i do find KA in season 1 episode 1 to be interesting, i probably would still ship zutara over them even if they didnāt acknowledge their relationship at all in season 3, but i do generally think that a.ang sort of helping katara learn how to let loose and even be selfish for once (as in, going away to learn how to waterbend would be selfish bc of her duties, which is smthn she really needed) is a fun premise and good foundation for a ship. the opposite of where katara has to teach a.ang to be more responsible and mature isnāt the BEST given the emotional labour and the fact katara literally gets burned bc of it, but i think it couldāve been done well.
especially because while a.ang is teaching her to be selfish, he ultimately doesnāt feel good about running away with her and taking her from her family, when they didnāt say yes to her leaving. i think that was really mature of him.
but itās the fact this trope of a.ang helping katara let loose is completely dropped in book 2 and this role is then given to toph, i think thatās where they lost me š like it was already becoming more and more rare for us to see a.ang actually helping katara relax and be selfish, until it became almost entirely for toph to do thisā¦ š
and ultimately this is where tsr completes her arc, where her being selfish IS what drives her to complete her arc surrounding being a waterbender, losing her mom, and not seeing zuko as the face of the enemy anymore (thereby widening her perspective on the people of the fire nation, something that was already in the works in the painted lady). but whatās crazy is that itās not a.ang who completes this arc he started for her, in fact, heās the one who OPPOSES herā¦ is actually crazy!
i think if i were to re-write TSR to be more a.ang and KA friendly, i wouldāve made the main opposition to kataraās ārevengeā be sokka. sokka IS the one who can understand katara the most, but he ultimately will never truly be in her shoes because their mother died for HER. sokka, who was always so anti-FN even when katara was more hesitant or outright went against him, him telling her that she should just move on would also be a great representation of his arc too. not to mention he represents her family, the ones who truly kept katara in this selfless loop, it wouldāve been a great way to show their conflict here.
katara would turn to a.ang for his opinion, who was trying to stay out of it. he doesnāt want to be involved because this is between katara and sokka. he tells her he doesnāt want to be involved, she tells him off because heās the avatar, thatās like the whole thing heās supposed to do, to take action. he tells her heās just worried something bad might happen to her. she scoffs at him, says he doesnāt trust her to protect herself? zuko chimes in, you think i wonāt help her? he says no, but sheās not listening anymore. that night they leave with appa, when sokka is sleeping, and a.ang gives katara the appa whistle (which i actually donāt remember if he lost it or not but lets say he made a new one or something while sokka was doing his sword training) . he tells her he trusts her and hopes she comes back safely. he tells katara that he will tell sokka where she went and that sokka needs to accept her viewpoint of things. she hugs a.ang as a thank you and leaves.
sokka meets katara at the deck when they come back, and they hug. sokka says he was more just worried about her safety. heās glad sheās alright. she tells sokka she chose not to kill yon rha. sokka laughs and says she probably scared the crap out of him, and leaves. a.ang tails behind zuko, zutara do their thing and katara leaves. zuko turns to aang and instead of the lesson being about revenge and pacifism, itās about aang taking action, about doing SOMETHING. it can even call back to a.angās lesson with toph and can even serve as a continuation of his lessons with the guru, so instead of him having some random aside with the lion turtle and magically getting the avatar state, maybe he instead gets another chance to unlock that chakra. he trusts katara to take care of herself, that he doesnāt need to be so attached to her. he needs to accept not only her power, but also, her rejection. he doesnāt know if she can be with him forever, and he has to be okay with that.
anyway itās bonkers to me that they set up KA to be about a.ang teaching her to be more laidback and selfish and then after they get married and have kids, sheās back to being that poor little water tribe girl who has to wash dirty socks and take care of the kids :/
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