0:19

Welcome to Avatar Nation, a podcast,

0:19

all about the Netflix live adaptation

0:24

the Last Airbender. Whether you're a longtime fan like us, or

0:26

you're new to the Avatarverse, join us as

0:31

we dive into each episode and analyze the

0:31

retelling of TV's greatest adventure.

0:58

Hello, Hello, friends! Welcome!

1:00

I'm your host, Pauline. I'm Wes, and the Day of

1:02

Black Sun is upon us.

1:07

It is! So at the time of this recording,

1:08

we're just before the solar eclipse.

1:14

If you know, you know, Avatar fans.

1:16

Real life Day of Black Sun. It will happen.

1:19

Fire Nation, watch out. Are you excited for the solar eclipse?

1:23

I am, yeah, I've been looking

1:23

forward to it for months,

1:26

Yeah, well apparently some people

1:26

think it's going to be the end of

1:29

the world and they're stocking up.

1:31

Yeah, you you better pay your taxes. Buy toilet paper.

1:34

Oh wait, you wouldn't pay your taxes. Don't pay your taxes if

1:36

it's of the world, right?

1:39

Government, please don't to us.

1:43

Okay, so we are at the

1:43

penultimate episode.

1:47

Can you believe it? We have just one episode

1:47

left after this one.

1:51

Yeah hope it's better than this one. Yeah, so that's a spoiler alert

1:53

for how we feel about this episode

1:58

and how this conversation might go.

2:01

It's gonna be, it's gonna be the same

2:04

We'll see. So for those listening, Wes and I, we

2:05

don't do a lot of discussing before

2:09

we record the episode just because

2:09

we want to save it for the podcast.

2:13

Real quick though, I don't know what

2:13

piece of I don't know if you guys saw,

2:16

but there was recent news about the

2:16

showrunner, Albert Kim, stepping down.

2:21

So he is no longer going to be the

2:21

showrunner for Seasons 2 and 3.

2:25

He will remain as an executive

2:25

producer, but apparently he's going

2:29

to be moving on to Disney Plus as an

2:29

executive producer for Percy Jackson.

2:35

Mm. Money Talks. So Zoe, our daughter Zoe, she's a

2:37

big fan of the Percy Jackson series

2:41

and she started to read the book so I

2:41

think she will be excited about that

2:45

but moving forward it'll be Christine

2:45

Boylan and Jabbar Raisani who will be

2:50

taking the lead for Seasons 2 and 3.

2:53

Christine Boylan, she is It's currently

2:53

a co executive producer and she was

2:58

the writer for the episode Omashu, and

2:58

then Jabbar Raisani, he is currently

3:02

an executive producer and he directed

3:02

the episodes Omashu and Into the

3:07

Dark, which are two episodes I really

3:10

uh, Did she write in, so she was Omashu, did

3:10

she write in, uh, the spy who wears red

3:19

Did in Omashu? When it comes to writing, it really

3:22

is a whole team of writers, so I don't

3:26

want to go pointing the finger at,

3:26

pointing my finger right at That might

3:30

have also been, a director decision.

3:33

There's also the whole costume re watch that

3:35

and be like, they were

3:35

like, of stands out.

3:40

I liked the episode. I know you had thoughts. For those

3:43

a shout out to Kevin. good friend Kevin, been

3:46

listening and watching, and

3:50

he was very upset about that. About the red Fire

3:53

Yes, which we all were, right? Right, right?

3:55

Oh yeah, he's definitely

3:55

not alone in that.

3:58

But I know you had thoughts about Omashu

3:58

and it wasn't exactly your favorite.

4:02

For those who haven't, go

4:02

listen to that episode of ours.

4:07

Wes has thoughts about Jet.

4:10

And I don't think we agreed on a whole lot of things. Dark For that episode.

4:13

But back to Jabbar Raisani, he

4:13

was the visual effects I guess

4:18

supervisor, whatever the title is,

4:18

for Stranger Things, Game of Thrones.

4:22

So it's no surprise that, he's probably

4:22

a big reason why Avatar has been very

4:28

visually appealing and just beautiful.

4:31

I'm glad that he's going to continue

4:31

forth in seasons two and three because

4:35

then that means we'll continue to

4:35

get Astonishing visual effects.

4:40

So I'm okay with that decision. And like I said, with Christine

4:42

Boylan, I liked the episode Omashu,

4:45

so hopefully it just means that we'll

4:45

have both good writing and, great

4:50

visuals, even in Seasons 2 and 3.

4:52

I know we need to go ahead and

4:52

get into this episode because

4:55

we have a lot of thoughts.

4:57

And I know everybody else does, too.

5:00

Before we get started,

5:00

just a couple things.

5:02

One, I want to highlight a comment

5:02

that we got on Spotify from Neville B.

5:07

About, and this was on our podcast. previous episode episode in

5:08

masks, and they said best

5:12

episode of season one by far.

5:16

Having Mike DiMartino on

5:16

this one clearly helped.

5:20

Wish the creators hadn't

5:20

been forced to leave.

5:22

I agree. I mean, the episode masks

5:23

was for me my highest rated.

5:28

It was my favorite. You liked it as well.

5:31

Do we know they were forced to leave? Think it

5:36

I don't know if they,

5:36

I, maybe it was there.

5:38

I'd like to think it was their decision to leave. I, based on the statements

5:40

they've put out, I feel

5:43

I have yes. And I have to say, I don't think

5:44

it was Mike that had his hand

5:49

in writing the previous episode. I actually think it was Bryan.

5:52

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe I believe you said Bryan last

5:55

yes. And then also really quick.

5:58

Don't forget to follow and subscribe to us

5:58

so that way you don't miss out on future

6:02

episodes, cause we are nearing the finale,

6:02

it's just right around the corner yeah,

6:07

we'd love If you give us a follow, and

6:07

we also have more episodes planned after

6:12

we watch the finale, so don't you worry

6:12

this podcast is not ending any time soon,

6:18

at least that is the plan, so if you keep

6:18

listening to us and you subscribe and

6:23

rate us, then hopefully we can go much Yeah, if you enjoy what you're listening

6:25

to and the banter between me and my

6:30

wife, sometimes it gets out of control,

6:34

but we'd appreciate it if you

6:35

follow, subscribe, and like us.

6:40

all that, alright Pauline, are

6:41

you ready to dive deep?

6:44

Alright, let's I am ready!

6:47

Let's do this. First, before we begin our analysis,

6:51

Let's talk about our episode Tea.

6:57

So, In other words, what is

6:58

the tea for this episode?

7:01

The title for this one is The North,

7:01

and it is directed by Jet Wilkinson.

7:06

She directed a few episodes of Percy

7:06

Jackson over on Disney And This

7:14

episode was written by Audrey Wong

7:14

Kennedy, who is known for amazing

7:17

stories on Apple TV which I don't

7:17

really know anything about that.

7:21

We don't watch any, we don't

7:21

have Apple TV so we don't.

7:25

I bet it's amazing. Yes so yeah, I feel like there's

7:26

just a lot of overlap with the Percy

7:30

Jackson series, which for those who

7:30

don't know, is another adaptation.

7:33

Um, That was,

7:36

you know, the story is originally geared towards

7:36

children, but now I feel like there

7:40

are a lot of adults that grew up on

7:40

the stories that are now watching it.

7:44

It's over on Disney Like I said,

7:44

our daughter Zoe is a big fan.

7:48

What I've watched, really

7:48

put together really well.

7:52

Percy Jackson. From what I've watched.

7:54

Don't, okay, guys, don't tell Zoe

7:54

that I said this, but I think I

7:59

could have been executed better. But. has potential.

8:03

I'm not, I'm not, I've never read the book, so I'm

8:05

not part of that fandom, but who knows?

8:10

Maybe it'll pull me in. Wait, before we to that, we have

8:15

Wait, before we get to that, we have

8:15

to do our episode recap so we can

8:19

remind everybody what happened in

8:19

this episode, because a lot of fans

8:23

have, long since watched this whole

8:23

season and yeah, just want to remind

8:28

everybody what this episode entailed.

8:32

ready? Go for it. The episode opens with Prince Zuko

8:35

appearing to have met his end at the hands

8:40

of Zhao, however, we later learned that

8:40

Zuko is in fact alive and disguised as

8:45

part of Zhao's crew with the help of Iroh.

8:49

Meanwhile, Team Avatar

8:49

finally reaches Agna Qel'a.

8:52

The Northern Water Tribe Capital. They are warmly welcomed by Chief

8:54

Arnook, the renowned Master Pakku, and

8:59

the chief's daughter, Princess Yue. feeling as though they already

9:05

share a connection somehow.

9:08

He recognizes her as the fox he met

9:08

in the spirit world, and Yue reveals

9:12

she is part spirit and kisses him.

