6. Seven Havens: "Night of the Afflicted"

0:00 It was the night of the afflicted.

0:04 Okay, but it's really creepy because his fingers are like so long and he's doing this like crazy I mean it looks very skeleton-y.

0:12 Well, you when I hold your hand, because we're married, you sometimes say my skeleton fingers, and that's also Well, you also you married a skeleton. I'm Skeletor. What are we doing here? We are gonna talk about chapter six of Seven Havens, Night of the Afflicted, which I believe is the spooky single spookiest episode of any Avatar series.

0:33 It's very October.

0:34 Ooh, that's probably why they waited until now to have the series go. We also talk about the care that went into developing Puffy's physical disability in this series and her representation specifically in this episode, and I think they did a really, really good job.

0:48 Excellent. And we talk about everything getting crazy. And is this the first hospital we've seen in the Avatar verse? Oh, you know what I forgot to talk about? We didn't talk about it, but you know who I'm having a hard time remembering? Not Geek, but the other one.

1:02 Ruhe! Ruhe. We don't talk about that. We don't talk about that at all this episode. And, you know, just for you, we make another Avatar cold call to a fan. Well, all that and more on this week's episode. So hold on to your Gatmonkey. Yep, yep.

1:31 Welcome to Yip Yip Parade, an avatar podcast. And today we have a special musical guest. Take it away, musical guest. No.

1:39 Oh, wait, wait. I got it. I got it. I got it. And that's as far as the notes go. I can't go any further than that because the Kalimba is very small.

1:51 That's pretty good. Who is our musical guest?

1:54 Oh, it's Phil Collins. Take it away, Phil! No, he's shy. He's shy.

1:59 I can't even do the drums. That was more film.

2:03 I can feel it. Coming in the air. Well, anyway, back to this intro. What's up? It's me, Jordan, an Avatar the Last Airbender super fan. According to Nickelodeon, I didn't slap that on myself and go, hello boys and girls.

2:19 You know, I think it'd be better if I went first because I mean, you can't follow that. Like I'm Katie, his wife.

2:26 Aww, you're more than you're more than Phil Collins' wife. You have Avatar knowledge. You've you've gone through all the series so far. You've watched both theatrical films.

2:38 That's true.

2:39 You've watched Avatar Aang the Last Airbender and The Last Airbender.

2:44 All the hits.

2:45 And we know which one you liked more.

2:47 Hmm.

2:48 It was the last airbender. Okay, so what are we doing here on this pod? Well, every episode we break down a new episode of Avatar. I was gonna say Avatar the Last Airbender, Seven Havens. That's a mouthful. Avatar The Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra, Seven Havens. We talk about an episode of Seven Havens.

3:06 On this episode, we tackle Chapter Six. And if you're following the season finale for this batch of episodes, this week of Batch.

3:16 Yes.

3:17 Chapter 6, Night of the Afflicted.

3:21 Dee Dee Dee Dee.

3:26 And then that's the one of the notes. I'm like, do you need to tune that? Uh well, it sounded a little flat, but that's, you know, it's okay. Anyway. Knight of the Afflicted. Do you know what that title is in homage to?

3:38 No, but something creepy.

3:40 Yeah, I assume it's from Night of the Living Dead.

3:42 Night of the Living Dead, which I've never seen. I'm thinking this episode, we were like, we were in an apocalypse. I feel like uh big zombie fans, maybe.

3:54 Have you ever seen a zombie show or zombie movie?

3:57 Somebody made me watch Sean of the Dead once, and they're like, no, no, it's so funny. Was it you? You've watched Sean of the Dead? Yeah.

4:04 I've we've never talked- I've told you that I've watched Sean of the Dead, and you've never been like, me too. You just listen.

4:10 Yep.

4:10 You just you're just holding the space for me to tell. And I told you that was a traumatic event for me.

4:16 I thought you liked it.

4:18 No. That was probably the other person you watched it with. I didn't like it. Yeah, neither did I.

4:23 We're yeah, I feel like we're not into it. We're not into it. We're too, I don't know. This was kind of like my max.

4:29 I mean, Raiders of the Lost Art gets there in the end. I'm like, I gotta go. I want to go to another room.

4:35 We are so G-rated.

4:36 And this episode.

