Netflix ATLA: S2 Ep 6

Hopefully, this episode gets the last 10 minutes of the previous out of my he- no NO NO! DID HE JUST INDEPENDENTLY AND WILLFULLY EXIT THE AVATAR STATE?!? 2 MAJOR THINGS WRONG WITH THAT and we're not even 1 MINUTE IN! 1) The un-mastered or uncontrollable version of the Avatar State is a reflex, brought on by either being close to death (as a defense mechanism) or being wrecked by extreme emotion (usually anger or sadness). The fact that he enters the State by the anger & sadness of losing Appa, but then COMES OUT of the State UNASSISTED (we'll get to that in #2) ONLY TO CONTINUE BEING ANGRY FLIES IN THE FACE of the ESTABLISHED RULES!
2) This season in the original starts and ends with controlling the Avatar State (S2E1 is literally titled The Avatar State & deals with Aang trying to gain control of it and near the end of this season, he goes to train with Guru Pathik to learn about how to enter, exit and control the Avatar State at will (S2E19)). It's supposed to be his struggle throughout the series, which also fits with his struggle of not losing his personal identity and pacifistic Air Nomad way of life to that of his past lives in the Avatar State using lethal force to resolve the world's conflicts. And you're telling me he can seemingly do that NOW?!? Even IF his mastery of other elements helps him master the Avatar State as described by Yangchen last episode, the fact that he's able to do THIS EARLY, paired with the potential fact that the rule from Yangchen means we're not getting the chakra training from Pathik which locks the Avatar State for the rest of the last season (until the finale fight) means he'll have NO conflict with wanting to master it (mastering the chakras meant losing all earthly attachments, including his love for Katara) & they'll have to invent some un-established hand-wavey bullshit reason that he can't enter it after this season's finale (Azula strikes him with lightning while unlocking the final chakra, locking the chakra & his access to the State in any capacity).
I'm actually pissed about this. At this point, I can't WAIT to be done with this season so I can go watch Aang: The Last Airbender as a palate cleanser, we gotta move on or this could be a NOVEL of my hatred of the show writer's decisions.
There's an opportunity to flesh out Toph more by giving her grief about not being able to save Appa (even though she rightly couldn't do anything more than she did). Momo laying down in Appa's footprint is straight from his Tale in Tales of Ba Sing Se (S2E15).

OKAY, I guess he's a master Earthbender now too! Making that detailed a figurine with such a singular & simple gesture (smushing) is master-level Earthbending. That's gonna make things easier when the point about Aang's accomplishment is that it WASN'T supposed to be easy (see the majority of the 2nd paragraph of my episode 1 review & 6th to last paragraph of my episode 3 review)! Oh, that's the bison whistle. That better explains how they have one when the world hasn't seen sky bison for 100 years (they pick it up from a shop in S1E9), but being able to make that intricate a shape internally in that figure in order for it to whistle almost guarantees his master-level Earthbending when he SHOULDN'T BE THERE NOW! However, that is a nice shot of Aang blowing the whistle & shouting in the expanse of Ba Sing Se. Pulling away makes him, the Avatar, look minuscule and unable to find Appa. Zuko already going through the mental metamorphosis which also starts with a fever in the original (S2E18). During this fever, he experiences 2 dreams/hallucinations: the first has him as the Fire Lord without the eye scar in the throne room surrounded by two dragons, 1 with Azula's voice, telling him to stay and sleep (signifying his past Avatar-capturing way of life) the other with Iroh's voice, telling him to leave (signifying him leaving that life behind him). It's where I imagine the title of this episode, "The Parable of the Two Dragons", comes from. The other dream, he wakes up to wash his face, but sees himself as Aang in the mirror (no scar, bald & arrow tattoos) & startles himself awake. We'll see how far they take these dreams, that is if we get any at all.