9:15

Aang, in the meantime, is starting to

9:15

feel the burden of saving the waterbenders

9:19

and seeks out guidance from Avatar Kuruk. However, Kuruk tales of battling

9:22

against dark spirits and losing his

9:27

beloved Ummi offer no easy answers.

9:30

He advises Aang that he must face

9:30

his upcoming challenges alone for the

9:34

sake of his loved ones and the world.

9:37

Meanwhile, Katara is eager to start

9:37

water bending training under Yagoda, but

9:42

soon discovers that women aren't allowed

9:42

to fight in the Northern Water Tribe.

9:45

Master Pakku doubles down

9:45

on this and forbids her from

9:48

being allowed into combat. Undeterred, she challenges

9:50

Master Pakku to a dual.

9:54

Though she doesn't win her skills,

9:54

earn her respect from onlookers.

9:58

She and Sokka convince Aang that

9:58

he can't carry the burden alone.

10:02

And vow to fight by his side. The episode closes with soot raining down

10:04

on the Northern Water tribe indicating

10:09

that the fire nation has arrived.

10:13

dun, Dun, or I guess I should say

10:16

dun, dun, dun. dun. How names like that?

10:20

That was a tongue. Uh, I, I apologize if I got any names wrong.

10:24

Well, good thing I can edit this, okay. My wife

10:28

my wife was judging me the whole But for reading that!

10:32

Okay, are you ready to

10:32

give your cabbage rating?

10:36

cabbage rating? I want you to go first, because I'm

10:38

interested to hear what you've given

10:43

episode. Okay, so, think. Um,

10:45

So So for the last episode, I gave it a nine.

10:51

You gave it an 8. So we,

10:54

we rated it pretty high

10:54

compared to some other episodes.

10:58

You've had this, for the most part,

10:58

you've had this trend of rating

11:02

high and then low, high, low. So I have a feeling I know about

11:04

what you're gonna rate this one.

11:09

So I want to hear yours first.

11:12

Okay, my cabbage rating is a 6.

11:16

5. Oh, 6. 5.

11:19

Okay, just really briefly give us an

11:19

overview of why you rated this one lower.

11:26

Because I felt like nothing

11:26

happened and, we'll get into

11:31

this later, but this one lower.

11:37

You You think so? so.

11:42

Okay, that's interesting. I didn't We'll talk about Avatar, correct,

11:46

rating? Come on. First of all, I want to say I'm not

11:47

surprised by your Well, actually,

11:50

I'm surprised it wasn't lower. Let me just say that.

11:53

Okay. I'm trying to be nice here. My cabbage rating is a 5.

11:59

Oh, right down the middle. This is my lowest rated episode so far.

12:05

It is It was, I would say it was almost

12:05

a tie between this one And Spirited Away,

12:12

but if I were to re watch one of these,

12:12

I would much rather watch Spirited Away

12:18

over this one, so it had to be lower.

12:21

If I were to sum up the whole episode

12:21

in one word, it would be underwhelming.

12:26

Which is not great because this is

12:26

supposed to be a penultimate episode.

12:31

And I'm just not feeling the

12:31

excitement going into the finale.

12:37

I feel like this episode was disjointed in

12:37

some places, the cinematography felt flat.

12:43

It was just kind of boring to watch. It was meh,

12:45

Kind of boring watch.

12:48

It was meh.

12:51

Meh. Meh. Meh.

12:54

Is it Meh? Like that emoji from the Emoji Movie?

12:57

There are some things that I

12:57

liked about it but not enough

12:59

to pull the rating up for me. I'm excited to talk about it, but I don't

13:01

think they're for the right reasons.

13:05

This might be very interesting. Yes.

13:08

Okay. Let's go ahead and identify

13:08

our personal key moments.

13:12

So for those who may be listening for

13:12

the first time this would be our Avatar

13:17

State moment, or our favorite moment.

13:20

Our That's Rough Buddy moment,

13:20

which is our least favorite moment.

13:24

And then our Honorable Mention, of course.

13:27

Aptly named for our boy Zuko. Just something else that

13:29

we liked about the episode.

13:31

So let's go ahead and start

13:31

with our Avatar state moment.

13:35

Do you want to go first or do you go first, or do

13:38

Woah! to You're gonna

13:41

Keep this PG! you're gonna have

13:46

So my Avatar State moment, I'm kind

13:46

of kidding, but also not kidding.

13:51

I just want to say the title card was

13:51

my favorite moment because I thought it

13:57

was so pretty when it showed the episode

13:57

title and it was underwater and all blue.

14:02

That was it. That was my Avatar State moment. The title card.

14:06

Wow. If I were to be a little bit more

14:06

serious and had to pick one, I would

14:10

say maybe the waterbending fight. But I had issues with that too.

14:14

So yeah, it was really hard to choose.

14:17

I agree. It's it wasn't easy,

14:20

But I am going to go with the

14:20

twist, which I didn't see coming,

14:25

which was Zhao tricking Zuko to get

14:25

into the boat and then blow it up.

14:32

I didn't see it coming. I mean, was wondering how

14:33

they were going to do that.

14:37

Or if they were going if they were going that.

14:39

It's true, because there was no pirates, so. I found that refreshing because

14:42

it was, I didn't see it coming,

14:46

that's my Avatar State moment. That's a good one.

14:48

That's a good one. I almost wanted to say that one,

14:49

but then I feel like everything

14:52

I've gushed about I said it.

14:55

Did I say it better this time? you it a little better.

14:58

Everything that I gushed about

14:58

recently has been about Zuko and Iroh

15:02

and all the Fire Nation scenes, so

15:02

I feel like I had to try my best to

15:07

not default to that this time around.

15:10

Nation really pulled this episode for me.

15:13

Alright. Are you ready for our

15:14

That's Rough Buddy moment?

15:18

Do you want me to go first? Okay for my That's Rough Buddy

15:19

moment, it was Yue's wig.

15:27

That was, that is, of hearing about this.

15:29

is my main hang up with this

15:29

episode, because they did Yue

15:33

dirty, and I have thoughts,

15:37

so. even though Pauline and I don't

15:37

talk about the episode, I hear

15:41

her talking to daughter about a

15:41

wig and it just keeps coming up

15:46

and now I know. I knew she was gonna say

15:47

something about the wig.

15:50

I thought it was fine. There was nothing wrong with her wig.

15:54

what if it's a with her wig. It's not her hair.

15:58

beard I'm just saying that Yue's wig

15:59

didn't even seem like hair.

16:04

There was no movement,

16:04

there was no, it was stiff.

16:08

stiff. stiff No, it was Okay, I can't

16:08

believe I'm gonna say this.

16:13

I'm only gonna say this once. It's gonna be officially on record,

16:15

unfortunately, but this is where the

16:19

movie that shall not be named actually

16:19

performed better than this series.

16:25

So far, and that was with Yue's

16:25

costuming, her wig, her styling not

16:31

like the acting or anything, because

16:31

I, at times I did like this actress

16:35

a little bit better, but, I mean, the

16:35

movie had a better wig, I'm sorry,

16:40

and it just, this Yue's wig took me

16:40

out of the episode many, many times,

16:45

and it was just really hard to focus. ,What was

16:48

your, that's rough buddy moment. That's Rough From

16:56

From Kuruk. Even

16:59

though you said that they're all horrible,

17:02

that they're all horrible?

17:13

what Oh, okay.

17:16

I see what you're saying, That's I, I was, So that was,

17:17

that's your Rough Buddy.

17:20

Okay, forgot we were on. Rough Buddy for

17:23

I had a brain fart there for a sec.

17:25

So then, over to our Honorable Mention.

17:28

Oh, okay. Yes, so I forgot I did put this here.

17:30

So my Honorable Mention was the

17:30

boat explosion for similar reasons

17:34

that you had for shouting it out. I thought the way that they weaved this

17:36

part of the story here was, I mean, it

17:41

totally worked and for fans that knew

17:41

what was coming, I think the surprise

17:48

was, like you said, that it happened here.

17:51

So I also was not expecting it. That was my honorable mention.

17:54

What about you? My honorable mention would be

17:55

Azula Standing up to her father.

17:59

Mmm, okay. So you did like that?

18:01

I loved it. Yeah. She ain't playing games no more.

18:05

Done with the was a big change we'll definitely

18:06

set aside time to talk about that.

18:10

There were a lot of changes in

18:10

this episode, but let's go ahead

18:14

and just take this moment now to

18:14

go ahead and dive deeper and talk

18:19

about everything that happened. So I feel like this is going to,

18:21

compared to our previous discussions,

18:23

I feel like this is going to

18:23

be a little bit more organic.

18:26

I didn't do a lot of

18:26

like structured notes.

18:30

Yeah, didn't do any notes. do any notes.

