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jennariaDear TV creator-people, put down the Star Wars and step back slowly.
...well, if they had to steal, at least they stole from the good trilogy. I mean, seriously, could the ending of the second season get any more Empire Strikes Back? Barring Aang's hand getting cut off, I mean?
(Mark Hamill voicing Ozai will never not be funny, though.)
I am more and more impressed with Sokka as I continue (yeah, yeah, I know, me and sword-fighters, I'm at least predictable) -- and less impressed with Katara. Mostly because she gives me emotional whiplash, which is probably in character for a young teenager but still doesn't make me think she's nearly as mature as the show keeps telling me she is. She's been doing this for the entire show, but it's getting highlighted as the other characters grow and mature, and she...doesn't seem to be doing so.
Okay, Toph isn't necessarily maturing either, but it's like Toph learned what she needed to on that mountain from Iroh, and hasn't significantly backslid since. Plus, she's Common Sense Woman. By definition, she's had her head on mostly straight from the beginning.
Zuko...hmm. From a meta standpoint, I can understand why he makes the choice he does at the end of the second season. If he chooses 'good,' then it's too easy. He's choosing under fire, under influence. He wouldn't have been picking a side, he'd just have been picking whether to knuckle under Azula or his uncle. Which, y'know, much though I adore Iroh (and I do), it's better for Zuko long-term to make his own choices, however wrong they were in the short term.
Trying to picture it from his side: after his fever, it was like he'd given up entirely. He was happy -- to the point of being un-Zuko-ish! -- but it wasn't a deep happiness. Maybe, if things had turned out differently and they'd stayed in Ba Sing Se and he'd had time to adjust, really adjust, to being this not-Zuko...Zuko never does anything by halves. Maybe he could have been happy. But then Azula turns up, treacherous and beguiling, and here's a way to have everything you've ever wanted, Zuko. Just do the same thing you've done for three years -- go after the Avatar and his friends -- and you can have honor, glory, freedom (of sorts). You can have your father's love.
Of course there's poison in the apple. This is Azula we're talking about. But this is also Zuko we're talking about, who wanted so badly to believe that Azula was telling the truth that he marched straight into a trap. Honor is everything to him -- and he's never been sure that his uncle shares that. There was no way he could say no to Azula.
I'll also admit that Zuko facing down his father, fearless during the eclipse, and motherfucking redirecting lightening to make his escape? Oh yeah. That's my boy.
The scenes wherein Iroh prepares himself to escape were pretty hot too. Just saying.
...well, if they had to steal, at least they stole from the good trilogy. I mean, seriously, could the ending of the second season get any more Empire Strikes Back? Barring Aang's hand getting cut off, I mean?
(Mark Hamill voicing Ozai will never not be funny, though.)
I am more and more impressed with Sokka as I continue (yeah, yeah, I know, me and sword-fighters, I'm at least predictable) -- and less impressed with Katara. Mostly because she gives me emotional whiplash, which is probably in character for a young teenager but still doesn't make me think she's nearly as mature as the show keeps telling me she is. She's been doing this for the entire show, but it's getting highlighted as the other characters grow and mature, and she...doesn't seem to be doing so.
Okay, Toph isn't necessarily maturing either, but it's like Toph learned what she needed to on that mountain from Iroh, and hasn't significantly backslid since. Plus, she's Common Sense Woman. By definition, she's had her head on mostly straight from the beginning.
Zuko...hmm. From a meta standpoint, I can understand why he makes the choice he does at the end of the second season. If he chooses 'good,' then it's too easy. He's choosing under fire, under influence. He wouldn't have been picking a side, he'd just have been picking whether to knuckle under Azula or his uncle. Which, y'know, much though I adore Iroh (and I do), it's better for Zuko long-term to make his own choices, however wrong they were in the short term.
Trying to picture it from his side: after his fever, it was like he'd given up entirely. He was happy -- to the point of being un-Zuko-ish! -- but it wasn't a deep happiness. Maybe, if things had turned out differently and they'd stayed in Ba Sing Se and he'd had time to adjust, really adjust, to being this not-Zuko...Zuko never does anything by halves. Maybe he could have been happy. But then Azula turns up, treacherous and beguiling, and here's a way to have everything you've ever wanted, Zuko. Just do the same thing you've done for three years -- go after the Avatar and his friends -- and you can have honor, glory, freedom (of sorts). You can have your father's love.
Of course there's poison in the apple. This is Azula we're talking about. But this is also Zuko we're talking about, who wanted so badly to believe that Azula was telling the truth that he marched straight into a trap. Honor is everything to him -- and he's never been sure that his uncle shares that. There was no way he could say no to Azula.
I'll also admit that Zuko facing down his father, fearless during the eclipse, and motherfucking redirecting lightening to make his escape? Oh yeah. That's my boy.
The scenes wherein Iroh prepares himself to escape were pretty hot too. Just saying.