Netflix ATLA: S2 Ep 5

...This is one of the strangest openings. I know it's been a couple days between me watching Ep 4 and this one, but I had to go back to Ep 4's ending to see the "argument" Aang is lamenting about here. Yes, he was upset Katara stopped distracting Joo Dee while he was tracking Sung's messenger, but that was barely a spat. If you're gonna have him THIS depressed about it, have the "argument" have more impact. At least enough where I don't have to go back and watch to remember where the argument was. And why are they framing where he realizes that apologizing will fix it as some grand epiphany? It's barely a problem with an obvious solution and it's directed like Aang had to do some mental gymnastics to come to this solution. The "elbow leech" at the end of Aang's code message is a callback to S2E4 of the original (Sokka gets an elbow leech while exploring the episode's titular swamp). And a bit of joke-y jokeness to counter the tension, but I'm still confused by that opening. Hopefully, not a sign of things to come as they approach the season finale (and in some people's opinion, the best climax in the series, even factoring in the series finale).

With this meeting of Katara and General Sung, I do like how they're playing this reveal of Long Feng to the King; Season 1 had the climatic attack come from the clear and common enemy: The Fire Nation and their attack on the Northern Water Tribe. Season 2 was from the enemy you thought was your friend: the seat of power of the Earth Kingdom, basically the only nation countering the Fire Nation in any significant way. Trying to extract a seemingly untouchable enemy, as Sung alludes to, that can curb public opinion on a whim AND have you taken out by a secret police force and cover up the fact you were even there makes his reach ever-expanding. They're really doing a good job making you feel like while Aang may be a proverbial powerhouse, they need to be particular and have all the roots of Long Feng's network accounted for and taken out or he'll just grow back like a weed. Zuko tracking Katara kind of feels superfluous because he tracked her to the Avatar Villa last episode; he knows where they live.

Zei mentions the writings of Yao Xiaobo, but they are a new character made in-part for this series (there's a Yao and someone whose last name is Xiaobo that appear in Legend of Korra, but neither are a scholar of any sort). And if the Library hasn't moved much from being "just outside of Ba Sing Se" as Zei says here, then the conflict of Appa being captured WILL be severely lessened. He also sets up the "rules" of the library (can't use the knowledge within for destructive purposes, must give knowledge to enter) established in the original. Also just remembered we already saw Wan Shi Tong in Season 1 (Ep 5). Meeting him again shouldn't change anything (he was just giving words of warning to the Gaang). How does Zei ascertain that the Lower Ring is where the "spiritual scar" is located?! He says something to do with "growth", but nothing from Sokka's elaboration of the scar indicated growth. Unless there was a cut line about how the forest where they jumped into the spirit world in Season 1 Ep 5 would grow back, I can only imagine that Zei is inferring that scars are followed by growth/healing, but that is ridiculous; Scars don't heal fully. THAT'S WHY THEY'RE SCARS. (If you've seen Kung Fu Panda 2, there's a short back-and-forth between Po & Shen about scars/wounds right after his flagship explodes that is PERFECT for this lol). And it's in the Lower Ring... IN THE CITY. So not only are we NOT getting the Si Wong Desert, but either Appa's NOT getting captured or his capture will be so short-lived, it will be a nuisance more than anything. This is not good... Am I not remembering something? What is Aang's sudden apprehension with the Avatar State? I get that it's unwieldy and destructive (as it is now) but you won't even use it in the attack on the Fire Nation i.e. win the war? Your most immediate & pressing matter as the Avatar? Keeping the letter from Toph's mother as bait for her capture by The Boulder & Ji Shen. Really hoping the metalbending scene lives up to the hype.