18:33

Like I said, that doesn't mean that we,

18:33

I don't have thoughts because we have a

18:36

lot of thoughts, so I was going to kind of

18:36

see, where this conversation will take us.

18:41

I want to first bring up the fact that

18:41

there was no narration in this episode.

18:49

Did you notice that? I didn't until now.

18:52

I was of correct.

18:55

It was either gonna be no narration

18:55

or I thought that maybe Iroh would be

18:59

the one narrating but I knew for sure

18:59

that there was not gonna be a Gyatso

19:02

narration and I'm gonna guess that in

19:02

the finale there won't be one either

19:07

because Gyatso is officially gone, I feel.

19:11

that was a little bit

19:14

So that was a little bit sad

19:14

that there was no narration.

19:17

I don't always, I'm not always

19:17

a big fan of a ton of narration.

19:20

true, I I could see that happening.

19:23

And then as for the theme for this episode

19:27

this is not super serious, but honestly,

19:28

I just put, adults suck.

19:32

That's the theme. The adults suck. What do you think?

19:38

Because, think about all

19:38

the adults in this episode.

19:42

They are just a letdown.

19:44

And it was kind of like that

19:44

in the cartoon, because, it's

19:47

from the point of view of a kid. So naturally, the kids are the ones.

19:51

Taking charge and you're rooting

19:51

for them and it's the adults that

19:57

I don't want to say the villains,

19:57

but they're the obstacles.

20:00

But man, especially in this

20:00

episode, like, all the adults

20:03

just, they weren't any help.

20:06

I'm to say not gonna say all of them,

20:07

but most of them, yes.

20:10

Iroh still help. Yes, okay, with the

20:11

exception of Uncle Iroh.

20:13

But you know, all of the new

20:13

characters that we met, we'll talk

20:16

about each of the characters, but

20:16

that was what I thought the theme was.

20:22

And again, not like super serious,

20:22

but honestly, I felt like this episode

20:26

was a little bit directionless.

20:29

I don't know if you would agree or

20:29

not with that but it just didn't

20:33

feel like a very cohesive episode.

20:37

I know there are themes of, burden, but

20:40

it felt very flat to me, so that's why

20:40

I'm gonna stick with the whole adult suck

20:46

Okay. I would go with family, friends.

20:51

What about family what about? The

20:53

But what about? The theme is a little, it has to be,

20:54

a theme is like deeper than that.

20:57

It's not just love, family in

21:01

Yeah, I can agree with you there. But yes, adults do suck.

21:04

Adulting sucks. sucks. Adulting does suck.

21:07

And then I want to talk about the Northern

21:07

Water Tribe in general just real quick.

21:12

So what is this, the capital city? It's called Agna Qel'a.

21:16

Which I didn't realize that was the name,

21:16

and it's not new for this series, it's

21:21

actually from one of the Kyoshi novels so

21:21

that's nice that they, pulled that little

21:27

piece of world building have went with Northern Water

21:29

Yes, but But as we know, the Water

21:29

Northern Tribe is bigger than that.

21:34

This is, one city. It was absolutely beautiful, though.

21:36

as far as how the world looks and

21:36

the setting of the Northern Water

21:41

Tribe I thought they nailed it. And that was like one of the things that

21:43

I enjoyed the most, was just what the

21:47

setting looked like and the visuals with

21:47

the different buildings and If I have

21:53

one criticism, it would be that we didn't

21:53

see enough of it for it being the first

21:58

introduction to the Northern Water Tribe.

22:00

If they would have spent a little bit

22:00

more time informing, not just us, but

22:04

informing our characters, or informing

22:04

Team Avatar of the culture and Improving

22:10

the world building by slowing down and

22:10

taking more time to introduce us to the

22:17

way of life in the Northern Water Tribe,

22:17

then I think the episode would have had

22:21

more depth, but it was pretty quick and

22:21

we just kind of got right into the plot.

22:26

Got right into the plot,

22:26

you know what I mean?

22:33

Yeah, think this a shorter At least it

22:40

Yeah, I think this was a shorter episode.

22:43

At least it felt like it. And then let's go ahead and talk

22:44

about our characters because we were

22:49

introduced to quite a few new characters

22:49

in this one since i said that the

22:54

adults suck let's go ahead and start

22:54

with the adults how's that sound okay

22:58

so with the northern water tribe we

22:58

have chief Arnook who is Yue's father.

23:05

What did you think of him? Were watching it for

23:10

Yeah, He was of that way

23:10

in the cartoon, too, though.

23:15

I'm neutral about Chief Arnook. As a character himself he's

23:17

not very helpful to Aang.

23:22

He kind of laid the burden on Aang.

23:25

I mean, he already mentioned that they

23:25

knew that the Fire Nation is coming.

23:29

And then it's, then they're like, Oh,

23:29

well, thank goodness you're here now

23:33

because you can help us defeat them. Yeah, they don't really

23:35

treat Aang like he's a No, that's why I say they

23:40

any help from the Avatar. Yeah, him and Pakku.

23:45

Okay. Yeah. So let's go ahead and go over to

23:45

Pakku then, because to be fair,

23:49

when he did say, oh you should

23:49

have spent more time training.

23:55

I think that's a fair argument. Cause I feel like that's probably

23:57

how us fans feel is like Aang

24:01

hasn't done any waterbending.

24:04

or even attempting to waterbend up

24:04

you know up to this point so yeah it's

24:10

like Aang maybe you should have taken

24:12

some notes from the cartoon and

24:16

all about self pity. I mean, he doesn't know what he's doing,

24:19

doesn't and i mean i can

24:19

appreciate that But it to

24:23

an extent! I mean, he hasn't done, like

24:23

you said, he's done nothing.

24:26

He helped free villagers and

24:29

how he got through all that, and

24:29

he said, because of his friends.

24:33

Yeah, but I mean, he still played a big part. His friends were unavailable whenever

24:34

they were in the spirit world.

24:39

And then he saved his friends and

24:39

the villagers that were missing.

24:43

But I just feel like it would have

24:43

made more sense if, Aang would have

24:48

tried to train with Katara, because

24:48

obviously Katara's been training.

24:51

She's already honed in her skills a

24:51

little bit, and it's like, Katara,

24:56

why haven't you been trying to

24:56

help Aang with his waterbending in

25:00

whatever limited way that you can? But anyways, he hasn't done any

25:02

waterbending, so then why didn't Pakku

25:06

offer to train Aang instead of turning

25:06

around, walking away, and saying

25:10

oh, they can't count on the Avatar. Well I was watching it and you're

25:13

like, don't hold your breath

25:15

don't hold on Aang water bending.

25:17

I'm like, what? He's got to water bend.

25:19

I mean, he hasn't even attempted, right?

25:22

I don't think so, but Again, I'm trying

25:22

to remember, Aang is just a kid, so

25:26

then that's why I'm looking to the

25:26

adults in the show, because now that

25:31

we're adults, we have a different

25:31

perspective on things, watching the show

25:36

versus, when we were kids, and it's

25:38

like, Pakku Arnook could've done a better

25:38

job of reassuring him and being

25:44

proactive in helping Aang prepare

25:44

for the Fire Nation coming, cause it

25:49

sounds like Aang went there, yes, to

25:49

try to help save the Waterbenders,

25:55

but he also went there hopefully

25:55

train and, uh, grow as the Avatar,

26:01

like he's supposed Avatar, as opposed Master procrastinating.

26:09

they Master procrastinator.

26:11

Oh, well, they did say like, oh, well, we've heard stories of you

26:12

accomplishing this and fighting off

26:18

these people and saving these villagers.

26:20

And I guess, the story has

26:20

gotten all sorts of twisted.

26:25

you Okay, so then let's move on to Yagoda,

26:30

who is the healer, and I don't have

26:30

a whole lot of opinion about Yagoda,

26:36

except for the fact that, why is

26:36

she the one having to tell Katara

26:40

that women aren't allowed to fight?

26:43

Katara um,

26:45

oh, we, she's aren't allowed

26:57

uh, Netflix don't sugarcoat the patriarchy.

27:03

Nickelodeon didn't, no. Up to that point, it almost felt

27:04

like Pakku wasn't sexist at all.

27:09

And I was wondering like, are they going

27:09

to go there or are they not going to?

27:13

And then I thought, oh, they're gonna

27:13

have go to be the one to go there.

27:16

And that just didn't feel right. But at the same time it's

27:19

like, well, in reality sometimes,

27:19

women hold back, other women.

27:24

That way too, because Pakku wasn't sexist.

27:27

Pakku was very sexist. No, I mean, it their culture that don't

27:34

sexist. That's the patriarchy.

27:37

Their culture, which is sexist.

27:41

Okay. I disagree. You disagree that Pakku was sexist?

27:45

Yes. Yes Okay! I think he is, in both the cartoon

27:47

and in this their whole culture

27:51

has outdated sexist values.

