How did I miss this thread last week?
I've seen on a number of sites, although never straight from the creators, that there will only be three seasons, there won't be an "Air" season, and that the story was plotted out years before they got a chance to create the series. Who knows, you have a hit show with game spinoffs, comics, figurines, etc, they'll be tempted to do a spinoff though.
I was floored last season when Zuko turned bad, not because it didn't make sense, but because the writers totally sucked me in, thinking he'd taken the fork in the road. I think the idea of "Crossroads of Destiny", both for Zuko and for Ang, is going to take them in directions they never expected. They made choices in that episode and there will be repercussions.
Zuko chose to seek his destiny following the path of the Empire. It won't turn out the way he expects, but by choosing not to stay in his uncle's tea shop, he has chosen to stay in the thick of the conflict. I trust that he will eventually see the folly of following his sister, and she HAS to go down, and Zuko will hopefully find the light and take over as emperor.
I'd thought last season that putting the Earth King back on the throne would actually be a fairly simple matter. Ba Sing Se runs itself, changing the figurehead back should just be a matter of tossing Azula on her butt. Looks like it won't happen soon, but when the time comes it still shouldn't take too long.
Azula is a great villain, better every episode. Completely sociopathic, and Zuko should realize not to believe a word that comes out of her mouth. But he does. He's now seeing that getting what he wanted hasn't given him anything he wanted. He's been her pawn, he's still her pawn, he'll never be a man until he breaks free of her.
'The Awakening' wasn't so much my favourite Ang episode, but I can see how we needed to see him struggle with the change in paths, and the direction of their journey is going to be very different now. Will Iroh escape and train Ang in Firebending like I've always believed he would? It doesn't look so certain to me now. But he still needs a fire master. Unless the finale is going to end the cycle, and begin a new world of some kind, then he doesn't need to follow the 'rules' at all.
Jump to Episode 2, 'The Headband', this was a light hearted ep that we haven't seen for a while, and meanwhile we find out where Iroh is and how Zuko is coping with his situation. Oh Zuko, when will you learn? Azula is manipulating you to do exactly what she wants. She is your enemy, how can you not see it? But you're too close. Iroh is doing exactly the right thing, despite how it pains him. Had he tried to 'teach' or help Zuko at this point, he'd only be giving him enough emotional support to enable him to stay on his ill-found path.
Ang and Katara, sitting in a tree, K I S S I N G. I love watching them, and frankly I can't think of a TV romance that didn't turn me off a show up until now. I like these two together, makes me feel like a kid again.
