Note: There's an announcement at the end of the entry.
BITI resumes with Stage!Aang being unconscious (and Stage!Katara healing him with her tears), but no one's laughing. Fic!Katara lost her spirit after her conversation with Fic!Aang and is dreading how awkward things will be when they see each other again. Unable to think of anything to say, Fic!Katara then nods along with Fic!Zuko's comments.
Then Stage!Katara comes out as an exotic dancer to support the rest of the Gaang in their stay in the Fire Nation (and apparently, Stage!Katara's the only one to try to earn money, as Fic!Katara points out). Fic!Katara believes that the play has suddenly and inexplicably become a musical.
Stage!Katara has an outfit that is even more revealing than before, and suffers a Wardrobe Malfunction, that, much like the Trope Namer, shows her nipple. Sokka makes a comment about breasts, getting a high-five from Zuko, and both get bopped on the head by Suki.
Stage!Katara has three songs- "Drinks are on me," "Hold my hand... that's not my hand" and "I love willies," which Sokka and Toph find hilarious. Fic!Sokka notices that Fic!Katara is good at dancing, even if she only dances when she has to. Fic!Zuko agrees wih Fic!Katara's stance on dancing, and observes that the play is once again So Bad, It's Good, so the Gaang resumes heckling it.
Stage!Zuko has a threesome, with Stage!Mai and Stage!Ty Lee, as well as a song about "the boat ride of shame." Stage!Azula sets the stage on fire, and they sing about everything being on fire quite nonchalantly, even if it's not actual fire.
Fic!Katara concludes that they're trying to pad out the third act; while there was never much story to begin with, the writer "had know idea" what they were up to, and improvised. One has to wonder how long it took to get the play out; perhaps the creation of the third act- the most recent events- was rushed as a result. As such, they have what it is- many scenes that were made up or taken from other plays, and which make no sense whatsoever.
Now think about this for a moment. It's an adaptation of Book 3 with a lot of additional information, for the author's own biased views. Does this sound familiar?
Stage!Toph sings about wanting to be more pretty and less mannish, getting a makeover from Stage!Katara that instantly accomplishes this. Stage!Sokka gets his "space sword" and makes Double Entendres with it. There's also a reference to the legend of Excalibur; Stage!Sokka draws the sword out of a stone, becomes king of the town in an abridged version of a Fire Nation legend, but has to abdicate to Stage!Combustion Man. Stage!Combustion Man also wants the sword, though, which Sokka refuses to hand over, resulting in him attacking,and the Gaang running away, with Stage!Aang singing about how running away is what he does best. Fic!Katara is mad at Fic!Aang, but is glad he isn't around to hear it.
Stage!Combustion Man, on stage alone, making a long speech about "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune", and suggests how Sokka can't hit him with his "Booming Aang"- forgetting that Canon!Combustion Man (who just barely avoided appearing in this fic) doesn't say anything. After being hit in the head by Sokka's boomerang, Combustion Man dies with one last "Forsooth". It's a mostly accurate re-enactment of what happened- but only the Gaang saw it.
The fic then shows the events of "The Painted Lady"; on a side note, I didn't see that episode, because the DVD I got had an error that didn't let it play properly, but I heard I didn't miss much. In BITI, Stage!Katara saves the village with the two things she does best- tear-bending and being a floozy. Fic!Katara then outlines her canonical plan- disguising as the spirit to heal the villagers and sabotage the factory. Fic!Sokka thinks it was a waste of time, while Fic!Zuko is actually touched.
Fic!Zuko said there were many factories like that one, built "on the cheap" and against the wishes of the people living there. Fic!Zuko says that because of "The Painted Lady," the factory has been decommissioned and the villagers are better off. Fic!Katara is touched, feeling as though she can help people, even if her stage counterpart is a floozy, and
Fic!Aang slips back in, and Fic!Sokka notices him, giving him a recap on everything except Stage!Katara being a belly dancer. Katara, still being mad at Aang, doesn't even give him a look, although she confesses that she was worried about him, given his tendency to run off when he's troubled without thinking.
The invasion begins, which includes some of the jokes that Regular!Sokka gave to his stage counterpart, jokes that only he seems to like (I have to wonder whether Fic!Sokka contributed anything to the other parts), although Suki seems to smile indulgently- at the moment, those two are the only people enjoying themselves.
On stage the invasion fails, Stage!Zuko has his Heel-Face Turn. Fic!Sokka is convinced that the play is over, unless the writers are going to try to predict the future.
Fic!Katara then points out that the play suddenly becomes much darker, launching into a dreadful ten minutes. Stage!Azula declares that Stage!Zuko is no longer her brother and kills him. Fic!Katara's determined not to let that happen, and she and Fic!Zuko are horrified by all the people cheering for Stage!Zuko's death.
