I just finished watching the most anticipated four episodes of Avatar.

It was all beautiful and epic, it had me seriously shaking in my chair. I think that I bit all of my nails off.

But, as a lot of people have complained about...the last eight minutes  or so were...ugh.

I was disapointed.

Severly disapointed with the canoned ships T___T

MAIKO: Did He Really Love Her?

When all of a sudden Mai's crisp voice hissed through my computer speakers--"Need some help?" I leaped up from my chair and wailed, "Oh no, good gracious, please no, I beg of you!".

Because I knew what was coming.

Let's take a step back and explore some things.

Zuko KNOWS that Mai betrayed Azula. He saw her.

And he is not dumb (remember his sunstone trick in the Firebending Masters?). Judging by the fact that he spent most of his life around his sister and has fought her on several painful occastions, he knows that you don't want to get on Azula's bad side. He KNOWS that doing so would have SEVERE consequences. And though he is aware that Mai is quite the pro knife-thrower chick, she no doubt is absolutely NO MATCH for Azula and her crazy blue fire and lightning. He knew that Mai was a goner. He knew that his evil sister would show no mercy or pity, and, quite frankly, be SERIOUSLY PISSED OFF.

And so, knowing that his 'beloved soul mate' is about to have the living daylights zapped out of her, what exactly does he do at the end of The Boiling Rock?

Oh yeah.

He racks his brain trying to come up with a brillant way to GET AWAY from all the chaos.  How did Azula get to this island, anyway? Oh yeah--she must have some cool method of transportation parked just a little way off from here! Let's STEAL IT while she HAS HER HANDS FULL toasting the LOVE OF MY LIFE to a crisp, shall we??

I don't know too many people who would run away from their love, knowing that they were in grave danger.

And there wasn't even an I'm sorry Mai, or an Oh Mai, or an I'll be back for you, or an I sure hope her knives can deflect lightningor an I'll never forget you or TEARS or even ANY SHOW OF EMOTION AT ALL!!!!

Just basically a My loony sister is about to kill my girlfriend, now LET'S GET A MOVE ON BEFORE WE HAVE THE SAME FATE!!!


So...Mai's gone for a while.

And I don't know, something tells me that all the while she wasn't gracing him with her presence, he was thinking deeply about his 'love', writing poems about her breathtaking beauty, daydreaming about possible ways to woo her in the future, remembering gleefully the beautiful moments they shared in the past. Like, maybe he sat on the edge of the Western Air Temple one evening after a tough day of training the Avatar, watching the sunlight shine orange rays into the crimson sky, and thought, Orange IS such an ugly colour. What BRILLANT revelations she came up with!".

But...what am I thinking...those things just DID NOT happen because he was pretty much positive that she was dead.

So, he probably instead spent his time weeping quietly, remembering mournfully, regretting leaving her behind, trying to get over the fact that his love just died at the hands of his own sister. You know, that he would never be able to kiss her again, never be able to hold her hand again, never be able to wrap his arm around her waist again.

But nah. That didn't happen. In fact, he DOESN'T EVEN MENTION HER.

Or...maybe it didn't happen because he was too busy trying to figure out why Katara hates him, or spending the night camped out on a rock in front of her tent (cuz that's just gotta be the comfiest way to spend the night), or going on a ninja mission with her trying to permanently heal some deep emotional pain that had been tearing at her heart and soul for most of her life.

I don't know.

Now, I want you to ask yourself the serious question, Did he really love her? Did he really care about her?

Fast forward.

Zuko is having that much-anticipated Agni Kai with the insane Azula. And before the Agni Kai, he clearly told Katara that he wanted her to stay out of the way...he took a strong stand to keep Katara away from Azula and her lightning because he did not want Azula to hurt her.

That's already doing more than he did for Mai.

And then...Katara steps into the ring. And Azula sees a flicker of hope...and takes full advantage of it. She shoots a huge jolt of lightning directly at Katara.

And Zuko screams and madly dashes in front of her.

Now, why in the world did he not redirect that lightning?!

Remember, one can only redirect lightning if they have no trauma within them.

