Avatar Nation

Avatar Nation: S1 E05 — "Spirited Away"

• Pauline & Wes • Season 1 • Episode 6

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In this episode of AVATAR NATION, Pauline and Wes dive deep into Episode 5 of Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender, focusing on the spirit world and the emotional journeys of the characters. They discuss favorite moments, including Gyatso's impactful message to Aang, the terrifying presence of Koh the Face Stealer, and the significant development in the characters' emotional landscapes. Key themes include confronting past traumas, the importance of letting go, and the growth of the main characters.


00:32 Intro

01:13 Opening

03:57 Episode Tea

07:32 Cabbage Rating

10:48 Personal Key Moments

18:42 Episode Analysis

01:01:15 Favorite Bending Moments

01:02:42 Favorite Character

01:04:51 Animal Watch

01:06:56 Memorable Quotes

01:07:51 Question of the Week

01:10:15 Closing Thoughts

01:11:26 Outro


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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. Welcome back, everybody! I'm your host, Pauline.

Wes:

And I'm Wes, and I have to say I am full from that fuller of an episode. Wait, filler of an episode. I guess we are halfway, over halfway through.

Pauline:

We are over halfway through. How do you feel about that? I feel full. Is that a good thing or a bad

Wes:

I just, it's

Pauline:

know. I feel like the episode was a filler! Yeah, it was definitely a setup episode, I would say. I think there are no filler episodes when it comes to Avatar. I mean, there's some that might lean towards filler episodes, but there's always something important going on there that helps sets up for the next episode, but I see what you're saying, this one, it was not my favorite.

Wes:

It wasn't bad, I'm just, what a cliffhanger, huh?

Pauline:

But there are several other episodes that have a cliffhanger ending. Omashu, for example, right?

Wes:

Yeah, I agree. Also, props to you for giving me advice on turning on the subtitles.

Pauline:

Yeah! I give that advice to everybody. I am a subtitles girly. No matter what it is I'm watching, if it's something new, if it's something I've watched over and over again, I love having subtitles on. And I know I'm not alone out there, but I don't know, I just, it's, I have a hard time

Wes:

things

Pauline:

things just verbally or auditorially.

Wes:

auditorially. I have to say I agree with

Pauline:

But No,

Wes:

No, but for this episode, seriously, if you didn't have the subtitles on, you missed some background stuff

Pauline:

Yes, for sure. If you aren't a subtitle person, watch it through without subtitles once, and then upon re watching because we re watch episodes before discussing them. The second time, I definitely recommend having subtitles on because there's some nuggets there that, you don't catch,

Wes:

They made the episode a little better.

Pauline:

Yes I can't wait to get into this episode for good and bad reasons. The crazy thing is we only have three episodes left after this.

Wes:

Yeah. I'm looking forward to it.

Pauline:

You sound so excited. I'm right down the I'm right

Wes:

down the

Pauline:

you are right down the middle because every, I feel like you've loved every other one and then like the ones in between those you're not such a big fan of so. All right well before we get started talking about this episode i do just want to remind everybody and encourage you all to follow and subscribe to this podcast that way you don't miss out when we come out with new episodes and it would just help the podcast a lot and it means a lot to us if you do so

Wes:

Alright, Pauline, you ready to get into this episode?

Pauline:

episode? Alright, let's do it! So for our Episode Tea for this one the, all the nitty gritty details as we know, this one is titled Spirited Away. It is an obvious nod to the Studio Ghibli film, Spirited Away, which we love. Shout out to Hayao Miyazaki. I didn't google to confirm that's why they called this episode Spirited Away, but it's no big secret that the original creators of Avatar took a lot of inspiration from Miyazaki and that played a big role in the creation of Avatar, The Last Airbender so I would say even without googling I am 99. 9 percent confident that this title is a nod to

Wes:

Hopefully no one fact checked you.

Pauline:

Yeah, maybe we need someone to fact check us

Wes:

check us. And

Pauline:

And then the episode was directed by Roseanne Liang, known for Shadow in the Cloud, Do No Harm, and My Wedding and Other Secrets. Writing credits go to Gabriel Llanas. He has written for Grey's Anatomy, National Treasure: Edge of History, and Walking Dead, The Ones Who Live.

Wes:

have

Pauline:

Have you watched The Ones Who Live, or are you in the middle of watching that?

Wes:

Of watching that? I mean, is that a name of an episode, or is that the name of

Pauline:

I thought that was the series, the spin off series.

Wes:

watched The Walking Dead.

Pauline:

Oh, just the main? Okay, gotcha. Alrighty, well, do you want to do our episode recap and remind everybody what all went down in this episode?

Wes:

Let's get it on. The episode kicks off with Team Avatar evading Firebenders in a thrilling forest chase. Narrowly avoiding capture, they discover an Earth Kingdom village affected by the Fire Nation's destructive actions, leading Aang to promise the rescue of villagers believed to be trapped in the spirit world. Elsewhere, Zuko gets a new lead on Team Avatar's whereabouts. Upon investigating, he learns that the word of the Avatar's return has spread, diminishing his hopes of capturing him. Frustrated by his potential competition, he reluctantly hires June, the bounty hunter, to find Aang. Meanwhile, in the Fire Nation, Azula convinces Fire Lord Ozai to provide additional resources to Commander Zhao. However, her attempt to gain favor fails, showing early cracks in her confidence. In the spirit world, Team Avatar finds themselves face to face with Wan Shi Tong, the Spirit of Knowledge. Their journey takes a more dangerous turn when they encounter Hei Bai, an angry forest Spirit that attacks them. The trio are separated in the fog of lost souls, which forces them to face deeply personal and painful memories. Katara relives the day the Fire Nation attacked her village and killed her mother, and Sokka is brought back to the day of his ice dodging ceremony, where he overheard his father's disappointment in him. Aang, however, is strong enough to resist his memories, though his resolve is tested by Koh, the Face Stealer, a primal spirit seeking to prey on their souls. He escapes Koi, Koh, he escapes Koh and emerges from the fog, leading to an emotional reunion with Gyatso, who stayed in the spirit world to wait for Aang. Gyatso tells Aang to let go of the guilt he feels for the destruction of the Southern Air Temple. Aang also learns that his friends and the villagers will be devoured by Koh, and that the Avatar who last faced him was Roku. Guided by Gyatso's wisdom, Aang resolves to seek out a connection with Avatar Roku at his shrine so he can confront Koh. The episode ends with Aang journeying to the Fire Nation on his own.

Pauline:

Alrighty, thanks for reading our recap.

Wes:

That was fun. Shall we get into our cabbage rating?

Pauline:

Yeah, let's talk about it. Do you want to go first or do you want me to give my cabbage rating

Wes:

I feel like you're looking at me like, you want to go first.

Pauline:

It doesn't matter to me. Okay, so for my cabbage rating, I'm not gonna lie, I started out at a 5. That's how I immediately felt after the episode ended. And then after rewatching it and, doing all my notes I did bump it up to a 6. So, It's still my least or I guess my lowest rated episode of the season so far. I bumped it up because I could see what they were trying to do here and there was more to the episode upon re watching it than I initially thought. So I am excited to talk about that, but I just feel like, I don't know, it was very hit and miss. There was a lot that they tried to pack into one episode and then I feel like it caused the episode to suffer. That is my cabbage rating. I am interested to see what yours is.

Wes:

gosh. So we already know my feelings that I think it was a filler, which I'm very disappointed in. But upon re watching with the subtitles and getting a little bit more information. Also, I, there were more things I enjoyed the second time watching. I'm gonna give it a seven. Oh, okay.

Pauline:

I'm kind of

Wes:

I was gonna get a five like you.

Pauline:

Mm hmm.

