omfg maybe THAT's why she cried and ran away? she knew what her destiny was. it wasn't about the arranged marriage... she never cared about that guy. but falling for sokka meant she would hurt someone knew when she gave her life for the moon spirit. same for katara's grandmother. maybe she didn't leave because of the arranged marriage itself. maybe she and paku were friends, and they were actually chill about it. but she left because it was too sexist. we see how it is now, imagine half a century ago. maybe she just always wanted to go to the north, and got arranged to marry her best friend... maybe he loved her, but she only loved him as a friend... there's so much complexity here.
10:59 Gonna stop you right there, bud. Hinata is well established as wanting to become stronger, as her father's abuse destroyed her drive and confidence. It's gone over several times in the series, and her romantic attachment to Naruto is simply a result of his influence on her own resolve.
My theory for why Jeong Jeong thinks water benders who can heal is rare is because he's only ever met male waterbenders due to the sexism in the water tribe.as male water benders are taught to fight instead of heal I'm guessing a male water bender healer would be pretty rare and Jeong Being assuming its rare overall is pretty logical especially since female fire benders do fight meaning he might not even think of sexism being a thing in the water tribe.
@@Ichigo2058But the white lotus doesn't meet very often and in these meetings there might be more pressing topics than "What about the healers of your tribe Paku?".
Sokka's annoyance with Appa's low-flying makes a lot of sense as they are having a hard time finding the Northern Water tribe. Just go a couple hundred feet up and you'd see it from miles away
I always wondered if Katara's grandmother hated the constricting environment of the north and wanted to leave WITH Paku. He wasn't prepared to give up his home, so she left without him. That's why she kept the necklace and that's why he's so bitter. That's also why they got married, later. They still actually loved each other and he had unbent enough to make it work.
@@Barakon definitely from another man. Since if it was from Paku, they would've either mentioned it, or shown her to be holding the baby in season 3 flashback.
@@Barakon It sounds like to me they were both very young when this all happened. And they never did end up going through with the marriage it seems? So I don't think it's very likely they would've even thought about having a kid by the time Gran-Gran left for a new life. Also the fact that he only insists they refer to him as Grandpa Paku after he re-proposed. He knew there was no chance these kids were his descendants.
I've never seen anyone talk about the scene where Katara enters the healing class, and all the other students are really young kids. Personally, I feel like theres a lot of symbolism there. Despite how much shes grown on her journey, the Northern Water Tribe still treats her like a child
@@Chris-ks4sw barely a teen is very different to like, actual baby or toddler, like the other students there were. And a lot of kids see even small differences in age as severe regardless, even if older folks don't. It would still be insulting
@@WoodlandFops all it shows is that they teach children very young and that it's only a couple years. Says nothing about age. People are just reading Into things
@@gabrielpuschautz I saw the first Three Words And though "Elephants in the poles? Is this person a idiot." But that is a good combo. Also imagine a mix of a emperor Penguin And a Polar bear.
I think Water-healing is like exclusive of women, you can see in the scene after katara is told to go learn to heal there is no boys, so probably only women learn it, and i doubt the water tribe lets women go to figth, i migth me wrong but water-healing is rare only outside the water tribe
@@germanarturo3230 i would rather say that because jeong jeong is a firebender and likely fought in the war, the only waterbenders he ever met were either fighters on the battlefield. so they were mostly male waterbenders. the southern tribe is barely existing after all and the northern tribe only trains men to fight. so it is possible that encountering a man that also can heal was rare for him simply because of that. maybe the only water bending master he knows that also could heal was actually paku, whom he met in one of the secret white lotus gatherings
Nope, JJ just doesn’t know what he’s talking about in that regard. He knows the culture only so much as he’s fought it or studied it from propaganda in the fire nation. He doesn’t know everything, no one does.
@@germanarturo3230 male healers are shown in the background of korra. Its not a rare ability to them they just previously weren't taught it in the North and all the Southern ones were gone
Sokka is son of *A* chief, the southern water tribe had no central government. It was a confederation of smaller tribes. However, Hakoda was a very well-known and respected chief among the Southern tribes, so still counts.
@@jacobtutt6674 yeah but sokka was the most respected son so when your tribe is like 100 people that's about as close to a prince as there is like sokka said
Another cool note about when he checks the blades. You can actually see the animators took the time to actually animate nicks and marks on the blade showing that their battle worn
Ooooh which lends itself to the idea of Zhao knowing they’re not just decorative. Not only are they sharpened, they’ve seen actual combat. Double confirmation that Zuko’s lying
So I want to defend Katara's fighting style against Pakku. She knows that she's a weaker bender than him, but he's also a lot older than her. It's reasonable to assume that she'd have some sort of physical advantage over him. And even if she doesn't, the gap in their physical strength is at least less than the gap in their bending abilities. So by jumping at him and punching him, she's pushing the small advantage she has. Honestly, it's really cool attention to detail and shows that Katara is pretty smart and not just going into this fight to lose. She's smart and resourceful.
I think you're overestimating the physical strength of a teenage girl compared to a battle hardened war Veteran Like Pakku. Being old doesn't necessarily make you week, he still looks really fit. So i give him probably something like 80+% more body strength than her. (Average strength difference by gender alone is roughly 50%, but him being an actual martial arts master vs a Katara who was a civilian until recently..yeah he's way way stronger)
@@genericnameinc While that *could* be true,he's also going in expecting a bending match. Plus, Katara at least has a competitive advantage in physical strength.
