Avatar S3E18 / S3E19: "Sozin’s Comet" Pts 1 & 2
Avatar S3E18 / S3E19: "Sozin’s Comet" Pts 1 & 2
Time to face our destiny | Grade: A
Thanks for tuning in to my fifty-eighth and fifty-ninth of 61 daily reviews of Avatar: The Last Airbender! I’m splitting the four-episode finale into two reviews. This one covers Part 1: The Pheonix King and Part 2: The Old Masters. Before this, we watched S3E17: The Ember Island Players.
The time of reckoning is upon us. After three seasons, we’ve nearly reached the end of our story. But as first chapter of this four-part finale begins, Team Avatar is on the verge of postponing their destiny. Sozin’s Comet is in only three days, and Aang doesn’t feel ready to fight Fire Lord Ozai. At this point, when so much is already lost, why not wait until after the comet is gone?
The whole point of fighting the Fire Lord before the Comet was to stop the Fire Nation from winning the War, but they pretty much won the War when they took Ba Sing Se. Things can't get any worse.
But that’s not going to be an option. Zuko reveals the plot hatched by his father and Azula in the last war meeting: when Sozin’s comet arrives, the Fire Nation will use its power to raze the Earth Kingdom and its people to the ground in a storm of fire. It’s a massive ratcheting up of the stakes and the tempo for this final chapter. One way or another, it all ends here and now.
When the comet last came, my grandfather, Fire Lord Sozin, used it to wipe out the Air Nomads. Now, I will use its power to end the Earth Kingdom.
The genocidal plan sheds some light on Ozai’s twisted, fascistic ideology — not only is he interested in controlling all the territory in the world, but he wants to populate it with only the people of the Fire Nation. In his mind, the other nations are inferior and deserve to be exterminated. Even Sozin initially claimed he wanted to “share this prosperity with the rest of the world” (and then proceeded to commit the original genocide of the Air Nomads).
At this point in the series, everyone on Team Avatar is pretty much fully-fledged. There’s not really any learning or growing for them left to do — they just need to execute. Well, everyone except the Avatar himself. Much of the finale is devoted to Aang’s moral dilemma over whether he should end the Fire Lord’s life. After his upbringing by the monks, who taught him that all life is sacred, every fiber of his being resists killing another person. But none of Aang’s friends seem to understand.
There’s an important scene early on, when the Gaang is cooing over a baby picture of Zuko, only for the prince to reveal that the portrait is of his father. It’s sort of the inverse of the message from Return to Omashu, where an Earth Kingdom soldier remarked that baby Tom-Tom may be “cute now, but when he’s older, he’ll join the Fire Nation army… he’ll be a killer.” There, we were supposed to understand that it’s wrong to condemn innocents based on the sins of their culture. Here, faced with a real killer, we’re confronted with the uncomfortable fact that he was once innocent, too. None of his sins make him any less human. What circumstances molded Ozai into the homicidal maniac that he is today?
Aang will have to resolve the conundrum on his own. As he sleeps, praying for an answer, he’s called by the low sound of a mysterious chanting, and walks trancelike into the sea, where a small, unusual island awaits. When he awakens the next morning, Ember Island is nowhere to be seen.
On the small island, Aang calls upon the spirits of the past Avatars, seeking their advice about how he might defeat the Fire Lord without killing him. Could there be another way? But without exception, they tell him he must do what needs to be done — even the Air Nomad Avatar Yangchen, who can sympathize with his moral qualms.
Selfless duty calls you to sacrifice your own spiritual needs, and do whatever it takes to protect the world.
As Aang despairs over his duty, he realizes that the island is moving. He dives into the water to find that the island is actual a colossal creature, even older than the Avatar — a lion turtle. The lion turtle is a mythical creature based on the cross-cultural fable of the World Turtle, a massive turtle which holds the earth on its back. The lion turtle telepathically booms some cryptic gobbledygook: “Since beginningless time, darkness thrives in the void, but always yields to purifying light.” Then, placing glowing green fingers on Aang’s heart and third-eye chakras, the lion turtle imparts to him an astonishing revelation. We don’t get to witness the vision for ourselves, but it’s certainly related to Aang’s plight.
Meanwhile, Team Avatar has been searching for Aang, fruitlessly. They even link up with June, the confident bounty hunter from Bato and the Water Tribe whose shirshu can track a scent from hundreds of miles away. But her shirshu paces around in confusion before giving up. June explains that Aang is “gone gone. He doesn't exist.” What the hell does that mean? Unclear, but it gives us a sense that there’s some deep magic at work here, and it gives the Gaang an excuse to go somewhere else.