Wes:

But I think a seven. I mean, they didn't do a bad job. There were things that I really liked, I don't know if you want to get into yet, but

Pauline:

are they part of your three key, personal key moments? Okay, go ahead.

Wes:

Enjoyed I don't know if you've ever seen The Frighteners.

Pauline:

What's that

Wes:

It's a movie with Michael J. Fox. Came out in like 1996.

Pauline:

like a horror

Wes:

movie. It is, right? So, um, When they went into the spirit world with Aang,

Pauline:

Aang

Wes:

Accidentally brings them all and like they like pop out of their bodies as ghosts, so that's like like a Felt like a really cool homage to the Frighteners even though they like they use the same I don't even know

Pauline:

The visuals, The visuals was reminiscent

Wes:

Yeah, that's what I thought I was like, oh, that's really cool. I haven't seen that since I watched the Frighteners So I was like, oh, that's really cool

Pauline:

so interesting you say that because we'll have some words when we get to our, um, our key moments with our honorable mention, our rough buddy moment, and all that, I do wanna say, I haven't shown you this, but I looked back at how you've well, how we've both rated each of the past episodes, and you have a pattern that you have now broken because you started out rating the episodes as a 5 and then you rated the second episode as an 8, and then the third episode was a 5, and then the last episode was an 8. 5, so you've had this up down pattern. So I was fully expecting like a four or a five from you. I would say I'm pleasantly surprised.

Wes:

I gotta keep you and our listeners on their toes,

Pauline:

and I feel like with the exception of the last episode, we've been pretty opposite. All the episodes that you rated lower I still rated pretty high, so

Wes:

Yeah,

Pauline:

I'm shocked, but I shouldn't be shocked

Wes:

I think they've just broken me down and now I'm just You said,

Pauline:

worn down. Well then, with the cabbage ratings out of the way, let's go ahead and talk about our personal key moments. So we have our Avatar State moment, which is our favorite or best moment, our That's Rough Buddy moment, our worst moment, and then an honorable mention for each of us. I want you to go ahead and go first for your Avatar State moment. So this was your favorite thing about this episode.

Wes:

Okay so it was Gyatso choosing to stay to help Aang instead of moving on to the next stage of enlightenment. What a powerful, I mean, that, that scene with him and Aang it really tugged at my heart.

Pauline:

Did you cry?

Wes:

I did not cry.

Pauline:

You wanted to,

Wes:

wanted to cry, but it was, it touched me. I thought it was, they did it really well. And, gyatso also telling Aang, to let it go. You know, he wasn't, He wasn't gonna be able to save them. And, it's not his fault. And then that kind of like it, that sigh of relief almost from Aang. It, was it a sigh of relief? I took it as like a sigh of relief. Like, sigh. You know what it reminds me of? It reminds me of Riley on Inside Out. Oh yeah.

Pauline:

And uh, you know, where she was just holding on to all those feelings and then she finally just let it out and cried

Wes:

We're making some crazy

Pauline:

like A shudder. Yeah.

Wes:

but Yeah.

Pauline:

Well, yeah, because I have a terrible memory and I haven't watched nearly as many movies and shows as you have, so. I'm gonna have to rely on you here to make the references to other media but yeah, my reference for today was a Disney Pixar movie, so.

Wes:

me concerning myself.

Pauline:

Pretty much the same. That whole scene with Aang and Gyatso and their tearful reunion also tugged at my heartstrings. I wanted to cry really bad too. Similar to the the Leaves from the Vine moment with Iroh and Zuko. I did not cry. I held it. I kept it together. But

Wes:

Pictures or it didn't happen?

Pauline:

It was mostly due to Aang's reaction and just how Gordon Cormier acted out that scene. Uh, his, his Facial expressions really conveyed the grief that he was holding onto and, it's implied in all of the episodes. The things that he's having to carry.

Wes:

I'd like to say he's a great actor. Yes. Gyatso. Like his laugh I just, he's amazing. How he, you know, tricked Aang, you know, Oh, you cheated! You know, Ahhh! Yes,

Pauline:

Brought back that playfulness, showing their, I don't know if it was their last pai sho game together, but their, where they had left off from that game. And yeah, just both of their reactions and like you said, Gyatso telling him. That he doesn't have to hold on to that guilt. It's not his fault. And what he didn't say, what was implied, was that if he had stayed, the Avatar would have been dead. So it was a good thing that, destiny led him away from his home that fateful night. So we'll get more into that, but that was also my Avatar State moment. What about your That's Rough Buddy moment? So Okay,

Wes:

my Avatar State moment. What about your That's Rough Buddy moment?

Pauline:

but I was gonna wait

Wes:

but

Pauline:

get into it. So what

Wes:

to wait

Pauline:

I, I wanna see what,

Wes:

want to it's when Katara and her mom, were hiding in the ice shed.

Pauline:

the i, the

Wes:

They're igloo. Wow! I

Pauline:

know that

Wes:

ice shed. Uh, But yeah, they're igloo. So she knew it was gonna happen, but obviously, she goes in there. And she's the reason her mom got killed. Like bending that water and the guy seeing it. So I thought that was pretty rough. Like, Holy crap, she's, she got her mom killed.

Pauline:

Did you like that moment?

Wes:

No I didn't like it.

Pauline:

you think, do you think that them adding that detail. I was going to talk about it later, but since you brought it up, did you feel that them adding that detail made the episode better? Or, because are you saying that's that rough buddy because of how it made you feel? Like, that is a rough moment, or did you just not like it

Wes:

moment, or did you just not like it at all? Yes, very true. Yes, so. if you want to sit and listen,

Pauline:

Yes, very true. Okay, so what was your That's Rough

Wes:

moment?

Pauline:

My Rough Buddy moment, it wasn't chosen because

Wes:

was

Pauline:

was a rough emotion or anything like that. I just chose this because I didn't like how they did it or

Wes:

because

Pauline:

it could have been done better

Wes:

like how they did it or it could have been done better. Not how you feel, but just you thought they did it terribly.

Pauline:

It could be either way. I don't, I

Wes:

I didn't want to ruin that

Pauline:

I don't want to necessarily put this in just one box because it can mean different things for different people.

Wes:

want to confuse people that are

Pauline:

Right, right. So I, as long, I think as long as we're clarifying it, that um,

Wes:

sorry for interrupting

Pauline:

no, that's fine. So you mentioned what was that movie you said? The

Wes:

The Frighteners?

Pauline:

Frighteners. Okay, so you mentioned that scene where, they're being pulled into the spirit world. That was my That's Rough Buddy moment. What?

Wes:

Why?

Pauline:

Because it felt a little cheesy to me. Just the way that it looked where they were glowing blue, it did feel, it felt a little old school. And because the thing is, after that moment, the way they fully got pulled into the spirit world looked cool. I think when that moment happened where they were glowing blue, I was worried that they were going to look like that the entire time they were

Wes:

No, but that was an homage to the cartoon, right? Doesn't Aang look bluish when he is I guess initially maybe. That's the thing about the spirit world in the cartoon

Pauline:

guess initially maybe. That's the thing about the spirit world in the cartoon is that the rules and boundaries of the spirit world are left ambiguous on purpose. And the rules shift as the episodes go along and as they build onto the lore of the spirit world. So every time we encounter the spirit world in Avatar, The Last Airbender, it, there's some slight differences each time. It just felt a little cheesy to me at first that they were glowing blue and I thought it could have been done

Wes:

have been done differently.

Pauline:

I think if they just went straight into how they did the visuals when they were fully in, you know when Aang first connected with Avatar Kyoshi?

Wes:

it blurry

Pauline:

blurry. Yeah, had that kind of weird look, I don't know how to describe that, but they did the same thing again when they got fully pulled in and it was echoed first whenever they came upon that Earth Kingdom village and Aang could feel that the

Wes:

he felt the spirit world.

