Netflix ATLA: S1 Ep 7

Like I mentioned in my last review, last episode took us to episode 15 of the original. With 19 & 20 being reserved for the final ep this season, we have the material from 16 (Jeong Jeong/Aang Firebending leading to Katara's injury that leads to Aang swearing off Firebending & Katara's discovery of her healing abilities) 17 (Teo & Mechanist/Sai in the Northern Air Temple. Probably cut) & 18 (Whole bunch of important points which I'll get to because it'll likely encompass this entire episode) Again, Jeong Jeong along with Aang burning Katara is important down the line in the series, so we'll see if they chuck them in.

This treason plot point is new, at least early if it holds because it involves Azula & we don't get her until Season 2. Ah, I see now; They cut ANOTHER scene that shows Zhao's intellect; When aboard Zuko's ship, he spots the dual broadswords Zuko used. Zuko passed them off as decorative & antiques, but he still put together that Zuko was the Blue Spirit. (It's not even that strong proof of it). Although, I can't really complain because, as I said last review, he only told Zuko & Iroh they were taking Aang to Pohuai. Even the audience figured it out before the Blue Spirit was unmasked. They are still robbing Zhao of showing a sliver of the intellect he's supposed to have. Oh, they totally rigged the small boat to explode, didn't they? Same way the pirates did it in the original (with an explosion from blasting jelly, but it happened on Zuko's main ship's navigation deck). Finally, Zhao shows some intellect with the fake plan, but 2 things: 1) It is FAR too little FAR too late because 2) With this plan, he has more direct culpability. In the original, Zhao is supposed to hire the pirates from S1E9 (which was cut, but they can swap in any old assassin) try & kill Zuko. The pirates never gave up the info that it was Zhao who hired them, but Iroh & the still alive Zuko knew.

And we have ice/glaciers. Goodbye episodes 16 & 17. This does mean that we're getting another singular episode focus, which bodes well for my impression of it (episode 2 of this series is still 1st or 2nd best IMO), but if they're going to keep Aang trying to master the Avatar State through the opening of his chakras (7 pools of energy in the body each tied to 2 concepts: what it deals with (survival, pleasure, etc.) & what it's blocked by (fear, guilt, etc.)), it's crucial they use episode 16's material & have Aang try Firebending, burn Katara & feel so much shame, that he swears off it. Jeong Jeong is also relevant, being a high-ranking member of the Order of the White Lotus that helps liberate Ba Sing Se after it falls to the Fire Nation at the end of Season 2. They might squeeze him into Season 2 because Aang can't control the fire that burns Katara because Jeong Jeong explains "Water is cool and soothing, earth is steady and stable, but fire is alive! ...fire will spread and destroy everything in its path if one does not have the will to control it!", but that also means if they will intro him at all, it will have to be before Aang gets a (no pun intended) solid grasp of Earthbending. Nice non-high-emotion acting from Aang (we'll see if it holds). Good that Aang is keeping that connection he made with Zuko in mind going forward. I mentioned the parallels between the two last review & enforcing it now and down the line will give more strength to Zuko's long journey to redemption. Katara may seem open to it NOW, but after the events of S2E20 of the original happen (She's captured along with Zuko, they bond during their imprisonment, but after Azula offers him redemption in the eyes of Ozai, he still fights Aang, aiding Azula in "Killing" him) She will QUICKLY change her mind. I know "Team Avatar" is the accepted term, even diagetically, but I always used "Gaang" and it saves time & space when you're typing A LOT like I am.

Northern Water Tribe looks nice. Outer wall got some upgrades with those windows/stations for soldiers. Huh, that woman said "They're here!" Word travels faster than sky bison, especially with knowing all the cut episodes happened off-screen. Different from the original, in which the Gaang were taken by surprise by a intercept group of Water Tribe warriors/benders attacking them at first (keeping their waters safe). Nice they finally gave the name of the city in the show (Agna Qel'a), but couldn't that have waited until they landed? Just having a dude shout it while they're still flying (with him not facing Appa at all & his arms out no less) is insanely goofy. JEEZ Yue's wig hair stands out. It looks like papier-mâché. Also, her eyebrows are also supposed to be white but they're not (She was born a sickly baby. Her parents took her to the Spirit Oasis to ask the spirits to save her life. They put her in the pond there, her hair turned white & she was cured). That means her eyebrows should be white as well. That is a small, but noticeable slip-up. Her being the tribe's spiritual leader is a nice touch (what with her connection to the Moon Spirit). Kudos to them bringing up Aang self-questioning if he can stop the fleet unassisted. It was a small, but memorable line from the original where Aang takes out ships but is exhausted by day's end. He realizes they're too many and he defeatedly says "I'm just one kid." It was the first time we really saw Aang not able to handle a situation, even as the Avatar & Airbending master. And Yue was the spirit fox. Cool.

