Avatar season 2 episode 8: The Chase
Still watching Avatar! Here are some thoughts on season 2 episode 8:
The Chase:
1. Judging by the "Previously on Avatar" section, this episode will include the Dangerous Ladies chasing the Gaang, something to do with Toph and earthbending (training Aang? going blind?), and will also include Zuko (maybe reuniting with Iroh). Let's see how much of the plot they gave away in those snippets! (ETA: chase, yes; Toph, yes, but the point is what she can see; Zuko and Iroh, yes. These intro segments are very thorough spoilers, you know?)
2. We open in a peaceful, green river valley. Some low mountains in the background (you can tell they're low because they're green, not the brown or gray of bare stone, or the white of ice and snow), oddly pointed for such apparently weathered peaks. A plateau to the right of the water, and some trees in the foreground. The sun is directly ahead, low on the horizon in a gap between two mountains. As the Gaang is setting up camp, I presume the sun in setting and therefore the river is running east-west; the plateau is to the north.
3. Appa is shedding because it's spring. How nice; a seasonal marker. Except the Gaang has been wandering around through flowers and greenery for the whole damn season so far, and while I can justify some of that by declaring Omashu to be in the southern hemisphere (and therefore experiencing midsummer to early fall), for Aang to talk about spring means they have moved back into the northern hemisphere... so why does everything still look like it's midsummer?! ARGH!
4. I love how Katara is all, "I'm glad we have another girl around because boys are disgusting!" and then Toph wanders up and is stupid right along with Sokka and Aang. Yay, expectation deflation! Just because they're both female doesn't mean they're cookie-cutter twins! (Also, Katara then gives up and laughs... quietly, and behind her hand, but still.) I wonder, is this when the Mommy!Katara trope starts coming into play? Because she hasn't been particularly mothering before -- comforting, yes; griping about chores, yes; but not what I'd call 'mommy-ing,' not more than an isolated instance now and then. I wonder if Katara takes this new role as a reaction to Toph, or if, now that she's no longer the only girl and does not have to be all things to all viewers, the writers and directors focused her character around fewer traits and made those traits more prominent.
5. I love that Katara and Toph are rubbing each other the wrong way and it has nothing to do with boys or romance or anything like that. They just have a personality and expectation clash.
6. This is why you want Toph around; she is an amazing early warning system. I was half-expecting Katara to argue with her out of general annoyance, but they are all being more sensible than that. (At least for now?)
7. Creepy Fire Nation land-tank-engine-thing is creepy.
8. I like the little greenish shadows under everyone's eyes to show how tired they are. It goes nicely with the muted, grayed out color scheme of nighttime.
9. Katara has a point. They're a group; they should all work together, if for no other purpose than to create and foster group unity. Toph also has a point; why should she do other people's work when she's not asking them to help her? And clearly at this point they are too tired to be nice and understanding about their disagreement.
(Also, see? If an earthbender wants to slam the door on you, there is nothing you can do to stop her. Well, short of maybe roasting her out with fire, or freezing her out with ice, but even in those cases, she could probably just burrow underground and hide somewhere else. Earthbending! Tool of antisocial hermits since time immemorial! *grin*)
10. Note to Katara and Toph: when you are being pursued by an unidentified giant smoking thing, you need to get all the sleep you can, not waste hours on childish bickering. (Do you begin to see why I do not think Katara is in any way a bad match for Aang on maturity grounds? So far, he has been much more mature than she has this episode.)
11. *examines smoking thing* It has a vicious sort of plow attachment in front, probably for tearing through trees and other obstacles. It is also hauling a huge armored cart -- I would guess that's for coal, since I don't think Azula would stoop to providing her own propulsion like a commoner (not to mention she cannot be awake to firebend twenty-four seven), but if we are ditching logic (or if Azula has a small contingent of faceless firebending extras to run her tank-thing), it might also be a sort of sumptuous railway carriage for the Dangerous Ladies to ride in. We shall see which (if either) guess proves correct.