Pauline:

Yes, and that the veil was thin there that kind of like

Wes:

of like I'm making movements,

Pauline:

I'm making movements, which is not good for a podcast, but yeah, I hope you're picking up what I'm putting down. That's just my opinion. So that's my, that's Rough Buddy moment. What about your honorable mention? Something else that you liked?

Wes:

what about your Honorable Mention? Something that you, something else that you liked? did like them. Um, so, Yeah, that's a good honorable

Pauline:

It's scary. I did like Koh

Wes:

just

Pauline:

yeah, that's a good honorable mention. What, how about you? Mine was just the whole tavern scene with Zuko and Iroh.

Wes:

It was pretty funny.

Pauline:

So

Wes:

and they were kind of talking, you know, uh, that the Avatar's been out doing all the, you know, the

Pauline:

Yeah we'll,

Wes:

Oh, we're gonna get into that?

Pauline:

it, because there's a lot of good things to pull from that one small scene. So those are our personal key moments. Do you want to go ahead and really dive into this episode now? Let's do it.

Wes:

Okay. So we have a lot of things to talk about. Before we get.

Pauline:

Into the theme, because for once I haven't told you ahead of time what theme I pulled from this episode just, let's just go ahead and get the opening and really the whole beginning out of the way. Then we'll get into theme and talk about some of the characters as well. So first of all This one almost made my honorable mention, but I really liked the way they did the cold open in this episode. Jumping straight into them, running through, the forest, trying to escape the Fire Nation soldiers.

Wes:

Yeah, like, how many of them are there? I don't know, five? Maybe more?

Pauline:

So I, it was just, it was different. And I think at this point, since we're over halfway through, they need to start throwing in, Different things to hold our attention so I thought that was good. Sokka had some great moments at the beginning too. I put down here Apparently, Sokka is the rizz bender

Wes:

rizz

Pauline:

the

Wes:

Bender as the rizz, like cover

Pauline:

rizz comes

Wes:

ears. Do you know what a rizz Bender

Pauline:

years kids? rizz comes from

Wes:

We have

Pauline:

We have an 11-year-old, so. we hear all the

Wes:

the We hear what

Pauline:

youth these days

Wes:

I am not gonna pretend like I'm hip.

Pauline:

But do you know what I'm talking about though that apparently

Wes:

yeah, he's a player!

Pauline:

He's great with the ladies and I think it was I was it like maybe a Fire Nation girl or something that he

Wes:

Yeah, how do you know, how are you supposed to know she was a spy?

Pauline:

Is that what they said? I think so. Oh, okay. So I thought that was funny. It adds to his, ladies man type of persona. There were a couple callbacks to the cartoon too with Sokka when he saw that little girl and he said, my name is Sokka. It rhymes with okka.

Wes:

the Waka Waka.

Pauline:

And,

Wes:

in

Pauline:

the same

Wes:

breath, he pulls out a Pippinpaddleopsicopolis the Third. Right. That was brilliant.

Pauline:

I want to hear you say it, because I already said it in one of our previous episodes. You say it.

Wes:

Pippa Paddle Popka Locka, yeah. Don't judge me.

Pauline:

And even harder is try spelling it,

Wes:

yeah,

Pauline:

Which, by the way, Netflix subtitles totally got that wrong. There is a right way to spell Pippinpaddleopsicopolis. They split it up in two names, so Netflix, I have a bone to pick with you.

Wes:

That's what you

Pauline:

Put some respect on Bonzu Pippinpaddleopsicopolis, the third.

Wes:

Okay let's see,

Pauline:

Okay let's see, what else was at the beginning? Here's a negative that lent to my cabbage rating. The beginning was very exposition heavy. I know that there's a lot to explain when it comes to the spirit world, but Aang was just info dumping, and I think part of it too is the fact that it was Aang that was having to explain all of this, because, if you're a first time watcher, you're probably wondering, where did you

Wes:

saying, I don't know what I'm doing, but here's the

Pauline:

info. Yeah, so which one is it? Do you know what you're doing, or do you not know what you're doing? But to me, that's on the writing. The whole episode, though, like you said, it does have a horror esque vibe, which the other episodes did not, I think back in the day when shows had, or cartoons had like, their Halloween episode or Halloween special, if this was back in the day, this would have been the Halloween special, so. Agreed.

Wes:

Sokka's interaction with the little girl was super sweet. I know you have the Pippa Papapa lopolis thing, but just his whole interaction with her was really sweet. I'm really liking Sokka.

Pauline:

me too. I think I've liked Sokka from the beginning and his portrayal of his character has been pretty consistent and consistently done well. So yeah, that was a good sweet interaction. What was not a sweet interaction, but I still liked it just as much, was Zuko and Lieutenant Jee.

Wes:

Oh, yeah, I actually wrote that down. Cover your ears. I wrote, Zuko is a

Pauline:

Babe.

Wes:

his soldiers! I mean, come on! Yeah,

Pauline:

he's not very nice to Lieutenant Jee, and we've seen that in past episodes as well. And I feel bad for Jee, because he's just doing his job,

Wes:

job. Well, yeah,

Pauline:

Well, yeah, I think it's been hinted at, but I mean, that's Zuko's doing though. Okay, so first of all, in this interaction, we get a really sassy Zuko. Oh yeah, he even does

Wes:

even does it with his face

Pauline:

and his

Wes:

his movements, he's

Pauline:

sassy. Yeah I'm gonna channel some of that sass

Wes:

They can't see you, babe. They can't see you,

Pauline:

I know I'm doing the head thing cuz what was it that he said he was like, so you mean to tell me

Wes:

tell me?

Pauline:

Oh my gosh, that was just that was amazing. Side note about Zuko's scar because I feel like a lot of fans have been harping on his scar and its appearance and that it's not prominent enough.

Wes:

It's a scar!

Pauline:

like So when I was watching him talk to Jee. I it I don't know why it came up here, but It made me realize that his scar reminds me a lot of the scar that I had on my leg that I got because I got badly burned there. Side story, when I was a kid. It was a really hot Missouri day. There was some sort of equipment sitting outside. It had been sitting out in the sun all day and it had like this metal piece to the side of it. It was so hot that I'm sure you could have like cooked eggs on it or something. It was very hot and I was playing near it and my leg touch this the metal part and it was so hot that I didn't even realize that I was being burned It actually felt cool at first because it was so hot, it was a really weird sensation. And then eventually I started feeling like really bad pain. So it burned layers of my skin like it was this is Probably probably a graphic way of describing it, but it was like white bubbly skin, and when it did heal, it looked like Zuko's scar. That's exactly what my scar looked like, albeit a smaller scar but that's how it looked for years and years, and even into adulthood. It's mostly faded now. I'm surprised that it's started to go away.

Wes:

away, but, I'm just, I'm just saying, his scar,

Pauline:

Hot take. It is pretty realistic,

Wes:

relaxed. That was,

Pauline:

I know, like I really

Wes:

have to edit that down. But it makes him

Pauline:

it makes it more interesting instead of just plowing through

Wes:

yeah, his scar looks fine. It looks like he got burnt in the face.

Pauline:

his scar alone. Leave Zuko alone. Okay, I just had to get that out of the way, get it off my chest. I stan his scar. But yeah, so Zuko and Lieutenant Jee's whole interaction, I would say is, it's planting the seeds with Lieutenant Jee.

Wes:

He's basically a spy now

Pauline:

I mean, but I wouldn't you say it's a direct result from how Zuko was treating him? Yeah,

Wes:

Yeah, he's treating him like a housemaid.

