{"id":456,"date":"2011-07-11T13:00:06","date_gmt":"2011-07-11T20:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=456"},"modified":"2011-07-10T17:09:26","modified_gmt":"2011-07-11T00:09:26","slug":"mark-watches-avatar-s03e16-sozins-comet-parts-i-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2011\/07\/mark-watches-avatar-s03e16-sozins-comet-parts-i-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Avatar’: S03E16 – Sozin’s Comet, Parts I & II"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the first half of the series finale of Avatar: The Last Airbender<\/em>, both sides assemble for the oncoming battle against the Fire Nation. In the process, though, Aang disappears and some old friends show up to give their support. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Avatar<\/em>.<\/p>\n

PART I<\/strong><\/h1>\n

I was fascinated that the opening minutes of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sozin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Comet\u00e2\u20ac\u009d contained so much happiness, especially since there wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be much of it in the rest of the story to come. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s both a sign of how unprepared Aang feels and the desire of the gang to enjoy what they had while it still lasted. It was also nice just to see them all interacting with so much happiness on their faces. I think I also knew, deep down, that this was the last time I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d get to see all four of these characters acting downright silly, enjoying watermelon juice, having a beach part, and laughing at Sokka\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interpretive art. It was one of those moments where I had to stop and acknowledge that this show and this wonderful experience was coming to an end.<\/p>\n

Okay, I must also admit I was wondering WHAT THE HELL THESE CHARACTERS WERE DOING<\/em>. The greatest fight of their lives was closing in, and they were building sand Appas? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m certainly not a fan of over-preparing myself, but this seemed like the polar opposite of that. Sokka, the king of over-preparation and mass paranoia, even seemed disinterested in Zuko\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s insistence that Aang needed to train more. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s when Katara reveals a secret that sort of puts an interesting context on the last few episodes: They had all decided to wait until after<\/em> Sozin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Comet passed to attack the Fire Lord. Considering that the Fire Nation had pretty much \u00e2\u20ac\u0153won\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the war after taking Ba Sing Se, what else could they do while Aang was still not trained as well as he could be?<\/p>\n

I guess it sort of<\/em> makes sense, though it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s about taking failure in a different direction than they had in the past. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d seen Team Avatar fail numerous times since the end of season two, so now it looked as if they were being preemptive about protecting themselves. And I get that! But\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.surely they didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think that Ozai would just do nothing<\/em> when the comet passed by?<\/p>\n

I suppose that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a moot point to make; Zuko reveals why<\/em> he is so upset with the stagnant nature of the group. To be frank, the desire to know what Zuko had witnessed in that first war meeting with his father had never crossed my mind. It didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem like the show was hiding anything from us at the time; it just seemed natural that the scene wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t shown to us. The story of Zuko\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s unhappiness was more important than the details of a war meeting.<\/p>\n

LOL NOPE NOT AT ALL<\/em>. For Zuko reveals that in that very meeting, he inadvertently gave his father the idea that the only way to crush the Earth Kingdom\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rebellious nature was to exterminate them<\/em>. It was immediately apparent to me what the writers would do: parallel this with the genocide on the Air Nomads. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s almost the exact same situation: Ozai would use the same comet his grandfather did to wipe out an entire nation. jesus christ<\/em>. Yet even knowing that this is what Ozai has planned, the writers do such a fantastic job dealing with the horrific moral quandary that Aang has now been thrust into.<\/p>\n

We know that Aang prefers to use violence as a last resort, that he prefers being clever and witty (UM IS AANG THE DOCTOR WTF), but we also know that Zuko is probably right. There doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem to be any option left: Aang will have to kill the Fire Lord in order to stop him from eliminating every remaining Earth Kingdom citizen. It is touching, though, that Aang\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s friends are quick to offer their support, to assure Aang that he won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be alone in this mission. Seriously, what are friends for? Oh, right. Group hugs<\/em>. Ugh, this show is slowly destroying my heart. I know we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve already dealt with Katara\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s anger at Zuko, but seeing her invite him into the Great Team Avatar Friendship Hug was wonderful.<\/p>\n

