Newbie's Perspective Review Azula in the Spirit Temple Avatar the Last Airbender
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00:00Avatar the Last Airbender, Azula in the Spirit Temple.
00:04It starts with people in red cloaks looking over a village.
00:08Some guards wonder why anyone would attack a granary.
00:11It's Azula because of the blue fire she has.
00:15She hears Tai Lee get greeted, who gives the guards some tea they're incredibly grateful for.
00:22Azula starts a fire because she's sadistic, that's all.
00:27Tai says to spring the trap, and Azula's minions get surrounded by guards.
00:34This makes the good guys look smarter than I thought.
00:37Really, Azula could have been given any evil plan and it would have made just as much sense, apparently.
00:44The building that was blown up had nothing but empty crates, and it was all a trap for Azula.
00:50There's an uncreative fight that isn't very interesting,
00:53though it tries to be because one of the minions is really upset about the idea of one of them getting captured.
00:58I hate how one of them looks.
01:01It doesn't look Avatar at all.
01:03Azula makes a fire so that her group could get away.
01:07I have to assume the reason she didn't also use fire to effortlessly rescue the creepy-looking person
01:13was that she doesn't care enough to, as she eventually explains.
01:18Someone tells Azula that attacking warehouses and food supplies is pathetic,
01:22and complains that Azula promised them they'd be helping the downtrodden instead.
01:27Eventually, Azula reminds her that she found them in the institution
01:31because they were too rebellious to fit the roles that their traditional families wanted them to have.
01:37So they were put there so they'd be taught humility.
01:41So this is a convenient, surprising way for the comic to avoid offending people.
01:46It was too scary to actually have her minions be people who belong in a mental institution.
01:51Even though that's far more realistic.
01:54Because if the comic did that, it would offend people no matter how accurately they're portrayed.
02:00The only reason I'm not calling this unnecessary is that it explains why the other people in cloaks with her
02:05in smoke and shadow weren't acting like they were actually from an institution.
02:10Azula tries to manipulate them as usual, saying that she gave them a purpose and place where they belong,
02:15and tells them that they need to keep following her orders.
02:18Talking in an obviously evil way.
02:21It would've made more sense that she said yes if Azula threatened her with fire to seal the deal.
02:26That'd be a lot faster, and be just as convincing an argument.
02:31After all, I thought the whole reason she shamed Azula was that Azula's just one person anyways.
02:38They could still feel like they belong and have a purpose if they run away from her.
02:42What's stopping them from going off to help the Gauntlet on their own?
02:46Azula walks away when clearly they'd let them conspire against her.
02:51Her fire warriors turn on her for not caring about them, and plan to try to rescue Chi-Yu and hug each other.
02:59I guess the reason they're all wearing red now is that Mei's comment that purple doesn't suit Azula hit home,
03:04and she realized that it made more sense to have them wear red because they're Fire Nation.
03:09While the police are looking for people dressed like Kamuri spirits.
03:13An entire page is wasted on Azula waking up in the morning until she discovers her teammates left.
03:18She reacts like you'd expect.
03:21Sadly, her not being around anyone doesn't stop her from talking.
03:25Eventually, she slips on the mud and falls into it, and it starts to rain.
03:30I like seeing all of this karma against a violet hothead sadist.
03:35Conveniently for her, she accidentally finds a Fire Sage temple out here because she happens to be in the area and walk in its exact direction.
03:44Well, coincidences do happen, so they're not really plot holes.
03:48As long as the story isn't happening because of a dozen unlikely coincidences.
03:54She sees someone who's not a Fire Sage who warmly welcomes her here because it's a place for the weary to rest.
04:00Azula naturally points out that since it's in a forest, it's not likely that people would find it.
04:05She's told that the ones who need this place find it.
04:09And Azula says she doesn't need any help, but immediately admits that she needs a meal and bed in the next sentence.
04:16Because that's only common sense.
04:19She shouldn't say she's gonna make people pay because that could get her in trouble.
04:23Although she does have firebending to get whatever she wants.
04:26But if she threatened her, she wouldn't be able to come back to this place every night to mooch off her.
04:30Because her door would be locked.
04:33She's annoyed that she's being expected to sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor like a dog because a rich person is used to better.
04:40She guilts her that's selfish of her to keep her bedrooms herself.
04:43And while it's sad to see her be sad about humoring her, so I wish she was happier about it.
04:48It's still sweet that she agreed to humor her at all.
04:51You'd think she would have a guest room with an actual bed.
04:55She does this all the time, so there's really no excuse for not making a new bed.