Pauline:

So I like how Netflix has planted the seeds with where things may be going with Lieutenant Jee. So this whole thing is unique to this series, or to the Netflix version. Speaking of planting the seeds, let's go ahead and get into our theme. So first I want to bring up that there is one scene where Azula said to Ozai that they should water the most promising seeds, right? And in one of the beginning scenes, Katara says to Aang, seeds are for the future, not past mistakes. And that's when she hands him the seed when they discover that the forest

Wes:

him the seed, and went

Pauline:

my quotes. So, the Theme that I pulled from this, and again, this is, I'm not saying like this is definitively the theme of the whole episode. I'm sure people would have different opinions, but this is just what I got out of it. So the question here is, what seeds are being watered? And I feel like this plays throughout the whole episode, and I do want to talk about it.

Wes:

Plays throughout the

Pauline:

go right ahead.

Wes:

Truth. Finding the truth. I do want to talk about it. Although, I believe Aang finding out his truth with Gyatso telling him, you weren't going to be any help, you were going to die. That's his truth, right?

Pauline:

Mhm.

Wes:

Katara and Sokka's truth were more painful.

Pauline:

I thought about that too because they did mention truth. I would almost say that you could almost swap seed with truth.

Wes:

truth. You

Pauline:

You see what I'm saying? Which, it'll, it may it'll, it will make more sense as we talk about it. But, do you see where I'm

Wes:

going I see where you're going. What truths are being watered? Yes. Are you answering that?

Pauline:

We

Wes:

Oh, we're gonna answer

Pauline:

get to it.

Wes:

doing a podcast, ladies and gentlemen.

Pauline:

First I want to talk about The spirit world. Since a lot of this takes place in the spirit world, let's go ahead and talk about the spirits and some of the things that they encounter in the spirit world. So first, spirit. is Wan Shi Tong, and he is the Spirit of Knowledge. A lot of Avatar fans already know this, Wan Shi Tong, the translation for that is He Who Knows Ten Thousand Things. Fun fact though, he is voiced by Randall Duk Kim, and he was in The Last Airbender movie. That shall not be named, the movie that shall not be named. He played I think an old guy, or like an old man in one of the temples. That's right. That's cool that he was in that, and then he gets to be in this series as well. And then I think he's most known for being the turtle in Kung Fu Panda. But you're more, you and Zoe are more familiar with Kung Fu Panda than I am, but he voices the turtle. So next time you guys watch Kung Fu Panda,

Wes:

time you guys watch Kung Fu Panda, Watch a tongue.

Pauline:

What did you think of uh,

Wes:

of uh, Uh, Uppity and uh, I wonder if he tastes like chicken. Oh

Pauline:

my gosh. Okay, you are Sokka. Oh my goodness.

Wes:

I mean, it was good. Wan Shi Tongue.

Pauline:

I'm not sure how I feel about them putting Wan Shi Tong. In this season, and I'm probably going to reiterate this a few times while we discuss it because a lot of things are being pulled from, different episodes or different seasons so we meet Wan Shi Tong much earlier than we do in in the cartoon, which Typically, I would not have a problem with, but then, it makes me wonder, how does this affect the events of Season 2? Because uh, Wan Shi Tong first appeared in the cartoon in a very important episode. Just interested to see how They go about that. But, asides from that, I get why he was here. He's a spirit. This is spirited away.

Wes:

I wonder if they're gonna stick with, only the Avatar knows what the animals are saying.

Pauline:

The spirits. The spirits, yes. Yeah. Is that, I mean, they gotta stick with it now, right?

Wes:

right? I don't, they

Pauline:

So that, so yes, you're right, you did bring up a good point. In the original, Aang is not the only one that can understand the spirits. Katara and Sokka can understand Wan Shi Tong just fine.

Wes:

Let's move to my next, the next one, which was one of my favorites, which is

Pauline:

Hei Bai. Hei Bai was one of your favorites. So Hei Bai is the spirit of the forest. Again, it's no secret that the translation of his name is black and white. The thing is, the people who have only watched this, they don't realize that he is a panda spirit. Unless you got that from the statues, because they did show the Hei Bai statue. And it's a statue of a panda, but I wasn't sure if that was clear to everybody. But, yep, Hei Bai, black and white. You reminded me of Venom. From, from

Wes:

Marvel,

Pauline:

Oh, okay. See, I'm not the Marvel nerd, but I'm sure many people listening are,

Wes:

I bet they would agree. It was awesome. Oh, by the way, I had a question on Hei Bai. He did the Towards the end of his sequence he did the open his mouth, the light shines,

Pauline:

right?

Wes:

Was he releasing the fog of confusion, or the fog of lost soul, whatever

Pauline:

that is? Fog of Lost

Wes:

Was he spewing that out of his

Pauline:

That's my question too, cause I wasn't sure. And I don't know. It looks like it, but I don't know for sure if Hei Bai is the cause of the Fog of Lost Souls.

Wes:

souls.

Pauline:

The only reason why I would think no is because, I mean, unless he did that every single time somebody came into the spirit world, cause I mean, the villagers were lost in there too that's a good question but I don't know. Anyways, loved Hei Bai, looked scary, but, I mean, the original did too! It

Wes:

the original did

Pauline:

original. Oh yeah, and I loved how they showed the scar, and that the scar was also on the statue, so I thought that was a nice touch too. What about Koh, the Face Stealer? Koh was my favorite.

Wes:

What about Koh the Face Stealer? Koh is my favorite. Oh yeah, that's right.

Pauline:

So very scary. So the name Koh, just a fun fact here is similar to the Japanese word kao, which means face,

Wes:

Well, I think that's

Pauline:

Well, I think that's a close enough pronunciation, kao. So koh feeds on people who are, and this was a direct quote, paralyzed by despair and doubt. So that's a slight difference from the cartoon where he fed on peo or he stole the faces of anybody that showed any kind of emotion.

Wes:

What

Pauline:

what did you think about that change? They

Wes:

that change? I, they rushed into it, but I don't know. Cause what in the cartoon, he got all the information about Koh from Avatar Roku, so there was no information when he went in, in the live action. That's the only thing I mean, you weren't supposed to look at him. Make any

Pauline:

Emotions. Yeah I mean, I think if they would have done a bunch of explaining about Koh beforehand, then I would have really felt like it was Heavy on the exposition, so I can see why they didn't have that. I still think they, they did Koh justice even with the slight differences. They say people paralyzed by despair and doubt, I mean that's still a type of emotion,

Wes:

a type of emotion.

Pauline:

He's so scary.

Wes:

Super scary. And what did Aang steal from him? I wanna know.

Pauline:

find out. Fun fact with Koh, he is voiced by George Takei. So, Yeah, so I mean, obviously George Takei has done many, many things.

Wes:

He was in the original

Pauline:

He was. As most people know, he's known for Star Trek but in the original Avatar, he voiced the Warden. I didn't pick up on it when first watching the episode, so I'm a little ashamed that I didn't realize it was George Takei, but now, I can't un hear his voice so I think they made a good choice with bringing in George Takei to voice him, and honestly, bringing in these different OG Avatar voice actors to voice different things.

Okay

Pauline:

so a few other encounters in the spirit world. There was the white fox that talked to Sokka. Which is something completely new, so we're not sure where they're going with this white fox. All I can say is that it it Reminded me of the Foxy Knowledge Seekers from the Wan Shi Tong episode in the cartoon. What did you think of this fox or the purpose of this fox?

Wes:

So it's telepathically communicating with Sokka.

Pauline:

mean, It's, mouth was moving, wasn't it?

Wes:

Can I pull it up real quick?

Pauline:

See?

Wes:

Okay. Mouth's moving. Blew whatever I was going to say out of the water. I loved it! No, it was okay.

Pauline:

Like,

Wes:

What did you think?

