![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kaigouApparently some 'shippers are convinced that this is a post for (or maybe against, I'm not sure) a specific ship. Or several ships. Like I said, I'm not sure, so for the record: the notion of shipping pro/con didn't even enter my head when writing this. If you want to read into the essay as an argument for/against A+B vs B+C, do whatever, but leave me out of it. I'm not even in the blooming fandom, so it's equally possible that fandom-savvy folks wouldn't even find any of this all that new and/or startling. This is me, deconstructing, for my own contemplation and entertainment. That is all.
The patterns and echoes are also clues, I think, for the Ursa storyline. In S2, "Zuko Alone", we get Zuko's backstory. I can see whysnarp argues that Ursa is stuffed in a fridge, but I don't think that's entirely right, because that definition would require her body be presented solely for the purpose of the (usually male) character then having a whole lotta angst. No, Ursa -- like Kya -- is simply Missing Mom. Both of them have impact on the story, and are important to the story, only insofar as they don't exist. They're both Most Important Adult Female Not Appearing In This Story.
[Side-note: in most references, Kya is called only "Katara's mother"; she's named just once, when Hakoda calls out her name in the middle of the Fire Nation attack. Hell, some of the fansites don't even have entries for her at all, including the biggest fansite, AvatarSpirit. Now that's some serious Not Existing In This Story.]
So here's the timeline:
2.07: we learn Zuko's backstory, and hints that Ursa (like Kya) died to protect her child
2.18: Zuko dreams of his mother asking for help
2.20: Katara's mention of her mother's death prompts Zuko to mention his own loss
3.11: Zuko confronts his father, then asks about his mother's whereabouts
Note that in between, there's no mention of Ursa at all, by Zuko. She shows up the first time to give him a reason to angst (and to be alienated from the rest of his family, having bonded pretty much only with her). She shows up again as reminder of his loss, and possible foreshadowing for his continued ties to his father (that is, breaking ties with Ozai means losing hope of getting Ozai's knowledge of Ursa's whereabouts). Two episodes later she's referenced as basis for Katara to sympathize with Zuko, and vice versa. Then nothing for a long stretch, until the logical place/time, when Zuko has Ozai in front of him and can ask the question.
Let's presume that Ursa's storyline is going to be resolved. Until S3, episode 11, Zuko hasn't had any information on Ursa's life or death, so her existence has really acted only as evidence for why he's at odds with his father, and what influence might have kept him from truly going down the same road as Azula. There's a small boost in that this also lends him credibility with Katara (and gets the audience's sympathy), but until he has Ozai in front of him, Ursa's story doesn't really have any further impact except in recycling those two notes on the scale: original influence and later sympathy.
Immediately after 3.11 goes down and the comet is over, things get even tighter for the storytelling. First, Zuko has to convince the Gaang that he could be Aang's teacher, which moves us into resolving Zuko's storyline by providing outward proof of his internal change: his fire, once motivated by anger/hatred, must find a new source. Enter the dragons, etc, etc. Now he has Aang's trust, but not the rest of the Gaang.
Next, then, we have resolution of a major part of Sokka's storyline (not that it's not part of Katara's, only that for Sokka it's shown to have particular resonance), and that's rescuing Hakoda. Note that Zuko is there during the Boiling Rock episodes, which means now he's (a) gained Sokka's trust by helping, and (b) seen firsthand what it means to have a positive, healthy relationship with a parent on an adult's terms.
It's a perfect setup for Zuko to then request help in return, to rescue his mother. All signs point to it. Sokka is a character who'd see this, I think, as a natural exchange between allies in the sense of 'you helped me, now I help you'; Katara feels a kinship with Zuko over their respective motherly losses; Aang has bonded with him as student and teacher. (This repetition is also the basis for Toph's complaint about "life-changing fieldtrips" in 3.18, as though their entire relationship with Aang hasn't been one big freaking life-changing fieldtrip.)
Thus, directly on the heels of the two-parter of Boiling Rock, we get... resolution of Katara's mother's storyline. A storyline, I might note, that hasn't been foreshadowed in the least, nor has it even been treated as any sort of a conflict for either Katara or Sokka. In fact, Sokka at one point tells Toph that he can't even remember his mother's face, that he sees Katara's face instead, and he doesn't seem bothered by this. Nor can I recall Katara ever having a gripe with the specific person who (allegedly) killed her mother; at most she's struggled with hatred for the Fire Nation as a whole, but a personal hatred hasn't been one of her issues.
