Avatar Nation

Avatar Nation: S1 E04 — "Into the Dark"

• Pauline & Wes • Season 1 • Episode 5

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In this episode of AVATAR NATION, Pauline and Wes focus on episode 4 of Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender. They discuss the episode's themes of loss and difficult decisions in the backdrop of war, plus the emotional impact of flashbacks. They also explore various elements, including the implication of choices made by characters such as Aang, Zuko, Iroh, Sai, and more.


00:31 Intro

01:11 Opening

03:31 Episode Tea

06:22 Cabbage Rating

08:57 Personal Key Moments

13:09 Episode Analysis

55:01 Favorite Bending Moment

56:38 Favorite Character

57:32 Animal Watch

59:33 Memorable Quotes

01:02:00 Question of the Week

01:05:24 Closing Thoughts

01:07:08 Outro


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You have to make choices like that day after day, year after year, and that's just to save this one city. You have to save the whole world, let it fall, Aang, and learn what it means to be the Avatar. No! Then the world is doomed.

Pauline:

Welcome to Avatar Nation, a podcast, all about the Netflix live adaptation of Avatar: the Last Airbender. Whether you're a longtime fan like us, or you're new to the Avatarverse, join us as we dive into each episode and analyze the retelling of TV's greatest adventure. Hey guys, I'm your host, Pauline.

Wes:

And I'm Wes.

Pauline:

Guess what? We officially have listeners on all continents. Well, okay, minus Antarctica for obvious reasons, but What?

Wes:

have,

Pauline:

we have Listeners on each of the other six continents. So that's pretty cool. I didn't think that, we would get a whole lot of international listeners. So

Wes:

Thank you.

Pauline:

Yes. Thank you to everybody that has listened so far. Are you excited to get into this

Wes:

I am super excited.

Pauline:

We don't want to delay too much because we have a lot to talk about today, but before we get started, I do want to go ahead and read a comment that we got on Spotify. It's not a review, because I don't think you can leave reviews on Spotify, but we did get a comment from somebody named Neville B.

Wes:

Hi Neville!

Pauline:

And they said,"Loving your podcast. This was not my favorite episode of the series." And they're meaning the episode Omashu before this one. And they said,"I preferred episode 2.

Wes:

Oh, Well, thank you, Neville, for backing me up.

Pauline:

Yes. It sounds like Neville has agreed with you.

Wes:

Yeah, sorry, Pauline.

Pauline:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Speaking of the episode Omashu, I just want to say real quick, something I need to get off of my chest, okay? We didn't mention this last time, but the Fire Nation spy that was wearing red. Didn't that bother you? Because if you're a spy,

Wes:

why are you wearing red? Yes, why are you wearing

Pauline:

suspicious, is he? Yes, why are you wearing red in a city that is wearing mostly green? Come on

Wes:

just wanted to get that off of my

Pauline:

So I just wanted to get that off of my chest because that's been bothering me, and we didn't get to talk about it last time, so. okay, whew. Exhale, deep breaths. Before we get started with everything quick reminder to follow and subscribe to this podcast so that way you don't miss out on any future episode of ours, and it helps us a lot too,

Wes:

And save those airbenders. all you have to do.

Pauline:

save, we said before the last couple episodes, the more you guys engage with this podcast, the more winged lemurs and airbenders you get to save. We'll include badger moles this time too. Save them all, engage with us. Yeah!

Wes:

let's start it. Okay, so

Pauline:

Okay, let's start it! Okay, so this episode, as we mentioned already, this is titled Into the Dark. And it's directed once again by Jabbar Raisani, same director as the previous episode. He's our Game of Thrones and Stranger Things guy. Writing credits go to Keeley Macdonald Most known for He Man and the Masters of the Universe on Netflix, which I haven't watched.

Wes:

I Have not

Pauline:

that? No? I've never really gone into any He Man stuff in the

Wes:

I'm sorry

Pauline:

Wes, do you want to go ahead and read our episode recap just to catch us up on what happened in this episode?

Wes:

Let's do it! Episode 4 begins in a tense moment, with Aang and Iroh imprisoned, but their fates quickly diverge. Iroh, known far and wide as the Dragon of the West, finds himself being taken to The Pit, an Earth Kingdom labor camp for prisoners of war, during which his reputation earns him harsh treatment from an Earth Kingdom soldier. Not all hope is lost, for Zuko successfully tracks him down, and comes to his rescue. Working together to take down the Earth Kingdom soldiers, the two are able to escape, though it results in Zuko giving up his lead on the Avatar. Meanwhile, Aang faces a blast from the past when he's brought before Omashu's king. To his shock, the king is none other than his childhood friend, Bumi! But time and war have made Bumi bitter and a little mad, and he forces Aang to participate in a number of challenges, including a duel to the death to prove his worth as the Avatar. With help from Teo and Sai, Sokka and Katara set out to find Aang by navigating secret tunnels underneath the palace, which are believed to be haunted. They encounter the minstrels who share the tunnel's origins in the tragic story of Oma and Shu. Sokka and Katara soon discover that the tunnels are occupied by a colossal Badgermole, not spirits and it becomes their unlikely guide out of the tunnels and into the palace. Their timely arrival allows them to intervene in Aang and Bumi's deadly duel, and Aang is able to change Bumi's heart and rekindle his hope. Inspired by Aang's unwavering trust in his friends, Bumi makes the pivotal decision to stand with Aang against the Fire Nation's tyranny. Another turn of events sees Sai betraying the Fire Nation, exposing its insidious spy network, and potentially saving Omashu from an upcoming attack. The episode ends with Zuko spotting Appa flying overhead as he and Iroh row away on a boat, and Zuko choosing his uncle's safety over chasing down the Avatar.

Pauline:

Thank you. Do you like that I made that one shorter than the last episode recap?

Wes:

Yeah, I'm not out of breath,

Pauline:

of breath. Alrighty, so with the recap out of the way, are you ready to discuss our cabbage

Wes:

rating? Let's go! Do it.

Pauline:

Okay, so our cabbage rating. Our rating from 1 to 10, 1 being the worst, 10 being the best. We each have one and do you want to go first or do you want me

Wes:

I can go first.

Pauline:

you go first. What was your cabbage rating?

Wes:

Can you tell how excited I am? This episode was AMAZING!

Pauline:

What was your rating?

Wes:

8. 5.

Pauline:

Oh, wow! That's

Wes:

That's the best rating I've ever

Pauline:

gotten. That

Wes:

the best one. So

Pauline:

So far, this is your favorite episode. Why? Yeah.

Wes:

why? Because, I I re watched this episode three times uh, went to take notes and forgot to take notes because

Pauline:

it

Wes:

was good. No joke.

Pauline:

The beginning

Wes:

I guess just pulling everyone together everyone making decisions, basically. Decisions, that are starting to affect the narrative of the story.

Pauline:

Yeah, that's a good point. Do you remember what I gave my last one the last

Wes:

Yeah, you gave, you were pretty high on

Pauline:

I think I gave the last one an eight. So let me just preface my cabbage rating with this, okay? This episode had me on a roller coaster of emotions good and bad. I started off pumped and then went to frustrated and shocked and the next thing I was disappointed and then I was in tears and

Wes:

I she was

Pauline:

the edge of my seat. And then I was in tears again. It was just like so up and down for me. So the rating was really hard because I started out thinking I was going to give this episode a five. I seriously thought, okay, this might be my least favorite episode when I would say probably within the first 10, 15 minutes of the episode. But I'm coming away with a Oh, so hard! I'm also going to give it an 8.5.