05:01She goes to sleep and gets greeted by name and sees her house on Emperor Island and is greeted by her teachers from the show.
05:09This is either a dream or she's in a magical place that conveniently reminds her of her past for some reason.
05:15Which would make sense if a witch cast a spell to make this be the case.
05:18But sadly, witches aren't established to exist in Avatar.
05:21Even though spirits do and they make just as much sense.
05:25There are beings that inherit their magical abilities too.
05:28She's told to greet everyone who loves her, who's relaxing at the beach.
05:32She's given the credit for killing Aang, even though Zuko was given the credit for that.
05:37If Azula's thinking of this dream, it's telling that the only thing she could think Ursa would compliment her on is that her father made her Fire Lord, when it's going to be an obsolete title.
05:47Azula's confused and then says she can't remember, even though she can if she's saying Aang's alive.
05:53Her mother puts her hands on her shoulders and says she's proud of her and hugs her.
05:58She's told this isn't real.
06:00Why are Tai and Mei the only ones to not suck up to her?
06:04Why did this stop being a good dream?
06:07The person making this happen made them insult her because of her own self-loathing.
06:13This wasn't intuited to me because she's supposed to be arrogant.
06:17I think even her being upset about her mom not liking her enough is because of her ego.
06:22Azula's reminded that Ursa thinks she's a monster and she tells them they don't know what they're talking about.
06:28Not being willing to acknowledge her own opinion of her mother because she said she was proud of her.
06:33She's wronged a lot of them.
06:35She's made all of them upset, so why don't they all turn on her?
06:39Azula gets out of bed and the next panel doesn't look enough like herself.
06:45It's hard for her to look like herself without her hairstyle.
06:48The old lady says the dreams didn't give her peace so she has to leave.
06:52I guess this is a spirit thing.
06:54So this is depressing.
06:55But I can see why a writer would want to be needlessly mean to Azula.
06:59It's just that if a character is cool,
07:01sometimes they'll want her to get at least some good things in her life instead of it being nothing but misery.
07:07She sees mist and runs into the woods and ends up teleporting in front of the entrance to the temple door.
07:13And somehow she assumes it's the old lady that did that to her and not a spirit
07:17when there aren't any humans in Avatar with non-elemental magical powers for some reason.
07:22She asks what this place is and gets told what she already knows and she says it's a trap by her enemies.
07:28The old lady says she can't control what happens next as if she was controlling things before.
07:35So why was there a delay?
07:37Why was she able to kick her out of the house?
07:40She sees something on the floor and then she looks like a little girl holding a flaming thing in front of Ursa
07:46who's disappointed in her for bending at all.
07:49When she should know that if she turned out to be a non-bender,
07:51Ursa would have cast her out of the royalty and she never would have gotten to be with her again.
07:56Instead, I guess Ursa has no idea that's what the royalty tends to do.
08:00Which can make sense because the Earth King cooies the non-bender with no consequences.
08:05But she should have known that a proud warrior nation would have its royalty be very angry at a non-bender heir.
08:11Azula can tell that her mom isn't proud of her.
08:14But at least she kisses her daughter's head.
08:17And then she suddenly acts like she is proud of her.
08:20Azula says that's not what happened and knows that her mother was afraid because she was a bender.
08:25Why does she think she was afraid for her?
08:28Since when did she ever ascribe good intentions to her mother?
08:33The old lady says she's just trying to give her what she wants.
08:37I guess her mother literally said she was afraid for her.
08:40The old lady says she's just trying to give her what she wants.
08:44She says Azula's greatest desire is to be loved by her family.
08:48And wonders why she won't just accept her faked visions if it helps her find peace.
08:53Even though she'd know it was fake.
08:55Who wouldn't?
08:57How is it her greatest desire to be mocked by Mei and her friend?
09:01She shoots fire and misses her.
09:03Which I guess is because she knew she wouldn't be able to get away from the temple as long as she was alive.
09:08Why did her dream end?
09:11Sadly, the spirit's drawn to Smirk when I thought she was an evil.
09:15So when she said she can't control what happens next, she meant that she's normally a good person.
09:20But with someone who's actually troubled, she looks unnecessarily evil.
09:24Although she did almost firebender.
09:26And tells Azula she'll get what's coming to her.
09:29Tai goes up to her.
09:30A fake version of her.
09:32And naturally Azula thinks this is another spirit trick.
09:36Tai's acting charming and gets told she should give up chasing her down and is insulted.
09:42Tai jokes around amusingly.
09:43It needed some levity.
09:45Azula thinks the spirit isn't real.