Huh, more from Zuko's upbringing... Cool to see, but I'm wondering how this will tie into his current battle of two ideologies within him. Showing Ursa's favoritism of Zuko compared to Azula is okay, but it can't be overdone if they're trying to put Ursa in a better light. Her comparatively explosive clapping at the puppet show alludes to her background as a theater performer in her hometown before her marriage to Ozai (The Search Dark Horse comics). Ooh, it's getting trippy now and I'm here for it. This is a nice 1st fever dream; the first should be the craziest, and they progressively get calmer as his mind acclimates to making his decision. Plus, the substance may seem unrelated to his 2 choices, but his separation from his mother brought the full ruthlessness of his father and the desire to please him brought about his past 3 years of his life searching for the Avatar. The change from having the dragons embody Ozai & Ursa instead of Azula & Iroh is both a benefit and detriment; recognizing the conflict goes deeper to Ozai, Ursa & their warring upbringing exposes the root of Zuko's turmoil, but it loses the focus of the present choice (the fever spawned from not capturing the Avatar) and the current forces behind each choice (Azula forcing his hand and Iroh's contributions in Ursa's absence). ...Beautiful scene, but is it over that quickly? If it is, I'm disappointed because this is his whole living ideology; it shouldn't be rushed. It was also very well shot; The dragon puppets encircling him, even though one is obviously the better choice, both trying to win over the other caused both to be a nuisance to him. The close-up shots adding to that uneasy feeling. All the overwhelming noise & voices suddenly silenced, giving him relief, when he cuts the head of the red dragon and the blue dragon's head masking the frame before we see Ursa hugging him. I wish we had more.

Okay, they say Appa was a big part of the plan and I'm not some monster for saying this, but for what they need to achieve in the city? No, he isn't. I OBVIOUSLY want them to get Appa back, but his value was originally getting the Gaang to Ba Sing Se (or more broadly, from point A to B). Now that they're already in the city he's been captured in instead of hundreds of miles away in the Si Wong Desert, NOW they try and fail to bring up his importance? Seeing the Earth King to help find Appa makes sense; his pull & resources would help cut down the time needed to do so. However, the reverse, finding Appa to make seeing the Earth King faster, is also true; They could just forgo the pleasantries that we've already seen not work, fly to the Earth King's palace, get through the palace guards, the Dai Li & meet him in the throne room (hint original hint). Okay, Aang not wanting to admit he was wrong for lashing out at Toph is good, but PLEASE have a payoff. Okay, thank GOD we're getting this conversation on-screen; fans still question Long Feng's plan to team up with Azula, the princess of the enemy your nation is fighting in the war and, while thinking it out lays out his decision relatively clearly, having it said up front is MUCH better. Being reminded of the Drill we KNOW we're not getting still stings... Okay, Azula's plan was holding water until she reminded Long Feng of the "traitorous" army leaders; They're traitors TO LONG FENG'S PLANS, not traitors to the Earth Kingdom or its armies. They would STILL stop the Fire Nation threat amassed at the wall. The "I can see you're whole history through your eyes/divine right to rule" speech is word for word from the original (S2E20). Nice touch having Long Feng respond with his own "I know who you are too", making us think they are on equal footing. Azula countering Long Feng's point of having the Avatar with the destruction his "saving" produces would be a nice point, were it not for again the knowledge of not getting the Drill & the confusing threat of incorrect traitorous generals.

1st signs of Zuko accepting his new life. Again, got a little, so expecting more to feel satisfied before it all comes apart (IMO, the show has struggled with showing enough of Zuko warming up to the simple life to make his choice more believable). Shouldn't the guards to the Earth King already know the Gaang have a Waterbender? Having a moment where it looks like Momo can Earthbend is a callback to S1E6 (The Gaang needed to find & liberate some Earthbender prisoners, mainly Haru & his father Tyro, in a Fire-Nation occupied Earth Kingdom town where Earthbending was forbidden, so they meant to get Katara arrested making it look like she could Earthbend (Aang would levitate a boulder using Airbending & a vent under the boulder), but the Fire Nation guards mistook Momo for an Earthbender at first because, when Aang Airbent the boulder up, Momo was behind the boulder with his arms up). Their actual plan is pretty solid (like the Trojan horse (saw Chris Nolan's Odyssey recently lol)). The "I can't see anything./What a nightmare (from Toph)" is right from the original (S2E13). ...I'm sorry, why was there so much focus put on that mother & baby Zuko was staring at? Oh, that was the family whom he stole from in the opening of episode 2 this season. IMO, they failed to substantially tie her as the same person because I had to go back and check. Having Jin ask Zuko on a date after his mental transformation instead of before is doing what I asked (expecting more scenes showing his acclimation), I just wish it wasn't in sacrifice of using scenes that should have come before, which, again, I feel were lacking. The comparison of gritting through bitter tea to getting through bitter times is a nice sentiment, but come on, no one drinks bitter tea to feel good about anything.

