She's Standing In The Ashes At The End Of The World

[redbrunja]

It's been a long time darling, but it's good to have you back:

Okay, 2 minutes in and we have one of the most awesome Zutara moments ever. Seriously, Mike & Bryan - he saves her from falling rocks, lies on top of her for a bit with his hand curled around her waist, and they stark at each other for a bit, and you don't know why we ship them?

I think that moment right there was my second favorite bit of the episode.

Even mom, the Maiko shipper, was holding my hand and squeeing through that scene.

Azula is awesome. I really like her when she's being badass and not totally winning, and that shot of her with her hair flowing was fantastic.

I wish the animators would have lingered more on that scene where Katara catches Zuko.

Okay, Suki and Sokka? Totally fucking. I mean, totally. And I love a girl who sneaks into her lovah's tent.

Bloodbending? For the motherfucking win!

That was my favorite scene - Katara bloodbending with no angst about it, Zuko's look of 'holy fuck she's even more powerful than I thought', and then Zuko's utter disbelief that the Fire Nation officer could ever forget about anyone he hurt. Because I think that's something Zuko has always had - even if you're on the opposite side, you damn well remember who you hurt.

And I love love love the repeated images of Katara looking up just like Hama looked up. You guys rock, Avatar animators.

Katara and Zuko ninja-ing around was everything Stormbenders promised us it would be.

And have to say, I'm a little ambiguous about the resolution of the episode - it was only saved by the fact that Katara didn't forgive that man - she just didn't kill him.

I really like Aang's 'oh fuck' epiphany. That said, Avatar State hello? Is he completely not responsible for anything he did while under that? I mean, he's already killed people.

Also, I've been avoiding spoilery icons posts, but if anyone has good icon recs for just this episode I'd be interested.

Comments

[oyster-district.livejournal.com]

Katara and Zuko ninja-ing around was everything Stormbenders promised us it would be.

Oh, man. You're gonna make me cry. For real. Thank you.

What I like about the resolution of this episode is its ambiguity. Katara spends so much of the series being completely self-righteous about whatever she's doing, and now she's actually uncertain for once. She's growing. It's great.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Oh, man. You're gonna make me cry. For real. Thank you.


You've very welcome.

And I was pleased about the resolution of this episode as well - I was really afraid that they were going to go to a 'revenge is wrong' place, but they ended up at a really nicely human 'I won't descent to his level but I hate him' situation. I would have written it different, but *shrugs* Definitely up to par for Avatar.

And I really liked how this episode dealt with Katara's self-righteousness and the bloodbending in a really understated way.