27:54

And that was the point of the cartoon. That was the whole point of that episode

27:56

with Katara dealing with all that.

28:00

I will say though that In the scene

28:00

with Yagoda, I really loved the

28:04

healing dummies, or mannequins.

28:06

Cause, That makes sense, that they would have

28:07

something like that to practice healing.

28:12

Actually, and the details.

28:20

The water through the body in the healing process

28:24

The details are very cool. It's like I wanted one, even

28:26

though I can't waterbend.

28:30

But it was pretty, it was fascinating.

28:33

Yeah and I don't think I have

28:33

anything else in Yagoda, do you?

28:36

no other than she did look conflicted

28:36

when she was telling Katara that

28:41

women aren't allowed to fight Oh, you felt like she was conflicted?

28:46

she was conflicted?

28:48

Oh, interpreted it

28:52

Oh, okay. I interpreted it as she was a

28:53

little surprised that, maybe

28:58

she's never had to deal with somebody

28:58

asking that before or she hasn't

29:02

come across another girl that's

29:02

wanted to fight because that's

29:05

just not how their culture is because that's not how their

29:11

Mmm. see if mentioned

29:15

Yeah, I don't know where

29:15

they're going with it.

29:26

And go ahead and move on

29:30

gonna be way too fast.

29:37

don't think it I didn't mind Avatar Kuruk that much.

29:46

Um Mind Avatar Kuruk that much.

29:50

Helped at all. I think it was helpful in his

29:51

eyes by telling him, fight alone.

29:56

Because you're at risk of losing

29:56

your loved ones, one and two.

30:01

So all of the avatar him. Two, having you might be hindered by

30:02

the people that you care about because

30:08

the people that you care about and

30:08

then what the world needs, those can

30:11

be in direct conflict with each other. That is my interpretation of that.

30:15

And, yeah, pretty much all the Avatars have

30:16

brought that up at some point but I feel

30:21

like Avatar Kuruk was a lot more direct

30:21

about it because of the things that he's

30:26

gone through and the cartoon, we only

30:26

get little inklings of what his story

30:31

is but I believe everything that he said

30:31

here is all things that come from the

30:36

Kyoshi novels, and I'm interested to see

30:36

if they're going to have an Avatar Kuruk

30:41

novel as well, but, I didn't mind him.

30:44

I thought he was more interesting

30:44

than say, Avatar Roku, and

30:51

just as interesting as Avatar

30:53

yeah, you'd have to get more from him. He's kind of like Dr.

30:55

Strange from Marvel, where he's like

30:55

fighting, other dimensions , he was

31:02

fighting the spirit world, so they

31:02

all thought that he didn't really care

31:07

about them or wasn't around to help

31:07

them out, really he was probably saving

31:13

Without, he was doing. They didn't know.

31:16

So he probably got no thanks and his

31:16

legacy isn't that great so I do feel

31:19

bad for him to be honest and this

31:19

scene made me want to learn more about

31:25

Avatar Kuruk. and You know what happened,

31:27

which he told Aang kind of told

31:30

did, and then Aang didn't say anything. Right.

31:32

came back, but whatever. Aang could've bailed him out there, but

31:36

He could have like, made a difference a little bit,

31:39

see this Hey, Princess Yue, by the way.

31:42

you're right. He was a But

31:45

no, he could have really bailed him out.

31:47

Yeah, oh, also, can I also just

31:47

say, I think Avatar Kuruk can kinda

31:52

get it, he's not too bad looking. Can kinda get it?

31:55

I mean, he's, I Lucky Ummi.

32:00

She lost her Okay, not Lucky Ummi, I

32:02

personally, for the most part,

32:07

liked how they did Avatar Kuruk. He kind of looked like how I

32:09

was expecting him to from the

32:11

cartoons, he had the blue eyes.

32:14

Blue eyes, maybe

32:17

that's because he's angsty. He's the angsty Avatar.

32:20

I got a I got a soft spot for,

32:21

the angsty characters,

32:25

I'm excited, I want, I'm ready to,

32:25

I'm ready to watch the next episode.

32:30

Out of all the episodes that

32:30

we've watched, I'm ready to

32:33

just move on and hopefully, what

32:35

know what I mean? Hopefully I don't have

32:36

the same feeling after

32:40

With this one. Yeah. I agree with you there.

32:42

Okay, let's move on to

32:42

talking about the youth.

32:47

Our kids. we going to do with

32:51

Let's go ahead and start with Aang. I feel like They are not doing Aang's

32:53

character justice, especially in

33:00

this episode, I really felt like

33:00

his inner conflict has been brushed

33:05

aside because we get little hints

33:05

of it in all the episodes, but they

33:11

don't really let us, uh, sit with

33:11

it enough, you know what I mean?

33:16

Yeah, I'm just tired of the, oh,

33:16

my friends, my friends, my friends.

33:20

Well, that's the whole theme of your friends.

33:23

Uh, You need to not, you can't have

33:26

Yeah, okay, I will say it is

33:26

getting a little bit tired.

33:29

We get it. Aang wants to do this with his friends.

33:32

He feels like he can only do this

33:32

with the help of his friends, and

33:35

everybody else is telling him, no,

33:38

Yeah, I felt like we already went through this Yeah,

33:41

already this lesson that you

33:41

need to do this with Team Avatar

33:46

It's not just gonna be you we've already

33:46

learned that he's not gonna do it alone

33:50

They've already went through this now. We're going back to you needed this alone

33:55

I think that's we already learned this lesson That's, I think that's why this

33:58

episode felt boring because

34:01

we've been there, done that. Um, we had Bumi.

34:06

We had Avatar Roku already imply

34:06

it, said friends are a liability.

34:11

So at this point, it's like, yes, we get it. So

34:14

let's, let's go deeper with, Aang's

34:15

inner conflict and move on,

34:21

to a different aspect of that. I feel like they had potential when he

34:23

did realize that, He could lose Sokka and

34:29

Katara, they could die trying to help him.

34:32

So I feel like I just needed to move

34:32

further in that direction, but it just

34:39

like touches the tip of the iceberg and then

34:39

it's resolved by the end of the episode

34:45

and I feel like that's how some of

34:45

the other episodes have been too that

34:48

with Aang's conflict and burdens that

34:50

he's he's feeling it's addressed briefly and

34:51

then they try to wrap it up by the end

34:56

of the episode as if it didn't matter.

34:59

goes back to what you were saying in

34:59

our past episodes, which was, you don't

35:04

have to keep telling us the obvious

35:04

and keep telling us the obvious we're

35:09

adults, we're grown up, I know there

35:09

are kids watching, but, okay, Aang

35:14

needs his friends, yes, we get it.

35:17

I think because they, I mean

35:25

We get it. I mean, this episode is

35:27

very much focused on Katara.

35:30

And, that part of the storyline

35:30

with her challenging Pakku.

35:35

And it's like they just needed to give Aang something

35:36

to do and tie him into everything

35:41

that's going on with Sokka and Katara. Without these character relationships,

35:43

then, shows are very boring and very flat,

35:48

but it's still feeling a bit disconnected.

35:51

Aang, Katara, Sokka together,

35:51

their relationship isn't

35:55

uh, it's just feeling disconnected.

35:58

We have Katara's conflict with Pakku

35:58

and their character relationship.

36:03

And so then that works. We have Sokka and his character

36:04

relationship with Yue, which we'll get to.

36:09

But at least that's, at least that's

36:09

what, they're doing with Sokka here.

36:13

So then we have Aang, who's kind

36:13

of left hanging out over here.

36:17

That's because he's told by the past

36:17

avatars to leave your friends behind.

36:23

This is the avatar has to do But then it's like, what are you

36:25

doing with Aang in this episode?

36:28

Give him something more

36:28

than just, I need to talk

36:31

No, he's got to a past another lesson that he needs his friends.

36:35

Yeah he, they need to better tie

36:35

him into they need to tie him into

36:39

his friends a little bit better. You're talking about these relationships,

36:41

so then, Do better with telling

36:47

the story of their friendship and

36:47

its development because I feel like

36:51

it's not happening at this point.

36:53

I'm not caring as much as I should

36:53

about their friendship, even though

36:57

it's supposed to be a main focal point. Why should we care at this point?

37:01

They haven't been giving us a

37:01

good reason to invest in their

37:06

friendship with each other. And Aang needs something else

37:08

to do besides, oh, need guidance

37:12

from the Avatar, go to the shrine,

37:15

the shrine. Yes, that's on the writers.

37:19

Okay, let's move me, that's,

37:23

On for him

37:26

Okay, Okay, so besides her wig.

37:31

So yes. So, I correct

37:37

So I was correct in guessing that

37:41

um, yeah, remember I was supposed to tell

37:43

you and I forgot we were discussing it

37:46

on a podcast episode that I feel like

37:46

the fox is tied to a character that we

37:51

haven't met yet, but I couldn't say it

37:51

because I didn't want to get spoilers.

