>>Almost all stories need villains. Using a villain in a story doesn't
>>imply approval or acceptance of his evil so long as it's made clear he
>>IS the bad guy. Killing his worthless ass is just cathartic.
>
>True. I think the sticking point for me here is that Lavrentiy Beria
>was a real person who did enormous amounts of harm to innumerable
>other real people. Using him as a foil in this context could
>be taken as trivializing their real suffering, though I like to think
>that on some level, given how poorly he comes out of this, it's
>getting a little of their own back.

I understand if, emotionally, even including him feels skeevy, but I don't think you have anything to worry about. Intellectually, you know he's a completely humiliated buffoon. Just imagine what Ozai is doing to him for his failure right now...

>They've worked together for a long time by this point - long enough
>for Azula to trust that Boone will recognize when the appropriate
>moment has arrived, even if she doesn't give him an explicit signal.
>Also, he knows her well enough by then to be aware that when she says
>something like, "But he probably won't see me," that means they're
>pretty much done there. :)

Or it could simply be the point where he's about ready to become violent, and Azula is just smirking, which should be about how -every- negotiation with her ends at some point.

>
>(I don't think he could actually hear her - later in the story she
>needed ED-E to address the team audibly - but she was facing the
>window, so it's not out of the question that he was reading her lips.)

Hum. You're right, I forgot that detail. Then again, perhaps he knows he doesn't -need- to exceed his orders, knowing there's an exceptionally good chance she's going to want him dead anyway.

Now, of course, the question is what's next? Their small part in Ragnarok? Or later? Hm.

--------

this world created by the
hands of the gods
everything is false
everything is a LIE
the final days have come
now
let everything be destroyed

--mu