12. How does it keep finding you, Aang? Here's a guess -- maybe by following the fur you made a point of mentioning that Appa is shedding. (Alternatively, by asking people, "Hey, have you seen a giant six-legged flying bison?" since that is the sort of memorably weird sight people are likely to remember.)
13. Aha! The tank-train has two carriage things. So one can be for coal and the second for people: namely, Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee.
14. What the devil are those things they're riding? Clearly lizards of some sort, but what is the other component? *rewinds* Nope, still no idea. *sigh* And cut to commercial break.
15. It's interesting that Toph doesn't count Sokka as a fighter just because he isn't a bender. Azula obviously does not share that prejudice. Also, Sokka shows good sense in deciding to retreat, but Toph stays to fight a little. I am not sure if that was a rearguard action to give the others time to get Appa up and loaded (though they didn't unload much of anything in the first place), or if she's just that confident and doesn't want to run away. Possibly both.
16. Ah, she wanted to fight.
17. Giant logic hole: they can't sleep when they land. Obviously this means Appa cannot sleep at all, since he's the one carrying them, but... what is to stop the Gaang from sleeping in shifts in the air? Heck, even Aang can sleep; it's not as if Katara and Sokka haven't held Appa's reins before.
18. Um, wait, what? When and how did Zuko run across the tracks of Azula's tank-train, why is he following it, and how does he expect to keep up on an ordinary ostrich-horse? Seriously, what?
19. Oh dear. Sokka has the right idea: sleep trumps everything. But Katara can't let it go, and Toph can't stop herself from responding to provocation, and Aang can't think rationally about Appa. (Incidentally, yes, it was the shedding fur letting Azula track them. Chekov's gun rule in action.)
20. Oh, and now Katara and Aang realize they were jerks. Sokka has every right to rub it in if he wants to, and also to draw attention back to the central problem of being chased by Azula and company.
21. Not a bad plan, Aang! (He really does have a bit of trickster in him, doesn't he?)
22. On a completely shallow note, I am kind of annoyed that Sokka takes his shirt off and wrings it out into the river and we are back in a wide, scenic shot so we cannot see him properly. Teasing, no fair!
23. Toph walks along a grassy path in a very prettily drawn pine forest, senses somebody nearby... and knocks Iroh down! Seriously, what? These coincidences are getting absurd. (ETA: Okay, so Iroh has been following Zuko. That explains why he's in the area... except no, it really doesn't. Follow me here, please. Zuko has an ostrich-horse. Iroh does not. Therefore, Iroh cannot keep up with Zuko. Basic logic, people! *headdesk*)
24. Ty Lee is just the cutest thing ever, swear to god. And I love how Mai supplies the word she's looking for, and then looks all nonplussed about being hugged.
25. I like that Mai and Ty Lee are fooled by Aang's fake trail -- they're both city girls, regardless of their fighting skills -- but Azula is sharp enough to be suspicious of a fur trail after Appa's been washed, and notices the pine tree tips he broke as he flew off. Go Azula! Be competent at traditionally male jobs like hunting and tracking! (She's an evil sociopath, but I kind of love her anyway. What can I say? I am a sucker for competence.)
26. I still cannot figure out what kind of lizard and what other animal go to make up those reptilian steeds. Geckos, maybe? (Also, let's count the riding animals: ostrich-horses for the Earth Kingdom, komodo-rhinos for the Fire Nation, and now lizard-things also for the Fire Nation. Ostrich-horses are apparently used for everything, but the Fire Nation has one kind of animal for heavy cavalry and another for reconnaissance and other work that requires speed and maneuverability over power and mass.)
27. Also, while there are two cars on the tank-train -- presumably one for people and one for animals? -- there do not seem to be any other humans besides the Dangerous Ladies. And the tank is still smoking when everyone has left, which implies a coal fire dying out. So what I want to know is where the damn coal is kept, and how the girls got back from the tank to the second car up on the mountain in time to all be mounted when the door came down. I guess maybe there are control levers that extend back through the cars? Or maybe the tank has some form of basic auto-pilot, at least in the sense that you can pull a switch and it will shut down the engine but not trip a brake, so the train will take a while to stop and if you're good you can judge the distance very neatly? I dunno, but this is bugging the hell out of me! Anyway, the girls split up to chase Aang and the rest of the Gaang, and we cut to commercial break.