Wes:

Oh my gosh, did you just

Pauline:

come up with that? I was teetering between 8 and 8. 5 because I think the last episode I gave it an 8.

Wes:

8.

Pauline:

Why Because overall, I did enjoy it more than the last episode. The back half of the episode is what saved it. It go from a 5 to an 8 and a half, and it was mostly because of Zuko and Iroh's moments. So if it wasn't for any of those moments, this episode would have been my least favorite episode. But Their interactions really pulled it up that much that I would actually be more excited to re watch this episode than the last episode. And if I were to re watch it again, I think I would just start from the halfway point and go from there, because that's where everything really pivoted for me. Let's quickly go over our picks. Personal key moments, so these are our favorite moments, our worst moments, and an honorable mention. So for our best moment, or our Avatar State moment, no surprise to you, probably, but my Avatar State moment was a flashback to Lu Ten's funeral, because I know I'm not the only one. I was in tears. I'm not generally one to to cry easily in shows and movies, but this one got me, let me tell you. It just had to be my Avatar State moment. There was no contest. It good. What about you?

Wes:

I'm gonna go everyone the cartoon and the did an awesome job with this and it is the minstrels

Pauline:

Secret

Wes:

Secret tunnel secret tunnel

Pauline:

Both of our Avatar State moments included two iconic songs, which we will definitely talk about here in just a minute. But let's

Wes:

have more

Pauline:

Oh, yeah,

Wes:

can I add more? like it's like moments as plural

Pauline:

Yeah,

Wes:

okay, so another key moment for me in this episode was Katara finding her water bottle or, what she was going to store her water

Pauline:

in. Yes. The

Wes:

So that was big.

Pauline:

Was that your avatar? Was that a tie for your avatar state moment?

Wes:

No, it's just a key moment for It's one of

Pauline:

my, it was an honorable mention then. No.

Wes:

No I, you have, you have written key moments, right?

Pauline:

Yeah. Are three key

Wes:

Avatar state moments?

Pauline:

No, look, there's no s It's not plural, but go

Wes:

my, geez. So I shouldn't be talking about this right What about my last one was Bumi, totally Bolin-ing? Which I

Pauline:

can, what do you mean?

Wes:

Bolin from Korra, right? So he takes the rocks and then he starts cutting them into disc and throwing them at Aang.

Pauline:

Oh,

Wes:

That was awesome. Right? You know how they do that with the where they're competing? We should know

Pauline:

The uh, the, oh my gosh, my brain is mush right now. The Bending Arena. That was a cool moment. What was your That's Rough Buddy moment? So this is your least favorite.

Wes:

This is your least favorite. My least this is very picky, because I love this episode, but the, when The thing that I'm like gosh dang Was when they reveal Bumi's body, right? So yes, he's super old, but I love what the cartoon, he's ripped the dude is stacked like the Empire State Building and

Pauline:

Considering his

Wes:

his old age, I mean, it's considered ripped, but yeah. I have some thoughts on

Pauline:

I have some thoughts on

Wes:

I've heard the saying, I

Pauline:

I've heard the saying, but I really don't know what that means. Okay, so my rough buddy moment was, it also has to do with King Bumi but it was that moment during his second challenge with the crystals in the hallway. It just did not, it just didn't make sense to me. I have some gripes with that scene and really with all of Aang's interactions with King Bumi, but I will save it for our analysis. And then do you have any other honorable mentions? I do. The Earth Kingdom soldier that interacted with Uncle Iroh throughout the episode really added some layers to both just Earth Kingdom citizens and soldiers and to Uncle Iroh as well. I think whenever they first had their interaction, that was the moment that the episode turned for me. Whoever that actor is I didn't get a chance to look it up, but he was really

Wes:

get a chance to look it up, but he was really good. That's what I did, and she's like, no that's, that's all me.

Pauline:

Mhmm.

Wes:

I thought that was awesome. Um, and the Stoner Singers. That's what I'm going with. I'm done with saying the minstrels. Cause all I do is giggle. But, I'm gonna call them the Stoner Singers.

Pauline:

Okay, the Secret Tunnel Stoner Singers. Alright, so I like your honorable

Wes:

mentions. I liked yours. Moving on. Are you ready to talk about this episode? And how do you want to go about

Pauline:

The way I want to frame this episode and the events is surrounding the theme, but before we do, because that's really going to be getting into the meat of what we're going to talk about, I want to go ahead and get this part out of the way. As I mentioned, we got two iconic music moments and I want to shout them out and just talk about them a little bit before we get into the rest. Let's start with the light hearted one. We already talked about Secret Tunnel. For those who have never seen the cartoon, and this is your first exposure to Avatar, The Last Airbender, Secret Tunnel is iconic. It's light hearted. It's funny. The characters are pretty much the exact same as how they were in the cartoon. Very like hippie like and they sing the song about the tunnel. They sing a bunch of songs, really. But this was like the main one that everybody references when it comes to the Avatar fandom. What did you think about the execution of the song?

Wes:

I liked it. Although his character voice didn't match the singing voice, I mean, Just being picky. We were all singing along.

Pauline:

I agree with you about the voice. It was too neat and too clean sounding. I am gonna say something that not everybody's gonna agree with. I don't like that it was put into this episode.

Wes:

Why do you say

Pauline:

I don't know, it just felt a little out of place.

Wes:

You're talking about secret

Pauline:

Secret Tunnel,

Wes:

yeah. Well,

Pauline:

I know, I'm very much it because I understand how they wound up in the tunnels and how the tunnels fit into the plot that they've set, trying to find a way under the palace. I think if I was a first time watcher I would be like, where the hell did this come from, why are there people singing in the tunnel, they sound auto tuned and also they didn't even do the whole song, they left out some of the funniest parts of the songs the part where they go, and die, that was not in there, I don't know I like Secret Tunnel, but I didn't like Secret Tunnel, I wish it was saved for later

Wes:

You're crazy. It fit right into the episode. Although we both looked at each other and said Are they about to

Pauline:

What about leaves from the vine?

Wes:

What did you think?

Pauline:

I will be upfront that I knew leaves from the vine was coming at some point in season one. The reason why I knew that was because when they had announced the release of the music score on Spotify. I went ahead and looked it up. And just fair warning to anybody that hasn't finished watching the season, do not look it up because a lot of the song titles are kind of spoilery, especially for this scene. Because it mentions Lu Ten, so don't be like me. Don't do that. But. It still got me. I'm glad that they didn't use the song with the words. For those who don't know, Leaves from the Vine was from Season 2 in the cartoon and it was sung by the original voice actor for Uncle Iroh, and his name is Mako. And he passed away after recording Season 2. When the episode aired, they had a whole thing about an honor of Mako so it holds more weight beyond what happens to Uncle Iroh and his son. And Mako and the voice actor for Zuko, who's Dante Basco, also had a special relationship, very much like Iroh and Zuko, so there's more meaning to it, that's for sure. So when I heard it I was like, oh no, don't you dare do this to me!

Wes:

me! I thought they did great, and then, upon watching again, I realized in the background was his son's yeah, was very sad.

Pauline:

I think the reason why I didn't like Secret Tunnel in the episode was because, having both of them I think was too much. I knew one of them was going to get overshadowed. Even though both songs, really shows the duality of Avatar, The Last Airbender. You have Secret Tunnel that is funny and light hearted and is like a joke, and then you have Leaves from the Vine, which is very serious, it pulls at your heartstrings, and that is what Avatar, The Last Airbender is. But do you think it was fine that they had both or do you think we would have been able to appreciate each a little bit better if they were in two different episodes.