@@brutusthebear9050 i don't think it's a matter of "could be", i was very conservative with the numbers. I don't see how an untrained teenager (male or female) could ever go toe to toe with a martial arts master in what I assume to be his 60s...who's also quite a bit taller. Like, i cant even imagine her even scratching him. The bending disadvantage just makes it worse (though since bending is somewhat a magical thingy where it isn't clear where high bending power really comes from, at least it makes Sense, that she can catch up to him there... physically she wouldn't reasonably be able to reach his prowess without several years of training, followed by a couple of years of actual hostile combat. Good old saying: never underestimate an old person in a profession where people die young.
@@genericnameinc I'm saying your numbers don't matter. Even if everything you said is true, her competitive advantage is still focusing on the physical. Also, you do realize that 1. Even as a civilian, Katara was in a small tribal village. She would be much stronger through fishing and helping out around the village than a civilian would be today. But, she also seems to be getting proper nutrition, so she's not unhealthy like some people a while ago. 2. Paako is not 1 to 1 a martial artist. Very similar, yes, but likely a not insignificant degree less focused on the physical. 3. Paako *maybe* wouldn't be expecting more of a physical approach. He'd definitely be expecting bending, but it's not unreasonable for Katara to bet on the element of surprise, even if it doesn't work out or isn't actually a surprise. If your point is, she can't beat him, then congrats, you watched the same episode as everyone else. If your point is, she doesn't have a competitive advantage over him in a physical fight, then you probably don't know what competitive advantage is.
@@brutusthebear9050 I wasn't refuting the competitive advantage point (though i think it's hard to tell, her bending is already somewhat decent at this point..so I'm still not sure if the gap in bending ability is wider than the physical gap..could be either way). What I was going against was your statement that she'd have (your words) a "physical advantage over him", which she clearly doesn't. She's disadvantaged in both fields by a pretty substantial margin. Your "young people are stronger than old people" argument was all i was trying to correct
Small detail I love about the northern water tribe: there’s nearly no man-made light. No lanterns, no lamps, no braziers, when it’s dark everyone just goes about in the natural light of the moon, which makes so much sense.
@@carso1500 in avatar there is only a new moon one day each year considering how much the full moon appears on the show, so this isn't the biggest problem
I absolutely love that Katara doesn't even land a hit on Pakku during their duel. It's so cool that we can have a character- especially a girl standing up for herself- lose for totally logical experience-gap reasons, but without undercutting the point she's making and how she's growing as a character. Plus these moments of physical weakness/inexperience make her skill later on so much cooler, thanks to the contrast. We get to see her overcome so much, make mistakes, and use them to grow, and that's _so_ much more badass and inspiring than if she was always a master.
I love that in this episode they actually make Katara lose to Pakku even if Katara was in the right, in most shows the protagonist would definitely win or getting close to that but in Avatar they make more believable to Pakku win because he is a master with more than 20 or 30 years of training meanwhile Katara is powerful and skilled but not experienced as Pakku and the way Katara even defeated tries to make Pakku continue to figth her is the cherry on top
Given the age of the students vs the fact that Pakku was engaged to Katara's grandmother, he's probably got closer to 50 years of training and combat experience.
At 5:45 “If you look super closely in this shot” Pauses video and looks over entire image to try and guess what you are about to point out, doesn’t find anything. Resumes video: 😒
@Abdul Jalloh Funny is subjective. There's not getting the joke, which is what Potterfanz unfortunately got, and not thinking a joke is funny, which is what you brought to the table. Both points are perfectly valid.
It makes sense that jong jong would see healing as rare considering the water tribe’s gender biases. If the women learn healing and stay home while and men leave to fight in wars than it’s not surprising that jong jong would have very little exposure to water bending healers. If anything this makes the world feel more real
Well the northern water tribe anyway. We saw before in the raid flashbacks that the settlement used to be much larger and I can only imagine what it looked like decades before when guitar is grandmother was a little girl
@@RabidNemo pretty sure they didnt heal soldiers right in front of the enemy and possibly soldiers do dedicate most of their training in dealing and avoiding damage rather than healing it.
Idk if the healers "stay at home" so to speak, just not on the front lines where they have a safe place to nurture the injured, and so they can not get killed. Imo, in war you want your healers safe. And not to sexist but I think the way the bending effects gender roles (women being the only healers) would make a cool conversation of women's and men's classic roles from a personality/ mythological stand point
On Paku’s 180, I think by realizing Katara was Kana’s granddaughter, he remembers that Kana’s confidence and bravery are precisely what he loved about her. As such, he sees Katara in a new light; not as a stubborn and bratty girl, but as someone who he can deeply respect. Nonetheless, it’s left a bit ambiguous, to where it could just as easily be interpreted that Paku is only teaching her to score points with Kana. If they just added a single line, like maybe Paku says, “I guess some traditions just hold us back” or something, then I think it would have made the 180 seem more natural.
4:22 This might be the case for non-benders or it changed after the firenation attack, since in the episode "The Puppetmaster" we can see that female waterbenders were capable warriors (therefore probably trained) and able to defend the village.
I for whatever reason thought those women weren't necessarily warriors, but maybe they were just holding down the home front as they are the last line of defense. Maybe it's just me.
I mean that was the southern tribe and since Gran gran ran away TO the south in order to escape the traditionalism of the north it's safe to assume the south didn't have as much of a stick up their asses
12:10 this actually makes sense to me. Her tribe specializes in hand to hand combat since none of them are waterbenders (accept for katara). Hakota couldn't teach her how to fight with water so he probably taught her a few kungfu moves instead.
