Sar
penguin
?Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.? -William James
Posts: 21
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Post by Sar on Dec 14, 2007 3:50:51 GMT -5
Hmm...I definitely see your point. Alright, I partially take back what I said about him being a normal teenager in season 3; I think something about Iroh's calming outlook influenced him to be so...well, awkwardly cute in the middle of season 2. As long as he doesn't end the series still romantically conflicted, I'll be okay. Back onto Mai--I honestly have no clue how she will take things. Stung at first, most likely, but over time, I feel she might get over it...eventually. Or maybe it won't take a while at all; I remember the way she glared at Azula after interrupting her and Zuko's little make out session. Who knows?
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Zenjamin
Ba Sing Se Zuko
Toko supporter
Posts: 2,617
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Post by Zenjamin on Dec 14, 2007 10:13:37 GMT -5
As long as he doesn't end the series still romantically conflicted, I'll be okay. ya, because zuko is soo romantically conflicted right now.
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nandireya
Zuko's Path to Redemption Mod
...tickled pink...
Posts: 6,822
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Post by nandireya on Dec 14, 2007 16:56:39 GMT -5
I actually don't think Mai will be all that surprised... If you look at her reactions to Zuko in Nightmares and Daydreams she clearly knows something's up...she can see something's bothering him. To start with everything's peachy-keen, when Zuko's pretending to be the happy little prince, but everything changes when she mentions that War meeting (I'm betting she wishes she hadn't). But she's seen Zuko like this before...all angsty and pouty...and employs her 'look at me and I'll kiss it better' technique (I wonder if she's patented that)...it worked so well for her in The Awakening (well...it shut him up at least)...but she's surprised when it doesn't work here. There's something far deeper bothering him now than his worry about acceptance and she doesn't know how to deal with it...what comfort to offer him...so she pulls away... After that she doesn't even try to comfort him...she's all out of ideas...she's new at all this (and from what we've seen, feelings in general) so we can't really blame her for not knowing what to do with an impossibly angsty boyfriend. Then he gets his invite and things are looking up again...for a couple of scene changes...until he comes out of the meeting. He tells her everything went well...his daddy saved him the special seat and he was everything he was supposed to be. She thinks this is great and she's all congratulatory...but once again he doesn't respond the way she expects him to. She doesn't even attempt the 'look at me and I'll kiss it better' technique...she just distances herself again. She knows he's not happy. She knows, for the moment at least, that she can't make him happy. I think she'll be quite content to let him go off and find whatever it is he needs to make himself happy. I don't think she’ll follow him...she knows it won't make a difference...there's little she can do to help and she might just be a distraction he doesn't need. She'll be happy to wait for him... ...if Azula will allow it...
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Post by chii on Dec 14, 2007 18:37:11 GMT -5
I've really had trouble accepting Mai as someone who cares about Zuko as a person ever since The Awakening. I know she cares about him as a boyfriend, but not so sure she does as a person.
What kind of girlfriend reacts so callously when her boyfriend returns from war?! Going to war is a very big and traumatizing thing especially for someone who's 16. Mai should know this, since she went with Azula, yet it didn't seem to affect her (or Ty Lee) at all. She dismisses everything he might be feeling and says she doesn't want to hear any of it. All she wants is to kiss him.
For someone who hasn't seen him in 3 years, she seems awfully uninterested. That's a long time. If you're going to get into a healthy relationship with someone, shouldn't you care about what they've been doing the last three years?
I know a lot of you will think I'm reading too much into that one scene, but I think that scene was very telling. Why include it (especially since it presented Mai in a bad light) if it wasn't significant?
Sorry for going off topic, but this all ties in with why I think Mai won't go after Zuko after he leaves and why I don't think they'll get back together at the end.
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nandireya
Zuko's Path to Redemption Mod
...tickled pink...
Posts: 6,822
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Post by nandireya on Dec 14, 2007 18:43:49 GMT -5
No...many of us agree...if their relationship was shown more like it was in Nightmares and Daydreams, where Mai's supportive even though she has no idea what to do or say, from the beginning, I for one would have been more accepting of it. But that's not how it was first portrayed and it seemed so out of context with what it had been portrayed as in the beginning which was very much just two hormonal teenagers who really only saw the other one as possessing the complementary set of chromosomes.
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SpiritBender
Buzzard Wasp
Ya tvoy hozyayn!!! (May The Force serve you well...)