4:44 I think definitely those things.

4:45 You can give me a hard R if it's just for language.

4:47 Oh, yeah. Anyway. But this episode was rated PG, I saw.

4:52 Did you see what it was rated PG for? Apparel and something else. Themes of loss. I don't think I've ever seen that on a on a TV show as part of the rating. And so I'm curious if they're just implementing that more for people that you're just a warning for them, if that's uh any sort of like trigger that could be.

5:12 I think that's nice. I thought it was nice too. I was kind of happy. Okay, so this episode, Night of the Afflicted, probably I'm gonna say it's the spookiest episode of Seven Heavens Cora or Last Airbender. I think it was the vibe was dire. It was intense. How do you feel about it? Uh ultimately I'm happy.

5:34 I was definitely worried at one point before Jay intervened that everyone was gonna get red-eyed.

5:39 Mm-hmm.

5:39 So I was definitely worried there. It's really interesting how we are implementing just the notion of fear and how that is how it can be transformative for people. And I think that is a really interesting theme to tackle. Like, fear can make even the nicest people turn really ugly.

5:57 Mm-hmm.

5:58 Turn to violence, even.

5:59 Right. And like if you like the power of staying calm. You know, I feel like Pavi and uh Jay are the only ones that can keep it together. Keep it together. I feel like they are calm, cool, and collected in like heated scenarios, and that's nice.

6:15 And I think Pavi is constantly looking for the root cause of things. Yeah, yippers, we got gnats. Again, we live in a jungle. We've got cat monkeys everywhere, but yeah, the gnats are just prolific.

6:29 I don't even know. It's like zero to sixty. I thought that's a good one.

6:31 One land on my cheek. Really? Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, anyway, we got gats.

6:37 I think what I appreciate is partially because Pavy has been like removed. And so I think sometimes we get a different uh perspective, you know, because she hasn't been around everybody. She's been more like on the outside, like observing. And and so I feel like that also plays into her ability to kind of assess the situation and not react as strongly as everybody else is.

7:00 I think you and I can probably relate to that. You know, everyone, quote unquote everyone, like, you know, follows a trend, follows some viral thing. They're consuming X, Y, and Z on social media, and you and I aren't necessarily in that consumption mode currently. And so I do think you and I can probably empathize with that kind of clarity that comes from being a little bit removed.

7:24 That's true. I appreciated her reacting with kindness and patience to like Moline, who was going to be very violent, I think, and so didn't like trick him necessarily, but could find a way to like get to a peaceful resolution with that. And so it led to, I think one of my favorite lines in this episode was after she put him in the box, and then he just goes, It's so cozy.

7:50 That was sweet. I have a question.

7:53 Shoot, go ahead.

7:54 Um, I think since I don't know what episode, early on, Karthik keeps bringing up and is like almost obsessed with like getting more benders, right? It's like the call, like make the call. We need more benders, we need more benders. And we've heard that like you know, bendings were at an all-time low.

8:11 Is Karthic one of the faceless? I'm like, right, what do you think's up with that? And why does he want more benders?

8:17 Well, for protection, I think, but it could go into this like tension of feeling like Karthik has ulterior motives in this scenario. Because you know, Karthik knows more than he's letting on, I think at all times.

8:28 Yeah.

8:29 But then why do the faceless want to steal the benders? I mean, if it's I mean the simple answer is to deplete Alora more, but if they're not like brainwashing or capturing these people, I mean maybe they're showing them the light of like, oh, Alora is you know, there's a problem here. You guys should defect.

8:47 Hmm.

8:47 Maybe Karthik's a faceless.

8:49 Yeah, maybe.

8:50 I don't know. I don't believe that.

8:51 Uh, what do you think about the red blocks like growing? And is it just in one spot?

8:56 Uh I don't think so because it grew within the hospital, also. I think it's just uh indicative of fear growing within the people of Alora. And so I'm not quite sure I haven't quite wrapped my mind around fear causing these huge changes within a place. I just think that's so spirit worldly. And so it just makes me think there's a further root cause of I don't know, did the real the material world and the spirit world have they converged?

9:26 Is it like one place? Because I don't think you know, if we think about like last airbender, like I don't think things like that were necessarily impacting how the world was. Like anything like that was typically spirit world stuff, which makes me think like there's more spirit worlds. So I don't know, I don't know if they've merged or or what.