Laying it on a bit thick, Zhao. Iroh thinking Ozai did this might be his way of making Zhao think he got away with it, but there's gotta be a better lie than Ozai & his plans of conquering the world being threatened by Zuko. First off, if it's about retaining the throne, the birthright would simply pass to Azula. While not obsessed about claiming the throne like Zuko was, Azula still desired her brother out of the way. Hell, say that Azula planned to kill Zuko. Second, if Zhao is trying to make Iroh believe HE (Zhao) doesn't know who the Blue Spirit is, he should be asking what Zuko did to make Ozai want to have him killed when Iroh brings it up. If not, he'd be revealing he knows why Ozai thinks Zuko is a traitor (Zuko was the Blue Spirit & freed the Avatar from Zhao to seemingly stop Ozai), thus showing to Iroh that he himself knows Zuko is the Blue Spirit & giving himself a motive for Zuko's "death" (I think I'm right with this but it is 2:30 AM as I type this). As I've shown in reviews of previous episodes, there is NO REASON why Ozai would choose Zhao over any other admiral. THAT'S WHAT I'M SAYING, IROH! He SHOULDN'T come to mind, ESPECIALLY for Ozai who KNOWS Zhao didn't find the Avatar! Little experience in battle = no track record of failure?!? THAT IS WESTMINSTER KENNEL CLUB DOG SHOW LEVELS OF JUMPING THROUGH HOOPS BULLSHIT!!! "I'm intentionally going to pick the most inexperienced admiral in our navy because I haven't seen him fail either." is about the DUMBEST notion this show has put forth. It was a dig at Iroh's siege of Ba Sing Se failing? Newsflash, moron: HE BROKE THROUGH THE WALL & HELD A PORTION OF THE CITY FOR 600 DAYS! You couldn't even hold Kyoshi Island for an hour! Everything about this scene is making my blood boil.

Interesting scene showing some Azula training. Still no default blue fire. Azula in the original was absolutely more of a perfectionist than this one, saying a technique wasn't good enough because of a literal hair out of place (S2E1). Ozai pitting Azula against Zuko like this is not new, but more upfront & effective. Zuko is Ozai's first born son, but Azula was the de facto heir to the Fire Lord after his banishment. It's strange because you don't banish your next in line with the stipulation of completing an impossible task & also expect him to complete that task & take up the throne, but I guess it's just his (no pun intended) trial by fire parenting; Pitting them against each other makes them both better until one is proven weaker than the other.

Sokka's hypothetical first line to Yue is actually how he introduces himself to her in the original. This back-and-forth "Thanks" is nice. Didn't get much of the characters expressing how they changed each other's lives this early in the original. And those lingering looks make me wonder how they'll plant more seeds of Aang & Katara's relationship (what with the big shipping episodes (S1E14, S2E2) either being cut or its material being repurposed early & without the relationship development). Pakku's talk with Katara pre-patriarchy-revelation is nice, but how is Pakku not noticing Katara's family's betrothal necklace on full display this close up? (Pakku made the necklace for Gran Gran AKA Kanna, whom he was supposed to marry, but Kanna didn't actually love Pakku, so to avoid the betrothal, she left the Northern Water Tribe.) His emphasis on survival is a neat touch. With its tall walls & surrounding dangerous tundra, Agna Qel'a is more a fortress city, which is why 1) a siege with the aggression at its only clear entrance & exit is so effective and 2) it being so self-contained, they've forgotten the Southern Water Tribe, their sister tribe, which is suffering in comparison in basically every respect (Which is why after Pakku relearns appreciation for the Southern Water Tribe through Katara, he brings other Waterbenders to help rebuild it (S2E1) in the Southern Reconstruction Project, a plot point in the graphic novels. (North & South)). Also, "Water is the element of change" is directly from Iroh's lesson to Zuko about the elements & how taking knowledge and understanding  from other places/nations/etc. can help make you whole (S2E9). So they're not as upfront about the "No WoMeN AlLoWeD!" part & Yugoda is the healing teacher. Katara learning she can heal before she is burned still makes it possible, but it takes away from the permanent feeling of it in the original before she learns she has healing abilities in the next scene.

