Calm Before the Comet

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Murker Bun? What are the technical challenges? Not this year.

Okay, I think last season, uh Paul and Prue, they like they sat down and they were like, okay, we really gotta we're gonna really scale back a little bit this season. We don't wanna like intimidate them too much. So and then he like brandished what they were doing. He's like, so we're gonna do some hamburger buns.

I was like, what is this?

I vaguely remember that because I was like, how do you used to make those like no problem in college? She'd be like, we don't need to buy buns, I'll just make some. And I'd be like, what? And then boom, she'd like have them made. No problem.

I you know, I okay, so this is how little I know about cakes and baking in general. Like, I had no idea that to create a layer cake, you actually physically had to make multiple cakes and then physically layer them. Like, my mind was blown, and I was like, late teenager when I found that out. Like, I just thought the cakes kind of ended up that way.

I didn't know that they just had you had multiple of them. It was like, oh, this wasn't Yeah, I kind of overthought.

This is like a people who think chocolate milk comes from brown cows.

I'm not I'm not proud of this fact of mine. I'm not I'm not happy with it. Uh I'm ashamed, is what I am. But yeah, uh things changed a lot after that. I was like, oh wow, I could do that. That's not that hard. You just take multiple cakes. Crazy. Katie, do you have any uh stories like that with baking?

Like a baking revelation?

I've known it all since the beginning.

Jessica, you have to have like a like an awkward baking story, right? Like, oh, I didn't know the So many.

So many awkward baking stories. Uh nothing comes to mind off the top of my head. Uh it's hard to be perfect. It's hard, yeah. So we're gonna be a few. I think fondness grows. What?

You had to make caramel?

Yeah, so I made a Danish cornucopia. So the cookie part was like egg whites and like ground almonds, which I like ground my own almonds, but turns out you can use like almond flour, which doesn't use like the brown parts of the almonds, so mine's like already browner than it's supposed to be.

How macaroni was it?

They're pretty macaroni. Macaroni.

Yeah, pretty, pretty macaroni.

Yankee doodle dandy. They're yanky doodle dandy. And um so you like bake those. Oh, so they're like shaping them, which I shaped them incorrectly because they didn't understand because it's supposed to like curve to make the cornucopia, and mine's like Greg called it a bag of it. Yeah, trumpety, definitely.

And then um, so you bake that, and then you have to temper chocolate, and then you make these like chocolate scroll work that you're gonna put on top, and that was a big disaster on my end. Tempering chocolate's hard. I don't really have like a piping bag situation, it was awkward. And then so I finally got done with that.

So then I made the icing, and then I decided to use a Ziploc bag with like the tip, and then as I'm like icing them, the Ziploc bag explodes.

unknown Oh no.

No, and then you make caramel to stick the cookies together to make the cornucopia shape, and then I was like, Oh, this looks really good, and then I burned it, and so then I made a second one, and then it's like really hot caramel, and you have to like dip the cookies in. And then one of the cookies split in half, and so half of it fell down.

So, like in the middle of the cookie, so not even like the part with the caramel, like the whole thing, it just like and then um then you put the chocolate scroll roll on top, and it's a lot, and it's in the freezer now, and hopefully it holds up for another hour. What was that word? Chocolate, what'd you say?

Scroll work scroll work. So I don't like pipe these like fancy shapes with the chocolate. And then you flip it over because there's a flat sign, and then you pipe on top of it, so it's like a 3D shape. So do you want to make it again?

No, never again.

I think that's every technical challenge on bake-off. They're they get done and they're like, nah, I'm good forever.

Especially those hamburger buns.

They might have been really good hamburger buns. They actually had to make hamburger patties too. Do you remember that?

Mm-hmm.

And then they had to eat them.

Like with the grill outside. I don't know.

No, they didn't do that on the grill outside. That was for the non-bread, which was like a final. Yeah. They're like, oh, we've made bonfires for you. Enjoy.

Okay.

What so enough about that. Did you know that Aang's favorite dessert is egg tarts?

No. Is that canon from one of the episodes?

Or is that in the divide? It was from the Great Divide.

Oh, and he taught those great old about the joys of children playing a game. Where he lies to them, basically.

Yeah, to to be the peacekeeper.

And we're back, germs.

