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| Saturday, September 12, 2009 07:17 PM |
| On the Viewer - Avatar: The Last Airbender (Book 3, Volume 3) |
 by Fëanor |
"The Day of the Black Sun, Part II: The Eclipse"
There's still a chance Aang might get to fight the Firelord after all. Except that, no. Azula's the one waiting for him. Meanwhile, it looks like Zuko's the one who'll be fighting the Firelord! But dude, if Aang can take out Azula, I say this was all worth it. But even though Azula is powerless during the eclipse, she has Dai Li agents with her who are not.
Zuko's finally having it out with his father. He finally understands and respects his uncle, and sees through to the truth about his father and the Fire Nation.
Sokka is nearly able to walk out on Azula, and Zuko is nearly able to walk out on Ozai, but Azula and Ozai are two sides of the same coin. They use their ability to manipulate people and manage to drag Sokka and Zuko back, stalling them until the eclipse is over. But Zuko has gotten smarter, at least. I'm starting to really like the man he's become. Aang, Sokka, and Toph make the right decision, too: it's time to retreat and live to fight another day.
They foreshadowed many episodes ago that the mad scientist's balloon invention was going to be taken up and used by the Fire Nation, and here's the payoff! Argh.
Zuko missed his uncle. It did seem pretty clear that Iroh was planning his own escape.
The invasion force is good and beaten now. They're planning to surrender. But I don't know if the Fire Nation will allow that. Only the youngest will escape on Appa. It's a pretty painful conclusion. Meanwhile, Zuko is following the Avatar. He's going to have a hard time convincing them he's finally really on their side now...
"The Western Air Temple"
Hey, the Western Air Temple is upside down! This is one of the first places Zuko went looking for the Avatar. Now he remembers with some pain how he treated his uncle back then.
Zuko practices how he should approach the Avatar and his friends by talking to a badger-frog. He does hilarious impersonations of Iroh and Azula. Heh.
When Zuko tries the conversation for real, it doesn't go well. He gets rejected for the millionth time in his life. Poor bastard. But it's easy to see that Aang wants to believe him.
Toph: "I'm beginning to think I'm not the blind one around here."
Oh crap! Assassin dude is back! This is Zuko's chance to prove himself. All he has to do is take down assassin dude.
Sokka really is pretty smart when he puts his mind to it. He calculated the angles on the fly and hit assassin dude right in the head with his boomerang. Impressive. He even made the guy blow himself up! Very nice.
I'm so glad Zuko and Aang have come to an understanding. That was a powerful scene, and a very long time coming.
Damn, Katara is a hard-ass. If Zuko slips even once, she's going to be all over him.
"The Firebending Masters"
Hmm. Zuko is having trouble firebending, perhaps because he's let go of his hate and rage. He has to find a new source for his power - perhaps by going back to the original source of firebending: dragons! But dragons are extinct. So they decide to examine the ruins of a nearby temple of the Sun Warriors, who learned firebending from dragons.
Aang: "In our group, typically we start out our missions with a more upbeat attitude."
Zuko: "Oh, I can't believe this."
Wow, Iroh killed the last dragon! That's messed up.
The Sun Warrior ruins turn out to be a cool, Indiana Jones-style temple. And hey, there are the Sun Warriors themsevles! Now Zuko and Aang get to be judged by the masters and find out if they're worthy. If they're not, they'll be destroyed! It's the ultimate test for both of them, as they've both been trying to prove they're worthy, and afraid they're not, pretty much their entire lives. Both of them had a part in destroying the dragons and ruining the world, so they're chances aren't all that great! Now the Sun Warriors are playing the show's theme song on their drums. Neat.
The masters, as I suspected, are dragons. They're not extinct after all!
They've been judged, and found worthy. Awesome scene! Iroh didn't kill the last dragon, he was judged and found worthy, as well, and then lied about what happened to protect the dragons. Excellent. Now Zuko has his juice back, and Aang has seen the true nature of firebending.
I love the Sun Warrior leader and his joke about imprisoning them forever. "Just kidding. But seriously, don't tell anyone."
"The Boiling Rock, Part 1"
Sokka is seriously planning to go break his father out of a high security Fire Nation prison by himself? Dummy.
Sokka: "I'm gonna rescue my Dad. Are you happy now?"
Zuko: "I'm never happy."
Sokka: "My first girlfriend turned into the moon."
Zuko: "That's rough, buddy."
Ha! I gotta say, they're a much funnier duo than I would have figured.
Great, now Zuko and Sokka are stranded together on the prison island with no way to get off. This was a great plan.
Heh. I love when Zuko tries to talk like his uncle.
Hey, they found Suki!
Oh no, the warden is Zuko's ex-girlfriend's uncle. The guy has no luck.
Heh. Chit-Sang corrected Zuko's grammar.
I thought it was a bad idea for Zuko, Sokka, and Suki to stay instead of escaping, but as it turns out, the escape attempt didn't work anyway, and now Sokka has a chance to rescue his Dad. But now they're in real trouble, as their only plan for escaping failed and Chit-Sang is bound to give them up to the warden.
"The Boiling Rock, Part 2"
Heh heh. Sokka asks for extra time to rough up Zuko, and the other guards allow it, saying fondly, "Newbie."
Woah, May's here!
I'm surprised Chit-Sang held back what he knew for so long. And hey, he still didn't give up Sokka! Good for him.
Oh no, Azula's here now, too, and she's not falling for any BS.
Oh man, I laughed my ass off when Chit-Sang instantly started a prison riot by grabbing a guy and yelling, "Hey! Riot!" So hilarious!
Holy crap, Suki is a serious bad-ass. She just raced across the entire prison and kidnapped the warden in like three seconds flat.
They're almost out, which means it's time for Azula to show up and ruin everything. Yep, there she is! She can freaking fly with lightning power?! Jeez.
Well I'll be damned. May is going to save them! She kept the guards from cutting the line and started the gondola back up. She really does care for Zuko.
YES!!! Not only did May betray Azula, so did circus girl. Circus girl's betrayal I really didn't see coming, and it was deeply satisfying. May: "I guess you don't know people as well as you think you do. You miscalculated." So fantastic. I love seeing Azula get hurt, betrayed, abandoned, and made to look bad. It's good to see Chit-Sang joining the gang, too. That was my favorite episode in a while! |
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