09:47Which makes no sense because why is all this happening then?
09:51Tai tries to make friends with the spirit.
09:53And for no reason, Azula tries to insist on Tai fighting her.
09:58She wonders why Tai became a Kyoshi warrior and doesn't get told why.
10:02So her question did nothing for her.
10:04I guess it's because the spirit doesn't know why.
10:06Because she can only go off what Azula knows.
10:10Tai says her life with her was nothing but stress.
10:12But gets told that she loved it.
10:15She was only stressed out about it sometimes.
10:17She complains about Mei's betrayal.
10:20And Tai tells her she should get some help.
10:22Because it's not healthy to be obsessed with someone else's relationships.
10:26Her good advice causes Azula to kick her into the wall.
10:29To be fair, maybe therapy doesn't exist yet.
10:31Or at least not therapy that works.
10:33Because this is the 1800s.
10:36Azula puts her hands on her head.
10:37And is asked if she's gonna kill her by the spirit.
10:40And she asks why she'd do that.
10:42That stands out of character for Azula.
10:44Even if I'd like it to be true.
10:47She tried to kill Mei with lightning bending.
10:51She's been violent the whole series.
10:52And she wants to get back at anyone that betrayed her.
10:55If she liked hitting Zuko with lightning when she couldn't guarantee that he'd survive.
11:00Why would she refuse to kill someone who's constantly chasing her down for Zuko?
11:03It's not like she was a girl scout before.
11:05How does she even know to tie knots?
11:08The spirit's just trying to figure out what she wants.
11:10Because she cares about her.
11:12So she makes herself look scary to discourage people from being mean to her.
11:16Not because she's evil.
11:18She says she cares about her through an illusion of her mother.
11:21Who hugs her.
11:22Azula accuses Ursa of ruining her.
11:25Because she chose Zuko over her.
11:27By saving him by helping to poison Azula.
11:31She says that because she wasn't there to protect her from Ozai.
11:34She became a weapon like he wanted.
11:36It's weird of Azula to phrase it as if Ozai is someone evil.
11:40By saying protect me from.
11:42When I thought she approved of the way he is.
11:45It makes sense that she'd have been intimidated of him.
11:47Because he was the king.
11:49Even though she was a better bender.
11:52And it was clearly a good decision for Ursa to choose Zuko over her.
11:55Because Zuko was a better person.
11:56And Azula was evil even as a kid.
11:59And yet Azula blames her parents for how she turned out.
12:02When she clearly would have been sadistic anyway.
12:04Since she was born evil.
12:06Azula thinks that if Ursa didn't save Zuko.
12:09She would have been able to protect her from being influenced by Ozai.
12:12To becoming alone.
12:13And constantly betrayed.
12:15Even though she should know by heart that Ozai had all the power in the family.
12:19I guess the spirit knows this.
12:20But also knows that telling her she's wrong.
12:22Would not make her feel better.
12:24Because she wouldn't believe her.
12:25So why bother?
12:27She says that what Azula wants is for the traitors to ask for her forgiveness.
12:30And promise to never betray her again.
12:33Azula agrees.
12:34Without pointing out that she wouldn't get shown the actual traitors.
12:37Just fakes.
12:38Who proceed to be rude to her when the spirit should know that it wouldn't make her feel better.
12:43Why are they being rude to her when she was just told that she didn't want that?
12:48I guess the spirit's completely incapable of making them nice to her.
12:51Because Azula also on some level wants them to be mean to her as a punishment.
12:56I don't understand how Azula can feel guilty all of a sudden.
13:00So the spirit can't do something that she doesn't at least on some level want.
13:05But she can trap her in the house.
13:08Even though Azula doesn't want that.
13:10The fake may insult her for thinking she's the victim.
13:13Even though she is.
13:14She's just not a good guy either.
13:17Azula should know she can't actually leave this place.
13:20She's told that there's something about her that makes people want to betray her.
13:24I guess the spirit thinks giving her a hard truth is the only way.
13:27Because being super nice didn't work.
13:29But not being specific with her about how she's a terrible person.
13:32Obviously has no chance of working either.
13:35She doesn't explain why May betrayed her.
13:38Clearly she needs to know that.
13:40Because she was completely confused at her choosing Zuko over her.
13:43The spirit's not too good at this.
13:46But to be fair it is the 1800s.
13:48So she doesn't have access to up-to-date knowledge on psychology.
13:53The spirit looks like Tai after this.
13:55For no reason really.
13:58Azula just tells the spirit to knock it off out of desperation.
14:02She should know she won't humor her.
