11/9/20 - Book 2: Chapters 9-12
Book 2: Earth
Part 3 - The Episodes that Locked Me In
As I’ve reiterated, for a large part of Avatar’s airing, I just caught reruns, and I kind of passively kept up with the show. Going off Harry Potter as a roadmap, I recognized even then how utterly lonnnng it would take for Aang to finally confront his Final Boss (the Fire Lord) and save the world (if the show wasn’t cancelled first). My younger self just didn’t have the attention span to stay invested.
But then came “The Fury of Aang” and “The Secret of the Fire Nation,” in the summer of 2006.
“Very Special Episodes,” have been a facet of network television since well before I was born, but it was around this time that new Avatar episodes became an event for Nickelodeon.
In the grand scheme of the show, Fury (“The Library” and “The Desert”) and Secret (“The Serpent’s Pass” and “The Drill”* (*coming next week); while epic on their own, do a lot of table setting for the latter half of Book 2 and the latter half of the show as a whole. In standard three-act structure, there is usually included “the midpoint,” - an event to shake up the status quo and wake up the audience - these episodes come at the precise midpoint of ATLA.
There are quite a few of these paradigm shifts across the episodes I’m covering this week - Aang becomes an earthbender, the cast (and the audience) learns of the impending Day of Black Sun - a chance to strike at the Fire Nation; the gang loses Appa; and Zuko and Iroh’s flight to the anonymity of Ba Sing Se to name a few changes.
Furthermore, these episodes provide a showcase of new locales in the worldbuilding of the Avatar world; the stark, rugged beauty of Misty Palms Oasis and the Si Wong desert; the mysterious grandeur of Wan Shi Tong’s library, and the colorful odyssey that is the Gaang’s final push across the Serpent’s Pass to Ba Sing Se.
It takes a lot to keep an eleven year old’s attention and the revelations, action, adventure and sheer creativity of these episodes transformed me from a passive fan of Avatar to actively keeping tabs on when new episodes were airing; but before I get ahead of myself, let’s take a closer look at the episodes in question, shall we?
2.9 - Bitter Work
There is a running theme in the show of earthbenders in canyons - first the Canyon Guide in “The Great Divide,”; now Toph teaches Aang in a smaller gorge
Toph’s “Goooooooood morning,” to Aang tracks well with her stadium roots - its sounds like a standard wrestling emcee greeting
Aang’s self-termed earthbending forms include “Rockalanche,” “The Trembler,” and “Land Whirlpool”
I always love the bending education episodes - so much excellent philosophy woven in - earthbending’s principles emphasize a direct, stubborn approach - precisely antithetical to Aang
I believe one of the x-factors with bending is focusing your chi in the way needed for the bending style or move you’re trying to achieve - it is not only about physical strength and movement - it’s about getting your spirit in the right “alignment” as it were.
Watching the show as a kid, I didn’t take note of how much time they spent in Book 2 working on Iroh’s backstory with Lu Ten - I believe this episode is the only time we see a proper memory of Iroh and his son (outside of stills seen in “The Beach”); young Lu Ten is voiced by Mae Whitman (Katara).
Zuko’s bad tea is a nice comedic moment to undercut the seriousness of Iroh’s condition.
“No. She’s crazy and she needs to go down.”
The staples of Toph’s earthbending training include carrying boulders, sand-punching, horse stance practice, seismic sense training, earth dummy tug-of-war, and stone kettlebells.
“You do not command [the lightning], you are simply it’s humble guide.” - Like Jeong Jeong, I think Iroh is one of a short list of firebenders who appreciate the destructive capability of their bending style.
To the note of chi and energy focus, Iroh explicitly states that it is Zuko’s inner turmoil that prevents him from generating lightning. He is never seen to achieve it onscreen, but I wonder if a more mellowed, older Zuko ever managed it.
“Pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source. True humility is the only antidote to shame.”
I really like Katara and Aang’s brief scene in the pond - it’s a nice case for a balanced approach in training in any new skill - nurturing vs. hard line.
