The Last Airbender (cartoon, we speak not of the movie), is probably one of the best series to come out in some time. In a kids show format, it explores some very damned mature questions about child abuse, mental and physical, where it leads and what dynamics we see in it.

But it unfortunately, due to the dynamics of making a show, left a few major plot points dangling, and one of them we can see right here.

Azula. Conqueror of the Earth Kingdom, and all around charmer. Probable runner up for “most likely to be a student at the Darth Vader School of Employee Management.” Azula is that rarity in shows in general and children’s shows in particular. She’s smart, nasty, resourceful and yes brave. In an artform that all too often has the baddy also be a sniveling coward, Azula is a credible powerful antagonist– and one that got where she was by being just as competent as the protagonists.

And by the end…

And of course the last we see of Azula is imitating a humanoid sparkler wheel, screaming and crying, before she’s taken off to the home for combustible nutty people.

But is this a good ending? Now please note, i’m not saying this is a problem of the writers. Writers deal with constraints of time and money and often quite literally have to work to shave seconds off of scripts. That’s the nature of the business. But on the other hand, Azula is 14-15, was at least psychologically, quite as abused by Ozai as her brother was, and has suffered a complete psychotic break. Is it right to leave her?

Or, reprising the title, is Azula in a (somewhat less sympathetic) position as Susan, barred from Narnia (at least for now) by her choices? Does the punishment fit the crime?