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✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Hope you are doing well. Thank you for the response on my query on Aang and violence.
I know that Iroh comments to Zuko that Azula was mad and needed to be taken down after Azula attacks both him and Zuko and he was injured. I know people get angry about the usage of the word "mad", but to me Iroh was stating a fact. At this point, Azula had attempted to take their life, and they had fought to stay alive. Iroh has realized that Azula is a major threat to both him and Zuko. Given that Azula had absorbed Ozai's worldview from a young age, that definitely shows that Azula can become a threat to the world as well, and can cause more damage. I think this is what led Iroh to call Azula "mad"
I would like your thoughts on this.
At this point in the narrative, it is established both that Iroh understands how dangerous Azula is, and that Azula also understands that Iroh is her main obstacle in capturing Zuko. Azula knows she can manipulate Zuko, but not Iroh. Iroh also knows this, and is impressing upon Zuko that he does not have to feel guilt about wanting to protect himself from her just because she is family, especially since she can and does take advantage of this fact.
The specific word Iroh uses is "crazy." I don't mean that as a nitpick, but I bring it up because that exact word actually happens to appear three times in the transcript of the episode. The other two times are Toph praising Aang for "holding his own against a crazy beast" and Iroh saying "what, are you crazy?" in response to Zuko wanting Iroh to shoot lightning at him so Zuko can practice redirecting it.
Iroh isn't literally calling Azula mentally ill. The word is just casually used as a synonym for "dangerous," and not just by Iroh. Which is casual ableism, but 1) that's the show, not Iroh as a character, and 2) policing people's language endlessly is ALSO a form of ableism, especially when you're policing the way victims of violence talk about their experiences.
The real problem Azula apologists have with what Iroh says is that he's telling Zuko that he has a right to defend himself, even from people who might claim to love him. The specific mirroring of the word crazy to describe Azula's lightning and Iroh refusing to shoot lightning at Zuko also highlights that while Azula will gladly use Zuko's love for his family to hurt him, Iroh never will, even if Zuko asks him to. And since Azula and Ozai BOTH will later shoot lightning at Zuko while also trying to shift blame onto Zuko (Ozai saying Zuko is disrespectful and disobedient, Azula saying she's "sorry it has to end this way"), I have to think this parallel is not a coincidence.
Life took me out at the knees for a couple of weeks but I'm back! I'm hoping this is a nice restful episode after the relentlessness of The Chase.
I have to say, Toph's nicknaming skills are on point. I never would have thought of Sugarqueen, but it fits perfectly.
This is me. Every morning.
Full nose plant from Appa.
And the beat up Sokka quota is fulfilled. Very funny Toph, but completely uncalled for. If someone had catapulted teenage me 50 feet into the air while I was trying to sleep, it would have been fully justifiable homicide.
Aang is always trying to run before he can walk. What was Iroh always saying to Zuko about basics? Aang needs that speech too.
I was really on the ball in my post about how airbenders aren't homicidal, actually. Rock is a stubborn element. Yay me!
Aang earthbends = Earth bends Aang.
Seriously, how did he mess up that badly?
Cozy.
Thank you Zuko for the incredibly obvious exposition that's somehow completely in character. Interesting to see that Iroh and his son had brown hair, but Zuko seems to have black hair. More hair variety in the Fire Nation than I thought.
Tangent time! I love the contrast in social intelligence (I guess that's the term?) in this scene. Zuko wakes Iroh up with an infodump, some bad tea, and then gets straight to discussing strategy. Iroh's first actions are to compliment the bad tea, then dispose of the refill in a way that won't hurt Zuko's feelings (probably not necessary, as Zuko seems to be the type that's oblivious to all things other than the task at hand when he's focused). Iroh, injured and awake for all of 15 seconds, jumps straight to actions that help look after his nephew. And Zuko is trying! That's why he made tea! But still, he doesn't even ask if his uncle's feeling ok. Zuko has such a massive gap in his education - he can probably reel off the specs of all Fire Nation battleships, but he doesn't know how to be a human person. Contrast that with Iroh, and especially Katara, who makes friends and connections with such aggressive forwardness that she's at times more steamroller than teenage girl. It's funny how privilege plays into this too - Zuko comes from probably the single most privileged (on paper) family in the world, yet it's the children of the impoverished water tribe who have the more well-rounded education/socialisation.
"She's crazy and she needs to go down" go a full belly laugh out of me.
"What if I came at the boulder from a different angle?" Jesus I was REALLY on point with my post about the airbenders. Credit where credit is due, this show has such good writing/worldbuilding that viewers have picked up what Toph is laying out in this episode already. Also a little bit of stealth character work in there - since Toph is putting into words what we've been thinking this whole time, she now reads as trustworthy. This show is so good. So thought out.
Maybe it's just VLC being weird, but methinks Katara is having some trouble with her eyeball.