But out of the clear blue, Katara gets the urge to have revenge. It's been bugging her all this time in a way that amounts to not being bugged at all, until suddenly Ursa's resolution got nixed and now something's gotta be bugging somebody or else there's gonna be a whole episode of dead air.
I say that because all signs, in terms of storytelling patterns, point towards an expectation that this would be fieldtrip number three, with Katara going along with Zuko. It also makes for a wonderful balance in itself, in terms of the three fieldtrips. In the first, Zuko and Aang are equals, both seeking firebending skills. In the second, Zuko is support staff, assisting Sokka's mission. Then, in the third, it all would move forward a step, with Zuko in Sokka's role and Katara in Zuko's role.
Except, not.
Side notes:
The entire series really does seem to have a theme of Missing Mothers, and fathers present and accounted for in various boys' lives. (With the exception of Hakoda, who at least gets enough cameos in late S2 and S3 to compensate in terms of screen time, which may give the impression he's not so absentee.) There's Teo and his father (the Mechanist?) in "Northern Air Temple" (S1), Princess Yue (whose mother may be still alive, but never has any airplay, that I recall). Jet breaks the pattern slightly in that he's missing both parents (along with any moral compass, but hey).
But at the same time, S2 makes a slight effort to break the pattern with "Zuko Alone", in which Zuko meets and protects a family that consists of father, mother, younger son, and missing older brother. Just something to note, but I think it'd take a more in-depth analysis, including comparison to broader storytelling patterns in 'epic coming-of-age' genre to get a handle on what base patterns went unquestioned by the creators to lead to this pattern.
Unfortunately, S3 also has a recurring theme of Old Women Are Ridiculous. I'm almost postive it wassnarp who drew my attention to it, and now I can't find the exact comment. But it's particularly noticeable in S3 (especially "The Beach", "The Puppetmaster", and "Southern Raiders") that Old Women are portrayed as creatures of ridicule if not outright repulsion, nagging and emasculating. The few women I can recall from S1 and S2 may've been misguided (cf "The Fortuneteller") but they weren't exaggerated into emasculating caricatures.
Anyway, back to Katara's impromptu burning need for revenge, and what bugs me about this story (and why I think it wasn't planned from as early as most of the storylines). The best word for the episode is simply, sloppy. Very, very sloppy.
1. No foreshadowing.
There's little to no foreshadowing as to an internal conflict, for Katara, over losing her mother and/or the means of that loss. No nightmares, no major flashbacks, no recurring themes. Almost nil compared to the number of times Zuko is shown angsting over his mother.
2. Premise based on uncharacteristic behavior.
The premise for the field trip is that Zuko can't get why Katara is so angry with him, and her reply is to essentially hand him a dare.
Double on the 'uncharacteristic'. To whit:
4. Additional strife requires undoing previous lessons.
Awkward phrasing, but not sure how else to put it. The gist is this: for Katara to stick to her sudden grudge, her usual compatriots -- Aang and Sokka -- must be unable to talk her down. Normally, she'd listen to them, but in this case, Zuko is suddenly entirely on Katara's side. In fact, he's practically egging her on, increasing the intergroup conflict in a way that normally would've had Katara ready to spit nails: he doesn't just contradict both Aang and Sokka (with whom he's definitely bonded, and up to this point appeared to respect). He outright mocks them, especially Aang -- and Katara, even in her worst mood, just has never seemed like the kind of person to put up with anyone treating a friend like that.
What's the 'boneheaded asshole' version of TSTL? And is there even an acronym for the 'two-faced bitchy' version?
5. Sudden and unexplained reversal of ethics.
In "The Puppetmaster", it's pretty clear from Katara's reaction that she finds blood-bending repugnant and horrific. There certainly doesn't seem to be any question that she won't sink to ever using it. And then, in this episode, what do we get?
At least we do get a reaction shot from Zuko, seeing how anyone in their right mind would find such a technique pretty damn terrifying. He recovers, though, and once Katara realizes it's Not That Man, they backpedal and leave.