Pauline:

you think? I know that there is a purpose for this fox. I mean, there has to be. Otherwise, it would just be super random. The voice has a very distinct voice. Without saying any spoilers, I want to say that this is probably in relation to a future character. Oh, After, after, yeah. I will let you know. I will let you know. What I didn't catch is what's on its tail.

Wes:

I know that they made the sound, and they kinda zoomed in, not really zoomed in, but

Pauline:

Mostly even the sound. So

Wes:

ching! Maybe she was just showing her bling off. you think that's like a cuff? A

Pauline:

something like that, it's not very, it's not very

Wes:

So did that fox get into something and that's like You know how a fish gets caught in trash? Did that fox get some trash caught on its tail?

Pauline:

That's just a little bit of mystery right there. The fox also reminded me of some, looked like a Pokemon to me, so.

Wes:

to me,

Pauline:

And then I also want to bring up the Fog of Lost Souls. So in the cartoon, the Fog of Lost Souls, first of all, it wasn't even in Avatar The Last Airbender. This is something directly from the legend of Korra. So I thought it was cool that they brought it into Avatar. And in Korra, the Fog of Lost Souls is a spirit of its own. But, in the same way it, it disorients people and, it messes with them. The only other thing I had about the Fog of Lost Souls was wondering whether or not Hei Bai was the one that caused it,

Wes:

We're gonna say that the fog of lost souls came from Hei Bai. His mouth.

Pauline:

I'm gonna agree. We'll just go with it. Okay. So that's all the spirit world talk. Now I want to talk about, you already brought up the truths. So this is going back to our theme of, what seeds are being watered. Let's go ahead and,

Wes:

is so cheesy.

Pauline:

I am still trying to learn how to properly segue from one thing to another. We're not professionals here, people.

Wes:

That was

Pauline:

good,

Wes:

by the way.

Pauline:

So let's just, we're just gonna go in order. So we will start with Katara. So what seeds has Katara been watering? And in my opinion, I think the seeds that she has been watering is guilt and grief. Because that's what her whole flashback is about. It's the one moment that she has the most guilt about. And you already brought up the fact that Katara tried to

Wes:

and

Pauline:

that was the whole reason that the Fire Nation soldier Knew that there was for sure a waterbender in that igloo and katara's mom, Kya, had to sacrifice herself to protect her daughter so, um, can I just give, the actress for the young version of Katara, I just want to give her major props, because She killed it, the way that she acted that scene it was just phenomenal. She has, that girl has acting chops. What did you think about them showing the soldier roasting Katara's mom.

Wes:

Well, she looks like he was, she was getting ready to airbend, er, waterbend him, and she could have killed him, so he was basically defending himself.

Pauline:

Yes, but as we know, she is not the waterbender. Yeah. So she was just putting on an act yeah. That was really sad. And then what I was

Wes:

So What truth did she need to learn there, or what, or was it just the truth that she got her mom killed?

Pauline:

It's them facing things that they haven't necessarily talked about outright, and it's just something that they're holding inside. This is their truth that they're carrying. So for Katara, the seed that she's been watering is that I am responsible for my mother's death. Yes,

Wes:

Which she is correct.

Pauline:

And that's why. It showed in the Jet episode

Wes:

that

Pauline:

it was causing it was like a block to her waterbending because that's what she kept seeing as the truth.

Wes:

Yeah, so what do you think, just speculate on what you think is gonna get Katara out of the fog of lost souls?

Pauline:

Um, Aang. Nevermind!

Wes:

Never mind!

Pauline:

already made a Frozen reference earlier, but an act of true love! Oh gosh. And then we have Sokka and his memories that he's having to face. So the seed that Sokka has been watering this whole time is doubt and shame. If you were to go back and watch previous episodes and really pay attention to Sokka's interactions with other people, you can tell that there is this doubt and shame that he carries but we find out that it's because of his father. So this was something unexpected since it wasn't in the cartoon, but His father Hakoda expressed his disappointment in him.

Wes:

Yeah, his father's a butthole.

Pauline:

butthole.

Wes:

Seriously, Bato makes a better father than Hakoda. You

Pauline:

You think

Wes:

so? Oh yeah dude, he's just a little kid. You wanted him to I mean, he was

Pauline:

but I think we, what we have to remember is that no character is black or white. Everybody has a little gray area in them too but yeah, he was a

Wes:

he was, He was a little harsh.

Pauline:

It was unfortunate that Sokka did hear that.

Wes:

There was

Pauline:

And there was an important thing that Hakoda said, I didn't write it down, but he said something along the lines of, some people are just not meant to have others lives in their hands. And I think that's gonna play a key thing in

Wes:

Sokka,

Pauline:

choices and feelings that Sokka has in the future.

Wes:

Okay, I don't like what they're doing With their father Sokka in the cartoon is very proud of his father and

Pauline:

looks up to him and he is still though. He's, I, but I think that's why he feels even there's more reason to feel shame is because he wants to be like his father. He wants to make him proud. Similar to some other characters in the show

Wes:

giving him daddy issues, I don't like

Pauline:

it but I like it though. Okay, because it adds layers, it adds some tension, adds some conflict, and that there's some reconciliation that needs to happen here.

Wes:

That's

Pauline:

that's my, that's what I think.

Wes:

Let's move on.

Pauline:

All right. So now let's go to Aang and his memories and his encounter with Gyatso. So first let me just go ahead and get the nerding out of the way here.

Wes:

The

Pauline:

Color grading for when Aang was in the fog, well really when all of them were in the fog going from the fog to the memories, it went from a very desaturated tone then transitioning to full color whenever they were being faced with their memories. And this was really apparent whenever Aang went from the fog and then stumbled out of the fog and it transitioned to full color. Very Wizard of Oz do you know what I'm talking about? Did you catch that? You'll have, you need to re watch it and see it because that was pretty cool. So anyways, let's talk about the quote unquote seeds that Aang has been watering. So I think it's the same as Katara he's been dealing with guilt and grief and I would say even a little bit of doubt because, in earlier in the episode he talks about how he doesn't know what he's doing as the Avatar but he's almost pulled into his memory of the Southern Air Temple but he's able to take a step back and realize this is not real and he's able to see through it and move on so unlike Sokka and Katara he's able to resist what the fog of souls or the fog of lost souls is doing to him and then that's where you know Koh comes into the picture and I think Koh even says oh you're able to

Wes:

That's how he realizes you're the Avatar. yeah

Pauline:

maybe, do you think that maybe the Avatar has some kind of immunity to it? Or maybe just because the Avatar is

Wes:

The Avatar is most powerful in the spirit world. At least that's what they told us in

Pauline:

Korra.

Wes:

a very powerful Avatar. Yeah, I think him being able to resist is because he's powerful.

Pauline:

then we have him chased by Koh and then he stumbles upon Gyatso and The most important thing here is that Gyatso absolves Aang

Wes:

Aang of

Pauline:

Any feelings of responsibility to what happened. And I know we already talked about this because this was our Avatar State moment but I thought that was, like I really was waiting for some kind of moment where someone tells Aang, hey, buddy, it's not your fault. I'm glad that they had Gyatso be the one to do that because I think that's even more meaningful. And Gyatso helps him realize, what's important and the people he cares about here and now, yeah,

Wes:

yeah, I think we're gonna see

Pauline:

a

Wes:

a humongous growth from Aang'cause now he doesn't have to bear the weight of feeling like it was his fault.

