@sithzutara (sorry for tagging you directly but i want to discuss your comment about southern raiders but thought we shouldn’t derail OP’s post even more lol)
honestly same!! that episode is katara’s turning point imo and her true trials to test who she is now and how far she’s come, especially in regards to something so damaging and traumatic in her life. the one thing that annoyed me was how aang doesnt understand katara’s position in this episode and i feel almost judges her for her (justified) anger. she’s always been there for him but the one time she needed him to be there for her, he wasnt imo (maybe bc of my moral stance here)
That’s fair re: your feelings toward Aang! Although for me, I’ve never really interpreted it as Aang judging her—I feel moreso it’s that he’s been raised in a culture that really encourages forgiveness and letting go, so I think he sometimes underestimates how deeply people can hate and hold grudges. I also don’t think that him disliking her initial choice is necessarily being a bad friend—I think Southern Raiders is a wonderful representation that friends (or I guess romantic partners if we view this in a shipping lens lol) don’t always have to agree with one another.
I’ll also raise the point that Aang explicitly states that he understands why she’s angry and talks about Appa’s kidnapping and his people, but that vengeance isn’t the method of dealing with it (which imo is a valid point). He ultimately does tell Katara he agrees that she needs to face her anger, but again cautions her not to go through with killing Yon Rha. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve personally been in situations where I heavily disagree with my friends’ choices and will openly express that to them because that’s how close we are, but they are their own person and I can’t control what they do, so all I can do is give my input, even if it doesn’t agree with their Bad Choice.
I think that the bottom line is that no one does anything quite right and perfect in this episode. Everyone does something that could rub anyone the wrong way. Katara telling Sokka that he didn’t love their mother as much as she did just because he didn’t agree with her vengeance is such an awful thing to say. As you’ve expressed, Aang’s reluctance/difficulty of understanding the depth of Katara’s very real anger is disappointing. Zuko misconstruing forgiveness as doing nothing and willing to stand witness to and enable a revenge-murder can be taken negatively as well. This is why I love Southern Raiders so much—everyone does something that can be seen as unlikable but none of them are really wrong?? but they’re not really right either?? so this is why I personally try not to focus very strongly on any one character’s failing.
as a side note, happy to find a fellow tcw fan! :)