Stage!Ozai kills off the rest of the Gaang, who don't get any meaningful last words. Fic!Katara doesn't like Stage!Katara at all, but is saddened to see her go, albeit relieved that the audience isn't cheering as much. Stage!Ozai, empowered by the comet, kills Stage!Aang, who lets off a Big "NO!". Stage!Ozai then gloats about taking over the world.
(Tags are off)
Aang runs off, and Sokka catches up to him, to let him know that everything will be okay, and that it's just a stupid play. But stupid play or not, the Gaang doesn't want to stick around for a cast-wide version of the "everything's on fire" song. Even Toph seems somewhat frightened by the ending. They don't know what to say, so they launch into the canonical dialogue about how it "wasn't a good play" as a way of making themselves feel better. Once they get home, the Gaang goes to bed without much conversation.
This comes off as something of a Cerebus Retcon. Canonically, it seems the Gaang, while unhappy with their portrayals, realized by the end that the Fire Nation would make their counterparts lose in the end, and were able to take it in stride, while complaining about the generally bad quality of the ending. All this comes off as an attempt to make things seem more realistic, even when it doesn't make sense in the context of the work. The author claims to want to stay with the canon as much as she can, but the constant reinterpretation of characters' feelings in canon scenes seems to fly in the face of that claim.
Katara, "sad and mad and out of sorts," as well as unsure of what to do with those feelings, has a "stalky relapse." She's unable to sleep, upset about how Aang put her in this position, and not wanting to die a fiery death. She wants to talk to Zuko, the person she believes is most likely to help her feel better, and the person whose "death scene" she was most upset about, but realizes that he's most likely asleep.
So Katara slips into Zuko's room, but doesn't find him there. In spite of her second thoughts, she follows him out, and finds him on the dock, in his "pyjama" bottoms, practicing his firebending. The boards on the dock creak, alerting Zuko to Katara's presence. As chilly as the night air is (one would think Zuko, despite being a firebender, would be cold with his shirt off), so they consider going inside, but Katara finds it calm out there.
Zuko builds them a fire in the pit where they burnt all the contents of Ozai's closet, and enjoys the feel of sand between his toes. Zuko asks Katara what's troubling her, and Katara lets out all her displeasure about it, especially Azula killing him. Zuko takes it more in stride, much to Katara's unpleasant surprise, and is about to say that he considered it inevitable, before rephrasing and saying that it's possible. Katara is quite bothered by the possibility, though.
Zuko points out that he had expected all of this, saying that the Fire Nation people had been conditioned to think of their country as the greatest, and it is their job to share that greatness with the rest of the world by any means necessary. Zuko doesn't agree with them, but forgives them for thinking that, saying that from their perspective, he's a traitor. It's nice to see someone who understands the Fire Nation's perspective here, even if he's the person from the Fire Nation.
Katara, on the other hand, is in a bad mood from the play's ending, and Zuko admits that he is bothered, but only scoring it about a 4 out of 10. Mutual truthbending ensues, and he offers to tell her if she tells him why she's up.
Zuko goes first. He and Iroh had no scenes together since his betrayal at the end of the second act, and Zuko is afraid of parting on such terms (he did see Iroh sometimes, but the meetings were somewhat awkward). All Zuko wants is a chance to say that he's sorry, but Katara calls him an idiot, saying that Toph had met Iroh, and knows him well, mentioning the time they had a falling out shortly after Toph first joined, and while Katara doesn't know what Iroh said, it had a great impact on Toph. Zuko then says he doesn't want to die before he apologizes to Iroh.
Katara is angered by Zuko even saying the possibility out loud, and refuses to let him share his view on the odds of that happening, tickling him until he stops.
Katara's turn comes next. She says she was worried about the outcome, and hoped Zuko would cheer her up, not depress her further. Zuko feels a bit ashamed at what he said, so he firebends in shapes- from a circle to a dragon- on Katara's request, like Lu Ten once did for him. Katara enjoys it, and gets in on the act with her waterbending.
Katara is feeling better, and brings up Zuko letting Toph touch his scar. Zuko first relates the tangential details of the kid who thought his scar was on the wrong side, but then gets to the point- Toph is the only person in the Gaang, and perhaps the only person on the planet, who doesn't know about his scar. Katara manages an awkward but touching remark about how she doesn't see the scar anymore, and Zuko is appreciative.
Zuko holds Katara to her promise and asks about why she was upset after the second intermission. Katara thinks back to the incident with Aang, about how her attempts to ignore his crush had backfired, and wishes she didn't have to remember it, much less tell him. She knows that Zuko gave her a choice, but also remembers what she decided in her room, and decides to tell him.
After a bit of awkwardness over what to call the incident, Katara hits her stride, and goes into full rant mode, emphasizing how rude Aang was, how he never asked Katara and how he lacked any concept of respect or boundaries, and Katara doesn't want anyone to kiss her until she says so (she initiated the kiss at the end of the series). Apparently, the author is so intent on having Katara demonize Aang for his faux-pas that she's breaking out the bold text.
