Book Two Begins!

0:00 Water.

0:00 Earth.

0:01 Fire.

0:02 Air. This is what we This is Yuppie. It's our podcast.

0:19 Hey, I'm your host, uh, Jordan Wolfe.

0:22 Why do I kind of sound like Sylvester Stallone?

0:25unknown I don't know.

0:25 I don't think that's what it sounded like. Yo, Adrienne! Hey, welcome to the podcast. Welcome back to the podcast. Thank you, Troy. Alright, welcome back. This is book two of Yip Yip Hooray, an Avatar podcast. It's me, Jordan.

0:43 Yep, yep. It's Katie.

0:44 Yep, yep, it's T-Roy. Yep, yep, indeed, friends.

0:48 Yeah, we're feeling good. Season two, book two.

0:50 I'm now 30.

0:52 22.

0:52 I'm not 22.

0:54 No, I was just going with the twos.

0:55 We started dating when I was 22, though.

0:57 Gross.

0:57 Me and Katie, not me and Tri. Gross.

0:59 Yeah, you were just a baby.

1:01 Well, I'm not like as much of a baby as Aang. I was 10 years older than Aang.

1:05 Oh. I'm happy that you're finally in your 30s.

1:08 Imagine if I was 12 when we started dating.

1:10 That would be.

1:11 And you could have been 24. You would have gone to jail.

1:15 Let's go. Where are we going?

1:16 Cut the Cut the baloney. Yeah. Cut the baloney in half. See? This is why we're together, friends. Troy.

1:23 You guys make an excellent couple for the record.

1:26 Oh, wow. God, is it hot in there?

1:28 Oh, yeah. Talking about all this uh all these saucy things.

1:32 Okay, so it's also muggy. She's thinking about Zuko. Good one. Katie!

1:36 Good one. Alright. Yeah, no, I think Zuko is definitely uh on your mind. Cut the baloney. Alright, baloney cutter. We are back. This is Book Two Earth. This is kind of the Empire Strikes Back of the series, if you get my drift.

1:52 Wow. Let's have some more Star Wars references.

1:55 So Aang's kind of like Darth Maul, right? No. He's got no? No. He's got like these, he's got tattoos.

2:03 No, he's Darth Vader. Why is it Aang's Darth Vader?

2:07 Is it because he's a robot?

2:08 Darth Maul was not an Empire Strikes Back.

2:10 You don't know that. Maybe he made a cameo.

2:12 Okay. Let's move on. Let's move on.

2:15 So book two, Earth. We covered chapters one, episode 21 for the series, but for this book, it's chapter one, The Avatar State. Chapter 2, The Cave of Two Lovers. Chapter 3, Return to Omashu.

2:30 Ah, all three were just so delightful.

2:33 They really were. And I actually feel like Doctor Movie kind of gets it together a little bit, like barely.

2:40 But I think it is better than season one.

2:43 Marginally.

2:44 Anyway.

2:45 So we start off the episodes and we meet a new character who comes across as someone who's gonna bring Iroh and Zuko back home. We meet Zuko's sister, Azula.

2:57 Troy was really excited to meet the sister, right?

2:59 Yes. I was talking about her last season. I was like hoping that there was a sister that was even more intense than Zuko. She's not more intense than Zuko, she's just more manipulative.

3:08 I didn't thought you thought I thought that you're gonna be a little bit more. I thought you thought that he was gonna have a good sister who was gonna like balance him out.

3:16 Pro possibly. I could see myself saying that.

3:19 Are you still thinking that she's gonna be good?

3:22 Well, she's been pretty entertaining to watch, that's for sure.

3:25 Azula has this insane energy. She's kind of like the best parts of Zuko when when Zuko was an antagonist to Aang, like Zuko would just be places. How did you get here? I feel like Azula's kind of like that right now.

3:37 Oh yeah. No, and like her little entourage, and she's got I don't know what they are. Like her advisors that are twins.

3:44 Oh, Lo and Lee.

3:45 Hmm. Do we address that that's her that that that that their name?

3:49 Okay, some things about the two the two old women, Troy, that we meet that are hanging around Azula. Yeah. Okay. So according to the art book, which, you know, of course, for the series is my little bible, they're Azula's Sifu's, so they're her kung fu teachers, so they I guess are they her her teacher.

4:10 But they're creepy. They're creepy, they're so creepy. They're old and they're weird and they talk in like a weird voice.

4:16 Well, that's what makes them creepy?

4:17 No, but they're their their oldness factors into their creepiness.

4:21 Well.

4:22 And they sit on either side of Azula.

4:24 Yeah, no, it's quite the uh it's quite the look. I mean, even just like when we first see her and she's being carried out, and everybody is like no one's stepping out of line and they're kind of bowing to her or something.

4:37 Yeah, everyone's scared of Azula.

4:39 I'm scared of Azula.

4:40 Troy, are you scared of Azula? No, I'm intrigued. Hmm, in what way? I'm just like, well, you give this girl, you spoil her rot in her whole entire life, and the only things that can really truly make her happy is by watching other people in pain, and even that means putting herself in pain. And so when they carry her out, I'm like, that must have been a really rough childhood to just be extremely pampered to the point where you have to have these two women teaching you martial arts.

5:06 I it was just I don't know, everything made sense to me, but it was it it was the show's real first showing us how royalty in the Fire Nation looks like.

5:16 That's fair, because I think Zuko didn't get that treatment.

5:19 He was he was banished. So he just you you hadn't you had you knew he was he came from royalty, but you didn't see how the royalty in Fire Nation gets treated until so the sister comes along and everybody bows down to her. I'm like, I'm like, okay, so you know they are a lot like us in current times, actually.

5:39 Yeah, Azula is uh it's really interesting. Uh some things about her character is that we've been told when Zuko's talking to Aang, he's like, Oh, my sister was born lucky. I was lucky to be born. So Azula is painted as this child firebending prodigy, and the way the show does this is by giving her blue flames, and the blue flames is one to differentiate her from other characters in the series, but the other is that blue fire burns hotter.

6:07 So she's supposed to like be more powerful, she's more poised, and then we find out she has another ability, she can create lightning, which what was that like for you, Troy?

6:18 When she did the lightning at first, I thought, hmm, I think that's cheating with the Fire Nation. That's really to me that that's cheating with the story writing. I'm like, right, that I don't know. To me, I was like, I was like, oh come on, really? Like, that's just cheesy writing.

6:32 I mean, water gets ice is their kind of like secondary thing.

6:36 Yeah, I but water does eventually does does turn into ice. I don't know, I I just felt like to show the electric capabilities of her right off the gate, I feel like nothing else does just way too soon for her to show that kind of power. Like, I was already digesting the fact that she was royal and that she treated people like garbage, but then to show her ruling electric, it's like, well, I can't really say there's I don't expect much other surprises from Azula.