9:45 Right.

9:45 Obviously, we had confirmation that this was spirit world, like red red block from Bounton, the Spirit World's Wrath or something. But it happened in a hospital. I want to go back to all the hospital stuff because as soon as we kind of started this episode talking about the afflicted, I think the writers were also thinking of a way to get them into a hospital, also.

10:05 So it was like, oh, how do we get them all here? Is this the first time in the Avatar world that we've seen a hospital?

10:13 I think so. Because I was like, who does Korgo? I'm like, I think people have medical attention, but I don't know that we actually go to a hospital.

10:20 Right. It always seems like it's like triage or something. Or like kind of it's always seems kind of military adjacent. It's interesting. So I feel like we've been hanging out with doctors a lot.

10:30 What did you think about everything that happened with Pavi?

10:34 I loved it. I would yeah, I would love to talk about just disability representation in Avatar. And when you think about it, Avatar, the series, has never shied away from representation ever. I mean, it's it's been present since season one, since book one water.

10:50 Yeah, like what's coming up?

10:52 Well, in book one water, we have the mechanist who has blown off several of his fingers. We have Teo, his son, who is paralyzed. And so we have that in book one. And I think in 2005, when you're watching that, it is a little strange to be like, oh, we're actually like showing disability and showing that you can overcome it or live a fulfilling life differently.

11:15 And then obviously it changes a lot more once we get introduced to Toph.

11:18 I don't know. If you're not really thinking about it being like, oh, disability, you know, it exists everywhere, right? Like it's around the world, like it is in all sorts of different socio-economical uh economical.

11:33 Well, right, because Toph is one of the wealthiest. She comes from one of the wealthiest families in the world.

11:38 Mm-hmm. But yeah, I mean, I think it's really nice to have that representation. And I think there was like so many really great lines, just like I don't even okay. Also, just starting like Pavi's like paranoia of just like going to the doctor, getting help.

11:52 How does that feel for you? Relatable. Well, because you come from a family that there has been like medical needs, and I can't necessarily relate to that because we don't take care of our stuff in my family.

12:03 Yes, my family has gone to the doctor's, gotten help, and not gotten help. And I mean, so I think I could see her hesitation, right? Like, I could relate to that.

12:14 But also Garthic being like, Wait, you've never seen a doctor, and being like, Yeah, this girl with one leg, like what's happening here?

12:21 Yeah, and then you know, but again, that's I think if we're pulling from real life, like there are definitely people that have like they're differently abled that haven't seen doctors and are still like finding ways to live and live full lives. And yeah, I thought it was really nice that you know Nisha went with her to the doctor, even though it's like, I don't want your help, blah blah blah.

12:43 She's trying to be a support. And I thought the doctor was kind and caring, and like this idea that she wasn't born that way.

12:53 Yeah.

12:54 And I was like, I feel like some things went down three years ago.

12:57 Right. We got into something I'm guessing horrific. Like Nisha was separated from Pavi and her family. Who knows what happened to mom and dad? Like, and now it's like make I'm definitely questioning my theory that they are from the past and arrive to the future. I guess like they I guess they still could have, though, because I guess where I'm coming from is the parents using the term like the harshlands.

13:22 Like, and I it that seems like a newer term, but I guess if Yokora, the cataclysm happened, and they I guess they could have called it the harshlands from them. So maybe that theory can still stand.

13:33 It's true. We're gonna have to wait and find out.

13:35 But everything regarding Puffy in this episode, I think was really strong, and it clearly a lot of a lot of care went into how they were representing her being differently abled. Um but part of it, like I was surprised it took until this episode to really start to talk about her leg.

13:56 Yeah.

13:56 Or even like the fact it could cause her pain. And so, I mean, maybe that was happening before, but it was it was convenient for this episode to start talking about it. I just maybe wished that there'd been more moments like kind of teasing that it it wasn't a super comfortable situation for her. But I appreciate that we were using like actual medical terms like phantom limb pain.

14:18 Like I was surprised in Western animation we were throwing out the term phantom limb pain.

14:24 Yeah. I thought it was refreshing, and I'm happy they did it. I'm happy that maybe some people watching could could up their awareness and and yeah, I just think it was great.