Pauline:

Right, I agree. I think Gyatso's role here is helping him plant the seeds of healing for Aang so that way his guilt and grief and doubt can be replaced with something else that will help him, grow to be the Avatar and I feel like that they, whether this is intentional or not,

Wes:

not, um,

Pauline:

They used Aang physically planting the seed as a metaphor for this that he's started, I don't know if I want to say starting a new beginning here, but because he's able to start healing thanks to Gyatso, he's finally able to, what was it that I said Katara said plant the seeds for

Wes:

seeds for the future, not past

Pauline:

mistakes. Correct. So I think that's really what all this episode is about was, we have characters who are watering the seeds that they shouldn't be, which is their past mistakes, their burdens, when they should be planting, or watering the seeds of. Yeah, the seeds that are going to help them grow and become better people. So yeah, I think for Aang, what replaces all this hurt for him is love and confidence, because now he has this resolution of, okay, I am gonna go see Roku to get help to save the people that I care about. So he's made a decision here, he has a direction, and he's feeling a little bit more confident. Or at least he seems that way, do you have anything else you want to talk

Wes:

want to add?

Pauline:

Okay,

Wes:

so that

Pauline:

so that was with our core group there. What's interesting is that I feel like this theme also carries over to our Prince and Princess of the Fire Nation. Um, so, with Zuko, even though Zuko and

Wes:

those,

Pauline:

Azula, weren't in the Fog of Lost Souls, obviously, but I feel like that they're having to face some truths of their own. And they have also been watering seeds of things that are gonna be holding them back. I

Wes:

I'm glad you

Pauline:

I'm glad you say that. Before we get there though. With Zuko, I feel like the seeds that Zuko has been watering is despair and frustration. And I don't know why, I know I keep saying this, but I love that they are making that despair more obvious with this version of Zuko. I think a lot of people say like, oh he seems more like a brat in this version,

Wes:

But

Pauline:

I feel like it all stems from desperation. Like he's losing control here. his chances of returning home are slipping away. So wouldn't that drive you to, to act in ways that

Wes:

aren't

Pauline:

great? Right. Well, I think this episode really taught us like, well, he wants to play by the rules, but you can't play by the rules. You gotta get. And that's

Wes:

Taking a big hit to his character.

Pauline:

Are you talking about because of June the bounty

Wes:

Yeah, and everything that, Iroh says, Zhao's basically going to play dirty, too. You can't play by the rules here. And he's all about honor and keeping that honor. Honor.

Pauline:

honor. Yeah. Since we have brought up June, let's go ahead and talk about her. First of all, love June, loved her in the original, love her here too. She's a queen. Hitting on Iroh. Yeah, so that was a change that I think needed to happen because in the original, Iroh is the one that hits on June. and it's very creepy. It did not age well, the way the cartoon played that out. It was nice to see that they had reversed that and June was the one that, was kinda hitting on Iroh and that they did switch that around. I don't really have anything else to say about June. I'm sure next episode we'll see a little bit more.

Wes:

Well, holler, holler out for the thing she was riding.

Pauline:

out to

Wes:

Shout out, holler out. That's the same thing.

Pauline:

It's holler out? Okay. Um, Yeah, shout out to the shirshu, which we'll talk about in our Animal Watch. But I mean,.Yeah adapted June pretty well, in my opinion.

Wes:

Yeah, that sounds like a cool reality TV show. June the Bounty

Pauline:

the Bounty Hunter. And then, I just want to go ahead and talk about, since we're here in the Earth Kingdom village with Zuko and Iroh we already mentioned the tavern earlier and the funny moments between Zuko and the tavern

Wes:

know the Tavern Keeper now, so Toph

Pauline:

And then the tavern Keeper grabs it, pockets it, and then Zuko's like, so have you seen Waterbenders? He's like, no.

Wes:

did love

Pauline:

I did love that. But this is where we find out that, and Zuko finds out that, word of the Avatar has gotten out. So that means his chances of getting to Aang first are getting slimmer and slimmer. And What I really loved about this scene and part of why it was my honorable mention was that it had quite a few callbacks to the cartoon. And this is where the

Wes:

subtitles Yeah, you wouldn't have known if you didn't have the

Pauline:

subtitles Yes, the subtitles came in handy here. If you guys didn't catch this, you need to go back and watch it with the subtitles. But The other people in the tavern they made direct references to the pirates from the waterbending scroll episode in the cartoon, the canyon guide from the infamous The Great Divide, and then even to Aang fighting the volcano from the fortune teller episode. So those are all it's, it's funny that you mentioned that this episode is a filler episode because what they shouted out here were all the what some people believe to be filler

Wes:

from the cartoon. They were sidequests.

Pauline:

Yeah. So I thought that was a cool way of bringing those in without having to actually include them in the episode. Because I knew that these were things from the original that was gonna get cut from the Netflix series. But, without the subtitles, you wouldn't have really heard it because

Wes:

really heard it. It was well done, so. and then, just last thing I want

Pauline:

was well done, and then just last thing I want to say about Zuko here. Well really, about Iroh, is that I feel like Iroh is helping plant the seeds for Zuko. Just for his growth. In what way? So similar to how I said that Gyatso was helping Aang plant seeds of healing and love. I feel like Iroh was serving a similar role for Zuko so we know that Zu that, sorry, we know that Iroh had to convince Zuko to hire June and he does that because he sees that Zuko is spiraling down this despair. He just, automatically He goes to this place of, oh, all hope is lost. I'm never gonna find the Avatar. As we know, Zuko's a little bit dramatic. But Iroh is always there to help steer him away from that despair. To the best of his ability. And And I think we'll continue to see, how Iroh will do these things here and there to help Zuko heal a little bit, and there's still so much about Zuko that we need to learn but I like how, again, like a broken record here, they're planting the seeds with their relationships, so. does. That make sense?

Wes:

you're gonna hate me, but no, I di I didn't see, I mean, other than the pai sho references that he was making, which I thought were, was cool, and I could see how that could help Zuko if Zuko was like, getting what he was putting down with the pai sho references. And also, when he told him, you know. She's going to find the Avatar. If she doesn't eat.

Pauline:

Who's she?

Wes:

June.

Pauline:

Oh,

Wes:

he was like, cause he's like, you know, she's a crappy bounty hunter, and he's like, she's going to find the Avatar.

Pauline:

If

Wes:

she doesn't get paid. She doesn't eat. So I thought that was like a, I don't know how they, how to tie that in there, but I felt like he said that for a reason, to help Zuko.

Pauline:

help Zuko. To reassure

Wes:

him? Yeah.

Pauline:

That this is a good idea.

Wes:

idea. Yeah.

Pauline:

I think what I'm trying to say is So if Zuko keeps watering his, despair and his frustration, who's going to be the one to help him steer away from that?

Wes:

steer away from that? I think we know the

Pauline:

answer to that. Yeah, it's Iroh. It's June. It's not June. Okay, so moving on from Zuko, let's go over to Azula.

Wes:

to What's

Pauline:

What was that sigh

Wes:

I don't, I know you're not supposed to like Azula. Right. But they're like, really? I mean,

Pauline:

I love

Wes:

Azula. beating up on that dude when he's like, Hey. Oh,

Pauline:

stop. Yeah.

Wes:

I mean, no means no azula

Pauline:

so to tie into our theme here what Azula has been watering is jealousy and doubt. Because she wants to be, good enough for her father, and you already mentioned it, that Ozai is the one doing the watering, but not in a good way. Unlike Iroh, because I told you Iroh steers Zuko away from, his despair and whatnot. Ozai is steering Azula towards this jealousy and this doubt, and the way that he smirked makes me feel like he's doing this on purpose. He, He knows what he's doing. So

Wes:

He knows he's gonna, he, like you said uh, water the most promising seeds. He's watering her. Oh gosh, that sounds so horrible.

Pauline:

don't, don't, Don't. The thing is, I wouldn't it, it's kind of funny that Azula was the one that said water the most promising seed. And even though they are Fire nation Ozai is not using water. Here he is All fire

Wes:

fire. I thought the water was just a metaphor.

