ATLA Book Two: Earth
Chapter Eight: The Chase
In which Toph makes a rock tent, Iroh makes some tea, and Ty Lee decides Sokka is cute.
“The Chase” is a fascinating episode structurally, coming as it does around the middle of Book Two, just before the show’s halfway point. In a season defined by its intertwining plot arcs, we get an episode where the narrative structure of those arcs is laid out in perfect detail before us. It is also an episode that puts its use of the season’s structure to interesting effect, using this structure as the backdrop for a story whose core emotional conflict and content centres on the dynamic of the new Gaang.
While it’s not an immediately obvious place to start this read on the episode, the use of Appa is a key part of how “The Chase” works. His shedding in this episode is, of course, the way Azula is able to track the Gaang, but is also demonstrative of the way The Last Airbender shows the progression of time in the show, with each different Book being set in a different season before Sozin’s comet comes at summer’s end. Book One is set during winter, and Book Three is set during the summer, which seems somewhat appropriate for seasons respectively titled Water and Fire. Book Two, meanwhile, is set during the Spring, which Aang acknowledges at the start of the episode, the effects of which are demonstrated through Appa’s shedding. This highlights two things: firstly, it draws attention to the ticking clock timeframe that has been in the background of the show since Avatar Roku, showing that time is passing, and running out as Aang seeks to master the four elements, something that is appropriate for an episode that really draws attention to the show’s structure. Secondly it highlights a theme that is present throughout the show but is particularly important in book two: the effect travelling around the world has on Appa, something the Gaang discuss at the start of “The Waterbending Master”, but is given thematic focus here. This episode really makes us feel the effort carrying the Gaang takes for Appa: his exhaustion is given as much attention as that of the Gaang. Appa is not a typical animal sidekick conveniently used when the Gaang needs rescuing or ferrying around, he is a character whose wants and needs are given time and focus. As well as being the cause of the action in the episode, Appa’s shedding shows how “The Chase” meticulously makes use of the series’ structure, and draws attention to animal agency, a key theme of Book two.
The emotional content of the episode is about the Gaang adjusting to the new group dynamic, which from a meta-fictional perspective is about integrating Toph into the show’s dynamic: the gaang have to learn to make the new dynamic work, just as the audience need to be convinced it will work. “The Blind Bandit demonstrated why we want Toph to be a part of the show, while “The Chase” shows how she will fit into the ensemble. Azula’s relentless chase the scenario that prompts this adjustment, but only insofar as it throws the conflict between Toph and Katara into greater relief: the tension between the two girls is present before the Gaang realise they are being chased. And just as it makes us feel what carrying the humans around does to Appa, we feel the weight of tiredness on the gang through the way they are animated and presented: through their heavily lidded eyes, and the extra concentrated amount of exaggerated, anime-style reactions. At its heart, this episode is about how being tired and crabby is the ideal situation to bring an internal conflict amongst a group of people to a head.
The clash between Katara and Toph is a conflict set up in the very first scene, which while an amicable moment, captures Katara and Toph’s relationship in a nutshell. Katara hopes Toph will be someone she can relate to due to more obvious similarities, Toph disappoints her in that respect, but she still ultimately laughs at Toph joining in with the boys. The two girls will ultimately have a positive relationship even though they are very different, and these differences cause an initial clash. Toph’s insistence that she carries her own weight is clearly influenced by her parents: it’s her way of expressing her independence, as she wants to be free from restrictions her parents placed on her, but also doesn’t want to be a burden on others. Katara has to adjust to this, and realise that it is born out an attitude that isn’t really selfish, but Toph also has to learn that it’s good to have people looking out for her. It’s also worth noting the move to a more female centric series: in the first episode with two female members of the Gaang, the episode passes the Bechdel test with ease. In fact, as far as I noticed, not one of the conversations the two girls has in this episode even mentions a male character. As a result, while the episode shows two female characters in opposition with one another, that conflict has nothing to do with a man, and actually treats the two girls with respect, deepening the characters by showing how their ideologies clash, and how they come to reconcile those differences and become friends.
Also interesting, though it is given less focus, is the clash between Aang and Toph. Aang spends most of the episode trying and failing to be the peacemaker between Katara and Toph, but, as in the opening of “The Waterbending Master”, where Aang snaps at Sokka for criticising Appa when he is tired, Aang blames Toph for Azula’s chase when she correctly blames Appa’s shedding. It is notable both for being a moment where Aang almost loses the perfect teacher just after finding her, and for the way it highlights the bond between Aang and Appa just before the Bison is captured in “The Library”.