28. Odd how abruptly the land shifts from green and wet to bare stone and dust. I suppose there's a cloud break in the mountains? (They have gotten taller...) Or maybe there is some earthbending reason the ghost town went bust. Or a spirit got mad a couple generations ago -- if Aang hadn't shown up, maybe this would have happened to the village in Hei Bai forest. Or maybe this is the start of the dry scrublands Zuko was riding through last episode.
Hmm. Actually, that could make a certain amount of sense. Say Zuko was heading out into more fertile lands when he ran across Azula's trail. The Gaang have been traveling parallel to the border between green and brown, and now Aang has gone off sideways into the dry lands. I am still not at all sure what compass direction they've been traveling (just as I am very unsure of all but the most basic, large-scale geography in this world), and I am kind of iffy on the weather patterns that would produce such a dramatic demarcation in climate zones, but whatever. We'll just wave our hands and call it magic.
29. Interesting. Aang opens his glider staff, as if intending to fly away and meet up with the others... and then he pauses, and closes the staff, and sits down to wait. So he changed his plan midstream.
30. Funky lizard critters can run on water! Cool. (I think there's a kind of lizard that does that. The Jesus lizard, it's called? *googles* Ha! Basilisks! From Central and South America, recently imported to Florida with reasonable success. Oh, that is just ten kinds of brilliant. They have the crests and the stripes and everything.)
31. I love this fight. It is lovely and wonderful and lightning-fast. You can see the fear in Katara's face as Ty Lee gets within striking distance. I love Sokka intercepting Mai's missiles, and then throwing his boomerang at her. I love that Ty Lee and Mai interpret the situation and immediately switch targets. The bit with Ty Lee paralyzing Sokka is a beautiful little comedy interlude. And then Mai does not give Katara the time to get off an attack; she just pins her wrists to the tree so Katara loses control of the water. (Come to think of it, why do waterbenders not learn to work with their feet as well? It seems as if that would be a useful skill -- after all, earthbenders and firebenders use their feet to great effect!)
32. And Appa saves the day! *scritches him behind his ears with a rake*
33. Ty Lee: "Was it just me, or was that guy kinda cute?" Mai: *sour face* Oh, Ty Lee, yes he is and so are you!
34. Azula mocks Zuko. Aang is too tired to get it. *pets Aang* *thwaps Azula* (Though, you know, she's right; it is funny. In a mean, horrible way.)
35. I take it back. Ty Lee is not the cutest thing ever. Toph and Iroh having tea is the cutest thing ever. Yes, Toph, you don't have to do everything on your own; being part of a group doesn't have to mean being smothered. Yes, Iroh, you should tell Zuko you need him too. *hugs the entire scene, especially the tea set*
36. "Do you really want to fight me?" Azula asks with a cruel smirk. Before Aang can answer, an ostrich horse bursts from an alley with a squawk, leaving Zuko crouched on the ground. "Yes," he says, standing and removing his hat, "I really do." Oooh, drama! And the standoff. Man, this is intense. I have not been so invested in tiny finger twitches and eye movements in quite a while.
37. OMG, the house with no second story floor! *dies laughing* Oh, I feel bad, I feel so bad, but that was so damn funny. First Azula, then Zuko, then even Aang, almost. *rewinds, is slain again*
38. Hmm. *tracks battle* So Azula eliminates Zuko as a factor by blasting him through the wall of the house; that impact, right on top of falling from the second story, knocks him out at least temporarily. Then she chases Aang up to the roof of the neighboring house, slices it off in sections, and traps him in under falling rubble in the interior... which she sets on fire. (Interesting that once the flames leave her control, they revert from blue to normal orange-gold.) She is just about to kill him when--
39. Katara and Sokka to the rescue! And Iroh, too, to wake Zuko and pull him to his feet as the others face off.
40. And Toph! *cheers for her*
41. Wow, it takes six of them to back Azula into a corner, and even then she gets away. She is a lying, dishonorable skunk (and she practically killed Iroh! *fumes*) but damn, that is some moxie she has, and a hell of a lot of talent to back it up.
