And moving on...

[lebateleur]

Episode 1.11, or Nothing to see here; move along.

Ah, ep. 1.11, in which Our Heroes must cross the Firewyne Valley floor some ginormous canyon on foot whilst simultaneously making peace(?) with two feuding tribes. Meh. Nothing much of great excitement in this episode, which ranked 10 out of 10 on the predictability meter. Sokka and Katara (predictably) go in with the best of intentions and (predictably) end up taking (predictable) sides. (Predictable) mutual mistrust leads to (predictable) danger which the gang's ingenuity (predictably) averts. Still, there were little shining bits of fun, like Aang's harnessing of the Canyon Beasties to take the group up the far wall (although there wasn't much dramatic tension there: Appa could have easily flown them up. But I digress). I also really liked the fact that he lied his ass off to solve the tribes' long-standing enmity, and that his pseudo-explanation was as weak as the tribespeople were stupid. Because honestly? If you are gullible enough to believe the story that your tribe's ancient redemption ritual was a children's game, you truly deserve your lame-o explanation. It was just desserts for Aang, AFAIC, who was the only one honest enough to go without eating.

Episode 1.12, or Getting to know you, getting to know all about you.

Ah, yes. We're already past the midway point of the season; isn't it time we learned something about our anti/hero's past? Was highly impressed here about how this episode wasn't just an information dump; it actually referenced a whole bunch of scenes we'd seen earlier, including in the very first episode, because I'm a total sucker for anyone who knows what's going to happen before they sit down to write.

Again, I dig the way Avatar is loyal to reality instead of loyal to the genre's tropes and motifs. Aang is revealed as Airbender, and what does it get him? Admirers? Defenders? Heck no, it gets him excluded from his peers, and the meddlesome and counterproductive attention of his elders, who suddenly know what's best for him. And he does something very predictable as a consequence of this.

But I will leave him now for wonderful, wonderful Zuko. Because although I'd guessed quite a bit of his story, it was also handled in a really heartrending way: namely, by all those little references in earlier episodes that the creators' don't rub your face in once they've revealed their significance. No Plaintive Flashback Montages here: the Avatar guys assume you're smart enough to remember. And poor, poor Zuko. I mean, I figured his banishment and daddy fixation resulted from the standard model Unapproachable Father Figure casting him out for some perceived sin, but I had no idea dad was responsible for the scar (I took the crew member at his word when he said Zuko got it in an agnikai). So that whole agnikai scene with Zhou (who was smiling when Zuko got it from daddy) makes so much more sense now. And he beat Zhou. Fairly! But in the end he still chose not to give Zhou "a scar to match." Gah. Just the love. (And yes, this is all as predictable as the other stuff, but they are getting my kinks where it hurts here, they really are.) And of course now the whole bit with Zuko's "Did you really mean that, Uncle?" takes on so much more emotional impact because we know why Zuko wants approval from a daddy figure so badly.

And the kicker? Iroh's comment to the crew that, "Things will never go back to normal." Because boy, can I see Zuko bringing in the Avatar or otherwise saving the day for the Fire Nation, and guess what, daddy still doesn't care. And then what's Zuko going to do, once the source of his hope for redemption is destroyed? Aside from join forces with Aang, that is.

And with that, I'm going to hold off on any more speculation, mainly because I'll need something to do once I've run out of episodes to watch.

これで以上です。