Katara STOP BABYING HIM. This is why I don't like Aang having a crush on her.
Honestly it's refreshing to have Toph giving it to Aang straight, no softening the blows.
I really like this texture.
Sokka's club is a giant bottle opener. Or at least a multitool.
ROCK SUITS
wait
ELEMENTAL FASHION
oh this is going to be haybending all over again.
They are totally going to have to nerf this girl. She could defeat the Fire Lord right now.
Earth beats water tribe
Someome who knows more about tea than I do: Why are both pots necessary?
"requires peace of mind" well that's out. Sorry Zuko, we'll have to get you a taser instead.
"So we're drinking tea to calm down?"
"not it's to get the nasty ass taste of the sludge you brewed out of my mouth. I mean yes."
For what's looking like an extended training montage, this episode is far funnier than it needs to be.
I pretty much don't notice Zuko's scar anymore (it's just part of his character design) then every so often a certain frame of animation will come out of the blue and remind me that this kid's missing half his face. I don't know if it's intentional on the part of the animators, but his scar is prominent this episode.
So it sounds like bending lightning actually corresponds with how lightning in our world works. Neat.
In an absolutely Shocking turn of events (pun absolutely intended), Zuko fucks it up. Fucking shit up: the autobiography of a Fire Prince. Has a nice ring to it.
Toph I know you go hard, but maybe apply a sense of proportion to this?
It kind of looks like Aang's about to be run over by a giant scoop of caramel ice cream.
Toph is such an interesting mishmash of bluntness and emotional intelligence. I don't think I've seen a character like that before.
Zuko being self aware for once! Everything always does explode in his face. Except when he's being the Blue Spirit. Seems he's more capable then.
It's a tragedy that this boy wasn't around for the emo movement. He would have single-handedly sustained Hot Topic.
Zuko going "WHAT TURMOIL?!?!?" is like Katara going "I'M COMPLETELY CALM!!!!!" last episode. Also got a laugh out of me.
"I'm as proud as ever." OF WHAT?!?!? What could he possibly be proud of? He's a homeless fugitive with a stolen horse bird and a half-dead uncle that he can't even properly brew tea for. The self-delusion is strong.
Is pride the source of shame? Honest question, I don't know.
There's a surprising variety of trees in this part of the Earth Kingdom. Where Zuko and Iroh are there are fluffly hardwoods, probably deciduous; Toph's training ground is ringed by cartoon pines.
This whole bit is too cute for words.
"Now come back boomerang" This is a training episode, it's not supposed to be this funny!
Are there voice acting awards? Like voice acting oscars? Sokka's actor needs one. Or several.
I should have waited to answer the ask about airbenders and just copy pasted Iroh's speech here. Except for the water = change bit. That doesn't make sense.
What can I possibly say about Iroh's speech? It's the thesis for this show in a single paragraph.
Pretty.
Are characters' eyes a different shape this episode? Aang's eyes change colour all the time, but everyone's eyes seem more cat-like.
I do love me some constructive bullying.
Sokka is so refreshingly self-aware while still totally oblivious. He is meat and sarcasm, but he's so much more!
"Have you got any meat?" He said that in an Irish accent.
"You're gonna pull my fingers off and I don't think the rest of me is coming!"
Do you ever come across a sentence that is so obviously an innuendo that your brain trips over itself trying to decipher it?
Sokka's hair must be so fluffy. It's got so much volume.
Why can't he go get Toph? I think being stuck in a hole outranks avoiding an awkward encounter.
FOO FOO CUDDLYPOOPS
"You must not let the lightning pass through your heart, or the damage could be deadly." Foreshadowing?
Today in 'things Zuko thinks it's acceptable, nay, expected, for parental figures to do' - attempted murder as a teaching method!
What went on in that palace?
Is this the closest Sokka's come to dying?
He's earthbending the air! Doing air but earthlike. You know what I mean.
I thought she was levitating.
Toph is so smart. She does the airbender thing and comes at the problem from a different angle. Telling Aang to stand up for himself doesn't work? Fine. Let's bully him into standing up for himself. And it works!
This episode's MVP is Sokka's patience.
"You tried the positive reinforcement, didn't you?"
uhhhhh
sure!
Appa getting vengeance for Sokka. Nice.
Theatre kids.
I wish Zuko would just have the breakdown he's obviously hurtling towards so we can get started on the rebuilding arc. Every time I think he's a rock bottom, he keeps digging.
Luten is Katara. Let's not read too far into that one.
Final Thoughts
I defy any episode from this point on to fulfill the Beat Up Sokka Quota as thoroughly as this one did.