42. We in the audience know Katara could heal Iroh, but I cannot blame Zuko for wanting absolutely nothing to do with any of the Gaang right then. *weeps*
43. And we conclude with the Gaang up on a mountaintop, all curled up next to each other -- Toph now lying with the others instead of away on her own -- finally getting some sleep.
-----
That episode was intense. Some serious moments of logic fail and logistics/engineering fail, but overall, I am more than willing to forgive those flaws since I got such a lot of great character interaction, kickass fight scenes, and humor. (I am telling you, the bit with the house with no second story floor? I almost fell out of my chair. Literally.)
*pause* Wait, there is a commentary track on this one! *watches with commentary*
Some comments on the commentary:
A) Aha, Li and Lo were driving the tank? Okay, I will buy that. It explains how the damn thing goes, and also why the tank drivers don't come out to help fight. Nice save, creators, though I think you could probably have spared a line to clarify that within the episode.
B) The giant basilisks are called mongoose-lizards. Okay. I'm not sure where the mongoose characteristics come in, but whatever.
C) I kind of adore the idea that Zuko's ostrich-horse and Azula's mongoose-lizard are fighting off-screen during this whole sequence.
D) Huh, they're right; given the choice between Aang and Zuko as targets, Azula does shoot Zuko first. The question is, why? Does she think fire is more of an immediate threat and with him out of the way for a few seconds, she can get Aang? Is she just that annoyed at Zuko? Would she rather eliminate her competition as Ozai's heir than capture or kill Aang? Hard to say.
E) Ah, I hadn't noticed that Iroh was looking sideways because he suddenly realized Toph was a member of the Gaang, and that that moment of inattention was what Azula took advantage of. *feels unobservant*
-----
So yeah, that explains a few things. It would have been better to get the explanation within the episode, but I will take what I can get. *grin*
This entry was cross-posted from http://edenfalling.dreamwidth.org/424018.html. You may comment here or there.
The Chase:
1. Judging by the "Previously on Avatar" section, this episode will include the Dangerous Ladies chasing the Gaang, something to do with Toph and earthbending (training Aang? going blind?), and will also include Zuko (maybe reuniting with Iroh). Let's see how much of the plot they gave away in those snippets! (ETA: chase, yes; Toph, yes, but the point is what she can see; Zuko and Iroh, yes. These intro segments are very thorough spoilers, you know?)
2. We open in a peaceful, green river valley. Some low mountains in the background (you can tell they're low because they're green, not the brown or gray of bare stone, or the white of ice and snow), oddly pointed for such apparently weathered peaks. A plateau to the right of the water, and some trees in the foreground. The sun is directly ahead, low on the horizon in a gap between two mountains. As the Gaang is setting up camp, I presume the sun in setting and therefore the river is running east-west; the plateau is to the north.
3. Appa is shedding because it's spring. How nice; a seasonal marker. Except the Gaang has been wandering around through flowers and greenery for the whole damn season so far, and while I can justify some of that by declaring Omashu to be in the southern hemisphere (and therefore experiencing midsummer to early fall), for Aang to talk about spring means they have moved back into the northern hemisphere... so why does everything still look like it's midsummer?! ARGH!
4. I love how Katara is all, "I'm glad we have another girl around because boys are disgusting!" and then Toph wanders up and is stupid right along with Sokka and Aang. Yay, expectation deflation! Just because they're both female doesn't mean they're cookie-cutter twins! (Also, Katara then gives up and laughs... quietly, and behind her hand, but still.) I wonder, is this when the Mommy!Katara trope starts coming into play? Because she hasn't been particularly mothering before -- comforting, yes; griping about chores, yes; but not what I'd call 'mommy-ing,' not more than an isolated instance now and then. I wonder if Katara takes this new role as a reaction to Toph, or if, now that she's no longer the only girl and does not have to be all things to all viewers, the writers and directors focused her character around fewer traits and made those traits more prominent.
