Avatar S3E4: "Sokka’s Master"
Celebrating Avatar’s adorable underdog | Grade: A-
Thanks for tuning in to my fourty-fourth of 61 daily reviews of Avatar: The Last Airbender! Yesterday, we watched S3E3: The Painted Lady.
With so much focus on the character growth of Zuko, it’s easier to overlook Sokka quietly getting his own arc. When we first met Sokka, he held rigid views about the roles of men and women and idolized the male warrior archetype of his absent father. He was arrogant about his fighting skills, and he felt pressure to take full responsibility for his friends’ well-being, without recognizing their agency to make their own decisions. Sokka is certainly far from perfect still, but over the past two seasons he’s unlearned some of his worst tendencies, demonstrated his loyalty and intelligence, and grown into the leader he’s always wanted to be.
But today, when a meteorite crashes down, igniting a blaze that threatens to destroy a nearby town, Sokka feels dejected and useless as he watches the three powerful benders easily extinguish the flames, while he has nothing to do. Though we’ve only seen him dwell upon it briefly throughout the series, it must be difficult for Sokka’s self-esteem to recognize the truth: his lack of bending means he will never become a powerful fighter at the level of Katara, Toph, or Aang.
That doesn’t make him useless. Sokka has proven his worth through his clever plans, insightful ideas, and leadership. To give a few examples, we’ve seen him save a town from Jet’s plot; help invent the hot air balloon and win the Battle for the Northern Air Temple; come up with a plan to take down the Fire Nation drill; and keep Team Avatar on schedule.
But at the start of this episode, Sokka is down on himself for not being a great bender, and he doesn’t recognize the value of his own contributions to the team. So when he approaches the renowned master swordsman Piandao to seek training, he demurs: “The truth is... I don't know if I am worthy.” It’s this humility that convinces Master Piandao, who’s used to turning away blustering fighters.
Throughout Sokka’s training (which in typical Avatar style, is shoehorned into a couple of days), Piandao presents him with a series of unusual tasks, including calligraphy, painting, and landscaping. “The warrior practices a variety of arts to keep his mind sharp and fluid,” the master explains. His message is reminiscent of Iroh’s speech to Zuko in Bitter Work about the importance of drawing wisdom from many places. But Sokka accomplishes each task in his own bizarre, hilarious style, like when he fashions a La-Z-Boy out of moss and stone and orders a cold drink from Piandao’s butler.
Zuko doesn’t appear in this episode, but Sokka isn’t the only one who’s training. In the B-plot, we watch Iroh in prison as he pretends to have gone insane to fool the guards into underestimating him. But in reality, he’s been working out aggressively, trimming the fat off his portly figure. He lets his robe fall, revealing an impressively muscular physique. But what is The Dragon of the West preparing for?
To conclude Sokka’s training, Piandao helps him craft his own sword, which he forges out of the fallen meteorite in a meditative sequence. As Sokka returns to the rest of the Gaang for help transporting the meteorite, they’re overjoyed to see him after a day of mind-numbing boredom without Sokka to direct or entertain them.
Finally, Piandao graduates Sokka with a speech celebrating our beloved Water Tribe warrior.
Creativity, versatility, intelligence… these are the traits that define a great swordsman. And these are the traits that define you. You told me you didn't know if you were worthy, but I believe that you are more worthy than any man I have ever trained.
It’s high praise for the Water Tribe boy, who perhaps can finally understand his own worth. His training was never really about the sword, which will never be Sokka’s most valuable weapon no matter how proficient he gets. That will always be his mind and his charisma.
But Sokka’s conscience gnaws at him and he tells Piandao the truth that he’s really from the Water Tribe. Piandao attacks him, and the Gaang is poised to intervene, but Sokka stops them in a moment that recalls Toph’s battle in The Blind Bandit. “No, this is my fight, alone.” Despite the master’s far superior skills, Sokka acquits himself admirably in the duel and uses the terrain to his advantage, kicking up dirt to blind his opponent. Ultimately, Sokka loses, but Piandao stands down and reveals he was aware of Sokka’s identity the whole time, and knows Aang is the Avatar. He’s cool with it, though.
The way of the sword doesn't belong to any one nation.
As a parting gift, Master Piandao leaves Team Avatar with a single Pai Sho tile — the White Lotus.
While Sokka’s Master isn’t the most significant episode thematically or in terms of plot, it’s Avatar’s characters that keep us coming back. Sokka (and Jack DeSena) has already proven he can carry an episode, and does so wonderfully here. Avatar has certainly taken Sokka seriously for a long time now, since at least Jet if not The Warriors of Kyoshi, but this episode feels like his becoming fully realized as a warrior and as a character. It’s a meaningful tribute to the brave, intelligent goofball.
What makes Sokka such a lovable character is not just his humor, but also his struggle and his relatability. He’s not a bender, and neither are you or I. Sokka is just a regular guy. And we can empathize with the experience of feeling insecure while surrounded by people who all seem more talented than we are. Unlike his bending friends, who have the ability to back up their identity with raw power, Sokka has to develop a different kind of strength in order to assert himself. It’s a testament to Sokka’s resilience that he is able to keep getting humbled everyday while remaining curious and never feeling competitive.
Although this episode is about his new sword, Sokka’s boomerang, his most beloved of all his weapons, is a great symbol for his character. The boomerang is not a straightforward weapon, and its effectiveness does not come from raw strength or reflexes. It comes from creative thinking, and clever angles. And like the loyal Sokka, it always comes back.
See you tomorrow for Episode 5: The Beach! Share your own thoughts on this episode in the comments.
Spare observations
The scene with Aang’s crazy armor came about because the showrunners were frustrated by pressure from Nickelodeon to make Aang’s design “cooler” so they could sell more toys.
“You must think of [the sword] as another part of your own body.” “Like a second head.” “Well, more like an extra-long, really sharp arm.”
“I already picked my toes, twice.” “Twice?” “The first time was for cleaning, but the second time's just for the sweet picking sensation.”
“How hot is it?” “I dunno… real hot?” This joke is a nod to former Tonight Show host Johnny Carson, who often set up his jokes with this line.
“You added a rainbow.” “Is that okay?”
When Sokka returns, Toph plays it cool (“They missed you or something. I didn't care”), but she blushes, adding a bit more evidence after The Serpent’s Pass that she has a little crush.
“You might want to think of a better Fire Nation cover name. Try Lee. There's a million Lees.”
When Toph bends the meteorite piece at the end, she shapes it into the Nickelodeon logo.
Friends of the White Lotus [SPOILERS]
Based on information from Nickelodeon’s now-defunct Avatar Index and The Lost Adventures comics, Piandao was the son of two accomplished firebenders who abandoned him at an orphanage because he was a non-bender. He also once fought in the Fire Nation army, but deserted his post. He apparently fought off a legion of soldiers who came to arrest him and was never bothered again.
Presumably while he was still in the army, Piandao also trained Zuko in the way of the sword.
Sokka later refers to his sword affectionately as “space sword.” He unfortunately loses it in the Battle at Wulong Forest in the series finale.
As his gift suggests, Piandao is a member of the Order of the White Lotus, and we’ll meet him again in that context.