"How Do You Expect To Defeat The Fire Lord Without Pants!"

[redbrunja]

Okay, so I just mainlined Avatar episodes 3x04 through 3x11, (seven episodes in one night, woot!) and I need to go through chronologically and share my reactions, but first I need to get this out.

 

Oh. My. Fucking. God.

 

Oh, Zuko.

 

*bows before the awesomeness that is the Fire Prince*

 

*flails*

 

(See, sometimes threatening a character works! Yes, Zuko, you WILL get to carry Katara barefoot across hot, molten lava while she quotes ambiguous myths at you and is distracting! Because you have EARNED IT. -  and I promise this won’t sound as saccharine as it sounds in the summery.)

 

*flails harder*

 

I'm almost incoherent right now. This was perfect - this was everything I could possibly have hoped for, and never in a million years thought I would ever see - he untangled his family from the Fire Nation, and stood up to his father.

 

"I'm going to find Uncle and beg his forgiveness."

 

I have never loved you more.

 

And now! Now it looks like he's going to be joining up with the Avatar and teaching him firebending! Words cannot even express how happy this makes me. I'm just *vibrates with happiness*

 

*forces self to take deep breaths*

 

(While I was watching this, I kept glancing at the clock, terrified that there was going to be a last minute cliff that would involve Zuko dying, because that is the kind of cruelty that I expect from writers, but no. He’s alive. HE’S ALIVE AND IN CONTROL OF THIS DESTINY!)

 

Okay, let's take this in a more logical order, shall we?

 

"Sokka's Master"

 

While the realist in me goes 'there is no way you can master the sword in a day,' I greatly enjoyed Sokka getting a chance to shine, and seeing how creative and clever he is. I really, really like this boy, and I love how he's just as powerful as every other member of the team, but doesn't always think so.

 

The one downside is that I really miss his boomerang.

 

Also, this episode is reason 2,754 that Iroh is awesome. 

 

You and Sydney Bristow need to chat about how unbreakable and awesome you are.

 

And in my head, at this point, Iroh’s to-do list is ‘Get out. Get tea. Give my nephew the smack he deserves.’

I can't wait to see how the lotus tiles circle around. (And how impressed was I that the hot air ballons made a comeback in the finale?)
 

"The Beach"

 

This episode almost make me like Azula. I mean, how vicious and cutthroat she was with the volleyball was cute when it was, you know, a game.

 

But god, I am so sick of the Mei/Zuko relationship. To quote Jennifer Crusie, "There's a small contrast problem. They have none." You've got one emo, well-bred fire nation youth and another emo, well-bred fire nation youth. It's just... it's so frustrating to watch, mainly because this is Zuko at his most pod!Prince. (And I thought this was annoying when he was doing it with Iroh. That at least had the advantage of Iroh - who just makes everything better.) Plus, they have this boring dynamic - there are no sparks. Either Zuko's being nice and Mei's being her gothic, haughty self, or Mei's being nice and it's just sliding off Zuko's impenetrable shield of gloom.

 

One reason that I think I really like Katara/Zuko is that they are nothing but contrast (I mean the Fire/Water and Sun/Moon imagery is just screaming at us) with enough similarities deep down that you know they could actually like and respect each other, and you know that they would get under each other's skins. Mei and Zuko just seem to slide against each other without penetrating the other's defenses. (Shut up. If I could come up with a metaphor that didn't sound dirty, I would.)

 

So this episode was great regarding what we get to find out about the 'villains' however, I found the final tell-all a little... hard to swallow. For a minute, when Azula started clapping, I though she had manipulated it all the get Zuko to realize he was pissed at himself, but then that wasn't the case, and I was quite disappointed.

 

Also, they taunted me with the idea that Zuko and Mei were going to break up, and then retraced it. I was so disappointed.

 

Plus, when they draw Zuko and Mei together, they make Zuko's hair this weird black/brown shade to make Mei's look darker.

 

"The Avatar & The Firelord"

 

I don't have much to say about this beyond 'yay, backstory.' I love the idea of Zuko being the great-grandson of the last Avatar.

 

Which makes Katara, in a past life, his grandmother and Aang his grandfather. I have no idea where I'm going with this, but it makes me giggle.

 

And also, I really wished we had seen past-Katara actually do something besides be pretty. I was thinking she was going to be another firebender, but, while it’s still possible, they never showed it.

 

"The Runaway"

 

Great, fantastic episode. I wanted to point out how much I loved two strong, independent women having difficulties with each other that are completely unrelated to a man. It was just their personalities and issues bouncing off each other, and that scene with Katara in the water (god, she's a little hottie, isn't she?) made my heart squeeze. I love what Sokka said about not remembering his mother’s face, and seeing Katara’s when he thinks of his mother. I mean... what else can you say, beside 'awwww.'

 

"The Puppetmaster"

 

Katara gets all the best fight scenes.

What was great about this episode is that I've wondered before about using blood (hadn't thought about the idea of manipulating people like puppets though) and I adored that Katara did use it when her back was against the wall.

 

I just adore how the old women won even as she lost, as did Katara.

 

Although, this was one of the episodes where the fact that they don't really kill people (Suki is fucking well alive) really lessens the impact - I was fine with them skimming over what the Fire Nation prison was like, but I really felt keeping the villagers alive was a bit of a cop-out.

