Avatar S3E10 / S3E11: "The Day of Black Sun"
Bravery and defeat in a midseason climax | Grade: A
Thanks for tuning in to my fiftieth and fifty-first of 61 daily reviews of Avatar: The Last Airbender! These episodes premiered together as Part 1: The Invasion and Part 2: The Eclipse. They must be reviewed together too!
Yesterday, we watched S3E9: Nightmares and Daydreams.
The invasion was doomed before it ever began. If Aang’s lack of firebending, or the Earth King’s loose lips to Azula in The Guru weren’t indication enough, it should have been obvious in hindsight due to the laws of TV. Only midway through the season, with ten episodes left to go, Aang was never going to defeat Ozai just yet. The show must go on.
Luckily, growing up, I wasn’t smart enough to figure that out, especially with Nickelodeon’s well-heeled marketing push, which trumpeted this episode as the decisive moment for Avatar. But even with the foresight of a rewatch, we’re in for a treat with this intense double-feature that feels worthy of being a season finale on its own.
Though Katara and Toph play major roles in the invasion, the narrative arc of these two episodes revolves around the three male protagonists: Sokka, Zuko, and Aang. Part 1: The Invasion opens with the face of the young Water Tribe warrior, looking stressed as he pores over his maps. In some sense, the invasion is really Sokka’s plan. He’s the one who instigated Team’s Avatar’s visit to Wan Shi Tong’s library for intel, suggested an attack on the day of the eclipse, pushed to win the support of the Earth King, and ultimately assembled everyone here today. So he’s feeling responsible for the fate of everyone placing their faith in him today, and desperate to prove himself as a leader worthy of their loyalty.
So when he gets stage fright and flubs his speech to rally the troops, prompting his father to take over, it’s crushing for Sokka. Hakoda really shines throughout the invasion as he demonstrates his prowess as a tactician and a leader, adding new color to his relationship with his son, who idolizes him. It must be difficult for Sokka to feel like he’s in his father’s shadow, wondering if he can live up to that. It’s ultimately Aang, who’s much calmer since Nightmares and Daydreams, who reminds him:
Look, your moment of truth isn't gonna be in front of some map; it's gonna be out there on the battlefield.
Despite his newfound confidence, the young Avatar is feeling the pressure too. “I already failed the world once at Ba Sing Se,” he says. “I won't let myself fail again.” Aang is no longer just that goofy kid who doesn’t things seriously. He’s accepted the weight of his destiny, but he also has a burning fire inside him to prove himself. We’re reminded of The Awakening, where Aang couldn’t accept his own disappearance. This moment is about redemption for Aang, who’s ready to declare to the world that he’s still alive. In a symbolic scene that harkens back to Zuko and Iroh cutting their topknots at the start of Book 2, Aang dons his Air Nomad robes once more and shaves away the hair that covers his tattoo.
As he prepares to fly ahead of the troops to find Ozai, armed with a new glider designed by the mechanist, Aang’s resolve is clear. He and Katara share a meaningful, intimate conversation, granted urgency by the knowledge that it could be their last. “What if... what if I don't come back?” Aang asks. In The Guru, he said he’d do “whatever it takes,” and here the subtext is clear — if necessary, he’s willing to sacrifice himself to bring an end to the war. Katara starts to protest, but Aang silences her with a deep kiss, leaving his friend blushing as he flies away.
On the field, The Day of Black Sun does a good job illustrating the grandest battle yet in Avatar’s run. It’s the first time the Fire Nation is on the defensive, and also the first time the combatants feel evenly matched (usually it’s only Team Avatar standing in the way of a slaughter). They don’t really know how to choreograph such large-scale fights, but that’s OK — as with The Siege of the North, most of our time is spent with the protagonists on their side quests. The anticipation as they land on the beach is intense and the beats of battle are incredibly creative, too, incorporating familiar elements but also new ones, including waterbender-powered submarines equipped with torpedoes and caterpillar-like tanks whose metal panels open up for earthbenders to fire from. If there’s anything I’m missing, it’s the brutal toll of such a large-scale battle, but this is still a kids show so that comes with the territory.
Sokka and Aang both seem to mature over the course of the day. When Hakoda is incapacitated, Sokka gets his opportunity to step up, leading the warriors up the volcano to the inner city. And instead of losing his nerve, Aang makes the tough call to continue searching for Ozai after he finds the city and the Royal Palace abandoned, indicating that the Fire Nation knew about their plans from the start.
Clever as always, Azula ultimately is the hero of the Fire Nation during the invasion, in control at every moment. She demonstrates unbelievable agility as she dodges attacks from Aang, Sokka, and Toph, in a frantic sequence whose choreography bears some resemblance to the battle at Lake Laogai (particularly Toph’s fight with the Dai Li). The rematch must be difficult for Aang, who’s shocked to see the princess sitting on the thone, after falling to her hand in The Crossroads of Destiny. Though it’s Sokka who realizes she’s just stalling out their time until the eclipse is over, the studious Azula proves she’s done her research and manipulates his emotions by invoking Suki.