Posts: 537
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Post by SpiritBender on Dec 14, 2007 19:03:34 GMT -5
^^Seriously. They're teenagers -- a group of people who are notoriously poor at dealing with emotions. Look at how long it took Zuko to figure out what's wrong with his life. It'll be interesting to see what Mei does, but I doubt that their teenage "romance" will be a deciding factor. I could definitely see Mei growing a backbone and ditching Azula because she's tired of being treated like a slave. However, I have an awfully hard time seeing her leaving everything behind for the sake of "loving" Zuko, or whatever you want to call it.
-- SpiritBender
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nandireya
Zuko's Path to Redemption Mod
...tickled pink...
Posts: 6,822
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Post by nandireya on Dec 14, 2007 19:19:16 GMT -5
Yes...I think she'd need more incentive than fugitive Zuko to leave EVERYTHING behind. She doesn't share Zuko's overdeveloped sense of honour or his high level of moral outrage. She's just a girl who's fond of a pair of siblings...and as nasty as Azula can be I think it's going to be a pretty hard decision...a mirror of the one Zuko made in chosing Iroh over Ozai...eventually...
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Post by zukofan22 on Dec 14, 2007 19:47:51 GMT -5
She might have matured since "The Awakening". She's been with Zuzu from 301-309, plenty of time for her to know him better.
I'm willing to bet that she probably had no clue as to what happened to him. All she knows (from what we see) is that one moment, Zuko's here and they have a childhood crush, the next BOOM, he's gone, and before she knows it. He's back again 3 years later.
Although, it did seem rushed, but 309 was the first time I actually had feelings for Mai, as in, I began to like and respect her (Despite her apparent emotionless behavior).
She still has the crush on him and I don't think she's at the level where she's willing to forfeit her ties to the FN to chase down her fugitive love and help him in his quest. More than likely, she'll just sit there and await his return...if he EVER returns...
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Post by mindbender18 on Dec 14, 2007 19:50:22 GMT -5
......Why would he not return?
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nandireya
Zuko's Path to Redemption Mod
...tickled pink...
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Post by nandireya on Dec 14, 2007 19:53:15 GMT -5
Because he could make the ultimate sacrifice in order to bring redemption to his family?
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Post by mindbender18 on Dec 14, 2007 20:13:02 GMT -5
I should've added "unless he dies" to my post
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nandireya
Zuko's Path to Redemption Mod
...tickled pink...
Posts: 6,822
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Post by nandireya on Dec 14, 2007 20:22:09 GMT -5
Perhaps...and of course there's also no guarantee that Mai will survive...I can see her doing the big sacrifice to save Zuko too.
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Post by mahatista on Dec 15, 2007 1:30:24 GMT -5
^^ True. Also, Azula may need a scapegoat since Ozai seemed pretty ticked that he'd been lied to. So Mai could end up without much choice about whom she chooses -- at least at the beginning. And that would set up a possible sacrifice later if Zuko does get captured. Although by the end of that scene, Ozai's rage was all about Zuko. I wonder who he wants to kill more now -- the avatar or his son? And again, Mai could be good bait to get Zuko to come back and be arrested/deleted. Which again would potentially set up her self-sacrifice. I'm thinking no one will die though. I feel like Nick won't allow it. Between Zuko and Mai though I guess I'd have to prefer Mai because she's not important to the story so far and I think Zuko death (before the final episode anyway) would leave a big gaping hole in the show. But really I'm hoping that no characters die. Especially not Iroh (who I've suspected had the mark of death for a while). But I don't even want Ozai to die. I have a fantasy of seeing him in the same cage where he was keeping Iroh. That would be a nice ending shot IMO.
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nandireya
Zuko's Path to Redemption Mod
...tickled pink...
Posts: 6,822
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Post by nandireya on Dec 15, 2007 2:23:38 GMT -5
I don't hink Ozai would kill Zuko just yet if (when if that storyboard's anything to go by) he gets his hands on Zuko.
Zuko went to join the Avatar...if Ozai believes they're now friends Zuko's much better kept alive as bait. Or...even if he doesn't think Zuko was accepted he can use him as bait to get Iroh...either way, Zuko is worth more to him alive.
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Post by mahatista on Dec 15, 2007 11:46:38 GMT -5
^^I didn't mean to say they would kill him. I think Ozai probably *wants* to kill him.
But I do think Azula might use a threat to Mai as bait to get Zuko to drop his guard. I wonder how many episodes it will take for them to get to that thumbnail. How invested Zuko will be in the group (if he's invested in the group that is) and how invested they are in him. Lots of possibilities here.
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