8. Seven Havens: "The Envoys Part One"

0:00 The Envoys part one was a lot. I mean, I love a two-parter, and this was a lot. We've Empire Striked Back with this one, and I am here for it.

0:09 We find out Jordan apparently loves when the screen says to be continued. Which this one did not. It didn't, and Jordan really wanted it to.

0:18 We break down the airbending Empress's design and look. Yeah, her look, her vibe. We also realize that Avatar Seven Havens is taking, I'm gonna say, a lot of inspiration from the 1992 classic Aladdin. All that and more. On this episode of Yip Yiparay and Avatar Podcast. It's a two-parter! Things are getting crazy!

0:39 I love a two-parter! The Envoys Part One. Chapter Eight. Chapter Eight. Pudding Bend! This is Yip Yip Hooray, an Avatar Seven Havens podcast. I am your co-host Jordan.

1:10 And I am your co-host Katie.

1:12 Quick credentials for you. Announce them. Credential Bend. Credential Bend.

1:16 I have watched Avatar before and Cora and now Seven Havens.

1:22 Cool. Yeah. What's your deal? I am a Nickelodeon selected certified recognized. I didn't choose this title. I was given it. It was best. I know. It was like I was knighted. I am a Nickelodeon recognized certified super fan. And I'm super freak. Super freak. Super freaker. And I'm here to give you my unsolicited take on all things Avatar, Colonel Seven Havens.

1:49 And on this episode, tis dense. Tis dense like old bread, like fruitcake, even.

1:54 Hmm. Fruitcake, I think surprisingly delicious. Oh.

1:58 Like a the thing about fruitcake is that you need to like have it moistened with like a liqueur, and then you wrap it in like cheesecloth and foil. Anyway, we can get into fruit. We'll fruitcake bend later, because right now we're busy pudding bending. We're unpacking, breaking down, reacting to the first two-parter in Avatar Seven Havens.

2:20 Chapter 8, The Envoys, Part 1. What did we just watch? It was a lot. I first off, I think the pacing was much different than any episode we've seen so far. And I think part of that because it was intended to be a two-parter, so I think things got a little bit more room to breathe.

2:40 Mm-hmm.

2:41 And so I think things, the pacing was really interesting. And at the beginning, once we got the envoys into their little state party mingler that they were doing, like I felt like there was almost like an ominous vibe. Like we kind of started off the episode. Like things were kind of like jolly, kind of festivitous.

3:00 Festivious. That's not even a word.

3:03 Right. We're feeling optimistic. It was kind of like Aladdin when he like comes to town and agribot, you know, whatever. Yeah, everybody's like, cool, the envoys here.

3:14 I uh was surprised by the sheer number of envoys we've got.

3:19 Well, what do you think the number was?

3:21 I mean, way less than what we got because in the end of the last episode, What lies beneath, we saw like a couple people on motorcycles or like sweet Mad Max motorbikes and I don't know, four flying bison, maybe.

3:37 Were the bison normally that color? They seemed a little like kind of desaturated, desert flavored, like like kind of kind of sandy.

3:47 Hey, a couple hundred years of living out in the desert, you know, maybe they've they've modified, they've evolved.

3:52 Yeah, maybe.

3:53 But the weird thing about the Air Bison when they were doing their Prince Ali Aladdin moment is they had done it with CG and they weren't moving. They were just kind of coming closer down the path. Like they weren't like they didn't have the models like wag their tails or anything. Oh. This episode probably had the most use of additional CG elements in it.

4:14 Well, obviously because I am I don't know, whatever I am, I didn't notice it at all.

4:19 You know, because you're there, you're just there to like take it all in. But what I noticed is that it was more I think it was more stylized than the CG they've used in Korra and Avatar the Last Airbender. I feel like it it wasn't as jarring and I think it was a little bit more seamless. But Puffy was playing with like a little CG air bison paper airplane thing.

4:40 Oh.

4:41 And then we got one of my, I don't know, my favorite recurring bits in this episode was Pudding Boy, who obviously is this series Cabbage Man.

4:50 I know. Were you how surprised were you?

4:53 As soon as he yelled my cat or my pudding, I was I was all in. He might be faceless, he might be faceless, but I love him. I love him all the same. Also, he that was a lot of pudding. Also, what do you think about the color of that pudding?

5:05 I mean, I don't know that I was loving it, but whatever. I mean, if it's delicious, great. I'm gonna do it.

5:11 Putting the color of egg yolks. So the havens that did arrive, I'm not quite sure we got the names of all them. At first it seemed like it was Akasha or Acacia. Is it Acacia or Akasha?

5:23 One of those.

5:24 One of those two. And new Ba Singsei, also known as New Bah. I was what did you think about Cartha calling it? New Bah. I liked it. I didn't love it. I didn't know Nuba. It makes me wish that in Korra or Airbender, someone was just like, oh, we're gonna go to Ba. Tales of Ba.

5:41 You know what? It's been a million years, so just you gotta go with it.

5:45 City of Walls and Ba. Nuba. Okay. Didn't like it. But then we get word of Feather Mountain. And is Feather Mountain a part of another haven, or are they their own haven?