And so the group, led by Zuko, begins to run Aang through a series of training exercises. Even if they only have three days to prepare, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re certainly not going to waste what they do<\/em> have. Zuko teaches Aang the ability to pass lightning through his body, warning how fatal it could be. When Aang jokes that Katara could just heal him afterwards, Katara sheepishly reveals that she used all of the spirit water on Aang the last time. WELL. SHIT. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been feeling that the training was going well, but from that moment on, everything just feels wrong<\/em>. The writers wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t include that detail without building off of it, and they use it to imbue the story with the reality of death: Either Aang or Fire Lord Ozai is going to die at the end of this.<\/p>\n

That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what makes this finale so spectacular, though: Aang refuses to believe this is the only choice he has before him. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a reluctant refusal at first, though. Because he must face the mighty Melon Lord before Ozai, and the Melon Lord is a valiant and frightening adversary. I bow before the Melon Lord<\/em>. But it highlights the bizarre nature of what Aang is dealing with: His entire culture taught him all life was sacred, so much so that even slicing the head off of a melon dummy is too much for him.<\/p>\n

Even later, when Katara finds a picture of Lord Ozai as a child and Zuko laments that the cute child grew up into a horrific person, Aang is still resistant. Even if<\/em> Lord Ozai was responsible for the most heinous crimes imaginable, does that negate his right to life? (I know it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t intended, but there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a neatly coded criticism of the death penalty here.) Of course, everyone else doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see the problem because they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not the ones who have to kill another person. Well…I do get why Zuko doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care. He doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t love his father, and the sooner the man has no chance of ever ruining his life again, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have closure. Even then, the point still stands: Aang is the one who is supposed to take another life. Frustrated and confused, he storms away from the group, determined to figure this out on his own.<\/p>\n

I think in hindsight, it was easy to assume that, upon meditating, Aang had somehow contacted someone or something in the Spirit World, and when the strange island appeared in the night, I figured that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be given some crucial information from other spirits (and maybe the past Avatars) about what Aang could<\/em> do instead of killing Lord Ozai. So Aang and Momo head to this tiny, bizarre island, telling no one where they are. WHICH IS A GOOD PLAN, YES?<\/p>\n

Regardless, Aang \u00e2\u20ac\u0153disappears,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d sending his friends into a panic about where he could be. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s even pointed out that my own idea about Aang being in the Spirit World is impossible: He didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t leave his body behind and<\/em> Momo is gone as well. WELL, THIS IS INTERESTING. And who knew that there would come a day when Team Avatar would willingly ask<\/em> Zuko to track down Aang? Oh, I love this show so much, and the way that it inverts things like this.<\/p>\n

It was great to see June again, even if it was only a brief flash at the end of the first part, but the whole time, I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t figure out why this chapter was called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Phoenix King.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The writers were cleverly saving that for the end, as we switch over to the Royal Plaza, where Ozai is ready to depart to the Airship Base to begin his journey to the Earth Kingdom. I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t lie: I was unbelievably shocked when Ozai told Azula to stay behind. It made no<\/em> sense to me at first. But as he explained that he only trusted her to watch over the Royal Palace while he was gone, I sort of felt that he wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stating the other reason: He thought she was a bit too<\/em> much, which was clearly demonstrated by her resistance towards obeying her own father and pitching a whine fest. However, even if that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the case, he still enables her to act out her hideous form of rule: He makes her the new Fire Lord, and then proclaims himself the Phoenix King, ruler of the entire world<\/em>. Part of me thought that it was kind of sad that Azula\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new position was sort of meaningless under her father\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new role, but I was also worried at what Azula would do with her new power.<\/p>\n

It couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be good.<\/p>\n

PART II<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Well, Aang doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exist anymore. How the hell is that possible?<\/em><\/p>\n

The reintroduction of June into the story was done well, especially since it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clear that she has no particular allegiance to anyone but herself and her Shirshu, Nyla. (Plus, given what happens at the walls of Ba Sing Se later, the group didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really need another person joining their group.) Aside from using her to establish that Aang was somewhere quite unique, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also remarkably effective at injecting this all with an air of surrealism. You can even see the slight shock on June\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s face, as I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure this has never<\/em> happened before. Which, of course, leads us to one question: Where is Aang?<\/p>\n