@@Manon-nk4qu not to mention that waterbenders are mostly on the counter-attacking position using defense. Since they fight with a lot more benders after this, running up to them for offense isn't the best choice. So a counter-attack using advanced water bending is obviously safer.
This tracks for me too. I also think she's just MAD and really wants to get a solid hit in however she can. The moves are wild and desperate not well thought out attacks.
Zuko bending that fire shield makes so much sense, i was always confused about how he didn't get burned from that attack, learn something new everytime
I just realized, Zuko using the fire shield to protect himself from the explosion is very reminiscent to the airbending shield Aang uses both when he first runs away, and then later to save everyone in The Storm (a sphere made up of your bending element that encases you and protects you). I wonder if it's another subtle allusion to Iroh's "It's important to draw wisdom from many sources" philosophy, and the other bending styles influencing Zuko's own.
I thought logically he must've firebent to survive the explosion, but it frustrated me a bit because I didn't think that was made clear in the episode. Cool to know it actually was!
Huh, I never saw the full motion of it but I always thought I saw the fire go around him in a sphere like a bubble and assumed he did some quick bending to negate the brunt of the explosion. The sphere shape stood out since it's not a natural path around an object lol
Lol that’s like saying a fisherman is afraid of water, because he almost drowned wants. His entire existence, is fire. If he’s afraid of fire, then he’s the bravest person alive
So two things that may explain why Jeong Jeong thought water healing was rare: 1) automatically healing yourself may be the rare part 2) it was rare back in the day he was fighting waterbenders but it's since become more common due to waterbenders teaching each other how to heal
On the subject of the necklace. The fact that gran-gran DID pass the necklace on shoes that she was sentimental about the necklace but didn’t want it. The fact that she passed it down and that it made it back to Paku is evidence that gran gran actually liked him and didn’t run away because she hated him or something. This is confirmed when they end up getting married later in the series. My theory is that she ran away because she was afraid of being forced to marry someone, but that she still had some feelings for that person. She kept it as a memento until she married Katara’s grandfather. Then she passed it on because she wanted it to stay important but didn’t want to keep it around. I’m sure it’s not unheard of for moms to pass on old engagement rings from relationships that failed in their past.
i was reading through the comments to see if someone made this point i was about to. I also feel as if its more about the custom of having an arranged marriage rather than not liking pakku.
i think so too, but in addition i would say, that she loved him all that time, but was affraid, he only propsed to her because theire familys wanted it, and not because pakku loved her too. she ran away to see if he would follow her wherever she goes, but didnt thought that he would be to depressed to do anything at that time. Does that make any sense?
@@kuronu-kun1967 Yes, it makes sense. But just another case of women doing unlogical stuff and in the moment just because and think that everyone is going to follow. (Talking about this particular case, due to there being love and just pushing two people together)
Yeah, my reading of it all would be that she did like Pakku but knew she would be tied down to her tribe's sexist rules. The Southern tribe definitely has defined gender roles, but they clearly allow women greater freedom in determining their overall path in life. Staying and marrying Pakku would have been like being in a golden cage.
It could simply be a case where she may have liked Pakku, but hated the fact she was forced to marry him and continue to live in a society where she was barely anything more than the wife of a powerful waterbender instead of her own person.
2:12 Katara inna background realizing Sokka basically is the closest thing to a prince the southern water tribe has, and if he's basically a prince, that makes her basically a princess; Katara.exe has stopped working
3:40 Antique sword collector here, being antiques they could have an edge or not since they could be decorative for Zuko now but actually used by previous owners. Now, I had never noticed Zhao looking directly at the blade after that, so he could be searching for recent edge damage, resharpening or cleaning. 6:15 I bet several said it already, but it makes sense for most water benders to have the ability to heal but not the training, so both Jeong Jeong and Pakku are using "bender" as a synonymous of fighter. We later see Kana using her bending to fight in flashbacks, so we know the Southern Water Tribe doesn't have the same prejudice as the North on female benders fighting yet they do with non-benders as reflected on Sokka's views before Kioshy Island.
@@Vox_Popul1 European and Latin American, actually, ranging from the 18th to the 20th century. Includying a smallsword, a French civil servant sword, two peinillas (sword-machete hybrids), three Spanish military sabres and a partridge in a pear tree... (I think there is a another one but I can't remember, since I also have some modern reproduction ones).
Another key is that when Xiao examines the broad swords, there is a small chip in the edge. Decorative blades wouldn't have that, but one seen in battle would.
I feel like because women were made to be non-fighters, Jiang Jiang and other people of other nations wouldn't have much exposure to healers, they'd probably only see only the men using water bending in a fighting way, and probably only rarely healing. In terms of bending and moving the element, Aang gets it pretty quick and can apply his own prior knowledge from air bending to it. But really *understanding* the way the element works, and using it's strengths of it's weight, the way water moves and pulls, and it's own limitations; those delicate intricacies are much different from how aang's bent any other element before. I remember taking martial arts classes and the sifu said that it can take years to really understand how a martial art's unique "flavor" and how it's movements build upon it's systems. my only real criticism is that we don't see any other master waterbenders, I guess we can assume Pakku is the head waterbender for the northern tribe, but to me it seems a bit odd that we have like "we changed pakku's mind, we did it! the patriarchy is over, feminism Won, WOOO!, no more sexism in the entire tribe!" It's a little too easy, but it's a kid's show so eh.