There are some parts of me that agree with General Sung not letting "the Kyoshi Warriors" see the Gaang and some that don't. On one hand, seeing the Kyoshi Warriors might make the Gaang more reticent about their plans for taking down Long Feng, so Sung is giving them as few distractions as possible. On the other, Sung doesn't know if the warriors have any new info or evidence about the war that could make their takedown of Long Feng easier. This was avoided in the original because each member of the Gaang had a side-mission outside of Ba Sing Se to go on (except for Katara who stayed behind to plan the invasion & Toph who was led to believe her mother would meet her in the city) so they couldn't communicate with or even verify the Kyoshi Warriors (Aang went to the Eastern Air Temple to learn how to control the Avatar State with Guru Pathik, Sokka went to visit his father whose location was on an intelligence report kept by Long Feng, Toph went to visit her mother but was captured by Xin Fu & Yu (remember, replaced by The Boulder & Ji Shen here) and Katara stayed in Ba Sing Se, but after running into Zuko & Iroh in the city, went to tell "Suki" but was captured by Azula & her group).

Iroh's meal for Zuko here, jook, is right from the original (S2E19) and it was a sign of Zuko readily accepting more of a humble life (it's a humble meal. Essentially rice porridge), but it coming while Zuko is planning to capture the Avatar is hopefully a lead-up to his finding & release of Appa under Lake Laogai, which is supposed to be his big jump into accepting a life away from his Fire Prince status. Toph meeting Iroh is a moment in the original (S2E8) but WAY later than it should be (this show's around S2E15-16). Some context will help understand my problem with it being here: It was a welcome scene then because Toph had some growing pains with the Gaang & decided to leave while Iroh was tracking Zuko, who left him because he didn't agree with Zuko endlessly hunting the Avatar. It was nice scene that showed that while Toph wanted to prove her independence, stemming from her parents overprotecting her to now having freedom with the Gaang, getting help from loved ones shows they care & accepting it shows you care for them. Now, for the problem: Toph encountered Iroh by herself on the road before fighting Azula for the 1st time (again, S2E8). Now that this scene in this series is happening AFTER that fight, they should both know who the other is. Iroh wouldn't care one way or the other, but Toph should be concerned that the uncle of the guy who's trying to capture Aang is in the same city as they are. Not only does she show NO concern, but even jokes by sarcastically saying "stranger". And sure, there's a scene in the original where Iroh comes to the Gaang after Katara & Zuko are captured by Azula asking for help and Toph vouches for Iroh when Aang & Sokka are hesitant (S2E20), but there should still be SOME concern. "Sharing tea with a fascinating stranger is one of life's true delights." is a line straight from the original (S2E8).

And now Azula playing the counter manipulation game with Long Feng (which was done very nicely on both sides in the original. This is a long one; Long Feng had been found out & imprisoned while Azula & Co., disguised as Kyoshi Warriors, had the trust of the Earth King. The Dai Li, however were still faithful to Long Feng, and after Dai Li agents secretly heard that these Kyoshi Warriors were the Fire Nation princess & her comrades in disguise, he had the Dai Li bring her to him to make a deal: she would help overthrow the Earth King while she would get the Avatar. He placed the Dai Li under her control & while she used the Dai Li to overthrow the government, once she succeeded, he would be there to overthrow her. However, Azula planned from the beginning to have the Dai Li overhear they were Fire Nation and after showing her conviction and tactics to the Dai Li, they began to follow her. That along with deconstructing Long Feng (she saw that he had to struggle & use underhanded tactics all his life to gain power, while she was born with the drive & "the divine right to rule") in front of them made the Dai Li ally with her & made Long Feng realize there was no beating her at her own game. We'll see if it's done to THAT extent because we already have some changes; It seems that by telling him something General Sung hasn't told him, she intends to sow doubt between them. We'll see how far they take that.

Why does Jet think Katara would be hurt by shoving her "do-gooding" in her face? Regardless of if I think it's effectual & I know he's just grabbing onto anything he can make an argument out of and lashing out with it, no amount of do-gooding is too small for Katara. Though, her going to him because he's more familiar with the Lower Ring makes sense and HOPEFULLY this means he'll stick around for the same narrative change of character they had in the original (S2E17 no spoilers yet in case it happens). Funny little parallel of the current government overthrowers getting help from the previous one. I get that they shouldn't trust him, but they're simply looking for a location; What is the worst scenario that could possibly be derived from that?

