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Re: Avatar 3x05, 'The Beach'
I...don't think I can retain a single shred of dignity or intellectualism in the eyes of my flist any more. OH MAN.
Okay, disclaimer: the firebrat parts of this episode (ie. MOST of this episode) were pretty much exactly like the most hilariously adolescent type of fanfiction, and in fact startlingly like the worst BSG fanfic I have ever read, but, um, despite (because of?) this, I enjoyed myself IMMENSELY. Because they're teenagers. And even though they spend a lot of their time being kickass and powerful and worshipped by everyone...they're still teenagers, and they can still be socially inept and petty and melodramatic and convinced that their childhoods were the WORSTEST EVER. It was a fairly unnecessary departure from plot, but...er...I had fun anyway. SORRY TRIS & LIZZEN & EVERYONE WHO ACTUALLY HAS TASTE.
And now for caps.
Welcome to the Flimsy Excuse For A Beach Holiday episode. My already overwhelming love for Mai and Zuko is cemented by the fact that they share my apathy when it comes to beaches.
My even MORE overwhelming love for Azula is also cemented by her need to conquer and rule the beach just as she needs to conquer and rule, oh, everything she encounters.
WTF TY LEE. WHERE WERE YOU KEEPING THOSE?
Haaaaaahaha. The theme of this episode is Firebrats Fail At Relationships. Mai's expression is great.
Zuko removes his shirt. The wind musses his hair. Birds fly appealingly upwards in the background.
Avatar fandom thinly disguised as a group of girls show their approval.
Azula manages to set the volleyball net ON FIRE. She is pleased with this further proof of her omnipotence and general awesomeness.
She then decides that going to a party without telling the host that she's the batshit insane heir to the Fire Nation throne is a highly diverting idea, oh la! (This cap shall herewith be known as Azula Lets Her Hair Down.)
She is not at all impressed with the results of her initial attempts to be a normal teenager. I LOVE THIS. I LOVE IT. She has just as few people skills as Zuko does. They are so, so, SO socially inept.
Resisting the urge to set the house on fire and demand that everyone bow to her magnificance, she instead directs her sadism at Ty Lee...
...who is a depressingly easy target, and picking on her is rather like punching wet tissues. Azula sighs and comforts her and admits that she might just be jealous.
Ty Lee: What? Jealous of ME? But you're the smartest most beautiful and perfect girl in the WORLD!
Azula: I know! I know all those things. But for some reason when I meet boys, they act as though I'm going to do something horrible to them.
Ty Lee: But you probably WOULD do something horrible to them.
(Azula's face: Very true.)
What I like about this scene is a) okay, slight overidentification with Azula's plight, b) um, Ty Lee's blatantly obvious and kind of adorable crush on Azula, and c) the fact that Azula doesn't come across as having some Secret Emo about her inability to talk to boys. She is just a bit miffed that there exists something at which she is not perfect.
Ty Lee gives her an impromptu flirting lesson, anyway. Um. This whole scene had me shipping Azula/Ty Lee SO HARD, especially in light of the later revelations about Ty Lee's attention-whore complex. And this ficlet which Tris wrote for me.
Sidenote: the best thing about this season? THE CLOTHES. Even the Gaang get to wear the gorgeous Fire Nation clothes on a regular basis.
Azula duly acquires a target, flirts, and kisses him. Having reassured herself that she can, in fact, do anything she sets her mind to, her competitive nature reasserts itself and she declares that they will be the strongest couple EVER and they will TAKE OVER THE WORLD, because that is clearly what one does when one is an insane princess who is a bit annoyed that one's dweeby little brother has a strong relationship and one feels a need to outstrip him in everything. Her enthusiam for world domination leads her to forget herself and start lightning-bending.
The unfortunate boy she has chosen as her pawn in this new game of One-Upping Zuko is understandably unnerved by her sudden return to crazy, and soon flees the scene.