Fast forward to meeting the actual guilty party, and no sign of blood-bending. No discussion of why (or why not), either. And furthermore, its use here -- for something that, in the greater scheme of things, is rather... well, a lower priority, shall we say -- creates a big stinking plot hole for the finale. If blood-bending is not so repugnant to Katara that she refuses to use it, why use it on a cornered man (because between Zuko and Katara, I don't see even a decent general standing a chance), yet not use it when Azula is trying to kill her? Or earlier, to defend the group when Zuko's going after Aang at the Air Temple? That's exactly the kind of situation that sends Katara into a protective fury, and one time she'd be expected to pull out all the stops, effort-wise, as if it were her own life she were defending. But nope, neither time.
If there's any exception that proves the rule of blood-bending being fully unethical, it'd be that of self-defense, of herself or her closest friends. That exception wouldn't exist, however, if Katara hadn't used it in a manner that veers dangerously close to frivolous. But to use it here creates the potential for Katara to be TSTL, down the road, in refusing to use all tools at her disposal. She's fallen off the high road, and for no justifiable reason that I can see. The script damages her ethics at the same time it creates questions as to her integrity and later, her intelligence.
6. Lack o' discussion.
One thing that does seem to be a hallmark in the vast majority of episodes is that characters talk to each other. It's a pretty solid series in terms of characters expressing themselves and coming to an understanding. Sometimes it's a bit roundabout -- such as when Sokka does the talking to Toph, on Katara's behalf -- but most often the communication is not implied, but shown.
That's a good move on the part of a kid's show, because it demonstrates conflict resolution in a mature and respectful manner. It's also a good move on the part of an adult's show, because it further develops the characters without leaving us to just assume that conflict got resolved, when we no longer see anger. A sloppy script (in any format) doesn't give us the pay-off of people coming to terms with each other, or with what they've gone through.
This episode has no pay-off in what is really its biggest, if quietest, facet: that of the use of blood-bending. Zuko doesn't ask, Katara doesn't explain, there's no recognition on her part that, say, she panicked or she wasn't thinking. The latter would be a defense that would count as TSTL, IMO, but it'd still be better than no discussion at all -- which is exactly what we got. No discussion at all.
And that is totally out of character for the entire series.
A few notes from con reports around the web:
Don't get me wrong: the writers managed to spin some goodness out of an otherwise sloppy episode. There's a nice turn-around on the usual "revenge gets you nowhere" thing, where Katara is unable to forgive what's-his-face the general, but can forgive Zuko. I'm just saying that it felt like an awful lot thrown together that could've just as easily been caused by alternate -- and more in-character -- circumstances.
The sole reason for its existence is to fill a plot hole and do a bit of hand-waving on resolving the Missing Parent issue, but it does this by resolving it for Katara -- who hasn't really expressed any wangst over Missing Mother, and dismissing the lack of parental resolution for Zuko (or alternately, for Toph, who's in a similar boat with Zuko, here). Both Zuko and Toph, I should add, have significant foreshadowing as concerns Parent Problems, and both far more recent and relevant than Katara's long-grieved but also accepted loss of her mother.
I'm tempted to believe Dos Santos' version is half the picture (that DiMartino did nix, but based on order from on high), and that the second (very quiet) explanation is doing its best to signal this to fans. Possible support for this interpretation comes from other hints that tensions were already bad by that point -- such as Nickelodeon publicizing, and then unexpectedly canning, several planned specials or post-story continuations.
Putting all that together, it looks like to me that the storyboard was written as Ursa-resolution, and didn't get the green light. From a storytelling perspective, I can see how Dos Santos might've argued that if Ursa's return/resolution won't get airtime, then here, show Zuko addressing his father a second time, to at least let fans know that Zuko's not just forgotten his mother's absence. That, in itself, tells me that the series believed Ursa to be alive; I'd expect all mention of her to be dropped if she were dead. I can see a kids' network believing that the upfront, late-to-the-game news that Zuko's mother has been dead all this time would be a bit much for the average 7-yr old. Thus, returning to the question and having Zuko ask again effectively amounts -- to me -- to a complicit statement that Ursa is, in fact, alive.
