Zuko's like a recovering addict. He's on the mend... and then Azula dangles the drug in front of his nose talking about honor and getting to go home and earning his father's respect again. It was too tempting for him to resist. An addict has to WANT to change for any real growth to happen.
Azula being the only person to not let the power up go through still remains iconic to this day. Also let’s acknowledge that Katara and Toph are true bending prodigies with Katara becoming a master able to handle Azula in under a year and Toph inventing metal bending within a few days of being captured 💪🏽 they’re built different
There is fan fiction that Katara, or even Yue, were supposed to be the next Avatar. They are from the Water Tribe-next in the cycle. Katara is crazy strong, just and has an undying urge to help people. Yue was born of the Water Tribe "asleep" like her body was missing something.
@ IamnotJohnFord that makes no sense. The reincarnation cycle occurs immediately upon death, the next avatar could not be born until Aang died. If Aang died 100 years ago Yue and Katara would not have been born; if Aang died now, they would already be almost adults.
@@cthulhuwu_ Aang was essentially in suspended animation for a century. The powers that be had human bodies ready for the reincarnation. But, it never happened. Yue was born missing a significant part of herself. It was supplied by a powerful spirit. But, she wasn't a bender. Katara is a very strong bender in the Water Tribe. It's a fan hypothesis that actually makes sense. I kind of like the idea the universe was trying to rebalance itself. Also, infants could have been born like Yue but the moon spirit , or any other spirit, never bonded with them. There could have been infants in what looked like comas born every few years. There would be nothing their healers could do for those kids.
@@IamnotJohnFord I mean, it literally doesn't make sense. If the avatar was killed, history would've gone differently, so different people would exist 100 years later. Not to mention, that reincarnation is the idea that your soul gets recycled. So the fact that Yue and Katara exist already means that they wouldn't have had Aang's soul.
If u re wondering why it's so easy for aang to get a hang of the chakras, it's s because he is possibly the most spiritual of all the avatars, and he's a monk. That's what they do
Contrary to popular belief, Aang is not actually that spiritual. As evident in the Winter Soulstice episodes when Aang explained that he had never contacted the spirit world.
@@MrMoleHole doesn't mean he isn't spiritual, he literally didn't learn any Avatar stuff. But monks are naturally closer to the spirit realm than any race there. So it was just naturally inputted in him. It's so easy for him to enter the Spirit realm when he met ko.
@@MrMoleHolewell that’s very advanced, otherwise as an air nomad he does have a head start of meditation and spiritual training than other avatars whos cultures don’t put as much emphasis on it
@@MrMoleHole don’t forget, aang has arrow tattoos, unlike the other children he was growing up with, but you know who did? The other masters. Aang had completed his spiritual training up to the master level at 12 (or maybe even before that) Edit: I forgot to mention that it is also for completing his air bending training.
I think its brilliant, the way they handled Zuko. He's just a kid, he's young and confused, and he doesnt know what he wants exactly. It would be so easy to just have him completely switch sides but its so much more realistic to do it this way.
@@adonayrivera8684 Honestly, I think leaving without cheating on anyone would have been completely illogical. I mean, here we have a teenager who has experienced trauma as a child. A teenager who lost his only caregiver, who was bullied by his sister and rejected by his father. A teenager who has been taught for years that he is unlovable. That love was not something worth striving for. Who was told that his entire worth depended on catching the Avatar. That he would only achieve everything he ever wanted (to be valued and respected and to have a home) if he caught the Avatar. Yes, maybe the betray was "nuts". But it's logical. A person doesn't change overnight. A person doesn't change because of ONE good decision. For me, this kind of writing, his further behaviour and development makes him an even better, more fleshed out and layered character. :)
@@KeinName-xq7zo What I meant: you can love a character but everyone says that it was cruel. You don’t have to leave a testament to explain that to me because I understand and I won’t read it, later everyone wants Katara forgive him so easy. Come on. That scene was heartbreaking and that’s why she can’t.
Azula came up with and flawlessly executed a plan to conquer Ba Sing Se, turn Zuko, capture Iroh, and kill the Avatar at the drop of a hat. And she even learned about their enemies' invasion plan. Phenomenal villainy.
