ATLA Book Two: Earth
Chapter One: The Avatar State
In Which Pakku pats
Sokka on the shoulder, Katara gets some water that won’t be at all important
later, and a guy throws some mud on Aang.
First episodes are tricky. First episodes of a new season of
television are tricky in a wholly different way to first episodes of a show, as
they take on the task of reintroducing a show’s tropes, instead of just
introducing them, whilst simultaneously redefining the show by expanding on,
and altering its approach from, previous seasons. Book two of The Last
Airbender deals with this difficulty by spreading the set up for Book two over
the first five episodes of the season, which slowly shed the weight of book
one’s tropes, and establish the key themes for the season.
The most marked change for book two comes through the reframing
of the Fire Nation antagonists as a result of Azula’s introduction proper after
her character was teased in the last shot of the first season. Azula is clearly
set to take over the role previously held by Zuko and Zhao, being the main face
of the Fire Nation antagonists for the season. While she is assigned to capture
Zuko, and not the Avatar, it is unsurprising that chasing down the Gaang will
also become part of her mission. Her methods will differ markedly to Zuko and
Zhao’s, but in this episode, she is surrounded by the trappings of the Book One
villains, travelling around with a Fire Navy crew around her, a marked
difference from the small, elite team she forms in two episodes’ time. For this
episode, the boat on which she is placed allows us to see how she operates
differently from the villains of Book One, but in familiar trappings.
And in the trappings of Admiral Zhao, she shows a marked
improvement on her predecessor. Firstly, her presence represents a move to a
more female driven show, with Azula marking the beginning of the growing list
of regular recurring female characters with crucial roles in the show, a
welcome push towards greater diversity. The “almost isn’t good enough” scene
also marks her out as a far more interesting villain than Zhao, with far more
depth and nuance. The scene demonstrates the perfectionism that leads to her
greatest victory at Ba Sing Se, while also contributing to her ultimate
downfall: a single trait contains more potential than the rest of Zhao’s
characterisation put together. She is also a greater threat than Zhao is after
his first episode: where Zuko beats Zhao in their first onscreen encounter, he
cannot land a hit on Azula, and she leaves Zuko and Iroh desperately running
for their lives. Finally, the conversation with the captain about the tides
marks Azula out as a villain capable of being menacing and ridiculously
entertaining at the same time. In this episode, she is a welcome addition to
the series, and improves the show dramatically.
Azula’s conflict with Zuko is also markedly different to
Zuko’s conflict with Zhao. Azula is chasing is chasing down Zuko from the start
of the season, with only a brief pretence otherwise. The animation in the scene
where Azula tricks Zuko into hoping Ozai will accept him back is a particularly
lovely touch. We only see the scarred half of Zuko’s face as he asks if father
really regrets banishing him, and she affirms his hopes: the animation subtly
confirms the fact that Azula is blatantly lying to Zuko by leaving a reminder
of Ozai’s abuse at the front of the frame. By contrast, Zhao and Zuko have
slowly bubbling tension that leads to the two openly fighting each other at the
end of Book One. This changes Zuko’s role in the show: because Azula is a
threat to him from the start of the season, Zuko spends most of the run largely
separated from the Fire Nation, and the ability to be a villain.
Throughout the season, Zuko is kept in a separate plotline
through the Gaang A plot/ Zuko B plot structure that becomes the most
commonplace episode type over the course of the Book. This moves Zuko and Iroh
away from the role of the Gaang’s pursuers and into the “Survivor refugee”
roles that they take on over the course of Book Two, a moment symbolised by
their cutting of the tails from their hair. This change in status allows Zuko
and Iroh to take on the role of anti-heroes as opposed to antagonists. They are
no longer actively hostile to Aang, Sokka and Katara, as the two groups don’t
come into contact with each other for most of this season until the finale, save
for a brief encounter in “The Chase”.
This episode structure, as observed before, allows the show
to parallel the journeys of Aang and Zuko. As in “The Storm”, there some
fascinating parallels between Katara’s support of Aang, and Iroh’s guardianship
of Zuko. Just as Aang strives to use the Avatar State as his quickest viable
way to defeat Ozai, Zuko desperately clings to the hope that Ozai has finally,
and improbably, accepted him on the anniversary of his banishment. Both Katara
and Iroh look after Aang and Zuko, trying to warn them away from apparently sudden
fixes to their problems, instead stressing the importance of the longer, harder
road to complete their journeys.
There are telling similarities in Katara and Iroh’s caring
methods. Iroh first seeks to placate Zuko’s anger, taking him to a spa as a place
of rest and calm. He then tries to reason with his nephew, trying to downplay
Zuko’s hopes when he thinks Azula is telling the truth, before desperately
reminding Zuko that he cares about him when Zuko claims that Ozai still loves
him. Similarly, Katara starts the episode by listening to Aang recount his
nightmare, patiently letting him talk about his fears without pushing him to
talk. Then, after Aang agrees to help the general, she tries to point out the
importance of beating Ozai the right way, before eventually telling Aang it
upsets her to see him in the turmoil caused by the Avatar State. Both Iroh and
Katara start by listening to Aang and Zuko, then try to appeal to their
rationality, then remind them that they are loved and cared for: both Katara
and Iroh have practically the same plot over the course of the episode.
The presence of Book One is also felt in the Main plot, and
the exploration of the Avatar State, which deals with the consequences of the
Book One finale. Particularly telling is Aang’s dream at the beginning of the
episode: there is a commitment to understanding Aang’s internal reaction to the
power he wields but does not yet understand. The dream shows Aang what he looks
like from the perspective of the fire nation soldiers he attacks, with the
exception of the Southern Air Temple, where he didn’t attack anyone, but we do
see the scene from Katara’s point of view, understanding the fear he inspires.
There is also a further linking of Katara to the Avatar State, as Aang prompted
into uncontrolled Avatar State by apparent loss of Katara. This link, will of
course be crucial to the finale of Book Two: more of the second season’s plot
is established as an answer to elements of Book One’s storyline.
These threads are wrapped up in Aang’s conversation with
Roku, which explains why the great power Aang discovers cannot be used as a
quick fix to defeat the Fire Lord. This is a pattern that will repeat again, at
greater length, in the series with the eclipse plotline: alternative ways to
end the war are repeatedly shown and dismissed to stress the importance of Aang
following the hero’s journey set out for him. The option of using the Avatar
state prematurely is dismissed as Roku teaches Aang about the vulnerability of
the Avatar State. The episode is bookended by two dream sequences where Aang
learns about the nature of the Avatar State, and learns of its perils: if he is
to fulfil his destiny, Aang has to learn the discipline that comes with
mastering all four elements, and complete his hero’s journey as has been set
out from the beginning of the series.
End of Part Nineteen.
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