Post by Alleluia on Dec 19, 2008 11:25:07 GMT -5
I disliked Southern Raiders b/c Katara was not reacting realistically to the events of the last few episodes. She should have been being *nicer* to Zuko, not meaner. He had just helped save her father in the last episode. So, instead of being grateful, she goes into super-depression/anger about her *mom's* death? And blames *ZUKO* for it? What now? I mean, srsly, Katara was wierd in TSR. They didn't write that episode well at all. Her motivations were very unclear and even contradictory given the previous events in the show. I thought her particular emotions whenever it had to do with her mom or facing Yan Ra were realistic, but the emotions toward Zuko that the creators decided to use to get us there were contrived.
Zuko in TSR wasn't great either. Him wanting to help Katara face her mom's killer, that I bought. His exchange with Aang and the obvioous difference in their POVs over whether Katara should seek the guy out also made sense and seemed in character. But the fact that Zuko was perfectly ok with her planning and almost killing the guy? That made no sense to me. It wasn't just a reversion back to his old season one self b/c season one zuko didn't kill. He still showed mercy(see: ep 103- SAT). Zuko was OOC about that whole situation.
And the fact that he and Katara didn't have some kind of significant talk at all while on the trip made no sense to me. I mean, if there is something to have a chat about its "Yeah, so when we catch up to this guy and you face him, what's going to happen? Are you willing to kill the guy?" *Something* along those lines. That would have at least given some significance to Aang's lines before they left about forgiveness and shown an actual struggle. Plus, as Nand just basically said, Zuko had just learned 4 episodes previously that anger shouldn't fuel things. He should have been applying that knowledge.
In short, TSR was written like the characters had been given temporary amnesia or something about the lessons they had learned.
That being said, my least favorite episode is not TSR. XD I still liked parts of it, even if it felt like they were trying to shove a square peg into a round hole for a good portion of it. Kaia's story and chibi Katara and Sokka, not to mention another look at the south pole, were worth it. Or at least worth enough to keep TSR from being one of my most disliked eps.
My least favorite would have to be The Avatar State and The Awakening. I didn't like either premiere. TAS lacked punch and set up. Sure it had Azula show up. That was good. But on the gaang's side there was not much. Yeah there was roku and the bit about dying in the avatar state(that never mattered in the end of it all b/c there was NO consequence to Azula killing him in the AS. Or even suspense about it b/c the heal happened immediately in COD). But, there could have been a much more interesting plot for the gaang in the premiere then there was. Like, maybe, setting up their goal for the season? Instead it was just a not so monotonous stop over on their way to Bumi. The premiere should have had more.
The Awakening just had bad directing. It switched back and forth btwn Zuko and the gaang's side so many times. And it did so in the middle of scenes. Like how Zuko's first remeeting of his father was handled. It was cut in half at a rather random moment when it shouldn't have been interrupted at all. It seemed choppy to me and annoying.
Zuko in TSR wasn't great either. Him wanting to help Katara face her mom's killer, that I bought. His exchange with Aang and the obvioous difference in their POVs over whether Katara should seek the guy out also made sense and seemed in character. But the fact that Zuko was perfectly ok with her planning and almost killing the guy? That made no sense to me. It wasn't just a reversion back to his old season one self b/c season one zuko didn't kill. He still showed mercy(see: ep 103- SAT). Zuko was OOC about that whole situation.
And the fact that he and Katara didn't have some kind of significant talk at all while on the trip made no sense to me. I mean, if there is something to have a chat about its "Yeah, so when we catch up to this guy and you face him, what's going to happen? Are you willing to kill the guy?" *Something* along those lines. That would have at least given some significance to Aang's lines before they left about forgiveness and shown an actual struggle. Plus, as Nand just basically said, Zuko had just learned 4 episodes previously that anger shouldn't fuel things. He should have been applying that knowledge.
In short, TSR was written like the characters had been given temporary amnesia or something about the lessons they had learned.
That being said, my least favorite episode is not TSR. XD I still liked parts of it, even if it felt like they were trying to shove a square peg into a round hole for a good portion of it. Kaia's story and chibi Katara and Sokka, not to mention another look at the south pole, were worth it. Or at least worth enough to keep TSR from being one of my most disliked eps.
My least favorite would have to be The Avatar State and The Awakening. I didn't like either premiere. TAS lacked punch and set up. Sure it had Azula show up. That was good. But on the gaang's side there was not much. Yeah there was roku and the bit about dying in the avatar state(that never mattered in the end of it all b/c there was NO consequence to Azula killing him in the AS. Or even suspense about it b/c the heal happened immediately in COD). But, there could have been a much more interesting plot for the gaang in the premiere then there was. Like, maybe, setting up their goal for the season? Instead it was just a not so monotonous stop over on their way to Bumi. The premiere should have had more.
The Awakening just had bad directing. It switched back and forth btwn Zuko and the gaang's side so many times. And it did so in the middle of scenes. Like how Zuko's first remeeting of his father was handled. It was cut in half at a rather random moment when it shouldn't have been interrupted at all. It seemed choppy to me and annoying.