7:05 She's already showed me that she will never be happy in life. She's actually miserable deep down inside. You really took a lot away from Azula.

7:13 You know, you one thing you gotta take away from the show, right? Or it's like you gotta keep up. You gotta one to the next, full of surprises. Okay, wait, I have a question. Is do we know how much younger Azula is?

7:25 I think Azula is supposed to be 14.

7:27 And Zuko's supposed to be 16.

7:30 Sweet 16. So Azula, when they did the concept art for her, they had a couple different uh models for her. One of the ones that's in the book is that she's in quote unquote Phoenix armor. She's like covered head to toe. She looks kind of like a samurai, Darth Vader. Yes. Covered head to toe in like a red, orange, flame covered armor.

7:52 She looked ridiculous. I don't really like it. Do you like her outfit?

7:56 I don't not like her outfit. And I do think, yeah, I think that she comes across as like a a strong character, and she's yeah, I think that her actions speak louder than any outfit she could wear. And so you don't want something that's going to take away from just her character. You don't need her outfit to be louder than her.

8:18 Ooh. But we get from the get-go that Azula is up to no good. I mean, obviously, she's talking about in the beginning, she lays it all out that she's there to capture Iroh and Zuko. But then when she's addressing Zuko and Iroh later, she's not, I mean, she's still pretty cold toward them. I mean, she's not like warm and fuzzy, like come back, even though she tells Zuko, like, oh, father regrets banishing you.

8:41 There's still like that iciness in her voice.

8:43 Right. And then you just for me, I assume that that's because, you know, like that's just how she is, and that's the little hostile relationship that Zuko and her share. But yeah, and then I think it's just really sad because you just see like Zuko just really wants to be home and wants that so bad.

9:03 So bad he's he's ready to suspend belief of what he knows of his sister and of his father.

9:08 Mm-hmm.

9:09 Poor dumb Zuko.

9:11 What'd you think, Troy?

9:12 I'm shipping Sokka and Azula. Oh god!

9:15 Stop shipping everybody! Yo!

9:18 Oh, I think I vomited in my mouth. Well, look, I mean Yeah, siblings.

9:23 Siblings get together. That's what's happening, I guess.

9:26 And their cousins will look kind of similar when they have kids.

9:29 No.

9:29 But um You're sick, Troy.

9:31 I know. No, but we also have to realize uh that with Azula, there is a double standard with her, you know, because she's a girl. It's like, what made what powerful villain can we bring into the second season? That's not Zuko, because you've kind of played out his storyline.

9:47 Zuko and then like big strong man with Admiral Zhao last season. Yes.

9:51 So this one's like it's like, okay, let's let's bring in a girl, let's make her the main villain. Alright, well that how evil can we make her? Let's make her into a narcissist to where only where she sees other people in pink and that bring her happiness, but then she'll never be happy. And then let's give her fire and electricity right off the bat just to show you how bad she can get.

10:08 And it's just so bad. And then with her with her uniform, with her Fire Nation uniform, it's like it's like, I don't know, does she want to look like all the other soldiers? No, she wants to look a little bit different to show that she's of royalty. Again, double standard. And that's where I think the writers have a huge mission this season, too.

10:25 How can you really make the audience scared of this chick?

10:28 So are you assuming Azula's the big bad for this season?

10:31 I'm already assuming, yes, that they're gonna try to make her the big bad. Hmm.

10:35 Alright, shifting gears a little bit, so back to our little buddies, Aang, Sokka, and Katara. We meet up with Paku, and he's grumpy as always, gives Aang and Katara some gifts. Sokka comes up to receive his his gift, and he's like, Sokka, take care, son. Gives him nothing but a pat on the shoulder. Have you noticed that everyone's kind of uh they're well, at least Katara and Sokka have an outfit change.

10:59 Mm-mm. I didn't notice.

11:01 So they are in cooler, cooler weather or cooler outfits for the warmer temperatures, because apparently this season is supposed to take place in spring. So Sokka is now wearing a sleeveless like tunic. Okay. And Katara is her outfit's a little more streamlined. It's not like a furry or whatever.

11:20 Right.

11:20 But I think Sokka's outfit really works for him. He's got like the sleeveless thing going on. He's able to show off his guns, probably a little more mobile for his boomerang.

11:28 Well, you know, he's like He's grown up. He is growing up, so puberty does. Anyway.

11:34 Speaking of puberty, I definitely feel like Aang's starting puberty right now. Like his voice is getting a little like a little crackly.

11:40 Yeah, yeah. Okay. So after they meet with Paku, then he's like, oh, I'm like gonna hook you up with this.

11:46 My grandgrand. Oh, sorry.

11:48 With like the Earth General. Earth General.

11:50 General Fong.

11:52 Yeah. And it's just, I don't know, what do you think about it?

11:55 About them sending him off to the earth betting General Fong.

11:58 You know, and it's like, and you think that they're kind of going to help them along, and and then it turns into like, how can we activate the Avatar state? Because you're gonna be our weapon.

12:09 Right, it's definitely like a bait and switch. It's like they situate the gang to go with this General Fong guy so they could get some sort of guidance to Omashu to protect them. And then instead, as soon as Aang gets there, this general guy has heard all about what Aang did at the North Pole, and so he's like got his own agenda going on.

12:27 So even though he's a good guy, like his they have a shared mission of stopping the Fire Nation, General Fong's methods aren't quite what we want.

12:36 Right. It was easily once uh once I realized where uh Paku was sending them to go learn earthbending from General Fong.

12:44 I was like, Well, learn earth bending from Boomy, but General Fong was supposed to guide them to Omashu. So that was like their first stop. Yeah.

12:51 I was like, that can either go really good or it can go really bad, and of course they chose to go really bad.

12:56 So General Fong is voiced by Daniel Day Kim, who's a great actor. He was Jin in Lost. Any Lost fans here?

13:05unknown No.

13:06 Okay, so Jin from Lost is a great character. He only spoke Korean for the first several episodes, and so everyone had to try to communicate with Jin in different ways, but Jin was kind of cold, but then he became friends, and then season five, Jin learns English.

13:18 Jordan's a Lost fan.

13:20 I'm a Lost boy, if you will.

13:22 Were there like 30 seasons? There's six. Six seasons. Alright, let's move on.

13:27 Okay, so General Fong, I feel like he's intense. Not into General Fong.

13:34 Yeah, but I mean intense for good reason, right? You're like, okay, yes, everybody's suffering, and a lot of people have died, and like there's just the cost of war. And then yeah, he sees a solution, but gets so like tunnel vision, and it's like this is the only way, this is the best way, and like I don't care about the fact you're a child.