Doesn't amount to much, considering that nixing Ursa's resolution -- whatever it might be -- left a big stinking overly-foreshadowed and yet unresolved hole in the end of the series. And looks to me like the consolation prize was one pretty damn pathetic episode -- because of anything I'd expected by the time I reached this point in the series, "sloppy" wasn't it.
The patterns and echoes are also clues, I think, for the Ursa storyline. In S2, "Zuko Alone", we get Zuko's backstory. I can see why
snarp argues that Ursa is stuffed in a fridge, but I don't think that's entirely right, because that definition would require her body be presented solely for the purpose of the (usually male) character then having a whole lotta angst. No, Ursa -- like Kya -- is simply Missing Mom. Both of them have impact on the story, and are important to the story, only insofar as they don't exist. They're both Most Important Adult Female Not Appearing In This Story.[Side-note: in most references, Kya is called only "Katara's mother"; she's named just once, when Hakoda calls out her name in the middle of the Fire Nation attack. Hell, some of the fansites don't even have entries for her at all, including the biggest fansite, AvatarSpirit. Now that's some serious Not Existing In This Story.]
So here's the timeline:
2.07: we learn Zuko's backstory, and hints that Ursa (like Kya) died to protect her child
2.18: Zuko dreams of his mother asking for help
2.20: Katara's mention of her mother's death prompts Zuko to mention his own loss
3.11: Zuko confronts his father, then asks about his mother's whereabouts
Note that in between, there's no mention of Ursa at all, by Zuko. She shows up the first time to give him a reason to angst (and to be alienated from the rest of his family, having bonded pretty much only with her). She shows up again as reminder of his loss, and possible foreshadowing for his continued ties to his father (that is, breaking ties with Ozai means losing hope of getting Ozai's knowledge of Ursa's whereabouts). Two episodes later she's referenced as basis for Katara to sympathize with Zuko, and vice versa. Then nothing for a long stretch, until the logical place/time, when Zuko has Ozai in front of him and can ask the question.
Let's presume that Ursa's storyline is going to be resolved. Until S3, episode 11, Zuko hasn't had any information on Ursa's life or death, so her existence has really acted only as evidence for why he's at odds with his father, and what influence might have kept him from truly going down the same road as Azula. There's a small boost in that this also lends him credibility with Katara (and gets the audience's sympathy), but until he has Ozai in front of him, Ursa's story doesn't really have any further impact except in recycling those two notes on the scale: original influence and later sympathy.
Immediately after 3.11 goes down and the comet is over, things get even tighter for the storytelling. First, Zuko has to convince the Gaang that he could be Aang's teacher, which moves us into resolving Zuko's storyline by providing outward proof of his internal change: his fire, once motivated by anger/hatred, must find a new source. Enter the dragons, etc, etc. Now he has Aang's trust, but not the rest of the Gaang.
Next, then, we have resolution of a major part of Sokka's storyline (not that it's not part of Katara's, only that for Sokka it's shown to have particular resonance), and that's rescuing Hakoda. Note that Zuko is there during the Boiling Rock episodes, which means now he's (a) gained Sokka's trust by helping, and (b) seen firsthand what it means to have a positive, healthy relationship with a parent on an adult's terms.
It's a perfect setup for Zuko to then request help in return, to rescue his mother. All signs point to it. Sokka is a character who'd see this, I think, as a natural exchange between allies in the sense of 'you helped me, now I help you'; Katara feels a kinship with Zuko over their respective motherly losses; Aang has bonded with him as student and teacher. (This repetition is also the basis for Toph's complaint about "life-changing fieldtrips" in 3.18, as though their entire relationship with Aang hasn't been one big freaking life-changing fieldtrip.)
Thus, directly on the heels of the two-parter of Boiling Rock, we get... resolution of Katara's mother's storyline. A storyline, I might note, that hasn't been foreshadowed in the least, nor has it even been treated as any sort of a conflict for either Katara or Sokka. In fact, Sokka at one point tells Toph that he can't even remember his mother's face, that he sees Katara's face instead, and he doesn't seem bothered by this. Nor can I recall Katara ever having a gripe with the specific person who (allegedly) killed her mother; at most she's struggled with hatred for the Fire Nation as a whole, but a personal hatred hasn't been one of her issues.