Aang's roiling mental & emotional state getting calmed by Katara is like the original; When it comes to the emotional support & mental health, she does the heavy lifting (She's the one that calms Aang out of the Avatar State most of the time). I, again, hope we get more than just an *inhale exhale* "You're good" resolution. Love when they show Long Feng's cunning, and this in-you-face confrontation with Sung is tense. There's the trigger phrase that was used to put brainwashed citizens in a post-hypnotic suggestive state. Since there's no hypnosis, or seemingly even brainwashing for that matter, it looks like it just means "They're in prison", which I guess makes people compliant to a degree (lesser degree than brainwashing, but still). Sung at least knows the walls are closing in around her & Long Feng is making plays. THERE'S Bosco, the Earth King's pet bear! As a tapestry. He's not really integral to anything (In the original, after charging into the palace & Long Feng saying their enemies of the state, Earth King Kuei notes that Bosco takes a liking to Aang and lets them talk to him (S2E18). Again, barely integral), and I imagine with them cutting corners for "pacing" & budget, they didn't want to CG a bear. Sokka likely fixating on it because Bosco is one of a few non-hybrid animals in their world (The koi fish in the Oasis (even if housing spirits) and some cats here and there (Miyuki S1E13, Miss Snowflake & Fluffykins S2E15 Aang's Tale)).

So the King's a horticulturist, which is new. I guess that gives him some depth? Okay, the connection between plants/weeds & government is fine and, even though I've pointing out the misuse of the Painted Lady story for Katara's development, they at least use some of her development from that episode (being more proactive) here, but 2 things: 1) This was at the cost of the second core & equally important message that's taught in the Painted Lady episode (that there are good people in the Fire Nation & even they can be oppressed by their leaders). Sure, they'll likely find some way to learn the same thing, but having Katara be proactive to protect CURRENT Fire Nation citizens (so the Fire Nation section of Ba Sing Se manufactured for this show doesn't count) was SUCH a big change from her thinking that Fire Nation = instantly & irredeemably bad. 2) Paired with the 1st point: this horticulturalist personality didn't need to exist; It was made BECAUSE they chose to bump up the Painted Lady arc here and they needed to have her development mean something outside of itself. It just feels like another superfluous change made to give their mistakes meaning when the mistakes didn't need to exist. Again, I'm not expecting a carbon copy of the original, but make your changes deliberate. The "Everything is connected" line hearkens back to a line & the core lesson of S2E4 of the original (Aang learns in a massive swamp literally stemming from a massive banyan tree that even if people seem separate due to allegiances, ideologies or lifestyles, we're all one and the same connected simply by co-habitation on this world). So the King just listens to them & believes them outright?

So Azula & Co. were moved to the Crystal Catacombs for now (cavernous & crystal-lined structure beneath the King's Palace where the finale's fight takes place). This parable, though seemingly alluded to with the red & blue dragons, is entirely made up for this show. It's made to give Azula the clarity needed to come to the decision to kill Zuko instead of capture him. My only problem, albeit smaller than my usual problems, is wasn't that Azula's intentions from the start? Yes, she intended to capture/take Zuko back home, but if he were to ever ascend to Fire Lord, Azula intended to kill and usurp him, like her father did to his father and brother, respectively. Showing Zuko's date with Jin from his Tale (S2E15) is nice, but there were earlier parts of the date not shown that were meant to deepen their relationship before we got to the Firelight Fountain. A White Lotus Pai Sho tile? The White Lotus doesn't have anything to do in the finale, so it's possible to give some under current for when Iroh runs interference for Katara & a deceased Aang so they can escape the Crystal Catacombs (he gets better (Katara heals him with the Spirit Oasis water given to her by Pakku and it revives him)).

Oh, having Sung blackmailed into backing up Long Feng's side of the argument is a nice touch, something we didn't get in the original (because General Sung wasn't a recurring character). I'm interested to see how the Gaang sway the King to their side... They're really going to call stealing what couldn't have been 6 or so nettles (I went back and watched, the little girl picked them up with one hand) out of the overabundance of them uprooted & on display at the party thievery? Eat the rich, man. How was she stirring tension when she was doing nothing but good (despite how little good I think her actions actually were)? Yeah, show runners, why DID she have to don a disguise & hide her actions? Can't joke about the second part (fleeing the scene of a riot); Everyone gets arrested in a riot, including people who aren't doing anything and people trying to quell the riot. (ADLAB: All Dai Li Are Bad (I know I said I couldn't joke but I couldn't help myself)). Having Toph's family dealing with the Fire Nation, like the Painted Lady decision, feels like an unneeded movement (this time from the Dark Horse comics instead of season 3) of future development beats. All that just to say "Toph's a traitor!" when "The Gaang's been disruptive" works for now and you can save "Post-war communications between nations are opening up." for later. Okay, the Professor Zei one sounds plausible; Again, don't like that the Library was moved to inside Ba Sing Se, but he was pulling files secretly for Sokka & likely told no one of the Library to preserve it from any unwanted attention. If they knew Sai was involved in the plan to kill Bumi, don't you think they wouldn't allow him into Ba Sing Se in the 1st place? Pretty decent display of the fury of Aang (original name of the 1-hour special of S2E10 & 11, where Aang shows his anger after losing Appa (angry/pessimistic with the Gaang, kills or severely wounds a buzzard wasp that tried to take/eat? Momo, enters Avatar State, threatens Sandbenders after learning they took Appa & destroy most of their sandbender sailers)), but still pissed he can exit it basically on his own. Oh, but the Earth King wants direct reports now: the control Long Feng has is starting to slip. Maybe this fuels his decision to have Azula help him "deal with" Aang.