Wes:

Well, I guess I'll answer your question with another question. Do you think they'll bring it back?

Pauline:

Either one of them, you mean? Right. I don't think they'll bring Secret Tunnel back. I can see them bringing back the theme of Leaves from the Vine at some point down the

Wes:

So are you okay with bringing back both?

Pauline:

Not Secret Tunnel. I think it needs to be a one and done thing.

Wes:

Okay.

Pauline:

But Leaves from the Vine has such a deeper meaning that I would like for it to come back, except they have to do it right. Either you don't have the lyrics, or you have the original recording

Wes:

original recorded

Pauline:

I don't think they should have anybody else sing the song, because for those that don't know, the voice actor that did replace Mako, he does not sing the song for fans out of respect for Mako. I think the fandom would be very mad if somebody

Wes:

fandom I disagree. I think, I don't see any disrespect in them singing the song. Okay, well

Pauline:

Fair enough, I will respectfully disagree. Let's move on to talking about what happened in this episode and we'll do it by discussing the theme. Um, and the events that surround the theme. I had identified as a theme for this episode is,"What difficult choices do the characters face in times of darkness?" And I want to say that a lot of the darkness here probably is loss for a lot of the characters. I want to explore that a little bit. What are some of the difficult choices that these characters have to make in this episode? And I think we can just discuss them in the order that they happen. Does that sound good?

Wes:

good? Let's get into it.

Pauline:

I hope Baymax chewing on his toy in the background isn't being picked up right now, Okay, so first let's start off with Sai. We find out that he is faced with a choice of either exposing the Fire Nation or betraying the Earth Kingdom. And we find out that he ends up working with the Fire Nation. He mentions that it's not necessarily weapons that he's supplying the Fire Nation with, but it's quote unquote minor designs, so we'll see where

Wes:

that's going. I disagree with what you're saying though. He's not conflicted on exposing the Fire Nation or betraying the Earth Kingdom. He's just trying to keep his son safe.

Pauline:

safe. True, but he's still having to make a choice. Does he work for the Fire Nation or not. And he chooses to help the Fire Nation in order to protect his son and protect his family. He says to Sokka,"You know what it means to make hard choices," and he references Sokka's father, but,

Wes:

His father would never do something

Pauline:

says that to him, and that was a sore spot for Sai, because, you're comparing two different fathers here. And I think a lot in this episode and in this season, there's a lot of comparisons between fathers but that's a theme for another day. So we have Sai and his decision to help the Fire Nation. And then we're over to Jet. We already know from the last episode that he had the decision to either fight the Fire Nation at all costs or if he's just gonna stand by. And he says to Katara,"Here, you have to make hard decisions. And we all know how much you love Jet.

Wes:

Jet's a coward.

Pauline:

he chooses to fight even at the expense of innocent lives. That's his decision.

Wes:

Yeah, I take it back. Jet's not a coward, he's selfish.

Pauline:

Yes, he's selfish, he's lost his way, We mentioned last episode that it started off with good intentions, but he has crossed the line and Katara is basically like, bye, Felicia.

Wes:

Felicia.

Pauline:

Side note, she learned how to freeze water really fast. I don't know where that came from, but

Wes:

it came from her inspiration from Jet, telling her to not think about how your mom died, but how your mom lived.

Pauline:

Right. I still think she's learning things a little bit too fast, but maybe it's just because I'm comparing it to the cartoon in my head.

Wes:

Hard not to do,

Pauline:

I know doing I'm not, I'm not gonna get too hung up

Wes:

This is not

Pauline:

the cartoon It's not the cartoon. You have to tell yourself

Wes:

I have to do it all the time.

Pauline:

Yes. Okay. And then we have. Zuko he's faced a couple times in this episode with difficult decisions, but here has the decision to either capture Aang or find his uncle

Wes:

it was very on the mentioned this before

Pauline:

Yeah, that was a little bit too on the nose. I mentioned this before. I wish Avatar would be a little bit more subtle sometimes because they're like Oh, if you haven't gotten it by now, if you haven't picked up what we're putting down, here it is, this is what they're doing, and that's why it was a little too easy to find the theme of this episode, and this kind of took away the fun of it, because they beat us over the head so many times throughout. You gotta make a choice. You gotta make a choice. The guard says, what are you gonna do? You just gonna stand there? He didn't have to say that. We know what Zuko is conflicted with at this moment. His choice right now is the difference between ensuring his chance to return home or saving somebody that he cares about. And what does he choose? He chooses to find his uncle. We'll leave Zuko there for now. Over to Aang. When he gets taken to King Bumi, he comes across his first test that Bumi gives him.

Wes:

Yes, which I believe he passes.. The, you know, the feast. I think

Pauline:

you might be right. So this test, he is offered either short ribs from kangaroo island as his meal or Seaweed stew and he chooses the stew. What do you think is the reason for this test?

Wes:

I don't know, because Bumi knows that it's Aang, so is he testing Aang to see if Aang knows his true self?

Pauline:

Maybe he's unsure. Prove to me that you really are Aang?

Wes:

Yeah, I don't know. I didn't get, I didn't get anything past that because Aang never really passed anything other than that

Pauline:

Bumi must have known that at some point that he's a vegetarian and that's why he offered him these two choices. That's the only reason I can think of. What did you think of King Bumi's jokes and his real life laugh track? I like it.

Wes:

The character, the actor, was great. Just wanted him ripped.

Pauline:

A lot of the jokes, I love that they lifted it right from the cartoon. Now, something they did change, though, is that they revealed who King Bumi was immediately, rather than leaving his identity a secret. Did you like that change, or no?

Wes:

I think it was okay. It worked out. What did you think?

Pauline:

I didn't like it. I think it would've been more meaningful if they had left King Bumi's identity more of a secret. It gives us something to question throughout, we're trying to solve this little mystery here. Who is this king and why is he acting like this? I'm distracted because Baymax just farted and it stinks! Thanks Baymax!

Wes:

So I like how they worked in Appa's Whistle, in that it was originally Bumi's, was it a gift? But it was for, it was supposed to be a badgermole. So I thought that was

Pauline:

cool. Does that make up for uh, before you said you didn't like that Aang had the whistle

Wes:

It does make up for it because I thought they really did a good job of working in how he got the whistle.

Pauline:

It was a meaningful way of Aang coming across the whistle.

Wes:

Yeah, and then showing their friendship.

Pauline:

I don't think they showed enough of their friendship though. Let's go ahead and get this out of the way. Thoughts on Bumi himself. You said already that you wish he was a little bit more ripped.

Wes:

more ripped.

Pauline:

I didn't have much of a problem with, his physical appearance from the neck down. My issue was that you could tell clearly that his face, that's not the actual actor's face. And I know that they're trying to age him up, but there was like a disconnect. I could just tell it was like face prosthetics or something. They're trying to tell us he's old, but he doesn't seem old. He still has youthful eyes. It didn't look realistic. I kind of wish that they would have just found an older actor? I'm sure there's somebody older that could pull off like the martial arts moves and the fighting. I know it's gonna be harder to find somebody that looks like they're a hundred years old and can move like that. So I, that was more of my gripe rather than whether his body looked

Wes:

know, I feel like he could put on Craigslist, Guy that looks old,

Pauline:

kidding. But going back to what I was saying about him and Aang's friendship, I feel like either they cut out stuff or just didn't plan enough screen time for their friendship in that flashback. That's why I felt their interactions and their relationship just seemed very hollow.