Meanwhile, ironically, Zuko's relationship has hit its first major tiff, as Mai stops finding Zuko's violent jealousy flattering and starts to find it annoying instead. She calls him on his tendency to lose his shit over the smallest thing, he (predictably) gets mad at her, and they break up. Zuko runs away in a fit of sulky rage and goes to have Backstory Angst at his family's old summer house.
Where Azula finds him, and has no patience for his angst. I love this shot. I LOVE it. If anyone knows where it is available in a brighter icon form, please let me know.
Then there is a communal sharing of childhood woe, like that scene in Notting Hill where they play It Sucks To Be Me for the last brownie. Zuko calls Mai on her inability to express herself.
This scene is the weakest, but it's not irredeemable. I mean, the dialogue is SILLY and they all swing between teenage-emo and pop-psychology like sullen little pendulums, but I will buy into it - only JUST - on the basis that there is something in the air/water/spiritual mojo of Ember Island that forces catharsis and confessions. The 'who are you angry at' scene actually had major overtones of Macbeth & the three witches (er, that might have just been me?) with the wild changing of perspectives and repetition and self-doubt. It wasn't realistic. But at least it wasn't supposed to be.
And then there is a rapid return to form, with Azula telling Zuko that he's pathetic (hurrah) and then cheerfully talking about how little she cared about Zuko being their mother's favourite, and how she's quite happy being an arrogant little psychopath, thank you. Oh Azula <33
And Zuko and Mai make up and make out. If anyone had told me last year that I would be so firmly and absolutely behind an animated OTP, I don't think I would have believed them. (But then again, Anatasia/Dimitri...)
AND THEN. AND THEN. THE FIRE PRINCE AND PRINCESS (AND THEIR RESPECTIVE GIRLFRIENDS) ENGAGE IN SOME NICE CATHARTIC HOUSE-DESTROYING VIOLENCE FOR NO REASON OTHER THAN THEY HATE THESE STUPID NORMAL TEENAGERS AND THEIR STUPID PARTY AND THIS STUPID ISLAND WITH ITS INCONVENIENT EMOTIONAL OUTPOURINGS. JKHFKHSDASDSDH. SO RANDOM. SO MUCH LOVE.
I...don't think I can retain a single shred of dignity or intellectualism in the eyes of my flist any more. OH MAN.
Okay, disclaimer: the firebrat parts of this episode (ie. MOST of this episode) were pretty much exactly like the most hilariously adolescent type of fanfiction, and in fact startlingly like the worst BSG fanfic I have ever read, but, um, despite (because of?) this, I enjoyed myself IMMENSELY. Because they're teenagers. And even though they spend a lot of their time being kickass and powerful and worshipped by everyone...they're still teenagers, and they can still be socially inept and petty and melodramatic and convinced that their childhoods were the WORSTEST EVER. It was a fairly unnecessary departure from plot, but...er...I had fun anyway. SORRY TRIS & LIZZEN & EVERYONE WHO ACTUALLY HAS TASTE.
And now for caps.
Welcome to the Flimsy Excuse For A Beach Holiday episode. My already overwhelming love for Mai and Zuko is cemented by the fact that they share my apathy when it comes to beaches.
My even MORE overwhelming love for Azula is also cemented by her need to conquer and rule the beach just as she needs to conquer and rule, oh, everything she encounters.
WTF TY LEE. WHERE WERE YOU KEEPING THOSE?
Haaaaaahaha. The theme of this episode is Firebrats Fail At Relationships. Mai's expression is great.
Zuko removes his shirt. The wind musses his hair. Birds fly appealingly upwards in the background.
Azula manages to set the volleyball net ON FIRE. She is pleased with this further proof of her omnipotence and general awesomeness.
She then decides that going to a party without telling the host that she's the batshit insane heir to the Fire Nation throne is a highly diverting idea, oh la! (This cap shall herewith be known as Azula Lets Her Hair Down.)
She is not at all impressed with the results of her initial attempts to be a normal teenager. I LOVE THIS. I LOVE IT. She has just as few people skills as Zuko does. They are so, so, SO socially inept.
Resisting the urge to set the house on fire and demand that everyone bow to her magnificance, she instead directs her sadism at Ty Lee...