5. I love that Katara and Toph are rubbing each other the wrong way and it has nothing to do with boys or romance or anything like that. They just have a personality and expectation clash.
6. This is why you want Toph around; she is an amazing early warning system. I was half-expecting Katara to argue with her out of general annoyance, but they are all being more sensible than that. (At least for now?)
7. Creepy Fire Nation land-tank-engine-thing is creepy.
8. I like the little greenish shadows under everyone's eyes to show how tired they are. It goes nicely with the muted, grayed out color scheme of nighttime.
9. Katara has a point. They're a group; they should all work together, if for no other purpose than to create and foster group unity. Toph also has a point; why should she do other people's work when she's not asking them to help her? And clearly at this point they are too tired to be nice and understanding about their disagreement.
(Also, see? If an earthbender wants to slam the door on you, there is nothing you can do to stop her. Well, short of maybe roasting her out with fire, or freezing her out with ice, but even in those cases, she could probably just burrow underground and hide somewhere else. Earthbending! Tool of antisocial hermits since time immemorial! *grin*)
10. Note to Katara and Toph: when you are being pursued by an unidentified giant smoking thing, you need to get all the sleep you can, not waste hours on childish bickering. (Do you begin to see why I do not think Katara is in any way a bad match for Aang on maturity grounds? So far, he has been much more mature than she has this episode.)
11. *examines smoking thing* It has a vicious sort of plow attachment in front, probably for tearing through trees and other obstacles. It is also hauling a huge armored cart -- I would guess that's for coal, since I don't think Azula would stoop to providing her own propulsion like a commoner (not to mention she cannot be awake to firebend twenty-four seven), but if we are ditching logic (or if Azula has a small contingent of faceless firebending extras to run her tank-thing), it might also be a sort of sumptuous railway carriage for the Dangerous Ladies to ride in. We shall see which (if either) guess proves correct.
12. How does it keep finding you, Aang? Here's a guess -- maybe by following the fur you made a point of mentioning that Appa is shedding. (Alternatively, by asking people, "Hey, have you seen a giant six-legged flying bison?" since that is the sort of memorably weird sight people are likely to remember.)
13. Aha! The tank-train has two carriage things. So one can be for coal and the second for people: namely, Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee.
14. What the devil are those things they're riding? Clearly lizards of some sort, but what is the other component? *rewinds* Nope, still no idea. *sigh* And cut to commercial break.
15. It's interesting that Toph doesn't count Sokka as a fighter just because he isn't a bender. Azula obviously does not share that prejudice. Also, Sokka shows good sense in deciding to retreat, but Toph stays to fight a little. I am not sure if that was a rearguard action to give the others time to get Appa up and loaded (though they didn't unload much of anything in the first place), or if she's just that confident and doesn't want to run away. Possibly both.
16. Ah, she wanted to fight.
17. Giant logic hole: they can't sleep when they land. Obviously this means Appa cannot sleep at all, since he's the one carrying them, but... what is to stop the Gaang from sleeping in shifts in the air? Heck, even Aang can sleep; it's not as if Katara and Sokka haven't held Appa's reins before.
18. Um, wait, what? When and how did Zuko run across the tracks of Azula's tank-train, why is he following it, and how does he expect to keep up on an ordinary ostrich-horse? Seriously, what?
19. Oh dear. Sokka has the right idea: sleep trumps everything. But Katara can't let it go, and Toph can't stop herself from responding to provocation, and Aang can't think rationally about Appa. (Incidentally, yes, it was the shedding fur letting Azula track them. Chekov's gun rule in action.)
20. Oh, and now Katara and Aang realize they were jerks. Sokka has every right to rub it in if he wants to, and also to draw attention back to the central problem of being chased by Azula and company.
21. Not a bad plan, Aang! (He really does have a bit of trickster in him, doesn't he?)
22. On a completely shallow note, I am kind of annoyed that Sokka takes his shirt off and wrings it out into the river and we are back in a wide, scenic shot so we cannot see him properly. Teasing, no fair!