5:56 Right. I don't know. I was confused.

5:59 Okay, what'd you think about Featherhaven Empress? What was her name? Yesha? Yesha?

6:04 We all know that I'm not good with names.

6:05 What'd you think about the Empress Airbender?

6:07 Well, I was like, okay, she like sneaks over. We like have a pulls a jasmine. Has a meat cue with Jay.

6:13 Who is taken, thank you. He should have said that.

6:16 And then I don't know. And then the guards come over.

6:18 I mean, it was like Again, it was like room to breathe. It was just, we were just having bits.

6:23 Yeah, I mean, I I feel I'm getting she's a pacifist and probably vegetarian. Probably. And yeah, I was into it.

6:32 Okay, were you noticing anything about her character model? Just things that you were taking away from this airbender empress.

6:37 Hmm. No. It was interesting for me.

6:41 I'm a super fan! It was interesting to see an air master wearing like earth regalia.

6:49 Okay.

6:50 And so it was like the greens, the golds. You know, usually we're used to an air master having, you know, a a nun, if you will, like the yellows and the oranges. And so to see an air master kind of dressed in the Bossing Se type gear was really strange for me.

7:08 I mean, because obviously it seems like there's like a remix, right? Like all like it's all like familiar, same, same but different, right? Like we've kind of rotated. There was something else that they brought up, like the worst haven.

7:21 Oh, Republic Forest? Yeah. Uh Republic Forest. Which does that imply that the Spirit Wilds just like went berserk in Republic City after Korra wrecked it? I mean, that's what I'm thinking. Dude, Republic City, talk about a a doomed place. So do we think the idea is like Republic Republic Forest? I mean, it has to be where Republic City was.

7:41 I mean, they just there's no Yeah. And so are they like remove them themselves from the world? Are they kind of hoity toity?

7:49 I don't know. I just feel like what's happening in the series is it's like so layered and so uh it's so fun.

7:57 So fun.

7:58 It's so fun.

7:58 What's making it fun? The layers?

8:01 I think that there's a lot going on. I think yeah, the layers, like the depth of the series. And like I feel like it's just a nice, it's a nice tone, it's fun, it has right like this depth, or like, you know, it's intense but not super intense, not too intense.

8:20 You know, apparel, themes of loss, that's about as hard as we can go in Tv PG.

8:24 I mean, I'm into it.

8:25 Well, and I'm appreciating that we're still having bits, even with characters who are getting who are kind of intense, so we have Anisha do some airbending and it blows off water lotus boys toupee.

8:36 Okay, what was with the intense White Lotus kids coming in?

8:40 Hey, you know, they saw that Korra, the previous Avatar, who maybe was the previous Avatar, who knows, wrecked the world. And so they're a little sensitive, Katie.

8:49 Clearly.

8:50 But it's interesting that the White Lotus, like, there's no there's no room for curiosity. Like, it is empirical that Korra went rogue for them too. Which, you know, with the White Lotus, what we knew, they were more like we're the philosophers, we're these things. But is it one this one of these things like the whole world has turned on the notion of the Avatar, and they're like the only people who are willing to give them a chance, but they are on a short leash.

9:15 Right. Okay, I want to go back to the beginning of the episode. When we had our what we thought was the queen of Yeah, Z. Z. When we had Z, and she was kind of being sassy, and I was like, is she gonna be our new addition to Team Avatar? Oh, you thought that? Maybe I still do.

9:33 Like she was coming on to Demon. Hey, big boy. That scene did not go the way I expected.

9:39 Which scene when she asked him to dinner?

9:41 No, before that, before he gets knocked out. No, when she was like, if I get out of here, I'm gonna burn you to a crisp. And he was like, Hey man, I saw some graffiti. Demon, he's funny, but he's also dumb as a rock. Like, he is just not all there.

9:58 That's what I'm saying. Like, I think I just feel like I'm on edge. Like, I can't trust anybody. Like, I'm like, oh. Anybody? Are these characters who we think they are? Like, I feel pretty confident that like Puffy is who I think she is.

10:10 Puffy and Jay at this point are the only characters I empirically trust.

10:15 Right. I feel like anybody else can turn. I feel like this would go sideways any any second.

10:20 Yeah, Nisha is one wrong move. Like, Nisha has good intentions, but I think one wrong move, and she's like, I'll do another cataclysm. Oh yeah. I can do one. Yeah, I was like, you know what? Screw you guys. But it does kind of feel like Nisha is being presented from like chapter two on.

10:42 Yeah, yeah. I think that there has been a shift.

10:45 Well, I mean, was a shift, like pretty much immediately. Like Puppy felt like who our POV character was going to be. And then just Nisha, I think maybe because she has more agency that's plot relevant, and Puppy's more like, you know, thinking long term.

10:59 Right.

10:59 Yeah, I don't know. So other things that happened in this episode is we're really playing with the will they won't they of Karthik and Kayoko.

11:07 I just was gonna say that, except I wrote down mom and dad, so I was like, why don't I write down?

11:12 Well, Jay's mom and dad, because now we're finding out that maybe mom and dad, we we should actually call that niche puppies. Right. There's still Jay's mom and dad, of course. Okay. For the good of our son, Karthik, let's make it work. Karthik and Koyoko. I'm softening on her still. Like, I'm I'm seeing where she's coming from.