To the note of good scenes - Iroh’s four elements lesson is another one of my favorite quiet scenes across the show - it is powerful in emphasizing strength in diversity and encouraging diversity within one’s self.
The art book refers to Foo Foo Cuddlypoop’s mother as the “Saber-Toothed Moose Lioness.”
“What are you crazy? Lightning is very dangerous.”
Another animation development detail - I notice that a lot of Aang’s airbending in Book 1 is colored white and blue-teal; from Book 2 on it tends to be colored in more a white and grey, which for me somehow translates to “more realistic” for this fantasy-magic show.
I appreciate Toph does precisely the bare minimum to heft Sokka out of his hole.
God, Zuko’s a dramatic bitch - literally defying the forces of nature to strike him down. He goes through a lot more work to become his more complete self, but I really feel like this is about his lowest point.
2.10 - The Library
The Gaang taking “mini-vacations” underlines their lack of a set destination at this time in the season, unlike the constant push to the North Pole in Book 1. The revelations in this episode come at just the right time to give the party a new prerogative before they start to become aimless.
The Misty Palms Oasis - the creative crew’s chance to make their own Mos Eisley Spaceport.
To make their own unique spin on the “dusty trading post,” the creative team drew from a unique array of real world sources - the Oasis is similar to Xinjiang, a multicultural region in northwest China with significant Muslim cultural influence.
Architectural elements of the Misty Palms Oasis seem to be directly drawn from the Xinjiang oasis cities of Kashgar and Turpan.
The clothing of people in the town include traditionally Arab elements (such as veils, hijabs, and taqiyahs.
The fantasy fruit smoothie Professor Zei orders has always looked so delicious; I also appreciate the absurdity of a dual sword wielder applying that skill to fruit drinks.
Wan Shi Tong’s library is the latest of a long list of iconic locations in Avatar; I always eagerly anticipated this episode coming back in rotation for cable reruns because I could never get enough of exploring this space.
Toph doesn’t get a vacation because of seniority. When does she get health insurance?
Chekov’s sandbenders (mind you, generally - what a creative and interesting extension of earthbending).
“There it is! That’s what it will sound like when one of you spots it.” Again I commend the tasteful blind jokes.
I would be sincerely interested in learning more about the origins of the Library - like, when Wan Shi Tong brought it into the physical world, did he initially put it in the desert? Was the Si Wong Desert always even a desert? Or did he put the Library somewhere not easily accessible as something of a gauntlet for seekers of knowledge?
“My life’s ambition is now full of sand! Well, time to start excavating!”
“I’ve held books before, and I got to tell you, they don’t really do it for me.”
The exterior of the Library is clearly enough a riff on the Taj Mahal; but the interior always takes my breath away - it’s gorgeous, eerie, and completely unique to anything we’ve seen in this world so far. It feels simultaneously totally inviting and unnervingly sinister.
Wan Shi Tong himself is all of those elements incarnate. He is a far cry from evil, but won’t hesitate to destroy his own collection to kill people who betray his trust. He is a simple-enough base design but his unsettling, strange, booming voice (that distinctly doesn’t sync up with the movements of his beak) lends him a menace that proves well-earned when he turns violent to the party.
“Wan Shi Tong” is actually Mandarin for the spirit’s title, “He who knows ten thousand things.” “Ten thousand things” is a taoistic expression meaning all creation - so WST’s name/title literally means “all knowing.”
WST’s forms of owl and snake resemble “wise animals” in different cultures - the owl (western mythos, ex: Greco-Roman) and the serpent (eastern mythos, ex: Chinese).
For me personally, Wan Shi Tong reminds me of Old Brown from Beatrix Potter’s “The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin,” - look up her illustrations it’s dead on.
Aang finds a scroll of a lion turtle in the Library. Remember that now.
Even as a military tactic, it strikes me as particularly heinous that firebenders (probably Zhao) burned Wan Shi Tong’s archives on the Fire Nation. Book burning is always bad.