And he had TRAUMA!!

And so, he couldn't do it. And he fell.

TRAUMA.

PASSION.

EMOTION.

Three big elements that I longed to see from Zuko when he thought that his 'love' was dead. I didn't see them for Mai. Ever.

But I sure saw them for Katara.

And Katara, panic and stress very visible on her face, thinks quickly and creatively to chain down Azula (pretty darn effectively, too).

And heals Zuko.

Gosh though, I was seriously expecting WAY more out of that. She got a little water, touched his chest, and BOOM Zuko opens his eyes and says, "Thank you Katara". "I think I should be the one thanking YOU."

I almost fell out of my chair.

Zutara is deep and complex...and up to this point, I seriously thought they were tackling it with flying colours.

Yeah, Ozai flying around with his fire and Aang leaping out of the way was pretty cool, but I must admit, at that point, my head was screaming GET BACK TO INSANE AZULA, TWITCHY ZUKO, AND EMOTIONAL KATARA!!!

The suspense was KILLING ME.

And then they had to end it so dumbly.

All they can say is THANK YOU??!!!

Did they really mean:
~"Thank you Katara for soothing all of that intense physical pain, I was sure that I was just about to die, my dreams of becoming fire lord right along with me. Oh yeah--and thanks for defeating my mad sister for me. I could never pin her down in all my life, but now thankfully you just did that rough job for me! Now there is nothing standing in my way!!"

"No, thank you Zuko. I saw my entire life flash before me just then, but you made a mad dash and leaped in front of me. Thanks for almost sacrificing your life for mine."~

Only in our Zutara DREAMS I guess.

I seriously think that zutara, at the very end of a show that had taken years of very hard work, became too exausting for Bryke. And they were doing so well, too. All of the zutara moments in this whole series were so epic and beautiful and deep and touching.

But they were just...tired.

And they ended it all, all of that sheer and pure and powerfulpassion and emotion with a mere thank you.

I thought we deserved more than that.

I think zutara as a ship deserves more than that.

I think that we zutarians, who have been intensely following the story line on about as deep of a level as an Avatard can hope to get, deserve a little better closure than thank you.

After all that they've been through, a Zutara 'thank you' would be more like:

~Thank you Zuko for listening to me quietly and patiently everytime I just had to get the anger that was bubbling up inside of me out. Thank you for letting me be the first person whom you showed your humanity to. Thank you for finally, truly becoming good and helping Aang so diligently. Thank you for being so persistent in trying to win back my acceptance and trust. Thank you for not giving up on me or ignoring me when I was so rude to you. Thank you for taking it like a man. Thank you for deeply caring about me. Thank you for waiting quietly and patiently outside my tent all night just so that you could talk to me briefly in the morning before I headed off to attend to my own duties. Thank you for understanding the pain of losing a mother. Thank you for putting yourself at risk by exposing yourself to the fire nation army, just so I could see a man that I hate and let out all my anger at him. Thank you for working so hard so that the scars on my heart because of my mother's death may be permanently soothed."

"Thank you Katara for offering to use your greatest possession for my sake, for offering to heal my scar. Thank you for being the first person other than my uncle to understand my hurt and confusion. Thank you for listening as I tried to figure out what was the right thing to do. Thank you for believing in me, for not forgeting about me, even when Aang rescued you and you had to leave. Thank you for teaching me a powerful and personal lesson on just how deeply this war has cut into the hearts of those affected.  Thank you for letting me join the group. Thank you for trusting me with Aang. Thank you for accepting my offer to find the man who killed your mother. Thank you for teaching me a powerful lesson about violence and how the good it does is only temporary, while the evil that it leaves behind is permanent."~

Whew. Hm, guess I'm just 'zutara dreaming' again.

Two words. Those two little words, THANK YOU, ultimately ended it.

SOOOO anyway.....Aang defeats Ozai, war's over, Azula's probably in some mental hospital, and Zuko's getting himself prettied up before he makes his big entrance into his coronation.

And Mai shows up.

"Need some help?"

"Mai!"