But out of the clear blue, Katara gets the urge to have revenge. It's been bugging her all this time in a way that amounts to not being bugged at all, until suddenly Ursa's resolution got nixed and now something's gotta be bugging somebody or else there's gonna be a whole episode of dead air.
I say that because all signs, in terms of storytelling patterns, point towards an expectation that this would be fieldtrip number three, with Katara going along with Zuko. It also makes for a wonderful balance in itself, in terms of the three fieldtrips. In the first, Zuko and Aang are equals, both seeking firebending skills. In the second, Zuko is support staff, assisting Sokka's mission. Then, in the third, it all would move forward a step, with Zuko in Sokka's role and Katara in Zuko's role.
Except, not.
Side notes:
The entire series really does seem to have a theme of Missing Mothers, and fathers present and accounted for in various boys' lives. (With the exception of Hakoda, who at least gets enough cameos in late S2 and S3 to compensate in terms of screen time, which may give the impression he's not so absentee.) There's Teo and his father (the Mechanist?) in "Northern Air Temple" (S1), Princess Yue (whose mother may be still alive, but never has any airplay, that I recall). Jet breaks the pattern slightly in that he's missing both parents (along with any moral compass, but hey).
But at the same time, S2 makes a slight effort to break the pattern with "Zuko Alone", in which Zuko meets and protects a family that consists of father, mother, younger son, and missing older brother. Just something to note, but I think it'd take a more in-depth analysis, including comparison to broader storytelling patterns in 'epic coming-of-age' genre to get a handle on what base patterns went unquestioned by the creators to lead to this pattern.
Unfortunately, S3 also has a recurring theme of Old Women Are Ridiculous. I'm almost postive it was
snarp who drew my attention to it, and now I can't find the exact comment. But it's particularly noticeable in S3 (especially "The Beach", "The Puppetmaster", and "Southern Raiders") that Old Women are portrayed as creatures of ridicule if not outright repulsion, nagging and emasculating. The few women I can recall from S1 and S2 may've been misguided (cf "The Fortuneteller") but they weren't exaggerated into emasculating caricatures.Anyway, back to Katara's impromptu burning need for revenge, and what bugs me about this story (and why I think it wasn't planned from as early as most of the storylines). The best word for the episode is simply, sloppy. Very, very sloppy.
1. No foreshadowing.
There's little to no foreshadowing as to an internal conflict, for Katara, over losing her mother and/or the means of that loss. No nightmares, no major flashbacks, no recurring themes. Almost nil compared to the number of times Zuko is shown angsting over his mother.
2. Premise based on uncharacteristic behavior.
The premise for the field trip is that Zuko can't get why Katara is so angry with him, and her reply is to essentially hand him a dare.
Zuko: This isn’t fair. Everyone else seems to trust me now. What is it with you?
Katara: Oh, everyone trusts you now? I was the first person to trust you, remember Back in Ba Sing Se. And you turned around and betrayed me. Betrayed all of us.
Zuko: What can I do to make it up to you?
Katara: You really want to know? Hmm, maybe you could re-conquer Ba Sing Se in the name of the Earth King. Or, I know. You could bring my mother back.
Double on the 'uncharacteristic'. To whit:
- Although Zuko's self-esteem is up a little after regaining his firebending, and after proving himself helping Sokka rescue Hokada, one of Zuko's defining traits is self-doubt. Even after going through hell and high water with both Aang and Sokka, it seems reasonable that Zuko wouldn't exactly get rid of his self-doubt overnight, and a major hallmark of that low self-esteem is low confidence. Not in his abilities -- that is, if he could solve any interpersonal conflict via his firebending, he'd be okay -- but in whether or not he's wanted. He's been pretty much unwanted his entire life, and it seems more in character for him to take Katara's anger as justified. Especially in light of the ground-assumption of his argument: everyone seems to trust me now.