14:36 I think you know And then be able to see themselves or someone they know.

14:39 Yeah, I loved it.

14:40 Well, I think it was it was really kind of very intimate for me watching it, seeing them reveal Pavy's like residual limb. Like, what what was that like for you?

14:52 Well, as we talked about coming from a family with different needs, I do have relatives that have have had like missing limbs and like things like that, um, that I was exposed to like as a child, and you know, and you're just like, oh, it's this thing that is different, but still still works. Again, I think I just it was I was happy to see it on the screen.

15:15 I'm happy that there is more representation and just kind of like and just I think just like normalizing it, right? If you don't see yourself on the screen or you know you feel like you're like the weird one or there's no one else like you or whatever. I mean, this is totally different, but like you know, we're like watching the Paralympics and like it's so like it's like this movement of what it's really about.

15:34 But I mean it's so inspiring and it's just really it's great. So yeah.

15:38 And that's a great, great plug for the Paralympics. Also, you missed it this year. Um, but you stay tuned for 2028. We'll there'll be even more. So how great. That's true. Well, so I'm mostly talking about the intimacy of seeing something. What I well, you know, me seeing something so intimate as a residual limb.

15:55 Like it's you know, it's been unwrapped, you can see like the damage to it. You know, clearly it's like unsettling gener, you know, quote unquote for someone who uh doesn't have any sort of those differently different abilities, seeing not two full legs.

16:08 Yeah. For me, I wasn't like, whoa, like this is like yeah, like this is like a super intimate shot. Yeah. But again, I think I was just happy that they were diving in. Yeah, ultimately, I think it was beautiful. Well, yeah, so why don't you talk about you? So you saw it, you were like, what's happening?

16:26 No, I knew what was happening.

16:27 But yeah, it's just it was so I guess surprising that they're giving so much so much of a runway to really even tackle some of these things within this larger fantasy context.

16:40 And maybe even like a further dive of like, here's something that's like, oh, this is different, and maybe that's scary, and like, ooh, I don't know how to feel about it, or I don't know if I should like look away or whatever. And I think that they like, yeah, if I like made this episode and that moment with care.

16:57 I mean, I don't know, it'd be interesting to talk to somebody who could relate to that scene more and get their feedback. So if you were listening or knows know somebody and wants to weigh in, we'd love to uh have your opinion, your thoughts.

17:10 Yeah, please reach out. The one of my favorite quotes of Puppy in this episode is Nisha kept using the term like her bad leg, like over and over again. And Puffy said, not bad, just different. And that just goes back to our own experience helping out with our local outdoor school program here on the Oregon Coast.

17:26 And our former director did a lot of effort into bringing people who looked different, who maybe acted different than what we what society generally deems as normal. And so he would bring in people who had various physical ailments, and so they just very much like looked different than again what we perceive.

17:45 And just to be like, these people are on society, and they are just like you and me. They have different tastes, they have different flaws, they have different strengths.

17:52 And I feel like the main message too was just like don't look at them and feel sorry for them. Yeah, that term of differently able, or like that you're still able to like live your life. And let's see, there was something in the show that I liked where she says something about Yeah, not feeling sorry for her and like, you know, I can do things and I can also ask for help when I need it.

18:15 Yeah, never pity somebody. I think that's definitely something that you and I have learned.

18:20 Yeah, and I think as two people that want, you know, that are helpers naturally do want to help. And then it's like, right, is this is this helpful to do it all? But it's like I am I am willing to help when when you need me to help, and also to give space to allow you to to grow on your own and to, you know, it does feel good to be able to do things on your own.

18:44 Well, with Puffy uh putting up the boundary of like, do not just assume I need help all the time. I mean, clearly she needed it, probably hopping around. Right. But I think Pavi had a moment when the anomaly showed back up and Nisha was like looking scared, and I think Puppy instinctively knew that if she let Nisha help her, that could like be a grounding thing for Nisha.

19:06 And so knowing that by allowing Nisha to help Pavi, Pavi understood that she was helping Nisha also.

19:11 Yeah, I know. There were so many, there's so many good moments. What a great though. I know, you guys, it's so good.