Germs?

Oh, excuse me. Well, I don't know. I mean, it's not it's not cool to say. Could we be Crazy Ira and the douche from Parks and Rec? No. Crazy Ira in the douche. So terrible. Is that Nick Kroll? Nick Kroll's the douche, right? God he's not. Nick Kroll's the douche.

Crazy Ira is Matt Besser.

What a terrible, what two terrible characters. Good God. Okay, so the last time we talked to Jessica, we were getting her hot take from the Western Air Temple.

You had watched so rude. Well, we're in the middle of a sesh.

Does professionalism mean nothing to you, McLean?

I was turning up the sound.

You'll never work in this town again. My god. And by this town, I mean Tillamook. You'll never work in Tillamook ever again.

Okay, so last time we were talking to Jessica.

We got some hot takes about the Western Air Temple. You hadn't watched Firebending Masters yet. So what I want from you, Jessica, is I want to hear how Zuko joining this little menagerie we got is going for you so far. How's Zuko and the gang for you?

Well, I enjoy that Zuko like almost immediately failed at being the firebender teacher. And I was like, We told you terrible. He was gonna be terrible. And he's like, oh man, I can't even do this. But I feel like the the gang kind of took it and like they took it well that he like couldn't even firebend anymore.

Oh yeah, they're very excited.

Well, but then you have like Katara who hates Zuko in this moment. Yeah, she was.

I was a little bit shocked at how much she hated him. She was really burned by him in that little they're like alone time in the underground cave or whatever.

So much resentment. I mean they they had a moment and I mean he I who knows what they were talking about in that cave.

That's true.

Besides from what we know they talked about.

Wow. Okay. So what do you think about the dragons? Oh, I love the dragons.

I thought it was cool that turns out Uncle Iroh didn't kill the dragons, so we can still be Team Uncle Iroh and not be like, really? Kill the dragon? That sucks. Oh, it's funny though, it was like this whole society of people that the Fire Nation didn't even know still existed, but like Kazuko kind of and kind of like Aang, sorry.

Who Who? Get it together, Jessica! And Aang just like kind of like Dumble and they're like, oh, here's this whole society. I was like, did no one else go to the ruins?

Do we not yeah, do we not believe that the no one knows about the existence of these people? Or maybe Zuko's just so terrible at being the prince that he's the only one of like his family that doesn't know of their existence.

I mean probably.

Maybe he read about it in the scrolls when he was finding out about grandpa's. Yeah.

Um, I enjoyed that they had to like dance for the dragons.

Dance for the dragons.

And they were like, we gotta do the dragon move dance. Uh you and Katie should do a little video of you guys doing the dragon dance.

Well, that's a dragon.

I definitely feel like we could do it.

Uh yeah, I mean they they we know the moves pretty well. They go through them pretty explicitly in that episode. Zuko, I want you to dance with me.

What? He's like, just go with it.

Do you what do you think about Zuko and Aang's chemistry?

I like it. I think they're cute together. I I I love all the one-on-one adventures everyone gets to take. I'm a little sad that Zuko and Toph don't get a one-on-one adventure.

I wouldn't say Zuko and Toph do. They sit outside the uh uh the auditorium in Ember Island players and have like uh intermission moment.

Yeah, or she slugs them in the arm. Yeah, but they didn't like go like commandeer Appa for an adventure together.

They wouldn't commandeer Momo for an adventure.

No.

What kind of adventure would you want Zuko and Toph to go on?

Hmm, that's a good question. Maybe I mean Toph hasn't really We're gonna believe Toph's No, last time we met Toph's parents, she sent them a letter and was like, hey, my bad.

Yeah, the last the she takes she steals hockey, our new best friend animal companion. They write, they help her craft a letter to her parents saying something. Saying, hey, we're in the Fire Nation, we're cool, right? And then sends it off. I'm presuming that bird doesn't make it to to the Beifong estate.

That bird has to travel like a quarter of the way across the world.

But I think it would have been fun if like Hockey came back and uh Zuko had some special like you like the special keyword to make Hockey like actually like work correctly, and then he and Top like went on an adventure, and then her her parents like had like secret Earth Nation army that like came to help them.

Like that's what should have happened.

