It was Ocean who sought them out in the first place (something about him being too serious and appreciating their energy and youth).  And they all seem to get along great, and are really supportive of each other.  So maybe there's more there than what's on the surface, no?

Not even remotely.  I don't live there anymore, but friends and family are commenting on here.  We are legion.  Beware!

Not even remotely.  I don't live there anymore, but friends and family are commenting on here.  We are legion.  Beware!

Minority opinion here, but I've never warmed to "The Beach".  The tone is so weird, and while I appreciate that they're giving us some much-needed backstory and allowing the ostensible villains time to be teenagers, it leans too heavily on "This is how a bunch of adults imagine that teenagers act around each other".…

Some thoughts:

I'm reading the Tale of Genji right now, and there's a poem about a third of the way through that got me thinking about this episode:  "No, I shall not seek the mountain the tortoise bears", which I totally read as "the mountain of the tortoise bears", because that makes so much sense to an Avatar viewer.

"who apparently, like so many other girls in this show, has a little crush on Sokka."

Best line of the episode:
Zuko saying that his struggles have made him what he is today, while the animation lingers on his scarred, slashed, and bruised face. It's a subtle gesture, much more effective than the heavy-handed "lucky to be born" line, and probably the first time that I felt Zuko becoming a genuinely…