As Zuko gives June an old sandal to June to track down the only other person who might be able to help him if Aang does not return (IROH IROH IROH IROH!!!), we flash over to Aang, who is just as confused as we are as to where he is. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no longer near the beach he left; in fact, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in the middle of the ocean<\/em>. Ok, so it moves? How is that possible? IS THIS SHOW TURNING INTO LOST<\/em>. Well, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s definitely<\/em> nothing to do with the Spirit World, so Aang figures he should head to the highest point on the island to get a better look at where he might be.<\/p>\n

I love that the writers decide to switch back and forth between both Aang and the rest of Team Avatar making surprising discoveries at nearly the same time. Aang discovers a bizarre hexagon made up of a material that is impossible to bend. Which…even in hindsight, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t recall if this is ever explained. Simultaneous to this, June\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Shirshu brings Team Avatar to the walls of Ba Sing Se. My first thought was that Iroh had returned to the same tea shop that he had spent time in with Zuko, but that thought immediately made no sense once I remembered that Ba Sing Se had fallen. You know, that huge plot point. <\/em>Instead, it appeared at first that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d all walked right into a trap. After setting up camp that night before heading into the city, they are all woken up when they are immediately surrounded by fire. GREAT THEY JUST TURNED THEMSELVES INTO THE FIRE NATION, I thought. Except…doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t that guy look familiar? Wait\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.KING BUMI??? WHAT???<\/em> Oh, how fantastic<\/em> was this reunion? All four masters we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d come across in this show–Jeong Jeong, Piandao, Pakku, and Bumi–have all come to help<\/em> Team Avatar. Oh, right. Because they belong to the ORDER OF THE WHITE LOTUS.<\/p>\n

a;sdlfkjadsf;kladjsf<\/p>\n

as;dflkjas;dflkjasd;flkjasd;fla sf;kalsjdf ;lkasjdf ;lkasjfadskljf<\/p>\n

I LOVE THIS SHOW SO MUCH<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

And as joyous as this was, I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help but notice how tonally contrasting Aang\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s experience on his magical island was when you put the two side by side. As Team Avatar are reunited with their own masters and the idea of a Zuko\/Iroh reunion looms before us, Aang is reunited with Avatar Roku in the hopes of attaining wisdom regarding the difficult path ahead of him. Surprisingly, Roku also has no idea where they are. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a comforting thought, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it?<\/p>\n

If I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to talk about what feels comforting, then it must be said that it was a pretty bold move on the part of the writers to have every<\/em> single incarnation of past Avatars that Aang calls forth advise him to kill Fire Lord Ozai. Roku admits that his careless nature in dealing with his friend Sozin is what caused the war in the first place, so he urges Aang to be \u00e2\u20ac\u0153decisive.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Even worse, Aang then summons Avatar Kyoshi and even tries to reason with her, saying that Chin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death was merely incidental. She disagrees, stating she would have killed him anyway if it had been necessary. She says something fascinating: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Only justice will bring peace.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Part of what justice is involves closure. How can Aang bring closure to this war and to the events that have torn apart the lives in his world if the Fire Lord is still around?<\/p>\n

What a difficult situation. The writers never poke fun at it, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m glad it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s written so seriously. This is a heavy topic to deal with on a kids show, and they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take it lightly at all. Still, Aang is no closer to discovering another method of winning the war than he was before, and we finally<\/em> get to meet other past Avatars besides Kyoshi and Roku. Aang summons the spirit of Kuruk, the most recent water bending Avatar. And it seems that Aang may have found his answer: Kuruk lived in a time of love and prosperity. However, much to Aang\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dismay, the man\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s laziness was his ultimate demise. We finally get to see what Koh meant when he told Aang that he had stolen the face of the lover of one of his past lives, and the message is clear: Without taking a stance in the world, other forces shape your destiny.<\/p>\n

Well, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 0 – 3. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.reassuring?<\/p>\n

Back with Team Avatar, the group is brought into the White Lotus camp while Bumi recounts how he finally escaped from the Fire Nation at Omashu. (Oh god, I love Bumi so much.) There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot going on in this chapter of the final episode, but when Zuko was taken to his uncle\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s tent, I knew we were about to witness the one moment I was looking forward to. Even thinking about it now, I do feel a wave of emotions washing over me, and the image of Zuko sitting out side his uncles tent, unsure if the man who has been the best father he could ever want, will be willing to forgive him.<\/p>\n