Wes:

I agree. I can go on and on because I didn't think that Bumi really taught Aang anything. I think they were on a verge of teaching Aang something, and then he got bailed out by his friends. Bumi said, making decisions falls to Aang, but then he didn't learn anything because his friends saved him. He never learned anything because his friends bailed him out. So I guess I didn't understand what the lesson he was trying to teach

Pauline:

I agree with you. I can see where they were trying to go with it, but I think it missed the mark. And we'll talk about the second test and the final test when we, cross that bridge. That's the first test, initial thoughts on Bumi. It moves over to Sokka and Katara in the tunnel and they come across the minstrels and we get the story of Oma and Shu just like they did in the cartoon. In the story Shu had the choice to declare the war over, instead of destroying everybody and then the villagers helped build the city of Omashu, where they all could live together

Wes:

Yeah. very beautiful

Pauline:

beautiful story. Very beautiful story. So even within the story within the story, they have that theme of, choice and, how that affects everything. Did you like how the minstrels told this story?

Wes:

I liked how the stoner told the story. No, I do. I thought it was very beautifully done. I liked everything about the secret tunnel and the story. What did you think

Pauline:

On its own, I liked it. I just, again, felt a little bit out of place with everything else going on. But I do like that they kept true to the style the artwork.

Wes:

What didn't you like? I mean, It worked out. They're down there in the tunnels to get to the

Pauline:

Okay, I think this is it. I think here it is. With Leaves from The Vine being in the same episode, it almost felt like, oh, we need to fit as many Easter eggs or as many callbacks to the original and references into this one episode for some reason, or even into this season. Secret Tunnel and Oma and Shu and the minstrels didn't happen until season two, so I feel like things were being shoehorned in I don't think it was

Wes:

don't think it was necessary. I think you're right. Um, We're just very opposite between last

Pauline:

I think you're right. We're just very opposite between last episode and this episode. And I think even two episodes ago what we like and we don't we're

Wes:

very close.

Pauline:

and also just want to shout out, Oma and Shu are both women in this version. I thought that was cool, they mentioned it and moved on, and it was just a fact.

Wes:

The Cave of Two Lovers, and the menstruals.

Pauline:

We'll talk about the Sokka and Katara part here in just a little bit.

Wes:

I just got it, hold on. The Menstruals and the Cave of Two Lovers.

Pauline:

What?

Wes:

I can't. I can't. Minstrels. Okay. Okay. Minstrels. Okay. Can we just call them the stoners? Because everyone's on their menstruals.

Pauline:

Stop! Okay, moving on. We'll get back to Sokka and Katara because now it cuts back to Aang and the second

Wes:

What is the second test?

Pauline:

I think the second test was just what path should he take, but this was my rough buddy moment because I hated this part. I agree. Hate's a

Wes:

what he learns here.

Pauline:

Here's what I dissected from this scene. I had to watch it several times just to get something out of it. So Aang says to Bumi he doesn't have a choice but to go north to the Northern Water Tribe. You know, He has a mission. And then Bumi says to Aang, the direct path is not always the best path. Good advice,

Wes:

went, yeah,

Pauline:

And immediately, Aang happens to take a wrong step and triggers the Creeping Crystals, and

Wes:

There's a rock candy.

Pauline:

what was the point? What was the point? Besides, Bumi, at the end of the scene, says there are no easy journeys for the Avatar, but Aang didn't even get a chance to make a choice

Wes:

And by the way, just, he just, he just blows them away, and then you just keep going straight.

Pauline:

What did he, I mean,

Wes:

I don't know, it was cool.

Pauline:

said, there's no easy journey, the crystals, the rocks, really had nothing to do with it because it didn't teach Aang a lesson. All it taught me was that Bumi is crazy. But maybe, like you said, maybe it'll come back in the future, maybe they're referencing a future choice because this hallway was just straightforward. There is no different

Wes:

straight forward. There was

Pauline:

like brought it up

Wes:

patterns. he it

Pauline:

so what path into maybe he could have flown over,

Wes:

I

Pauline:

didn't get it. I was like, what the hell, Bumi? Whatever. Moving on before, because I think the more we try to make sense of it, the more it's going to not make sense. And maybe that's the whole point of Bumi.

Wes:

He's cray cray.

Pauline:

And he was in the cartoon. I will say the actor did Bumi's voice perfectly. I'm guessing that was one of the main reasons they chose him, anyways, now it jumps back to Sokka and Katara in the secret tunnels. And they are faced with the choice of do we follow the map or do we follow the crystals? I also have gripes about this one. Do you want to know why?

Wes:

Why?

Pauline:

Sokka and Katara's roles and attitudes should have been reversed in this. Katara is the one that's being skeptical, Sokka is the one that's going on about listening to the minstrels and their advice about love and love makes the world go round. Right. And that, they should listen to the advice of what the stoner people, the stoner people said. For one, in the cartoon, it was the other way around. Sokka was not a big fan of them. And I don't mean to make comparisons but even in this version since episode 1 Sokka has been skeptic he's been trying to think more logically that's just who he is so it felt out of character that he was going on about love and following the crystals and ditching the map Do you agree?

Wes:

I think the stoners unlocked his, optimism they gave him that little

Pauline:

shaker. What did they give him?

Wes:

like they unlocked his love.

Pauline:

They gave him a little more than the

Wes:

Yeah, maybe They gave him some of that ganja. I don't

Pauline:

don't know. And then Katara, she's the one that's a little bit more hopeful and optimistic than Sokka, but she's the one that's like,"Sokka, what are you doing? You need to listen to me. The crystals don't mean anything."

Wes:

I agree. I see what you're saying. The roles should have been reversed.

Pauline:

It just felt very out of character.

Wes:

I didn't have a problem with that scene, by the way. But, I see what you're saying.

Pauline:

How did you feel about the changes that they made? The big one being that it's Sokka in the secret tunnel with Katara versus Aang. Do you think that changed the impact of the tunnels?

Wes:

Well, first of all, when they first went into the tunnels, I'm like, oh my gosh, Pauline, they're about to

Pauline:

kiss. Because it's the cave of two

Wes:

but we cannot compare it to the cartoon. Right. Forgetting about the cartoon. Just watching what's happening. It was, they did a good job. Love they ended up loving each other. Sister brotherly love. Yeah.

Pauline:

Not to be confused with the Lannisters from Game of Thrones.

Wes:

Let's not get off track here. By the way, Badgermole was awesome.

Pauline:

Badger Mole was scary!

Wes:

it was awesome.

Pauline:

my goodness, it was pretty cool. That was another slight change, love is greatest in the dark was referring to the badgermoles in this version rather than referring to the light from the crystals.

Wes:

Correct, they can sense love.

Pauline:

They can sense love, they're blind

Wes:

But they also took commands from Sokka.

Pauline:

commands from Sokka. I, They can understand English, okay and Katara figured that all out pretty quickly for somebody that hasn't been outside of her village until recently, but okay.

Wes:

Let's move on.

Pauline:

on. On a positive note, something I did love about the secret tunnel scenes was the blue and the orange contrast because they had the lanterns and then the cave was imbued with this blue hue. We are attracted to that blue and orange contrast because the blue and orange are contrasting colors.