A show for everyone: kids, teenagers and adults. Maybe the show should have devoted more time to the issues of sexism in the Northern Water Tribe, and also Yue and Sokka's romance, but time constraints. I've heard that Mike and Bryan wanted to do at least 5 episodes in the Northern Water Tribe instead of only three, but couldn't due to limitations of budget and time.
A tribe that loses half of its men through conflict can repopulate within a single generation, but a tribe that loses half its women will never recover. This is how the Sothern WaterTribe fell and why women in the northern tribe are expected to be healers. It's annoying that the show never adresses these facts but instead falls within the trap of framing all gender conflict through the modern lens of ‘out of touch old man needs to get with the times’.
@@elitemook4234 But obssession with tradition also happens. Pakku probably even sees women fighting as imoral due to such obssession and conservatism. That happens a lot. What I wish the series had shown more is Pakku coming to terms of how he was hurt by his own prejudices, and also showing him start to teach other girls beside Katara. Three episodes in the North Pole was too little, but Mike and Bryan didn't have enough budget and time
@@elitemook4234 If the idea was purely practical, then Paku should have no problem teaching Katara since she's going to be in danger in the future anyway, with or without training. She isn't even in the Northern Water Tribe in the first place. Plus, even if you think that woman are too valuable to risk fighting on the frontlines, surely it's still a good idea to teach them some form of combat training. What happens when the frontlines break and the fighting spills out into the streets? At that point, whether or not the tribe will recover doesn't really matter anymore since a FIre Nation victory equals to the cultural death of the Northern Water Tribe.
i agree a ton on your stance on katara, its weirdly hard for tv shows to make an actual girl with character and personality that isnt just a love interest for the protagonist
I feel Katara takes on the necklace after her mother dies. Because if her mother is actively wearing the bethroal necklace Hakoda made for her, it seems like a custom Katara would already be aware about. She wouldn't be so confused when her healing teacher asks, "who is the lucky boy?" Just my thoughts
I think because Katara knows the necklace came from her grandma and not a boy, it's reasonable she was a little confused when asked about it in a vague way. I imagine it's like a stranger seeing me wear a ring on my finger and then asking me "who's the lucky boy" when I'm not engaged. I'd be confused as hell too.
@@janarenger3938 we see Kaya, Katara’s mom, wearing a necklace in a flashback. I think in “The Southern Raiders”. i think that it was just passed down to Hakoda from Kana (Gran Gran) for when he wanted to propose to Kaya, and when Kaya died, Katara began to wear it to remember her mother. It’s common for men to use their mothers’ engagement rings to propose to their own partners, or to use the ring of mother of their future spouse.
@@violeta373maybe you're onto something but maybe it is just a northern thing. Kana may have given Kaya the necklace when she was older, she doesn't have to be dead for it to be passed on to her daughter. None of the women in the southern tribe have necklaces so it seems like it's quite unique for Katara's family, being descendants from the northern tribe. She also fled from the north because of all the restrictions and the necklace seems to symbolise it (Princess Yue's reaction when she showed the necklace was rather negative and it shows that the marriage was arranged. As Kana wasn't a waterbender she didn't flee from those restrictions and may have fled from the arranged marriages)
Oh Katara throwing literal hands in a bending fight: Paku is the superior water bender, and despite his obvious mastery of the art, he's still considerably old. If I had to justify the fists, I'd day that Katara was trying to get Paku "out of his element" where his experience might not be as useful.
Yeah except that assumes on her part that he never had to use his fist when his enemy got close. As the saying goes, beware of old men in professions where they die young.
One thing that I never see people talk about with this episode is that when Katara goes to the "healing lessons" all of the girls learning there are children, symbolizing how she feels like she's being treated like a child because of Paku not training her
She doesn’t know how to use healing. The children don’t know how to use healing. Therfor she’s learning with the children. These no deep meaning there. If someone doesn’t know how to speak English yet , do you stick them in a senior English class, even if they are older? No.
I think the reason why jeong jeong thought it was rare for water benders to have healing abilities is because the only water benders he would’ve seen would of been warrior men and they don’t teach the men healing abilities therefore it would be rarer for him to see it
The ending of this episode, where they slowly reveal the absolute mass of a fleet heading to siege the North, always gave me chills. Not only is the framing of the scene really cool with the whole "reveal" of it, but I think what you said - that there's so much setup and we've learned so much about so many people, places, and things in one episode - it's almost counteracted by that last scene. Like it's saying, "Wasn't that nice meeting all those people and learning all that new stuff? Well guess what? They're about to get their shit rocked." Idk, I guess I'm just now realizing why I love that scene so much. Anyway, great episode as always! :)
My take on it is that, from the perspective of the Fire Nation, healing is a rare water bender ability because they only see the male water benders, while the females are usually not around a battlefield. Or not on the front lines anyway.
@@zrc1514 Yeah, but master Pakku is a man. And before Katara, you can see how stubborn he is about his culture, so I would deem it unlikely that he would talk about this. Also it isn't confirmed that he KNOWS Master Pakku, it could be he just heard about him. The white lotus always felt more like a ditached society in that era, instead of them having annual meetings or something.
About the female waterbender thing in the Northern tribes, remember that the Northern water tribe remained fairly isolationist throughout the majority of the war. The Fire Nation didn't really mess with them much at all up until Zhao's invasion. Most of the raiding and kidnappings throughout the years mainly occurred at the Southern water tribe. Makes sense to me that even if cultures were a thing back in the day, the Southern tribe had their women learn to fight out of survival/necessity whereas the Northern tribe had much less reason to have to change their ways/customs.
