For Carlie and Ange. This is just some info about "the tales of ba sing se" . The image of iroh's son is the picture of Young Mako when he served at millitary. Mako, himself was a soldier. The episode itself recorded while Mako sick (many people believed that "crack" on his voice while singing was because of him holding himself not to cry).
Before Iroh sang to his son, he provided support to a toddler, a group of boys, and a young man. Basically acting as a father to males in three stages of llife.
@@omarctit’s not garbage cause it’s woke, it’s just garbage shows. Matrix was a woke saga but everybody see it as a masterpiece and if you take the “woke” out of it the thing just collapse. There are good producers and bad ones. Simply.
Everybody's talking about how sad Iroh's bit is, but no one seemed to notice Zuko's date putting together the fact that he was a Firebender in just a few seconds. She wonders how he lit everything up so fast, then glances to his scar, then immediately drops it as to be respectful. The writing in this show was on another level.
@@ArasRud She clearly noticed. A guy with a burn scar that lights an entire square's worth of lantern in just a few seconds? You'd have to be an idiot to not notice.
@@Zac_Frost we are not mind readers :))) I am just saying she never showed any signs that she picked up on that in the comics. She still thought he was part of circus. I think she is just clueless/naive, not an idiot necessary.
The part I never got until recently about the Iroh episode: The structure is built around the idea of Iroh honoring his lost son by trying to make the world a better place. It literally does this by having Iroh be a mentor and parent figure to strangers who track the life of a son. First he sings a song to soothe a baby. Then he teaches some young boys about honour but also self-preservation. Then he teaches a young man combat skills and gives him life advice to choose a better path because he's not suited for his hard life. It all becomes a sobering, tear-jerking moment when you realise that his son Lu Ten died a soldier. Iroh's tribute to his son is a letter Lu Ten sent to him. It reads: "To General Iroh. See you after we win the war. Your loyal son, Lu Ten." If only Iroh could have cared for his son. If only he could've taught him that honour is good but it's not worth putting yourself in danger. If only he'd realised his son could've pursued a different job instead of violence. If only...
Iroh helped a person from each stage of life. A young child, a teenager and an adult. Which makes the line “I wish I could have helped you my son” hit so much more because his life was cut short.
One of my personal favorite episodes everyones mini tale is great and as someone inspired greatly by Iroh this episode always makes me tear up. From what I remember the picture of Iroh's son is actually a drawing of Mako Iwamatsu when he was younger. I will always remember Mako and his fantastic performance. Truly one of a kind. Seeing Zuko awkward going on a date was also incredible.
I love that Katara/Toph get a story about acceptance and feeling comfortable in your own skin, Iroh breaks our hearts, Aang gets a story about helping animals... and Sokka has a rap battle.
Sokka is such a fascinating character. There's so many ways they could have ruined his character but they didn't and his growth is up there with the best of them. Elite writing
I also like the Toph episode cause it shows another side of her, She’s always putting on a ‘Tough’ front. Like, “Yh I’m blind, why would I care how I look?”. But she does care, of course what those girls said hurt. Katara reassuring her was icing on the cake.
You did hear Iroh's new VA in this episode. When he's with the kids in the alleyway telling them to take responsibility, but not this time, that's Greg Baldwin. He does a really good job, but it's noticeable if you're listening for it. With the exception of those lines, Mako provides Iroh's voice for the rest of season 2, however. If I'm remembering right, the picture used for Lu Ten is taken from a picture of Mako when he was young.
16:57 The hill and tree appear in a flashback a couple minutes into B2E9: 'Bitter Work', but from a different angle so the city itself is hidden. In the flashback smoke is rising from the siege and a younger Iroh is crying, saying 'My beloved Lu Ten, I will see you again'.
The picture of his son is actually a picture of Iroh's VA and he sang that song soon after finding out he had terminal cancer, so those tears were real
Never trust anyone who isn't destroyed by the end of Iroh's tale. Almost 20 years later and I still get choked up. Also, fun piece of trivia, the portrait of Iroh's son is actually based on a photo of the voice actor of Iroh, from when he was a young man. Also, the voice actor for Zuko, Dante Dasco, said that Mako's death always hit him hard, because Mako and he had played father and son a number of times in different parts, so seeing Mako get sick from cancer and then pass on was quite a blow for him.
I'm so glad Ange keeps pointing that out for Aang, him killing the ant was the first time we've seen him killing anything intentionally. It was completely out of character. The ant was flying away, there was no need to go further, but he killed it.
Exactly! It's an incredibly important part of Aangs personal character arc but also his arc as an Avatar still finding his way etc. Huge moment in the show that sometimes is to easily overlooked or forgotten. It's his first kill.