19:18 Okay, well, I'm gonna cast a fishing pole and I'm gonna reel us back in a little bit. Okay. At the beginning of the episode, I've noticed in this series that they have done an intentional job of giving every like almost every side character we meet a name. And I think that's been different than previous series.

19:35 And so we have a character like Moline, who now is a is a total side character, but we know his name, and he's been featured in like three episodes at this point.

19:44 Yeah.

19:45 And, you know, we we know Tala. We get Tala multiple times, this character that we're kind of like just introduced to. It's it's it's interesting that we're kind of building more of a relationship with the people and Alora by giving these side characters who might not be super relevant to the plot, but we're giving them, you know, the courtesy of a name.

20:05 Yeah, I like it. It's working for me. Uh, what about when uh Nisha's kind of like telling me?

20:14 She could be uh the Avatar sidekick. Yeah, you like that? Little buddy, dirt girl.

20:18 Dirt Girl. I was like, God.

20:21 Yeah, I loved Dirt Girl. I was you know, Nisha, she's kind of abrasive, but like it's it's working for me.

20:29 I think Nisha's kind of like uh yeah, kind of like blissfully unaware, right? Right. Ignorant of her uh abrasiveness, maybe.

20:39 I think we we've understood that both Nisha and Pavi are kind of social outcasts a little bit. I know, I love it. Also, there's just been such a lack of Jay, really. We're so focusing a lot on Karthik, and I think that's been kind of interesting, and that not what I expected. Like, I definitely I've been surprised that Karthik has been featured as much as he is, and I'm wondering if Jay is going to end up having a larger role in the series when something inevitably happens.

21:05 Oh yeah, I just kept feeling like Karthik was going down this whole episode, but uh I did enjoy when they, you know, where it's like the zombie apocalypse was happening, and then he like grabbed both of the girls and like got out of there.

21:21 I've been enjoying watching high-level airbending because Tenzin only he does it sparingly in Legend of Korra. But when he does, you're like, whoa, something's gone wrong. So it's been really fun to watch Karthik be really talented at airbending. He's been doing like all sorts of like crazy stuff. Like firebending was sent at him and he like put it in a little air ball and like and he redirected it.

21:42 We're all about redirecting. Also, we got lightning this first time in the series.

21:48 That's right.

21:49 But I'm real man in charge. But I appreciate yeah, yeah, it came from someone who was like a high level, someone who's high level in this society, not just some rando working in the factories like in Korra. Did not like that. Detail. Something else that's like a a nerdy little thing for Jordan, me. The Avatar Superfan.

22:09 Uh, I'm appreciating the lack of CG, and it probably means more to me than it does for you. But there was something I mean, that was the most jarring thing about both Avatar The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra was the amount of CG they used, especially for vehicles. And obviously they did that because it's so much different than this fantasy setting we're in.

22:31 But it was so jarring having all those CG vehicles go around. It just bothered me so much, especially the Sato mobiles in Korra. I don't know, just any CG just really takes me out of it. So even though is the animation is high quality as I want it to be, it doesn't quite reach the best episodes of a Korra or an Airbender yet.

22:53 But I'm really enjoying it if it means that we have really great art style and a lack of CG vehicles.

22:58 I'm happy that I am, you know, ignorance is bliss. Like I can't tell CG anything, so I didn't even know that that was in those other shows.

23:07 I think you would know. I mean, it's just like they don't it doesn't look right. It looks out of place.

23:11 And and to me, this animation's great. I've been totally happy.

23:14 I love it. You you were grew up on like gummy bears and you got a problem with gummy bears. Did I grow up? Yeah, I don't know. I never really watched gummy bears.

23:23 I think I was more like my little pony or something. What'd you watch My Little Pony? I don't know. Probably somewhere. No? I don't know. I don't know what I watched. I'm sure you did. The other quote that I liked from like the doctor was there something about how like your mind sometimes protects itself from like painful memories.

23:41 I don't know why.

23:41 It was just kind of kind of like a bittersweet thing, or you're like, yeah, it does.

23:46 I think a bittersweet thing.

23:48 Well, we know that the mind can block out traumatic events. Like that's something. And so I just yeah, I do think, again, I've said it before, Seven Havens. I think it's taking a lot of inspiration from their original works with Airbender and just maturing it in a in for a modern audience.