13:56 Yeah, it's just there's there's a lot of things, like it's just very dismissive of Aang, really, and being the avatar, and like what that means, and anything that any knowledge that this kid has of his own power is very much dismissed.

14:11 Well, he doesn't really look at Aang as a person, he looks at Aang as a weapon to be utilized.

14:17 This is a terrible analogy, but looking back on it, the guy literally treated the kid like he was the first atom bomb. Like, you know, we don't we could teach you earth bending, but why don't we just drop a bomb on the Fire Nation, even if it means h uh harming innocent people of the Fire Nation, but you know, at least the war would be over and me saving uh thousands of people's lives over here, and Aang's like, that's not the right way to do it though.

14:39 Uh you're supposed to be teaching me an element, and the guy's like, nope, we just want to drop a bomb, get it over with, but Aang dropped a bomb on them.

14:45 It's definitely taking the easy way out and kind of the coward's way out instead of going about what Aang needs to do, mastering the elements, just skipping that process and going straight to unleashing his his rage, and not really knowing that he'll be able to finish off the Fire Nation. Like, no one explained to this guy that transforming into Koizilla was probably a one-off fluke and that he needed the help of a spirit to do that, so I think this guy's intel wasn't super great.

15:13 Yeah, and totally supports the thesis of mine. I drew up a long time ago. It's uh just because adults get older doesn't mean they're in control of all their emotions. If there's an easy way out, they will definitely try the easy way out, even if the kids are are more sound-minded. That's true.

15:28 Yeah, and I hate when like dad's like using Katara as like a bait, which obviously worked, but still.

15:36 Isn't that considered child abuse?

15:38 Oh yeah, General Fong should definitely go to jail.

15:39 Yeah, no, it wasn't good.

15:40 So General Fong, he went just went for the easy way out again. I think he was at like the last straw, like nothing was working to get Aang to go into the Avatar State, and so he was just going to do probably the worst thing imaginable is just like showing Aang that he has the power to take those who he loves, and then that trigger the avatar state, and then we learn about the avatar state, and that it's the abilities and the knowledge of all the past lives coming through Aang in that moment, and that he's also, while he's his most powerful, he's the most vulnerable, and so if you were killed in the avatar state, the avatar is done for.

16:18 Were you surprised at that?

16:20 I was, and then I thought I was like, that makes perfect sense. They you know, they everybody keeps treating the avatar state like it's the ultimate source of in of invulnerability, but it's actually the optimal state of vulnerability. I'm like, it kind of goes along with just the way we handle our emotions when somebody's in in a bit of a rage, it's like they think they're their at their strongest, but they're actually at their weakest.

16:42 So, no, it was it was a good it was a nice surprise for me.

16:45 Yeah. Okay. I think I was just gonna say that we don't know about his own personal experience, like right, trying to activate that, like, oh, like I can hurt those that you love, but yeah, I mean, who knows?

16:59 What Fong has been through.

17:00 Exactly, and like how much loss that he personally and those around him have experienced, and anyway.

17:07 I do think it's a powerful moment showing like the infirmary and like another subtle moment of showing like the tolls of war and all these people, and there's been a lot of fire scars, like a lot of burn scars in the package of episodes.

17:23 Yeah. Okay, so going back, Zuko says some really crummy things to Uncle Iro. Yeah. Yes, yes, Troy. I just want to hear your perspective before I say mine.

17:36 On how Zuko treats Iroh.

17:39 Right, and like Zuko's like ready to go and believe Azula, and it's like, let's go, we're going home. The r the writers had to they had to do that.

17:45 They had to make Zuko say that, uh, you know, you're just this you're just an uncle who's always about having fun. You don't even take me seriously. I'm you're not even my real dad, even though you treat me like your your own son. I'm like, so there the writers want you to to dislike Zuko for that instance because they want you to see Iro be, you know, deflated after his meaning comments.

18:05 Well, I don't think Iroh's necessarily deflated. I think Iroh at this point understands that Zuko is just gonna throw whatever dagger he can in that moment at Iroh.

18:14 Because Zuko's hurting so bad.

18:16 Because Zuko doesn't even realize how hot the rock he's holding is, and it's burning he's only burning himself. Iroh sees this kid in pain, he wants to take care of him, and he'll he'll take those daggers happily for him for sure.

18:28 Yeah, I just like that moment where he just says that, and then it's nice where it's like Zuko leaves, and then Uncle Iroh's like, wait for me, like I'm coming with, but then he's doing his little side glance and his like knows something's about to go down.

18:43 Making it so obvious that there's like things are gonna go south really quick. But did you notice that when Zuko and Iroh are heading down to Azula's ship, Zuko's in like his bathrobe, but Iroh is rocking like his traditional like armor that we've seen him in this season. So he's like geared up for war, and Zuko's wearing a bathrobe.

19:03 Well, look, Iroh has seen Zuko and Azula. I'm pretty sure Azula's there. He's seen them both grow up. It's like, I'm pretty sure he knows Azula better than Zuko knows his own sister.

19:15 And probably understands that there's no way that Ozai would just go back on his banishment of Zuko. Because what we know of Ozai right now is that he's a megalomaniac who probably has no remorse for any actions that he's done.

19:27 So because Zuko's age, yeah, he fell for the oldest trick in the book. So.

19:32 Manipulation!

19:34 Yeah, and so then, you know, thankfully the captain screws it up.

19:41 Which I don't know. I don't know if I buy it. Was he under like so much stress that he couldn't not, or did he really like Zuko and Iroh and was like, uh the uh prisoners. Azula's cruel to that captain guy. Do the tides command this ship? I don't think I understand. Do the tides command this ship? Uh how about you know, she's talking about how the the the ocean has made up its mind about killing him and she's still mulling it over.

20:07 Okay, so then like the best moment where Iroh takes on Azula and Well, first he takes on all those guards, he just like whacks them into the sea, and then Zuko comes in hot with his firedaggers.

20:20 Oh yeah, fire daggers. Which I was like, what is this?

20:23 I was so happy. It was pretty cool. I don't know how effective it was. Fire daggers, Troy?

20:28 Oh well, that was pretty lackluster right there. Just the fact that there was no mention of the fire daggers last season. We're just finding out now. I just maybe Iro just taught it to him.

20:39 Yeah, I don't know. He was just waving them around.

20:41 They had three they they were floating on the sea on that raft with no food or water for three weeks.

20:46 Oh, yeah, because we start with the massage. Oh yeah.

20:49 And then you get Iro's sweet tan.

20:51 Oh yeah.

