We're almost at the end now. And these episodes are pretty good.
The Southern Raiders
Wow, there's a side to Katara we've never seen before. Also, this will contain spoilers.
The party is forced to flee as Azula - who is starting to go off the rails - leads an assault of the Western Air Temple with a squadron of airships. While they celebrate with Zuko after the escape, Katara remains antagonistic towards him. Wanting to patch things up, Zuko offers to help Katara find the man who killed her mother; Yan Ra of the Southern Raiders. The pair set out to seek revenge, but Aang urges Katara to forgive him.
This is by far a pretty dark episode. It's interspersed with flashbacks of the fateful day, but from different perspectives each time: We initially see Sokka's perspective when Zuko asks about it, showing the Southern Raiders attack the village and the warriors fending them off. Later, Katara tells Zuko the events from her perspective; she went to find her mother Kya, but discovered Yan Ra in the house. Kya sent her to find Hakoda, promising to supply Yan Ra with some information in exchange for Katara's safety.
We see Katara become determined to get closure, almost with the same attitude that consumed Jet. It's heartbreaking to see one of the most caring and compassionate characters in the show be so consumed by grief. Even Aang realises that it's a journey she needs to take. As she and Zuko set out on the night of a full moon, it feels ominous. It's cool to see the pair working in tandem as they infiltrate a Fire Nation communications centre and obtain dispatches from the Southern Raiders. They later attack the Southern Raider flagship, during which time Katara's desire for closure leads her to bloodbend the captain. It shows how far she's willing to go, but then discovers that Yan Ra has since retired.
Here's where I'm going to spoil it: Katara and Zuko confront Yan Ra, who is living in a Fire Nation village with his overbearing mother. It's then revealed that he'd originally raided the Southern Water Tribe village in search of an alleged waterbender, killing Kya when she falsely claimed to be who he was looking for. Katara prepares to kill Yan Ra, but ultimately can't bring herself to do it while he's willing to throw his own mother under the bus.
The final scene tore me up. Katara contemplates her decision not to kill Yan Ra, wondering if she was too weak to take her revenge or strong enough to not do so. But as Aang commends her for not doing so, she also admits that she didn't forgive him either. However, she does forgive Zuko. It's a powerful scene, and ends on an ominous feeling; as Aang states that violence isn't the answer, Zuko asks how he's going to face the Fire Lord with that attitiude.
It makes me hyped for the finale, but there's going to be a breather before then.
The Ember Island Players
This is the penultimate episode, and it's essentially a recap. But it's done in a unique way.
Zuko has given the party a safe haven at his family's beach house on Ember Island. Meanwhile, Sokka and Suki have discovered that a theatre group known as the Ember Island Players is staging a play based on the party's adventures. They quickly discover that the production is a Fire Nation propaganda piece in which all the characters have been exaggerated for comic effect.
There's not really much to say about this one. As mentioned above, it's essentially a recap of the entire series. However, rather than just doing a clip show, they tried something different, and it pays off. The poster advertising the show mentions that the playwright learned of the party's travels from a variety of sources, including the pirates from "The Waterbending Scroll", the nomads from "The Cave of Two Lovers", and the ever-present cabbage merchant.
Most of the episode is just the party watching the play and seeing how the Fire Nation perceives them. Aang is an overly mischievous prankster, Sokka is obsessed with food, Katara is overly emotional (and obsessed with hope), Zuko is perpetually angsty (and voiced by Zuko VA Dante Basco's brother Derek Basco), while Toph is an incredibly buff guy with a scream-powered sonar sense (because nobody in the Fire Nation would admit to getting their arses handed to them by a petite blind 12-year-old girl).
While doing the recap, the play also works in some funny moments based on fan reactions. For example, they gloss over events of "The Great Divide" by saying "Eh, let's keep flying". Apparently even the show's writers weren't fond of that episode and preferred to forget it. They also describe Jet's death as being "really unclear".
There's also some moments where the play genuinely starts to get to the party. This includes Sokka's relationship with Yue, and Zuko turning on Iroh. Toph and Zuko have a heart to heart as Zuko dwells on his mistake, mentioning her chat with Iroh in "The Chase". The third act cranks that into fifth gear, depicting Azula killing Zuko and Ozai killing Aang, which leads to the audience giving a standing ovation. I did mention that the play was propaganda.
But the effects were decent.
No comments:
Post a Comment