“The whole crew!? You mean Lieutenant Ji, Samurai Wack, The guy I assume is the cook even though it’s a little mean, And the fan-favourite ‘wE neeD tO stOp-‘!?” -Overanalyzing Avatar
3:35 I don't think he's checking for sharpness. You can see that the blade has dents in it. A decorative blade could still be sharp, but it wouldn't show obvious signs of use like dents and chips in the edge. It's amazing they added that teeny detail.
“Oh, I’m not doing it for you!” is a great example of classic writing Avatar style. The writers almost always thought carefully about their characters before they wrote scenes for them. This makes it so rewarding and so much fun to over analyze their behavior.
on the note of katara not being stoked to learn healing, i think a more overlooked thing is after season 1 shes a pretty skilled healer, which implies that even though she didnt really want to she clearly still paid attention and took careful note of what she learned in the healing lessons, showing that even though she was dissapointed about it shes still just dedicated and smart enough to actually get something out of it. she doesnt do things by halves, and its a pretty cool detail for her character even though its not focused on at all in the show
@@akshaydalvi1534 That's what Katara says to Paku after she fights him and he realizes it's the necklace he made Edit* Oops, it was in the video haha I thought Katara only said her grandma hated the customs
@@akshaydalvi1534 This is what I always took it as. She liked him, but, just how Katara takes after her, she's pigheaded and stubborn. So she left. When he comes back, and it's Gran's decision (like it is Katara's to be with Aang), she chooses him.
@@BigCowProductions oh yeah good point! I mean... Yes. XD I also think it could be of sentimental value, kind of like a symbol of her courage and her standing-up-for-herself attitude. A legacy of stubborn, confident women who won't let men decide the course of their destiny.
We also know Hinata is a princess technically of her clan and isn’t really allowed to like Naruto but still breaks the stigma and defends him, while being the weaker Hyuga gained enormous growth throughout the season and assisted with alot of missions with her enhanced vision skills so theres alot about her you probably don’t realize she contributed to helping the village
8:05 I like this sequence. In live action a big explosion like this is covered by multiple cameras at once because the shot is so expensive they can't do reshoots if they don't like it, or what they're blowing up would be completely infeasible to duplicate. They cut between each camera and show the piece multiple times to get their money's worth out of the event. As an animated show avatar doesn't have the same limitation, but they do the same thing to evoke the feel of destroying such an important asset (ie. the ship).
In the scene with the ice disks, you can see paku's reflection and surprised and worried face, he just BARELY dodged a sharp sheet of ice coming at him. He probably at that moment is when he realized women COULD fight, and specially that Katara CAN fight. Not only that but he probably also realized that he needed to take the fight seriously from then on, because he's at real risk of katata injuring him for real, and mainly from absolutely disgracing him
@Zion Lamar bruh, you really think an super thin ice disk flying thst fast is inoquous? The showrunners really spent time animating his worried face. A thin ice disk to the throat would sever his jugular
Something I literally just now noticed, is that at 3:40 where Zhao is not only inspecting the blades for sharpness, you can see there’s a ding in the edge from where Zuko used it to block something. You can see it just below Iroh’s left arm as Zhao moves his hand along the blade. Again, just a super small something to further indicate that the swords were used in combat and excellent attention to detail.
I’ve watched through your series a few times, and every time I audibly laugh at “fan favorite ‘we need to sTOp!’” and I even rewind it a few times just to hear the joke again cause omg idk man it’s so funny
If the men only fight from the northern tribe and they aren’t trained specifically to heal, it’s possible some (like katara) can naturally use it without training. So from jeong jeong’s perspective it is a rare ability in his war encounters with the tribe.
Can I go on a little analytical rant for a second? Betrothal necklaces. I don't think the southern tribe uses them if you look at the frame shown at 13:25, the only person wearing a betrothal necklace is Kanna. You also don't see anyone wearing them in the flashbacks in "The Puppetmaster". Also, we know that female waterbenders were fighting alongside the men in the southern tribe from that episode. There are a lot of subtle differences between the tribes that I really like.
In that same episode they almost fought like Earthbenders. Tunneling through the snow and favoring maneouvering to fight. Likely developed to hunt down big prey. The northern tribe was more water than the southern tribe (They probably have land underneath like Antartica does), so it'd make sense why they focus on more flow.
@@FireallyXTheories It's interesting that you mention that, because Korra's father's bending style also resembles earth bending alot. He was originally from the Northern tribe though, but I suppose his time in the south influenced his style
Ok I think Jeong Jeong knew about the healing from experience, probably from fighting in war, and being as the women are the healers and aren’t allowed to fight meaning of the men who go out to war, the only people who aren’t taught how to heal but still can would be the most powerful water benders.
I feel like Kataras real goal was remembering how powerless she was when they killed her mom and just wanting to be able to defend herself and her loved ones if something like that ever happens again. That's why there's such a great moment of fulfillment in the next episode when she fights Zuko and is able to hold her own against him compared to the start of this season where he just took Aang.
I think Hello Future Me did a great job at pointing out how sexism is the most prevalent in the water tribes because the two different versions of waterbending make waterbenders assume that some roles are to be given differently. Meanwhile, in the Fire Nation, there are no two ways to fire bend so there isn't the same sexism. I don't know if he pointed this out but you can tell that the least amount of barriers between men and women exist within the fire nation and that's partly because they are the most technologically advanced and advances in technology (more specifically the industrial revolution) is what lead to women rights. After all, the barriers between what men and women could do were lesser because of this, so it makes sense that the fire nation is the most forward on women's rights (ep. 4 of the Netflix Documentary Amend does a good job briefly talking about this.)