In a lesser show, the 'Aang learns earthbending episode' would have had Aang & Toph as the A-plot, and Sokka & Katara doing something completely unrelated as a b-plot, and probably no Zuko at all. Sokka does have his own thing going on this episode, but the fact that they managed to weave in both water tribe siblings so organically is so satisfying. Of course a team member struggling to learn a new skill would seek out his friends. Of course his friends are in the area, observing the lesson to varying degrees. It feels so much more real to have the characters who aren't 'useful' that episode still there, rather than conveniently absent.
Zuko was very Zuko this episode. He's correct that he needs more training for his inevitable next encounter with Zuko jr., but Iroh is also correct that Zuko is a bundle of issues held together by a different bundle of issues. Not to jinx it, but I thought I detected a hint of self-awareness from Zuko this episode, although it seems to have occurred despite his best efforts to suppress it.
Iroh's Zuko-wrangling skills were sharp this episode, despite being injured. And his wisdom was off the charts. Zuko was also not as annoying as I usually find him, and unlike in Zuko Alone where I found his quieter self to be out of character, it fit this episode. Maybe he's turned over a new, quieter, leaf? I loved "she's crazy and she needs to go down" both as a joke and as a statement. Shared blood doesn't trump someone's actions, and I'm glad to see a show meant for kids acknowledge that. Although, given that this show has no problem depicting objectively BAD parents and families, I can't say I'm surprised.
In a testament to Jack de Sena's skill, Sokka get a soliloquy this episode and pulls it off flawlessly. Kudos to the animation team for making Sokka's face fit the words so well. Double kudos for whoever had the balls to approve 'stick Sokka in a hole and put an apex predator on his head to force self-reflection' as a plotline.
There was a lot of exposition from a lot of different characters this episode, but it's mostly unnoticeable. It just makes sense that that's what they would be talking about at that point in time.
I think I said it above, but I'll say it again: the worldbuilding in this show is phenomenally well done. How do I know this? Because I was able to construct most of Iroh's monologue before watching this episode, just by paying attention. This show rewards focus and attentiveness. (Almost) nothing that Iroh said was not something the audience has already observed for themselves. Not heard, but observed. That 'show, don't tell' thing.
This episode was way funnier than it needed to be too. Not just the obvious stuff like *inhales*
FOO FOO CUDDLYPOOPS
but tiny one-liners buried mid-conversation and character interactions too. Momo turning into a reed didn't have to be there, but it was, and it was funny. It wasn't exactly restful, but it was a relief to have an episode that really didn't move around after The Chase.
What I like most about this episode was that it went farther than it had to. This was a training episode. It could have been just training. Anyone familiar with training episodes would expect just training, and be satisfied with just training. But Avatar said 'nope, we'll do better than that' and organically incorporated a heap of character stuff, worldbuilding from multiple perspectives, humour, multiple characters undergoing self-reflection, the next step in the domestication of Zuko, what I'm hoping wasn't a heap of foreshadowing, and pretty backgrounds as the cherry on top. They didn't have to go so hard, but Avatar always goes hard. I like that.
i’ve sometimes seen the idea that azula cheating in the agni kai by aiming at katara is supposed to show how far she’s fallen and how lost she is because she wouldn’t have cheated before, but that just… does not ring true to me.
i think this idea comes from her characterization of trying to live up to perfection, but i think it’s important to remember she’s functioning under ozai’s definition of perfection, a guy who infamously colluded with his wife to kill his father so that he could be firelord. i don’t get the particular sense he cares how, exactly, azula carries out the goals he’s set for her, as long as she accomplishes them.
and a lot of really prominent azula scenes turn on the axis of her being exactly this underhanded. in the avatar state, she tries to manipulate iroh and zuko into coming home under false pretenses, when she really means to arrest them. in bitter work, seeing she’s outnumbered, she makes a false surrender so that her opponents will hesitate/back down and then attacks iroh when they do. in the crossroads of destiny, she strikes aang with lightning from behind while he’s in the avatar state. in the awakening, she lies that zuko killed aang because she wants an insurance policy she won’t be blamed on a hunch he might be alive.
whether or not these break official rules of combat or acceptable legal/social behavior in-universe, i think it’s hard to deny that these actions form a pattern that showcases azula as someone not concerned with integrity or ideological fairness in such situations.
azula is a fascinating character, and her breakdown in sozin’s comet is tragic. but it’s not because she’s acting out of character; if anything, it’s because she’s falling back on old patterns despite her hallucination of her mother (and therefore her own subconscious) trying to warn her that using fear to control people isn’t truly viable. but that means her entire concept of the world is wrong, so she doubles down and shoots for katara, a noncombatant in this fight, having seen zuko agree to an agni kai in the hopes she wouldn’t get hurt and thus understanding he fears that and will make sure the lightning never reaches her. azula doesn’t care how she wins because it’s never mattered how she wins, as long as she does. but with katara defeating her and ozai’s impending downfall, it’s about to matter a lot more.