This talk with Iroh & Zuko parallels their talk under Lake Laogai where Zuko finds Appa & plans to steal him from Long Feng & keep him away from Aang. Iroh finds him and points out the faults of Zuko's half-baked plans (in the original, he'd captured Aang at the North Pole & escaped into the tundra, but had nowhere to go and would have frozen to death had Aang not shown mercy and brought him back to Agna Q'ela after Katara knocked him out. After Iroh begs him to ask internally what he wants for himself, he sets Appa free). The major difference here is that Iroh notes and pulls back on his curbing of Zuko to the humble life. In the original, Iroh steered him this way because he knew this life would at least teach him to be a compassionate prince & potential Fire Lord. Letting him have full control before the humble life has had enough impact (I believe it hasn't yet) and before his crisis of faith moment under Lake Laogai will just make it easier for him to slip back to his Avatar-hunting ways (even though that is what he eventually chooses in the season finale). This scene of Azula deducing all these things about Ba Sing Se isn't landing for me. A little bit of "show, don't tell" would help; Have some shots of Dai Li tails being as secretive as they can be, but have Azula notice them with a quick eye glance. I know she's a brilliant tactician & political analyst, but since this is our first scene of her in the city proper, it looks like she's pulling all this out of thin air. AND AZULA JUST OUTS HERSELF IN PUBLIC?!? This is all kinds of dumb! How will she get close enough to the Earth King to overthrow him now? If their ruse becomes public knowledge, what happens when the Gaang finds out? What if Zuko hears about a Firebender with blue flames is in the city? How does she know they won't just kill her when captured? They better not keep their discussion off-camera! You've gotta be kidding.

So I didn't want to bring it up until it was poignant, but here we are: Why is the library not being in the Si Wong Desert a bad decision? For as much as the show uses fights to resolve conflicts, the predominant formula was Aang fights for a bit, then escapes. Rightfully so, because even though Aang is a Master Airbender (you only get the arrow tattoos if you become a master Airbender), airbending is about evasion and avoidance. Katara's waterbending had her moments, but she was a novice becoming a master. Toph was the 1st Master bender of the group that used direct aggression (S2E6). The Si Wong Desert was the 1st showcase of her almost literal Achilles' heel: her blindness & reliance on her seismic sense. She needs literal solid footing to see her opponent and for her Earthbending to be effective. Sand is loose Earth, which makes her perception fuzzy (S2E10). She elected to stay behind with Appa, who couldn't fit in the only visible spire of the library, because she can't read anything on parchment. Then, the Sandbenders of the Si Wong Desert (which I also realize we're not getting and am miffed about) were only able to capture Appa because Toph, along with holding up Wan Shi Tong's library from being wholly submerged in sand before it moved to the Spirit World, wasn't able to land a proper strike on any of them. Now that the library is already in the Spirit World, where NO bending works, not only do we not get a showcase of Toph's weakness as a bender, but she even elects to go into the Spirit World, where her seismic sense won't work, to go to a library where she can't read anything!

I will say, the library is looking rad as hell. The dragon skeletons is a nice nod to the Fire Nation seeking valor & honor for killing dragons in Sozin's reign. At least they knew this would be a moment of awe for the show and it delivered. And sure, Toph still having some awareness of the vibrations from having to do it all her life is a way to not completely "blind" her, but will have to see if anything happens to Appa to determine if it would've been better for her to stay in the mortal world. Nice addition of Wan Shi Tong being aware of Aang's desire to win the war from the complications of Tui & La. And getting the knowledge they "need" might give us some character development moments that this show does very well (need something to get us on an upswing). Oh, they kept the fox spirit assistants & that spurs Sokka's memory of Yue (who appeared to him in the Spirit World in episode 5 of the 1st season). Oh man, I hadn't even thought of the lion turtles & how they'll look in the last season, plus having Avatar Wan (the 1st Avatar, explored in Legend of Korra) be the Avatar in this picture instead of a nameless Avatar is a nice change. And the in-universe equivalent of Braille, also a nice touch (pun not intended). I guess Wan Shi Tong would have the means of doing so and the "free exchange of wisdom" Zei mentioned meant being accessible as well. Good on them. And we finally get Yangchen, the previous Air-Nomad-born-Avatar to round out our previous Avatars that commune with Aang (S3E19). Huh, I think I know why Jet's in the library and, if I'm correct, I kind of like it; Jet's gone really pessimistic about not just his situation, but the state of the war. Information about the eclipse could give him hope to turn his worldview and overall attitude around.