AND YUE'S A WATERBENDER?!? I mean it makes sense that the person infused with some of the power of the Spirit of the Moon, the 1st Waterbender, would herself be a Waterbender. I quickly thought if they still had Sokka be assigned to protect her (like they did in the original), it would take away from her potentially being able to defend herself (a non-bender protecting a bender sounds backward), but I guess the Northern Water Tribe's customs even adhere to the princess. This hidden part of her life is a decent way to explain her falling in love with Sokka while being betrothed to Hahn, one of the chief warriors of the tribe (Serving her community by going along with her betrothal but sneaking away to be herself, who loves Sokka more than Hahn). And using that as a connection to Sokka (who was a warrior upfront, but wanted to be himself) is a very nice connection for the two to build chemistry. There's Hahn, who just seems like a doe-eyed, lover-from-afar type (he was a lot more pig-headed in the original, even from first impressions) unless it's a front. Ah, it was a royal hairpiece.

In the original, those ice spikes are how they tried to stop Appa from getting too close to the wall without knowing who the Gaang were. Nice to show along with the wall's fortifications. This discussion of Fire Nation armor is right from the show, though it happens while showing the outdated armor & with the platoon. Him taking Sokka away makes it seem more like a ploy to get in his face about Yue. Aang is fully correct about Airbending being defensive; Bagua/Baguazhang has arms out to keep an attacker away along with the circular steps & motions (which is why it was chosen by Sifu Kisu, the original's martial arts choreographer & consultant, as the martial art behind Airbending). His mention of the help he gets from his friends to Chief Arnook (Yue's father) & Pakku here calls back what Aang learned from Bumi in his final test. How did Pakku expect Aang to focus on Waterbending training? Yes, he trained with Katara in the original, but his society casts women in an inherent disadvantage, he & Katara could only learn from one scroll and they weren't going to find any wandering Waterbenders (Episode 1 of this series, we're told "No one visits other nations. We're only friends with our own kind."). I understand the need of the Avatar's skills to handle the Fire Nation fleet, but you should know he couldn't do anything about it until he got here. The fact of the matter remains, Aang feels like he is powerless to help, like he felt about his people the Airbenders.

No glowing light during healing Waterbending, which I miss but it's not a big deal. The dummies are right from the show & what we learn about healing (chi paths, empathy) is from the original's sequels (graphic novels, Korra). And here's the final thing people were upset about before the show released. As I've said, Katara was only gung-ho about challenging patriarchies in this episode. After that, she proved herself through attaining the rank of Master from Pakku himself & fighting as a Master Waterbender throughout the series. It didn't need to be prominent because it already was when it mattered.

None of the warriors seeing real combat falls in line with their outdated knowledge & examples of Fire Nation armor. Huh, Yue was betrothed to Hahn before she was 16, but she broke it off after. That doesn't make sense. In the original, she turned 16 the same day the Gaang arrived & COULDN'T break off the marriage, having to marry Hahn for her people (albeit reluctantly because she didn't love him). The point of her betrothal/marriage to Hahn, as a princess, is that she can't freely or effortlessly opt out of it. That's her primary conflict in the last episodes of Season 1 & what endears us to her (and Sokka to a degree because of his involvement with her) before she sacrifices herself to revive/become the Moon Spirit.

