Avatar S3E1: "The Awakening"
Aang fallen, Zuko risen? | Grade: A-
Thanks for tuning in to my fourty-first of 61 daily reviews of Avatar: The Last Airbender! Yesterday, we watched S2E20: The Crossroads of Destiny.
In the first episode of Book 3, Zuko and Aang undergo a thematic role reversal. After his near-death in The Crossroads of Destiny, the Avatar wakes up from a weeks-long coma on a captured Fire Nation ship only to find that the entire world thinks he was killed. To Sokka, the secret of Aang’s survival is the ace up their sleeve.
But from the young Avatar’s point of view, he’s found himself in his own exile. After spending the first season reckoning with his disappearance one hundred years ago, and the blame he places on himself for that, Aang can’t accept feeling like he’s abandoning the world once again (and even worse, he has hair!). He wants to proudly declare that he’s still alive, sounding much like early Zuko when he says:
I need to redeem myself. I need my honor back.
Meanwhile in Zukoland, the now-unbanished prince should be on top of the world. He’s returned to the Fire Nation and the royal palace, where he’s feted as a great conqueror and a hero. He’s rekindled a romance with Mai. And best of all, his father Ozai, whose face is revealed for the first time, utters the words Zuko so desperately longs to hear: “I am proud of you, Prince Zuko.” It’s the redemption he’s been dreaming of all series long.
But now that he’s got it, something feels off. As Lo and Li announce his return to a roaring crowd, it doesn’t seem like the adulation is washing over a distracted-looking Zuko. And Azula is already up to her usual scheming. She probes him on whether Aang could have survived, and he denies it, even as he recalls Katara’s spirit water. But the shrewd princess susses out his hesitation, and tells Firelord Ozai that it was Zuko who killed the Avatar. In a vaguely risqué scene in her chambers, she explains:
What could I possibly gain by letting you get all the glory for defeating the Avatar? Unless, somehow, the Avatar was actually alive. All that glory would suddenly turn to shame and foolishness. But you said it yourself, that was impossible.
Back on the captured ship, Aang escapes overboard while his friends are in town. Where is he trying to go, and why does he flee into the sea rather than on land? Unclear, and questionable decisions all around. We should remember, though, that he did the same thing one hundred years before: that time running away from his destiny instead of towards it.
Before following Aang, we get a moment to explore the strained relationship between Hakoda and Katara, who’s been icy towards her father all day. It’s a sweet but poignant scene that illuminates the familial rifts that war creates. How powerless we are to resist the pain of our deepest scars!
Katara: We could be helping him, and I know the world needs him, but doesn't he know how much we need him, too? How can he just leave us behind?
Hakoda: You're talking about me too, aren't you?
Katara: How could you leave us, Dad? I mean, I know we had Gran-Gran, and she loved us, but we were just so lost without you. … I understand why you left. I really do, and I know that you had to go, so why do I still feel this way? I'm so sad and angry and hurt!
The remainder of the episode follows Aang, injured and exhausted. He’s hanging on to driftwood for dear life in the middle of the stormy sea — a recurring motif that evokes his past and his struggles to bear the responsibility of the Avatar. But just as he’s about to succumb to his despair, he’s saved by the ghostly specters of Avatar Roku and Princess Yue, who give him a pep talk and swells the tides for him to ride.
You already saved the world. And you'll save the world again, but you can't give up.
Eventually, Aang washes up with on a volcanic island in the Fire Nation, where he’s found by Sokka, Katara, and Toph, who have been searching for him on Appa. Momo’s there too, of course. In the final, dramatic moment, Aang defiantly slams his wrecked glider into the a rivulet of lava, and the shot lingers solemnly as it bursts into flame.
See you tomorrow for Episode 2: The Headband! Share your own thoughts on this episode in the comments.
Spare observations
Somehow the group linked up with Jet’s onetime companions Pipsqueak and the Duke.
So, can Toph just “see” on metal fully now?
“I just asked if you were cold, I didn't ask for your whole life story.”
As we watch the Fire Nation troops storm Ba Sing Se, there’s a brief shot of Jin and Iroh’s boss in the old tea shop, and another of baby Hope and the refugees from The Serpent’s Pass.
The Earth King decided to travel the world in disguise with his just-bear, Bosco.
The turtle ducks run away from Azula, a reference to Zuko Alone when Zuko claimed that she would “feed” them by beaning them with a full roll of bread.
“The universe just loves proving me wrong, doesn't it?” “You just make it too easy.” [The serpent is struck by the enemy ship and encircles it.] “Thank you, the universe!”
Aang dives beneath the blockade rather than flying over it, so his cover isn’t blown.
Friends of the White Lotus [SPOILERS]
The Fire Navy men reference Admiral Chan, the father of Chan from The Beach.
Roku tells Aang, “I should have seen this war coming and prevented it. You inherited my problems and my mistakes.” We’ll learn more about Roku’s backstory and the origin of the war in The Avatar and the Firelord.
The shot of Aang surfing the waves on the driftwood is a visual reference to Avatar Kuruk.
Aang will go without his glider until the mechanist makes him a new one for the invasion.