11:31 I thought she was gonna be like Earth Queen evil from Korra. So I'm I'm happy with her.

11:36 Yeah, no, I'm happy with her too. I am feeling like there's no way it's gonna work with Karthik because he is just you can't trust him. He's just been lying to her and she thinks they're on the same page, but they're not. But I'm just like, yeah, this idea that they have plans to have a date when it all goes through, and I just feel like that date's never gonna happen.

11:54 Oh yeah. I was I tried to write down I feel like something's going down, but I wrote down I feel like something's gonna die. Oh, I was like, whoa. Well see, this was happens when I'm trying to take notes, watching.

12:06 And that's something, our hearts. They're dying. They're dying because the only chef in Alora, Agam, Agum, is evil. Or, you know, she is the queen of the true queen. Or maybe not. Maybe she's one of the queens of the faceless.

12:21 Well, that's true.

12:22 Okay, we have to talk about that scene though. That end scene, like the tension was ramping up when we figured out when Jay sees Yuki in the kitchen, and immediately you're like, something's going down.

12:34 I feel like things really amped up, and then obviously, what'd you say? Z?

12:40 Z.

12:41 Z's like, right, I'm not gonna be here long. She's getting out. Yeah, it was it was good, it was organized. They were quick to take over that room.

12:52 What a classic like setup though. This has happened in so many stories where you think there's like a state dinner or something happening, you think something's happening, and then surprise, surprise, a group kind of encircles you, and oops, they're part of a secret society who are all going to take you down right now.

13:09 I mean, I feel like this has been played out and it was a bit of a cliched scene, but I loved it. I think it was yeah, I mean, it was tense, it felt good, they put their masks on, it was like, uh oh.

13:20 What did you think of who the real queen was?

13:22 Okay, I don't remember how to pronounce her name, Agum or Agum. Uh, I've gotten bad vibes from her since the beginning. I've gotten like weird vibes from her. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think it's like the way the voice actress was, like it's kind of emotionless and kind of like she's kind of knowing, but like, hey, you love my catis.

13:39 You know, there's this there's always been something kind of weird with her. It was also weird that we talk about her at the beginning of the episode, like foreshadowing that she's gonna factor in. So I think that was clever writing. But yeah, I've gotten weird vibes from her the whole time. Also, it's weird that she's like the only chef in Alora.

13:57 Like the only one we ever talk about.

13:59 Well, now we know why.

14:00 Monopolized. Well, what did you think about her being the faceless queen?

14:04 I feel like I also had a vibe, and you know, I feel like that's who we we end up talking with about when we were trying to like hunt down Yuki and Oh, yeah, and she's kind of like weird about it, but like kind of kind of dismissive.

14:18 It was also weird the last time we see her before she is like full faceless gear, and she's built, like she was huge.

14:25 Yeah.

14:26 At one point I turned to you and I was like, is it gonna be Korra? Because again, I'm a super fan, but I'm an idiot. Like, I'm honestly the dumbest person in this room. And that includes a skull. Like, I'm looking at not a human skull.

14:36 Wow.

14:37 It's spooky season. True that. It's a I don't know, a longhorn.

14:41 I was like, we don't even know what that is. Yeah, I don't know. We just have the skull on it.

14:44 God, is it a flying bison? Hmm. Oh, it's a flying bison skull. She put a little arrow on it. Anyway, I would I thought it might have been Cora, but then it was her. And I felt like it was earned. I feel like if they had made that character warmer and more engaging early on, it would have felt more like a betrayal.

15:02 But this one was like, oh, we never really got to know this person.

15:05 Yeah.

15:05 So I'm all in.

15:07 No, I think I think it was good. I'm really excited for part two.

15:12 But is this all some sort of like weird economical scheme where she's like, okay, well, I've gotta like monopolize my cachoris. How do I do that? Steal the grain. Everyone, steal the flower, steal the grain. And then it's just she's a part of like some pyramid scheme. Maybe it's just this weird, like she just wants to make money.

15:28 Maybe.

15:29 That's that's all this is about.

15:30 They're all a part of the pyramid scheme.

15:33 You gotta pay into me.

15:34 Oh my god. Can we also talk about like the opening song where Jay's like doing his little like the opener, the opener thing?

15:41 Did you just say it was an opening song? Like when we do the opening, it's like like fire, air, what okay, so the the theme song. So yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we have that. Once people get some people say like opening credits. Okay, well, once opening credits I like theme songs.

15:57 I'm enjoying the opening credit music.

16:00 Oh, it's so good. Especially when it goes to the cataclysm, like yeah, that ramps up at that point. Like, yeah, I'm glad core destroyed the world. This is great.

16:07 Yeah, I'm just like every time it plays, I'm like, yeah, I'm like really into those.

16:10 You get like the kind of Sanskrit-esque like chant going on. I'm just yeah, I'm I'm all in. It's good. God, this series is really working, and it's so much better than I thought it was gonna be.

16:21 I know you were so down on it.

16:22 Not down, more like pathetic. I'd been burned, I was hurt.

