Sokka's (Lack of) Involvement in "The Southern Raiders"
I really think "The Southern Raiders" should have revolved around Katara and Sokka's relationship more than on Katara and Aang's.
Like, Aang really doesn't have any kind of leg in this race. He didn't know Kya, nor has he ever really shown an interest in knowing about her. Bonding over their shared griefs has never been a part of Katara and Aang's relationship, because Aang always avoids his grief, and Katara always suppresses hers for the benefit of other people. He doesn't really have any right to pick a side, or get in between, the Water Tribe siblings, because he knows little to nothing about the complexities of their family history. Or even the complexities of their relationship, for that matter. He also has never shown any investment in helping Zuko and Katara get along (or, I suppose more accurately, in understanding why Katara is so adamant in not accepting Zuko.)
Aang ultimately doesn't change Katara's perspective on Yon Rah at all, and he doesn't even really change himself. If this was a matter of their ideological beliefs clashing, and ultimately the two of them having to find some kind of agreement, then I could see what Aang's relevance here would be. But that's . . . really not what happens. They don't come to any agreement, not even by the end of the series. They kind of just awkwardly part ways, each one of them believing they were right. But this also doesn't seem to have much of an effect on the ways they view each other (I could see the argument that this kind of further disillusions Katara from her previous idea of Aang as this "great savior of the world", but that's also not a thread that really gets pulled on for the rest of the series). In the end, this conflict between them feels a bit swept under the rug.
However, with Sokka and Katara, not only do they both have a lot of stakes for how Yon Rah is dealt with, there is already previously established history for the different ways they view Kya's death.
Sokka is able to heal in a way Katara never really was able to, for a few reasons. On the surface, because he was a little older, because he never had to see the corpse, and because he was ultimately a little closer to his father. But it is also so much deeper than that.
For one, because of the fact that Katara stepped into that role. She became the person who had the strength to help him move forward, and she became the person he could always rely on for the support he had lost from Kya. She became the person he could always count on, even after their father left.
"When our mom died, that was the hardest time in my life. Our family was a mess, but Katara? She had so much strength. She stepped up and took on so much responsibility. She helped fill the void that was left by our mom. . . .
I'm gonna tell you something crazy. I never told anyone this before, but honestly? I'm not sure I can remember what my mother looked like. It really seems like my whole life, Katara's been the one looking out for me. She's always been the one that's there. And now, when I try to remember my mom, Katara's is the only face I can picture."
Sokka has already been given the space and support to be able to come to a healthier place internally. He's still devasted by the loss, obviously, but he's not haunted by it like Katara is. I think it still informs some of his behavior (like possibly his compulsive need to be the "protector", and to keep his sister safe), but it's also not a super large part of his internal conflict throughout the series.
Katara, on the other hand? It has informed almost every part of her character since the very first episode.
It informs her behavior towards almost all of her peers; her constant need to take care of the people around her. It informs her her relationship with her father; how she does love him, but can't help resenting the fact that he left when she needed him the most. When she needed the kind of support she was always offering to everyone else. It is her greatest emotional hurt throughout the whole series, but it is also the reason why she never talks about it aside from offering empathy towards someone else's loss.
Katara has never been in a position where she could heal from this wound; because she has always had to be strong for everyone else, because she never had someone to be strong for her in the same way (except for maybe Hakoda, but, again, he left soon after), and because of the fact that I think it would only be natural for her to blame herself for Kya's death.
Even before she knew Yon Rah was after the last waterbender, Katara was the one who was meant to get help. The one who left her mother alone, and wasn't able to get back in time with help. And, then, even before Yon Rah confirmed it, I think it would have been a fairly natural conclusion to come to that Kya was killed because of Katara's waterbending. The Southern Raiders came in, killed one person, and then left. It's not hard to come to the conclusion that the attack was very specifically targeted. Even if Katara was too young to put the pieces together herself, I think it's possible she would have heard whispers about it from the other people of the tribe. Maybe she was even specifically told to hide her bending a little harder. And then it was finally confirmed for her when she finally got to confront Yon Rah.
Obviously, I don't blame eight-year-old Katara for any of this, but I think it would be pretty natural that she would blame herself. How she wouldn't ever be able to get it out of her mind that it's her fault her mother died.
Now, I think the interesting part about this is that I don't Sokka is even aware that Katara feels any of this. He knows she loves and misses Kya, but I don't think he really realizes how little she's been able to heal. He probably subconsciously assumes she's been able to heal as well as, or at least almost as well as, he has. Again, Katara is pretty good about suppressing all of this when with other people.
And, to me, this just feels rife with potential conflict for "The Southern Raiders". Like, maybe Sokka tries to persuade Katara not to go after Yon Rah initially, not because he's morally opposed to it necessarily, but because he doesn't believe it would be viable with the situation they are in now. With half their group gone, only a few weeks before the comet, and the desperate need to find a place to relocate. Maybe he tells her it would just make sense to wait until the war's over to find him, but Katara tells him it can't wait. They get into an argument over it, and that's when the "then you didn't love her the way I did" line comes up. Maybe by the end of the episode, or even before Katara leaves, Sokka is finally able to truly grasp how badly Kya's death has affected Katara. Maybe we even get a scene of him thanking her for how much she helped him heal from his grief over Kya.
Or, you know, it could be something else entirely.
I personally just think there is a lot more to dig into with Sokka and Katara having a conflict over how to deal with their mother's killer, than there is with Aang telling Katara how she should be dealing with a grief he doesn't really even seem interested in understanding.
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