20:52 He did get a tan. It was like very tan. I'll tell you what, that was that was pretty genius though.

20:56 I also think maybe it was just like the shadows.

20:58 I also thought it was just poor animation. Whoa. Anyway.

21:03 But then the best part happens when Azula uh gets Zuko down and she uh is gonna take him out with some lightning.

21:11 Oh yeah.

21:12 And then here comes Iroh, who just grabs her hand, redirects the lightning, just like shoots it off, and then kicks her in the chest into the sea. That was Katie's best part.

21:23 And he's like, Zuko, let's go!

21:28 Boom! That was a good Spartan kick, too. Oh, yeah. Leonidas would have been proud.

21:33 Iroh was so fantastic in that scene.

21:35 And this is what makes him my favorite character by far.

21:38 But then this episode ends with one of the most powerful moments we've had with these two at this point. Like, suddenly their status quo is thrown into chaos when they finally take refuge by that river. Zuko pulls out a dagger, chops off the ponytail, hands it to Iroh, who chops off his, and the first thing Troy says is.

22:00unknown Finally.

22:01 Finally. That was the ponytail.

22:03 Right. You knew that was coming.

22:05 I had a feeling. I was hoping for it.

22:07 But it was good. I mean, and it is like this weird moment, I'm sure, feeling like you don't really belong anywhere. Like, oh, we're obviously not welcome.

22:16 Now, I've got a question for Jordan. Did you ever find out what that dagger says? There was encryption on it. Chinese inscription. But you'll just have to wait and find out, Troy. Oh, okay. Ooh! But come on now. I'm cutting off the ponytails. Totally a Skywalker moment. Wow. They're not like going from Padawan to Jedi.

22:37 No, it was actually quite interesting writing the way they did that. It was actually reversal from night back to Padawan, or or even just, I don't know, uh, what what do you call a rebel? Yeah, rebel. There you go. What do you call this?

22:50 Not a Star Wars podcast, Troy.

22:52 God, Troy. But it was uh it's a really interesting moment that just throws all of what we know of Zuko and Iro to this point out the window. Like their goal is probably going to shift. It's really interesting. But Zuko looks pretty fugly with his ponytail gone. He's got like his little like monk patch of hair like up on the crown, and then floats away.

23:15 So that moment, it apparently is a parallel to the story of Buddha, who, to begin his journey of uh enlightenment and uh journey of self-discovery, cuts off his hair by a river.

23:28 And to add on to that, Buddha actually had a story similar to Zuku and Azula. He was the spoiled prince of a rich, rich king, and he hated his life, and the king couldn't do nothing to make him happy, so he went down to the river, yeah, cut off his hair, and literally meditated for god knows how many days and came back and found himself at peace.

23:48 So do you think that's going to lead Iroh and Zuko at this point, that story of Buddha?

23:54 There's a chance that, yeah, that Zuko and and uh Iroh could figure out the fundamentals of Buddha and start their own religion within the show.

24:01 I mean, Iroh I feel like is on his way.

24:03 He's well on his way. Oh my god.

24:04 So back to Aang and Katara, they have this great moment where this is before everything devolves into chaos, but we have this moment where Katara and Aang start talking about uh trauma and the impacts that has, and how resurfacing these feelings for Aang is what's been triggering the Avatar state, these feelings of loss and sadness and overwhelming grief and anger, and we're talking about his past life and when he sees the skeleton of Monkey Atso, which I thought was pretty intense writing.

24:34 But there's this moment where we're able to allow the main character to accept trauma in his life and to work on that, which I thought was a really powerful moment.

24:44 Yeah.

24:45 Very powerful. Okay.

24:48 I'm ready to move on to the next.

24:50 To the cave of two lovers, which is one of my favorite episodes.

24:54 Is it because it's so musical?

24:56 It has the most songs in any avatar episode.

25:00 Secret Lover. Oh. Secret Lover.

25:04 Secret Lover. Through the mountains. It's the remix. Secret, secret, secret, secret lover. Wow, Katie. I can tell you exactly where I was when that episode aired for the first time on Nickelodeon.

25:19 Wow.

25:20 I was in Pizza Hut.

25:22 Wait, why it was on TV?

25:24 Yeah, they had well, you know, they have the little TVs in Pizza Hut. They're playing Avatar.

25:29 Hmm. Wow.

25:29 Well, I wanted to watch it, but I also wanted to have a hangout with my friends in high school.

25:34 But then could you actually be watching it, or you're all just like quietly sitting in Pizza Hut watching it?

25:40 There were shenanigans going on. Like we were just like chatting and being high school boys, but then I was secretly like trying to catch what was happening. There was no sound. I could just kind of like see. I was like, oh, this looks like a good episode.

25:50 What? So you couldn't even like hear the song?

25:52 Couldn't even enjoy it. I know it wouldn't be many months later until I'd finally watch The Cave of Two Lovers for the first time.

25:59 Well, yeah, the nomads singing their way through life. Was nice.

26:03 So Chong, the the lead nomad, you were like, oh, do we know who whose voice that is?

26:08 Oh, yeah, yeah.

26:09 So any guesses for who the voice actor of Chong is? Chi.

26:14 Chi?

26:15 Cheech. Oh, Cheech like Cheech Marin? Yeah. Not Johnny Chong?

26:19 Wait, wait, you said that I would know.

26:21 Yeah, you've known his voice. We've all known his voice.

26:25 From the show?

26:26 Yeah.

26:26 Commander Zhao.

26:28 Ooh, Jason Isaacs. No. It's D. Bradley Baker, who is the prolific voice actor who does all the animal sounds in Avatar, who's Oppa and Momo.

26:38 Great.

26:39 So Appa is Chong.

26:41 Yeah. Way to go. So we have to get him on the show. You know, we have sing to us.

26:46 We start this episode. Oh wow. See here that D?

26:49 Yeah. Yeah, D.

26:50 Yeah, D.

26:51 Alright.

26:51 So we get this episode, we start by the river, and so everyone just ends up in their underwear. And then Katara comes up behind Aang. She's like, oh, work on your form.

26:59 And Aang's like, oh girl. Oh god. Yeah, it's like uncomfortable.

27:04 Why?

27:04 I think because they're uncomfortable. I don't know. They're so awkward.

27:08 Because Aang's 12?

27:09 Yeah. And I like just don't.

27:11 You don't remember being 12 and then bending the elements. So then the nomads show up who are the most colorful, goofy cast of characters. They make me so happy. They show up and they're like, hey, river people. We're not river people. What kind of people are ya? Just people. And then we see Sokka, and then they're like, ah, nice underwear.

27:39 And it's like, yeah.

27:42 Sokka and his underwear. Sokka and his underwear didn't make you uncomfortable.