16:27 Yes, yes. Okay. Yeah, I feel like it's so good, and again, we don't know like anybody who's watching it, so nope, nobody. Yeah.

16:37 Well, we know one person, and it's my brother. Our OG Avatar cold call.

16:42 I know. He's gonna be due for another call.

16:44 Okay, we're all over the place because obviously this episode was really exciting, but I want to go back to Yesha Yisha, the Empress of Feather Mountain.

16:54 Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

16:54 Whatever that means. Okay, so clearly she has Avatar tats, or we think they're probably tats.

17:00 Okay, well, maybe I need a rewatch.

17:01 I didn't pick up on that.

17:02 She was wearing like a big head, like a big cone.

17:05 She was wearing a big cone.

17:06 In my mind, it's like kind of Russian Orthodox or something.

17:08 Okay, so she's Russian Orthodox. Well, that's more like a rewatch. People, yippers, if you're Russian Orthodox, send Katie a photo. There's Russian Orthodox by where our friends live. Well, maybe that's not what I'm thinking of. It's not what you're thinking of. Are you thinking of like Russian like fur hats?

17:25 Like from, you know, the Tsars.

17:28 No.

17:29 Alright, well, we're talking about cultures that we don't have any idea.

17:32 Yeah, well, anyway.

17:34 Underneath her Orthodox hat, she had uh what looked like an Avatar tat, but it didn't look as angular as the ones we're used to. You know, the angs, the Tenzins, the Janoras. Can't the Gyatsos, the other guys on the council who were kind of jerks.

17:49 Well, so what did you think about her? Like, besides I liked her.

17:53 I'm happy to, you know, I'm always happy to see an airbender. I don't think we're gonna see an evil airbender in the series. I think we played it too much with Zaheer.

18:00 Yeah.

18:01 And Guru Log Lagime Lagim. Legima? Lagima? Guru Lagima.

18:07 And she was like, oh, sometimes I just make like a little tornado or whatever.

18:11 Yeah. But did you so she had her tats. It looks a little different. I'm curious what I want to see under that hat. Yeah. I want her to take it off.

18:18 This is not good because I didn't notice tats at all.

18:20 See, this is why we need to rewatch. We did rewind decent in this episode. But then on her lips, it was also like the same color as her has the airbender tats. Wow. And so I don't know if she's rocking like some lipstick that's a light blue color, or if she's got lip tats. If in on Feather Mountain, when you become an air master, not only do you get a forehead tat, you get lip tats.

18:46 That's my head canon. She's got lip tats. I didn't see your hands though. I didn't see if she had any like tats going on there.

18:52 Okay, well, I'm gonna pay attention in uh episode two here.

18:56 Pratio. Okay, we haven't even talked about it all about Puppy's little side quest. No. Also, there was like nine different subplots in this episode.

19:03 There was so much happening. Okay, we can't.

19:05 Do you expect children to watch this? It's TVPG. We should make this R. This is for mature audiences only because this is a complex story.

19:13 Okay, I just wanted to say that like Nisha is so hungry to like be in the action and just be like adored, right? And be like validated that she is the avatar. But my favorite line was from Puppy where she was like, We get it. You're the head of your head of the class. And like, you know, she's just happy to let her be.

19:30 You know, it's like I appreciate there's no like rivalry or competition there. It's like these two are in completely opposite lanes. But also part of it with these two, like they do kind of crave community acceptance in some way. Puppy wants it to come from family, Nisha wants it to come from society, and I think probably because she's been locked up.

19:51 Right.

19:51 They've been like on two sides, again, very Aladdin and Jasmine. You're just gonna keep coming back to this. I know. You know, she's important and walled off, puppy's also important, but also just on the streets.

20:02 Yeah.

20:02 Kind of like watching society from the street level kind of taking advantage of, and Nisha's been seeing it behind closed doors.

20:09 Right. Yeah, no. Well, clearly they were referencing, they used a lot of uh Aladdin inspiration.

20:16 I know. This is just it's just a spiritual successor to Aladdin. Who's our genie? Is it Jay? I feel like Jay's the genie. Uh so interesting. So a gum, a game, eggum, the faceless queen. Okay, yeah. She has an established relationship with Puppy. Like she knows of this girl. Oh, that's true. I'm curious if she's kind of like caught on to the fact that this girl's maybe more than she seems.

20:42 Oh, well, that's true, because that's who feeds her.

20:45 Right.

20:46 In like episode one.

20:47 And it shows her kindness. So I don't think this is I don't think this is gonna be an evil character.

20:52 She's No, I right. I feel like it's like a misunderstanding. I am definitely curious what is gonna happen. Like, what is gonna be the big deal? Like, can we come together and like the Mono made the faceless is taking over? I mean, like, we're we're in charge now.

21:06 Right. This is our haven. A coup d'etat. You know, Avatar loves a coup d'etat. Oh, that's true. So something else about this is obviously we've been hearing a lot about the danger of Alora. Alora's on the brink of collapse. I've never really felt that. You know, the faceless was there a couple times, but they were just kind of causing shenanigans and like doing petty thievery.