If you notice when Aang, was falling toward the ground there was a scar on the bottom of his left foot That’s where the electricity came out after being shocked by lightning In real life, lightning always looking for a path out it’s cool how Mike and Bryan kept that in the show
@@trinityhauyne A lot of people seem to hate her. I guess because they wanted a different ship. She's not my favorite of the three girls but that's only because the competition is fierce.
@@KickinthescienceI also prefer Raven over Starfire but I prefer Ty Lee over Mai in ATLA! Don’t get me wrong, Mai is still one of my favorites but Ty Lee’s goofiness and her pressure point punches are insane
Back when this first aired on television, the show went on a hiatus for over a year. It was absolutely devastating to get this gut wrenching season finale and then wait over a year for season 3. Anyway, this finale remains my all time favorite. It’s basically The Empire Strikes Back. The hero “dies” and everything goes as bad as it could for our protagonists, plus we see Zuko undo all the work he’s done for himself. Zuko is a child born in abuse and unfortunately he cannot escape his past in this scene. Its tragic.
Yes, but that’s because iroh voice actor died so they had to adjust some things and that takes time in animation, and they had to find an appropriate voice actor to take over
At 19:09 How can you blame Katara? Throughout the show up until this point Zuko's been only doing horrible things to her and her friends. He invaded her village at the beginning, threatened her people and stole Aang. Burned down Suki's village. Stole her mother's necklace to chase after them and tried to intimidate Katara with it after tying her to a tree. And kidnapped Aang at the North Pole during his most vulnerable and important moment. She's never seen his side of story and he only showed violence throughout their journey. One time she felt sorry for him and tried to heal Iroh after being hurt by Azula, Zuko yelled and firebent at her, making her leave. She has a right to call Zuko a terrible person at this point even if we as viewers have sympathy for him.
the disappointment in Zuko is so real. Thought he would be on Aangs side at the end of season 1, then when he let Appa go, then again when i first seen this episode. I cant lie i love Azula tho, her talking down to Long Feng is one of my favourite scenes. 2 finales down 1 more to go, cant wait for season 3 ❤️
I think Zuko wasn't putting on a show for Iroh with his attitude at the beginning. Finding the Avatar and restoring his honor has been the equivalent to a drug addiction for him. He was in recovery. I believe he meant it. But he was too fresh in recovery and Azula presented him with his drug and he caved.
REAL! We didn't even know an approximate airdate until I think the very end of May at a ComicCon?? And to make matters worse, there was a several month hiatus between the first half and second halves of book 3. They gave us so many specials and marathons during Book 2's run only to deprive us later lol
Such a great finale. I remember when I first watched the series I was surprised that Nickelodean allowed the writers to have such a downer ending for a finale. Between Zuko stumbling backwards on the progress he's made, Aang getting blasted out of the sky and the Earth Kingdom falling to a coup, it really raises the stakes going into Book 3.
The way you said “thank god you didn’t use it on that piece of ..” 🎉🎉 bruh we all felt it. So mad about Zuko. He’s been given so many chances. He was happy but he still hadn’t chosen a path.
Earth King saying "The Earth Kingdom has fallen" still gives me chills to this day with the background music, Katara holding Aang and the shot of Ba Sing Se being left behind.
remember in the forest episode when aang tracked appa and momo with their energy or whatever? or when appa met the guru, he read appa’s energy to track where aang was? i think that’s how aang knew katara was in trouble, he was focusing real hard on her in that moment after all
I really enjoy your reactions to the show. You two just get so many of the hints and references. Also, you remembered the thing with dying in the avatar state. Next season has two two partners. Please don't split them across different seasons. Same with the 4 part finale, it's basically written and paced like a feature film and should be enjoyed as such.
12:50 Love the parallels between Aang rushing to save Katara and not completing his training to Luke leaving Yoda to save Leia. Also interesting this happens in Season 2 like 2nd film of the og trilogy, Empire Strikes Back. Ok probably reaching but still cool Dave Filoni was involved in Avatar as well as Stars Wars universe.