So to refresh you...ZUKO THOUGHT SHE WAS DEAD!!! LONG-GONE!!!

But no!! There she is, just standing in the doorway!! ALIVE AND WELL! And...smiling? O.o

A similiar situation occured with the oh-so canon and happy Sukka. Sokka realized Suki just might have been killed by Azula, and he forcefully and very angrily tries to get information out of Azula, when two seconds ago he had just been preaching that Azula was simply trying to waste their time.

He CRIES because Azula just might have killed his love. TEARS. Have we EVER seen such TEARS out of Sokka before this?

And...did we see such TEARS out of Zuko when Azula just might of killed his love??

I think not.

SO THEN Sokka actually finds Suki alive. And he is overjoyed. He embraces her, puts his hands on her face, tells her it will be okay, kisses her passionately.

And what does Zuko do when he sees his 'love' whom he was sure was DEAD just a couple of weeks ago?!

He smiles. Accepts her help.

Wow.

You know what I would do if I thought that my love had just died a horrible death and then miraculously turns up on the most important day of my life?

I would cry. And run over. And throw my arms around the person.

But Zuko just...stands back, unsure.

A couple of episodes earlier, Mai openly stated that Zuko dumped her.

And now she's suddenlyclaiming him as her boyfriendagain!!

Know what this reminds me of?

Mai getting mad at Zuko for being overly-passionate. "It's over, Zuko, we're done"

Fast-forward half an hour. "I know one thing I care about. I care about YOU." ;D *smootch*

Zuko is getting run over by Mai. One minute she can't stop kissing him, but watch out Zuko, show just a little bit too much passion for her to be able to untangle, and she can't seem to take it anymore. But not to worry! Your charm and good looks will soon get the best of her again and she will be back in your arms.

And Zuko says, "So you don't hate me?"

Bryke was too exausted to put together a romance in which the two heroes started out hating each other but eventually overcame that hate and learned to love (zutara).

But somehow it's easy to quickly tie back together a romance in which the girl hated the guy a couple weeks ago, but now suddenly can't get enough of him again, for no real reason at all other than he was shirtless at the time and was about to be ordained fire lord.

Sheesh.

So...does Zuko really care about her as a soul mate, as a love? If he DID, WHY did he NOT show ANY emotion at all after he believed that Mai was dead? Why didn't he do whatever was in his power to save her? Why didn't he risk his life for her like he did for Katara? Why didn't he cry and run over to her and throw his arms around her when he saw her alive and well? Why didn't he ever say in his letter or in the confrontation in the prison that he still loved her and was planning to get back together with her after the war chaos was over?

WHY did he never use an ounce of his limitless and superhuman supply of PASSION and EMOTION to further the success and depth of their love?

Why has she, his 'soul mate', never hands-on experienced the most powerful trait that Zuko bears--his ferocity and determination to achieve his goals for the greater good despite the obstacles in his path?

He cried about his uncle.

He cried about his mother.

But he never cried about his girlfriend, even when he thought she had died, even when she miraculously survived.

And...does Mai even really care about him?

Or does she care about her Prince Charming?

She liked Zuko when they were kids. She blushed, bubbling up (as much as Mai can bubble up with feeling, anyway) with her childhood crush when she saw Zuko walking around the elegant patio of his grand palace wearing the spiffy-ist of fire nation clothes with a pretty hair piece keeping his fair locks out of his fine face.

She was in love with the fire nation prince.

Then...he disapears.

And no more maiko.

But wait!! The Prince Charming is back!!

And so is Mai, of course.

She quite enjoys the palankeen rides and ordering servants around and stuffing her face with fruit tarts and rose petals (uh. yum?).

Oh, and did I forget to mention that she's cozy in all of this luxury with a handsome, strong, brave PRINCE who is next in line to be FIRE LORD??

Once in a while he has to bring up the pain that his haunting past still brings him, but she just bluntly tells him to forget about it and enjoy what's happening now. Followed by a delicate kiss just to soften him up.

And...Zuko runs away.

And there is Mai! But she hates him. She hates that he is running away from the good things avaliable to him in his country (aka the life of luxury & royalty), and she will not even spend a moment of her time trying to understand what he really wants from life.