I think this is one of my favorite moments with Zuko for this season because it really shows a lot about his character. I think he really liked Jin, what he didn’t like was that he was lying to her. And that’s not something you can develop a relationship out of.
Everyone's got their act together until the leaves start falling from the vine. This is one of the few scenes in media that make me cry every single time I come back to it.
I was a child when Iroh's episode made me cry, i'm in my 20's and Iroh's tale makes me cry and i know i'll be in complete shambles for as long as i live everytime i hear that song. Iroh is such a good role model for young men to look up to, legitemately. He's both soft, caring and kind and will only use violence when all other measures have truly been exhausted. GOAT.
I haven't seen this episode in so long, and I can't believe they would put Iroh so early in the episode. It hit just as hard even though I saw it almost 20 years ago
Rather than battling with guilt, I think that Zuko hasn’t completely come to terms with his situation. The pain of being utterly rejected by his family is still raw for him. He can’t relinquish the desire to go home, to gain his father’s approval. He is now being forced to live in Ba Sing Se when his heart is not in it. And even though it’s been years since his banishment he has not completely dealt with the trauma, grief etc of his father scarring him. He has too much baggage and right now is not in the right headspace for a relationship. With all of that said, he genuinely enjoyed her company for the night. Even though it didn’t work out, I enjoyed seeing Zuko getting out of his comfort zone to momentarily distract him from his struggles by just living life.
So as to the "why does this episode exist," I believe it was just a happy coincidence of them having some storylines they wanted to pursue but not really having anywhere to put them, and them having an extra episode slot to do with what they wanted. So it became a series of little vignettes showcasing each of our main characters. And I personally think it was an extremely smart decision. A lot of the time when you have an action-packed, story-dense series of episodes, it can become difficult to really showcase character growth and remind people of who your characters are. This provides them an easy, mostly story-free avenue to really just showcase the characters that this narrative is built on. Also, this may or may not just be internet lore, but in the DVD extras for Book 2 they say that the song Iroh sings to his son's grave was the last thing Mako recorded for the show before passing between Books 2 and 3. Some people dispute this, but it apparently comes from the show's creators themselves. Either way, an amazing performance. I cry every time.
This is it. This is the episode I've heard so much about. I cried a little just hearing about it and the voice actor 😢 I heard this was one of his last voiceovers before his own death. It was a farewell in more than one way.
@@kaitlynwickham6237 it is the bag he bought in the same episode, before they met Toph. Which Aang also used (placed some of Appa's hair) to split Azula from his friends.
@@lukedevilux5447 That's really cool. I know they do a great job of carrying over small details into future episodes, but I never realized that Sokka's bag was one of them.
Yes, you've seen that tree before, when he was shot by Azula, he had a flashback of him playing with his son, and then another one mourning his death by that same tree, now in this episode it is shown that the tree is in Ba Sing Se, which means, that flashback showed us that this is the place where Lu Ten was buried, and Iroh went to see him one more time after soooo many years for his birthday 💔
To rub salt into the wound, the portrait of Lu Ten is based on Mako at a younger age and the inscription translates, "General Iroh, I will see you again when victory is obtained. Your loyal son, Lu Ten." It is speculated that this was the last correspondence between Iroh and his son before Lu Ten's death in the Siege of Ba Sing Se.
On top of everything that everybody has said I would like to call out Dee Bradley Baker, who voices all the animals in this show. He manages to put real emotion in Momo, Appa, and their whole relationship without ever uttering a word. Now that's talent. Long Fengs' voice was done by Clancy Brown, who is known among many other things as mr. Krabs in Spongebob...
I heard that Mako cried during the studio recording of this scene because everyone in the room was crying because they all knew it would be his last time recording Iroh.
Iroh’s story hits hard but the most heartbreaking for me was Momo’s. Just him trying to keep a piece of Appa’s fur with him reminds me of when I find fur from my cats that have passed away. 😭
Having watched this episode before, I just start crying when Iroh sings at the beginning of the episode. It's like... "oh no, I remember... I can feel it already"
The single most important event in that world was the death of Iroh’s son. It changed Iroh profoundly and set him on the right path ; To see people as people, to be excepting of everyone and everything and make a change for the better without hate.
Azula said that “a real general would have burned the city to the ground” to take revenge for his son’s death. Iroh did the opposite. He showed them kindness and compassion.
@chance1774 No. At the start of his segment, Momo found the hair and wrapped it around his arm. The cat took the hair from Momo and ran to the footprint.
