I am sort of live-typing my thoughts here, so forgive the long-winded-ness. I have actually forgotten a lot of what happens in the setup of this episode, so it's like watching it fresh :D
- Sokka and Katara's banter is so on-point. Brother and sister bickering is hilarious.
- Y HALO THAR FIRE NATION CAMP.
- I forgot how Jet has a little bit of bullet-time in his intro. Love how they set him as a totally dashing BAMF.
- Using Jet to create tension between Katara and Aang, who are naturally pretty trusting at this point - despite everything that's happened to them - and Sokka, who is fairly suspicious is pretty simple but very effective.
- Katara's crush on Jet is kind of adorkable.
- I WANT TO LIVE IN A TREE VILLAGE. Even though I'm a bit scared of heights. DETAILS *handwave*
- Jet is a master at playing Sokka and Katara off against each other.
- Huge amounts of sympathy for Jet. As much as he has agency and is responsible for his own choices, the situation he's in makes it understandable. Stupid war.
- Poor Katara :( NEVER TRUST A DASHING MAN
- ALSO FUCK YEAH TREE BATTLE
I really enjoy this episode - it illustrates a serious point that regardless of the war, compassion and trust are still valuable.
...illustrates a serious point that regardless of the war, compassion and trust are still valuable.
Watching it a few weeks back, indeed remarked, "It's a children's cartoon about the ethics of guerrilla warfare. That's really something kids don't get enough of."
Jet. Okay. I admit that I was like, "Huh. Yum." When I first saw him.
But as the episode progressed, I was like... "Uhhh...not so yum."
I remember truly being horrified that the dam was broken. I was like, "BUT THEY GOT OUT, RIGHT?! RIGHT?!" And was so relieved when they showed Sokka's rescue.
This episode, for me, really gave an example of how fantastic the story-telling was - and would be - for the duration of the whole show. This was one of the episodes that solidified it for me.
1. Allegations that I was almost a week late for my own re-watch are ENTIRELY FALSE STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT, GOD!
2. I really didn't like this episode when I first saw it. Everything about Jet screamed bad news to me, from his heroic entrance to his charm, to his Ewok tree city Ewok tree city. It was just a matter of when he would turn out to have feet of clay, and how much tedious tension I'd have to sit through before everyone else realised Sokka was right.
It took me a while to change my mind. I warmed slightly to Jet after his episodes with Zuko and reading various and effectively interchangeable Zuko/Jet fics, but I still had a hard time buying the idea that he was meant to be in any way interesting.
I didn't actually come around to Jet until I listened to the commentary for "Lake Laogai", wherein Bryke described him as a guy who sometimes had the right idea, but within whom there was a profound psychological flaw, a moral Achilles hell, just something not quite right about him.
After that, he became a whole lot more interesting to me, and it made watching this episode again a whole lot more palatable.
This time, I was able to have a lot more appreciation for the way the established characters react to him. Especially Katara and Sokka, who have basically grown up without interacting with anyone close to their age. Katara's trusting, Sokka is more wary. This is going to be reversed by the time Zuko joins them in season 3, by which point Katara's willingness to trust is gone, while Sokka's paranoia has been tempered by experience. And Aang just seems to attach himself happily to any big brother figure going.
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2011-02-20 02:34 am (UTC)- Sokka and Katara's banter is so on-point. Brother and sister bickering is hilarious.
- Y HALO THAR FIRE NATION CAMP.
- I forgot how Jet has a little bit of bullet-time in his intro. Love how they set him as a totally dashing BAMF.
- Using Jet to create tension between Katara and Aang, who are naturally pretty trusting at this point - despite everything that's happened to them - and Sokka, who is fairly suspicious is pretty simple but very effective.
- Katara's crush on Jet is kind of adorkable.
- I WANT TO LIVE IN A TREE VILLAGE. Even though I'm a bit scared of heights. DETAILS *handwave*
- Jet is a master at playing Sokka and Katara off against each other.
- Huge amounts of sympathy for Jet. As much as he has agency and is responsible for his own choices, the situation he's in makes it understandable. Stupid war.
- Poor Katara :( NEVER TRUST A DASHING MAN
- ALSO FUCK YEAH TREE BATTLE
I really enjoy this episode - it illustrates a serious point that regardless of the war, compassion and trust are still valuable.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-20 02:36 am (UTC)Watching it a few weeks back,
no subject
Date: 2011-02-20 04:18 pm (UTC)But as the episode progressed, I was like... "Uhhh...not so yum."
I remember truly being horrified that the dam was broken. I was like, "BUT THEY GOT OUT, RIGHT?! RIGHT?!" And was so relieved when they showed Sokka's rescue.
This episode, for me, really gave an example of how fantastic the story-telling was - and would be - for the duration of the whole show. This was one of the episodes that solidified it for me.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-25 10:05 pm (UTC)2. I really didn't like this episode when I first saw it. Everything about Jet screamed bad news to me, from his heroic entrance to his charm, to his
Ewok tree cityEwok tree city. It was just a matter of when he would turn out to have feet of clay, and how much tedious tension I'd have to sit through before everyone else realised Sokka was right.It took me a while to change my mind. I warmed slightly to Jet after his episodes with Zuko
and reading various and effectively interchangeable Zuko/Jet fics, but I still had a hard time buying the idea that he was meant to be in any way interesting.I didn't actually come around to Jet until I listened to the commentary for "Lake Laogai", wherein Bryke described him as a guy who sometimes had the right idea, but within whom there was a profound psychological flaw, a moral Achilles hell, just something not quite right about him.
After that, he became a whole lot more interesting to me, and it made watching this episode again a whole lot more palatable.
This time, I was able to have a lot more appreciation for the way the established characters react to him. Especially Katara and Sokka, who have basically grown up without interacting with anyone close to their age. Katara's trusting, Sokka is more wary. This is going to be reversed by the time Zuko joins them in season 3, by which point Katara's willingness to trust is gone, while Sokka's paranoia has been tempered by experience. And Aang just seems to attach himself happily to any big brother figure going.