The Mai you described would have begun her journey with greater moral strength but then she'd have less road to travel. And yes, it's hard to see *how* canon!Mai would have travelled that journey without Zuko, without changing the focus of the story (from Aang and Zuko) or making it a great deal longer. On the other hand, Season 3 is filled with so much pointless filler and we have that Campfire scene in The Beach where we could have been given a more sympathetic look into her thoughts in Return to Omashu. Then there's a whole episode of Toph dealing with her family demons and not moving the overall plot an inch so I think it could have been done. As it stands, it's pretty much Mai making a grand gesture on behalf of and because of her boyfriend alone. And even that isn't bad on its own until it's held up against Return to Omashu.
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Date: 2009-02-25 09:31 pm (UTC)