37:55

And I was supposed to tell you who I thought about was.

37:57

I felt like it had to be the

37:57

voice of Yue and so it was.

38:01

I just wasn't sure exactly

38:01

how the fox was tied to her.

38:05

I didn't think the fox

38:05

was going to be her,

38:09

but it turns out that she

38:09

was literally the fox.

38:13

And, thought that was a good twist.

38:16

You like that, that it. was able to go into the

38:17

spirit world in her dreams?

38:19

Yeah, dreams? Yeah, just for I I mean, I think it makes sense

38:21

if she has been Touched by spirits

38:25

when she was a baby it makes sense.

38:28

guide for the village and they show that she is a waterbender.

38:34

I'm interested So I'm interested to see

38:36

why they made that change.

38:40

So for those who haven't seen

38:40

the cartoon, Yue is not a

38:43

waterbender at all in the original.

38:46

not at

38:48

so this, yeah, this is something

38:48

completely new and I want to see

38:53

if There's a good reason that

38:53

they made her a waterbender.

38:57

I hope it pays off in the next

38:57

episode, otherwise it's like,

39:00

Okay, this is really random. By the way,

39:03

By the way, that ice cream looked I know, I really wanted to try it,

39:05

but I think, I think they were

39:08

licking off of the same spoon. Which kind of, ick.

39:11

of I don't mean, they already got a thing

39:14

okay, so about that. What

39:18

what a good transition. So, Yue mentions that well, first we

39:19

learn that she is engaged to Hahn.

39:27

It was, an arranged Right, it

39:27

was an arranged engagement.

39:31

And then when she turned 16, which

39:31

would have been recent because I don't

39:35

think she's much older than 16, or

39:35

maybe she is 16, she broke it off.

39:39

And Hahn says that he doesn't know why. I didn't realize until watching it

39:41

the second time that The reason that

39:45

she broke it off is because she, quote

39:45

unquote, met Sokka in her dreams.

39:51

the man of her, er, the boy of her

39:53

of her dreams, but here is my problem. Sokka was only there one time.

39:57

That means that she only met Sokka

39:57

one time, not really knowing who he

40:02

is, of course, and the reason that

40:04

He had a big heart. After that one meeting, he's

40:05

the boy of your dreams and

40:09

you call off your engagement? I understand wanting to call off

40:10

an an arranged engagement if, Hahn

40:15

is not who you imagine marrying.

40:18

I get that. I just don't think the whole boy of my

40:19

dreams is deserved yet at this point.

40:24

at this point. that solidified the boy of her

40:28

dreams, that showed his true character

40:34

where she knew that she loved him Maybe.

40:38

Maybe there's something deeper. Cause I guess you have to.

40:41

It just seems so very surface level to me.

40:44

And uh, really with any

40:46

like, show or movie that, has

40:46

romances like this, I tend to

40:51

be a little bit more critical. Is it believable?

40:54

see if, you know,

40:56

is it believable? I don't think

40:59

I don't think it's a good story.

41:02

That is really weird to bring

41:02

Fifty Shades of Grey into

41:05

Avatar The Last Airbender.

41:07

And that, that first of all, when

41:07

I first started reading that years

41:10

and years ago, I think before the

41:10

book even came out my Kindle showed

41:14

like, oh, here's a sample of this. Maybe you'd like it. And I read it and it was just a sample.

41:18

So I didn't know what I was getting into. And then when the book came

41:20

out, I actually read it.

41:22

And it was like a train wreck

41:22

you couldn't look away from.

41:26

Nobody reads or watches that

41:26

for the plot , cuz I mean,

41:28

it's terrible, let's be honest. Anyways!

41:32

Sidetracked. . tracked. big one.

41:35

big I just do not find Yue and Sokka's

41:35

infatuation with each other

41:40

believable yet at this point. I guess it's just the you're the

41:52

I guess it's just the whole,

41:52

oh, you're the boy of my dreams.

41:55

I don't get it. I don't get it. don't get

41:59

I mean, Literally. Yes, but you are already gonna

42:00

kiss him like you guys just met.

42:04

It's romance, Ugh, I'm rolling my eyes.

42:08

You are such a mom. I, okay, to be fair, I thought

42:12

it wasn't necessarily that

42:17

believable in the cartoon either um,

42:20

He was going after her on her looks.

42:22

She was going after him on his heart.

42:26

So I don't see a problem with their Other

42:27

than, she seems more justified than he

42:33

You think so? that's fair.

42:38

She loves him for who he is. Or likes him for who he is.

42:42

He likes her because she's pretty.

42:44

Let me just be clear though, I'm

42:44

not against the ship whatsoever.

42:48

I was just hoping that Netflix was

42:48

going to add on way more to it and give

42:55

it more depth than the cartoon has.

42:58

they didn't have the Clearly.

43:00

And that's why I, oh my gosh I

43:00

wish they would have at least

43:04

given the season 10 episodes. I think it really could

43:05

have benefited from it. And this is one of the reasons why.

43:09

But I, move on.

43:12

Yeah. Do we need to go to Sokka, or?

43:14

That's kind of why I listed Yue

43:14

and Sokka right after each other.

43:17

It was because, his part in this

43:17

was very much tied in with Yue's.

43:22

I didn't mind Sokka at

43:22

all in this episode.

43:25

I thought he had some funny lines. He's been pretty consistent

43:26

for me throughout the season.

43:30

So he was amusing to watch. That's really all I have to

43:32

say about Sokka in this one.

43:39

we're, like, looking for

43:39

only negative things.

43:43

no, We're trying to have Okay. Okay.

43:45

Here, how about this? I do like how they made Sokka and

43:49

uh, Yue's ex, like her ex wasn't a douche.

43:53

Oh, Hahn? actually quite Let's go ahead and talk about

43:57

and wanted Sokka's opinion

43:57

and his knowledge to share

44:01

with the fighters of the. Water Tribe?

44:03

I thought that was cool, and I was waiting

44:03

for them to be like, oh, he's secretly,

44:11

A Chad. Chad. No, I thought they were

44:15

eventually gonna make him out to be

44:15

like he was in the cartoon.

44:18

A Chad. I thought Chad was a good thing.

44:21

don't think so I don't think so. No. I thought he was, I was waiting

44:23

for him to become a Chad.

44:26

At first I was not happy that

44:26

they made Hahn nice, but then I

44:31

had to reexamine it a little bit.

44:33

It would've not made sense if, uh.

44:36

If Hahn was outright a jerk to them

44:36

because, they're, it's the Avatar and

44:42

his crew, they're welcoming them into the

44:42

city, so I feel like even if he didn't

44:45

like Sokka for some reason, he wouldn't

44:45

have outwardly been such a jerk to him

44:50

because he is there with the Avatar. I

44:54

Yeah, so I can see why they

44:54

made that change in Hahn.

44:59

Kind of boring though. Maybe that's it.

45:01

Maybe I was like waiting for something

45:01

to be injected in this episode that would

45:07

have given it a little bit more life or

45:09

a a little bit more, either

45:09

drama or levity, something.

45:13

Um,

45:15

But, no. Okay, let's go ahead

45:17

and talk about Katara.

45:21

Like I said, this episode is

45:21

very much focused on Katara.

45:25

Which is sometimes nice because she's

45:25

kind of blended into the background

45:29

for most of the season for me. But let's go ahead and just dive

45:31

right into her fight with Pakku.

45:36

How did you feel about the way they

45:36

adapted that fight from the cartoon?

45:39

It felt like he held back a ton. he

45:42

Either isn't very good

45:42

master he held back.

45:47

I don't know. He must have held back because one,

45:48

he's not trying to actually hurt Katara.

45:51

He just wants to teach her a lesson and,

45:51

uh, deter her from wanting to fight.

45:56

And I felt like that with cartoon

45:56

Pakku too, he wasn't out for blood.

46:01

He just wanted to I, yeah, he wanted to demobilize

46:06

show her a lesson, how it's done.

46:08

But all their movements super slow.

46:13

I don't know if that's intentional. Are is it actually faster in real time?

46:18

Are they slowing it down for us

46:18

to show their movements or It

46:21

it did feel slow? Is that. Was that how they bend?

46:25

Are they, is Waterbender just super slow? I did feel like it was

46:28

a little bit clunky.

46:32

Like at first it started out

46:32

good, but then especially when

46:35

they're sliding on the ice. You expect it to be super speedy,

46:37

but it did just feel slow and that's

46:42

what made the fight fall flat for me.

46:45

the fall flat

46:48

Like it wasn't actually a fight. It,

46:51

wasn't a fight.

46:54

I I

46:58

I will say that it, as far as

46:58

like adapting what the fight

47:02

looked like from the cartoon, I

47:02

think it followed pretty closely.