Wes:

Use contrast one more

Pauline:

Contrast. They are like with the color wheel and stuff. Anyways, I won't get too much into it, but we subconsciously find appeal in that blue and orange. Okay, let's move over to the Earth Kingdom soldier that was with Uncle Iroh. He was faced with the decision of, Do I kill Iroh in my rage or hold back? The soldier's angry because he lost his brother and it's because of Iroh And we already shouted this guy out, but it also, he also shows that there are bad players on both sides. So you have bad people on the Fire Nation side and then, between this soldier and then everything with Jet in the last episode, the quote unquote good guys everybody not on the Fire Nation side, they're not necessarily great people too. Everybody's pushed to

Wes:

Well, it's war. I thought they had an opportunity in this, these scenes with Iroh and the earth Kingdom Soldier. I thought we were going to see Iroh really soften to the fact that he was a killer, right? And that's not how it really played out. Um, Because one of my favorite quotes, which we're going to go ahead, I'll go ahead and do. I see that you have Not as your favorite quote, but it's one of my quotes, which is coming from Iroh,"War pushes us to the edge. Some of us don't like what we find." but he's saying, I'm not talking about me. He was talking about the Earth Kingdom soldier, but, isn't he talking about himself?

Pauline:

I'm glad you brought that up. Cause I, I was gonna question this too. He was forcing the soldier to, basically look at himself. But I think subconsciously, or maybe after the tension is broken, Iroh realizes he's pulling from his experience too. It is also about Iroh. And I thought that was very

Wes:

that was that was a very He didn't burn to a crisp. Oh,

Pauline:

He didn't burn him to a crisp. Oh, you mean the brother?

Wes:

Well,

Pauline:

Well, I think you're completely right that he was talking about the soldier, but he was also referencing himself. Maybe he didn't realize it, but I feel like everything Iroh says is really coming from his own life experience.

Wes:

With that quote, he's saying that to the soldier. Iroh still knows nothing about this soldier other than the soldier feels sorrow for his brother and wants some kind of redemption.

Pauline:

He can see that this soldier, darkness has taken hold of his heart too. He's angry. He probably wants revenge and he's given into the darkness a little bit, calling back to, the title of the episode. And I think Iroh was forcing him to take a look at himself and what are you, what is it you're about to do right now? The whole time they've been traveling, this guy has been beating on him and has been treating him inhumanely, so I think what Iroh said was to force him to look at, look at what you're doing. If you take a good, long, hard look at yourself, look at how far you've fallen to the darkness. But the moment is broken after the soldier chooses to spare him. That's his choice. He chooses to spare him, saying, you know, nothing of loss. And Iroh gets this look after, and you get that little glimpse of there's something there that Iroh is thinking about. So I want to go ahead and get into the flashback. It also references Iroh's past decision to lay siege to Ba Sing Se. Iroh is known as the Dragon of the West.

Wes:

Yes, and he was a butcher.

Pauline:

Because he made the choice to attack Ba Sing Se for 600 days. Ruthless. It's war. Iroh was a soldier. It was a different time. It causes Iroh to think about what did his decision cost him? What did his war decision cost

Wes:

You would have to really look into this because if you haven't watched the cartoon, I feel like they didn't do a very great job with this scene. be just because you don't really know Iroh right now in the live action.

Pauline:

But leading into this flashback is how the show is getting the viewers to get to know Iroh and get a glimpse of his background and his experiences because the fact that it flashbacks to his son's funeral shows there were consequences to Iroh's decision as a soldier. He made the decision to attack Ba Sing Se and it cost him his son. You hear from one of the characters there. They say he chose to abandon the siege after his son died. And his son's gonna be remembered as a hero, but Iroh's gonna be remembered as a coward.

Wes:

Right, the Fire Lord was your son's sacrifice enshrined, basically. And then Zuko comes in and says You both made a sacrifice.

Pauline:

Yeah, oh, this scene killed me

Wes:

was a great

Pauline:

It was so good. Oh my gosh, where do I even begin? It was my absolute favorite. Besides the story that this scene is telling, what really made this scene for me was the lighting and the color, first of all. It had this soft, diffused, glowing lighting cool shadows, warm highlights. I loved how they did this flashback. It is repeated in the second flashback as well. But, oh my god, it felt very sad and heartbreaking. They included the symbolism of Lu Ten's medal, right? Zuko told Iroh that Lu Ten gave me this medal and Lu Ten said that it belongs to somebody who's destined to do great things but then decides that Uncle Iroh should have it. So I think the significance of Zuko coming into possession of this medal and then It's in the possession of Uncle Iroh, I think is pretty significant. And then Lu Ten's portrait. You mentioned that it was in the background, which is a callback to the portrait in the cartoon. And again, the music when Leaves from the Vine started playing in the background. That was it. I was done. I was crying.

Wes:

The actor that played Iroh did an amazing job. And all that, I mean he didn't have to say anything. And just his face, the light hitting, glaring off of his face and his glorious beard. But no, it was, I had a little bit of tear,

Pauline:

they did a good job. Both Paul Sun-Hyung Lee and Dallas Liu, who plays Zuko both did a phenomenal job here. Um, Dallas did great. That vulnerability. And again, like I said, the music is what hit it home. The

Wes:

I think I literally, I think you were crying.

Pauline:

I was crying. I had tears on my face. Upon first watching, I didn't even get to absorb everything in the scene because I was just crying. When we watched it a second time, I cried. When skimming through the scenes the third time, as I do, I still cried. I,

Wes:

Yeah, I had to, I had to make a joke like, pfft, this is stupid. That's what you

Pauline:

when you start getting the feels. You like to make

Wes:

jokes. It was a great scene, good job.

Pauline:

Favorite scene of the whole series so far for me. Moving on from the flashback or else I'm gonna start crying again. Let's just go ahead and stick with Iroh whenever Zuko does finally find him, thanks to the White Lotus tile, I love how that came into play again. What did you think of the fight where Iroh and Zuko, teamed up and fought the Earth Kingdom

Wes:

I thought that was the best bending moments, their fire bending in that, and Zuko's a badass.

Pauline:

They're both badasses. This fight was adapted really well, and also it had some pretty cool callbacks to the cartoon. First of all, Zuko's leg strength? I don't know. He broke the chains. Just with his leg. No fire. Just his

Wes:

fire, just his leg. No,

Pauline:

gave his, no, it was even in the cartoon. It was his leg. It was all his, it was

Wes:

was leg

Pauline:

No, he did not skip leg day. Iroh's use of the chain whips. Difference though, he's not naked in this one like in

Wes:

one. Yeah, yeah, what the

Pauline:

Yeah, what the heck?

Wes:

If we're gonna compare the cartoon and live action, we want him naked, okay? With that beard would be awesome.

Pauline:

Those who haven't seen the cartoon, Uncle Iroh during this whole encaptured scene yeah, he's basically naked except for a little cloth. Yeah, he even

Wes:

lost his stinky shoes, or his

Pauline:

It was like Tarzan, with the,

Wes:

we're talking about the fight scene. Um, before the fight scene like really went down, I had a comment of did the Earth Kingdom warrior slap or punch Iroh when he was in chains?

Pauline:

The rest of the time he slapped

Wes:

Yeah, it was

Pauline:

slap, But he also did punch him in the gut

Wes:

though. Right, the punch, and then it was a slap? Okay, that's very

Pauline:

disrespectful. That is

Wes:

As a man, you better punch me. You slap me? Dude, I'm in chains and you slap me? Yeah seriously, I don't know why I was like, I had to rewind, I'm like, wait a minute, I think he slapped him. Like dude,

Pauline:

Yeah, insult to injury.

