Then there's Katara. I don't think her turning dark was really out of character because it's been foreshadowed for a little while, so it wasn't that much of a stretch. However, by all rights she should have gotten no closure out of this, but she needs to forgive Zuko to get onto to Aang angst, so of course she does. What I mean is that Katara only learns two things out of this journey: her mother's killer is pathetic, and she can't kill him. At the end of the episode she is just as angry about her death as before, she doesn't forgive him, nothing. There's no change other than she can't kill him. She can still forgive Zuko though, even though she was connecting her anger with her mother's killer, who she didn't forgive, with him.
I'm not sure how I can explain it, but I really don't see how Katara should have gained any closure, and I don't see how she forgave Zuko. I'm sure they were trying to show a complexity of reactions in this show, that forgiveness might truly be the right thing but often in real life it really isn't that easy, but to me Katara continuing to hate the soldier doesn't solve her problem even if she knew she couldn't kill him. Then again, I agree with Aang. I think forgiveness is the best option, and I don't really see how someone can find peace from the knowledge that they can't/won't kill a person THEY STILL HATE. How can you find peace in any situation hating a person? I've learned from personal experience that hatred is painful, and yet she still found peace despite that?
I guess my biggest questions are, "How can Katara gain gain any closure from knowing she can't kill him when she's obviously hates him as much as before?" and "How can Katara forgive Zuko when she didn't forgive the soldier who killed her mother, since she was projecting her anger at the soldier on Zuko, and she seems to be just as angry at him before?"
Maybe I'm just bitter that Katara seemed to forgive Zuko through no redeeming action of his own. I really didn't want their relationship to turn out that way. It seemed like an episode to play up Aang's wisdom and get the mandatory "Katara forgives Zuko" out of the way while making Katara as dark as possible and refusing to feed Zutara shippers with any real emotional interaction other than a hug.
I don't really think I've explained my position very well, but for some reason things always work better in my head than they do out of it. That and I haven't watched it since the day after it aired.
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Then there's Katara. I don't think her turning dark was really out of character because it's been foreshadowed for a little while, so it wasn't that much of a stretch. However, by all rights she should have gotten no closure out of this, but she needs to forgive Zuko to get onto to Aang angst, so of course she does. What I mean is that Katara only learns two things out of this journey: her mother's killer is pathetic, and she can't kill him. At the end of the episode she is just as angry about her death as before, she doesn't forgive him, nothing. There's no change other than she can't kill him. She can still forgive Zuko though, even though she was connecting her anger with her mother's killer, who she didn't forgive, with him.
I'm not sure how I can explain it, but I really don't see how Katara should have gained any closure, and I don't see how she forgave Zuko. I'm sure they were trying to show a complexity of reactions in this show, that forgiveness might truly be the right thing but often in real life it really isn't that easy, but to me Katara continuing to hate the soldier doesn't solve her problem even if she knew she couldn't kill him. Then again, I agree with Aang. I think forgiveness is the best option, and I don't really see how someone can find peace from the knowledge that they can't/won't kill a person THEY STILL HATE. How can you find peace in any situation hating a person? I've learned from personal experience that hatred is painful, and yet she still found peace despite that?
I guess my biggest questions are, "How can Katara gain gain any closure from knowing she can't kill him when she's obviously hates him as much as before?" and "How can Katara forgive Zuko when she didn't forgive the soldier who killed her mother, since she was projecting her anger at the soldier on Zuko, and she seems to be just as angry at him before?"
Maybe I'm just bitter that Katara seemed to forgive Zuko through no redeeming action of his own. I really didn't want their relationship to turn out that way. It seemed like an episode to play up Aang's wisdom and get the mandatory "Katara forgives Zuko" out of the way while making Katara as dark as possible
and refusing to feed Zutara shippers with any real emotional interaction other than a hug.I don't really think I've explained my position very well, but for some reason things always work better in my head than they do out of it. That and I haven't watched it since the day after it aired.