Avatar S2E1: "The Avatar State"
Zuko casts away his old life | Grade: B
Thanks for tuning in to my twenty-first of 61 daily reviews of Avatar: The Last Airbender! Previously, we watched S1E19 / S1E20: The Siege of the North.
The Avatar State picks up where Season 1 left off, both literally and thematically. The Siege of the North, Part 2 shocked us with Aang’s incredible display of power as he fused with the Ocean Spirit. And it shocks and haunts Aang too, who has recurring nightmares about himself in the Avatar State. This episode basically exists to finally explain his ability, and to answer the audience’s burning question after the events of the finale: why can’t Aang just go into the Avatar State and defeat the Fire Lord handily?
The answer comes by way of the overzealous General Fong, the first villain (kind of) in the show so far who’s officially affiliated with the Earth Kingdom (that is, excluding Jet, who’s a renegade). Fong actually makes a compelling point when he argues that using the Avatar State to end the war sooner is the right thing to do.
May I show you something? That's the infirmary, and those soldiers are the lucky ones. They came back. Every day, the Fire Nation takes lives. People are dying, Aang! You could end it, now.
Aang’s dilemma reminds me of the United States’ controversial decision to drop nuclear bombs on Japan during World War II, returning to a question Avatar has asked more than once already: do the ends justify the means? So far, Avatar says no. (And unlike the nukes, the Avatar State won’t necessarily kill many people — although as we saw in the last episode, it might, too.) Certainly, Fong sees Aang as something akin to a bomb: more of a weapon than a person. But as Katara points out, the Avatar State seems to put Aang in a state of “rage and pain.” And more practically, he can’t control himself during it; so the hapless General gets his comeuppance.
We get the kind of exposition we’ve come to expect from Avatar Roku, who gives us two important bits of information:
The Avatar State is a defense mechanism, designed to empower you with the skills and knowledge of all the past Avatars.
If you are killed in the Avatar State, the reincarnation cycle will be broken and the Avatar will cease to exist.
In a show that often fires Chekhov’s gun, it’s a good idea to pay attention to these things. Still, exposition and filler do not a memorable episode make. For the first time ever, Team Avatar’s adventure is overshadowed by Zuko and Iroh’s story.
In Zukoland, we finally get a proper introduction to the nimble, cunning Princess Azula, who gives a famous speech threatening her captain, who cautioned that the tides won’t let them dock right away. She is cold, compassionless, and will do anything to get her way.
Maybe you should worry less about the tides who have already made up their mind about killing you, and worry more about me, who's still mulling it over.
When she finds her brother, Azula knows exactly how to manipulate Zuko, dangling everything he’s ever wanted right in front of him (on the anniversary of his banishment, no less). Even when Iroh is skeptical, Zuko doesn’t want to relinquish his newfound hope and accept the truth, so he takes his anger out on his poor uncle, calling him “a lazy, mistrustful, shallow old man who's always been jealous of his brother!”
It’s lucky for Zuko that Iroh is far more gracious and levelheaded than he is, and comes along to save the prince anyway when Azula’s plot is revealed. The princess effortlessly dodges all his attacks, without even resorting to bending. She only lets loose one shot, revealing her defining blue fire that burns hotter than anyone else’s. She’s got one other trick up her sleeve, too: she can shoot lightning from her fingertips! It’s only Iroh who manages to get the upper hand when he redirects her lethal attack away from Zuko and tosses her over the port side.
The most symbolic moment of the episode comes after their escape, when Zuko and Iroh cut off their topknots. The hairstyle is an emblem of their honor, as defined by the Fire Nation. Uncle and nephew are officially refugees and outlaws. Just like the knots, their old lives are washed away down the river.
See you tomorrow for Episode 2: The Cave of Two Lovers! Share your own thoughts on this episode in the comments.
Spare observations
This is the first episode that anyone actually says “the Avatar State.” Now I can finally stop calling it Aang’s “Avatar Spirit” (as Katara called it in The Southern Air Temple). See how hard I work to protect you from spoilers?
“We’re taking the prisoners home!” Oops. Don’t think we’ll be seeing him again.
Azula is the firebender from the opening sequence! But there, her fire is red.
We saw Iroh redirect lightning for the first time in The Storm.
It’s Aang’s first time earthbending. There’s a parallel to the start of Season 1, where he waterbends for the first time in the Avatar State as well.
Friends of the White Lotus [SPOILERS]
We also meet Azula’s firebending teachers, the elderly twins Lo and Li. They are not firebenders themselves.
In Roku’s vision, we see four past Avatars: Kyoshi, Kuruk, Yangchen, and Szeto.
There’s a lot of foreshadowing for the Season 2 finale in this episode. Pakku gifts Katara the healing water from the Spirit Oasis, which she eventually almost gives to Zuko and ends up using on Aang in the season finale. Zoku can’t resist the promise of his father’s acceptance. And Roku tells us about the Achilles heel of the Avatar State.