Avatar S1E18: "The Waterbending Master"
Katara confronts the patriarchy head-on | Grade: A-
Thanks for tuning in to my eighteenth of 61 daily reviews of Avatar: The Last Airbender! Yesterday, we watched S1E17: The Northern Air Temple.
This episode brings our heroes near to the conclusion of this season’s journey, literally and narratively. At long last, they reach the North Pole, and to Sokka and Katara’s astonishment, it’s an frosty wonderland of canals, bridges, and buildings, in sharp contrast to the podunk South Pole. There are plenty of waterbenders to train Aang, and none more skilled than the icy Master Pakku.
The only problem: the waterbending master refuses to to teach Katara. “In our tribe,” he sneers, “it is forbidden for women to learn waterbending.” The women are relegated to the role of healers, and they cannot fight. No problem, says Sokka, Aang can just teach Katara what he’s learned at night. But Pakku catches them out and drops the Avatar as a student.
It’s a deeply frustrating and painful moment for Katara, who’s nursed the dream of finding a teacher in the North Pole throughout the entire season. We’ve seen firsthand her fierce determination to teach herself. And now the patriarchal traditions of the Water Tribe threaten to shatter her dream. Until now, our understanding of sexism in Avatar has mostly come through Sokka’s attitude early in the season. Here we get a direct look at the institution that shaped that mindset.
Appealing to the Water Tribe Chief proves fruitless, and the deeply chauvinist Pakku tells Katara to “go back to the healing huts with the other women, where you belong.” It’s a demeaning insult that echoes the classic, sexist refrain of “go back to the kitchen.” Instead, she challenges him to a duel. Aang and Sokka don’t understand her motivations and try to talk her out of it.
Sokka: Are you crazy, Katara? You’re not going to win this fight.
Katara: I know! I don’t care!
Aang: You don’t have to do this for me. I can find another teacher.
Katara: I’m not doing it for you!
The boys have never had to face discrimination on account of their sex, and they view Katara’s actions as only intended to get Aang his teacher back. But for Katara, this fight is much more personal. Even if she loses, she wants to prove that she can fight, and force this man who treats her with such disdain to pay attention. She refuses to be ignored, slapping Pakku with a water whip to kick off the fight.
Katara loses in the end, as expected, but puts up a valiant fight. She impresses Pakku with her bending talent and wins the hearts of the crowd. In a courageous moment, she roots her feet into the ice to withstand an attack and hollers, “you can’t knock me down!” Unfortunately, she’s wrong, and he does knock her down many times. But she proves her indomitable spirit by getting back up every time, until he finally immobilizes her in a prison of ice.
In the end, it’s not her skills that win over Pakku, but her ancestry. Her grandmother, Kanna, was once betrothed in an arranged marriage to the waterbending master, who carved Katara’s necklace as a token of his love. But she didn’t love him back, and fled to the South Pole. Katara tells Pakku that “Gran-Gran wouldn’t let your tribe's stupid customs run her life. That's why she left. It must have taken a lot of courage.” Off-screen, Pakku seems to have a reckoning that he might have contributed to his sweetheart’s departure, and accepts both Aang and Katara as pupils. It’s a bit of an over-convenient resolution, but it’s more realistic than if he had been convinced by her talent.
For a show that passively upholds the virtue of traditional knowledge (e.g. the Avatar, the art of bending), this episode illuminates the pain that tradition can inflict. Sokka experiences it in his own subplot, where he tries to court the kind and beautiful Princess Yue. Despite his awkward advances, she seems receptive, but confuses Sokka with mixed signals. Eventually, she kisses him but tells her that they can’t be together, because she’s engaged to someone else. The way Yue runs off crying when Katara tells her grandmother’s story suggests that her betrothal has been arranged for her, too, and she’s not happy about it. But running away is an even more difficult option for Yue. As the princess, she has a duty to her tribe, and the world is at war.
That war appears to be coming closer to home, and quickly. Admiral Zhao knows that Aang is at the North Pole to master waterbending, and intends to capture him and defeat the Northern Water Tribe in one fell swoop.
This isn't some little Earth village we can just march into. The Water Tribe is a great nation. There's a reason they've survived a hundred years of war. The frozen tundra is treacherous, the landscape itself is an icy fortress. We'll need a massive invasion force.
Always happy to screw over Zuko in the process, Zhao boards the banished prince’s ship to announce that he’s commandeering their crew for his invasion (even the cook!). But in Zuko’s chambers, he sees the broadswords used by the Blue Spirit, and puts two and two together. A terror-stricken Zuko assures him that they are “just decorative,” but the admiral decides not to let the prince interfere with his plans ever again.
Zhao pays off the pirates from The Waterbending Scroll to blow up Zuko’s ship, ostensibly killing him in a massive fireball. Iroh sprints back to the inferno, horrified, and hangs his head in grief. But the show doesn’t leave us in suspense for long. (Would we even believe Zuko died like this?) The prince is bruised and battered, but alive. And he now has an advantage: Zhao thinks he’s dead. Iroh accepts the admiral’s offer to serve as his general in the invasion, and Zuko stows away on one of Zhao’s ships. “Stay hidden until we get to the North Pole and the Avatar will be yours,” his uncle tells him.
The final shot pans over scores of Fire Nation ships in formation as Zhao prepares to launch his attack. The stage is set for an explosive battle for the fate of the North Pole.
See you tomorrow for a double-feature, Episodes 19 and 20: The Siege of the North! Share your own thoughts on this episode in the comments.
Spare observations
Irony when Sokka says: “I’m not one to complain, but…”
I spy a few new hybrid animals in this episode: the koalotter and the buffalo yak.
Pakku is the waterbender from Avatar’s opening sequence!
Can’t Zhao just arrest Zuko after the events of Avatar Roku? I guess he would rather deal with the prince more… permanently.
Sokka’s game: “I'm thinking ... maybe we could ... do an activity, together?” But it works. And he has his first kiss!
In the last frame before Zuko’s ship explodes, you can see him bend a fire shield around himself.
Friends of the White Lotus [SPOILERS]
Yue means “moon,” foreshadowing her sacrifice in the season finale.
Pakku will eventually reunite with Kanna in the series finale!