#i love k/atara and z/uko to bits

[sakuras-divorce-lawyers]

even if someone insists to be that sasu/saku is healthy... its still just such a terrible ship dynamic. the worst ship trope ever is when a fanbase turns the female lead into "quirky self-insert girl uwu" and turning the anti hero-esque guy into "brooding hot guy with a soft spot for his waifu <333".

[cobraonthecob]

I saw someone mention that TV Tropes has a Fridge Brilliance moment that the reason Katara chose Aang over Zuko was because she realized after seeing Zuko get zapped by lightning that she was much more horrified of losing Aang in that moment than Zuko (or any of her friends) and realized she loved Aang and that was the true point of that entire scene and why Katara came with Zuko and it was meant to show how Kataang was the true ship of Into the Inferno vs CoD. What do you think of that?

A Fridge Brilliance moment, for those who don’t know, is when you, the viewer, has an epiphany about something.

It does not apply to characters in-universe, first of all. (but for the sake of this, I’m going to run with it a bit)

Second, anon dearie, if you ever see this, know that I am aware that you’re one of those people who sends the same ask to multiple people. I’m a fool for answering this, but I feel very compelled to answer. Please refrain from doing serial asks in the future.

Anyways, not to rehash from what Soopersara already said, but canon portrays Kata/ra’s reaction to A/ang and Zuk/o getting hit by lightning very differently. Heck, when Z/uko’s hit, there’s a full on zoom onto her face! Her reaction to Aa/ng didn’t get that much zoom lol! 

And then, there’s moments when they fall. For A/ang’s, Ka/tara is clear-minded and wipes the entire floor of Dai Li agents + Zu/ko before catching A/ang in a Pieta crossed with other maternal symbolism (there’s older meta about it, please check them out). Katara’s reaction for when Zuk/o takes the lightning bolt? Straight up charges toward him with healing water, forgetting that a hopped-up on comet energy and mentally unstable firebender prodigy is still in the arena. 

One scene is coded with maternal imagery, the other is literally a movie trope.

Anyways, jumping back to the “Katara had a fridge moment” argument - headcanon all you want, but I’m pretty sure falling in love with A/ang was the last thing on Katara’s mind as she screamed Zuk/o’s name, forgot about Azu/la, and recklessly charged forward to Zu/ko before A/zula started attacking her. Totally, definitely. If they really wanted Aan/g to be on the forefront of her mind, they would’ve shown her having a flashback to when A/ang was hit, and had her whisper “Not again. I can’t do this again”. But they don’t do that. Instead, she’s focused on Zu/ko, and then on defeating A/zula so she can go and heal Zuk/o. 

Anyways, it boils down to the framing, and Z/uko taking the lightning bolt in the Last Agni Kai kind of destroyed any hope for K/ataang to naturally happen. 

However, I will say that the closest thing to an epiphany K/atara would have of getting an idea that deciding Aa/ng would be an excellent partner is the “’the real hero is the Avatar!’” moment from Zuk/o...but...do you really want that as your cementing of your ship? A verbal comment from someone else about how much your supposed love interest is the real hero? Really? Is this your ship?! 

TL;DR: No, Kata/ra didn’t have a fridge moment in the Last Agni Kai about choosing Aa/ng because she was focusing on other things and the framing doesn’t even mention A/ang, all she’s thinking about is Z/uko, and Kataa/ng is built on shaky foundations that withstood no chance and shouldn’t have happened, yet it did.