21:29 And I think because we're focused so much on Nisha and Puppy's storyline, we're not really focused on the societal collapse. Because Alora seems fine to us. Right, it seems stable enough. Right. We're not really talking to people who are like, oh, I'm hungry. Like things are really awful right now. And I think maybe if we had just a little bit more of that.

21:47 Right.

21:47 Yeah, because the series opens and we have a festival and everyone loves Jay and everyone wants to kiss Jay, and Jay's like, I'm taken.

21:52 Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think it's true. It just doesn't feel like as destitute as it's being presented. Right. And and you're like And again, it's like that line were you surprised to hear that, like, oh, like every haven is struggling, or like struggling with like, oh, we have lack of benders or the numbers are going down.

22:10 Right. And so obviously there's gonna be some again, something more to that. And I don't know if it's like again, like we talked about like the spirit world being like, you this is why we can't have nice things.

22:18 Screw it, you guys don't get anymore. We're taking it back.

22:21 The line turtles are like, I want your bending. Or are we gonna find out there's like some crazy thing like Vatu's existing and he's like amassing power, he's like sucking it up from everybody. And like the earth is sick, and it's like that might be something. Like it's actually like taking like leeching the life force from both the world and the and the spirit world.

22:45 Whoa.

22:46 I don't know, man. Tinfoil hat time. I just gotta go back to ever since I was ever since I was a lad, knee high to a grasshopper, my favorite thing in an animated show, because that's all I was watching, was a to be continued, a part two. Like if they had slapped a to be continued on as soon as a gom agum was like, I'm the queen, we're gonna talk.

23:09 If they'd slapped a to be continue on that, I would have passed out.

23:12 I was like, Oh, it's amazing, pink cinema. What?

23:15 A two-parterious crave, like dude to be continued? It was the most important thing. I remember watching Chippendale Rescue Rangers as a boy playing with magnets on my refrigerator because I loved refrigerator magnets. I had I had all the letters.

23:31 All 26. How are you playing with the fridge and watching Rescue Rangers?

23:35 Ring Ringer Avatar. What was you what'd you call it the other time? Angatar. Avatar?

23:43unknown Avatar.

23:45 I don't think it was Avatard. I don't like how that sounds. I don't know. It was the setup in our mobile home in Bay City, Oregon, is the refrigerator in the living room were like kind of by each other. And so I'd sit at the fridge and I'd tear into the left, and there was Chippendale Rescue Rangers playing.

24:01 But the episode ended and as a four-year-old or whatever, I was very surprised when the episode didn't conclude and we die, we got it to be continued. I was like, what does it even mean? I don't even know what those words meant, but I was like, I'm just so enraptured in what's gonna happen next. But like because you would see it right afterwards, or because you had to wait a while.

24:20 That made me I think I had to wait. Wow. It was like the the anticipation, the building we'll have a cliffhanger.

24:25 And so Korra something to look forward to.

24:27 Something to look forward to. This is why don't binge. This is an anti-binge podcast. If I find out you've been binging, we're gonna have to do that.

24:34 Yeah, Jordan's gonna have an attitude about it.

24:36 Yeah, I'm gonna spell out something in magnets, like don't binge. So the thing about The Legend of Korra, we got I mean, I don't think any real two-parters in that entire series, except for the beginnings, which wasn't even Korra's story. It was finding out about Ju.

24:53 Right.

24:53 And I kind of think Korra was weaker for it. Because when you can intersperse these like two-part stories amongst a larger narrative that's going on, you know, we get kind of a richer ability to tell a different type of story across two episodes.

25:08 That's true. You can do more because you're like, this is like a bigger story instead of like, okay, there's like a 20-minute episode, and this is a what's it called, like a confined story or whatever.

25:19 Right, exactly. And so Avatar, and they called it part one, part two. So chapter seven and chapter eight in After the Last Airbender is Winter Solstice, part one and two. Part one's the spirit world, part two is Avatar Roku. And those were both like contained episodes, but it was kind of an overarching narrative.

25:36 And so I remember being like, oh wow, we're getting like a full-on two-parter, and then Siege of the North happens, and then that's that's more like a three-parter if we throw in the waterbending master. And then in book two, there's so many more like kind of two-parters that happen in there, and mostly it was like how Nickelodeon packaged them and promoted them, but it felt more special.

25:59 And so for this, for them to so early on to be like, we're getting a two-parter with the envoys, I think it's been really good. And I'm super jazzed at the storytelling.

26:09 You're feeling stoked about the second, the part two?

26:12 I know. I think Nisha's going, she's gonna reveal herself. Pavi's gonna probably also have to reveal herself. But again, if we go back to the trailer, there was, we assume it was Kayoko saying, like, we will capture the avatar. She hasn't said that yet in this series. She hasn't? I don't think so, because I don't think she's aware that the avatar is like really existing.

26:33 Oh well that's aside from the the afflicted Moline, which where'd he go? Is he still in the hospital? Right. Like talking about all of that. So I think they're not gonna know there's two of them, but I think Nisha and Puffy are gonna do something to try to rescue everybody. It's gonna be thankless.

26:51 I think they're gonna try to save the day, but I don't know. Okay, hold on. What was that tea or whatever that everyone was trying to choke down during like social hour?