I went frame by frame and he doesn't slap her, it actually looks like he hits her in the face with a snowball of some sort, which knocks her necklace off.
Katara is one of the best female characters of all time. They tackle the topic of sexism so well without being preachy or feeling like an after school special. She’s so damn cool.
While I love the episode, personally I've always felt this episode was quite preachy tbh. And by the next episode she's apparently already a master. If anything I felt it to be a tad ridiculous for how hard it pushes the girl power stuff. Katara is a badass, but it's also very contrived here
@@Patriarch.Chadimus Exactly. It might look mild compared to what we're used to, but it's still very contrived and forced. (with Pakku clearly being depicted as entirely wrong, without any nuance) Hell, the only reason Katara has any worth as a fighter is because she has the power of god and anime... uh, i mean... the power of magic and fictional physics on her side. Her being a good fighter is not realistic. She's only as powerful as she is because of completely unrealistic attributes, and i don't just mean the bending. And while many would angrily say "it's just a cartoon, why do you care!!!"... Well... If one acknowledges that it's just a cartoon, then you also have to admit that it's not a realistic argument against """sexism""". You can't have your cake and eat it too. If they actually tackled the topic of sexism well, then it would actually show that there is value in dividing social expectations between the genders, especially in a more primitive environment where everyone needs to pull their weight. Having the women specialize in healing makes perfect sense, and enforcing that tradition ensures that a functional and practical way of life remains.
@@schnek8927 Yeah, in a world where 1/4 of the ethnicities were genocided, having strict gender war effort roles makes sense. Men die on the front lines, women heal on the back lines.
weird comments, Katara was already hella cracked at water bending to when she entered the Tribe, Pakku even says so. Plus this show does this shit all the time. Aang becomes a master Firebender in like a month, Sokka becomes a great swordsman in literally a day, and Zuko learns a lightning deflection move in an afternoon. I don’t think Katara going from already good, to master mode in like a week or two isn’t that crazy for the show. Also regarding the culture shit, it is pretty stupid, from a logic standpoint and free expression standpoint. It’s literally suppressing women and y’all are arguing it’s not that bad 💀
@@I_Dislike_RU-vid_Handles Women are more important than men. 100 women and 10 men could repopulate a tribe in 2 generations, 55 men and 55 women would take 3 to 4 generations. It's logical to keep them as medics away from the front lines.
I think the healing class being full of girls doesn't guarantee that Jeong-Jeong was wrong. The ability to actually heal someone is rare, and the class may be full of girls who are attempting to develop the ability. Note that the class is all young girls, so it's possible that only a select few actually carry on learning. Basically imagine if the fire nation had a school for lightning generation, a class of students doesn't mean they can all do it, they're there to learn how to do it.
I think Katara trying to jump Paku and try to hit him with physical attacks makes a lot of sense. She knows she can't match his water bending abilities so she tries to rush him with hand to hand combat. It doesn't work out for her but it was worth an attempt.
I am personally very glad that they make the whole subject of katara not being taught waterbending be more of a character versus a problem than a woman vs a man. It’s the story’s use of moments like these that allow it to stand the test of time and continue being a favorite over the years. Moments where we see characters fight for what they want and have a reason to want it.
This is the proper way to handle a real social issue without being preachy. Give the character a personal investment into the problem, and then it becomes easier to convey the overall message without it being jarring.
That is cool. And I agree totally. My first thoughts on this episode wasn't "Bad Pakku, he sexist😠", but that a cultural difference revolving around gender is creating conflict. Not that I support Katara almost being denied training, but I empathized with Pakku a little. Imo he took pride in and respected his culture, and it was simply something he needed to look past momentarily. I love that being sexist doesn't make people evil in this show. He wasn't treated like he was stupid or bad for being this way, similarly to how Sokka saying ignorant things about the Kioshi Warriors didn't make him an enemy to them.
@@marshmallowvampire8503 Yeah, it displays how inherently ignorant and close-minded sexism can be, while also giving those characters realistic reasons for being sexist. My grandparents are first generation Korean immigrants, and despite being nice, they're both super sexist. I can think it's wrong, but also understand that they're from a different generation and that change takes time.
@@marshmallowvampire8503 I love how matter of fact Paku is about Katara. Notice he never really talks down to her as a person, he lives in a culture and enforces the culture. But when talking to Katara he never pulls a Sokka "Simple girls just can't because biology." Now this begs a few questions, like wouldn't he be committing a taboo by teaching Katara? Would that cause him issues within the tribe or does he have the authority to do just that? And why wouldn't he train active combatant aide to a young Avatar? Surely she, as an outsider trying to assist the Avatar warrants some form of exception - I mean is it taboo to teach female avatars why would a female companion to one be any different?
3:28 I think it's actually the other way around, decorative swords might be sharp, but more importantly, they would be completely flawless. Even if they were antiques like Zuko says, they would still be repaired to be in displaying condition, or the ware on the blade would be noticeably aged. Meanwhile, when going frame by frame when Zhao's eyes lock onto a nick in the blade, indicating it was used in battle.
Lol no one is taking an antique; and making it look like new again. Its marks are not be most important aspect of it being an antique; because it shows it’s been used. Especially if it was used in battle.