But wait!! Zuko's back, Prince of the Fire Nation, with luxury all around him.

And what a surprise, Mai shows up. She takes the time to make sure that he's dressed in his best. She seems, much to Zuko's surprise, to have completely forgotten about Zuko dumping her and all of her hatred at him for stripping away the life of luxury that she enjoyed so much.

You want to know WHY?

Because when Zuko is Zuko, getting down and dirty to passionately accomplish his goals, Mai either could care less or is upset that he is abandoning her and the life of luxury.

BUT when Zuko is Prince Charming, she is all over him.

She loves Prince Charming and the luxury included in the royal package that is affiliated with Zuko.

But Zuko is so much more than that.

Zuko is a deep, intense person who will do whatever it takes to accomplish his goals, and he has an endless and limitless supply of passion to support him in all of his quests.

I am sad.

I am really sad that Maiko just canoned.

She just gallivants into the room and claims Zuko as her boyfriend. Zuko wants to hear a bit more about how she grew to love him again despite all that he's done to her, but she closes that sort of conversation off.

And she ordains herself as the girlfriend of the fire lord, makes sure to check out the fancy-dancy clothes he's wearing, kisses him, hugs him...yay...

But WAIT! Did she not notice that he is wearing a massive bandage around his chest??!

Would she not immediately say, "Zuko! Darling, you're hurt! What happened?! How are you feeling?!" You know, kind of like what Katara did when she noticed Toph's injuries?

Duh, she's standing right there. She's not blind. And he's obviously, visibly in pain.
But she DOESN'T EVEN ASK. She just puts that fancy robe around it.

To me, it symbolizes so much.

That wound, complete with the comforting and secure bandage, symbolizes the deeper side of Zuko that was in a lot of pain and suffering, the side that Katara and the gang as a whole ultimately soothed and healed.

And Mai could care less about it.

In fact, she hides it with some fancy robe. She ignores the deeper side of him which was just HEALED and SOOTHED by Katara and tries to wrap him in luxury so he may forget all that.

But I ask you...what do you think was ultimately more comforting for Zuko?

Katara healing and soothing and tending to his deep, complicated wounds?

Or Mai wrapping him in luxury?

And then them snuggling together...it just...felt...wrong. Forced. Strange. Odd. Almost...not real. Fake.

And last, and actually LEAST, the dumb line "Don't you EVER break up with me AGAIN!"

Uh...who says that?

For your information, Mai, Zuko is free to do whatever he feels is right with his life, and if that does not include you, that does NOT include you.

How DARE she try to take away Zuko's freedom like that. Grr. That's low.

But I can't say that I honestly expected anything better from her. Or from Maiko as a whole.

Yeah, she confessed that she loved Zuko more than she feared Azula.

But I never really saw that as a big WOW. We saw just how much she feared Azula when she wouldn't even go swimming in rocky water because it was just too yucky, despite the fact that Azula could always decide to chuck lightning at her for not following her orders.

Did Mai fear Azula?

Who wouldn't? I kind of fear her as I watch the show ^^;

But, before Zuko happened, she kind of reminded me of the guy who killed Katara's mother--sad and empty and pathetic. There was nothing interesting in her life. Nothing to look forward to. Nothing really to make life worth living.

But this is only how Mai perceives it. As a child crushing on the fire nation prince, she must of had visions of a happy-ever-after fairytale in which she is married to the fire lord and is basking in luxury all the day long.

And when Zuko disapeared, this fantasy disapeared along with him.

And how can anything live up to what she hoped for? What she had convinced herself equals true happiness and wealth in life? Anything else was so far below her high expectations and she could not accept, appreciate, or recognize the good things that she had all along (a happy, growing family).

And suddenly Prince Charming marches in again. Her dream come true.

If you were in Mai's situation, what would YOU choose? Fear or love? Zuko or Azula?

Are Mai's motives for wanting Zuko really pure and legitimate?

And what is Maiko, anyway....love or a fantasy?