That takes a great deal of self-confidence, really, because it requires a willingness to risk hearing, "actually, they don't. We're just using you." He may be willing to be that vulnerable, but I'm just not convinced that he would take the trust enough for granted that he'd use it to justify what's really a rather self-righteous question. - Katara may be justified in distrusting him, or keeping an eye on him, but it seems rather... peculiar, all things considered (especially when you recall this is post-fire-dragons and after Zuko played a major role in rescuing Katara's own father, for crying out loud). Katara is hot-headed and stubborn, and doesn't always let go of her anger easily, but she does let go of it, and she does so the quickest when it's an issue of group solidarity. Fierce temper aside, she also has the maturity to talk things through and try to find peace, even if only for the sake of the group's peace.
If anything, Katara's personal mission is one of holding the group together (cf her conflict with Toph, and Katara's anger being predominantly due to Toph's apparent lack of solidarity). For her to bear a personal grudge is possible, but in light of the previous episodes, it seems unlikely that it could be this strong. Maybe four episodes earlier, sure, but at this point? Rather hard to believe.
Also of note: other instances (again, like with Toph) show Katara more likely to walk away and cool off than say something that goes too far. For at least one of those times, Sokka does attempt to make the peace in some way, if Katara doesn't beat him to it once she's cooled down. Her dare is, frankly, out of character solely for the point of set up.
4. Additional strife requires undoing previous lessons.
Awkward phrasing, but not sure how else to put it. The gist is this: for Katara to stick to her sudden grudge, her usual compatriots -- Aang and Sokka -- must be unable to talk her down. Normally, she'd listen to them, but in this case, Zuko is suddenly entirely on Katara's side. In fact, he's practically egging her on, increasing the intergroup conflict in a way that normally would've had Katara ready to spit nails: he doesn't just contradict both Aang and Sokka (with whom he's definitely bonded, and up to this point appeared to respect). He outright mocks them, especially Aang -- and Katara, even in her worst mood, just has never seemed like the kind of person to put up with anyone treating a friend like that.
Aang: The monks used to say that revenge is like a two-headed ratviper. While you watch your enemy go down, you’re being poisoned yourself.
Zuko: That’s cute. But this isn’t Air Temple Preschool. It’s the real world.
[...]
Aang: Let your anger out and then let it go. Forgive him.
Zuko: Okay, we’ll be sure to do that, guru-goody-goody.
What's the 'boneheaded asshole' version of TSTL? And is there even an acronym for the 'two-faced bitchy' version?
5. Sudden and unexplained reversal of ethics.
In "The Puppetmaster", it's pretty clear from Katara's reaction that she finds blood-bending repugnant and horrific. There certainly doesn't seem to be any question that she won't sink to ever using it. And then, in this episode, what do we get?
Captain: What-- [his arm moves around wildly; he struggles and groans as he tries to contain it with his other arm. His arm drops to the floor and his body bends forward. His helmet falls off his head.] What’s happening to me?
[Cut to a close up of Katara in a bloodbending stance, smiling. Camera zooms out to show Katara bringing down her arms and the Captain’s body is brought to the floor. Cut to Zuko who is shocked at Katara’s technique.]
At least we do get a reaction shot from Zuko, seeing how anyone in their right mind would find such a technique pretty damn terrifying. He recovers, though, and once Katara realizes it's Not That Man, they backpedal and leave.
Fast forward to meeting the actual guilty party, and no sign of blood-bending. No discussion of why (or why not), either. And furthermore, its use here -- for something that, in the greater scheme of things, is rather... well, a lower priority, shall we say -- creates a big stinking plot hole for the finale. If blood-bending is not so repugnant to Katara that she refuses to use it, why use it on a cornered man (because between Zuko and Katara, I don't see even a decent general standing a chance), yet not use it when Azula is trying to kill her? Or earlier, to defend the group when Zuko's going after Aang at the Air Temple? That's exactly the kind of situation that sends Katara into a protective fury, and one time she'd be expected to pull out all the stops, effort-wise, as if it were her own life she were defending. But nope, neither time.
If there's any exception that proves the rule of blood-bending being fully unethical, it'd be that of self-defense, of herself or her closest friends. That exception wouldn't exist, however, if Katara hadn't used it in a manner that veers dangerously close to frivolous. But to use it here creates the potential for Katara to be TSTL, down the road, in refusing to use all tools at her disposal. She's fallen off the high road, and for no justifiable reason that I can see. The script damages her ethics at the same time it creates questions as to her integrity and later, her intelligence.