14:04Tai tells her it was nonsense of her to think that May and her were actually her friends.
14:08Despite her threatening Tai to force her to join her.
14:11Azula doesn't respond to this with a proper comeback.
14:14Because there really is no way for her to do so.
14:17She just calls May and Tai losers.
14:20And the spirit humors her by saying that at least those losers were happy.
14:24Azula says that she gave them the chance to do something actually important.
14:28Eventually Azula's told that she tells people they're nothing without her.
14:32That they can't survive without her.
14:35This reminds me of the fact that the story revealed Kai out of nowhere.
14:38That she has abandonment issues with her mother.
14:40And while it's believable.
14:42I was never told before that she cared that her mother left her.
14:45But the show never showed me a reaction to it.
14:47And it'd be unrealistic for someone not to care that her mother left her.
14:51So her abandonment issues could explain her wanting to believe people can't survive without her.
14:56Because they make her believe they get punished for abandoning her like Ursa.
15:00And that they never abandoned her.
15:02She's told that she's been trying to fool herself.
15:05Which is true.
15:06It's obvious delusion on her part.
15:07Because all of her loved ones are doing great without her.
15:09And she should know that.
15:11She's told that she can't stand the idea of facing the world alone.
15:15She's told out of nowhere that being alone would mean she'd have to deal with guilt.
15:20The show makes it clear that she can't feel guilty, didn't it?
15:23The spirit looks scary.
15:25So it's really ridiculous for her to expect Azula to ask for forgiveness.
15:29Of course she shocks the spirit.
15:31She tells the spirit she's through with her lies.
15:34And she gets shown especially scary looking versions of the spirit.
15:38She's told she didn't lie.
15:40Even though she was lied to.
15:42She's told this temple is a place for redemption.
15:44And she always rejected it.
15:46She's told that it's her cruelty that made her look scary to reflect her.
15:51Azula thinks apologizing is weak.
15:53And it's delusional that she owes nothing.
15:55When she should know she upset a lot of her loved ones.
15:58She's too proud to because she's a princess.
16:00And the story tries to make her look cool again.
16:02Even though the series established that spirits are immune to bending.
16:05And her lightning never worked against her.
16:08So she's just trying this to annoy her into letting her leave.
16:12Falling back on old habits.
16:13Because she doesn't know what else to do.
16:15She gets surrounded by swirling dust.
16:17And left alone in the woods.
16:19What would her asking for forgiveness from a spirit even accomplish anyways?
16:24She has to apologize to the real deal.
16:26Not illusions.
16:27This was to prepare her for actually doing that.
16:31But the spirit was just putting too much faith in her.
16:33Because this is what she's all about.
16:34And she's not usually giving up on people.
16:37How's it supposed to prepare her for actually doing that?
16:39She doesn't exactly look like Zuko.
16:43Azula notices some footprints in the grass.
16:46But they're not liquid footprints from mud.
16:49You don't make footprints in grass.
16:51Why can't this take place in the winter?
16:54She looks over a cliff.
16:55And sees there are fire warriors.
16:57And sees that they rescued Chi-Yu.
17:00The warriors reaffirm their loyalty to each other.
17:03And Azula says they're stupid for no reason.
17:06Because she has to think that.
17:08Surprisingly, she doesn't try to kill them.
17:11She says she'll find new followers because she always does.
17:14The story ends there.
17:16Being almost a complete waste of time.
17:18So, she kind of changed?
17:20Because she didn't try to kill them?
17:22It was just out of character?
17:25This interesting issue by Faith Hicks.
17:27But had Azula get abandoned by her followers.
17:29Because she grabbed the idiot ball.
17:31And refused to rescue one of them like they wanted out of laziness.
17:35When it was obvious that she needed to humor them.
17:37Because there was nothing stopping them from leaving her when she went to sleep.
17:41And I don't really see what they had to gain out of keeping her around.
17:45And then the spirit spends the rest of the story delving into her psyche for us.
17:49Going from being nice towards you.
17:51Guilty in order to make her find peace.
17:53But the spirit should know that showing someone what she know are just illusions.
17:57Couldn't make her find peace.
17:59And she should know that when she's looking like a monster.
18:02Of course she's not going to ask forgiveness from an illusion of her loved ones.
18:06It makes sense that Azula was too proud to just lie to humor the spirit.
18:09Because she said apologies would make her look weak.
18:12And she didn't spend enough time with her to feel like giving up and humoring her.
18:15When for all she knew that was the only way to get rid of her.
18:18She only got free because the spirit got tired of her.