MOVING ONTO KATAANG: Why Katara Would Suddenly Fall For Him

So...I was actually quite excited because I thought that Bryke was setting everything up for epic zutara sooooo perfectly.

Why?

They were really starting to bring to light the fact that Katara and Aang don't really have as much in common as we had always been led to believe.

#1 When Aang goes into a frenzy over Katara's plans to confront her mother's killer, Katara says, "I knew you wouldn't understand." Just re-read the Maiko section of this essay to see just how effective a romance is without UNDERSTANDING.

#2 Aang is preaching his arrow off. And Katara just turns her back to him, the deep frown never disapearing from her face. Duh, Aang. Just as you had no interest in Water Tribe culture (Bato of the Water Tribe), Katara has no interest in Air Nomad culture. The deep lessons and wisdom just don't lighten the heavy load of sorrow which she carries on her heart.
#3 When Katara comes back, Aang is just happy to hear that she didn't kill the guy after all. And he goes on ranting again about the wonders of forgiveness. And Katara simply says, "I will never forgive him" and hugs Zuko.

In other words, Aang's nomadic wisdom and guidance didn't do a thing for her.

She was about to kill the guy, despite Aang's advice, but believe me, it wasn't Aang's words ringing through her head just before she was about to take his life that changed her mind, no. If was the fact that she knew that she was stronger than this guy, that this guy was weak and pathetic and hopeless. She has better things to do, better people to focus her energy on. It was A LOT DIFFERENT than when Aang decided not to kill Ozai. Aang did it because of the major and deep influence that the monks had on him, because it was in his moral fiber NOT TO KILL ANYTHING. Is it in Katara's moral fiber NOT TO KILL ANYTHING?

I think that if this guy, her mother's killer, was some mean and angry and evil monster, she would have taken his life so that he could never bring such pain to innocent people again.

Yeah, Aang and Katara are both nice people.

But they have HUGELY different morals about life and who deserves to live, as well as different ideas about what is comforting to a hurting person, what a hurting person needs to hear to make them feel better. Aang thought that showing off his spiritual wisdom would leave Katara in awe and on a more spiritually righteous path. But his culture was extremely UNEFFECTIVE on rubbing off on Katara. He is into wisdom and spirituality--that is where he is deep and beautiful. She is into healing, soothing, comforting, helping people have a more pleasant experience in reality despite bad past experiences.

Then...EIP...the crazy play.

I really couldn't have been happier.

I actually didn't really want Katara to just come straight out and say, "That's sweet Aang, but I don't like you that way." It would crush Aang, and though I am an avid zutarian, I don't take pleasure in watching a good character fall apart. I'm not cruel.

Aang finally sees that--hey--this girl's not reserved for me and my attention only. She's gotten pretty darn cozy with Jet and...my oh my, my own teacher may just be the kind of guy she would be interested in!!

Aang NEEDED to learn this. And better this way, I thought, than him having some kind of vision of Katara kissing another boy. Katara is a beautiful, exotic, powerful, and supremely kind heroine.

She is going to experience other boys.

And hey Aang, just maybe the fact that she hasn't attempted to start a relationship with you in all this time you've had together, when she knows that you have feelings for her, means she's not interested in you.

So he confronts her, which is to be expected.

And she said exactly what I would have said, Sorry, I just don't know, now's not the right time.
She refuses that kind of relationship...without being cruel and doing severe damage to the little guy. That's a pretty big accomplishment.

Aang tries to kiss her...wow...that is just not nice or fair. She says no, and you try to force her into it. Not. Good. Aang does not know how to treat a lover, he does not know how to act in a relationship. He is desprate because she is pretty, they've known each other for a while, she's powerful, she's kind, and she does wonderful things for him without asking for anything in return. And Appa loves her. Which I know sounds like a ridiculous thing to base a relationship on, but it's a very important factor for Aang. Reminds me of the King and Bosco.

AND most importantly of ALL...he has left her vulnerable after all this time! He has let her wander SINGLE into a world with dashing men around every corner! Claim her! CLAIM HER!! KISS HER!!

So...Katara tells Aang that romance can't happen in the middle of a war.