23. Toph walks along a grassy path in a very prettily drawn pine forest, senses somebody nearby... and knocks Iroh down! Seriously, what? These coincidences are getting absurd. (ETA: Okay, so Iroh has been following Zuko. That explains why he's in the area... except no, it really doesn't. Follow me here, please. Zuko has an ostrich-horse. Iroh does not. Therefore, Iroh cannot keep up with Zuko. Basic logic, people! *headdesk*)
24. Ty Lee is just the cutest thing ever, swear to god. And I love how Mai supplies the word she's looking for, and then looks all nonplussed about being hugged.
25. I like that Mai and Ty Lee are fooled by Aang's fake trail -- they're both city girls, regardless of their fighting skills -- but Azula is sharp enough to be suspicious of a fur trail after Appa's been washed, and notices the pine tree tips he broke as he flew off. Go Azula! Be competent at traditionally male jobs like hunting and tracking! (She's an evil sociopath, but I kind of love her anyway. What can I say? I am a sucker for competence.)
26. I still cannot figure out what kind of lizard and what other animal go to make up those reptilian steeds. Geckos, maybe? (Also, let's count the riding animals: ostrich-horses for the Earth Kingdom, komodo-rhinos for the Fire Nation, and now lizard-things also for the Fire Nation. Ostrich-horses are apparently used for everything, but the Fire Nation has one kind of animal for heavy cavalry and another for reconnaissance and other work that requires speed and maneuverability over power and mass.)
27. Also, while there are two cars on the tank-train -- presumably one for people and one for animals? -- there do not seem to be any other humans besides the Dangerous Ladies. And the tank is still smoking when everyone has left, which implies a coal fire dying out. So what I want to know is where the damn coal is kept, and how the girls got back from the tank to the second car up on the mountain in time to all be mounted when the door came down. I guess maybe there are control levers that extend back through the cars? Or maybe the tank has some form of basic auto-pilot, at least in the sense that you can pull a switch and it will shut down the engine but not trip a brake, so the train will take a while to stop and if you're good you can judge the distance very neatly? I dunno, but this is bugging the hell out of me! Anyway, the girls split up to chase Aang and the rest of the Gaang, and we cut to commercial break.
28. Odd how abruptly the land shifts from green and wet to bare stone and dust. I suppose there's a cloud break in the mountains? (They have gotten taller...) Or maybe there is some earthbending reason the ghost town went bust. Or a spirit got mad a couple generations ago -- if Aang hadn't shown up, maybe this would have happened to the village in Hei Bai forest. Or maybe this is the start of the dry scrublands Zuko was riding through last episode.
Hmm. Actually, that could make a certain amount of sense. Say Zuko was heading out into more fertile lands when he ran across Azula's trail. The Gaang have been traveling parallel to the border between green and brown, and now Aang has gone off sideways into the dry lands. I am still not at all sure what compass direction they've been traveling (just as I am very unsure of all but the most basic, large-scale geography in this world), and I am kind of iffy on the weather patterns that would produce such a dramatic demarcation in climate zones, but whatever. We'll just wave our hands and call it magic.
29. Interesting. Aang opens his glider staff, as if intending to fly away and meet up with the others... and then he pauses, and closes the staff, and sits down to wait. So he changed his plan midstream.
30. Funky lizard critters can run on water! Cool. (I think there's a kind of lizard that does that. The Jesus lizard, it's called? *googles* Ha! Basilisks! From Central and South America, recently imported to Florida with reasonable success. Oh, that is just ten kinds of brilliant. They have the crests and the stripes and everything.)
31. I love this fight. It is lovely and wonderful and lightning-fast. You can see the fear in Katara's face as Ty Lee gets within striking distance. I love Sokka intercepting Mai's missiles, and then throwing his boomerang at her. I love that Ty Lee and Mai interpret the situation and immediately switch targets. The bit with Ty Lee paralyzing Sokka is a beautiful little comedy interlude. And then Mai does not give Katara the time to get off an attack; she just pins her wrists to the tree so Katara loses control of the water. (Come to think of it, why do waterbenders not learn to work with their feet as well? It seems as if that would be a useful skill -- after all, earthbenders and firebenders use their feet to great effect!)