Pauline:

It is, but it just, I just thought it was ironic. Yeah he's

Wes:

He's spraying water on Azula.

Pauline:

Stop.

Wes:

Alright,

Pauline:

Okay, but you know what I'm saying though, and I'm,

Wes:

we get what you're throwing down.

Pauline:

So something's going on there with Ozai. I love that they added this. layer to Azula and her relationship with her father because this is new. I thought it was a really good way of showing what makes Azula tick because otherwise it's like we have an already crazy Azula and no explanation as to why she's like that.

Wes:

to why she's like that.

Pauline:

Yeah and there's way more to Azula than just this but I thought that it especially like for first time viewers, it would make them understand Azula's character a little bit more. And then you brought up, her training session where she was just beating on that guy, and it just shows how Azula is relentless, because I don't know if that's been, and psycho, but I feel like up to this, up until this point they haven't fully conveyed how brutal Azula can be. Because, I mean, she does have a sweeter face, and, it looks like she just wants to impress her father. But no, she has a brutal side, and I don't know if you caught this, but when she was about to roast that guy, you saw just a glimpse of blue

Wes:

Maybe both of them, I can't remember. It was Mai or Ty Lee. So, I

Pauline:

Maybe both of them, I can't

Wes:

because I

Pauline:

it was Mai or Ty Lee.

Wes:

going to

Pauline:

I thought that was cool, because I didn't know if we were going to get to see the blue fire, and then that adds another question to Azula. And just the worldbuilding in general, like blue fire, who can bend blue fire? So, um, I liked seeing that. And speaking of Mai and Ty Lee I think I like them better in this scene, because I see what they're trying to do here with Mai and Ty Lee. The two of them, I mean I guess like in the cartoon, the two of them round out Azula but I think it's even more apparent, at least with Mai, I feel like they, added a little bit more depth to Mai's character because while Ty Lee feeds Azula's ego, Mai keeps her in check. Yeah, they dampen her psychotic ness. Yes, so I appreciated Ty Lee more in this scene. Did you have any opinions?

Wes:

No, it was brief, but I wish we got a little bit

Pauline:

more. Mhm. I'm interested to see how Mai is going to play out because in the cartoon, at least in the beginning, she is really just that trope of apathetic, gothic teenager, and there wasn't really a whole lot to her. I don't know, I didn't, before I said I didn't like Mai in this version, but I might change my mind. We'll

Wes:

You

Pauline:

You think so?

Wes:

Huh. We

Pauline:

We will see.

Wes:

see. Okay

Pauline:

Now that we've said seed so many times, and watering and all that um, let's wrap up this conversation of the theme and just our deep analysis here. Let's wrap it up with the ending of the episode so Aang gets a new quest. Aang decides to go to the Fire Nation so he can find Roku's shrine and reach out to him. And I don't know if we already said this, but Gyatso said Roku was the last Avatar to confront Koh, because Koh says he stole something from him, but we don't know what that is. I think it's interesting that it's Roku that is in this role, but I think they needed to find a way to bring in Roku. They haven't

Wes:

Things are about

Pauline:

heat up.

Wes:

ha ha Ha!

Pauline:

yeah, for those that don't know, Okay, so one thing that made me sad was when Aang said that he'll be back and he'll come see Gyatso and they'll have more time to talk when he returns and Gyatso's reaction tells me otherwise. And I don't know, I have this feeling that he's not gonna be there when Aang gets back.

Wes:

I think I was, I'm a little more optimistic about it because, you know, time is a funny thing and maybe he's not necessarily going to be there when Aang's done, but maybe in a different time

Pauline:

Yeah, I hope so. But the way that Gyatso had that look on his face like he was about to cry, it was like, okay. Anyways, I just wanted to mention that, and since you brought that up, I do want to go ahead and read Gyatso's closing monologue. I have a feeling maybe this will be the clip that I play at the beginning. I haven't decided yet, but I wanted to read it because it is really good.

Wes:

You're gonna read the whole thing?

Pauline:

Yeah. His monologue at the end, he says, time is a funny thing. The past, the future, it all gets mixed up. There's only one way to keep it straight. It's by remembering what really matters. Of course, keeping sight of what's important can be hard. Sometimes it feels like we'll always be alone, and the only one keeping us company is our own pain. We tell ourselves that we are the problem, especially when things we can't control come our way. That's why we must let go of our pain and regret, and remember what it is we're really fighting for. The ones we love. Let that be the light that guides you through the most treacherous of times, and the darkest of nights. So I just thought that was really good, and showing all of our main characters throughout that monologue Kind of reminding what everybody is going through and it made me realize that everybody in this episode faced being alone with their pain at some point. Our main ones and also Zuko and Azula and so I thought that was a nice neat little bow that they added to the end of the episode. And then also just real quick in these ending scenes, I noticed that they made Aang and Azula foils of each other. So similar to how Iroh and Ozai are kind of foils of each other. In one of the last scenes, You see Aang come back from the spirit world and he glances over at Katara and Sokka who are, unconscious on the ground. He glances at them and he knows that he needs to do what he can to help them and then he leaves for the Fire Nation. One of Azula's last scenes, she's training and they show Mai and Ty Lee sleeping.

Wes:

But

Pauline:

The difference with Azula is that she doesn't really show that she cares about them. She is focused on herself and she continues to train and train. And it shows the differences and where their headspace is at right now. So I just wanted to shut

Wes:

to shout that out. It's an interesting observation. I like it.

Pauline:

Uh, about analyzing this episode?

Wes:

Analyzing this Anything in your notes that we

Pauline:

that we didn't get to? I

Wes:

we covered everything.

Pauline:

Alright, so then let's go ahead and get into our favorite bending moments. I'll go ahead and say mine first. I there wasn't a lot of bending in this episode, first of all, because you can't bend in the spirit world but I did like Katara's ice discs that she did at the beginning. I thought that was a cool move.

Wes:

Discs here, and I thought that was a

Pauline:

What do you mean wasn't

Wes:

do you mean, wasn't original? So, It was cool. My favorite bending moment was none. I mean,

Pauline:

what

Wes:

I think all the bending was done in like the first four minutes of the episode. And then you didn't have any more airbending, er, bending,

Pauline:

sorry. Yeah. What about Azula in her

Wes:

true. But right now, she doesn't look like she's very good at bending.

Pauline:

What? Where have

Wes:

what, what, what do we, What do we see her, I mean, like a couple streaks of fire, but, I mean, it's not

Pauline:

I

Wes:

we, we know that she's powerful,

Pauline:

or. I think we know that she's powerful. We haven't, they've purposely held back on showing

Wes:

how do we know she's powerful?

Pauline:

Because Do you see her flawless

Wes:

technique? her flawless. What?

Pauline:

Are you being scared? Like What Ty Lee says, like she's perfect too. Well, she's too,

Wes:

to. She's a royal. You

Pauline:

have to

Wes:

praise her. or Azula could just have her killed. So true. True. I don't have a favorite bending moment. I'm sorry.

Pauline:

sorry. It's probably the same as yours.

Wes:

It's probably the same as yours. my favorite character was Gyatso.

Pauline:

Oh, why's that?

Wes:

Just because I like that they brought him back and did what they did with him. Gyatso's sacrifice to,

Pauline:

to

Wes:

move on to the next stage of enlightenment, which I mean, that's what they were living

Pauline:

what they were living for.

Wes:

Their friendship must be really strong,

Pauline:

I'm

Wes:

and I'm guessing we'll see him

Pauline:

again. That's a good point. I didn't pick up on that, that it is a sacrifice to them, because you're right, that's what they strive for. Yeah. That's what they strive for, is enlightenment, and, yeah. He let that go so that he could wait for Aang and guide

Wes:

that he could wait for Aang and guide him. Do you think he'll have another chance to move on? That's

Pauline:

move wonder is what's gonna, if that's what's gonna happen when

Wes:

what's going

Pauline:

back, because now it's like

Wes:

when

Pauline:

feel like maybe Gyatso feels he's now done his part.