27:00 But see, these this is the thing, is like this show is doing such a good job at having like little bits if you're like paying attention to. Like, clearly the tea is not very good. They weren't enjoying it. It was probably what we experienced in Hong Kong where it was oversteeped.

27:13 Aw.

27:14 But did you appreciate when they took the white lotus tile but like waterbent the tile into someone else's cup? I want to waterbend something into someone's cup, like a little message.

27:23 I mean, that was pretty smooth. And I felt bad for the pudding guy. It's like right.

27:27 He's a member of the Faceless.

27:29 I don't know.

27:30 You know, he deserves what he got. Just like Cab, just like Cabbage Guy. He got what coming what coming to him. What'd you think about all of our white lotus friends? Again, besides them being a little intense.

27:40 They were clearly uh good benders. I felt like they were I mean, they're obviously like impatient, right?

27:48 Like they are ready for To know if Nisha is on a path to be crazed, like Korra is believed to be. Right. Also they're rushing it. We now know that they are nine years old. Like, what is that? They didn't even know let the avatar know who they were until it was like their 12th or 13th, or 16th birthday.

28:07 They you weren't supposed to know you're the avatar until your 16th birthday, Roku and before.

28:12 I was surprised how elevated it was and like how you know, labeling it as teasing, like just being so Yeah, not not super great to Nisha. Yeah, I didn't like that, and but right, it was like, oh, we're just like testing you. So clearly, but Nisha she was asking for it.

28:35 You know, she I mean she literally was.

28:37 She yeah, it's just so gung-ho, and maybe it's gonna humble her a little bit, but probably not.

28:42 Well, I'm my current concern is Nisha's going to feed into like some darkness in her because when we were doing like the fire part, yeah, and she's like playing with her little fireball, and then she's like kind of having visions or like flashbacks.

28:54 Right, we're like, are you angry? Or is like the fear and like you know, all those lovely trigger words. Like, is Nisha gonna become afflicted?

29:03 Oh no! Oh, that's gonna be so sad if she gets like the affliction. That would be so sad because she it's fear, and it seemed like that was the big trigger one for Nisha. Hmm. I don't like that idea. That's a this sucks. I think let's stop watching. Yeah, we're I'm done. I'm canceling my Paramount Plus subscription.

29:23 But Nisha, I wonder if it is fear-based, and that goes into this larger theme of book one survival, and then what gets in the way of survival is fear. Right. If we're, you know, Guru Patik.

29:34 There's so many layers. How'd this all fit in 22 minutes? I don't know.

29:38 The same amount of time that they did for the Envoys Part One, they also had the same amount of time for the Great Divide. Wow, that is just a lovely thing to think about. And just what you can do with 20-something minutes. I mean, there was so much happening. The one thing I don't like about the White Lotus members that we met was right, it felt dire because, you know, this was a special occasion.

30:01 Like, how else are we going to go to another haven or have this sort of like communication with you? Having it under the guise of this ambassador envoy thing was the only way they could make that happen. And so, right, it did feel dire to be like, what's the state of this girl? Right. And for them to like now threaten to take Nisha isn't great.

30:22 Yeah. I mean, right. Obviously, it's like lack of communication. But I don't know. It just the white lotus is a little prickly.

30:30 And fear-based. It's a lot of fear-based. And I think the theme that's been coming up in this series so far is what happens when things are when decisions are made from a place of fear.

30:40 Hmm. What do you think about that, Jordan?

30:43 Yeah, I'm nothing but I'm basically Piglet.

30:46 Fear-based.

30:47 Yeah, okay, but I was not into the voice actors of the fire white lotus person and the earth white lotus person.

30:57 I know.

30:57 I just didn't like either of I just think I didn't believe the delivery.

31:00 No, I didn't either.

31:01 Especially Earth. Earth was like really throwing me off. No shade. I just didn't I didn't buy it. I didn't love it. But also, can we talk about Akasha's like something about their their character models? And I love that Seven Havens is taking so much effort to give everyone pretty much distinct costuming.

31:20 Yeah.

31:20 Like if you really paid if you paid attention.

31:23 If I paid attention, which we know clearly I have not been.

31:26 Especially during like the state dinner, like everyone had like, you know, kind of variations of different styles, but everyone very clearly had very specific character models. And they weren't even like they were so drastically different from each other, whether it was like hairstyles, someone had gauged ears, which I don't know if that's ever happened in this series so far.

31:42 Wow.

31:42 Well so modern.

31:44 I mean 250 years later.

31:45 Yeah, people have like little cool like notches in their eyebrow, and it's like, no, it's a scar. People are super cool. Scar from a skateboarding accident, scar from a surfing accident.

31:54 Uh nothing about Jace sounding the alarm.

31:56 That was pretty oh well. Let's come back to that. So the Akasha character models, something that they have on their shoulders. Did you notice what was going off their shoulders? No. I'm just here for the vibes, man. They have these things, and I've I think I've only ever seen it in Final Fantasy VII.

32:12 They have these like spiky, literally just a like a shoulder pad on your shoulder. They look kind of like a tortoise shell with like huge spikes coming out of them. I don't know what the deal with that is. Yippers, if you know what it is besides an homage to Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII, please hit us up.

