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These episodes have been really good-- better than the first five episodes of the season.

Episode 3x06

That was cool! I love little personality quirks, like the fact that Roku was terminally clumsy in his youth, and that he was married until his dying day. I love that Sozin was short like Iroh instead of tall like Ozai.

I love love LOVE that Roku was Ursa's grandfather. It suddenly makes all the Aang/Zuko fics out there faintly incestuous, it would possibly make Zuko queasy about having Aang killed if only Zuko hadn't been raised in a snakepit royal family where betrayal and murder is part and parcel, and plus it's just neat. My question then is... how did Iroh get to be so good? Ozai soured with time, but time changed Iroh for the better, and most of Zuko's good appears to be from his mom's side. I suddenly want to read TONS of Ursa and Roku fic.

I love that the blue dragon again symbolized evil while the red symbolized the avatar, a nice switch from typical series dogma and reflective of Zuko's dreams of Azula. We also now know that Roku was born into Fire Nation noble class, else he never would have been friends with Sozin in the first place, and on top of that his legacy remained one of nobility if his great grandchild married the second-in-line prince. This casts even more interesting light on Ursa--- she undoubtedly knew her grandfather as the Avatar and that influenced her politics on some level good or bad.

Episode 3x07

Toph was awesome, but even better was the wanted poster that made her look like an evil pumpkin. Sokka was typically immature his own bratty adventurer way and Aang was typically immature in a pure lack-of-maturity-or-age way. My favorite scene was when Katara yelled at Aang to stop touching his face and to speak clearly when he talks.

I kept thinking that they were being more than just risky with continually scamming streetwalks, but also because Toph or Aang could be caught earthbending and imprisoned for it. What happens amounts to the same thing, though.

I wonder who interfered with that guy at the end? Someone who might be Aang's future teacher?

Overall, this episode had a bit of a filler feel, but it was a nice set-up for Katara's development in the next episode, and in fact these two episodes combine to make a nice little character development arc for her. An arc where she confronts aspects of herself emotionally, physically, and ethically.

Episode 3x08

Rad! That was absolutely awesome. Even though I could see it coming, it was still wicked awesome. I hope this episode airs Halloween weekend. I declare this the first season 3 nominee for Most Disturbing Avatar Episode of the Season. Last season's winner was of course the flashbacks to Zuko's twisted childhood home life, and the first season prize goes to Koh and his many creepy faces.

I love that they expanded the idea of waterbending in one of the better ways we've theorized, and in one episode solved Katara's lack-of-resources problem as well as elevating her to a new level of waterbending mastery.

I knew she had it in her, too. This is the part of Katara that inspired me to think of scenes like "Blackheart": the inevitable result of incredible talent, inborn righteousness, and a type-A leadership personality. It's wonderfully in character with her because we know that Katara will reject this ethically at the moment, but we also know that in every future battle she participates in, somewhere in the back of her mind will always be the knowledge that she is capable of doing so much worse. If she can yank the water from a tree and explode it without thought, she can do it to anything... like make the Combustion Man explode from the inside out. (Having spent a month cutting down invasive trees for environmental conservation work, I now have new respect for how tough trees are, they're nature's giants.) The old woman won, and I love that she did.

What I also noticed: that Katara was able to learn from a single instance of witnessing and personally experiencing bloodbending. I thought that they'd win some other way and she'd pop up with the talent in a later episode, having taken time to practice. But Katara's already gotten so good that she can learn on the spot. Katara is, I believe, every bit as much a prodigy as Azula, maybe better. She's probably close to becoming Toph's equal as well. Though both girls learned a new rare form of bending in a stressful brief period, Toph had the benefit of time and solitude to practice while Katara had the benefit of a visual and visceral example. Both are brilliant.

At fourteen she proves she can outbend a master with a lifetime of passion and experience. I'm sure this bloodbending will improve her healing abilities too, since they're two sides of the same coin.

I wonder if Aang will learn these things? In several years, I suppose. He doesn't have time to specialize much right now, though its cool he's learning to earthbend blindly. I guess eventually he'll be a healer, a bloodbender, and a metalbender too. Since Toph is apparently the first metalbender (else the Fire Navy would be useless), I'm sure Aang will be the first metalbending Avatar. Right now it looks like Katara and Toph are going to be badasses when they invade the fire nation. They'll be the big guns to Aang's Big big gun.

I want to write fic now. Because this dangerous, less morally pure Katara is exactly the kind of girl I want to write Zutara fic about. Not because it makes her less righteous or good, but because it gives her a better understanding of evil and how easy it is to give in. Katara declared she wouldn't bloodbend, and minutes later she was morally tested and her internal strength failed. She reached for the strongest weapon at her disposal, no matter how unethical.

Actually, we've seen Katara be unethical before. She steals, she lies, she does what is necessary. She may not make a habit of scamming steet people or rely on cheating to get money, but her good intentions are much more dangerous than gambling. ::does a little jig:: This is so cool! I wonder if she'll use it on Ty Lee in the future. That'd be the best way to defeat Ty Lee from a distance.

I'm going to watch episode 9; I'll report on it later.