...who is a depressingly easy target, and picking on her is rather like punching wet tissues. Azula sighs and comforts her and admits that she might just be jealous.
Ty Lee: What? Jealous of ME? But you're the smartest most beautiful and perfect girl in the WORLD!
Azula: I know! I know all those things. But for some reason when I meet boys, they act as though I'm going to do something horrible to them.
Ty Lee: But you probably WOULD do something horrible to them.
(Azula's face: Very true.)
What I like about this scene is a) okay, slight overidentification with Azula's plight, b) um, Ty Lee's blatantly obvious and kind of adorable crush on Azula, and c) the fact that Azula doesn't come across as having some Secret Emo about her inability to talk to boys. She is just a bit miffed that there exists something at which she is not perfect.
Ty Lee gives her an impromptu flirting lesson, anyway. Um. This whole scene had me shipping Azula/Ty Lee SO HARD, especially in light of the later revelations about Ty Lee's attention-whore complex. And this ficlet which Tris wrote for me.
Sidenote: the best thing about this season? THE CLOTHES. Even the Gaang get to wear the gorgeous Fire Nation clothes on a regular basis.
Azula duly acquires a target, flirts, and kisses him. Having reassured herself that she can, in fact, do anything she sets her mind to, her competitive nature reasserts itself and she declares that they will be the strongest couple EVER and they will TAKE OVER THE WORLD, because that is clearly what one does when one is an insane princess who is a bit annoyed that one's dweeby little brother has a strong relationship and one feels a need to outstrip him in everything. Her enthusiam for world domination leads her to forget herself and start lightning-bending.
The unfortunate boy she has chosen as her pawn in this new game of One-Upping Zuko is understandably unnerved by her sudden return to crazy, and soon flees the scene.
Meanwhile, ironically, Zuko's relationship has hit its first major tiff, as Mai stops finding Zuko's violent jealousy flattering and starts to find it annoying instead. She calls him on his tendency to lose his shit over the smallest thing, he (predictably) gets mad at her, and they break up. Zuko runs away in a fit of sulky rage and goes to have Backstory Angst at his family's old summer house.
Where Azula finds him, and has no patience for his angst. I love this shot. I LOVE it. If anyone knows where it is available in a brighter icon form, please let me know.
Then there is a communal sharing of childhood woe, like that scene in Notting Hill where they play It Sucks To Be Me for the last brownie. Zuko calls Mai on her inability to express herself.
This scene is the weakest, but it's not irredeemable. I mean, the dialogue is SILLY and they all swing between teenage-emo and pop-psychology like sullen little pendulums, but I will buy into it - only JUST - on the basis that there is something in the air/water/spiritual mojo of Ember Island that forces catharsis and confessions. The 'who are you angry at' scene actually had major overtones of Macbeth & the three witches (er, that might have just been me?) with the wild changing of perspectives and repetition and self-doubt. It wasn't realistic. But at least it wasn't supposed to be.
And then there is a rapid return to form, with Azula telling Zuko that he's pathetic (hurrah) and then cheerfully talking about how little she cared about Zuko being their mother's favourite, and how she's quite happy being an arrogant little psychopath, thank you. Oh Azula <33
And Zuko and Mai make up and make out. If anyone had told me last year that I would be so firmly and absolutely behind an animated OTP, I don't think I would have believed them. (But then again, Anatasia/Dimitri...)
AND THEN. AND THEN. THE FIRE PRINCE AND PRINCESS (AND THEIR RESPECTIVE GIRLFRIENDS) ENGAGE IN SOME NICE CATHARTIC HOUSE-DESTROYING VIOLENCE FOR NO REASON OTHER THAN THEY HATE THESE STUPID NORMAL TEENAGERS AND THEIR STUPID PARTY AND THIS STUPID ISLAND WITH ITS INCONVENIENT EMOTIONAL OUTPOURINGS. JKHFKHSDASDSDH. SO RANDOM. SO MUCH LOVE.
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Clearly the firebrats just crossed over without realizing. MUST see episode. *snicker*