Avatar finale. Forbidden love! Angst! MegaDEATH!

[timepiececlock]

15 minutes in

What's up with the animation this episode? It's that occasional funky animation, which always looks worst on Katara and Sokka.

I love that Hakota makes silly invention pun names for things just like Sokka.

I love that Katara gets to go into the war room before the King, then briefs him. That's awesome.

Pod person Zuko is both terrifying and hilarious. Iroh's reactions to him are almost as good.


20 minutes in

I like the lessons from the guru.

I like the statues of the female air nomads and their temple in comparison to the male air nomads.

I'm beginning to think (and I've only barely thought this before, never seriously), that if Azula is a prodigy, then Toph might be even more of one. She's certainly as much a master of her element at 12 as Azula is at 14-15, though we don't know how good Azula was at that age. Still, Toph is pretty friggin amazing if she's the first earthbender of her generation, possibly first ever, to bend metal. She's also uniquely trained in a way that would make her the most likely to achieve it: if you have to understand the insides of earth materials to control the ore that's in refined metal, then she's best equipped because she is never hampered by the illusions of density and invulnerability that come with sight. She already has to understand earth on that level to bend it when she's blind.

I think maybe bending metal might be to earthbending what lightning is to firebending or healing is to waterbending: the ultimate mastery level, something that comes from a deep understanding of the element and what its components are, not just what affect it has when you move it. Then again, the lessons of this episode (and this season) are about balance, so earth is finally getting it's super level-up. What would it be for air? Maybe something Aang already does.


21-23ish minutes in

Run, Katara! Probably a wise choice. But who are you going to tell? ((I love that this show does fanfic scenes but completely inverts them))

"Why would I choose cosmic energy over Katara?" ::whistles:: Wow, Katara, you really did a number on that boy.


37 minutes in

Katara's expression of anger/disgust at seeing Zuko gave me the wonderful vision of her ranting at him a la Stark vs. Chricton on Farscape.

Katara: "My side, your side! My side, your side, my side, your side, my side your side! MY SIDE YOUR SIDE! MY SIDE YOUR SIDE!"

...god someone needs to icon that. If only I had the script or the episode handy.


41ish minutes

"....in your little Fire Nation clutches!" HAHAHA. Oh my god, Katara's hand gestures just make that speech. I love that she pantomimes and gesticulates when she's angry. I've got to remember that for future fanfic.


Hm... only in a cartoon would Azula's little coup actually work that easily. These are hard core secret police killers. They haven't been raised to fear and obey Azula, or any princess for that matter, not even their own, and she's only verbally impressive so far. They wouldn't follow her until she killed Long Feng or the King.


"I don't know if it would work, but..." SAY NO! SAY NO!

...wait a minute, Aang's about to burst in any moment now, when her hand is on Zuko's cheek. And then he'll realize he wasted his chance at self-control for a love who's close with another boy? ANGST! ...god I kind of hope they don't do that. That would be stupid. Then again, sixth graders often are.

Oh thank Appa they didn't. I was worried for a second there. Heh... I love the glare Zuko sent Aang. Where's Pod!Zuko now? It's like "Bitch, why you gotta be interruptin' while I be gettin' my mojo on? Brotha' was so close!"*


"You'll have father's love." Oh please, he's not going to fall for that again. Although it would be so dark and cool if he went evil AFTER having his moment of connection with Katara. Forbidden love! Angst! MegaDEATH!

So Azula flies now? HuhWHA?

I love that Azula's drawn to be so beautiful. Say what you will about the Fire Nation royal family's evil ways, at the end of the day they've still got the pretty gene.

Bare arms. That's a start. Also, his sleeveless training outfit was my favorite of season 1.

AhhAHA! Looks like he is going evil and my secret darkfic wish is true! (because she and Zuko are so not finished. They have...unfinished business. YES. Oh yes. Maybe my dream of them facing off as rivals in the series finale will come true as well?)

If it weren't for the fact that I'm 100% certain the show will end with Zuko on the side of good (for his people if not Aang's side), then I would be worried. As it is, this is just typical Zuko bonehead decisionmaking. He says he's changed, but I don't think he's changed enough yet. That's the problem-- the facade in the beginning of the finale was him trying to throw himself into finding happiness in a life that cannot make him happy. Because's he's not a weary, wounded soldier like Iroh-- he's still a boy, and he's still got issues with his world. Hm... I wonder if Katara had managed to heal him, would his reaction have been different? This was just another incident of the Avatar ruining Zuko's chances for something good to happen, or at least that's how he's probably seeing it.