Ain't it funny how they show JUST HOW EFFECTIVE Sukka is RIGHT IN THIS VERY SAME EPISODE??! :D

Gee Katara, just peek back into the theatre for an example of an awesome romance unfolding right in the middle of a war.

Katara knows that. It sounded like an excuse to me.

So, that's the end of Kataang for a good, long time.

I took a sweet breath of fresh zutara air and let out some stale old kataang energy for a while.

And then Katara sees Aang in some baggy yellow clothes with a big air nomads necklace around his neck. And they try to make it look as though she is just so overwhelmed by his beauty.

Because, you know, Katara's been hanging 'round Zuko for a while. Thank goodness Aang showed up so that she could finally rub elbows with an attractive young man.

*coughcough*

Aang's a cute, sweet little kid and all, but I really don't think Katara ever really fell for his dreamy gray eyes or hot arrows. Or, you know, maybe it was the huge air nomad necklace around his neck that did her in. Since she's proven herself to be such a sucker for that culture.

But, you know, I could be mistaken.

And so...after all of this time spent with an ugly guy like Zuko, and, you know, chillin' with him for a while, doing nothing really too interesting, she is absolutely enlightened by the beauty of Aang. And as they sit together in a tea shop, she suddenly realizes that, all along, Aang is the hero for her. Maybe it was the way that Aang picked up his tea cup that made Katara finally see just how manly he is.

And suddenly, she just had to have him.

Honestly, as I was watching it, it was as though it was playing in slow motion. SO they looked at each other. And hugged. And I breathed a sigh of relief.

STOP KATARA!!, I screamed, PLEASE PLEASE STOP RIGHT THERE!!

But she was too blown away by the beauty and dreamy-ness of the little bald kid standing before her to hear me.

And she did the unthinkable. She kissed him.

I actually thought it looked like a little pale head with a blue arrow being suffocated by a mighty and fair mass of Katara's thick, long hair and robe.

But that's just me.

And it ENDED.

You know what...it was pretty epic, all the action scenes and bending and whatnot. Mike and Bryan are brillant when it comes to writing stellar action/adventure/mystery.

But the shipping...was...horrific.

And I realized for a really devastating moment...that I guess this was all just intended to be a funny, cool show to entertain American kids.

So...what does this teach the little tots, about love and romance, anyway?

It teaches them that childhood crushes, if you are persistent and determined, work out in the end. Aang is a child who has a crush on Katara. Mai was a child who had a crush on Zuko. And at this time, they both worked out.

And this is so not the case. Childhood crushes are just children feeling a particular attraction to another child of the opposite gender, but them not knowing exactly how to deal with this attraction, and so they assume that they are in love with the person. When really, this attraction could just show the possibility of a strong friendship. I mean, whatever happened to the time when a boy and a girl could be close without being in love?

It teaches boys that it's okay to crush on a girl older than they are, and that if they are really persistent, and never give up, and never let down, and obsess with the girl, and be really strong or do something really great, they will get their prize--the girl.

It teaches girls that boys are really complicated human beings, and it's hard to really understand them. But that doesn't matter, because boys will be boys and do what they have to do, and at the end of the day, your Prince Charming will be there to sweep you off your feet.

Well, I'm not a kid. I don't need these dumb lessons, and I really hope that my little sisters don't take these lessons to heart.

I thought I was about to learn a really epic and powerful lesson on love and passion.

And Zutarians, we were this close.

I know that a lot of you are still hopeful that there will be a sequel because of the 'cliffhanger' and such.

But judging by the fact that is ended with a bold THE END, I doubt it.

Will there be an alternate ending?

Well, it would be the perfect way for Bryke to redeem themselves in the older fan population's eyes.

But are they smart enough to do that?

I just don't know anymore.

But I CAN tell you this Zutarians...Kataang and Maiko will NEVER last. We may not see any more of the Avatar world, but such relationships just are too shallow to survive in the end.

At the end of the day, Zutara was just too epic for our television screens to handle.

And that, my friends, is perhaps the most heartbreaking shame of all.