27:46 I feel like I'm getting used to the underwear.

27:48 Yeah, see, just normalize it.

27:50 Right, Trey? I was feeling some strong Beatles vibes in this episode.

27:54 Well, they modeled Chong after kind of an ancient Tibetan slash. It was kind of like what they were going for.

28:00 Yeah, I'm actually surprised they didn't model Mountain John Lennon. Or Paul McCartney.

28:05 Well, I think, but they would have to be more philosophical if they were to model Mountain John Lennon. This way he's just like, hey, I'm just a free spirit, man, with my songs.

28:14 What was your favorite song?

28:17 Secret Tunnel. That's not the right tune, but Secret Tunnel.

28:21 What's the end one?

28:23 It was like, uh love, it's in enough, it's in your heart. That's nice.

28:29 It is nice.

28:30 That's a nice song.

28:31 Okay.

28:31 Good work, guys.

28:33 Oh yeah. And uh Iro's like tripping out, eating the flower. Is it tea or is it poison?

28:39 Which is so great because I feel like this moment has happened to me. Like we were at outdoor school and someone was like, hey, talking to one of our friends, and we're like, hey, we have we saw these mushrooms, and he was like, Oh, well, that mushroom is either delicious in a food or it'll kill you.

28:53 Isn't that great about botany? You're just like, oh, it's one of these.

28:56 One or the other. So Iroh gambles, he loses.

29:00 But not before Zuko goes fishing and comes back with the saddest, tiniest little tadpole fish. Also, what do we think about their outfits? Where did they come from? They look terrible.

29:10 Well, based on what happens later, I I just assume they stole them.

29:14 I know.

29:16 Alright, so we think that Zuko is maybe getting it together. Right?

29:20 He has a really great episode where he's like kind of leveling with this nurse woman. Uh, they have like that nice moment outside where she's gonna touch his scar and then he just grabs her hand.

29:30 I know, and it's like, oh, the Fire Nations hurt you, you know, and they've hurt me too, right?

29:35 And then it's like Zuko gets this moment of like finally talking to people who are being impacted by the Fire Nation, and they're it's not obvious that he's the prince of the Fire Nation, so we can finally get testimonials from people who have suffered real consequences for the the sins of his father and what he has committed himself.

29:54 And so you think like the light bulb kind of turns on.

29:57 Which I think I mean I still believe that, but there's something to be said about when you're so desperate. I was gonna say when you put yourself out there and you're like vulnerable, and then you're like, whoa, I'm really uncomfortable with that vulnerableness, and so he kind of retreats and then freaking steals their little animal after the meal, and Iro's like super embarrassed.

30:19 That was so sad watching them steal the ostrich horse. Troy, what's your take on that?

30:25 I actually wasn't sad about that part at all.

30:27 You aren't sad that they stole from these people who gave them great generosity? Yeah, they fed them a nice meal.

30:32 Because he healed Iroh, who was like, sue and the poison will spread to my throat and I will die.

30:38 I really gotta give a shout out to the animators. They did an excellent job with working Zuko's Zuko's eyebrows. Like, you can just tell, like, he's disgusted with his dad at this point. He he kinda he wants to go home, but now I kinda don't think he wants to right now. Not right now, no. But he's just like but he w he he misses that home life, but at the same time, he's very, very, very conflicted.

31:00 And so because these two showed him great mercy and somewhat loving kindness, I feel like he's taking the animal, but I got high hopes that he's gonna return it tenfold in the later episodes.

31:13 I mean, that would be nice. But it's so sad to watch uh song is the the woman's name who tried to connect with Zuko. Like they zoom in on her as she watches them steal it and then slowly closes the door after she professes like there's hope back in the world because the Avatars returned, which probably just sets Zuko off.

31:32unknown I know.

31:34 That was probably why he stole it. He's like, oh wait, I forgot I'm a psycho.

31:39 He could have gone a step further and he could have been Burn their house down. Burned their house down and killed the animal. Why would he kill the animal? He needed it. Yeah, they don't want to walk. No, they don't want to walk, but he could have just been like, oh yeah, is this yours? Just take it out right then and there.

31:54 I mean, he's a pretty tough kid. We've seen him walk a long way. I'm just saying he could have been a lot worse to those people.

32:02 So you're uh But he could have been a lot better.

32:04 Yes, but he also has to remember like where he's where he comes from too. Like I said, he's extremely conflicted with how to treat people right now because nobody knows that he's the prince.

32:14 And I think Zuko, he he hasn't had that growth yet. And so had he I mean, had he not stolen the the ostrich horse, I think we all would have accepted it. But if he was to steal it and then like change his way and be like, oh wait, I've changed my mind, Uncle. I don't want to steal this horse and take it back, that would have been different.

32:34 Right. Okay, back to the tunnel.

32:37 Oh, it's so bad.

32:39 Uh poor Oppa does not want to go in there, has to go. It's kind of having a freak out, probably claustrophobic.

32:46 But first they tried to sail around the mountain, and then they're shooting fireballs at them, and then there's like that quick smash cut where then they Sokka comes back, they're all burned, and he's like, Secret love cave, let's go. And then they go in. And then they get separated, conveniently separated, where Aang's like, oh, let's save everyone as this like mountain's collapsing, throws Sokka, Momo, and the nomads on one side, and then Aang runs and slowly tackles Guitar to the ground, and it's just them and Appa.

33:17 Okay, but what would it have been like if it was Sokka and Aang? What if they had been?

33:22 I don't think they would have kissed. Because they don't love each other or have that love. I mean it's plots platonic. It's brotherly love, if you get what I mean.

33:31 I'm stuck on the fact is what was the Fire Nation doing there? Like what were they guarding? What were they protecting? What were they moving?

33:36 That they had to have catapults and catapults and like all this artillery at their Well, maybe it was just like an important pass to trade goods among the Fire Nation or the Earth Kingdom, and so they're probably just occupying different areas.

33:49 Yeah, it just made me really question like their motives for just having all that equipment. They just conveniently happen to have all that high-tech artillery. They're just like they were just waiting for the avatar. Conquest.

34:00 I don't think it's for Aang. I don't think everyone's prepared to take him down. I just think they are they are occupying another nation, and so they're gonna bring as much firepower as they they can to subjugate an entire nation.

34:12 So I guess I'm for what I'm trying to say is this that was the only inconsistency of this episode.

34:17 I don't think it was an inconsistency. I just think it was one, it was used as a joke to be like, oh, we can't we can't fly over. Yes. There's all these like Fire Nation goons. Uh but I think that it was necessary to get them to go through the cave. Because yeah, why would they have gone through the cave when they could have gone over with Hoppa?