Strangely, I think Azula probably would be happy enough to have Zuko back, as long as he knows she's in charge. Azula is an opportunist first and foremost. Now that he's got a spine he might be more useful in her employ. Though Zuko didn't look particularly patriotic at the end. My bet is still on him turning on episode 3x07. 3x07 is a good number. And until then, we'll have lots of fun scenes in the Fire Nation family, and maybe even the capital itself. And I am also intrigued by the way Azula played not just on Zuko's weakness about his family and his honor, but on his patriotism as well. Because being a prince is so central to Zuko's image of himself, he probably will go a very long way believing that in the end he's serving his people. We've known that since his flashback about the scarring, though it has been downgraded this season. Still... I bet it was the patriotism that sealed the deal. In his heart, Zuko probably believes, at least partly, that helping Azula is helping the Fire Nation. And he could reject his family, but it doesn't look like he can reject his country.


...or maybe I'm rationalizing and deep down he's just an evil bastard?

...nah. Check the season 1 finale wardrobe change. Still the foreshadowing I trust.


Oh man, I know I was praising Toph earlier, but Avenging Rescue Goddess Katara is pretty much the most awesome thing EVER. The way she flows on a wave of water? That's exactly how I pictured this scene. And the fighting in general this episode is just amazing. I've felt like the fights have been too scarce this season, but they're making up for it here.

Fire Nation Sibling Action! I love this. I have a secret wish for Aang to go "Why are you helping her?!" and Zuko to go "She's my SISTER!" though of course that's not the real reason, and Azula would never be deserving of such sentiment. Not that Zuko is either, at the moment, betraying Iroh like this. That boy's head is and will always be in the sand, apparently. Gotta love him for it, in a sick sad way.

Hhhmmmm.... I really want to know what went down between Zuko and Iroh in the cave. Because I never thought I'd see the day when Iroh raised his hands against his nephew, not even in a way that wasn't really aggressive, like here. I mean... it's like seeing the run rise in the West. It's just... not right. Zuko must have either convinced Iroh he really was capable of choosing the side he knows is wrong and being morally okay with it, thus destroying Iroh's hope for a brighter future, or Iroh must have sensed that Zuko was still not ready. Either way, it couldn't have been a nice conversation.

The way Azula took out Aang with her lightning, and made a hole in his back... has she been taking ninja lessons from Copy Ninja Kakashi? Are the writers all Naruto fans?

I've figured from the beginning that the oasis water would be used like this. Though I thought they would string it out until the ultimate finale... then again I suppose it's like that gun theory in movies and plays. If it's introduced in the first act, then someone's going to shoot before the curtain falls. In this case, the beginning and ending of season 2.

Damn it's sad that I'll be gone for most of next year. I'm going to miss season 3 like whoa. I'll have to catch up in occasional bursts.


*forgive me, I've watched a lot of Scrubs recently


Overall

More ambitious than season 1 finale, and very different in tone. And yet, there are some absolutely lovely parallels. It's almost the complete opposite of the season 1 finale, actually. I'm pleased. Very pleased.


P.S. I so called it. Like 2 minutes + commercial break before it happened and mostly in a moment of wishful thinking, but I still called it. I am totally claiming my call. *claims*

Comments

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Hmm. :shrug: Katara/Aang may be lovely and moving, but it still totally fails to be sexy for me. I feel the deep affection, I feel Katara's protectiveness and Aang's devotion, but I don't see it as terribly exciting. It's pretty, not hot. There's no tension, just perfect trust and loyalty

That's probably because it's so innocent, though. They are innocent together and the ship is innocent.


Innocent love bores me.


BUT, I do love a good tragedy and while I don't find he pairing enticing, I have a distant but strong affection for it. I like that they're BFFs. I like that Aang's in love with her. Call me in a few years when they're both 15+ and I'll decide then if it has a good UST factor.

[easytodistract.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, definitely - I agree - Kataang (as it is right now) isn't sexy. Aang has to be teenager first (at least as tall as Katara) before I can say it's sexy.

I always age the characters in my imagination when it comes adult stuff. When I read Spleef's AxKxZ smut fic, they were all older in my mind's eye. Even adult!Zutara fics get the aging treatment.