32:32 Yank on our flying bicep. Hit me up specifically. Let's talk. You know, if it is an homage, they're like more techie. Final Fantasy VII is like a cyberpunk dystopian story. So there was that. Character models. Anyway, Jay sounding the alarm.

32:49 What'd you think about Jay sounding the alarm?

32:51 He's good. He's he's clutch. He's the Damian Lillard of this team.

32:55 I know he had to take down, he had to like bypass a lot of a lot of people to get there. But I was like, whoa, what's happening? Yeah, the little ball of air into the the horn.

33:06 It was like a spiral. He was like, Yeah. But is Jay gonna be captured because we don't see what happens to him next.

33:13 I know. I feel like I don't know. I think that Puffy's gonna have to save the day. I think everyone's gonna be is screwed.

33:20 Okay, so you think Nisha's going down.

33:21 I think they're all going down.

33:23 Down to Puffy. Well, that's true, and that would be a good swing to her character arc of like being so passive and trying to have to like get it together.

33:31 Right. It's like a last resort.

33:32 And so this is the Envoy's part one. This is like the benefit of a part two in a trilogy, which, as we all know, this series is nothing but chunks of trilogies. And here we are in the third trilogy, chapter eight. This is the Empire Strikes Back! It is. We've Empire Struck Back!

33:50 Oh wait, new prediction. Okay. Okay. We have Darth Vader shows up. It's Nisha is like the forward-facing, like it looks like she's the avatar, but really it's Puffy behind the scenes. What does that even mean?

34:06 She's a secret avatar, so people don't know about her, but she's like and so they're like, oh, the avatar can be in two places at once. She's like, I'm a scary spooky person.

34:17 No, no, no. Okay, let's jump ahead. What about Puffy finding out her parents' names and info and all that? Which is I don't know about the kids stealing all the stuff.

34:27 I wasn't into that kid either in the voice actors a child and not super great. But obviously that kid has given us bad vibes since the beginning. But I I appreciate that they recycle these characters and character models and it helps you build familiarity. It makes this world feel more lived in and real.

34:43 But yeah, clearly a thief, clearly something going on. There's so many names that were tossed out in this episode and many episodes. I mean, we probably got like seven, eight, nine like unique names in this episode. Names that we'd never heard before. At one point I thought about writing them down, and then I was like, I don't need to do that.

35:01 Yeah, I just kind of gave up. It's like every Yeah, I think earlier I was like, ooh, I was trying really hard to remember. I was like, ooh, yeah, Moline. And like I've now committed that to memory, so I'm never gonna forget that until the day I die. Wow. I am. You're gonna forget.

35:15 No, not Moline.

35:16 Moline, we're done. Well, yeah, we got introduced to the three white lotus members, and I was like, ah, maybe this is gonna be important, but there's the names were too long. It's and it becomes kind of like word salady at some point where it's like, ah, it's just another sound that we're making. So yeah, I felt like I needed a like a palette cleanser in between names.

35:36 Yeah.

35:36 We threw out too many.

35:37 There was a lot.

35:38 So we got we got mom and dad's name, and her, like it was like Samia and like Pompadour. That's not that wasn't it.

35:44 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

35:44 But it was like those. So clearly they were like jewelry makers, metalsmiths, something going on there. So is there like an artisan enclave like in the eastern outskirts? But it's weird because we've clearly been told that society occurs in the havens, but we're now learning that maybe there are other pieces of society that happen outside of the havens.

36:09 So we have seven havens and then other mini societies? Like what's going on here?

36:14 Or is it just off the grid?

36:17 Okay, we're off the grid. I'm farming.

36:20 Yeah.

36:21 Also, I don't believe that Alora is producing any sort of agriculture.

36:28unknown Yeah.

36:29 We're clearly in a desert, which rains. I mean, the last episode it was raining, but at no point well, maybe very early on in the pilot we saw someone like herding sheep, sheep pigs or something. I don't know. I don't believe that we're a prosperous nation.

36:43 Well, I don't know. I don't think we're being shown like all over Alora, right?

36:47 I mean, it's very it's very condensed.

36:51 We're just getting a glimpse.

36:52 That's true. Well, apparently, I think I read somewhere that maybe there's a million people in Alora.

36:58 Oh, okay.

36:58 Again, only one chef. There's only one person with a restaurant. Okay, so with the parent thing, so we learn the new term of the sigil, and it's a bristletorn tree.

37:10 Yeah.

37:11 So I wonder, are we going to go because I think in one of the flashbacks early on when we first Oh great. Return to me. Remember me.

37:27 No, no.

37:28 Disney, don't sue me today. Remember me. I'll see you in court, Disney. Don't let Mickey Mouse come take everything that I love. So I do think we saw some tree in one of the first flashbacks we saw. And in that moment, I was like, they're in the spirit world. But maybe it is something that's happening in the eastern outskirts.

37:56 Okay, well, can we talk about her? That little comment about like maybe Karthik went to their house.

38:01 Or was trying to get there or was told to go there. Right. Because again, I don't believe that the the Karthik story of like, oh, and then I just found you in the desert. I don't know, man.