47:05

They had the ice discs. I really like the shot where they lifted

47:06

it right from the cartoon where the ice

47:10

disc flies right by his face and it goes

47:10

slow motion and he sees his reflection.

47:14

So that was cool that they

47:14

brought that into the scene.

47:17

But some of the visuals and like just

47:17

the effects were a little bit off to me.

47:23

You could really tell that it

47:23

was like green screen or blue

47:27

screen or whatever it is they use. Especially when Pakku was sliding on the

47:30

ice and he was up in the air and doing

47:34

some of his moves, it looked super fake.

47:37

And so that kind of pulled me

47:37

out of the scene a little bit.

47:40

Yeah, it just didn't, it felt like a

47:40

choreographed dance versus a fight.

47:45

And if it was in real life and there

47:45

is a battle like that going on, they

47:49

would have used so much more room. People wouldn't be standing

47:51

that close, because

47:55

yeah. And they're all just

47:57

kind of standing there. They, there wasn't really like a whole lot

47:59

of reaction, especially for how close in

48:02

proximity to the bending that they were.

48:06

And so it just, all of it

48:06

just felt a little bit off.

48:10

Yeah, it's super slow, I kinda enjoyed it.

48:13

Yeah. it's kind of interesting that it. If, for my Avatar State moment,

48:16

if it wasn't the title card, it

48:20

was gonna be this fight, but only

48:20

because it at least breathed a

48:24

little bit of life into the episode. It's almost like they saved

48:27

all of the excitement for this.

48:30

Well, if they saved it for

48:34

Well, if saved it for this scene, they do a very good

48:38

job. And I never saw Katara

48:39

get the best of him,

48:44

never saw Katara get the best of

48:44

they're like, I've never seen Baku

48:49

get backed up or whatever. I don't know.

48:51

But she lost.

48:54

and then Sokka's like, oh, well did you, did you lose?

48:58

Well, I think he means more of uh,

49:00

you may have actually lost the fight

49:00

itself, but you've garnered the

49:04

respect of, the people watching.

49:07

And so in that way, that's

49:07

a small victory in itself.

49:10

way, that's a small victory itself.

49:15

that way. Right, right. Between that and the lack of The dynamic

49:16

relationships and character development

49:22

it all just fell very flat with all

49:22

of our people up here at the Northern

49:26

the northern The episode. The whole episode. Well,

49:28

no, actually, I wouldn't say

49:28

the whole episode, I really do

49:31

just mean with everything going

49:31

on in the Northern Water Tribe.

49:34

With Aang, Katara, Sokka and

49:37

Cause you're right, because

49:37

with Fire Lord Ozai and his

49:41

daughter, that was a good one. That was good.

49:43

But like I already mentioned earlier,

49:43

like Aang, Katara, and Sokka, their

49:47

characters just feel so disconnected

49:47

from each other, and They feel more like

49:51

isolated characters versus a trio, and

49:51

I feel like if they don't fix this in

49:58

the next episode and going into Season

49:58

2 their characters are just going to

50:02

continue to suffer, because like I said,

50:02

compared to our Fire Nation characters,

50:08

it's like night and day difference, and

50:08

that's why we loved the previous episode

50:13

so much, because There really wasn't

50:13

much of Katara and Sokka and even Aang

50:18

because it was focused on Iroh and Zuko. my

50:21

Katara and Sokka and

50:24

you Aang um, because it on Iroh and

50:31

maybe. I just don't it's a false feeling of, well, they did a

50:32

great job here, even though they're kind

50:37

of lacking in what we're wanting to see.

50:40

Yeah, since we mentioned the

50:40

Fire Nation, let's move over to,

50:46

you what happened with the B plot.

50:48

So first we have our

50:48

attempted murder on Zuko.

50:51

So you said, did you say this If you're calling that the B

50:53

plot, it was way better than

50:55

And I feel like it's been like that

50:55

for a good portion of the season.

51:00

So we already talked about how much we

51:00

liked the whole boat explosion thing

51:03

and that was something unexpected

51:03

as far as the placement of it.

51:08

As far as who was actually

51:08

responsible for trying to kill Zuko?

51:19

what was Lieutenant Jee? Why did he lie to them and say they

51:20

were going over, he was over there going

51:24

over fuel usage, that they didn't, he

51:24

didn't want to tell them that they were

51:28

Yeah, he probably didn't want to seem like

51:28

he was not doing his job or that he was,

51:35

goofing off and having a good time, and

51:35

who knows, maybe he was supposed to be at

51:40

a certain post at that point in time, or

51:42

I guess I didn't see. I mean, if his loyalty is back to.

51:47

Zuko, right? Which we're, that's what

51:48

we're to believe, right?

51:51

Yeah, I think so. Why couldn't you just say I was over

51:52

there playing cards with, guy or I was

51:56

trying to get information for you, Zuko.

51:59

Because I think he was coaxed

51:59

to come drink with this guy and

52:04

he, he like, he fell, he kind

52:04

of fell for it and then, yeah.

52:09

Either way, he was doing something that

52:09

he probably shouldn't have been doing.

52:12

probably shouldn't have been doing.

52:15

I poor He made a poor judgement call, and

52:27

Right. They never, I mean And then they

52:27

never really showed you that he was

52:33

acting as a crew member for Zhao.

52:37

I'm okay with how they did it, because

52:37

especially for those who haven't

52:41

seen it, I think they really wanted

52:41

you to think, maybe he's hurt, or

52:45

he is dying, or, he really did get

52:47

caught then he was just

52:47

suddenly with Zhao's crew.

52:51

But then that's to subvert expectations.

52:54

I want to say it was like

52:54

that in the cartoon, too.

52:57

In the cartoon, there, you have to look

52:57

very closely, but you can see that Zuko

53:04

does a move to protect himself during the

53:04

explosion, but if you don't catch that,

53:08

it very much looks like he was caught up

53:08

in the explosion, and then you see him

53:13

um, in disguise.

53:15

I think they did fine With all of that,

53:15

I thought that it was adapted very well.

53:22

I think it was on here.

53:25

Yeah. Also, I kind of feel bad for

53:26

Lieutenant Jee, do you think

53:29

he feels a little bit guilty? He just found out that Zuko saved him

53:31

and his division, and then now it's

53:37

like, oh, you kind of went and got Zuko killed.

53:41

Yeah, I think if I was Zuko or Uncle Iroh,

53:42

I would kinda be leery of Lt.

53:47

Jee right now. I mean, I don't think he has, they

53:48

have any reason to be suspicious of

53:52

Why? Because he's shown his loyalty,

53:55

well, if they ever find out he was lying, that he wasn't actually over going over fuel

54:00

It was a looks sketchy.

54:03

Yeah, I guess you're right. Okay, and then We have a couple of

54:05

scenes where Zhao and Iroh interact,

54:09

that tension that's building up I kinda

54:09

liked how Zhao was very badly acting

54:17

like, He cared about finding out who

54:18

killed Zuko and that he, dang it.

54:21

and what he Yeah, I really did like that.

54:25

It was funny. like that.

54:27

It was funny. Obviously, yes.

54:30

Obviously, yes. But I do like how when Iroh said, I know

54:32

who did it, and the way he looked right

54:37

at Zhao and Zhao was like, oh crap, . but

54:40

like oh crap.

54:43

But then

54:46

like double might be dangerous.

54:49

That's possible, like a double meaning. meaning.

54:52

But, either that or, I mean, they had a

54:52

hunch that Zhao is, working with Azula,

55:01

I think they kind of implied that they had that

55:03

there's someone smarter behind So either Azula or Ozai

55:07

So since we're talking about let's get

55:07

with the dynamic between her and Ozai.

55:13

What are your initial thoughts on I think he's was wanting to make sure that

55:15

she is what he thought she was, which is a

55:22

cold-blooded killer. Okay. She's his assassin he wanted

55:24

to make sure that she's down.

55:29

To party, you know what I mean? Now that they have hinted that she's

55:34

a lightning bender And she was

55:34

willing to almost do it to her father.

55:39

So she'll definitely do it to her brother.

55:42

I'm trying to think of

55:42

what his game plan is.

55:44

And what you're saying, it makes sense. I had a feeling that he was trying to

55:46

push Azula to, to this point cause Ozai

55:51

seems, like a very calculated dude.

55:54

I'm just wondering, it just wasn't very

55:54

clear is he wanting Azula to go after

56:00

Zuko, because based on how they

56:00

characterized him in the previous

56:04

episode and all those flashbacks, He

56:04

wants Zuko to rise to the occasion.

56:10

So that's where I'm a little bit confused at. Where they're going with Ozai and his

56:12

plans and what he's using Azula for.

56:16

I just thought he was

56:16

going about it a weird way.