34:34 Right. No, they they totally they needed to do that in order to accept that joke. It was just an inconsistency. Agree to disagree.

34:41 I love the nomads. They make me fe make me really happy. Mako or Muko, Moku, Moku. Moku. Like the chubby guy with the little drum.

34:50 Oh yes. Oh, there's a waterfall that makes a never-ending rainbow.

34:55 And the other one, he sees like smoke, and he's like, Looks like someone's building a giant campfire.

35:02 I know. Their glasses half full. So what do we think about the two groups? Do you uh do you think that they actually kissed in the dark? Take a poll, Troy.

35:12 No. My gut says no.

35:15 But then after after the lights come on, uh, and they have the little path, then Aang tries to be like, like, should we like talk about that? Like, he doesn't uh exactly say that, but it's something along those lines.

35:27 But it could have also been like, oh hey, can we talk about us like almost kissing? But yeah, I can totally see like maybe they did do like a quick kiss.

35:34 I know.

35:35 Maybe they kissed. Okay, I'm changing my opinion. They kissed. I could see them missing going for get in the cheeks instead. It was dark. Yes. So if they did kiss, do we think that the kiss activated those like crystal lights, or do you think it was just having an absence of light and those crystals came on?

35:53 I think it was when they turned the lights out because right. If you're because if the idea was that you didn't want people to follow the levers in the caves, however pr obviously everybody probably went in there with a torch. Mm-hmm. Because you didn't want to get lost. But yeah, if you turn the light out.

36:07 Speaking of the torches, there was also another very clever joke. They're good for an hour?

36:13 No, we we have five, so that means ten hours she lights up all five torches. And then Sokka stomps them out, and he's like, no, not like that.

36:22 She's like, oh right. They're all strung out. But that's that I had to say during the episodes, like, that's about how my math works sometimes. I don't exactly think things through like that mathematically. So are you like a nomad? I'm kinda I'm probably like a nomad. I don't know. I I get I understand the nomads and I understand Sokka at the same time.

36:42 Non-benders.

36:44 So speaking of that group, I love when like Sokka starts singing to the badger moles.

36:49 The OG Earthbenders, if anybody caught on to that.

36:52 Original Gangster Earthbenders.

36:54 Why not just the original? The original Earth the original Earthbenders. Nobody said gangster. Oh. So why did you like that moment where Sokka accidentally falls into singing to the badger moles?

37:07 I like it because, you know, in true Sokka fashion, he steps up and he has to improvise and, you know, strums a little guitar, and then it's like, uh, hey guys, help me out. It's like the band's back together, Sokka's finally on board, and yeah, they get out of there.

37:22 And then Chong pulls out a secondary guitar he has up his sleeve. Better moles.

37:29 Oh again, it just uh it totally reminded me of the Beatles again. Um, I don't know. Especially like Yellow Submarine. There's probably a more hippie band that you could uh be drawn on.

37:40 And it had to be. I think Chong says to Saka, like, thanks for not letting the plans ruin the journey or something like that. Yeah, yeah. I mean, there is a lot of really wonderful moments. Just singing. We laughed a lot.

37:53 Great plan, man. So did you did you take anything away from the nomads?

37:58 Just to relax and go with the flow and play some tunes. Play some tunes, and right. I mean, I do uh that does resonate with me, like not being so focused on the goal and yeah, just enjoying the journey.

38:13 But I don't know if Aang necessarily has that uh convenience right now.

38:17 Well, I mean they everyone has that convenience to an extent. That doesn't mean that you're just like chilling, like I'm just enjoying the journey. But I mean as you are en route to some place, it's like just kind of taking a moment to be present. To be present, right.

38:35 What I got from it is when they were stuck in the tunnels, it was more like it kind of showed everybody's uh I want to say resiliency. Uh when you can come back, how fast can you come back from something bad? So everybody nobody had bad ideas, they just weren't the right ideas just yet. So you needed a bit of the funny nomad ideas and you needed Sokka's super serious ideas, and you need them all to work together.

38:57 But the fact that they were able to come back so fast from all their mistakes, that's what really gone through the tunnels, and that's what this episode uh covered for me. Sometimes Sokka needs something that's a little less serious to help him figure out a big problem.

39:10 I don't know if Sokka's always like super serious, but he is uh tactical, so he wants to do something and get it done. Uh but he's always he's always like kind of full of humor, he's always ready to like have a joke, and he's not taking himself super seriously, which is good. Like he's smacking his forehead the whole time.

39:29 Oh, Sokka.

39:30 Oh yeah, and then they think he's the avatar.

39:32 I think that dude's the avatar.

39:34 Yeah.

39:35 When Aang was like, why would I want to kiss you to Katara?

39:39 So rude.

39:40 Like I'd rather if the choice was between kissing you or dying.

39:44 But see, obviously she kind of wanted him to be into her and once and once that because it's nice to be wanted. Well, right, because it's like if she wasn't interested at least a little bit, she w I feel like she wouldn't have been offended by that. Totally.

39:59 Pretty sure Grand Grey never taught uh Katara how to ask uh for a kiss? For a kiss, right. Ask a boy in general. And Aang, I know for a fact he's never had any adult figure ask him how do you how do you ask permission to kiss somebody.

40:13 I don't know, maybe Gyatso covered that. He's like, Aang, one day, you know, the ladies are gonna be able to do that. That's all they covered. They're supposed to be earlier training. That's where the tattoos mean.

40:20 I really want to point out how old is Aang again? Twelve. So he's about to lose half his brain. Especially if his if his biology is anything like that of a normal kid, uh, other than the mastering the elements, when a child goes through puberty, they lose a lot of their normal brain function. So for him trying to figure out how to improvise, how to ask Katara for a kiss, and she goes, and he's like, Oh yeah, I'd rather kiss you than die.

40:44 Of course he's gonna stumble and mumble and all that stuff all over himself. That's what teenage boys do.

40:49 I feel like it was something that I would have done.

40:52 Uh Wow.

40:54 Yep. Okay, so we get to the end of the episode and we get one of the series' few like cliffhangers. We get Sokka, who is taking them to oh Ma Shoo. Yes, best line in that episode. And then we find out it's been occupied by the Fire Nation. No. What was your initial interpretation of what was gonna happen?

41:14 I had had no idea. I literally lowered my expectations, like we was gonna be the Great Divide again.

41:20 Good plan.

41:21 I was like, I was like, like, hmm. Took me a second, I didn't want to ask, but I uh I was like, is this the boomy? Is this the boomy? Lettuce leaf boomy? And when I found out it was that guy, I was like, oh, it's gonna be a good boom. As supposed to a different boomy? I don't know. I I I get mixed up with the character's name sometimes.