After all this time I desperately want to know about the “Darkest Day” in Fire Nation history; The Shadow of Kyoshi barely scratches the surface of domestic Fire Nation history.
The planetarium is a deceptively simple design; the Art of book details how the animation team had to effectively create a unique fantasy clockwork to create the location, blending 3D and 2D animation elements.
I pored over astronomy books in my childhood and I geeked out so hard when I realized eclipses were gonna have such a big role in the show.
“Mortals are so predictable,” I really appreciate the group’s confrontation with Wan Shi Tong. Avatar explores the messy moral greys of war, and isn’t content to simply write good guys and bad guys - the show provides active evidence of humanity in the Fire Nation and monstrousness in the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes. Wan Shi Tong’s impartiality helps call into question the moral righteousness of the party and the war in general, and hopefully inspires the show’s audience to be more reflective on the costs and consequences of real world conflicts.
Okay - perhaps one of the most overlooked of Toph’s earthbending feats - she single handedly holds back what is effectively a god from pulling a Taj Mahal sized building into another dimension. Legendary.
However: “I’m sorry Appa” :’(
Wan Shi Tong jabs that Katara’s waterbending “won’t do much good here,” as he’s studied every waterbending style - Sokka knocks him out before we can learn, but i wonder - what can he do to counter bending…
As is revealed in Legend of Korra, Professor Zei does indeed stay in the Library for the rest of his life.
As the Gaang flies out of the tower into the light of day, it really underscores the dichotomy of the mysterious, spooky, supernatural space; and the stark, barren, “real” world.
“Where’s Appa?” - My HEART.
2.11 - The Desert
Tragedy of the situation aside - Toph got no eyebrows in that opening shot.
With the return of the Rough Rhinos, we get what I believe is the first mention of Iroh’s moniker of “The Dragon of the West.”
“Hmm… old friends that don’t want to attack me...” - What is Iroh’s LIFE?
How do we do a drug trip scene in a kid’s show? Cactus juice. (Sokka’s trip has big Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas energy).
Apparently hallucinogenic cactuses are real - that’s what peyote is?! Peyote cactuses and their mind-altering properties have a long history of medicinal and ritualistic use by native North American peoples.
We don’t know precisely how long the Gaang spends in the desert from their initial departure from the Oasis, but a man Xin Fu questions says he saw Toph leave “a few days ago,” (this informant could also be lying…).
This is the first time we’ve seen Xin Fu and Master Yu since “The Blind Bandit” (four episodes ago), and it is the last time we’ll see them till the season finale.
Katara’s maternal nature is sometimes handwaved away if not openly mocked by the fandom - her taking charge in the desert when everyone succumbs to their own brand of despair/despondency is a testament to her strength - a reminder she’s 14.
Aang’s depression and anger in this episode is completely understandable if tragic to see play out - after the cosmic shift in his life of losing his entire culture, Appa is the one link he has to his past and his people.
This episode sees the formal (if discreet and secretive) introduction of the Order of the White Lotus to the audience. Iroh’s contact at the Misty Palms cantina is named Fung.
“I never thought I’d miss the taste of mud so much.”
Sand-sailers are a wonderfully creative travel solution for the sandbenders.
“You must forgive my nephew… he has little appreciation for the cryptic arts.” - I appreciate desperately that Iroh leans this hard into the dramatics of the White Lotus.
The “magnetic center of the desert” as Katara dubs it is simply known as the Si Wong Rock. It is indeed composed of a magnetic ore that allows the sandbenders to navigate the desert via the compasses on their sailers.
“Maybe we can find some sandbenders…” - It’s upsetting to see Aang as threatening.
Buzzard wasps are likely in part inspired by vulture bees - real world bees that create honey from rotten meat as opposed to flower nectar. Isn’t nature terrifying?
Speaking of terrifying - retaliating against the buzzard wasp that captures Momo is the first time Aang deliberately takes life and it’s dark for a kid’s show.