38:13 I don't know.

38:14 So much is happening. And then Puffy's leg. I mean, something something went down. Also, a weird line, the weirdest line in this whole episode was when we're talking to who is not actually the faceless queen, who is just a girl with a face tattoo. Yeah. The girl with the dragon tattoo.

38:33 Yeah.

38:34 Is when Karthik is talking to her and he says, You didn't respect the anomaly's powers. Do you remember that?

38:42 Yeah.

38:42 That felt kind of weird.

38:44 Yeah.

38:46 I don't know. Yeah, now it kind of feels like uh, you know, this like spirit demon that's showing up. You didn't give it the respect it deserved, the big angry square.

38:55 I mean, I think that even with a almost perfect series, there can still be some some questionable lines. We're like, well, I don't know about that.

39:03 So you're feeling like this is butting up on perfection.

39:07 No. No, it's not perfect. But I am enjoying it. Well, what about Nisha like just failing the test?

39:15 Well, she did well with Karthik, but I kind of think because we got an image, like we zoomed in on the feather and it kind of is like, right?

39:22 Do you think he kept it?

39:23 I absolutely think that Karthik did something there.

39:26 Wow.

39:27 I think, because it seems weird to focus on like a little bit of movement, because Nisha clearly wasn't doing so hot with the other ones.

39:34 Yeah. Yeah. Well.

39:37 So do we think that the White Lotus is going to actually attempt to take Nisha away? Or like take down Karthik?

39:43 I think they'll take him down.

39:45 You think they'll actually take him down? Do you think Karthik's going on to the on the run?

39:49 Oh, maybe he and and like Nisha's running away. I don't know, because then it was like things changed because it seemed like that. Like Nisha was like, whatever, I'm out of here. Uh and obviously Puffy was like, I'm out of here. But then when the set when the sound of the alarm was going off, I think the call to action, I think So do you think they, the White Lotus, is gonna see Nisha be able to hold their own and they're gonna see Puffy?

40:12 They're not gonna be stoked with Karthik. So maybe they'll see that Nisha does hold her own, or they're gonna see that she doesn't do great and Puppy's doing okay.

40:20 Maybe they're gonna take Puppy. I don't know. Oh my god, I don't know.

40:23 Karthik, you already have an avatar.

40:25 Totally. We'll take this one. How many do you even need? But isn't is Koyoko gonna be in the dark still? I don't know. And do you think she and Karthik can work it out?

40:36 I think so. I think they have enough shared history. Clearly shared history. Yeah, they have a son, Jay. Totally. They, you know, we gotta think about what's best for the children here. Well, I think we have covered so much in this 20-minute episode that we could fill up like 45 minutes of discussion of air time.

40:56 I don't think we have time to cold call anybody. And I know, Yippers, your hearts are broken. Yeah, I'm sure. That we're not gonna cold call one of our random friends for them to go. Um, I don't why'd you call me? I don't know anything about Avatar. You what do you want? You want money? Which, yeah. Yeah, I want money.

41:16 Uh yeah, I think let's cold call somebody the next episode. Yeah, because again, this is a two-part. So it just makes sense.

41:22 It just makes sense. So, Yippers, thanks as always for hanging out with us. This has been a pleasure. It's always fun to talk. If you guys have some hot theories or takes that we were absolutely wrong on, or things that you would like to add on, or continue the discussion, you can reach out to us at yippy podcast at gmail.com.

41:42 It's in the show notes. And if you just can't get enough of hearing our little voices in your ears, in your home, in your car, in the shower.

41:52 In your I don't know.

41:58 I love your yes and attitude. You know, I tried, but I got more in my underwear. You know, you could listen to our other podcast where we explore the great wide world that we actually live in and not the spirit world and not the avatar world, which still doesn't have a name. It's just the Avatar Earth.

42:19 You can listen to our other podcast called Exploragonians Travel Misadventures Podcast. Weird things happen every episode. I'll link it in the show notes. Abraham Lincoln in the show notes.

42:31 Wow, I think it's time to end this show.

42:34 Well, we're done. Is this the series manila? We're only halfway through book one. Halfway. Well, I think we're probably more than halfway. All right, anyway. Again, this is the Empire Strikes Back.

42:49 This is crazy.

42:49 And we're gonna return to the Jedi with our next episode. Book one survival, chapter nine, The Envoys.

42:58unknown The Envoy.

42:59 Part two. And maybe we'll see our Russian Orthodox gal take her hat off.

43:05 She's not Russian Orthodox. No, because she apparently has lip and face tattoos that some of us miss.

43:11 Hey, and maybe other tattoos we don't know about.

43:13 Alright.

43:14 Until next time, yippers, get into the trash can like geet and cover yourself with a bunch of scraps. Or pudding. Yep, yip. My buddy!

43:38 I'm just adjusting the mic, seeing how I sound.

43:42 Do you don't you don't ever call it a Michael?

43:44 I've called it a microphone.

43:46 Oh. Crowphone.

43:48 Makaiah.

43:49 Oh, Makaiah. I'm gonna talk into my Makaiah.

43:52 Am I winded? Why are you winded? Adjusting the mic?