The title image of "Be Thou a Cain", portraying Did and Lee dressed as sandbenders. Hey everyone! Although a bit late, I decided to review another one of the great chapters in Avatar: Better World, Be Thou a Cain, written by SuperFlash101 and edited by Vaznock. It was the third chapter in the "New Politics" Chronicles, and the eights chapter in the overall continuity.
Review: The chapter itself started with a beautiful sentence, which broke the fourth wall, and is then interrupted with a classical, but still awesome entrance into the actual story. And as Twilitlink noted, Slythrin's entrance with the rotten car was also a pleasure for the eye. It became clear to serial readers that this chapter contained much more heavy language, but this only contributes to the maturity of the chapter and the overall story. The first meeting between our two (anti-) heroes and the sandbenders was really made to be adapted to the screen, which is actually the case with most of Flash's work.
We then change to a more serious and political conversation between Aang and Zuko, which is what Flash promised to give use in the "New Politics" chronicles. As mentioned before, this chapter was much more darker, as seen with Aang's laughing, which is mirrored later in the chapter. By coincidence, I featured the same type of dark humor, altogether with a madman bursting out in laughing after hearing the news of the death of his mother, in a writing assignment for school, which I had to enter the day before the chapter was released. :P
Anyway, back to the chap. The meeting between Fu Chin and Slythrin was very tense, and reminded me of a film scene which I can't really place. The manner how Fu Chin explained the beliefs of the sandbenders was very believable, and Slythrin's citation of the philosopher an his reaction afterwards were priceless. When Lee met with his brother did, I was honestly expecting a happy reunion, but I was obviously proved wrong.
Then a small piece of Aang and Zuko again, which I could just see happening on-screen while I was reading it. It was beautifully written, very descriptive and all, but wasn't the entire chap like that? :)
Then the reunion happens! It seemed "normal" to me in the beginning, with Didi giving us some background and Lee giving us an overview of what we already know. Then Didi makes a dark joke (which I actually found pretty funny), and Lee reacts violent. Then Didi crosses the line, and Lee begins to beat him up. Of course. If he didn't, the rest of the chap wouldn't be that entertaining. ;)
Then we get to a long piece from Aang and Zuko's side again, with me making my promised cameo appearance!, which I was really happy about, because i got like three lines or something like that. We get hints about an uprising coup, and a serious view into Aang's non-violent problems. This part was exceptionally well-written from the political side, and the law was very believable and acceptable, even in this world. Then we get to a really dark point with the laughing Aang and Zuko, which made me think about my assignment ditch again. :)
Slythrin branding Lee was the climax everyone was waiting for.
Then, the final part, and, if I have to say, my favorite part of the chapter, followed by this previous. First we get a genius reference to the almighty films of Lord of the Rings with the juice (/blood) dripping from Didi's chin, which made it clear for me he was gonna die. we also get clear references to Cain and Abel now, which were obviously inspirations for this chapter. The, they're thrown into the cruel and merciless desert, which also reminds me of a movie I can't place my finger on. Lee's reaction about the beetle surprised me, and his punishment reminded me of the punishment of a character in a book called the "Settlers of Catan", which was named after the popular board game. The murder of Didi was epic, but the crown jewel was when Lee joined up with Slythrin again. And, as usual from Flash's chapters, there was a huge plot twist when Slythrin branded Lee and revealed he was part of the organization who is after Aang, and ossibly responsible for the death of Methius and many others.
This was my review, expect the next one when The Will of All Mankind comes out!