6. Lack o' discussion.
One thing that does seem to be a hallmark in the vast majority of episodes is that characters talk to each other. It's a pretty solid series in terms of characters expressing themselves and coming to an understanding. Sometimes it's a bit roundabout -- such as when Sokka does the talking to Toph, on Katara's behalf -- but most often the communication is not implied, but shown.
That's a good move on the part of a kid's show, because it demonstrates conflict resolution in a mature and respectful manner. It's also a good move on the part of an adult's show, because it further develops the characters without leaving us to just assume that conflict got resolved, when we no longer see anger. A sloppy script (in any format) doesn't give us the pay-off of people coming to terms with each other, or with what they've gone through.
This episode has no pay-off in what is really its biggest, if quietest, facet: that of the use of blood-bending. Zuko doesn't ask, Katara doesn't explain, there's no recognition on her part that, say, she panicked or she wasn't thinking. The latter would be a defense that would count as TSTL, IMO, but it'd still be better than no discussion at all -- which is exactly what we got. No discussion at all.
And that is totally out of character for the entire series.
A few notes from con reports around the web:
- "[Mike & Brian] said they'd need a lot more time to do [Ursa's] story justice, and didn't want to just shoehorn in the Zuko/Ursa conclusion in the time that they had."
- "Zuko finding Ursa was actually storyboarded for the finale by Avatar Director Joaquim Dos Santos, but was nixed by Mike DiMartino..."
- "...[according to] the Audio commentary of Avatar Aang (part 4 of the finale) ... Mike and Brian weren't even planning on showing the scene with Zuko visiting Ozai in prison. That whole scene was Joaquim Dos Santos' idea. They said [Ursa] would be a whole other story completely."
- Also mentioned on TVTropes: "...Mike and Brian have implied [executive meddling was] the reason for their inability to resolve the Ursa subplot (among other things). Apparently, they had plans to give many things much more closure, but [executive meddling], along with time constraints, forced them to the end the series the way it did."
Don't get me wrong: the writers managed to spin some goodness out of an otherwise sloppy episode. There's a nice turn-around on the usual "revenge gets you nowhere" thing, where Katara is unable to forgive what's-his-face the general, but can forgive Zuko. I'm just saying that it felt like an awful lot thrown together that could've just as easily been caused by alternate -- and more in-character -- circumstances.
The sole reason for its existence is to fill a plot hole and do a bit of hand-waving on resolving the Missing Parent issue, but it does this by resolving it for Katara -- who hasn't really expressed any wangst over Missing Mother, and dismissing the lack of parental resolution for Zuko (or alternately, for Toph, who's in a similar boat with Zuko, here). Both Zuko and Toph, I should add, have significant foreshadowing as concerns Parent Problems, and both far more recent and relevant than Katara's long-grieved but also accepted loss of her mother.
I'm tempted to believe Dos Santos' version is half the picture (that DiMartino did nix, but based on order from on high), and that the second (very quiet) explanation is doing its best to signal this to fans. Possible support for this interpretation comes from other hints that tensions were already bad by that point -- such as Nickelodeon publicizing, and then unexpectedly canning, several planned specials or post-story continuations.
Putting all that together, it looks like to me that the storyboard was written as Ursa-resolution, and didn't get the green light. From a storytelling perspective, I can see how Dos Santos might've argued that if Ursa's return/resolution won't get airtime, then here, show Zuko addressing his father a second time, to at least let fans know that Zuko's not just forgotten his mother's absence. That, in itself, tells me that the series believed Ursa to be alive; I'd expect all mention of her to be dropped if she were dead. I can see a kids' network believing that the upfront, late-to-the-game news that Zuko's mother has been dead all this time would be a bit much for the average 7-yr old. Thus, returning to the question and having Zuko ask again effectively amounts -- to me -- to a complicit statement that Ursa is, in fact, alive.
Doesn't amount to much, considering that nixing Ursa's resolution -- whatever it might be -- left a big stinking overly-foreshadowed and yet unresolved hole in the end of the series. And looks to me like the consolation prize was one pretty damn pathetic episode -- because of anything I'd expected by the time I reached this point in the series, "sloppy" wasn't it.
no subject
Date: 5 Apr 2010 09:33 pm (UTC)