41:36 It's okay. Me too. You know. Oh, you guys.

41:38 Well, I'm better. This is my third time, but yeah, I was where you were.

41:42 But I feel like we've uh they make Omashu a more interesting place, but we find out like the origins of the city in the previous episode, and so I think this episode makes up for the original King of Omashu episode, which is kind of a hot mess at the early on.

41:56 I'm also I was kind of relieved that I was taken over. I'm kind of getting really sick and relieved. I was relieved. I'm kind of getting sick and tired of Aang, like just going everywhere and just having fun wherever he chooses and pleases. The fact that Omashu was taken over, it posed a new challenge, new threat to him.

42:11 I was like, okay, let's see how he handles this threat.

42:13 I would argue that Aang has yet to have fun this season. He ended last season trying to destroy an entire Navy fleet.

42:20 No, no, I get what Trey's saying. It's like, it's a war, man. And like, yeah, no, there's like a little too much, they keep finding all these little happy pockets. You know, there's just a little, like, you know.

42:31 When was last happy pocket? Being trapped in a labyrinth?

42:34 The Fire Nation uh festival.

42:36 Right.

42:37 I it was like that was like episode 17. I don't think that was a happy.

42:41 No, but maybe not happy, but it I think what Troy's saying is there is not like a big enough threat, or you're not feeling so story-wise, you were happy that we've taken this turn.

42:52 Yes.

42:52 It was a the tension has it was an excellent turn of events. It also helped us move forward with the story tremendously.

43:00 How so?

43:01 Well, I don't want to spoil it yet. Why? We're right, we're covering this episode. This is for you. We already know what happens. You don't. Oh, just well, for one, I wanted when they said, you know, Boomy's an earthbender, how you know, we just have to find a place that's made of metal. And from what I saw, the whole place was made of metal.

43:18 I'm like, well, it looks like he's somewhere in the metal.

43:21 Well, but do you remember in the original episode, King of Omashu, everything was earth and everything was like carved. And so I think the Fire Nation, what they did was they they took over Omashu by covering in metal, preventing them from being able to earth bend, and so they're able to wisely defeat the second largest Earth Kingdom city.

43:39 And my biggest grievance about this episode, there was no cabbage guy. I know. That was a let down. He would have he definitely would have been a good laugh for me.

43:49 Well, I mean, he was an omashu, but then he was in that port city in the water bending scroll, so I guess maybe he's just he's rambling on.

43:56 Yeah, he's traveling.

43:57 Mm-hmm. So we get introduced to a whole flock. Of new characters, we get Azula's entourage, which was originally supposed to be a team of ninjas, until the creators decided a smaller, more personalized group would be more interesting. And I think it was we meet the Morose May, who is the daughter of the governor of Omashu right now.

44:16 We meet Ty Lee, who is the daughter of a nobleman who is now a circus performer.

44:20 I seriously just saw three really spoiled brats that were looking for some excitement in life. One took to the circus to get a little bit of excitement, but as we find out, it just wasn't good enough for her.

44:31 Yeah, three like Fire Nation royals, like hanging around.

44:34 Like Azula literally has to come up to her and be like, this is not you. I know you. I mean, I don't care about you, but I know you.

44:43 Well, I think Azula's projecting what she wants. Like Azula Azula doesn't want happiness for her friends. She just wants them to do what she wants.

44:51 Right, and she's manipulative and all that. And so, yeah, I'm kind of sad that she takes her away from the circus.

44:58unknown I know.

44:58 It kind of makes her villain a little bit bo a little bit boring to me. Who, Azula? Yeah. Textbook villain, manipulate others, show no happiness or gratitude towards them. Yeah, she's she's not very interesting to me. I don't know why.

45:10 What do you think is gonna happen this season with her?

45:12 Do you know they can't really do much with her, not that from what I'm seeing.

45:16 You don't think so? I mean, she she now is tailing both of the protagonists that we're following. I'm gonna say Iro and Zuka are protagonists for the sake of like we've been following their story since the beginning. So we have this villain, kind of like Zhao, but Zhao was more passive in what he was doing.

45:31 Azula has a singular mission of tracking down Zuko and Iro, but as soon as she sees Aang, she's like, I'm gonna get that guy too. So now you have this force who's actively pursuing everyone that we're following.

45:44 Now, and the only thing I feel like she could do that would make her amp up her villainous to a point where Zhao and Zuko never could is if she literally kidnaps Iroh and Katara and tortures them. Wow, really. Dang. Went dark, man. I mean, that's where I see her going the season.

46:00 Right, but but Zula, Azula, I think, uh, poses an interesting threat because of her power and her her passion for her project. So I don't know, Katie, what do you think?

46:09 Well, and what about the two others that we just so it's like daggers, you know, emo is going for it and she's like crazy.

46:17 So two non-benders who were able to kind of like put up a fight with Katara and Sokka.

46:21 Mm-hmm. And then right, and then Circus.

46:24 Who does the chi blocking?

46:26 Yeah, she stopped Katara from bending member.

46:29 She used, I want to say dim mock. That's where you attack all the pressure points to manipulate somebody, and it can be quite deadly. So the way she hit Katara, you know, certain pressure points, she literally hit right between the muscles and the joints. It's basically the the fighting version of acupuncture.

46:47 So, and I've experienced it myself. I've been hit right in the pressure point in the shoulder joint and cannot move my arm for a good five minutes. It it works. So that was the very that was the most consistent part of this episode for sure.

47:00 So yeah, I mean we get new uh skill sets to put against our our characters, so that could lead to interesting scenarios, I think.

47:08 Okay. Also, can we talk about like the zombie group of like siccos?

47:13 What a topical episode. If anything, this is the most relevant episode of the entire series. We're talking about a plague as these people come up and the guy's like, let him out! Get him out of here!

47:24 Not then, Tom Tom's out. Tom Tom. So was this episode just literally a shout out to all the people that are really into zombie movies and films?

47:32 I think there was definitely that homage being played.

47:36 Yeah, no, it was a it was an interesting tactic, again, by Sokka.

47:41 Sokka, the brilliant one.

47:42 Man, he's a genius.

47:45 So were you surprised when we find out that Boomy's been encased in this big old like metal cage, metal suit, metal coffin? Definitely like a coffin.

47:54 No, I wasn't surprised at all. But were you surprised that he could still bend?

47:58 No, wasn't surprised by that either.

47:59 See, I don't think the series did a super good job of explaining this, but apparently, like a typical earthbender can only bend if they're like have some contact with the ground. And so that's why earthbenders, they don't wear shoes. So oftentimes when someone's earthbending, they don't have not wear anything on their feet.

48:16unknown Hmm.

