Avatar S2E6: “The Blind Bandit”
Toph’s commanding entrance | Grade: A
Thanks for tuning in to my twenty-sixth of 61 daily reviews of Avatar: The Last Airbender! Yesterday, we watched S2E5: Avatar Day.
Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for… The Blind Bandit!
There’s only one plot in this episode, and it’s all about Toph. The first quarter of Season 2 has been leading up to this moment: from Aang’s refusal to exploit the Avatar State, to Bumi’s imprisonment, and Aang’s vision in the swamp, we’ve been waiting for Aang to find his earthbending teacher. Now, he finally has, and she’s a blind, twelve-year-old girl!
Toph’s blindness is probably her most defining feature. Over the course of the series, we’ll see how she overcomes, and is also limited by, her disability. The key to her incredible power is her seismic sense, the unique ability to perceive her surroundings through bending. It’s cleverly illustrated through a unique, black-and-white animation style that evokes a blend of echolocation and radar.
Even though I was born blind, I've never had a problem seeing. I see with earthbending. It's kind of like seeing with my feet. I feel the vibrations in the Earth, and I can see where everything is.
However, Toph’s seismic sense is not seeing. That’s important for the depth of her character — it always feels less interesting (and a bit of a slight) in media when someone becomes disabled, and then is quickly “restored” by magic or technology. We see Aang able to knock the Blind Bandit out of the ring with hardly a fight, because his ability to stay in the air confounds her senses. Toph’s blindness also sets up her central conflict: her overbearing parents coddle, confine, and underestimate her. They even hide her existence from the world out of shame.
But why hasn’t Toph revealed her ability to her parents? Her secrecy leads to a passive-aggressive spat with Aang, who she already resents for beating her, when Team Avatar visits the Beifong household. Perhaps she feels guilt over her own duplicity, or lacks faith that her parents would give her more freedom if she told the truth.
But when she and Aang are kidnapped by Xin Fu, the host of the wrestling-inspired Earth Rumble tournament, Toph knows it’s finally time to step up. The wrestlers let the highborn Beifong girl go for ransom, but hold Aang as a prize for the Fire Lord. Katara pleads for Toph’s help, while her father is shocked and contemptuous:
Toph’s father: My daughter is blind. She is blind and tiny and helpless and fragile. She cannot help you!
Toph: Yes, I can.
The fight that ensues is Toph at her most badass. Katara and Sokka take their stances, but Toph brushes them off. “Wait! They’re mine.” The masterclass smackdown she delivers to all seven earthbenders is the stuff of legend. She ingeniously whips up a massive dust storm, turning the tables on her foes: now they’re the ones who are blinded. Then, she waits and listens, just like Bumi said, to turn her foes’ attacks against them with perfectly timed strikes. The sudden silence when she whips the dust away to reveal her standoff with Xin Fu is thrilling.
Her clueless tutor is astounded. “She's the greatest earthbender I've ever seen.”
Toph’s taste of freedom ignites a fire inside her, and she finally opens up to her parents in a character-defining soliloquy. She explains, solemnly and calmly, how her captivity has stunted her and left her in a deep solitude.
Dad, I know it's probably hard for you to see me this way. But the obedient little helpless blind girl that you think I am just isn't me. I love fighting. I love being an earthbender, and I'm really, really good at it. I know I've kept my life secret from you, but you were keeping me secret from the whole world. You were doing it to protect me, but I'm twelve years old and I've never had a real friend.
But her domineering parents just can’t bridge the gap between their daughter, Toph, and the daughter they thought they had. They’ve given her too much freedom, her father tells her sharply. “From now on you'll be cared for and guarded twenty-four hours a day.”
When Toph runs away at the end of the episode, it feels like an inevitable conclusion. But even her last defiant act is denied its agency by her father, who treats her more like a possession to be reclaimed than a child capable of independence. He sends Xin Fu and the earthbending teacher Yu after her with the promise of a resplendent bounty. “The Avatar has kidnapped my daughter. I want you to do whatever it takes to bring her home.”
See you tomorrow for Episode 7: Zuko Alone! Share your own thoughts on this episode in the comments.
Spare observations
Sokka is all of us when he regrets impulse-buying his bag. Good thing it matches his belt!
Great Sokka episode overall. His fan frenzy over The Boulder is hilarious. “Water Tribe ✌️”
Why does Fire Nation Man have a Russian accent? Some folks on Reddit speculate that it’s a play on how Russians were cast as “the bad guys” in Cold War era media (including wrestling).
“The Boulder feels conflicted about fighting a young blind girl.” “Sounds to me like you’re scared, Boulder!” “The Boulder is over his conflicted feelings…”
“What are you doing here, Twinkle Toes?”
Like the WWE, Earth Rumble is at least (partly) staged. In case Fire Nation Man’s earthbending didn’t tip you off, he’s a heel, a performer who acts as the villain.
But Toph isn’t a part of the wrestlers’ crew, so it’s odd they let her just come and presumably win every time.
Is Toph the greatest earthbender we’ll ever see? Bumi is the other claimaint to that title. One of the fandom’s great battles!
Friends of the White Lotus [SPOILERS]
Toph will keep calling Aang “Twinkle Toes” for the rest of the show.
Toph Beifong is basically the only significant character in Avatar who has a last name. Surnames are probably reserved for nobility in the show’s traditional world.