I gotta say, despite my disagreements with the uses of the Gaang's, for lack of a better term, black marks, this roundtable argument had some sizable emotional hits. Something similar happens to them while trying to escape the Si Wong Desert (S2E11), but because of the changes, it is NOTHING like this or to this degree. Katara questioning if Beifong-backed ships were the ones that attacked Wolf Cove & brought the troops that killed her mother (In the original, it was a group called the Southern Raiders & she eventually finds, confronts and in the end spares the man who killed her mother (S3E16)). Then immediately turning her back on Sokka, her brother, and their one-on-one at the party (thinking of their mother every day) for knowing Toph's withheld info and seemingly not batting an eye. Toph trying to separate herself from her family name, but like at the party, the trappings of nobility means she rarely can, if at all, even to those she thought were her 1st friends. Aang deflecting each mention of Long Feng as an attack on him and bringing up the pressure he's under as Avatar as an excuse every time. Sokka defending his Trojan-horse idea both because it did work and because of his monologue in the planetarium (wondering if he could've saved Yue if he were more plan-oriented or he became plan-oriented because he failed to protect her). Finally, Katara, the emotional supportive bedrock of the group, telling Aang to carry himself? Jeez, they getting real Empire-Strikes-Back with the downturn in morale, but it's done well and with purpose.

Zuko using the Blue Spirit but not to gain for himself but instead as a way to help others, like in the stories his mother told may be a bit too on the nose to show his change to good, but it's probably in part to honor his mother and the upbringing she provided to him, so who am I to disagree with that? Well, THAT White Lotus meeting got interesting... Again, what the intent for the meeting was hasn't been made apparent, if there is one. If it was just to reveal that Jeong Jeong was Lu Ten's commanding officer (which is wholly made for this show. In the original, Jeong Jeong never mentioned if he was part of the siege forces), that doesn't really advance much, even for Iroh's reignited forgiveness tour. Okay, the woman says there's work to be done, but given the knowledge of the original, I can't think of anything the White Lotus could be a part of for the rest of the season. Maybe they have a part in revealing Long Feng's full plotting to the Earth King, which, while taking away some of the accomplishment meant for the Gaang, could give strength to the idea that against oppression, resistances of the oppressed are a key factor in toppling them. THAT'S WHAT THAT BABY RATTLE THING WAS FROM EPISODE 2! AN ACTUAL BABY RATTLE! I did not key into the bag that Zuko was looking in wasn't his own. OKAY, THIS IS ALL SORTS OF DUMB FOR KATARA! If she knows the Earth King now knows that her doings as the Painted Lady are being used against her & the Gaang, WHY WOULD SHE GO OUT AND CONTINUE DOING THEM?!? Yes, she's still doing good regardless of what Long Feng says, even defiantly doing so now after the Gaang fought, and yes, I know the whole arc was about her learning to be proactive, but this is being proactive to a HARMFUL DEGREE. Now, you're KNOWINGLY JEOPARDIZING ANY SHRED OF HOPE YOU HAVE OF CHANGING THE EARTH KING'S MIND ABOUT HELPING IN THE INVASION!!! I can only assume she's thinking irrationally because I'M close to being irrational; Just as we were getting positives out of this episode, we're thrown back into the Plot Contrivance Crock-Pot! And since Katara & Zuko are getting captured here, I can only assume Long Feng doesn't need to work through Azula, meaning he isn't discovered & jailed AT ALL, which complicates 1 potentially major thing.
So, in the original, after Long Feng is jailed, the Earth King discovers he had been intercepting important intel about the war as well as key people in Ba Sing Se. One piece of intel regards the location of Hakoda, Katara & Sokka's father, and his Water Tribe warriors at Chameleon Bay. The location isn't important, but the knowledge of it is; After Ba Sing Se falls as well as seemingly any hope of mounting an Earth-Kingdom-backed invasion of the Fire Nation on The Day of Black Sun (eclipse), the Gaang rendezvous with Hakoda to both escape the Earth Kingdom as well as plan a smaller invasion force to still try and win the war that day. If they don't know of the intel, then they can't get the backing of Hakoda and the Water Tribe faction of the invasion force. It sounds like they're planning to write Hakoda off entirely, which I PRAY does not happen; Along with what I've mentioned already, Hakoda is important to Katara's & Sokka's development, both before the show started and some nice moments in Season 3 (S3E1, 10, 11, 14, 15 & one small but touching moment in the finale). Can't specify because this staggered paragraph is WAY too big, so we'll save it for if we get those moments in Season 3 or not.