56:20

How do you know that Azula is going

56:20

to get to a point where she says no

56:23

to his quote unquote games?

56:25

I don't know, maybe he was just

56:25

putting her through that just to see

56:28

what she, I mean, maybe that wasn't

56:28

but it was a pleasant surprise.

56:36

Like, He wants her to disobey him?

56:40

That's what confused me, because one I've

56:40

never known Azula to be one to, yeah,

56:45

like out in the open, but again, as we

56:45

keep saying, the cartoon is the cartoon.

56:51

And we have to separate the two. So I get that.

56:54

So yeah, there are different ways that

56:54

they could go about it and it makes me

56:59

a little bit nervous, but I'm curious.

57:01

I am glad that we got to see a

57:01

little bit of her lightning bending.

57:05

I knew there was no way she was

57:05

gonna actually aim at her dad, but

57:08

I think she wanted to prove a point. there was no she was gonna actually

57:14

No. her dad, but I think she wanted to point.

57:24

See, that's what I'm expecting from

57:24

him, is that, him holding Azula

57:28

on a higher pedestal than Zuko. higher pedestal than

57:35

that's I wonder, do you think

57:35

she's gonna come into play?

57:39

Well, no, there's no way that she would

57:39

actually have any interaction with

57:45

Aang, the Gaang, having

57:45

anything to do with the A plot

57:49

in the do with the A

57:52

hope not. they that. the finale?

57:55

They could, could, They could, but I don't

57:56

think I'm gonna like that. for them.

58:03

know.

58:09

ruin or you could be like, holy good,

58:12

but could be like,

58:17

Pauline. Well,

58:23

I were necessary for her to go

58:23

against her father's games.

58:26

They had to be there to tell her. messing totally playing with He

58:34

knows that you're the best. Which,

58:37

we don't know if she's the They needed to put Mei Mai and

58:43

needed to put Mai and Ty Lee

58:43

to push stop her dad from,

58:52

Doing what they're what they're doing.

58:54

Aside from that, I just feel like

58:54

there's no point in having them

58:57

there at this point in the story.

59:00

Yeah, it's of them. Yeah, it's like,

59:02

if you're going to have Mai

59:02

and Ty Lee, put them to use.

59:06

They don't necessarily have to be

59:06

a big part of the plot, but have

59:10

them do something besides just

59:10

stand there and watch and then

59:14

That's all they've feedback to. But I mean, they

59:18

are they her conscience? Yeah, I think we've, I think

59:21

we've talked about that before.

59:23

You have Ty Lee who feeds her ego,

59:23

but then you have Mai that also kind

59:27

of brings her back down a little bit. That's why I was saying it's

59:29

like her inner thoughts, but

59:32

in, in physical form, but it's

59:35

like, if you're going to have them

59:35

there, at least do something

59:37

that builds on their characters.

59:40

Have Ty Lee be doing her acrobatics or,

59:40

Mai training in the background, something,

59:47

like if they're not there talking. Let's see a little bit more of their

59:49

characters through their actions.

59:54

And I can say the same thing

59:54

about the Northern Water Tribe,

59:57

when they were watching the

59:57

fight between Pakku and Katara.

1:00:02

You have all these people

1:00:02

just standing around, but it's

1:00:04

like, give a little something

1:00:04

to add to your character. Even if you're a quote unquote

1:00:06

background character, you're still

1:00:10

somebody, like you're still somebody

1:00:10

in the Northern Water Tribe.

1:00:13

You have a story, even though us as an

1:00:13

audience, we don't know what that is.

1:00:17

Just give us a little bit, something

1:00:17

besides just standing there.

1:00:22

That's how I felt about Mai and Ty Lee. No,

1:00:28

I would rather just

1:00:28

have a whole episode on

1:00:31

episode on them we

1:00:35

but let's not dwell on

1:00:35

something we can't fix.

1:00:39

we can't fix. Because I didn't know where else to

1:00:41

put this, but just a really quick fun

1:00:44

fact, Katara has this line that she

1:00:44

says to Aang at the end Something along

1:00:49

the lines of, you're the one that's

1:00:49

writing your story, the legend of Aang

1:00:52

she, calls it that. she's talking about

1:00:55

like, that's the past, You write your

1:00:58

yeah, something, okay, the one that writes of Aang.

1:01:01

Yes, and fun fact, that's the name

1:01:01

of the show in a lot of countries.

1:01:07

So instead of Avatar The Last Airbender, I'm talking about the

1:01:09

cartoon specifically, it's called The Legend of Aang.

1:01:13

So I thought so I would

1:01:15

egg there. A little explanation Okay, you gotta explain

1:01:18

the whole air sender

1:01:20

thing. If you've watched, well, when you're

1:01:21

watching The Last Airbender on

1:01:28

air Pender for the live action,

1:01:29

that is an S, not a B.

1:01:32

You're talking about the logo, logo, right?

1:01:35

Yes, The Last Airbender. Ah, yes.

1:01:37

Wes says this every single time

1:01:37

we start an episode where, they

1:01:42

bring in the opening and they show

1:01:42

avatar the last airbender, and

1:01:47

he says that the B looks like an Yeah.

1:01:49

can you mess up a B? It looks like the last air sender.

1:01:53

I don't know. It says Airbender to me.

1:01:55

Oh I like legend of Aang. That's pretty cool.

1:01:59

Um, Was there anything else

1:01:59

about this episode?

1:02:01

We've talked a lot about the things

1:02:01

we had issues with, and I know it

1:02:06

felt very much like bashing, and

1:02:06

it was like mostly negative, but to

1:02:11

be fair, I feel like all the other

1:02:11

episodes have been mostly positive for

1:02:15

us with a few things here and there.

1:02:18

I'm not saying this was a bad was a bad episode.

1:02:21

Uhhhh. I'm not, and

1:02:25

Not good. we just got the same lesson over and over,

1:02:29

Yes I mean Like we've mentioned

1:02:29

before we are, we're trying to look

1:02:33

at this in a balanced way So it was

1:02:33

inevitable that we were gonna come

1:02:37

to an episode that we didn't like

1:02:37

as much as the other ones Everything

1:02:41

has its good and bad Aspects to it.

1:02:44

This one just had more aspects that I

1:02:47

I Yeah. And I don't know there's something

1:02:54

so and I don't know I feel like

1:02:54

there's something that like maybe

1:02:58

we're missing something else that we

1:03:00

Should have talked about but

1:03:00

I don't know if it's worth

1:03:04

I don't even want to go back and rewatch it. That's the thing part of what

1:03:07

I judge an episode on is how

1:03:10

excited am I to go back and re it.

1:03:13

And this one is like, I don't, I don't want to re watch it.

1:03:16

I didn't even want to re watch

1:03:16

it for this podcast episode to

1:03:20

be honest, and I know you didn't. I

1:03:22

feel Like this podcast episode does feel

1:03:22

a little bit different from our previous

1:03:26

ones just because of our feelings with

1:03:29

So, We're interested to see

1:03:30

what everybody else thinks.

1:03:33

I wouldn't be surprised if this

1:03:34

is the episode that has the

1:03:37

most complaints about it. complaints about it.

1:03:43

You think? you mean? I mean, you could only go up from here.

1:03:47

not make the last You know what I

1:03:50

But it's supposed to be the penultimate episode.

1:03:52

Like, It's supposed to get you

1:03:52

excited to watch the next one.

1:03:55

And it's has us excited to

1:03:55

watch the next one, but for not

1:03:59

good reasons, we want to one.

1:04:02

Okay. So speaking of moving

1:04:02

on, let's move on and

1:04:06

Talk about our favorite bending moments. Did you have a favorite bending moment?

1:04:11

We did have a lot of bending. bending. Yeah, I, the bending itself was good.

1:04:16

Although we talked about how

1:04:16

the water bending was super slow

1:04:21

The visuals were fine. The visuals were good, yes.

1:04:23

It was how other parts of it were

1:04:25

executed, it was a little bit meh.

1:04:29

eh. I liked, Azula fighting

1:04:30

the Earthbender, and then,

1:04:37

obviously, I liked the lightning. Like, how it built up.

1:04:40

Yes, that was slow too, but

1:04:40

that was purposely slowed

1:04:44

down. Oh, you mean the lightning bending? Yes. that was done deliberately, and it tells

1:04:46

us that lightning bending is special

1:04:53

and it has its own special technique.

1:04:57

So I get that. You mentioned the Earthbender.

1:05:00

That's something we didn't bring up,

1:05:00

is that they just have Earthbender

1:05:03

prisoners that they use for training?

1:05:07

How horrible is that? That's awful!

1:05:10

Yeah, I was trying to figure out why the

1:05:10

Earthbender, other than with the,

1:05:15

like they're probably threatening him with

1:05:15

death, but, but then if you don't fight,

1:05:23

Yeah, but then if you don't you're doomed.

