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

[ivy-chan.livejournal.com]

Hm. See, I didn't like the anti-revenge message Aang was sending. I think she was justified in killing the man who murdered her mother. (Murder of an unarmed civilian noncombatant? A MOTHER? Bastard in the highest degree.) Still, revenge does have a lot of grey lines, and it's much easier to see all of them when you're standing in an unbiased perspective, like Aang was. I don't think he was coming across as hypocritical, though: Aang's motivation hasn't been about revenge. He's killed while in the Avatar State, which is clearly not really him, but even then the motivation was to save something or someone or beat off attackers. He could have been consumed by hatred of the Fire Nation, but as we see, he's willing to give them a second chance. It seemed to me like he wanted Katara to go and find her mother's killer and confront him and find closure, but not to 'stain her soul' with coldblooded murder or become consumed in the need for revenge, like Hama was.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Hm. See, I didn't like the anti-revenge message Aang was sending. I think she was justified in killing the man who murdered her mother. (Murder of an unarmed civilian noncombatant? A MOTHER? Bastard in the highest degree.)

Agreed. I am resistant to forgive the sinner is pretty much all forms and Aang is saying everything that people who have never been hurt and don't understand that deep, deep grief say. Frankly, what struck me as hypocritical is that Aang should KNOW BETTER.

That is where I really dislike the Avatar State. He gets upset, goes into the AS, and then isn't responsible for what he does or how he feels. (I'm thinking of when he attacked the sand people here.)

[ivy-chan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the Avatar State is the perfect way to have the main hero kill people and wreck things without being a Bad Person or having consequences to their actions. I did like it in the episode where they try to force him into the Avatar State and he has a nightmare about being uncontrollably destructive, (killing Zuko,) and decides that he doesn't want to try to use the Avatar State that way. I kind of wish he'd have more worries and regrets about it, but this is where the 'it's a kid's show!' filter comes in. And Avatar State is weird, anyway. It seems to pick and choose how much peril Aang has to be in before it kicks in, or how angry he is.

I admit to watching the episode where they meet Bumi for the first time, and Aang's life and his friends lives are threatened multiple times in a most convincing way. I SO wanted him to snap into AS and start trashing everything, and have Bumi thining:" Oh shit, this wasn't part of my ingenious scheme!" And then Aang kills Bumi while in the AS and then learns that this is his childhood friend and has to deal with the guilt. I'd like to write that.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

It really does scream 'writer's plot toy!' And if that had happened in that episode, it would have been a hundred thousand times better. I would LOVE to read it if you decide to do an AU on that one.