While the Gaang seems to hold its own pretty well against the buzzard wasps, it’s the sandbenders who ultimately repulse them when they arrive at the rock.
The White Lotus explicitly gets passports for Zuko and Iroh - explaining how they get past the ticket matron at Full Moon Bay.
While they are colloquially known as simply “sandbenders,” the formal name for the collective desert peoples is the “Si Wong Tribes.”
The Tribe’s dress and culture appear to be derived from the Tuareg people of North Africa.
The leader of the sandbenders who confront the party is Sha-Mo; his son Gashuin is the leader of the group that captured Appa.
I appreciate that the posters Xin Fu and Yu have depict Book 1 Zuko and Iroh - it feels like such a long time since they looked like their “Wanted” profiles.
“Some unlucky soul has an incomplete Pai Sho set.” - Yu’s voice is just delightful. His VA, Sab Shimono, is a Japanese-American actor with an extensive background in theatre, film, and television; in Avatar, he also voices Monk Gyatso - I personally also recognize him from Samurai Jack and as the voice of “Mr. Sparkle” on The Simpsons.
“You muzzled Appa?!” - **Kyoshi take the wheeeeeeeel**
Toph has a particularly stunned reaction to Aang’s fury; this is her first encounter with the Avatar State.
I didn’t get Katara’s look at the end here, as a kid. She’s not weepy, she’s not frantic to calm Aang down - she’s just utterly broken. She’s expended everything she has to get the group to safety, and now - justifiably - Aang is on the verge of potentially killing these people in a fit of rage beyond his control. She doesn’t beg; she doesn’t scream - she just silently pleads with everything she has to bring Aang back from the edge. As a kid, I didn’t appreciate what a powerful moment of compassion this was.
2.12 - The Serpent’s Pass
As the group plots their path to Ba Sing Se, Sokka says the group “just got out of the desert,”; in airing, “The Library” and “The Desert” were both released in July 2006; this episode premiered the following September. As an 11-year old, that was forever.
The Serpent’s Pass bears resemblance to the real-life La Coupée - a narrow isthmus that connects the Channel Islands of Sark and Little Sark.
I appreciate the creative team playing the long game; a reminder - the refugees the group travels with in this episode (Ying, Than, and Than’s sister) are the same group Zuko almost robbed in “Zuko Alone.”
Mind you, I furthermore appreciate the creative team for putting such a spotlight on the plight and humanity of refugees in this show. This episode is hardly the first to feature refugees in a major role, but - what with the heartless, Byzantine bureaucracy of the admission process - it had yet to be put in as stark relief as it is here.
To that end - the establishing shots of the tent cities in the ferry cavern are challenging imagery particularly in the midst of the Trump administration.
In brazen contrast:
“Who would’ve thought after all these years, I’d return to the scene of my greatest military disgrace - as a tourist!” - Bless. Mako.
This episode marks the third and penultimate appearance of the Cabbage Merchant, seeing his livelihood destroyed by the cruel heel of agricultural bureaucracy.
Register of Cool Minor Character - The Passport Attendant: Yeah, this woman is needlessly cruel and dismissive; but what’s her story - she’s so one-note I find her kind of fascinating? She’s an adorable, bitchy, stick-in-the-mud.
“I get fifty Avatars a day!” - But… Aang can prove who he is… with bending?
In their group shot of the fake Avatars, the “Aang” second from the left is directly inspired by Michael Dante DiMartino’s Halloween costume of Aang.
The glider held by the boy second from the right bears resemblance to the “Aang’s Battle Staff Glider Toy.”
Toph’s BDE in this scene: “It is your pleasure,” “...My seeing eye lemur.” - Queen.
Again to the long game - Oyaji mentions the Kyoshi Warrior’s departure back in “Avatar Day” - this is Suki’s first appearance since her debut, over a season ago.
“I’m doing fine,” - Aang’s mood swings are again, justified; but keeping himself at a distance like this is obviously unhealthy and sad to watch.