Wes:

What disrespect.

Pauline:

But then after this fight, the tables do turn, and now it's Iroh that has the decision, whereas before, the soldier had the decision to smash Iroh with his earthbending, Iroh now has the opportunity to roast this guy or spare him. And Iroh, in true Iroh fashion, chooses to spare

Wes:

know what he says?

Pauline:

He says something about there's been enough war, right? seen enough death. Oh, we've all seen enough

Wes:

enough death. And another one of my memorable quotes. So I guess we can skip that when we come over it. But no, that was it was really great. That backfires on him, doesn't

Pauline:

it? Yeah, okay. Can I just say, anybody that is walking away from a downed enemy but they're not dead, you Walk backwards, okay? Walk backwards, don't take your eye off of your enemy, because the moment that you do, they getcha. He gets stabbed in the back, literally, with a rock and

Wes:

to look into there, foreshadowing.

Pauline:

After that, it cuts to Aang, and his final test, and in this one He's faced with a decision of let Boomi die or get himself killed. So they're having to fight to the death. And the lesson that Bumi is trying to teach here is that Aang needs to learn how to make impossible choices as the avatar. He gave examples of, save this town or that. Food rations. Do the orphans get it? Or the soldiers, similar to the Earth Kingdom soldier, when he mentioned his brother chose to give food and water rations from their platoon to children in need and Bumi says these are choices we made day after day, year after year, and you don't know that because you haven't been here. So that was supposed to be the lesson of this test. Bumi's trying to convince him, let the rock fall on Bumi.

Wes:

Yes. I was very confused in this whole scene. Because I thought this was gonna be great, right? Mhmm. Which it was still good, I see both sides here. Bumi was gonna make him make a choice, right? His friends come and save him, get him out of the situation. What did Aang learn here? That his friends can help him, right? you can lean on your friends.

Pauline:

What does Aang choose?

Wes:

He doesn't choose!

Pauline:

exactly.

Wes:

Oh, I see, okay, but

Pauline:

he chooses

Wes:

right? so basically Aang's like, no, you can rely on your friends. So does that mean that his friends are gonna help him make a decision on what town to save? So they're gonna hold the burden as well.

Pauline:

As kids do, it's a very short sighted way of seeing it, because right now, all they're thinking about is saving the world from the Fire Nation, stop the Fire Nation, and that's their goal. And his friends are gonna help with that. I think they're too naive at this point to see beyond that, because you have to think about what's the fallout after the war. But they're kids, they're not going to think about that. They see this one goal. This is what they have to do and everything is going to be fine and dandy after that. So yeah, that's what Aang is saying is that his friends are going to help him save the world. And when he chooses, or I guess doesn't choose, to kill Bumi, Bumi says,"Then the world is doomed." But then his friends come in, helping win the challenge, I guess, if you consider it winning. You don't consider it as passing the test.

Wes:

I don't. I don't. Like I said, he only passed one test I think he failed this test because Bumi was trying to get him to make a decision and he never did.

Pauline:

I can see both sides, but I see where you are coming from. I think it's because they didn't execute the tests well. In the cartoon, the message got across a lot better, but because of the way they went about it, it was all rushed. They couldn't dwell on one test for too long. It just came off as hollow.

Wes:

Hollow.

Pauline:

But then, Bumi sees the whistle, and he comes around, all of a sudden. Okay,

Wes:

all of a

Pauline:

Yes, so back to Sai. At the end of this episode, Sai comes back into the picture, Bumi lets the gang know that there is a Fire Nation attack that is being planned for dawn, but Sai made the decision to rat out the Fire Nation spies and so that way they had time to prepare and probably saved Omashu. So that was Sai's impact. So just a nice little neat bow to conclude Sai's character arc there. So I did like that. And then it cuts back to Iroh and Zuko after they've escaped. They find the boat, which, I don't know where the boat came from.

Wes:

Well, don't you know boats are just sitting around?

Pauline:

Ready for an escape? Like, where did the boat come from?

Wes:

We don't ask

Pauline:

I like that Iroh did say like, it seems like we're pretty much destined to just be getting on

Wes:

and off boats. I don't get that either. That's our lot in life. We're getting on and off

Pauline:

Because that's how their journey together started, was getting on a ship. And they've spent three years, looking for the Avatar, they've spent three years

Wes:

in, so they were on a ship, one ship for three years,

Pauline:

But they're still, anyways but then this leads to a flashback of how that journey started. When Iroh decided to join Zuko. Cause that's one thing that maybe first time viewers have been questioning is, Why is somebody like Iroh with the banished prince,

Wes:

Yeah, they wrapped that up

Pauline:

Iroh is then faced in his flashback He's faced with a decision to stay in the fire nation or follow his nephew And of course he chooses to join Zuko and it was just a very sweet moment. I cried again It was It

Wes:

You know why? You know why they ruined it right at the end?

Pauline:

Okay, why?

Wes:

Okay Zuko says I don't need I don't need a babysitter. He's like, well how about a friend? And he's like, well we won't be home for a while, it's gonna take a while. and he's like, everything on the boat is all I need or whatever, something like that. And they're like, they look at each other and it's going to be a loving moment and then one goes like, remember, I have all the tea I need. I'm like, what the heck? So, You want to break the tension by making a joke?

Pauline:

Hear me out, cause this is you. We just mentioned it, that when you start getting the feels and start getting vulnerable you,

Wes:

brought that full

Pauline:

circle. You, uh, Make a

Wes:

no, it was beautiful

Pauline:

was, It was beautiful. Here's, Here's the thing. Both Iroh and Zuko, we've now seen they both have vulnerable sides. But they both mask it with, in Iroh's case, humor, and then, with Zuko, he puts on a tough act. Iroh was not the only one that broke that tender moment, because when Zuko was still facing away from Iroh, you could see in his face, he's getting emotional, in his one eye, but then he straightens up and puts on this tough act like, oh, why I don't need a babysitter, but you know that he's feeling it, he is feeling it in his heart, but they both just mask that. Question though, Do you think that Zuko understood that his father, the Fire Lord, sent him on an impossible mission. You think Zuko knows in his heart, there's a good chance that I'm not gonna come back home.

Wes:

Yeah. He didn't get hope until he found the avatar and then he was scared.

Pauline:

And then to know that you're also bringing along your uncle on this impossible mission. That's why Zuko was trying to warn Uncle Iroh that They may not be back for a long time. I think what he really wanted to say is, We may never see home again. If you come with me, we may never see home again. Yet, Iroh makes the choice to join him. Oh, it's so touching!

Wes:

heart it's touching! I mean, Not in

Pauline:

Not in those words, but yeah. He says everything he has on that ship is home to him. Yeah. I love, again, the way that they've been doing the flashbacks in this episode, with that very soft lighting, the color, ah man, it just got me. Leaves from the Vine started playing in the background again, I started crying again but I love how they brought that moment back to that little boat when they were escaping. Zuko sees Appa flying, and he knows that the Avatar is getting away. He's faced with a choice to follow the Avatar or get his uncle to safety, and he chooses to prioritize his uncle.

Wes:

Well, to be fair, he's still rowing in the direction Appa was flying,

Pauline:

so I know, but still. I just love how they brought that moment back to the boat. Everything he needs is in that boat. Both of them. Everything they need is in that small little boat that's home. It's so sweet.