And like I guessed last review, there is a Kuruk shrine in the North. Aang visits his shrine to ask for help with the oncoming Fire Nation fleet. I still just wish they kept Koh for these episodes in the Northern Water Tribe. As I said, it just makes so much more sense for Aang to need the help from the Moon & Ocean spirits, seek help from Kuruk, the most recent Northern Water Tribe Avatar, about their location, and have him, the Avatar with the strongest connection to Koh, tell Aang about him. I suspect he'll tell Aang about the Moon & Ocean spirits himself without Koh being involved, and it makes sense at face value (He's an Avatar. He should know spiritual stuff (he spent the better part of his life defeating evil spirits, but I don't think he understood them, just kept fighting against them because of the threat they posed), but I feel that knowledge of ancient spirits (Moon & Ocean Spirits) should come from ancient spirits themselves, like Koh. So if Aang learns it from Kuruk who learned it from Koh, I'll need a solid reason as to why/how Kuruk needed/knows that info. I'm glad they're bringing up why Kuruk didn't engage with the natural world. I get to explain it here as they did in the 2nd Kyoshi novel and IMO it's a really cool redemption reveal.
*(Hopping back in time here, Kuruk just revealed a sizeable chunk of what I go in-depth with below. Read it before/after Kuruk's 1st scene if you want more info or you can skip it if you don't.)
So Kuruk was known as a negligent & debaucherous Avatar, to the point of pushing away his closest friends & being very secretive near the end of his life. He'd party, drink & sleep with women very excessively. People just thought he was coasting on being the Avatar, not tending to the needs of both the natural world & the Spirit World. However, this was the farthest thing from the truth; The Avatar before Kuruk, Yangchen, prioritized human problems over spirit's problems. So much so that she caused angry spirits to become corrupted by their anger, spill over into the natural world (thanks to an ancient evil spirit named Father Glowworm) & kill humans. On Kuruk's 1st time grappling with & defeating one of these spirits, he reappeared in the natural world catatonic & realized he felt cold even after recovering mentally. The coldness went away when he drank distilled wine offered by his nurse. Feeling some warmth & realizing it's tied to debauchery in some way, he sleeps with the nurse. After another spirit battle & the return of the cold, hollow feeling, a Fire Sage, Nyahitha, performed a ritual on him & revealed to him that as he fought with spirits, he was causing damage to his own spirit. That's why debaucherous acts (which ignite the spirit) made him feel better, even if temporarily. He continued to fight spirits, trying to correct Yangchen's mistake, in secret so he wouldn't put his friends at risk of succumbing to the same fate. He eventually found, fought & severely wounded Father Glowworm, but this fight & all his other fights with spirits took their toll, eventually leading to an earlier-than-expected grave (He only lived to be 33, an Avatar with one of the shortest known lives). Only Nyahitha & Avatars that commune with him know of this side of Kuruk's story, even up until Aang's time.*
So having Kuruk's public perception of letting humans down mirror Aang's situation is a nice way to bring importance to Kuruk, but again, I need a good reason as to why he knows the Moon & Ocean spirits location/forms/identities.

Nice we get an origin for the term "Avatar State", instead of Aang knowing it's called that for no apparent reason at the start of Season 2. Kuruk says he needs to master the other elements in order to gain control of the Avatar State. I hope they don't mean control like what the chakras are supposed to do. The original Avatar was well researched in regard to respecting real-world cultures & their inspirations & depictions in the show, and is still hailed to this day as a show with "cultural appreciation", not appropriation. So I don't see a conflict or reason not to include the chakras, which, when seeing it in the original (S2E19), was a mysterious & otherworldly concept that could help a divine-like entity like the Avatar achieve a higher level of control or power. Kyoshi "taking control" alludes to the 2 states of the Avatar State: reflex defense mechanism or full autonomy & control of bending power. Oh, they're just gonna discuss what I went into with Kuruk's backstory. (I go in-depth with *above*. Read it if you want more info or you can skip it if you don't.) At least it's cool we're getting another instance of the novels getting referenced & introduced into the original story (Kyoshi's benefitting from kindness & her ruthlessness in episode 2). Okay, Kuruk not being able to control the Avatar State because of the damage to his spirit makes sense & is a nice way to get Aang to not rely on the Avatar State. I will say that in the novels, when Kyoshi communes with him, he's seen in his ideal form; before his body & spirit were damaged, so it might also be true that his spirit was restored in the novels, but I can buy that it wasn't here. WHY WASN'T KOH IN THIS EPISODE? THE ONLY REASON THE IT WAS ROKU INSTEAD OF KURUK WAS A FRIGGING RELIC IN HIS TEMPLE? HAVE THE RELIC HERE! Having Kuruk's self-alienation, even from his friends is a nice flip of Aang relying on his friends.

