Oh, god, this episode. I had forgotten why it made my roll my eyes so hard until I watched it again and got to the part where somehow it had never, ever occurred to the villagers to try to clean up the water and improve their lives until Katara came along.
I do still love Dock/Xu/Bushi, as well as the fight between Katara, Aang, and the soldiers. Um ... and Appa's awfully cute even while sick? So I don't totally hate it, but it's definitely not one of my favorites.
This is one of the episodes I like purely because I've seen so many stupid and misogynistic reasons for hating it. ("Katara is SO DISRESPECTFUL TO THEIR CULTURE! How DARE she WASTE EVERYONE'S TIME on this STUPID AND POINTLESS EXERCISE! Ooh, an episode about Sokka learning to fight with swords!")
On the other hand, there's a certain element of "what these folks need is a honky!" or at least some well-meaning teenagers. And I do worry that, as soon as Team Avatar has left, the army's going to come in and wipe the whole place out.
On the OTHER other hand, I love Katara's dedication to justice, and that essentially her first date with Aang involves hardcore eco-terrorism.
This is one of the episodes I like purely because I've seen so many stupid and misogynistic reasons for hating it.
...
Fandom, man.
On the OTHER other hand, I love Katara's dedication to justice, and that essentially her first date with Aang involves hardcore eco-terrorism.
I admit that Katara's line about how she'll never stop fighting for people who need her should have sounded cheesy to me, but instead I found it really touching, especially when Sokka added that he'd always be there for her as well.
I KNOW. And yet, I'll still take AtLA fandom over DW any day. Even as I wonder how much fun could be had if the Moff teamed up with Bryke for some epic fan trolling.
Say what you will about this episode - I still found it rather neat. Yeah, it's kind of Captain Planet-ey, but I really liked seeing the side of Katara that would risk her neck to help people in need, even to the point of making Appa sick of purple berries to make a point. And the fact that Aang, upon busting her, actually JOINS HER IN HER SHENANIGANS, will always delight me. Plus, the brother-sister bonding is always sweet.
This episode, I have always thought, is one that- well, it didn't bother me the first time, but I felt that it just didn't stand up well to re-watching, especially the humor. But I guess I'm not always right, because this time when I saw it for like the eighty billionth time I went straight out the other side of eye-rolling and found everything hilarious again. Yay?
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2011-10-23 12:49 am (UTC)I do still love Dock/Xu/Bushi, as well as the fight between Katara, Aang, and the soldiers. Um ... and Appa's awfully cute even while sick? So I don't totally hate it, but it's definitely not one of my favorites.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-23 01:15 am (UTC)On the other hand, there's a certain element of "what these folks need is a honky!" or at least some well-meaning teenagers. And I do worry that, as soon as Team Avatar has left, the army's going to come in and wipe the whole place out.
On the OTHER other hand, I love Katara's dedication to justice, and that essentially her first date with Aang involves hardcore eco-terrorism.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-23 01:28 am (UTC)...
Fandom, man.
On the OTHER other hand, I love Katara's dedication to justice, and that essentially her first date with Aang involves hardcore eco-terrorism.
I admit that Katara's line about how she'll never stop fighting for people who need her should have sounded cheesy to me, but instead I found it really touching, especially when Sokka added that he'd always be there for her as well.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-23 01:30 am (UTC)I KNOW. And yet, I'll still take AtLA fandom over DW any day. Even as I wonder how much fun could be had if the Moff teamed up with Bryke for some epic fan trolling.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-23 04:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-23 05:25 pm (UTC)