Dante Bosco gives his best voice performance in the entire series\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 run in this chapter. If you re-watch Zuko\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s apology again, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s obvious that you can hear how Dante\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s voice changed. We had never heard Zuko like this. His voice cracks and rises in volume, and he speaks as if he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got a lump of shame and terror in the back of his throat. I was terrified, too, that Iroh had finally lost patience in his nephew, but before Zuko could even ask how to redeem himself in his uncle\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s eyes, Iroh throws himself upon his nephew, tears freely falling from his eyes, because he had already forgiven Zuko. Ugh, I just had to stop for a second because my eyes started watering again. I am pressed to think of a more rich, detailed, and emotional character journey than that of Zuko, and if you think back to his first moments way back at the beginning, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an entirely different person than he was before. What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s great about that is that the writers have never made his story seem artificial and cheap. This has been a natural (if incredibly difficult journey) for the boy who once devoted his life to capturing the boy in the iceberg.<\/p>\n

IT JUST MAKES ME HAPPY, OKAY? NO JUDGING ALLOWED<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I wish I could say that Aang\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s journey was suddenly this easy, but when he manages to summon the last air bending Avatar, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s now clear that Aang has a horrific decision ahead of him. Avatar Yangchen agrees that Aang has the right idea about the world, that all life is sacred, but that Aang\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s role as an Air Nomad must be put aside to satisfy his duty as an Avatar. Contradicting what Guru Pathik told Aang, Yangchen reveals that the Avatar must<\/em> remain attached to the world, since they would be destined to protect it.<\/p>\n

And thus, Aang knows he only has one option left: He must kill Fire Lord Ozai.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sozin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Comet\u00e2\u20ac\u009d moves straight into the surreal and the terrifying in the final minutes of the second chapter. Still assuming that Aang might not come back, Zuko asks Iroh to join them in defeating the Fire Lord. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interesting thinking both about what Iroh tells Zuko and what the group decides to do having seen the full episode, too. Iroh refuses to fight his own brother, stating that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s best for the Avatar to follow his destiny, rather than for him to follow in a long line of sibling violence and scrambles for power. While it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s certainly great to hear Iroh praise his nephew and urge him to take the throne as the next Fire Lord (!!!!!), I was totally fascinated when I realized how much this whole group had planned without<\/em> Aang. Of course, they all hope<\/em> that Aang will return in time to fight Ozai, but I never expected that in the finale, they would be split up in the way they do here. Aang is off on some mysterious island, Zuko and Katara are off to fight Azula, and Toph, Sokka, and Suki are planning on going after Ozai\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s airships. When does splitting up ever work out? Ok, sometimes<\/em> it does, but I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really have the greatest feeling about it, and Aang\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s disappearance was probably all a part of that. They had to come up with new plans in the spur of the moment. What if they didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t work out? What if some other variable caused another failure?<\/p>\n

At the very least, though, I was relieved to discover that Aang was not stuck out in the middle of the ocean anymore. That moving island? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not really<\/em> an island. I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even recall when it was first mentioned, but the writers saved the appearance of the very first Lion Turtle until the end of the series. And holy shit<\/em>, it is a million times bigger than I could have possibly imagined. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if lion turtles are known to be wise animals due to their age or if Aang was just desperate, but he asks the turtle for its wisdom regarding Fire Lord Ozai.<\/p>\n

I certainly did not<\/em> understand what the lion turtle was talking about, and I definitely <\/em>had no clue why Aang lit up in an emerald blast of light when the lion turtle touched him, but Aang seemed so content and pleased to receive the creature\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wisdom. But what wisdom did he give Aang?<\/p>\n

As Aang departs from the lion turtle with Momo, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s apparent that the time for war has come. From here on out, as Sozin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Comet suddenly arrives, the sky is painted blood red: a sign of violence. Aang waits on a cylindrical crag as the Fire Lord begins his journey to eradicate the Earth Kingdom.<\/p>\n

Shit is gonna get real, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all.<\/p>\n

THOUGHTS<\/strong><\/p>\n