived to regret it. Poor Aang. Seeing him all depressed like that was just heart-breaking. Think of the utter sadness going through his mind: that all the hope he had had towards finding romantic love in Katara down the drain. It's like Cave of Two Lovers all over again, except worse because Katara wasn't even the one to start it this time. This whole thing also serves to explain Katara's behavior in...most of the series, actually. Probably ever since The Fortuneteller, where she flitted between getting close to Aang and acting as just a friend. That's what confusion does to you.
Oh man; I am SO glad this scene happened! I had hoped that something like this would come along and make sense of it all; help make it into one cohesive storyline, and it did! It wasn't just something they trot out every few episodes just because it was time to deal with Kataang again; it was a general feature of the relationship to appear and disappear when the situation calls for it. And now the stage is set for the finale. Aang is crushed, thinking that he's made a fool of himself and that he may have pushed her away, further feeding his doubts; and Katara is as confused as ever over the whole thing. What will Aang do now that he thinks it's all hopeless? What will convince Katara to finally choose a position and either realize her love for Aang, or realize that it just wasn't meant to be? Well, I have no idea but I know it's going to be AWESOME.
Score:
9/10"So we come to it at last...the great battle of our time." - Gandalf, Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King