So Yue finally let Sokka know it was her. Sokka should have just brought it up earlier. Yue's backstory is the same except for her eyebrows which is even more noticeable with this story & CLOSE-UP together. Eh, while I appreciate this focus on Sokka, this whole "Your heart makes you a warrior" speech doesn't pass the smell test; Every warrior fights for their friends & family. Hell, Hakoda left to help end the war to protect his friends & family. How can it "set him apart" if it's what all warriors do? Wait, WHAT? She turned down Hahn after seeing Sokka in the Spirit World? How long ago was that episode's events? THIS is ANOTHER REASON we need the COMET! The time limit of the comet recontextualizing everything that happens in the series to a year helps gauge timespans much easier. She knew he was the one after ONE MEETING? And again, I must reiterate EVERY WARRIOR HAS HEART, SO WHAT SETS HAHN & SOKKA APART IN YUE'S EYES?!? So Kuruk's final (for now I imagine) wisdom for Aang is to bear the burden of the Avatar's responsibilities alone. However, he's not ALONE alone, just without the aid of the Avatar Sta-wait a minute; The Avatar State was triggered to freeze Aang in the iceberg & at the Southern Air Temple in its reflexive mode, AKA without the assistance of a previous Avatar. Why does he think he needs to have control of it to have any effect? Its reflexive state is enough to get the job done. So if Kuruk isn't the one to tell Aang the Moon & Ocean spirits forms, who will be? The bear/fish carving is right from the show.

Well, he said it outright; Got your patriarchy fix now, people? In Pakku saying he doesn't want what happened in the South happen to the North, he means the southern raids to find & capture or kill Waterbenders. This means that worldy info still reaches the North, which means he should know the nations seclude themselves to such a degree, that Aang was going to get limited to no Waterbending training outside of the Southern Water Tribe. Oof, Aang was never like this in the original, even when getting ready to fight Ozai, but with how much everything & everyone is telling him it's better if he does this alone, it makes sense here, especially if he thinks Katara can't get training from Pakku. In the original, it's estimated that Katara had been training with Pakku for a month between episodes 18 & 19. She was near master levels before the siege began. Here, they had gathered intel & learned of it LONG before she even made Pakku open to the idea of training. This leaves Katara as a still novice Waterbender, prodigy though she (and the rest of the Gaang) may be. In this version, even without the "New = good" mentality, it makes sense.

The "Zhao the Conqueror" name is a reference to a scene when he has the Moon Spirit fish in a bag (still alive) & the moon turns red. He rattles off grandiose names, then Momo messes with his face. One of the memorable comedic scenes in the original (S1E20). Iroh knowing about Waterbenders makes sense because of his creation of the lightning redirection technique (S1E12, S2E1, S2E9). Quick context: In my episode 3 review, I said all bending, but especially Firebending, is related to chi. Well, A Firebender can separate the positive and negative energies within themselves, then serve only as a conduit as the energy is released through & out of their body, generating lightning. It is a very dangerous, very rare subskill of Firebending, because even a slight error of emotional control while generating it can cause an explosion, while an error of movement while redirecting the energy can cause the lightning to go not through your stomach, "the sea of chi", but through your heart, electrocuting yourself to death. Iroh, while observing Waterbenders during his younger traveling days, developed the ability to take in a bolt of lighting and redirect it by implementing the redirection of energy pivotal to Waterbending. Plus, his respect of Waterbenders speaks to his connection to the Order of the White Lotus. Alright, the million-dollar question: How did Zhao get that scroll that reveals the Moon & Ocean spirits forms? Whatever the answer this series gives (following the original or not), it probably won't save my opinion of this version of Zhao. Zuko's alive & Iroh thinks he underestimated Zhao (No, no you didn't Iroh). Slight chuckle at "So, no plan?" Original Zuko barely had plans in regards to capturing Aang, which, in the North, led to Zuko & Aang nearly freezing to death across the tundra that makes the northern barrier of Agna Qel'a. Iroh brings this up when persuading Zuko to stop pursuing Aang while under Lake Laogai (S2E17) in Ba Sing Se, showing his usual unpreparedness while trying to capture him.

SO THEY ADMIT THIS ZHAO IS A DUMBASS BY SAYING HIS "BRILLIANCE" IS FROM WORKING WITH AZULA! He had none to begin with & didn't show any that he supposedly got from her! So was that Azula's first time generating lightning? In the original, it's in that vague time between Zuko's banishment & when Ozai sent her to capture Zuko & Iroh (Last scene in S1). The different movement compared to Firebending seemed intentional. I know that Ozai can generate lightning & one would think these tests were so she could learn how, but her test yesterday & how it could have been ended "2 moves sooner" means they weren't looking for her to generate lightning. Along with that being vague, I don't know what she learned in order to generate lightning (Courage in defying Ozai? Resolve? Some other third thing?). The effects were pretty neat I guess.