32. And Appa saves the day! *scritches him behind his ears with a rake*
33. Ty Lee: "Was it just me, or was that guy kinda cute?" Mai: *sour face* Oh, Ty Lee, yes he is and so are you!
34. Azula mocks Zuko. Aang is too tired to get it. *pets Aang* *thwaps Azula* (Though, you know, she's right; it is funny. In a mean, horrible way.)
35. I take it back. Ty Lee is not the cutest thing ever. Toph and Iroh having tea is the cutest thing ever. Yes, Toph, you don't have to do everything on your own; being part of a group doesn't have to mean being smothered. Yes, Iroh, you should tell Zuko you need him too. *hugs the entire scene, especially the tea set*
36. "Do you really want to fight me?" Azula asks with a cruel smirk. Before Aang can answer, an ostrich horse bursts from an alley with a squawk, leaving Zuko crouched on the ground. "Yes," he says, standing and removing his hat, "I really do." Oooh, drama! And the standoff. Man, this is intense. I have not been so invested in tiny finger twitches and eye movements in quite a while.
37. OMG, the house with no second story floor! *dies laughing* Oh, I feel bad, I feel so bad, but that was so damn funny. First Azula, then Zuko, then even Aang, almost. *rewinds, is slain again*
38. Hmm. *tracks battle* So Azula eliminates Zuko as a factor by blasting him through the wall of the house; that impact, right on top of falling from the second story, knocks him out at least temporarily. Then she chases Aang up to the roof of the neighboring house, slices it off in sections, and traps him in under falling rubble in the interior... which she sets on fire. (Interesting that once the flames leave her control, they revert from blue to normal orange-gold.) She is just about to kill him when--
39. Katara and Sokka to the rescue! And Iroh, too, to wake Zuko and pull him to his feet as the others face off.
40. And Toph! *cheers for her*
41. Wow, it takes six of them to back Azula into a corner, and even then she gets away. She is a lying, dishonorable skunk (and she practically killed Iroh! *fumes*) but damn, that is some moxie she has, and a hell of a lot of talent to back it up.
42. We in the audience know Katara could heal Iroh, but I cannot blame Zuko for wanting absolutely nothing to do with any of the Gaang right then. *weeps*
43. And we conclude with the Gaang up on a mountaintop, all curled up next to each other -- Toph now lying with the others instead of away on her own -- finally getting some sleep.
-----
That episode was intense. Some serious moments of logic fail and logistics/engineering fail, but overall, I am more than willing to forgive those flaws since I got such a lot of great character interaction, kickass fight scenes, and humor. (I am telling you, the bit with the house with no second story floor? I almost fell out of my chair. Literally.)
*pause* Wait, there is a commentary track on this one! *watches with commentary*
Some comments on the commentary:
A) Aha, Li and Lo were driving the tank? Okay, I will buy that. It explains how the damn thing goes, and also why the tank drivers don't come out to help fight. Nice save, creators, though I think you could probably have spared a line to clarify that within the episode.
B) The giant basilisks are called mongoose-lizards. Okay. I'm not sure where the mongoose characteristics come in, but whatever.
C) I kind of adore the idea that Zuko's ostrich-horse and Azula's mongoose-lizard are fighting off-screen during this whole sequence.
D) Huh, they're right; given the choice between Aang and Zuko as targets, Azula does shoot Zuko first. The question is, why? Does she think fire is more of an immediate threat and with him out of the way for a few seconds, she can get Aang? Is she just that annoyed at Zuko? Would she rather eliminate her competition as Ozai's heir than capture or kill Aang? Hard to say.
E) Ah, I hadn't noticed that Iroh was looking sideways because he suddenly realized Toph was a member of the Gaang, and that that moment of inattention was what Azula took advantage of. *feels unobservant*
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So yeah, that explains a few things. It would have been better to get the explanation within the episode, but I will take what I can get. *grin*
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