The tension collapses into anguish in the fateful final minutes, as the Fire Nation’s giant dirigible airships make their debut and advance on the invasion force. The score perfectly evokes a dawning sense of despair as the airships destroy their submarines, scuttling any chance of escape. Hakoda and the adults’ heroic sacrifice hangs heavy in the air as they surrender themselves so the kids can escape with Aang and fight another day. It’s clear that the defeat weighs most heavily on Sokka, who feels responsible for the invasion, and on a crying Aang, who feels that he’s failed the people who were counting on him once again. But he knows that the best thing he can do for them now is refuse to give up.
Thank you all for being so brave and so strong. I'm gonna make this up to you.
Now, I’ve been holding out on you, so it’s time to finally talk about the parallel events, which even more than the invasion promises to radically upend the dynamic of Avatar as we approach the final stretch of the series: Zuko finally stands up to his father. It’s a scene three seasons, nay, a whole lifetime in the making, one of the fiercest and most cathartic scenes the show would ever do.
For so long, all I wanted was for you to love me, to accept me. I thought it was my honor I wanted, but really, I was just trying to please you.
Zuko’s entire speech is golden. Dante Basco really nails the emotion as the prince rattles off a laundry list of grievances against his father and his nation. Suddenly, Zuko’s victory in The Crossroads of Destiny is reframed as his lowest point, and his true redemption begins now. And he drops this bombshell:
I'm going to join the Avatar and I'm going to help him defeat you.
Ozai uses the exact same move on Zuko that Azula does with Sokka, dangling the promise of a loved one to keep him around. He reveals that Azula was telling the truth in Zuko Alone, and he was prepared to kill Zuko as punishment for Ozai’s own transgressions. But Zuko’s mother hatched a plot to save him, which resulted in the death of Firelord Azulon, the ascendance of Ozai, and Ursa’s banishment. That’s right, banishment — she may be alive!
But as the eclipse ends, Ozai decides he’s heard enough of his son’s treachery and it’s time to fry him. It’s the first time we’ve seen him firebend, and his overwhelming power is clear from how quickly he charges up a massive double-handed lightning blast. But Iroh’s teachings save Zuko as he’s able to just barely redirect it at the ground in front of his father and make his escape.
Overall, The Day of Black Sun is a major turning point for Avatar, assembling all the necessary pieces that will lead us to the series finale. There’s a lot that these episodes need to get through, and its overstuffed plot doesn’t give us the quite enough time to linger on some of the more powerful moments, but its sheer scale and drama will always make this one of the most memorable episodes in the show’s run.
After these episodes were released, we had to wait eight months to get the next one! I’ll be taking a break for just one day. See you on Sunday to kick off the countdown to Sozin’s comet with Episode 12: The Western Air Temple! Share your own thoughts on this episode in the comments.
Spare observations
Katara pressing water into the hands of an anxious Sokka is one of those tiny details that illustrate the warmth of their sibling relationship.
The ragtag ensemble of the invasion force includes the swamp-benders; Haru and his father; the Hippo and the Boulder; the mechanist and his son Teo; Pipsqueak and the Duke; and of course, Hakoda and his warriors from the Southern Water Tribe.
The mechanist says he’s experimenting with peanut-based explosives. Peanut oil can be used to make dynamite.
Iroh’s kind guard Ming is voiced by none other than Serena Williams.
Sokka did a great job with Appa’s armor!
The man Aang, Sokka, and Toph run into inside the bunker is War Minister Qin, who led the offensives in The Northern Air Temple and The Drill. Toph didn’t catch him lying — did he really give up Ozai that easily? Perhaps he technically told the truth and Azula was in Ozai’s chamber.
Iroh busts himself out of jail (“like a one-man army”) and disappears before Zuko can free him. How did he know about the eclipse? Perhaps he’s known for a long time.
Friends of the White Lotus [SPOILERS]
Zuko’s letter is addressed to Mai, explaining that he’s leaving. She later yells at him for breaking up over text in The Boiling Rock.
Despite the massive reveal that Zuko’s mother is alive, Ursa is never actually present in Avatar. Zuko sets out to find her in the graphic novel The Search.
What makes Zuko finally decide to leave? Later, we find out that during his war meeting last episode, Ozai decided to raze the Earth Kingdom to the ground.
Iroh has gone to join up with the other members of the Order of the White Lotus. We won’t see him again until Sozin’s Comet, Part 2.
“If we don't escape on our own first.” Haru’s dad says. This can totally read as foreshadowing for The Boiling Rock, but it’s also couched as a reference to Imprisoned, where Katara breaks Haru and his dad out of prison.
Team Avatar and Iroh aren’t the only ones who take advantage of the eclipse. In Omashu, Bumi is using the opportunity to take back his city from the Fire Nation, all by himself!