Katara's justification for challenging Pakku is a bit more noble here. In the original, Aang was teaching her what Pakku taught him at night, but they got caught & he refused Aang as a student. Pakku wanted an apology from Katara to take Aang back, but he called her "little girl", so she refused & then challenged him, wanting to "slap some sense into that guy" and then MAYBE accept Aang back AND THEN MAYBE change his ways & the ways of the North's thinking. Here, it's just so she can see for herself (not Pakku) what she's learned through this journey. Reaching far back to episode 2 when I said Sokka wanting to go back home was because he gets less out of the journey & he has more value in his tribe. While not entirely on the mark, I think still it incorporates Sokka afraid to see what value they are or aren't in the big wide world, which is Sokka's point here. Sokka going off tangent is just like his original, it got a laugh out of me. A little deviation from the original; Sokka tried to dissuade Katara from fighting Pakku because he knew she wouldn't win. Here, I don't think he believes it either, but he doesn't want to hold her back, which I think is a great contrast from how they were before their journey; Sokka always making sure Katara never had to fight or Waterbend in public (lest word spread to the ears of the Fire Nation patrolling around the South Pole) Now, he sees his sister has the biggest chance to express her bending, the part of her with the deepest connection to her mother and just lets her go. Great scene showing the growth of familial bond between the two.

I'm actually excited for this fight. This fight was one of the more memorable in Season 1. Its length, its variety (due to Water being bendable in multiple states (water, ice, snow, mist, etc.)) its underdog nature for Katara (which I discussed in the last review). Starts out exactly the same way; whip to Pakku's back of head after refusing, same "Study closely!" line. Lot borrowed from the original (restricting band of water encircling the two, part being strictly hand-to-hand, Katara's hair coming undone, ice disks & subsequent slow-mo, ice/wave surfing, icicle prison, "Excellent Waterbender, but still won't teach/let her fight"), which I've already said is fine; The original was choreographed well & with bending in mind. Couple memorable missing moments (Katara securing her footing with ice, her collasping snowbarrles which Pakku vaporizes, & most notably, Katara's necklace being knocked off) & differences (biggest one on the icicle prison, which Pakku bent around Katara from above instead of below, making it looked like he skewered her, and her fakeout "death" before her head came up after realizing she was trapped). Some nice CG, some bad. All in all, pretty nice. But her win came from changing the minds of the people instead of Pakku. Is he going to notice the necklace at all? Because he's walking away! Sokka's right to remind Katara that her original goal was to just do your best and she did that. She didn't technically lose (Ah, technically correct... The best kind of correct). Again, this protection angle is new territory and it's a nice wrap-up here, but I wonder if it'll hold once Aang needs to call upon the Ocean Spirit & go Koizilla to stop the siege. Hey "Legend of Aang" is a nice bit of trivia; it's what the show was called in some international releases due to some languages not translating "_(Insert element)_bender" well (and not because "bender" means "homosexual" in the UK). I missed the black snow; In the original, it was soot from the Fire Nation's battleship's engines mixed with snow & was the giveaway to the fleet being near. This is the 1st time seeing it in this series (remember they spotted Zuko's ship before he got to Wolf Cove). Glad it's back; it's an ominous warning sign, especially for the Water Tribes; like the snow/water itself is being corrupted by the Fire Nation.

So are we not getting the reveal of Pakku as Kanna's/Gran Gran's former betrothed? Pakku goes through a nice redemption after realizing that Kanna (it's easier to type) didn't love Pakku, so she fled to the Southern Water Tribe. That was supposed to set up the reveal of Yue being engaged (not revealed to be Hahn yet) & mirror Kanna's situation because Yue also didn't love Hahn. Pakku realizes the tradition's of the North drove the love of his life away & abandons them by agreeing to teach Katara which jumpstarts her being a master by Season 1's end & Season 2's beginning. His redemption also aids in his reveal as a high-ranking member of the Order of the White Lotus. What's the reason for cutting it? It would give further validity to going against patriarchal ideas, this episode's entire point. I guess it's to give Katara a victory she earned instead of one Pakku granted her, but he does away with the tradition & she earned his respect! Let's see if we get it in the next episode (which will be bad writing/editing if so) or if we get it from the time in-between Season 1 & 2 (which will leave Katara as a novice during the siege).

PROS:
Aang's acting was much better, both lows & highs: The opening discussion on Appa's back, the "Thanks" scene at the feast, his discussion with Arnook & Pakku as well as his discussion with Kuruk, his confrontation with Katara about why she shouldn't fight in the upcoming siege, & even the final wrap-up scene. Nothing that stood out as a weird reaction, cadence or blank stare. I think it's to do with the exploration of Aang's mentality & the turmoil within that's explored in this episode. He really brought it home this time in terms of believability.