And having Yangchen here is a great idea if you know her story (covered in 2 novels). Quick crash course: Yangchen's major conflict in her lifetime stemmed from the Platinum Affair, an incident where the Earth King of the time had a general trying to depose & usurp him. The Northern Water Tribe Chief & Fire Lord of the time openly supported the current Earth King's campaign financially, but secretly supported the general with greater contributions of money in platinum. The Earth King surprisingly won this battle with the general while also uncovering the other nation's leaders' contributions to his enemy. As punishment, the Earth King closed off all communications & trade routes with the other nations, to which the Water Tribe & Fire Nation did the same. However, to keep the money of exports coming it, four cities were chosen to regulate the imports & exports of the nations under the leadership of merchant families called shangs, the heads called zongdus. Corruption and espionage fueled these cities and Yangchen, in order to balance the scales, had to muddy her hands with manipulation, espionage, and deceit. Sound familiar? Mirroring Yangchen & Long Feng is a great catch by the writers and it's awesome to see it implemented here. Excited to see where they take it.

Kyoshi talking with TOPH? Yo, this is opening up a whole can of possibilities that I couldn't have thought would happen. I am SO on board with this! Wait, Toph mentioned her last name around Kyoshi. NOT GOOD (mentioned in my episode 2 review of this season). Having Kyoshi take note of Toph's "found family" with the Gaang is a nice highlight (She was daughter to two criminals and, after being left by her parents in the care of someone who eventually abandoned her, had a "found family" of her own). And Toph expressing her serious desire to aid the Avatar in his mission is so new for Toph and I'm a fan of it. Yes, Toph's supposed to be this carefree badass but showing care & concern of her role as the Avatar's Earthbending teaching gives her a lot more depth! Oh, this must be the planetarium. Okay, even in the awe-filling library, this room needs to thrill. Oh man, it thrilled but not for the reason you're thinking. In the original, the planetarium was completely mechanical, as in the sun & moon were discs moved by giant rings encompassing the room. With the library being in the Spirit World, they could get away with it being more like a projection of reality. I kind of miss the original, but it was still well done. The thrill was having Sokka's exposition with the moon/Yue here. Him questioning if he could have saved her if he was this "plan man" he's become or if he became this because he failed to save her? Oof, SO GOOD! THIS is what this show does so well.

The betrayal Yangchen is speaking of is that of Kavik, her most trusted informant. He protected his brother who had deep ties to the zongdu plotting to use a new form of firebending called combustionbending, in short: telekinetic firebending that produces massive explosions (S3E5), to have the nations submit to the shang cities. Triple whammy of what Yangchen dealt with afterward; The burden of the Avatar mantle (People would always blame the Avatar for things they didn't do or start), how, with her duties, hesitation got people killed & how she often sided with humans in conflicts between them and the spirits, which caused greater problems with the spirits for Kuruk in his lifetime. And HERE is where we get the weakness of the Avatar State! About damn time! Again, sad to not see Roku deliver this warning to Aang, as Avatars are supposed to have the deepest connection with their immediate previous life. Hopefully, they make up for it if they plan to have S3E6 of the original in next season (BIG if). At least Aang's decision to use the Avatar State has changed from a hard "NO" to "If it comes down to it". Also, her asking Aang to use the Avatar State wisely lines up with a key moment in her novels (She's saving a town from a rockslide & in a split decision, realizes she needs the State to stop it, but realizes the release of energy would also damage the town. Thankfully, some Air Nomads are there to help her without using it.)

