The Boiling Rock

[peri_peteia]

So, I caught the end of this tonight and realized that because of the leak and DVD and all we never had an official discussion post about this episode.

Executive Decision: THIS IS THAT.

Guys. Guys.

Discuss.

Comments

[jill_rg]

Mai's betrayal ties in all those little moments over the past two seasons where you wondered, "What is going on with her? This doesn't feel right." When she agreed to forfeit the deal for her baby brother, when she unquestionably obeyed Azula's command to leave in "The Headband," they were all little things that were worth it to convince Azula of her loyalty. When it came down to the wire and she dropped the facade, Azula was truly fooled.

It's flooring. Mai fooled AZULA! Azula, the devious mastermind, the manipulative genius, who knows everything about everybody and can predict and control their every move! She never suspected that what Mai felt for her brother could be stronger than the fear she provokes in people.

Did you hear Azula's hopeless confusion when she said, "The thing I don't udnerstand is why?" You can see the wheels turning in her head as she's trying to piece the puzzle together still trying to find a reason for what in the world could prompt Mai to do somehting so apparently foolish. What did she miss?

Love. If Azula is a sociopath, she can't understand love, the depths that a p[erson will go to for it. All she knows is, if it enabled Mai to trick her like this, she hates it!

"You miscalculated." Has there ever been a stronger but plainer line on this show? Can you feel how strongly that must rattle Azula, to know there was something she did wrong, some factor she didn't have total control over? That's how powerful Mai's love for Zuko is.

Who could call them shallow now?