Wes:

Moving on.

Pauline:

No, not moving on. You're crying. I'm gonna start crying again. Okay, what did you think about how they executed that final scene? Cause it was different, a little bit.

Wes:

little bit. Yeah, cause I, again, we shouldn't compare, but we're going to compare. In the cartoon, it was Uncle Iroh seeing Appa fly away, and then Zuko ask him, what's up? And he's like, oh, nothing. Go back to sleep.

Pauline:

I loved it. Oh my gosh. I feel like a lot of the episodes, they've ended with Zuko, or like, Zuko and Iroh, and it just makes me excited to watch the next episode. That's really one of the main things that I'm judging with these episodes is how eager does it make me to watch the next

Wes:

I'm eager as well.

Pauline:

Like I mentioned earlier, if it wasn't for these Iroh and Zuko moments, I wouldn't have rated this episode nearly as high, and I'm finding myself getting more and more invested in Zuko and Iroh over what's happening with the A plot with the Gaang. What about you?

Wes:

I agree, I love Zuko. From the beginning, I've liked Zuko. I did miss Zhao in this episode,

Pauline:

Oh, yes

Wes:

but yeah, Zuko

Pauline:

got a good trade off. We got the the Earth Kingdom soldier.

Wes:

Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, I agree. I'm liking the duo between Iroh and Zuko more than what's going on with the Gaang.

Pauline:

Yeah, is that a bad thing?

Wes:

No, we're only on episode three,

Pauline:

no, this is episode

Wes:

Oh, sorry, we're only on episode

Pauline:

We're halfway through.

Wes:

So, don't worry. It's gonna get way better.

Pauline:

Okay, I think so too. We talked about so much. Was there anything in your notes that we missed? Any other difficult choices that we didn't

Wes:

Oh, there's something I wanted to talk about real quick, was when the Mechanist Sai, when Sai got the letter while he was talking with Sokka, they heard a bang on the door, right? So, just the physics of it all, do you put the letter on the knife and then throw the knife? Or, how does the letter, do you toss the letter up in the air, throw the knife, it sticks to the knife and then lands in the door? Like I just want to know how the

Pauline:

happens. Do you want to know what I would do? What? I'd walk up to the door, hold the letter up to the door, and just stick a

Wes:

letter up to the door and stick a knife in it. That would be

Pauline:

That would be the cooler thing because then you're not gonna, you're not gonna be caught going up to the door.

Wes:

How would, how did the note get on the knife?

Pauline:

everything that happened in this episode, that's what you were wondering

Wes:

I really want to know how that would work out. Do you throw the note in the air and then throw the knife and then the note sticks to the, or is it Pauline's way? You just walked up, you just walked up to the door. What, they, the spies already dressed in red. So really that's probably what happened. Okay, all right, sorry. What do you have anything

Pauline:

else? No, was that

Wes:

that was it, I'm sorry, that's been bugging me.

Pauline:

Alrighty, so then let's get into our favorite bending moment. I'll go ahead and go first. Besides the tearbending that I did, my favorite was Iroh's fiery chain whip, closely followed by Zuko's jumping roundhouse kick with the fire. Yeah,

Wes:

so you liked the fire, the whole fire fight.

Pauline:

yeah, the firebenders have been killing it literally in this season. But I think a lot of it is because of Iroh and Zuko. What about

Wes:

That was one of mine I would say I've already, probably already talked about the other one, which was Bumi doing

Pauline:

Like the earthbending disc

Wes:

Yeah Bumi's rock bending. Bumi, oh, bumi doing the Bolin. His best, Bumi's best interpretation of Bolin.

Pauline:

Yeah, for those who don't know, Bolin is a character. We mentioned Korra earlier, but he's a character in The Legend of

Wes:

it was really awesome when he, made the column of rock and then cut him in.

Pauline:

Yeah, they did a really good job with earthbending. That was gonna be my second and then I know there was a callback to a moment in the cartoon, Aang jumps to dodge that boulder, and there's like the slow mo. I think he does like a

Wes:

Which one was it the first time or the second thing? I think

Pauline:

remember. I think the second time, the one where it's

Wes:

coming towards him and hit his foot?

Pauline:

No, the other time, and it was like all slow

Wes:

So it was coming behind him and then heading towards

Pauline:

Yes, and it narrowly misses him. That was a callback to, I can't remember what episode or what moment in the cartoon, but there is a moment just like that same like camera angle and everything,

Wes:

so it, it was when Aang was fighting Bumi in the cartoon, they did the same Oh, was the same? Yeah, they did the same. And then the rock hit Bumi,

Pauline:

So I thought that was cool.

Wes:

Who was your favorite character?

Pauline:

Iroh, all the way, he was the superstar he made this episode 100 percent and he made me feel. That was the most important thing. Not only Iroh, but specifically Iroh's trembling chin. That was the favorite character of this episode.

Wes:

Maybe I can't get past the beard to look at the chin.

Pauline:

All together though, that's a powerful combination. He had it all in this episode. I'm just saying.

Wes:

same. Is it real?

Pauline:

What about

Wes:

What about you? My favorite character is their wardrobe, which was Bumi's. His King outfit was amazing. The way it sparkled

Pauline:

Sparkled?

Wes:

he had like, sparkling things on his shoulders and to his chest. His hat was awesome his armpit hair. I know that's not part of the costume, but. No his costume was amazing. Yeah. Yeah. I thought it was really cool.

Pauline:

Shout out to the costume

Wes:

No joke. That was

Pauline:

really awesome. You're the favorite character.

Wes:

Okay. What about our animal ma watch, animal ma What about our animal watch?

Pauline:

Yes, we have something besides just the, Ostrich horses slash chocobos, which they ran away like scared chickens in this one. But Of course, we have the badger mole. We

Wes:

We have the badgermole.

Pauline:

I originally wrote down badger moles, but I believe we only had one badger mole in this. They're revealed to be the original earthbenders. they're blind, earthbending is an extension of their senses. Apparently, they can sense feelings too. And, yeah, oh my gosh, they were just terrifying. But we already talked about the badger moles earlier.

Wes:

I liked it. The detail was awesome. The wet nose. It was cool. I loved the badgermole.

Pauline:

I hope we see more badger moles in the future. And then I don't know if this one counts because it wasn't alive, but we saw Flopsy statues. So Flopsy in the cartoon is Bumi's pet goat gorilla.

Wes:

That's what I thought Bumi was going to call. Like, He was going to call your friend or whatever. Call on a friend. I was like, oh, is he about to call Flopsy?

Pauline:

blow the whistle and then

Wes:

and like he comes out, of the statue?

Pauline:

I would've loved that. But no, instead they just had statues of goat gorillas throughout the palace.

Wes:

Is he a goat gorilla?

Pauline:

It's a goat gorilla. So it has the face and body of a gorilla, and then it has a goat's hind legs, tail, eyes, and horns. And then the ears are also that of a rabbit, but, yes, we have goat gorillas, but we just had it in statue form this time around. Was there anything else animal wise?

Wes:

No, it's been very disappointing in the animal department. the hybrid animal department is very lacking,

Pauline:

so hopefully we get some more, but,

Wes:

we didn't get to see Momo at all in this episode. No, we didn't. Which I miss

Pauline:

technically. I don't even think we got to see Appa except for his shadow or his silhouette in the sky, so yeah. Oh, well. Okay. We'll just move on to our memorable quotes, which you already gave quite a few. Did you have any others?