24:07 Yeah, I just I feel like the show is just really balanced, really fun, but like has depth to it. And I know we gotta get like our some kids in our lives and be like, what do you think?

24:20 We could just like make posters and go around town. Hey kids, you wanna watch Korra? Not Korra. You wanna watch Seven Havens? Yeah, whoa, whoa. Well, I I don't know. So Yippers, you listening, I don't know. Do people in your lives, are they listening? Are they watching Seven Havens right now? Because we are not finding anybody in our life who is watching Seven Havens.

24:42 I know, and they are missing out.

24:44 Well, speaking of people in your lives who aren't watching Seven Havens, it's that time again. Do you see it on the clock? I can feel it. You can feel it in your heart. In your heart. I think it's time to cold call an avatar fan. Let's do it. Again, this one might this one might be a little iffy, but we'll see what happens.

25:10 Oh my gosh, Sarah, you answered. Sarah, it's me, Jordan, uh, your friend. This is you're on cold call an avatar fan on Yippy Parade and Avatar Podcast. How's it going?

25:22 Oh wow. Hi.

25:23 Hey, what's your relationship with the Avatar universe of series?

25:29 Um I think it's just kind of limited.

25:33 Why is it why?

25:36 I've only seen a couple episodes. Oh, yeah, a couple episodes?

25:40 But your but your daughter, she was obsessed with the original episode. Why do you think she was obsessed?

25:49 Um I guess my impression is that it's like a fun adventure, and it's like, I don't know, is Aang like supposed to be her age, but obviously he's like hundreds of years old.

26:01 Ooh, yeah, you see more than you expect. I'm gonna say this is your pitch to watch Avatar Seven Havens. It is a really great show about two little girls who find out that they're like the bane of the world. Like everyone hates them, so they have to be hidden.

26:20 It's good, Sarah. It's good. What's it called?

26:24 It's called Avatar colon seven havens. And you can stream that on Paramount Plus or sail the high seas if you know how to. You're gonna need a bigger boat. Well, Sarah, thank you so much for your time and your energy, your precious energy, and telling us about your relationship to Avatar.

26:46 Yes, absolutely.

26:47 Okay, hey, love you.

26:49 Love you.

26:52 Yep, yep.

26:53 Bye. Well, you know. She didn't even know Seven Havens was a thing. This is what we're talking about. Nobody is watching it.

27:04 Nobody knows.

27:05 This is why we need we need you. We need your thoughts.

27:09 I think we need your watches more than your thoughts. I mean, by we, we don't have skin in this game. I just want to watch, I just want this thing to to not get its budget slashed.

27:18 We need your watches. We need your watches.

27:21 We need your eyes. Just have it stream in the background. Our previous friend we tried to call on the last episode of the podcast, she didn't even know there was a new series. So I'm like, what's going on? This fractured space that we're living in.

27:36 And I just feel like, you know, maybe what the world really needs is the avatar. It's the avatar.

27:42 Okay. Back to this show that we're watching, Night of the Afflicted. Do you feel like that title was appropriate for this episode?

27:50 I mean, it's fine. Yeah. I mean, I guess I kind of expected the zombie situation to go beyond the hospital. Like, I kind of thought Kyoko, Kyoko was in danger. I thought I thought something was gonna happen with like the bender mob and like the zombies. I don't know. I guess I thought something was gonna happen.

28:15 I thought everyone in the brigade was gonna be afflicted. I thought we were all going down. But it is weird that like the red magic cubes, like if it touches you, then that can transform you also. Like that was kind of strange because it's like, oh, it's a symptom of fear, but it's also if this thing touches your body.

28:34 So do you think that people are better after the fear like dies down?

28:38 Or seem like it. I think they were still kind of messed up. So I don't know, we've mentioned energy bending, and allegedly this might be the first time in the Avatar series where we've mentioned energy bending, which made its premiere famously in the series finale of Avatar the Last Airbender.

28:54 What?

28:57 When Aang meets the Lion Turtle and he's like, I don't want to kill the Fire Lord, and the Lion Turtle's like, Before we bent the elements, we bent the energy within.

29:09 Okay, got it.