Highlighting the Gaang's development from their journey: Aang throughout the series has been told to go against everything he wants (wants to be a kid but is pressured by the responsibility of the Avatar, wants to have help especially from his friends but Bumi/Roku/Pakku/Kuruk telling him his reliance on his friends was wrong/made him unreliable as an Avatar/put them at risk of death), but he realizes he was forcing their "wisdom" on Sokka & Katara and not giving them their own choice, because making it to the North was in part due to Sokka & Katara helping him & making choices that helped him /the Gaang. Sokka letting Katara fight even though he probably knows she'll lose because she wants to she how far she's come thanks to this journey. Sokka finding self-worth outside of Wolf Cove & how his warrior upbringing flourishing despite what he heard his father say (from episode 5) & helping them get to the North. Each of these character developments, which we had little of in the original, was focused on very well in this episode.

The Avatar's seclusion & hammering it down on Aang: Talked about it above, but it felt really oppressive to Aang in this episode. It was just the right amount to feel repetitive & hopeless to change it, but not in a bad way. Also, highlighting that he might not even be able to rely on his Avatar powers at all because Kuruk, in his weakened spiritual state, can't control the power & Aang possibly fears the destruction of the uncontrollable version of the Avatar State.

Little to no glaring green-screen moments: CG of the landscapes/sets/etc. was really nice. Didn't feel distracting this episode.

Katara vs. Pakku was cool, even with some CG hiccups: I break it down in the actual review because I was excited to see this fight out of the episodes we theorized we'd get, and it holds up very well in live-action.

Fear the oncoming Azula: I suspect we'll get her blue fire next episode, which will have the intention of making her seem like a bigger threat than Zuko, and despite me wanting more explanation into what made her able to generate lightning and thinking having her bring about the blue fire this episode & the lightning next episode would be more effective, her having the backing & support of Mai, Ty Lee & the Fire Nation will make her a force to be reckoned with.

CONS:
Zhao again & forever (until next episode): It's going to be in every CONS section of every episode review because he culminates in being the big bad of Season 1. His attempt to pull the wool over Iroh's eyes is flawed (went back & read it while not tired and I think I'm still correct), he/the show OPENLY ADMITS TWICE that he's inept (even trying to work his ineptitude around as skill the 1st time to Iroh to LAUGHABLY SELF-DESTRUCTIVE RESULTS) and that is just from THIS EPISODE. They had all the time & scenes in the world to show earlier, but now the bill comes due, and he is not smart, ruthless or capable enough to be an admiral, head the siege fleet, to do anything effective with the things he has been given & not earned throughout this season. I don't even want them to find a competent reason how he discovered the forms of the Moon & Ocean Spirits because it would make more sense for him as a character if it didn't make sense.

Koh's connections all here, but without him: Honestly, despite how minor of a role he played in the original compared to other one-and-done characters, it's really baffling how they saw the roadmap of all the episodes, intended to have Kuruk in this episode, saw Koh back 2 episodes ago & separate from Kuruk and said "Yeah, that's fine." I cannot stress enough, Roku has NO connection to Koh. Kuruk has ALL the connection to Koh. And still they blundered this badly.

Pakku's connection to Katara & Kanna is maybe gone?: Really hoping he trains Katara in-between episodes due to realizing why Kanna left through Katara. First off, if he realizes it next episode, it'll feel out of place (both because it should have happened here & Katara's necklace was noticeable in a lot of scenes when he was addressing her) Secondly, it not only opens him up to redemption for his character, which is needed down the line for not only him heading the Southern Reconstruction Project & the believability of his connection to the White Lotus, but it helps with the parallel circumstances Yue would have had if she stayed betrothed to Hahn, which I'll get to now.

Yue's parallel to Kanna & her personal conflict is definitely gone: Having Yue call her wedding with Hahn off doesn't make sense, both in terms of the definition of an arranged betrothal, and if the show wanted a deeper appreciation for her as a character before her exit as one.

OVERALL STANDALONE: Katara's big character episode and, along with nice supporting character moments, it finds the mark.
OVERALL KNOWING ORIGINAL: Nice episode with nice additions, but some drawbacks to secondary characters/connections/moments & questions about the future.