48:17 And we also learned something else. What did we learn? Technically 85 jings. Okay, do you know what a jing is? No, I'm imagining it's well, I wanna it's not like I know what I'm talking about because I don't. Uh neither do I. But the no, the three jings, I like how you said there's the positive jing when you're in attack mode, the negative jing when you're in the retreat mode or surrender mode, and then Boomy says, and there's a third jing.

48:41 Uh the neutral jinutral jin where you just stand and wait and observe and wait for your at the perfect time to attack, and then goes, There's three jings. Technically, there's eighty-five. And so I got my me curious. I'm like, or will we ever learn about the other 82?

48:57 Do you think uh so you're Mr. Taekwondo Tai Chi? Do you think there's Jings that you could associate with both of those martial arts?

49:04 Yes. In a very, very, very broad prospect. When I first started uh learning Taekwondo, the instructor pulled me away from the group right before a class started, and he goes, Now remember, this taekwondo is a defensive martial art. You use this to keep people at bay. Karate is more for striking, it's more of an offensive martial art.

49:24 So that was that was my first introduction to martial arts and what you could call jings. Taekwondo defensive, karate offensive. Katie, how about you? Any dance moves you can associate with a jing?

49:35 Mm-hmm.

49:35 You're saying yes, I'm saying no. What?

49:38 I feel like hip-hop dancing is a is its own jing, and I feel like salsa dancing is his own jing, and I feel like it's its own jing.

49:45 Life life is a jing.

49:46 Technically, I feel like there's like 80 jings of dances.

49:50 Maybe that's what all the other jings are. They're all dances.

49:53 Uh, salsa jing, tango jing.

49:55 Yeah, I'm looking forward to the episode when Boomy comes back to teach Ang and Katara how to dance the jings. That'd be incredible.

50:01 Tap jing. Dance the jingle. Ballet jing.

50:04 Did you say ballet jing? Yeah. Yes. Okay, so other things about this episode, I didn't like that Azula renamed Omashu New Ozai. That seemed pretty weak. It was kind of like in passing. She's like, also, uh, I want to rename this.

50:20 Azula.

50:20 God. Okay, so now that Boomy's off the off the deck for being Aang's Earthbender, that leaves the question who is going to be his Earthbender? So there was a clue of who Aang should seek out.

50:32 Who's going to be his Earthbender?

50:34 Who will be Earthbender teacher? Teacher.

50:38 Instructor.

50:40 But Boomy recommends he find someone who waits and listens into his mastered neutral Jing. So do you think, do you have an idea of like the type of teacher that we're going to get for Aang?

50:49 That's going to be a teacher we haven't been introduced to yet.

50:52 What if it's Azula? We found Azula's an earthbender. That'd be interesting.

50:58 Teach him about neutral jing.

51:00 She's definitely a positive Jing.

51:02 She's just a Jing. Jing Jing. Jingle Jing Jing.

51:05 Any other thoughts with these episodes?

51:08 Season two is off to an awesome start, man. I can't wait to see more.

51:11 You had mentioned something about the season premiere, and you're like, that would have made a great season finale.

51:16 Took the words right out of my mouth. Why'd you say that? In the season two premiere, at the very end, when Iroh and Zuko cut off their hair, I understand why they had to do that like a fresh start to a new season. But I'm like, if they had done that at the very end of season one, I would have been like, oh my god, this it I can't imagine what their next steps are gonna be next season.

51:36 That's true. You know, in the Avatar state, like, I don't know, it seems like he's going f he's doing all the wind and the water, and he's just going bonkers with all the elements. And I don't know, I was saying like in the season finale of one, I was hoping he could do all four elements at some point.

51:51 So I don't know. There was there was definitely a few elements, a few scenes from episode one and season two, they could have put in the season one finale, but you know, they had to do what they had to do with season one finale. It's a good start.

52:04 I do appreciate that we've increased the amount of females on this show because when we talked to our dear friend Allison, our nine-year-old friend Allison, uh, she noticed that she was really enjoying the show, but it wasn't really representative of uh females. So I mean we've really just had Katara for the most part.

52:22 Yeah, it's pretty good for a nine-year-old to take that away.

52:25 And now we have three they're all bad guys right now, but we have three more female characters, so we've definitely like increased.

52:32 You know, and and to go with that, that they are, you know, because a lot of times you get female characters and it's like, well, they're submissive, and it's like they're the nice peacekeepers or whatever they are, which to some extent is Katara's role, um, until she starts like kicking butt.

52:52 Mm-hmm. Well, I yeah, yes. And to add on to that, I love the fact that this season's pretty much telling us right off the bat, like, just so you guys know, like, men aren't the best fighters, they're the biggest, they're the meanest fighters, but they're not the best fighters.

53:05 They do make a point that Zuko isn't as as talented as his sister, which I think is powerful because I didn't really take that away the first couple times I watched it, like I just assumed they were evenly matched, but they try to make that clear that Zuko's outmatched.

53:18 Yeah, no, I mean definitely in that last episode we watched. I mean, you really get to see Azula's uh athl well She's definitely athletic, she's acrobatic for sure. Right, and I mean she's pretty unstoppable, really, and super energetic. Yeah, yeah, she's 14.

53:38 She cuts like the rope and rides it all the way up. Oh yeah.

53:42 Oh god, yeah. Or was like what did he when she was on the little thing, the little slide?

53:48 The shoot?

53:48 Mm-hmm. And Ing thinks he like knocks her off, but really she had just like bent down and gets back up and shoots more fire. Anyway, so yeah, no.

53:58 I didn't uh I just want to also point out that it took two of Azula's friends to take on Katara. Like, here's two girls that have just been spot their whole lives, they're kind of just taking their skills for granted, and here comes Katara who's had to work really hard at her waterbending skills her whole life.

54:15 That's all she's wanting to do is be a warrior. And you just see you're kind of like spanking these two girls, just like, get out of here, get out of you little brats. I don't know.

54:25 But I don't know. Uh also, don't you think the other ones are a little rusty?

54:29 Very, very rusty.

54:30 Yeah, we have one who's been in the circus and the other who's just been like kind of moping around. Yes.

54:34 Yeah, no, I think it's going to make for an interesting season.

54:38 Alright, kids. Thanks for joining us. Next time we're going to cover the episodes The Swamp, Avatar Day, and The Blind Bandit. Secret Tunnel. Secret Tunnel Through the Mountains. Secret, secret, secret, secret tunnel. Look, river people. Or just people.

55:11 Okay, I'm talking here. Talking, talking, talking about it.

55:16 I'm singing. I haven't seen him in a long time, and I'm singing. Happy birthday, dad! Happy birthday. I love you, I love you, I love you!