1:05:26

So yeah, you're doomed you

1:05:26

do, doomed if you don't.

1:05:28

It's not really a win win for him. it's cruel.

1:05:36

Mine is a tie between Katara's Ice

1:05:36

Discs, which I already mentioned,

1:05:40

and also the Lightning Bending,

1:05:40

because that's the first time we've

1:05:43

seen Lightning Bending, so it's like, oh, that's Bending,

1:05:45

and so it's like, oh, that's cool.

1:05:48

I want to new. I want to say the second time, but

1:05:50

we saw the Discs first with Bumi, the

1:05:54

Earth, Earth Discs. Okay, so what about favorite

1:05:55

character for this episode?

1:05:58

This is rough Um,

1:06:02

my favorite character

1:06:04

um, Momo! We got to see Momo!

1:06:08

He ate a bug. He didn't eat a bug?

1:06:11

Yeah, I thought he ate a bug. He ate something, right? The soot!

1:06:14

Oh, was that Soot? At the end, you're talking

1:06:15

about the end, right? I thought he came out and

1:06:19

like, grabbed a bug. No, he ate soot, and that's how they

1:06:22

Wow, I did not see that. I just like the cartoon.

1:06:27

Which. let me

1:06:31

Well, since you mentioned that though

1:06:31

because I forgot to put this in my notes.

1:06:35

So when he does that and

1:06:35

then they look up and it's

1:06:37

like, oh, the Fire Nation is here.

1:06:42

And then Aang's like, okay. It's

1:06:44

like, really guys, this is how we're gonna end it. It could've been a little bit

1:06:46

more dramatic, but, whatever.

1:06:50

It. Like, It could have been a little bit

1:06:57

Um I like that he's he's out drinking with

1:07:02

how he's

1:07:05

like, he's

1:07:09

uh, acting like he's

1:07:17

like, He's,

1:07:22

time. he's out doing what I'd be be

1:07:25

Just Drink. yeah, that's it

1:07:29

that's it for our favorite characters,

1:07:31

have any, anything new

1:07:31

on our animal watch?

1:07:36

We got a little bit more of Appa

1:07:36

and Momo, but asides from that,

1:07:39

from that What is I really thought that, okay, they've got

1:07:40

to throw in some, winter animal hybrid

1:07:46

They're missing so many These are hybrid animals.

1:07:50

You can make any animal you

1:07:50

want and yet we're not getting

1:07:55

I thought we were gonna see those

1:07:55

what were those like that were

1:07:57

swimming in the cartoon like at

1:07:57

the beginning of this episode?

1:08:00

They, it was like otter, some

1:08:00

type of like otter hybrid.

1:08:04

They were so cute. They were like swimming in the water.

1:08:07

We didn't get those. I'm so disappointed.

1:08:10

disappointed. Gators, I don't know, you could do so

1:08:11

much, and they're not doing anything with

1:08:16

Yeah, and I would still, even

1:08:16

if it was just Appa and Momo,

1:08:19

I'd love to see more of them.

1:08:21

Um, More money to do

1:08:23

well, yeah, definitely. you gotta have the budget for it, but it's

1:08:27

like, if you're tackling Avatar, The

1:08:27

Last Airbender, you have to know

1:08:31

that you gotta have the budget

1:08:31

for the animals, all the visuals.

1:08:35

I mean, we had a cute

1:08:35

little Appa moment here.

1:08:38

I'd like to have more Momo moments. Or no, sorry, we had a Momo moment

1:08:41

here, when you thought he was

1:08:45

eating the bug, that wasn't a bug. But I'd like to see more

1:08:47

Appa interactions, Especially

1:08:50

with Aang, because I mean,

1:08:50

come on that's his air bison.

1:08:54

buddy. buddy. Okay, so let's move on

1:08:56

then to memorable quotes.

1:09:00

Did you even, you didn't write down down a memorable quote.

1:09:03

I memorable quotes. You want to forget the whole thing.

1:09:06

forget? I don't, was anything

1:09:10

memorable about this episode?

1:09:13

Don't even do a quote, was there

1:09:13

anything memorable about Yue's wig.

1:09:18

It Yue's

1:09:21

I did write down a quote. What do you got? So this is, I have this only because

1:09:23

it stood out to me while watching it.

1:09:28

And nothing else did really, but I put.

1:09:31

A quote from Yagoda, surprisingly,

1:09:31

and it was the quote where she said,

1:09:36

Healing is more than a physical process.

1:09:39

It's about empathy. You must understand what

1:09:40

it means to feel pain.

1:09:43

And I chose that because it's

1:09:43

something that I agree with.

1:09:48

I like to think of myself

1:09:48

as a very empathetic person.

1:09:52

And I mean, I thought that too like, as a kid.

1:09:54

I don't, I'm not one to shy away

1:09:54

from painful emotions or sadness.

1:09:59

Probably why a lot of the shows and

1:09:59

movies that I like are ones with really

1:10:04

sad moments because I really like those. But I think it's a good

1:10:06

lesson to learn that

1:10:11

You have to be able to deal

1:10:11

with those emotions to be able

1:10:14

to heal or help others heal.

1:10:16

It's all about empathy. Anytime they bring empathy in, it's

1:10:19

like, yes, preach. So, That was what I put

1:10:21

for my memorable quote. That's a good quote.

1:10:25

Yeah. Okay, what about our question of the

1:10:27

week, Pauline?

1:10:29

So, Don't be mad. But I did not get a

1:10:32

question of the week out.

1:10:35

I am sorry. Well, it was a domino effect.

1:10:39

We were delayed with our previous episode,

1:10:39

which then delayed us watching this

1:10:44

episode, which then, by the time it came

1:10:44

to remembering a question of the week.

1:10:49

It was already too late. Like we were already here.

1:10:51

So that's my bad guys.

1:10:53

I take Responsibility for this

1:10:53

one and the last one so I will

1:10:59

try to do better for the next one for the next one.

1:11:02

They forgive Finale has to

1:11:11

I just think the finale has to bring it.

1:11:15

Because this episode left me feeling

1:11:15

not very optimistic about the next one.

1:11:22

Here's the thing, what

1:11:25

happens in the next episode, so

1:11:25

the finale of season one, in the

1:11:29

cartoon, is what completely pulled

1:11:29

me into the series as a kid.

1:11:35

It was that episode where I thought,

1:11:35

oh my gosh, this is something really

1:11:40

different and special, and I hope

1:11:40

they continue making the show.

1:11:46

It was the turning point for me. I really hope I feel that way

1:11:48

about Netflix's finale, but

1:11:54

I'm not optimistic about it, I'm not optimistic about it, yeah,

1:12:06

this, the they be Yeah, or they saved the

1:12:07

budget for the finale episode,

1:12:12

finale episode. ton of animals.

1:12:17

Oh, yeah. Well, there's two animals I'm

1:12:18

thinking of that has to be there.

1:12:23

No spoilers. No spoilers! That's not even a hybrid, though.

1:12:28

No, but those are my

1:12:28

thoughts for this episode.

1:12:31

I'm sure there's more that I wanted to say

1:12:31

that I didn't get to, but it's like I like

1:12:36

beating a dead, wait, what's the saying?

1:12:40

Beating, Where are you going with it? Beating a horse with a dead

1:12:43

No, beating a dead

1:12:45

Sorry, Peta, wants to beat a

1:12:48

dead horse. Yeah, she said beating a dead

1:12:54

a dead horse. don't Yeah, I am

1:12:57

yeah, I am ready to move on.

1:13:00

And I'm so grateful that

1:13:00

people listen to this podcast.

1:13:05

But I am so ready to

1:13:05

be done with this one.

1:13:09

next. Yes. Alright, guys.

1:13:29

That wraps it up. We appreciate everyone

1:13:30

who's been listening.

1:13:33

If we've added even just five minutes

1:13:33

of entertainment to your day, do

1:13:37

us a huge favor and leave us a

1:13:37

review, especially on Apple Podcast.

1:13:41

it really helps us out. And you'd be helping other

1:13:43

Avatar fans find this show.

1:13:47

and make sure you subscribe to us, so you

1:13:47

don't miss out on any future episodes.

1:13:50

Absolutely, and we'd also love to connect

1:13:50

with you, so don't forget to follow

1:13:55

us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

1:13:58

You can find us at AvatarNationPod. And just feel free to share your

1:14:01

thoughts with us about everything

1:14:04

so far, even if it's this episode.

1:14:07

And who knows, we might just feature your

1:14:07

comments on a future podcast episode.

1:14:12

That wraps everything up. I'm Pauline.

1:14:15

I'm Wes, And you've been listening

1:14:16

to Avatar Nation.

1:14:19

Hopefully this eclipse

1:14:19

isn't the end of the

1:14:22

world. Oh, no. See you next time, maybe.

1:14:26

Love