Toph going to her mother (who is actually in the city & it's not bait set by The Boulder & Ji Shen) makes sense; She's lost everything her freedom-filled life gave her, so all she has to fall back on is the thing she doesn't want. We'll see if Toph pries her mother for info about the Beifongs helping the Fire Nation before she HOPEFULLY STILL gets captured by The Boulder & Ji Shen (either working with her mother or without her to get the reward money), which is PIVOTAL for her invention of Metalbending. Sokka finding out about Azula & Co.'s Kyoshi Warrior disguises is, unfortunately, irrelevant for what they've done here; In the original, he's not captured and while Aang & Iroh go to free Katara & Zuko, he & Toph try to warn the King of Long Feng & Azula's coup d'état. Sokka & Toph, along with the Earth King get captured by Azula & Co., but escape due to Toph's recent discovery of Metalbending (they also return to the throne room to get Bosco, but Ty Lee is immobilized & Mai just lets them have him). However, due to Long Feng not being jailed, the coup likely already in progress and no Bosco to rescue, Sokka will likely just be jailed and freed by Toph. Obviously not as important as Aang & Katara's fight with Azula, Zuko & the Dai Li, but a severe cut of any potential development for him (especially because he just found out Suki is likely jailed or worse... she's not, just jailed, but still).

Get ready because this hopefully doesn't need a whole paragraph; YOU HAVE GOT. TO. BE. KIDDING ME!!! APPA IS JUST BELOW THE AVATAR VILLA?!? "BuT AaNg DiDn'T mAsTeR nEuTrAl JiNg Or SeIsMiC sEn"-SHUT UP! You know who did? TOPH!!! You know who was at the Villa multiple times after Appa was captured? TOPH!!! This goes beyond the pale! Even if he's not literally underneath the Villa (Which means the scene is shot HORRENDOUSLY because THAT'S PRECISELY WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE) ANY LEVEL of seismic sense Aang has should be MICROSCOPIC compared to TOPH using it HER WHOLE GOD-DAMNED LIFE! There is NO CONCEIVABLE REASON ON EARTH why Toph SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN ABLE TO SENSE APPA if AANG COULD! I HATE having to take breaks from writing these reviews, but sometimes, and unfortunately more and more often, I need to get away from the PURE, PRISTINE STUPIDITY this show MIRES MY CONSCIOUSNESS WITH! LET'S JUST GET TO THE END (of the review) ALREADY!

PROS:
Zuko's dreams: They utilized the dragon dream from the original and developed it very nicely. From the trippy beginning, showing Zuko's inner tumult, to springboarding the puppet show to get the dragons, the use of camera lengths/angles, sound & lack thereof really engrossed the viewer on the importance of the moments.

Gaang's argument scene: The rapid-fire blame going around didn't allow for elaboration, which facilitated the group's distancing from each other. Katara using her and Sokka's mother against him, Toph trying to distance herself from her family and Aang using the burden of the Avatar to his "advantage"; All great uses of their character elements to make an agrument for themselves.

CONS:
Literally everything else: The speed of which Aang is mastering the elements & the Avatar State, throwing away the bulk of The Painted Lady just to only curry favor with the Earth King. Her CONTINUINING TO GO OUT knowing that is what's hindering any more discussions with the King. It looking like Appa is RIGHT BELOW THE AVATAR VILLA.

OVERALL STANDALONE: Not good, but not all bad
OVERALL KNOWING ORIGINAL: Sandwich of shit with a tasty pickle inside? You're still eating shit.