Why couldn't Katara be identified when delivering the flowers to the sick girl?! Here's how it plays out: She just brings them over, sans disguise, and they may ask where she found them, but then they go "Oh, nevermind where". They then thank her for them, cure the girl & move on! No "risk" whatsoever! Also, Jet's comparison of her & himself is flawed; Her actions weren't "just for her". She was aiding people (even though I STILL think to barely a degree). THEY KILLED THE DUKE!?! Narratively, he's just about inconsequential (he's with the group for and a while past the Fire Nation invasion, but he doesn't add anything), but he was JUST A CHILD! Also, HOW DID HIS HELMET GET HERE?! If Zei's tome he used to allow the group access disappears off him in the mortal world, that means these things are either partially material or are wholly material & brought to the Sprirt World by Wan Shi Tong. Another NEW reason why having the library in the Spirit World complicates things. Still gotta give props because, even with a noticeable change to a character like this, they're creating solid depth for the character to be more faceted. Props to Sebastian Amoruso here; That last half (running with the Duke's body & everyone's better without me) had me a bit gut-punched.

Having Kyoshi's journal (?) be the thing that helps them time the comet makes sense in one aspect, but not another: It makes sense because she is the longest living Avatar & therefore human in their world (230 years old. Her spiritual teacher, Lao Ge, was said to be immortal, so maybe 2nd longest?) therefore, she would have two times to note its effects on her & others Firebending. However, she was known to be bull-headed, so if anything, she definitely would need help in tracking it. A solar eclipse happening in her life on the other hand is exceedingly unlikely, because if that knowledge predates the war (aka in her lifetime) either the knowledge has been lost to time (unlikely) or willfully scrubbed from all nation's repositories (also unlikely). In the original, they discovered the date of a solar eclipse off the last scrap of parchment left from the burned remains of the Fire Nation section in the library.

Ooh, that focus shift to Zei when Aang says "attack". He knows what's coming. Did Sokka just say "ash-holes"? Caught me off guard. Waiiiit... Does Zei betray the group? WHY? IT MAKES NO SEEEENSE! Wait, back to Momo & Appa, is he getting captured? NO? GRAH THEY WERE DOING SO WELL and NOW they remind me of the bad choices they made to the plot? AND ZUKO'S CRISIS OF FAITH MOMENT IS JUST THAT?!? COME ON! I was riding the highs of this episode like a roller coaster and now they have a drop without any track so it's just a sheer, careening drop into the lows again! Zei turning like this comes outta nowhere & from NOTHING. Yes, he would be respectful of the library, but not to the degree that he'd potentially doom his nation to losing the war! And sure, Zei gets his comeuppance, but what did he learn here to harm his friends? It's cool they kept Wan Shi Tong's more serpent-like "attack" form (a very cool design), but did they have to do the "deeper/distorted voice means I'm evil!" thing? It, ironically, cartoon-ifies his anger. JESUS! HE ATE HIM?!? That's not the poetic justice ending Zei had in the original (He stayed in the library, surrounded by all the knowledge he could ever want, but died of starvation/dehydration). Wait what? WHAT? HIS BODY VANISHED? THAT ALSO MAKES NO SENSE! Spirits in the Spirit World can die if they sustain enough damage, but your body back in the mortal world is just left vulnerable & eventually shuts down due to loss of vital life support. AND NOW APPA IS GETTING CAPTURED! WHAT A TILT-A-WHIRL THIS SEQUENCE OF SCENES IS! The "protecting what we/I love" exchange is straight from the original. And Toph still holds up the library while Appa is captured. At least their keeping that. Waaaaaiiiitt WHAAAAAAT?!?!? THAT'S how Jet dies?!? I'mma need a WHOLE NEW PARAGRAPH TO WORK THIS OUT!