Aw, that would be nice. Are we gonna get a spec script from you about this? The uh the the missing Toph Zuko adventure?

Yeah. I'll I'll post it on uh archive our own fanfiction.net.

Oh my god.

How it really should have went down. Yeah.

What kind of uh adventure would you like to see Toph and Zuko go on?

I'm not even gonna go down this rabbit hole because it didn't happen, but I agree it should have happened. There should be there should be more Toph and Zuko.

I just think there needs to be more Toph, like because we've addressed that Toph isn't a part of like that main three. Like she doesn't get enough like character development or too many story arcs that are dedicated to Toph. Like Toph is just kind of used to conveniently get us out of situations and pickles, if you will.

Yeah. No, I agree. I'd like to see more growth with her.

I mean, it was nice in the um Firemasters episode that we get to find out like a little bit more about how she taught herself how to see using her earth bending. And then she was like, maybe try something like that. Um, so that would be kind of cool for Toph to have gone with them to meet the dragons.

That's true. I mean there was that was seems like a bit of an omission. I mean, that would have made a fun dynamic for sure. But I also like I like this theory that maybe your bending is more is strengthened if you learn from the original bender of that discipline. Like Toph is clearly like the best earthbender in the world.

Maybe partly because she learned from the badger moles. And then we get Aang and Zuko kind of get an upgrade in their firebending by learning the dragon dance and then uh learning from dragons. I don't know how you can learn from the moon, but I don't know.

Oh, does it is the moon the original waterbender?

I guess, which I don't believe because they're the rest are animals, and then you get the moon. I mean, to keep consistency, you would have thought that maybe the sun would have been the original firebender, then the dragons were like the first practitioners. I don't know, there seems like a little bit of a a little bit of a hole there for me.

It does feel like if it's the moon, then it should be the sun.

Right. Like you know that there's like some fish creature that is like bending the water out there that was like the first practitioner.

I was thinking like a whale, but I also thought a whale.

Okay, a whale that's a good option. Okay, you guys.

I feel like whale rider.

I'm sorry, a mammal. A waterbound mammal. My bad.

Yeah, the moon is not no.

Yeah, sorry, Yue. Ugh. I mean, that's all fine, but there's this uh theory on Reddit that Yue was actually supposed to be the next incarnation of the Avatar, because the next Avatar is supposed to be born to the water the water tribes, and so Yue was still born, and so the theory was that her body was supposed to be the vessel for the Avatar spirit, and because Aang had kind of like messed that up by going into the iceberg for a hundred years, he let it so Yue didn't have a a soul to to be in her body.

Wow.

Yeah.

That's intense.

Everything about that. That hot take.

I mean, it makes sense to me. Okay.

It does make a weird amount of sense to me, too.

I feel like I mean, we don't know when Aang would have died. I mean, his friends are still alive, so who's to say he wouldn't have still been alive when Boomy is hardly alive.

Boomy is hardly a friend.

Boomy is ancient. Boomy, I don't even know. Like, he's he's rock hard, but I don't know how his body's still holding together. Supplements, probably.

Okay, what happens after dragon dance?

They go to the boiling rock.

Oh, the boiling rock!

Okay, give us your take on Boiling Rock.

Uh Boiling Rock's a good time. Let's see. Uh the prisoner that helps them escape the first time, and then the second time just ditches his girlfriend with no comment about being like those other people that I tried to escape with before. I guess I don't need to escape with them anymore. I thought that was funny that he was.

Yeah, he was like, obviously they were holding me back.

And he's like, I gotta get out of here.

Jit saying, yeah, he got his uh redemption. He's like, I I got my my ticket out. It's with you guys.

I thought it was like a cool concept of how the first escape attempt was supposed to go, but I was like, how do they know which jail cell is in the um like blind spot between like the two spotters? So that when it came down.

And now you're gonna get captured and thrown specifically into that one. Like Sokka had to be like, okay, yeah, so this is the one we're throwing it into.

Yeah.

I don't know.

A lot of a lot of that stuff went their way. Also, I feel like they were very lenient with Sokka's uh prisoner guard. Like he was looked out of control, and they're like, eh, okay, this new guy.

I'm just I'm just gonna run in here and I'm gonna I'm gonna punch this person out really quick. Don't mind me. It's not good.

