ATLA Book One:Water
Chapter Five: The King of Omashu
Sokka and Katara are
left in a rocky situation, a man loses his cabbages, and Bumi takes his shirt
off.
It’s something of an odd duck, this episode. The first thing
worth noting is that it is First Episode without Zuko, or any real villain. As
a result, it definitely seems less arc heavy than the episodes before it, but
it is definitely hugely important to the show: the shape of the series would be
very different without Bumi, so the episode can hardly be called filler. This
state of feeling like filler, but not really being filler is common to Avatar
episodes, particularly in season one, although it’s a state that is arguably
most present here. Also (and this serves next to no analytical purpose), it is
the episode that introduces the “My cabbages!” joke, a running gag that grows
funnier with time.
Actually, the “My Cabbages!” gag is relevant to this essay,
as this is the first pure comedy episode of Avatar. And comedy is arguably a
strange choice of genre for the place the characters are in at this point in
the series. Aang seems lost his nation in “The Southern Air Temple” but curiously,
for the second episode in a row, he seems largely unaffected by the discovery
he is The Last Airbender. For the second episode in a row, we begin not with
Aang’s grief, but with him he seeking out a crazy but thrilling activity for
the sake of fun.
But there is a hint within these games that all is not right
with Aang. As in his airball game and desire to visit the Southern Air temple,
he’s visiting a place from his life before becoming the Avatar, the implication
being that he’s trying to recapture his life before his present of
responsibility and loss. And he does so by seeking to recreate a happy memory
from that time. His “One ride. Then we're off to the North Pole. Airbender's
honour” line reads as a slightly false promise (particularly in the light of
the continued delaying the Gaang do after this episode before reaching the
North Pole), emphasizing his desire to escape his duties as the Avatar. Aang is
very much a reluctant hero, and while the previous episode showed him becoming
more comfortable with the attention he receives as the Avatar, his fear of the
huge responsibility placed upon him remains.
And so Aang has to complete a riddle in three parts: a very
suitable challenge for a reluctant hero’s heroic journey. Each part is not what
he expects: he finds the key by improvising a different solution to the
apparently obvious ideas, a ferocious beast turns out to be the adorable pet he
was searching for, and a frail old man turns out to be one of the most powerful
Earthbenders in the world. The fight with Bumi is particularly interesting, as
Bumi points out Aang’s inability to confront things head on in a fight due to
his airbending training, a reflection of the way Aang is unable to confront the
loss of his people or his responsibilities as the Avatar head on, evading his
fears as a result. By completing the challenge, Aang reconnects with Bumi, a
symbol of his life before he was frozen in the Glacier.
But just as the things have not been what they seem
throughout the episode, examples being Aang is not just being a goofy kid, but
missing and reconnecting with his past, and Bumi’s challenges and riddles, this
reconnection with Bumi also isn’t completely what it seems. It’s cute and
funny, but it’s also rather sad and bittersweet, as it demonstrates the
futility of Aang trying to recapture his past. Bumi, while still Aang’s friend,
is no longer his peer, but an old man in charge of a major Earth Kingdom State.
The episode, and Aang’s meeting with Bumi, become a demonstration of Aang’s
true nature, successfully fusing the tragic and comic aspects of his character:
Aang is both a goofy kid and a wise world leader who has suffered a great loss,
and while one aspect of his character sometimes outweighs the other, both are
always present and constantly inform the person he is.
End of Part Four.
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