I'm focusing on this because Jet is the 1st character whose not wholly a villain (more anti-hero) to die (before you all say "YUE", she's the Moon Spirit, so not technically dead). Since I don't know how to feel about it in the moment, I'm gonna run down his death in the original, weigh pros & cons of both and see if this is good or bad.
In the original, Jet attacks Zuko & Iroh because he knows they're Fire Nation. He gets captured & brainwashed by the Dai Li. He then runs into the Gaang who are looking for Appa, saying he can help. After some mistrust, Toph, using her seismic sense to feel his breathing & heartbeat, determines he's telling the truth. They run into Smellerbee & Longshot who say Jet was taken by the Dai Li. Jet protests this but Toph feels that they're both telling the truth. They determine Jet was brainwashed and, after helping him break the brainwashing, determines it happened in a headquarters under Lake Laogai. They go there expecting to find Appa, and find the HQ, but are met with a cavern filled with Dai Li agents & Long Feng. Everyone but Aang & Jet are subdued and Long Feng uses a failsafe trigger phrase ("The Earth King has invited you to Lake Laogai.") to activate latent brainwashing/mind-control & has Jet attack Aang. Jet breaks free by Aang spurring his memories of his Freedom Fighters. Jet throws his hooksword at Long Feng, who dodges, counters with a lethal hit to Jet & escapes while the group tends to Jet, now immobile & unable to be healed by Katara. Jet's death occurs off-screen while the core Gaang, from the direction of Jet (and Longshot, which we'll get to), pursue Long Feng. I know that was long, but that's nearly the entirety of S2E17 summarized.
SO, The main pro to Jet dying by Long Feng under Lake Laogai is that, along with the nice sentiment that he broke the mind control with the memory of his Freedom Fighters, it showed he wasn't beyond redemption. There are arguments that say he still has a blanket hatred of the Fire Nation and he was just paying back the group for undoing his brainwashing. However, even if he didn't attain full forgiveness, he broke free by staying true to who he was & was making big steps in the right direction. The con, as you can imagine, is that it wasn't a true or full redemption for him. The pros to Jet dying in the library stopping Wan Shi Tong are that he fought for 2 reasons: 1) So everyone else could make it through the gate while basically knowing he wasn't going to make it, which was more evident in its nobleness and 2) He fought & died for something he believed in (a shared pro, but this was believing the knowledge of the eclipse would "kill them (the Fire Nation) all", however flawed or vengeance-fueled that belief is. The major cons are the differences to the original, which are some fantastic moments: The fact that remembering the Freedom Fighters broke his mind control, the fact that he was surrounded by Smellerbee & Longshot, his two most faithful fighters, by his side with the former comforting him & crying and the latter notches an arrow watching the door to the cavern for more Dai Li after SPEAKING for the 1st time telling the Gaang they'll protect their leader. The fact that as Katara left, Jet told her he'd be fine & Toph, walking away next to Sokka, says "He's lying." because she can detect truth & lies (biggest gut punch).
Now is there a better option? I WANT to like this version because it was framed to be & feels more noble than the original, but I think the original both was at least setting him on the noble path and the moments we lost from the original are so memorable that not getting them feels like squandered potential.

I know this is a long one, but we're almost there. Toph saying "I'm sorry Appa" is right from the original. The panic of the Gaang realizing Appa was captured is nice but couldn't Gordon Cormier (Aang's actor) looked more distressed during that shot of him going into the Avatar State? Speaking of, nice cliffhanger.

PROS:
The Library of Wan Shi Tong: They knew to put in a lot of effort into making it look gorgeous and they did not disappoint. The design of the owls inlaid on the archways, the dragon fossils is a new, but awesome choice. Even the music on the reveal of the main hall gave me goosebumps.

Unexpected past-life interactions in the library: The comparison of Yangchen & Long Feng, both steeped in espionage. Toph talking to Kyoshi about found families. Sokka's unburdening to the moon. Even giving Jet hope with the news of the eclipse. SO MUCH CHARACTER CONNECTIONS & DEVELOPMENT and I love it.

CONS:
Almost everything else...: The awkward opening scene, Azula outing herself in public not knowing the consequences, the library being in Ba Sing Se & Jet's persistence of using Katara's "do-gooding" as a negative. I left like I spent more time recapping the original's choices than remarking on any good choices this episode made.

...DOUBLY SO on the last 10 minutes: I could've finished this review last night, but stepped away after experiencing that last 10 minutes. Zei betraying the group FOR NO GOOD REASON. Zuko's ineffectual change (IMO) leading to a weak crisis of faith moment. Making me question if Appa's capture would happen & the now nuisance it is & Jet's death happening here & now snubbing some great moments. 10 minutes made me fatigued for a whole 24 hours that I couldn't finish 2 barely-1-minutes scenes at the end.

OVERALL STANDALONE: Cool set-pieces, cool scenes, but VERY questionable character choices.
OVERALL KNOWING ORIGINAL: Got to the library feeling smarter, left feeling dumber.