Wes:

No, I gave you everything I had.

Pauline:

Okay. So my favorite quote. This one was really hard. The ones that I was thinking about, you've already mentioned them, but I settled on a quote from Bumi when he said to Aang, You may be a hundred years old, but you haven't lived a hundred years. I thought that was a good quote because, yeah, it just shows that Aang really is still a kid. Even though he technically is a hundred years old, he still has a lot to, to learn, and he hasn't been around yeah. He doesn't quite understand the dynamics of the world just yet, and I know I keep mentioning this the past couple episodes, but it's showing that conversation between an old person and a kid, somebody who's more idealistic and somebody who's more of a realist. And I love that they keep calling back to that. When I go back and rewatch the cartoon, I'm gonna have to look out for those moments. Because when we watched this as kids, we're gonna side with the kids, right? Oh, the kids are the heroes, and boo to all the older people, they're the bad guys, they don't know what they're talking about. But now that we're older, and we're millennials, we're kind of in that middle ground where we still have some idealistic sentiments. that, the kids have. But then we also understand what the older, wiser, more experienced characters are saying. And we're caught in that middle. So I think that's why I'm noticing it a lot because I can relate to both sides. I just wanted to throw that out there. So yeah.

Wes:

um, I like that Bumi is trying to get Aang to realize, You need to grow up, because, we're not just kids anymore. Because Aang is, you know, I don't believe that you've given up. You like games and messing around. He's like, well, dude, you missed a hundred years. I like that.

Pauline:

But Bumi says to Aang,"you still think like a child." And Aang says,"is that such a bad thing?" What do you think? What? What's your answer to

Wes:

right now, because they're in the middle of a war. Yeah.

Pauline:

I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing. I think of the song uh, like the children of the future,

Wes:

the

Pauline:

let them lead the way. We're also supposed to side with the kids here too.

Wes:

Okay, so don't ban

Pauline:

don't ban I think that it, wasn't it just in the news that TikTok won that whole thing? It's not banned, so we still have TikTok. All

Wes:

Let's move on to our question of the week. Did we get any answers this time?

Pauline:

We did get a few, so I did include a few of them here. Awesome. Our question of the week: How did Uncle Iroh's flashback make you feel? I feel like that's the main thing that people bring up with this episode, so we posted this on Facebook and Instagram, so let me go ahead and bring up a few of the answers that we got. Okay, so Wes, do you want to go ahead and read our first

Wes:

Okay, our first one's from Maureen S. And they say I cried. Skillful use of music in this episode. Pulled at the heart strings. I like getting more past details on the family too.

Pauline:

I am so glad I'm not the only one that cried. I'm not alone there, and yes, I blame the music for most of it. It really manipulates you, as it should.

Wes:

Yeah, it really tugged at the heartstrings, I agree. And, it does pull characters together when they give us more details of their past,

Pauline:

yeah, I think the more layers that they peel back about Zuko and Iroh it will continue to add more to the story and give us more reasons to continue watching. Cause like I said, I'm, right now I'm more invested in that B plot versus Aang trying to save the world.

Wes:

the world. Thank you, Maureen.

Pauline:

Okay, I'll go ahead and read the next one. So this one is from Brianna or Brianna M. And they said, While episode four wasn't my favorite, Iroh and Zuko's flashbacks were my favorite parts. The sadness felt real, the story Zuko told about Lu Ten sounded like a real story being told about someone he was close to, and hearing Leaves from the Vine made me cry as much as the original sung by Mako did. The only quote unquote complaint I have is I wish in both flashbacks Zuko was played by a younger act by younger actors to match the animated version's timeline.

Wes:

I think Brianna has a point here, like that would have probably hit a little harder if Zuko was younger.

Pauline:

Yeah, I didn't think about that when watching it because it does feel like that's like a very recent event. It's been years because they've been, like, I've been searching for the Avatar for at least three years, kind of like how in Katara's flashbacks they had somebody younger.

Wes:

Yeah,

Pauline:

Yeah, so I do agree that the way Zuko told the story about Lu Ten did feel real and I think it added a little bit to what Zuko's relationship with Lu Ten must have been like, who was his cousin. That was nice for them to allude to. Thank you, Brianna.

Wes:

And our next comment comes from Erin M. They said, That episode almost got me. I agree with Brianna. I wish they would have used a younger actor for Zuko in the flashback, as I have for several scenes with flashbacks.

Pauline:

Yeah, that's something we didn't catch, really, the episode did not almost get me, it did get me.

Wes:

They got

Pauline:

Really hard. Alrighty, thanks Erin.

Wes:

Thank you all for the comments.

Pauline:

How many winged lemurs did we save? Three. We saved three winged lemurs. Good job guys, good job. It's been a while since we've gotten a voice message. We didn't get a voice message with this one but I do want to remind everybody that you have that option too to leave a 60 second voice message and we will play it on our podcast and respond to you if you want to do that, just send us a direct message with a voice

Wes:

be awesome to hear

Pauline:

you. Alright, so before we close out this episode, do you have any final thoughts?

Wes:

I don't Netflix Keep trending upwards with the episodes. I thought I was really bummed out on episode three.

Pauline:

With

Wes:

Omashu and Jet? Yeah, really bummed out. But they really picked up the ball and ran with it on this episode and scored a touchdown.

Pauline:

If each episode keeps getting better and better, I don't know, we might have to start going to quarter ratings. And, because now I'm thinking maybe I should have started with a lower rating to begin with. I just hope it continues this trend. I will say, with my prediction in our last episode I was wrong about not liking this I thought I was right when we first started watching. Don't forget, I was really bummed out when we started the first 10 15 minutes of this, but it really turned things around,

Wes:

I'm ready for this podcast to end so I can watch episode 5.

Pauline:

Are we gonna watch it tonight?

Wes:

we're gonna watch it tonight. You

Pauline:

We need to, cause we need to, so many crazy things have happened with our schedule, we need to catch up and get the question of the

Wes:

there. Yeah, I'll start brewing the tea.

Pauline:

Brew the tea. I'm drinking coffee right now, I probably shouldn't have any more caffeine.

Wes:

Oh, by the way, talking about tea. I'm getting ready to make some lotus root. Lotus root, pine bark and dried jasmine.

Pauline:

Who told you to put the pine bark in here? And Aang's like, you did.

Wes:

put the pine there?

Pauline:

When you say you tried, did you actually spend money on something?

Wes:

you actually

Pauline:

"Lettuce" leaf."Lettuce" wrap it up.

Wes:

Oh. That didn't hit. That didn't hit.

Pauline:

Okay.

Wes:

That's our show for today, guys. And as always, we appreciate you for taking time to listen to us. Speaking of choices, we hope you make the choice to leave us a rating if And only if you enjoyed this episode.

Pauline:

Yeah, don't leave us a bad rating. It does

Wes:

help us out a lot though. And don't forget to follow and subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss out any of the future episodes.

Pauline:

Yes, and we'd also love if you choose to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. we're we're at AvatarNationPod on all three, feel free to say hi or ask us questions. You know, We love to keep the conversation going outside of these podcast episodes. If you take a screenshot while you're listening to us and share it to your stories, make sure to tag us because we'd love to give you a shout out. So with that said, I'm Pauline. And I'm Wes. And you've been listening to Avatar Nation. See ya next time!

Wes:

ya.

People on this episode

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Pauline Ford

Host
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Wes Ford

Co-host