 

"Nightmares and Daydreams"

 

It was a nice choice to got for a comedic episode before the big show down, and I think everyone has been at that anxiety-dream can't-rest place before.

 

Was I the only one going 'Katara, just screw him already - a couple of orgasms and he'll be out like a light'? *crickets chirp*

 

Also, the bits with Zuko were excruciating to watch the first time - I keep hoping that it was his daydreams, only it wasn't. I was very much in a 'what the hell, you just found out backstory about the Avatar and the Fire Lord and you're entertaining your dull as dishwater girlfriend?' At this point, I was ready to disown him in my heart.

 

"Day of Black Sun"

 

What is there to say?

 

Katara didn't have enough to do, first off.

 

The lack of Kiyoshi warriors, even if Suki was absent, was really obvious.

 

Seriously, the swamp people come back but not the awesome chick fighters?

 

I really liked how they set up the trap - nothing like clever villains, although I'm back to hating Azula with the passion of a thousand fiery suns.

 

And here is why Suki is not dead: first, we are told that Azula can lie without getting caught. Second, she said that Suki had been her PRISONER. Which means, that after the fight we see, she was still alive. Third, Azula never says Suki's dead - she just said that Suki had given up hope on Sokka (which, you just know has broken his heart into a thousand pieces.) Plus, Azula said that Suki was her favorite, which totally made me think of the man who tried to brainwash Sydney. "You were my favorite. You never broke."

 
(*pst* smiliaraaq - I have a plotbunny that requires an alias for Suki - would you mind if I used 'Soo'? Because that has attached itself as another name for her in my head.) 

So Suki's totally alive.

Either a.) still locked in a Fire Nation prison, and despairing of rescue but knowing that she has to get herself out or

 

b.) she's already escaped, and is wounded and recovering, or back at Kiyoshi island, or... the possibilities are endless.

 

But back to Zuko.

 

I... words fail me. You know when you want something to happen, but you think short of fanfic it never will? And then it does? The only way that conversation could have  been better is if first Zuko had broken his uncle out wearing the Blue Spirit mask.

 

But I can't even complain about that, because Zuko is following his uncle's path and I... *waves hand inarticulately*

 

He mastered lightning! He was composed enough to say his piece and walk away!

 

And there is a post I should write about the Fire Nation as the US, but I am too in love right now to want to drag real world metaphors into this show.

 

I need post-DoBS Zuko/Katara fic now.

 

Thank you, wondrous writers, for giving me set up that can be turned to smut! (Because, seriously, I have been worrying that puzzle over throughout the serious.)

 

*glees*

 

*glees harder*

 

*glees harder still and goes to turn off the heater, because my body temp is high enough, thanks.*

 

Man, what am I going to do with my time now?

 

Oh, right. Studying for finals.

 

Or I could, you know, write fanfic.

 

Comments

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

The character designs and the backgrounds are all gorgeous in general, but they do slip up on continuity sometimes -- some of the girls seem to have magically shrinking and enlarging boobs that aren't readily explained by costume changes, and Zuko in particular, in a couple of S2 episodes, seemed like he reverted to looking 14 for a while instead of 17.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I have noticed the boobs - in general I think most of them (minus Ty Lee) are pretty flat, but there were a couple where Katara looked like she'd had a growth spurt.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Ty Lee has some serious curves going on -- she even has HIPS!

Jin (Zuko's date) was the most notorious for the magic expanding boobs -- some folks have actually worked up explanations in fic for that. But Azula has seemed to wobble back in forth in size quite a bit depending on what outfit they're drawing her in, and most recently TOPH has seemed to have a fair bit of chest in a couple of the latest episodes, which hurts my head a little.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I did not notice the boobs. What were the cracky explainations for THAT?

And now I'm going to rewatch Avatar while staring at the characters boobs.

And yes, Toph should not have boobs, ever. Both because she's twelve (and while had Lirin boobs at 12, they sucked mightily) and does not really have the body type that is going to get curvly later (imho). And I wasn't paying attention when Suki was dressed down, so I can't comment on her rack...

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Oh, well, the thing with Jin is that when that episode aired, a bunch of folks were floating theories that she might be a Dai Li agent (like all of those creepy brainwashed Joo Dees) checking "Li" and his uncle out -- which doesn't seem to have panned out in canon, but made for some interesting fics. So in some versions, her magically expanding cleavage was a very deliberate act of wardrobe adjustment on her part, meant to distract the boys wih her assets while she tried to get them to slip up and reveal their true identities. ;)

Suki, it's hard to tell since she almost always has armor on and you'd expect that would flatten things out a little bit -- but the one time we see her without it in Ba Sing Se she has a bit of a chest, but nothing near as curvy as Ty Lee or Jin -- not flat, but not in pain without a sports bra either (http://screenshots.avatarspiritmedia.net/212/105.jpg)...

And geeze, yeah, I sure didnt have boobs like Toph seems to have sprouted when I was twelve -- I *still* don't have them! *weeps, etc*

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

That is actually a really good explaination.

Be grateful. Be so, so grateful you got reasonable sized boobies, and didn't get them in one six-month shot. That sucked so, so hard.