The guru is the oldest person in Avatar that we know of other than Kyoshi, even older than Aang technically is. He's 150 in this (Kyoshi lived to be 230, I think there's some ability that she learned that allowed her to live really long but I haven't read her books yet so I don't fully know).
"It's jookt" or the Cantonese word for congee. It's thivk rice soup. My mother would add meats like sliced licer, pig's stomach,, and preserved duck eggs thave congealed withe a black egg white and a gray yolk. This was invented before fridges so eggs can be eatev in winter,. Then she sliced fresh ginger into toothpicks to be added upon eaten with the soup. Lastly, there's Chinese fried bread or fried ghost. They'two airy fried bread which one split and then into bite size pieces into the soup so they stay crunchy.
Azula is such a brilliant villain, one of my fav characters of all time. When she sayed "The firenation has hammered on Ba Sing Se's walls for 100 years from the outside, but we are on the inside" She copied the tactics of her enemy. "Destroy it from the inside" like Team Avatar did with the drill, very smart move 👏
The lightning exit wound on the bottom of his foot even has great continuity. If you keep an eye out for it in future episodes, you can sometimes see the bottom of his foot and the scar is there.
It's also inaccurate. The lighting wouldn't exit anywhere because Aang was not grounded. He was in the air. He should have been like a bird on a wire. But hey, it's a kids show so I won't fault it too much .
Another mature topic for this show: addiction. Zuko is an addict. He is addicted to capturing the Avatar and restoring his honor. He is addicted to getting his father's love. He made the choice to let Appa go free, which essentially was the first step in freeing himself of his addictions. He went through withdrawal and recovery. He got clean. But Azula is the dealer who says, "Hey, just one more little bump for old times' sake, right?" She dangled his hopes, his deepest desires, that "one more fix I promise it'll be the best and everything you hoped for" temptation right in front of him...and he relapsed. Textbook addict behavior. "Kids' show" my ass.
Dude, can you imagine if they went with their initial plan to watch tho OG tv show and the new live action show at the same time?? Thank god they decided to watch all of the animated series first lol
the very first time katara had to do one on one with azula and i love the way azula very shocked with how much versatile waterbender is. im sure azula never ever thought in her life before that water could cut her hair like that😂
Zuko is like that guy you know that used to drink too much. He goes through detox, then rehab, and has a new cheery outlook on life. It's his first couple of days out of rehab. He's happy and life is all sunshine and roses. But, he has a lifetime of abusing alcohol. And, an old friend offers him a drink during a very stressful time. His relapse was inevitable. Zuko was abused from day one as a child. It's very, very common for abused people to cling to their abusers, and for the abused to think they are simply not good enough. So, he clings to the Fire Nation. But, his internal values of honor, justice and mercy do not align with the cutthroat Fire Nation pseudo-honor and false-loyalty. The moment he speaks up he gets banished to a fool's quest. He starts to change because travel is one of the best educators. He has a genuine moment of doing something good for someone that he considers his enemy-He helps Appa escape to help Aang. It's such a dramatic turn that his spirit and body literally battle each other. It appears that his uncle's influence has finally paid off. And, if he were given a few months to establish a real life it probably would have stuck. But, it's just another mask that Zuko has put on. He wears many masks.
I love yalls reactions to this show. I had the same reaction to zuko the first time i watched but i saw someone point out once that zuko is kinda like a drug addict and his drug of choice is basically capturing aang so his dad will let him go home, and while trying to move on from that azula comes in and drops his drug right at his feet. Seeing it like that helped me understand why he went right back to that. Plus hes still a young guy and tho he has his uncle he just wants his dad to care about him and wants to go home.
It’s hard to see that scene: Katara Crying and holding Aang literally dead due Zuko’s betrayal. Everyone says ohh he’s confused and stuff like that but Honestly that was heartbreaking. When I watched as a kid I remembered that I was so sad and angry 💔🥺
I think the metal bending would’ve been better revealed without the dude saying “even you can’t bend metal”. Straight to the guru’s explanation of the elements would’ve been a smoother transition
But how would a little girl suddenly get the idea she could bend metal if not for that remark? That isn't something a child would attempt. That would be ex machina shit.