It seems like a plot device, but Ying & Co. getting robbed is sadly true to the reality of refugee life.
Underway on the Serpent’s Pass, Suki mentions the Fire Nation is working on “something big” on the western side of the lake - I suppose it’s implied to be the Drill? It’s never explicitly confirmed I don’t think?
Aang can single handedly repulse Fire Nation trebuchet projectiles - without the Avatar State - is that overpowered?
“I know sometimes it hurts more to hope, and it hurts more to care, but you have to promise me you won’t stop caring.” - Katara is good mom-friend :’)
Sokka and Suki almost kiss when they make camp on the Pass; Sokka backs out, alluding to Yue - beneath both the glow of the moon, and beneath a rock formation that resembles a (crude) moon gate.
Going off her outburst from Iroh incorrectly calling her a girl, the LGBTQ+ community has read the possibility for Smellerbee of Jet’s Freedom Fighters to be transgender - a trans woman specifically. I’m always for more diverse representation, so I welcome this headcanon.
“I believe people can change their lives if they want to. I believe in second chances.” - Bless Iroh.
Their joint sea-parting, air pocket maneuver is a testament to just how far Katara and Aang have come as waterbenders in half a season.
The Serpent is actually a design from the unaired Avatar pilot; I’m glad the creators found a place to weave it into the main show.
“Just because I live near the Unagi doesn’t mean I’m an expert!” - Sokka, don’t be racist about sea monsters.
“Oh, Sokka, you saved me!” **Kiss** “Actually, it’s me.” “Oh, you can go ahead and let me drown now.” - Bless Toph
Much like in the desert, I appreciate Katara taking charge when it comes to helping Ying with her baby.
Ying’s daughter, Hope, was originally going to be named Xi Wang - “Hope” in Chinese. Her name was amended to the English rendition to make its meaning clear to Avatar’s primarily English-speaking audience.
“I thought I was being strong, but really I was just running away from my feelings,” - POSITIVE MASCULINITY LADS. Reflect and understand your feelings.
Finally, Ba Sing Se… and the Drill. (**Fire Nation theme intensifies**)
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History & Culture Corner: Real World Cactus Juice
There are a number of real-world inspirations for this set of episodes I am eager to learn more about - the Xinjiang region of China and the Tuareg people of North Africa to name a few - but I have to talk about the inspiration for Sokka’s “cactus juice” - peyote.
Peyote was always one of the more obscure drugs that I vaguely knew came from the American southwest/Mexican region of the continent. The peyote cactus more precisely grows in southern Texas, and in Mexico; in the scrub of the Sierra Madre mountain range, Chinuauan Desert, and a number of Mexican states.
Peyote has an ancient history in this part of the world - archaeological remnants of peyote are radiocarbon dated back to 3780-3660 BCE, indicating indigenous American populations likely used peyote as many as 5,500 years ago. Specific tribes recorded to use peyote in medicinal and spiritual capacities include the Huichol of northern Mexico, and the Tonkawa, Mescalero, and Lipan Apache - natives of territory north of present-day Mexico, who introduced the cactus to other tribes who traveled to the southwest from the plains.
Religious and spiritual use of peyote amongst native populations may date back over 2,000 years. Its use saw a resurgence in the “Native American Church” - a hybrid of indigenous and Chrisitian religious practices - as part of a revival movement in native spirituality. It wasn’t until the late 19th century that peyote came to the scientific attention of European colonizers, who studied both the drug’s effects and place within indigenous cultures. It is furthermore documented that Texas Rangers captured by the Union during the American Civil War would - lacking alternative intoxicants - got high off the plant.
Today, peyote is a Schedule I controlled substance under US federal law, however exceptions exist for Native religious use, and exceptions for other uses exist in some American states.
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We’ve made it to Ba Sing Se! And we’re over halfway through Book 2! Next week, we confront the Drill, we finally enter the biggest city in the world, and we continue the search for Appa…
Looking forward to it - until then, be well, be safe, and may the Force be with you,
- JMC