Heres a detail that i have noticed and its a theory i have. So in this episode they introduce Iroh's "winter spring, summer and fall" song, and it becomes Yue's theme song, they play the melody when she's on screen (i think this is called a motiffe?). The song talks about the seasons, and uses them as a metaphor to represent a cycle, specifically the cycle of the seasons, which is the cycle of life. In the finale, when Yue revives the fish, we hear the same melody played very softly. This is because its her motiffe, but at the same time it represents the cycle that was her life, and that she is completing by giving her piece of the spirit's life back to the spirit. Maybe I'm reaching too far, but I personally think this was on purpose, and it's one of my favorite moments in season 1.
@@snake9991 I think you should give a bit more detail on the random links you post. I clicked it and really enjoyed the video, but some people might just think that your a bot
@@jcsmans718 well at first I explained what it is but I backed down to find the link and it discarded my description and didn't type again Glad you enjoyed it
That whole, "I fuck with this energy" rant starting around 11:00 is absolutely and WHOLE ASS energy I absolutely fuck with! I love hearing people just GO OFF about random things they're passionate about!
I keep my decorative blades razor sharp, just in case I need to use them. They'd break if I hit something with them, but draw cuts will still work. My combat worthy blades are not kept razor sharp as if you do that, you will notch your blade when you hit something. The larger and heavier the blade, the less sharp it should be kept. The two handed claymore, for instance, is usually quite dull. It's not made to cut. It's made to knock people off their feet and break bones through armor
Fun-fact: that "You can't knock me down" line in the Brazilian dub became a community meme because, for some reason, the voice actress let all her regional accent loose this one time, so it sounded super weird and out of place, since none of the main characters have any accent at all.
I know this is two years later and maybe already said by someone else in the comments but perhaps Jong Jong only knows of a few cases of water benders healing because he would’ve only come across male water benders. Male water benders would’ve been less inclined to learn healing and would’ve probably just fought and died first before being able to heal anyone or reveal that they could in front of the enemy.
I actually really like how Paku is done in avatar. He's a man who's clearly proud of his home and culture, and an important detail that I feel is overlooked is that he actually praises how good Katara is with waterbending during their fight, I feel like a well written traditionalist character, especially a master like Paku, should not say that things CAN'T be a certain way, but that they SHOULD be a certain way. Unless that character is super sheltered or something. I feel like that's something a LOT of shows don't get right.
So, in defense of Grangran making the necklace into a family heirloom, you need to keep in mind that it is made partly of metal, not bone or leather like most watertribe items. Considering how limited their technology is, and their living in the frozen hellscape that is the poles, this makes it extremely valuable. Its a bit like if your ex proposed with a 20 carat diamond ring. After you broke things off, you aren't exactly going to throw that away.
I’m not so sure about the metal part. Correct me if I’m wrong but I’m pretty certain there is a line that says the pendant is “carved” which isn’t a word associated with metal. It’s usually associated with wood, bone, or teeth.
Another possibility is that that's the only thing she took with her that was specific to the Northern Tribe. She may have brought it and made it an heirloom in case she or her descendants ever went to the North to reconnect with her family. Sort of like keepsakes given to children given up for adoption.
Even though I'm watching these a bit after the fact, I can't believe you have no comment about the "Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall" song that Iroh sings. It has a really good string melody on that (I think it's called a "Liuqin") instrument, that I've tried to learn on guitar. Everyone always brings up "Leaves From the Vine" because of its emotional weight but "Four Season, Four Loves" is a real banger! It even becomes the subtle leitmotif for the Sokka-Yue scenes for the rest of the finale.
Upon rewatching this episode, I noticed that there was dancing on Zukos' ship before Zhao came on board. But, later, we find out that the children of the Fire Nation had no idea what dancing is. I wonder if it was because they are more cultured than the rest of the country? How long had dancing not been practiced the Nation? It's such a small detail that I'm now rewatching O.A to see if he ever talks about it 😅
Good eye, but he never talks about it. Maybe they just picked up the dances from earth kingdom settlements or something, but odds are the writers just didn't think that far ahead about such a small detail.
Maybe dancing was only made illegal by ozai, which meant that a lot of people especially rurally would still know how to dance and that it was only know starting to die out in the current generation of avatar
Zhao is not checking to see if the blade is sharp, decorative swords can be sharp. He is checking to see that it is scratched a dulled which means it was used, not just decorative.
5:53 Personally I thought it might be only the northern tribe has healing abilities. Since Katara's grandmother is from there, she could've inherited it.
Love your videos overanalyzing. Keep figuring out the next adventure! On the healing thing though.. the lessons are for healing others with the use of waterbending and the special ability to heal herself is a rare gift of powerful benders. Gives a bit more evidence to the puppet master "my bending is more powerful than yours, Hamma". Even though it's still not the best beat.
It's funny that I've always noticed Zuko bending the fire shield. It's amazing how a small detail like that could be caught by some people but completely missed by others. I wonder what detail I've missed over the years?
14:45 My take on it is that he's like, "oh shit grandbaby" and immediately pulls a 180 to save face. Even if katara has no connection to him, she is his only connection to gran-gran. Idk.
6:04 well, technically he does not say that EVERY woman learns water healing, only that "here the women learn from (Idk how to spell her name) to heal", which can be interpreted as simply the women who do learn waterbending learn it for healing, so there could simply be women unable to do healing and they just don't learn waterbending at all.