Wes:

now it's like,

Pauline:

they,

Wes:

feel like maybe Gyatso feels he's now done his part. He's a

Pauline:

a ghost. He's not a ghost.

Wes:

So his unfinished business is done. His resolve, so now he can move on. Oh, that is sad. So maybe that's why he's like, Oh, that's

Pauline:

sad! But I don't, but I don't think I'm thinking that he had the choice of moving. So unlike a ghost who can't,

Wes:

He's a ghost.

Pauline:

Crossover. I think you said it was a sacrifice. He knew that he had a role to play in the bigger picture and he needed to be there for Aang, who is the Avatar.

Wes:

So who was your favorite character?

Pauline:

Aang, Because I felt for him. It really all came down to that scene with Gyatso and I think that's why that was our Avatar state moment. But I feel Aang did a lot of growing in this episode, going from being confused and not knowing exactly how to take action to, now he's taking action. If, yeah, Aang gets this one. For

Wes:

me. Awesome.

Pauline:

Okay, so then, with our animal watch we already shouted out the shirshu, so let's go ahead and talk about the shirshu. The Shirshu is one of the few triple hybrid animals in the Avatarverse. So it is a combination of a mole, an anteater, and a

Wes:

a wolf. Wow, I did not know that. Yes. I knew the anteater, and I didn't know mole and wolf.

Pauline:

I knew it, but it, I didn't, I, it wasn't until adulthood that I

Wes:

that part is the wolf, what's the

Pauline:

You have to go back and look at it like, it, it's like the fur, and then maybe it's tracking abilities, but, the anteater part, obviously, with the tongue, and then it has the snout of a mole, and it is blind, it relies on its heightened sense of smell in order to track things down and then its saliva,

Wes:

is

Pauline:

is what causes people to get paralyzed so then it uses its tongue as, a whip and paralyzes people.

Wes:

Yeah. So

Pauline:

so that is the shirshu. Also scary.

Wes:

Sheer Shoe.

Pauline:

So that was it, I

Wes:

think. I think for Animal Watch? Yeah,

Pauline:

Yeah, I mean, Netflix. You can introduce more

Wes:

Yeah, they need to step up their

Pauline:

It's it's, they introduce whatever the um,

Wes:

could,

Pauline:

Um, but I feel like they are failing to build on the world by showing animals other animals in the background and Momo

Wes:

Momo grabbing that seed, though, at the beginning. That was Yes, I'm

Pauline:

Yes, I'm still a little bit unnerved by Momo's eyes, or appearance. For those who are just listening for the first time, I went on about Momo. It's, he's cute but there's just something about his eyes. It's like too cute that

Wes:

it's No, not

Pauline:

No, not even that. Cause it doesn't, his eyes don't look like a lemur. He needs to look, cause lemurs are odd looking anyways. They made him too cute. Anyways, I'm getting off of that soapbox, and we are going to move on to memorable quotes. So real quick, my Memorable quote was his closing monologue that I read,

Wes:

oh, that's a heck of an out.

Pauline:

But that's what I kept coming back to and and I think it encompasses this whole episode really well.

Wes:

I agree. I actually picked a, like a little piece out of his monologue. Oh, you did? Which was the only thing keeping US company is our own pain, which I feel like is pretty deep. If you're depressed, I feel like I felt like that sometimes.

Pauline:

sometimes. Yeah, that's a good point. It's interesting that even though we had quite opposite cabbage ratings, we still had very similar opinions about some of the different parts of this episode.

Wes:

of the different parts of this episode.

Pauline:

Oh yeah, that's true. Alrighty, let's go to our question of the week. So we had just asked for thoughts on the spirits and how the memories and the flashbacks made you guys feel. We did get An answer from somebody.

Wes:

Oh, awesome.

Pauline:

Oh who, who's, who's this from? This is from Bailey M and they said Koh is Scary. I screamed when he came on. My favorite spirit, or my favorite part was where Sokka and Katara had to face their own past. I did feel bad for Katara to see her mom die again and for Sokka to see his dad not believing in him. I agree. Bailey Koh was very scary.

Wes:

I screamed too.

Pauline:

I screamed internally. Koh is what mostly put the horror element into this episode, and I feel bad for any kid that watched this because, I mean, Koh is the stuff of nightmares. I

Wes:

I agree. I want to watch a scary movie with just about Koh.

Pauline:

Koh. Yes there's so much more to Koh, by the way,

Wes:

Oh boy, if you get to watch that in VR. What? Oh, if you could've watched that part in VR. Oh, no

Pauline:

no thank you. But yeah, there's so much more to Koh that even you don't know about. So I hope we see more Koh in the future.

Wes:

So did you I mean they say that they feel bad For Katara to see her mom die again. Do you did you feel bad for

Pauline:

Katara? Of course I felt bad for Katara, because

Wes:

that it was her fault

Pauline:

Yeah, because she was just a kid. And, I mean, she's technically still a kid. And to harbor that guilt of, such a life changing decision that she made to try to waterbend. And to be honest, I feel like her mom probably would have died even without

Wes:

like Gyatso ing her? Don't worry,

Pauline:

Don't worry,

Wes:

you were gonna, die anyway.

Pauline:

gonna die anyway. But that's part of, the seed that she needs to water instead of, you know,

Wes:

just, I don't get hers. But thank you Bailey for your comment and your answer.

Pauline:

Yes, thank you so much. Oh, and as always, I just want to remind everybody that our question of the week, we post that on Instagram and Facebook. If you have any thoughts and opinions, feel free to comment under those posts and we'd love to discuss them.

Wes:

Thank you, Bailey, for saving one winged lemur. Ok,

Pauline:

I rewrap everything up, do you have any closing thoughts?

Wes:

rewrap everything up, do you have any closing thoughts?

Pauline:

three episodes left.

Wes:

And next episode is about. Well, you broke the trend. I know.

Pauline:

Well, you broke the trend here, though. You did. So, We'll see what the next one is. I will say, knowing the title of the next episode You know it?

Wes:

Well, yeah, it's

Pauline:

Well, yeah. It's there on Netflix. It's called Masks.

Wes:

saying. We

Pauline:

That's what I'm saying. We know what's gonna happen. I am predicting I'm gonna really like this episode. This is the one I've been waiting

Wes:

for. I'm gonna wear my mask. Will you really? Yeah.

Pauline:

Okay.

Wes:

We'll take a picture, we'll post it on our Facebook. Okay. And Instagram.

Pauline:

Yeah, those two.

Wes:

And Twitter.

Pauline:

No, not Twitter. We are X. We don't have

Wes:

snap photos.

Pauline:

Oh my gosh. Wes is not a chronically online person. Okay. So let's go ahead and close out this episode.

Wes:

Alright, that's our show for today. And as always, we appreciate you all for listening. If you've been enjoying these episodes, we would absolutely love if you leave us a rating to help other Avatar fans find this podcast. We also encourage you to follow and subscribe so you don't miss out on any of our new episodes. And

Pauline:

we also love extending the conversation outside of this podcast. So follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok at Avatar Nation Pod. As much as we love giving our opinions about this show, I mean, we care about yours more. So feel free to share your thoughts with us. And we might just, feature them on a future podcast episode. With that said, I'm Pauline.

Wes:

And I'm Wes.

Pauline:

And you've been listening to Avatar Nation. See you next time!

Wes:

ya.

People on this episode

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Pauline Ford

Host
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Wes Ford

Co-host