29:10 So I'm curious if we're now actually leaning in and giving it a name, if Nisha and Pavi are going to have some sort of like we're gonna have to unlock or be able to understand how to actually bend the innate energy in a human, and maybe we're gonna like not necessarily we might get to a point where we're not bending it with the elements.

29:31 Are we gonna bend chakras?

29:33 So then what did you think about our girls like you know, their arms are getting all red and tattooed thick and they're just like sucked up? I don't think they were sucked up. What happened?

29:49 There was one moment where it like flashed and right, the tattoo markings, like the square kind of jaggedy lines. It was it wasn't random, and it looked like they had definitely the art style was intentional, like that looked kind of like they had a bindy on their forehead. Like it they had like a look to them, and I don't know if that's gonna be a foreshadow of something that's gonna happen to these girls, like they're gonna unlock something where they can again.

30:16 I don't know if it's gonna be about energy, about chakras. There there might be something new that the Avatar is gonna be able to do in this series.

30:23 I'm not asking you to make a prediction. I'm asking you what happened and what you thought about it.

30:29 Okay, well, I was surprised that the square showed up again.

30:32 I know.

30:33 But clearly, uh, was it was it because like there was so much concentrated fear in an area? Because clearly the storm happened, and the storm obviously triggered just fear of the natural environment in people and then caused the angry square to show up. And then obviously, with all the afflicted, we're there's a lot of fear in there.

30:51 And so clearly, when there's a lot of fear, the square shows up. But what's the point of the square? Is the square just trying to like get more fear so that it can have people to destroy the avatar? Like, what's happening there?

31:05 I don't know. We're gonna have to watch the next three episodes that are coming out on Friday.

31:09 But yeah, I was uh I think that was an emotional high when the girls like puppy turns to Nisha and's like, I need your help, and it's like Nisha's like lugging her, and they're like gonna face it alone, and Karthik's like, girls, no, and they like punch it with air, and it's like, okay, what was the heck gonna do?

31:26 It's a big angry, like scary square, which I don't know. Is it gonna be associated with Vatu?

31:31 I don't know. Uh, I do love that the girls march to the beat of their own drum and they're told no, or don't do this or that, and they're like, We're doing it.

31:41 And you're just gonna get in and over their heads.

31:43 And I just like that they're in like they're having shenanigans and girl power. I think power.

31:49 I think it's gonna lead to something, some unintended negative consequences. I think the girls are gonna make some choice and they're gonna leap too early into something.

31:59 Oh, yeah.

32:00 Oh, for sure. But yeah, the fact that they touch this angry square and it showed them a vision. It shows them visions every time they see it. So clearly there's some sort of innate connection there. And I don't know if it's like a spirit world thing.

32:13 Or mom and dad in the spirit world. Right.

32:16 Or it's that idea like they Mom and Dad are the square. You think mom and dad are the square? Like they're sending like a message from the beyond. If the mom and dad were the square, like they're both the square? Like they've become the square.

32:28 They are the square.

32:30 How would they be the square? I'm curious. Okay. Let's follow it.

32:33 I don't want to.

32:34 Why? You don't want mom and dad to be a square? M mom and dad are clearly squares. Wow. Also, Jay's a total square. Love Jay, but man.

32:41 That's what I like. Well, it takes one to know one.

32:43 I know. I'm a square. So what'd you think about the vision that the square gives them when it gets when it sucks them up, as you said?

32:50 I think it was nice to see mom and dad and to maybe feel like they cared. I mean, I don't know. I think I want the girls to have peace with their past.

33:01 I'm curious where they were actually going. I wonder if mom and dad because if you watch it, you the first time when we when we just watched it, I was like, oh well clearly they're gonna go to Alora.

33:11 Mm-hmm.

33:12 So I don't think I think they were trying to get somewhere else. They were either going to escape something or they were going to go, I don't know, deliver the girls.

33:22 Right.

33:23 I think something happened, something went wrong, and they ended up in Alora.

33:27 And they were like two weeks, and then there was something else that they said. Right.

33:32 It was like they're they were gonna travel for two weeks to the harshlands. So I don't know where from what haven't or even if they were in a haven, or even if if it happened 200 years ago, I don't know. They were the head of the faceless. They're the squares. They're the faceless squares. So yeah, clearly, so something I don't know.

33:49 Okay, I think we need to end it. And what? End watching it? Well, this was the finale. This was the finale of the second batch. And I now we're gonna have the premiere of the third batch.