Toph’s rejection of the Gaang leads to the wonderful “Tea with a delightful stranger” scene with Iroh. It is possibly the best moment of the episode, and comes from the show exploring what it can do with Toph due to her position as a member of the Gaang who wasn’t in Book One. This exploration is something first used in the “Who’s Zuko?” exchange with Katara and Sokka, a moment that highlights the fact that she lacks knowledge about some of the Gaang’s experiences. However, this lack of knowledge also gives her a perspective on the show none of the rest of the Gaang can have, as her opinion is unbiased by the events of the first season. Accordingly, in this scene the two are willing to share tea together because neither knows who the other is, and it’s a delightful scene that really shows what Toph’s new position in the show adds to its dynamic. Her opening exchange with Iroh of “You seem a little too young to be travelling alone”/ “You seem a little too old” shows how both characters are perceptive and intelligent people, but in their own unique ways. Iroh is a wise and understanding mentor figure, while Toph is someone who cuts to the chase of what someone really means, and has a barbed wit, but also deflects personal questions rather than address her internal emotional conflicts. Iroh gives us an insight into Toph, with his assertion that “I made you the Tea because I wanted to” helping her realise that accepting and giving help isn’t a sign of weakness, that doing things for one another isn’t just a sign that a person is limiting or over-protective, but that they respect and value you. In response, Toph provides an insight into Iroh Toph’s suggestion to Iroh that “perhaps you should let [Zuko] know that you need him, too” being a rare moment of Iroh receiving wisdom from another character. And it’s a moment that gets at a truth of Iroh’s character, that while he is a crucial mentor figure in Zuko’s journey, he also needs to help Zuko as part of his search for meaning in the wake of his son’s death, which still hurts him several years later.
Another important detail in the scenes between Iroh and Toph comes in their initial meeting, with the shot that moves down to focus on Toph’s foot before cutting to Iroh after she roots him out. It is a nice way of showing the world through her perspective and senses, but is also crucial set up for a quiet moment at the end of the episode, with a similar shot after Iroh is attacked by Azula’s lightning, with her foot sensing Iroh before we cut to a reaction shot of her face. It is quite possibly the moment where she recognises Iroh as the man she shared tea with, and as she must have heard Katara say Zuko’s name, this is arguably a moment she may start to piece together the fact that Zuko is the nephew Iroh was talking about. She may understand what the rest of the Gaang do not: that Zuko is open to redemption and Iroh is trying to guide him on that path. This could be another reason she will be willing to accept Zuko’s help in “The Western Air Temple”. Ultimately, all of these uses of her character stem from her careful placement in the narrative, and the way she is brought into the story later than the rest of the main cast.
Also crucial is Azula and Aang’s confrontation and parley. It marks the moment where Aang learns who Azula is, in one of his mere two actual conversations with Azula, with the other coming in “Day of the Black Sun”, a fact that highlights the way she gains depth from her interactions with other characters, not Aang. Her scenes with Aang are solely about how she operates as a villain, and a comparison of this and Zhao’s equivalent scene in “The Blue Spirit” demonstrates why she works better than Zhao. Her teasing impression of her brother that tells Aang the identity of his new enemy is genuinely amusing, but she doesn’t waste time in attacking him. Azula is fun to watch, but there is no resorting to moustache twirling with her: she genuinely works as a threat. Most of all, the confrontation is a scene that crackles with tension and possibility. Aang isn’t locked up until someone comes to rescue him, as he is in “The Blue Spirit”, so we are left waiting for a fight to break out, with the sense that anything could happen at any moment.
Then, out of left field, Zuko enters the fray, living up to the sense that anything could happen with a genuine surprise. T tension of the scene pays off beautifully as the two way stand-off becomes a three way stand-off, and the stakes slowly escalate from there. Notably, this is the first time Zuko’s plot has interacted directly with Aang’s all season, and is the only time until the finale. And in a marked departure from his usual behaviour, after seeing his uncle injured, Zuko decides he doesn’t want anything to do with the Gaang, as an enemy or an ally, yelling “Leave!” after Katara offers her help. It is a moment that arguably foreshadows him rejecting Katara’s help and turning back to villainy in the “The Crossroads of Destiny”, but for now, it is the first time he has rejected chasing the Gaang and the plot about restoring his honour to look after someone he cares for. While he doesn’t yet fully understand this, Zuko is starting to do the right things to find his redemption: refusing to chase someone else’s story, and instead trying to make sense of his own.
But perhaps most vital of all are the structural implications of the final stand-off between Azula, the Gaang, Zuko, and Iroh. It represents the only point where we get all the major players in season two on screen together at the same time, and really, the only moment the seven most important players in the show are on screen together throughout ATLA. And really, as Ozai is less of a key player who influences the narrative than he is a figure who informs the arcs of Zuko and Azula, while being the obstacle Aang has to overcome to complete his hero’s journey, they are really the most important characters in the show. So this scene, unique to the entire series, offers up a number of intriguing moments. The first comes with a useful insight into Azula’s villainy, with her carefully chosen attack on Iroh demonstrating her quick and cool thinking: she knows exactly how to play the situation when cornered. Thesecond comes after her sneak attack on Iroh, when Aang, Katara, Toph, and Zuko all combine an attack on Azula: for a brief moment, members of all four nations are united in fighting the Fire Nation’s royal family. But most significant is the way the scene is a demonstration of the season and the series’ careful structure. In this moment, as the series reaches its halfway point, the seven most influential characters in the show come together, before once again heading off in their separate directions.
And so the episode ends with the final shot of the Gaang collapsing to sleep, exhausted. They have come through an intense emotional experience right in the eye of the narrative storm, and have earned the chance to pause, and rest.
End of Part Twenty Six.
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