Last episode, that creepy woman said that the boomer-aang squad is supposed to wait for a month and a half. This episode is supposed to be an average waiting at Ba Sing Se. I don't think that they spent that full month and a half but spent atleast a part of it.
In appa lost days, it's says 4 weeks ago or a month from library episode. So in desert, serpent past, the drill, and in tale of ba sing se they spent 4 weeks, that's mean they in ba sing se less than a month.
@@gsintampalam Great point! Well, they spent only a few days stuck in the desert. But there seemed to be a timeskip (say a week) between that and serpent's path; you can see Aang being furious in one episode and aloof in another. Then, serpent's path and drill took only around 2-2.5 days. So, around 2-3 weeks then.
The purpose of this Chapter within the overarching plot is to demonstrate that there's been a month's time-skip between the Gaang's arrival in Bah Sing Se and where we next pick up the plot.
I think Sokka's tale is also a great look into how Sokka has grown and changed as a character. Because he's kind of the butt of so many jokes, we tend to forget that he starts the show as a very serious guy with a lot of expectation and responsibility on his shoulders. He's the only warrior in the village with no one to show him how to grow up as a man in his culture and he's hyper-vigilant waiting for an attack from the Fire Nation like the attack that killed Sokka and Katara's mom. Remember, he spends much of those early episodes completely focused on the practicality of their next meal, trying to convince Aang to stay on track traveling north, and trying to prove himself as a warrior (like on Kyoshi Island and at the North Pole). As the show goes on and all the kids start to change and grow, Sokka starts to become the funny, personable guy who can bring people together and see their strengths. The Sokka we see in Ba Sing Se doesn't feel like he has to be some big, bad warrior like he did in Book 1; he's at a point in his growth that he's willing to learn some new things just because it seems fum and doesn't seem to mind making himself look foolish while doing it.
I was waiting for this episode, even though Iroh singing "Leaves From the Vine" always makes me tearbend. So, don't worry Carlie, you weren't alone. Next episode is gonna be another emotional one, they hit you with two back to back. Oh and that part with the Colossal Titan being edited in was hilarious! 😂 It made me laugh after I had just cried, so props to the editor.
17:12 yeah you have seen this tree or a similiar one at least, when azula knocked out Iroh he kinda dreamed about playing with his son near a tree that looks like that (I don't think it's the same tree just because this is ba sing se so he probably wasn't there with his son)
Ange seems to remember more than originaly thought no? Remembering Mako was the passed away voice actor or when he said thats not how we will be re introduced with appa?
There's always been something about Sokka's story that's just so incredibly funny to me. I don't know if it's the timing or the expressions or some combination of lots of things, but it gets me every time.
Mako had finished recording fit book 2 before he passed. You do get a sampling of the new voice actor in the scene where the kids break the window in tales of Iroh. Greg Baldwin voiced Iroh in that scene. Then takes over full time in book 3.
The voice actor behind Iroh's character was actually genuinely emotional singing that song because Mako knew he was dying from cancer and wrote this song. Also another Easter egg was that the drawing of Iroh's son on the grave was drawn with a picture of Mako as a young man as reference.
What I love about Iroh's tale is that it shows him being a parent at various stages of young men's lives. First comforting the crying toddler, then giving a lesson about taking responsibility (and avoiding a fight) to older boys, then finally a young man confused in life.
One thing I see a lot is people forgetting that Zuko’s reluctance to open up romantically isn’t just because of his situation, but also because the show has hinted repeatedly that Zuko and Mai have been to some degree involved since they were younger, and he’s probably very conflicted over his feelings for Mai, and trying to reconcile those with the thought that he may never see her again and as such trying to potentially move on.
The best part about Katara telling Toph that she thinks she’s pretty is that Toph can tell when people are lying. Obviously she doesn’t feel like katara is lying
I think this episode is extremely important after the episode 14 It shows brighter side of Ba Sing Se, it's not just a prison, good things happen here and you need to remind everyone that it deserved to be protected from the Fire Nation.
Obviously Iroh's tale is the one I resonated with the most, I could feel Iroh's pain. It was such a massive whiplash. To see this man who is a mountain of joy absolutely break down. Also yes, the same song having two different meanings based on the tone in which it is sung was a brilliant touch. Also I remember seeing someone explain that the Tale of Iroh was basically Iroh helping people at different stages of their life, from childhood to adults. He is the perfect father figure.
I think this episode perfectly encapsulates this show in its entirety in just the 22 minutes or whatever. It’s funny, sad, wholesome, etc. It makes it clear the kind of messages, emotions, and fun they want to have in telling this story.