There's only one other person in this world who can help us face the Fire Lord.
So instead, Zuko has June track down his uncle, all the way to the wrecked Outer Wall of Ba Sing Se. But before they can find him, Iroh’s companions find them. It’s a who’s who of wise old men who have helped Team Avatar along their journey: Pakku, Jeong Jeong, Piandao, and King Bumi. They’re dressed in the blue and white robes of the Order of the White Lotus. Bumi regales us with the story of how he single-handedly took back Omashu during the solar eclipse, heaving Ozai’s massive statue to destroy the bridge to the city.
Zuko’s reunion with his uncle is one of the sweetest, most emotionally raw moments in the entire series. The Ember Island Players shined a spotlight on Zuko’s guilt over his betrayal in The Crossroads of Destiny, and he’s been fretting ever since about whether Iroh can ever forgive him. As he stumbles over an apology, Zuko breaks down in tears. But before he can finish, his uncle pulls him into a deep hug.
Uncle, I know you must have mixed feelings about seeing me. But I want you to know, I am so, so, sorry, Uncle. I am so sorry and ashamed of what I did. I don't know how I can ever make it up to you.
Iroh explains that he has called the White Lotus here today to manifest his own destiny. For years, he thought that was to take Ba Sing Se — but now, he realizes, his destiny is to take Ba Sing Se back from the Fire Nation. It really is quite incredible how Avatar consistently manages to weave its plot into a perfect bow across its seasons.
While this is all happening, Ozai has been preparing for his glorious moment of destruction. To celebrate the occasion, he abdicates his title as Fire Lord and dons a new crown, leaving behind a frantic Azula to succeed him as the next Fire Lord. There’s not much deeper meaning behind his “rebirth" except building up Ozai as a villain. It also separates his toxic ideology from the Fire Nation itself, which must live on and find its way out of the darkness if Ozai falls.
From this moment on, I will be known as... the Phoenix King.
The episode ends with each character resolutely ready for the roles they know they must play. Sokka, Toph, and Suki will attempt to stop the fleet of airships that will scorch the Earth Kingdom. Zuko and Azula set out for the Fire Nation Royal Palace, where Azula will be waiting, to crown Zuko as the new Fire Lord instead. In the closing shot, Sozin’s Comet arrives at last to cast a frighteningly beautiful red glow over the land. The stage is set for a climactic showdown to decide the fate of the world.
See you tomorrow for my final review, discussing Episode 20: Into the Inferno and Episode 21: Avatar Aang! Share your own thoughts on this episode in the comments.
Spare observations
Ozai’s imagines a world where “I am the supreme ruler of everything” and everyone applauds. It’s similar to the final speech of the actor Ozai in Ember Island Players.
Zuko teaches Iroh’s lightning redirection technique to Aang. Hmm, might be useful…
The practice assault on the Melon Lord is a really fun scene that dramatizes what could otherwise be boring. It also emphasizes how insanely powerful Toph is.
"You can show him his baby pictures, and all those happy memories will make him good again."
Unfortunately for Toph, she gets the “worst field trip ever” with Zuko, who ignores her trauma-dumping on him while they’re looking for Aang. You gotta work here a little longer before you qualify for a full Zuko episode!
Team Avatar defers to Zuko, as the resident expert on hunting down Aang.
The offical retcon for Aang not existing is that… the lion turtle’s ancient smell hides him. OK.
Zuko used Iroh’s sandal to track him in The Spirit World, too. Did he somehow hold onto it that whole time, even after being blown up by pirates? Let’s not question it.
“I didn’t know what or when, but I knew I’d know it when I knew it!… An eclipse! That’ll do it.”
“Did you do anything interesting on the day of the eclipse?” “…Nah.” “No, not really.”
Zuko’s Freudian slip: “You’re the only person other than the Avatar who can possibly defeat the Father Lord.”
That “giant eelhound” is just a dinosaur, come on.
The chanting that we hear with the lion turtle is based on “Namo Amituofo,” a worshipful chant to the Amitābha Buddha. We previously heard it too, quietly, when Aang merged with the Ocean Spirit. Amitābha also means “Infinite Light,” reflecting the wisdom the lion turtle imparts to him.