33:59 Yeah, in just a couple days. So, Yippers, we are like almost to the halfway point of the season. So, has it gone how you've expected so far?

34:11 Uh, I'm gonna say I had zero expectations. So they've definitely exceeded those. Oh, great. Yeah, I'm loving it. I'm really happy we're watching it, and yeah, I just feel like I keep trying to get other people to watch it, and no one's taking the bait.

34:24 Everyone just like their eyes roll in the back of their head and they drool, and they just say something else for you to watch. Right. Have you watched House of the Dragon?

34:30 And I'm just like, this is your loss.

34:32 It is their loss.

34:33 This is really good, and I think, you know, the Avatar studios should be proud, and I'm sure they are. Anyway, and I feel really I have a lot of gratitude thinking about that it's nice that they made this show to have like a fresh new animated avatar series. And I think that like the intentional characters and just the whole thing I think is really nice.

34:57 And I think in the year 2026, I think it it feels like a bomb to my little soul.

35:04 Uh-oh. Well, we all know you have a big soul. So small. Alright, so the episode ends. This the finale ends with Kayoko, like wait wait in the airwaves. What about you? What about you? What about me? Is it what you expected? Yeah, it's great. So the end of the episode.

35:21 Okay. Yes.

35:24 She's recording her own podcast, sending it out into the the the nether realms. But yeah, she it's strange because it's definitely like she says to any and all havens, which is implying that they, you know, it's been so long since there's been like official communication. So yeah, I don't know. It's gonna I I have a theory of what's gonna happen.

35:45 Open up a can of worms.

35:46 I know. I know. So the next batch of episodes, uh, our next mini season. So the first episode, the next one that we're gonna cover is chapter seven, what lies beneath, but then chapters eight and nine are gonna be our first two-parter.

36:03 Uh-oh.

36:04 And those titles are called The Envoys. And an envoy is like an official delegation from another place. So I'm thinking we're gonna get some people from the Haven showing up. And they might come to Alora and be like, what's going on here? Like, we gotta like crack down, we gotta take down this avatar.

36:22 Oh my god. I don't know. Yeah, I definitely feel like it's gonna amp up. Uh, also Jay. Jay's the reason she got on the on the airwaves. Well, that's true.

36:33 So Jay, Jay did have purpose in this. So it's all Jay's fault. This is all this whole thing is Jay's fault. That's right, because he had to follow the little little earth bender. Yeah, she just could have gone and played with her tornado. Right. Like was gone. So, yeah, you asked me, the official Avatar super fan in this situation.

36:50 I'm stoked about the series. It has exceeded my expectations. I honestly didn't know if they had it in them again after the debacle that was how Korra ended it. It's just you can't talk about the third part in a trilogy so far without acknowledging what came before. Okay. Return of the Jedi was maybe a bit of a stinker.

37:11 Empire Strikes Back is amazing.

37:13 Okay. I also think that if we reflect, I was way more excited for the series than you were. So it's true.

37:20 You've been kind of I mean, you're like the reason we restarted the podcast.

37:24 You're welcome. Let's do it. I'm sorry.

37:27 And to you listeners, you're welcome and I'm sorry. It's both. All right, kids. We're gonna see you for chapter seven. What lies beneath? What lies beneath? Uh, sea monsters. Oh, that could be sea monsters. I'm thinking more catacombs.

37:41 Like we're gonna be like, I mean, like and more zombie things? I don't know.

37:44 What lies beneath Alora?

37:46 Are we going to the spirit world? Oh, maybe it's gonna be tunnels, and that's where the faceless. That's how they're getting in and taking everybody. Secret tunnel. Oh, yeah.

37:53 Secret tunnel through the mountains. Secret secret, secret, secret tunnel.

38:01unknown Bye.

38:16 If you're feeling if you're having tea, like on a scale of one to Iroh, where are you at with that? Where you at with that?

38:22 I think I'm full Iroh.

38:23 I don't know. I don't think he'd be happy with you having an herbal tea.

38:26 Well, fine. After this, I almost had a jasmine. I'm gonna have a jasmine after that.

38:31 Jasmine's not even his favorite tea.

38:32 No, but it's mine. Um