18:21A redemption spirit of illusions that could have easily not existed.
18:25But it makes as much sense in the Avatar world as the spirit that steals faces.
18:30It would feel out of character for her to act apologetic.
18:33So I understand why they had the story not do that.
18:35But one, that makes it feel like a complete waste of time cash grab to some people.
18:39Like the ones that wanted her to finally admit she was wrong.
18:42And stop being isolated from her family in a depressing way because of it.
18:46And people wouldn't have been so disappointed by this.
18:48If the comic didn't market itself as a chance at redemption for her.
18:52Wasn't the fact that she was in the spirit temple interesting enough?
18:57It's not a good sign when you're better off having no faith in the comic.
19:00To not disappoint you because you're right.
19:03And two, the comic already had her be out of character a few times anyways.
19:08Because she talks as if she knows Ozai is someone evil that she'd want Urza to protect her from.
19:13It also seems unlike her to regret hurting Kai Lee.
19:16Since being violent is a part of her character.
19:19But I can humor the story on this because I don't remember actually hurting her.
19:23It's a bit more confusing that she didn't even consider killing her.
19:26While it makes sense for me that someone wouldn't want to kill someone nice.
19:30This is Azula.
19:32Someone who thinks it's sickening to see someone be nice and humble.
19:36She thought Zuko's speech was zappy.
19:40The comic avoided being a waste of time.
19:42Because it progressed the plot by having her followers abandon her and developing them.
19:46Not to mention how it was constantly interesting to me.
19:49I loved this story because usually the pacing wasn't boring for once.
19:53And I loved getting to see how fake Urza hug her.
19:55And see her tell Urza all about why she really hates her.
19:58While it was mostly just about characters talking as usual.
20:02It wasn't in a boring way.
20:03Even though it was just reminding me of what I already knew about Azula.
20:07It was still interesting to me because it's a character study of her that she deals with.
20:11But I can't blame someone for hating the issue.
20:14Because not only was its marketing dishonest and greedy.
20:17Causing to disappoint people even further than it could have.
20:20But I had no reason to have the spirit say this is a place for redemption.
20:24It could have just stuck to the spirit's original mission of doing what she wants.
20:28And try and make troubled souls find peace.
20:31Not because they're evil.
20:33But because they had stressful pasts.
20:35Instead it has a spirit mock her for not apologizing to an illusion.
20:39Who psychologically tormented her.
20:42And therefore taught the audience by revealing that that was a possibility.
20:46That was apparently on the table.
20:47And she rejected it.
20:49And might never be shown to apologize now.
20:51While Zuko took three seasons to do a heel face turn.
20:55The comics don't come out as often as episodes of the show.
20:59So it comes off as a lot more pointless and disappointing than it had to be.
21:03I know she doesn't really deserve redemption.
21:05Because she's still a bad person.
21:07So I don't think I want the Avatar gang to like her.
21:10And her to suddenly be best pals with them.
21:12She doesn't need their friendship.
21:14The only thing I want is for her to be nice to her mother.
21:17And visit her every day without being a jerk to her family.
21:20I know that's not like her either.
21:22It's just that it's super depressing that she doesn't have any loved ones.
21:26Maybe it's just because she's a teenager.
21:28It took three seasons for Zuko to redeem himself.
21:31So it makes sense that she didn't get that in just one issue.
21:33When she's far more messed up than Zuko was.
21:36I just wish the story ended with her getting a best friend again.
21:39And treating her right this time.
21:40Instead of being lonely and sad all day.
21:43But it was a great issue to me.
21:44Because it left it for what it was most of the time.
21:48Part of it is that it was so interesting because it was Azula.
21:51And part of it was the pacing not feeling sluggish like usual.
21:54Which is just the natural result of me caring about most of the dialogue for a change.
21:58If it weren't for the fact that this isn't like an Avatar plot.
22:02It'd be my favorite issue.
22:04But instead that's Katara and the Pirate Silver.
22:07It's just the ending that was depressing.
22:09Because it came off as a wasted opportunity to give her some closure.
22:13And it just ended on her being friendless.
22:15It expects me to take pleasure in that because she's evil.
22:19When usually the only suffering I can enjoy seeing a character go through is the slapstick variety.
22:24Anything else tends to be depressing if I don't hate the character enough.
22:28She's not someone I want to see suffer anytime I see her.
22:31Because she's cool and never did anything that left a lasting negative impact on the main characters.
22:37The closest to it being that Tai's still scared of her.
22:40There's other villains who actually caused permanent damage.
22:43But I don't think she did.
22:45you