Even if they did, I doubt Jong Jong would've met a lot of female waterbenders on the battlefield, since the women don't fight. Maybe it's rare that a soldier can heal
I never even thought about Jauh inspecting the blades for damage and sharpness until you pointed it out. They even have dulled spots on them from combat. That’s so clever I honestly thought Jauh was just paranoid after seeing them in Zuko’s room and aimed to kill him just on instinct alone.
I like to imagine that Kama did like Paku, but left because she was just 16 and wasn't ready. She probably wouldn't be able to work through these complex emotions very well considering her whole culture is telling her that this is normal.
13:36 I always thought that Kanna *did* love Pakku, but she just couldn’t get married to someone who thought of her as “lesser” in many ways just because she was a woman. Like Katara said, “she wouldn’t let [his] tribe’s stupid customs run her life”. Even so, she still loved him, which explains why she kept the necklace and why once he got his eyes opened to what his sexist beliefs had cost him and how wrong they were she accepted him back pretty quickly.
Best explanation I've heard, and probably the one the creators came up with themselves but just didn't feel was necessary to include. It seems to mirror/complete the whole idea of pakku overcoming his prejudice by reconciling with his past that has basically confronted him in the form of katara
On the subject of Jeong Jeong acting like healing with waterbending is a rare ability, I like the idea that it WAS rare - to Jeong Jeong, a former fire nation soldier constantly at war. At war against water benders. Water benders primarily from Paku's side of the world. The side of the world where women, who were taught healing, probably got left behind or stayed at the rear of any army to tend to the wounded, and where men were shoved onto the Frontline. To Jeong Jeong, seeing fifty thousand male waterbenders on the frontlines slapping him with water and only making it to the back line where the one or two healers were chilling MAYBE once in a while when they finally advance territory? Yeah, I can see why he thought it was rare.
watching this again I think Gran Gran left the North Pole due to the Arranged Marriage as is stated in the episode, not for her benefit, but for Paku's. It would explain why in Book 3 they end up married. Gran Gran loved Paku, but she wasn't sure if Paku felt the same and was only going to marry her through obligation, so by leaving she made Paku come to terms with his emotions, that being he loved her as well and would have married her regardless. The culture wasn't just bad in terms of "Women can't learn Waterbending" but also "once of marrying age, you will have an Arranged Marriage."
I'll argue Jeong Jeong's only interaction with the Water Tribes (given the war) would be through records and his relationships through the White Lotus, an older organization with older, primarily male, members. He probably finds healing rare because the only Water benders he knows are all warriors and only discuss combat cause healing would be "woman's work" and thusly below their conversation.
Perhaps Healing can be learn by anyone , but very few can actually be good at it or even ok Same way like Lightning , we know Zuko knows how to bend lightning but he is still incapable of using it properly Perhaps healing requires a especific mindset to be used (just like lightning or any kind of bending) , the kind of mindset that most woman will have in the North Tribe due to to their culture
I think the reason gran gran left because she didn’t want the royalty/ high class status that would come with being married to master Pakku not necessarily pakku himself.
She's the mother in law to the chief of the southern water tribe, like another person said it probably had to do with pakku/the whole north being quite sexist to women as to why she left. It's supported by the show since she marries pakku after he stops being a sexist.
It's annoying because if they left out the line about grangran not loving him it's fixed. she loved him but left due to sexist customs or maybe the love of her home/family and kept the necklace as a memory.
2:37 "Just because you destined to save the world, don't expect any special treatment." I love that this is the same guy that later gives "special treatment" to Katara after learning that she is the granddaughter of his ex lol XD
I think I just spent two hours watching your videos in order since I stumbled across Sokka's Master yesterday (one of my all time favourite episodes). Now it's 6am and I gotta sleep. Damn! Guess I'll finish the rest tomorrow...
Katara's character was amazing in this episode, she has proven herself a capable and extremly talented water bender, and I mean all forms of water bender, she only took one healing lesson and then the rest of her time was focused on combat lessons, and yet Katara can help skillfully in both combat and healing. As for the necklace thing I'm guessing Katara is halfway right about why her Grangran left the Northern tribe, it seems like Kanna being from the north was kept a secret secret. This might be out there but maybe Kana does love Paku but because of her dislike of the Northern tribe's traditions is why she left, and the reason the necklace is a family heirloom is because it means so much to her. But that's just my theory.
6:45 I feel like this is more saying that aang knows *how* to waterbend, but doesn't *understand* it. The move seems to just be moving water as far as I can tell. So I think pakku is doing that whole "mentality side of bending" this show likes so much
I also think it’s a little troubling that at first, Pakku is so willing to sacrifice the whole world and lose a 100 year war that would endanger him and his whole tribe just to avoid teaching a girl water bending. A little too head strong, war calls for sacrifices
Let’s also not forget that Sokka and Katara would have told them Katara was the last water bender in the southern water tribe. How the fire nation had successfully killed off an entire way of life for their sister tribe. And all he can think about is how butt hurt he is Aang taught his friend. Does that mean Aang would have been expected never to teach Katara water bending?
One detail I think that's very interesting is Yue's betrothal necklace. Design-wise it's much larger than Katara/Grangran's yet lacks and notable symbols in the carving, showing how Hahn (Yue's fiancee) goes for big ostenatious displays to show off but doesn't have any real meaning in his affection. Yue also conceals the necklace in the fur of her parka, showing how she is unhappy about the match and doesn't want people to know about it. It's a solid bit of visual storytelling.