Yea It would've been a better reveal Exept for the fact that Toph's capturer saying that is what gives toph the idea to even invent Metalbending. Plus why wouldn't the Guru say "That metal is apart of earth" AANG IS AN EARTHBENDER Too if you forgot 😂
In my opinion, these last two episodes really feel like Empire Strikes Back and I love that! From the training, to leaving early to save loved ones, being warned by the wise master not to leave until training is complete, to the hero ultimately losing in the end and the bad guys claiming a W 🔥🔥🔥
I am sad abt the ending, but it also feels right bcs it felt so out of place when Zuko is suddenly so nice after being sick. It's like he was tricked or under a trance, there is no realization at all. And yeah, the ladies really proved to us how badass they are in this season and the next of course.
This is a reflection of the Empire Strikes Back and honestly ATLA's most underrepresented inspiration is the Star Wars prequels at least their narrative structure, this is exactly what happened to Luke on Bespin after leaving his training under Yoda prematurely and the result is basically the same.
With any incredible growth like Zuko had, there’s gonna be a challenge and test to see if you can stick to the new you. Zuko‘s resolve to be a different kind of man has to be tested so that he knows that it’s true and it actually becomes who he is. It happens to all of us, it’s how we grow. Its also important to remember how young they are, they all have severe trauma and no real role models. They have to figure it all out for themselves or with the help of other children, when most of the stuff they are dealing with they’ve never experienced before. Like navigating friendships and relationships in an adult manner or think of others rather than just themselves. They do a really good job of showing how people grow into adulthood as a team and how supportive that can be. Teenagers am I right? What should I watch you guys watch? I love watching you watch stuff. You guys are great and I’m super pleased to have met you. You make me happy. I would love for you to really understand how awesome you both are and how grateful I am to have found you. You make me really happy. And Bridget is so so pretty. I think of it all the time while watching. Cody, your wife is stunning!
Can we please talk about what cody predicted in this episode that i can not say because it would spoil the ending 😨😨 At the start of the last fight he just said something that will happen at the end, this is actually crazy 🫣
Very much an Empire Strikes back season. Characters get more powerful but the baddies have the upper hand at the end of it all. Zuko gets temped by the Darkside yet again. Great way they kept that tension up until the 2 on 2 fight. I think Zuko was being truthful of sorts at the beginning. More that he gave up any hope of regaining his honor and returning to the Fire Nation. Then Azula came along . . . Be careful what you wish for as you might actually get it. Who will you be then?
As manipulative as she is, Azula actually hardly ever lies to Zuko. He just says that to make himself feel better about all the truths she tells him, like the fact that his dad was very much going to kill him.
Season 3 about to make you both shook with some of the story beats. I don't necessarily blame Zuko here.. he's confused and he just really wants to be accepted by his country and his family.. even though Iroh is the only real family he has :(
So, I didn't catch the show until the *Serpent's Pass* episode b/c I thought it would be super kiddy, but happened to catch it at a friend's house and was hooked. Went back and watched the episodes that came before then was on the weekly schedule. Let me tell you when this episode came out I was sooo hot at Zuko then had to wait 9 MONTHS before the 1st episode of season 3. That made it sooo much worse lol. Kinda like those Naruto fillers for 77-78 episodes. Watching that weekly & waiting for non-filler was a killer lol.
11:40 Because you’re in the middle of a 100 year war and it’s going so bad on the home front that Ba Sing Se is the last holdout. Besides letting go of your attachment to someone isn’t leaving them behind it’s separation of their influence or bias from what you have to do.
does it? then why was sokka so surprised when aang showed up and immediately expected bad news? wasn't one week the exact time aang was supposed to be back? seems to me it's was 3 days at most
I have really enjoyed your reactions to the show so far and am looking forward to book 3. Can we expect it soon or are you taking taking a break break from the show?
Iroh asked Zuko to consider what he truly wants. What Zuko truly wants is to go home and have his father’s love, so he made his choice. On the flip side, I love how the chakra visions match the color of the chakras in real life.
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