Avatar S3E7: "The Runaway"
Toph gets into trouble | Grade: B+
Thanks for tuning in to my fourty-seventh of 61 daily reviews of Avatar: The Last Airbender! Yesterday, we watched S3E6: The Avatar and the Firelord.
The Runaway does several things relatively well, but none of them transcendently. In a unique stylistic choice for the series, the episode begins with an in media res flash-forward open, where we see Toph dragged away in a net while a scowling Katara tells her, “You brought this on yourself. I had no choice.” Then we return to the main event, three days earlier. The conceit is clearly to make us think that some dramatic rift has torn apart Team Avatar, but it’s just a hook for the viewer and doesn’t really serve the broader plot in any way.
It’s a decent filler episode, which follows Toph as she uses her earthbending powers to earn money by scamming local hustlers. She gambles on the street, cheating to win at the shell game and dice, and even runs what we know today as an insurance scam where she pretends to be struck by a rich man’s carriage. But she does a bad job at staying low-key and makes it too obvious that she’s not really blind. Eventually, the townspeople catch on, and Sokka finds a wanted poster with a crudely drawn picture of Toph. The bounty is one thousand gold pieces for anyone who can capture “the Runaway.”
For once, the Gaang is rolling in dough, thanks to Toph’s ill-gotten winnings. Shopaholic Sokka blows some of the money on one of the show’s underrated gags: a pet messenger hawk, creatively christened “Hawky.” Hawky is the only other animal besides Appa and Momo to ever join Team Avatar, and though his time is too brief, but he serves a critical role as the sounding board for Sokka’s latest hilarious ramblings. I would totally watch a spinoff episode of just these two.
As Avatar so often loves to do in Toph episodes, today’s chapter uses Katara as a foil for the Beifong girl. Toph’s chaotic, rebellious behavior sparks a conflict with the restrained and responsible waterbender, who wants Toph to stop the scams before she gets them all caught. They both stubbornly yell past each other, until Katara remembers that you can win any argument by psychoanalyzing your opponent.
Katara: You're acting like this because of your parents.… They were controlling over you, so you ran away, and now you act like your parents don't exist. You act like you hate them, but you don't. You just feel guilty.
Toph: I do hate them!
Katara: I don't think so. I think you miss them, but you just don't wanna deal with that, so instead you act like this crazy person.
By the way Toph reacts here, it’s easy to tell that Katara has struck a chord. In Toph’s mind, her parents were authoritarian and abusive, and she fled from them because she had to. She associates her parents with rules, and in order to maintain her understanding of who she is and why she ran away, she must emphatically reject the rules and live as the negation of her prior self. If she acknowledges that there’s value to the sort of responsibility and caution Katara brings, then she also has to acknowledge the complexity of her relationship with her parents — that maybe they did care about her in their own way — and sit with her own guilt.
It’s ultimately Sokka who’s able to mend the rift between the two girls when he pulls Toph aside for a private chat. He explains how he’s come to rely on his sister’s motherly instincts, even though they can sometimes feel frustrating.
When our mom died, that was the hardest time in my life. Our family was a mess, but Katara? She had so much strength. She stepped up and took on so much responsibility. She helped fill the void that was left by our mom.
He drops the heartbreaking revelation that he can’t even remember what his own mother looked like. Since Katara has filled that role for so long, he can only picture her face. Unbeknownst to both of them, Katara is eavesdropping, and her eyes fill with tears at Sokka’s words.
When they all return to camp, a contrite Toph volunteers to stop her scams. But Katara has another idea in mind. She wants to run the ultimate scam: turning in Toph to claim her own bounty! This finally brings us to the opening scene. But it turns out the whole thing is a trap set by Zuko’s assassin, Combustion Man, and the girls are both thrown into a wooden cell that Toph can’t metalbend out of. (Is it possible that the Fire Nation knows about Toph’s mastery of metal?)
Combustion Man lies in wait for Aang, who comes into town with Sokka after they start to grow worried about the girls. There’s a short chase scene, in which a stunned Aang seems on the verge of getting blown up by the freakish firebender. But he’s saved by Katara and Toph, who were able to cut through their cell by using Katara’s sweat as bending water. They beat a hasty escape, but their new pursuer doesn’t appear to be giving up anytime soon.
See you tomorrow for Episode 7: The Puppetmaster! Share your own thoughts on this episode in the comments.
Spare observations
It looks like Toph has trained Aang to “see” with seismic sense too. But he’s still not proficient enough of an earthbender to follow the shell game.
“Katara, I'll personally make you an Avatar promise that we won't make a habit of doing these scams.” What the hell is an “Avatar promise”? I guess we should already know from The Library that it’s not worth much.
Wang Fire returns, as Sokka dons the beard for their insurance scam.
“It sounds like a sheet of paper, but I guess you're referring to what's on the sheet of paper.”
"I can't believe we forgot Toph can't write. … I guess Plan B is we send a note to Toph pretending it's from Katara.” “I think we’re gonna run into a similar problem.” Love to see these guys having fun together.
“The right thing is its own reward.” “Well, I’m happy to hear you say that.” “But, I still want the actual reward.”
Sokka gives Zuko’s assassin his enduring nickname, “Combustion Man” (and also the wordier but funny “Sparky Sparky Boom Man.” So now I can finally call him that.
Friends of the White Lotus [SPOILERS]
This is the final entry in a series of episodes that each highlights one member of Team Avatar (Aang in The Headband, Katara in The Painted Lady, Sokka in Sokka’s Master, and now Toph). They sort of did the same thing in Season 2 with The Chase, Bitter Work, The Library, and The Desert, in which the main events are driven by Toph, Aang, Sokka, and Katara respectively. Toph’s episode comes later in Season 3 than the others, because they each get a Zuko adventure episode later, but she doesn’t.
Sokka will indeed build Appa that armor for the invasion.
Katara using her own sweat as a source of bending water is immediate foreshadowing for The Puppetmaster.
Combustion Man’s weakness is revealed here — after striking his third eye, his subsequent blast will backfire. This weakness will ultimately be his downfall.
We never hear back from Toph’s parents after she sends them the letter. In the graphic novels that take place after the events of Avatar, she reconciles with her father, whose marriage broke up after Xin Fu and Master Yu failed to recapture Toph.