After a moment of silence, Zuko asks if Katara wants him to talk to Aang, but Katara emphatically refuses, saying that it's awkward enough already. Zuko proposes waiting until it blows over, not unlike Katara's original plan (it's almost a given that when people are discussing how to solve a problem, someone will propose something that someone else tried earlier, and that didn't work). Zuko then argues that Aang will understand Katara's running away, and won't try to kiss her again. Katara makes him swear to secrecy regarding the balcony scene.
Katara is feeling relaxed now, much more so than she was an hour ago, and the smushing churning feeling in her stomach is now the good variety. Katara wants to kiss Zuko, and leans in to do so... until a bloodcurdling scream from the house, one that belongs to Aang, ending Katara's attempt and the chapter.
An author's note follows, and the author mentions liking some Kataang rants. The author reiterates that the Fire Nation doesn't know about the Gaang's activities, save a few rumors. This results in a bare third act that they fill out with padding, hence the musical numbers.
The author mentions that the writers plagiarized from other plays, including a few that aren't even in the Avatar-verse, some of which fit the "floozy" versions of Zuko and Katara.
The author cites Rule of Funny for Combustion Man's speech out of Hamlet, puts in the reference to Sokka pulling Excalibur out of the stone for the heck of it, and decides to hit Toph's soft spots to counteract her having too much fun at the others' expense. The latter reminds me a bit too much of her desire to make Aang go through unpleasant experiences and not get Katara for the sake of Character Development, and undercuts one of the funniest parts of the canon version of "Ember Island Players"
The author says Katara needs a boost after the awkward moment with Aang on the balcony. Perhaps she'd disagree, but one would expect that Aang would need a moment to remind him of his past heroics, after spending the entire fic being portrayed as a slacker that everyone puts up with as the only one who can defeat the Fire Lord. And, of course, Zuko's the one who gets to lift Katara's spirits up (we should be expecting that by now), and the author promises to have more conversations about this later on.
The author points out that the play is ridiculous and she killed everyone because it's fire nation propaganda (the former isn't explained, but is most likely because it's The Ember Island Players). She points out that the Gaang will get over it, but Katara is quite worried for now, especially with Zuko being a "sad panda" after people cheering for his death, hence her "stalky relapse" to seek him out, which also proves comforting for Zuko. The exchange on the beach is a way for them to share secrets, which is a good thing.
Zuko is a realist, and he knew, even when he left, that he could end up dead. He also doesn't trust Aang as much as Katara (which the author seems to imply is a good thing), so he's bothered by the ending showing him dying, and even more bothered by the idea of not making peace with his uncle. Toph did comfort Zuko by mentioning her talk with Iroh but the author points out that it didn't comfort him that much because it was before Ba Sing Se. That's a good point, although it should be emphasized that it will take Iroh's forgiveness of Zuko to put that issue to rest.
In any case, Zuko has the non-jerk members of his family (all three of them) on the mind, although Ursa is curiously absent in this scene.
Katara is a bit "niggled" by Toph touching Zuko's scar (but only because she has a crush on Zuko, so this wouldn't happen in canon), but accepts his explanation and, in her own ineloquent way, tries to convince him that she doesn't mind it.
They also have to deal with Aang. Naturally, the author decides that Zuko is the one she would talk to, and the one who would be best at letting her talk about it (i.e., giving her a choice).
Zuko gets somewhat jealous about the kiss, which seems less than logical. It would be more reasonable if he got jealous at Aang for getting a kiss from Katara, but him giving her one she didn't want is something else entirely. Katara doesn't know how her speech will go over with Zuko, though, who doesn't have much confidence or ability to get signals. The Almost Kiss then follows, and the author decided to have Aang block Zuko, as a way of payback for all of the times Zuko inadvertently blocked Aang (which also would be a bit of a Throw the Dog a Bone moment, if not for the fact that Aang's inevitably losing Katara will make this Yank the Dog's Chain)
What I liked
- Zuko's perspective on the play.
What I didn't like
- Some Fridge Logic about Combustion Man's death
- The Cerebus Retcon regarding the post-play conversation
- Almost complete lack of sympathy for Aang.
- The reasoning for hitting Toph's soft spots.
- Katara's slight hypocrisy in pushing boundaries after her rant to Aang.
- An ultimately futile chance for Aang to play Moment Killer
I'm going to make an announcement- this liveblog is going on a hiatus. I'm getting to one of those points at which the amount of text ahead of me seems overwhelming, and the way the author's treating Aang is trying my patience; looking ahead to the next chapter, I saw that it gets even worse on that regard. On a minor note, although I appreciate the comments I've gotten so far, I'd hoped for more by this point.
I decided to include this announcement with an entry, rather than having it as a stand-alone, so that I could leave you something to tide you over. I'll probably be back later, but for now, I'll likely take a break from liveblogging, or liveblog something shorter. Thank you for your interest so far, and please stay tuned.
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