Thanks for tuning in to my fifty-third of 61 daily reviews of Avatar: The Last Airbender! Previously, we watched S3E12: The Western Air Temple.
The allegorical premise of this episode is great, practically poetic. After finally joining Team Avatar, Zuko loses his ability to firebend. Maybe, Aang conjectures, his bending has been fueled by his inner rage, and now that he’s no longer fighting for the Fire Nation, his anger has subsided. Toph suggests that just like she learned to earthbend from the badgermoles, they should learn from the original firebenders: the dragons. Unfortunately, they’re not around anymore, because the Fire Nation (and Zuko’s family specifically) hunted them all down.
And so, Zuko and Aang embark on an adventure to find the lost civilization of the extinct Sun Warriors, the first people to learn firebending from the dragons. They barely survive a series of booby-traps only to find that the Sun Warriors are not extinct, and neither are the dragons. They’re granted a psychedelic vision of beautiful, iridescent fire, revealing the true nature of firebending. As Aang finally launches a fire blast, The Sun Warriors neatly closes the book on Aang’s guilt over burning Katara in The Deserter.
All this time, I thought firebending was destruction. Since I hurt Katara, I've been too afraid and hesitant. But now I know what it really is. It's energy, and life.
As a metaphor, this episode works well, fitting together the pieces in a way that’s quintessentially Avatar. Through his journey with Aang, Zuko is forced to understand his inner turmoil and take the final step in deprogramming himself of the Fire Nation’s twisted ideology. Only now does he realize how deep that ideology had taken root: all the way down to the bending that defines his identity. He also has to reckon with the misdeeds of his nation, which sought to kill the true source of firebending and supplant it with a corrupted, spiteful and inferior substitute.
I already mentioned the significance of Zuko’s scar in my review of The Crossroads of Destiny. It represents not only the pain of his past, but his uniqueness and bravery in standing up to his father, and it’s no accident that his scar is on full display as he receives the masters’ wisdom. In some sense, Zuko’s envelopment by the dragons’ fire is like the antithesis of his father’s flame that scarred him three years before. That hateful blast gave Zuko purpose, as he hunted the Avatar across the world and sought to restore his place by Ozai’s side. Their nurturing fire gives Zuko renewed meaning.
I have a new drive. I have to help you defeat my father and restore balance to the world.
There’s also some deeply moving and gorgeous frames in this episode, thanks to the marvelous setting as the duo ascends the grand staircase atop the mountain. It feels striking, kinetic, to watch Zuko and Aang do the dragon dance, as the dragons themselves soar beside them, and the lofty sound design of the scene really adds to the weight of the moment. Not to mention that satisfying spark of recognition as we realize the Sun Warriors’ familiar chanting is the closing theme from the credits.
So why don’t I love this undeniably significant chapter, which some people think is one of the show’s greatest? Ultimately, The Sun Warriors is good, but not great, because it’s just not that entertaining. More specifically, the episode sags heavily in the middle. Aang and Zuko may have brilliant chemistry in battle (like in The Blue Spirit, or even when they fight each other), but it doesn’t translate to chemistry as traveling companions and they never settle into an easy familiarity.
Despite their complementary roles as deuteragonists, Aang and Zuko are very different characters. Though Aang has his struggles, he’s a mythical hero and his most significant journey takes place in the realm of the fantastical. Zuko, on the other hand, is painfully human, and his seasons-long arc takes place internally. So while the narrative of this story is really about Zuko, the setting and plot belong very much to Aang. The result is an episode where Zuko seems out of place and Aang comes off oddly stilted, with his comments about having an “upbeat attitude” and phrases like “monkeyfeathers!”
Additionally, the episode lacks a strong sense of stakes or conflict. It’s not that fun to watch Aang and Zuko solve puzzles or mess around with the disembodied booby-traps. And with Aang’s unquestionable righteousness, there’s never any doubt that they’ll be accepted by the masters, despite the obnoxious Sun Warriors’ gleeful anticipation of the opposite. When they have to literally tell us, “facing the judgment of the firebending masters will be very dangerous,” it’s hard to muster up the fear.
See you tomorrow for the two-parter Episodes 14 and 15: The Boiling Rock! Share your own thoughts on this episode in the comments.
Spare observations
The golden egg and the journey into the temple are of course, of course, a reference to that classic scene in Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Last Ark.
“Well, what do you think we should do?” “Think about our place in the universe?”
“I don’t normally play this card, but I’m the Avatar.”
“Still we can take ‘em?” “Shh, I never said that!”
Iroh got his nickname The Dragon of the West by killing the last living dragon. But actually, he received the same visions as Zuko and Aang, and lied to protect them. (You’d think you would need some kind of proof to claim the title of dragonslayer, but I guess nobody is doubting Iroh.)
In Chinese, the names of the dragons Ran (燃) and Shaw (烧) both roughly mean “to burn.”
“I understand.” Zuko says as he receives the vision. Uhh, thanks, I guess, for making sure we understand? But hey, it was good when The Sopranos did it.
Friends of the White Lotus [SPOILERS]
This is the first of a really classic set of “Zuko adventure episodes,” where Zuko travels on a mission with each of the original members of the Gaang individually. Through these episodes, Aang, Sokka, and Katara each learn to trust Zuko again after all the bad blood between them. But The Sun Warriors is definitely the worst of the three, and Zuko has better chemistry with the other Gaangsters (has anyone used that one before? pretty bad…).
The story of sky bison, badgermoles, dragons, and, uh, the moon as the original benders is kind of retconned in The Legend of Korra, which claims that the lion turtles originally granted humans the ability to bend. Fans have spent a good deal of time arguing about how to reconcile the two origin stories.
Great detail from the wiki: Zuko no longer grunts with rage when he firebends after this.
Not only does Zuko regain his firebending, but he may have become even more powerful. He’s able to go toe-to-toe with Azula in The Southern Raiders, although she may also be in a weakened state.