Fire Nation. Yeah, they they have a I thought if that was funny, you would have thought that Zuko would have been the better fake like guard. Like he would have been the one not to get caught, but of course he gets caught immediately, and then Sokka's like, no problem, pretending to be this like Fire Nation guard.

I'm like impressed that Sokka gets a two-part episode with his field trip with Zuko. Like I was impressed that they made that like a two-parter.

Yeah. Well, so much happens. I mean, could it have wrapped up in one episode? I guess like the whole like bringing his dad there, it kind of restarts the whole thing. Uh, I loved how badass Suki was like the entire time.

Oh man.

Like so good. You can see why they put her in the boiling rock because she's awesome.

Maybe she escaped from other prisons and she was like, we gotta put her in this one. Like, she can't be held.

I mean, she like it was kind of like, wow. Like when she like runs up to go get the like uh prison warden, you're just like, holy shit.

Yeah, it's so satisfying watching Suki just dish out like all sorts of chaos.

And does that someone say, like, whoa, where did she come from? Or like they're like, whoa.

Well, Hakota, like they all the boys walk up like just out of breath after Suki's like, sorry warden, you're my prisoner now, which is a fantastic line. And Nakota's like, oh, that's some girl. Saka's like, I know. But just think how much shorter the series would have been had they recruited Suki in the beginning.

Like, she just would have like everything would have been so much faster. Suki would have solved so many problems.

Yeah, Suki Toph from the get-go.

Earth Kingdom Girls. That's where it's at. Apparently. Get yours get yourself an Earth Kingdom Girl.

I mean, yeah, they don't really I guess there's a couple Earth Kingdom boys they know. But they have like no skill, like, even close to those two.

Yeah, Haru's kinda. Yeah, don't don't not Earth Kingdom Boys.

Boomy and then like everyone else.

Well, I mean, there's the uh there's Earth King, there's uh Yeah Socks. Yeah, yeah. There's Long Feng. There's also Daily. Daily, huh?

Another girl. Oh Dud Lee, sorry. I was thinking of what's the Judy. Judy. I was thinking of Judy.

All the Judies.

Okay, but so let's say Sokka and Zuko successfully uh get there, get the cooler across the boiling lake to the other side. They're just stranded. They're just stranded on like the outskirts. Like, are they gonna just avoid the guards for a few days?

Right, but same thing with their actual eventual escape plan. Oh no, they eventually steal a They steal a Zeppelin. Yeah, a Zeppelin, that's right. I forgot that. Really lucky break for them that Azula was there.

Who pilots that? Who pilots the Zeppelin? Is Taka like, oh, I I get this.

Jordan and I keep smacking our headphones. Well, Zuka would probably have to use his firebending, right?

For it to work.

I don't know how the Zeppelin works. I'm assuming it's I don't know. Real Zeppelins are like, you know, helium, right? Like some sort of light gas.

Right. I guess they don't really establish that. I don't know.

I don't know how they got out of there. So, what do we think about Azula being betrayed by both Ty Lee and Mei?

I don't know if I when I was like, is Mei gonna go to protect Zuko? And I was like, he doesn't even really apologize to her. I feel like she deserved more of an apology and an explanation from Zuko before being able to switch over and be like, I mean, I understand her not wanting her ex-boyfriend to not to die, but like Azula's pretty fierce, and for her to like make that decision and be like, I don't care what Azula thinks anymore, what's gonna happen to me um to protect him, it's pretty powerful, which actually makes it think that their feelings for each other were stronger.

Then I really feel like I don't know, I feel like a relationship of convenience almost the way it was depicted when they're hanging out in the Fire Nation. Especially after they have like that big fight and they like get back together, but it's like kind of I don't know, I never really like really felt it between them.

But I mean I was happy, and then obviously um Tylee, I knew she was gonna switch over as soon as she had the opportunity.

She's like, Oh, I I see an opening, I'm gonna take you out of Zula. Good night.

She's like, Oh, I don't have to hang out with Azula anymore. I can hang out with these cute boys. Yeah, okay.

Yeah, but I mean, isn't it interesting just with I mean, if we think about May and Azula I mean then I don't know, I mean, do you really feel like that was a real friendship? I mean there was you know, no mutual respect. I mean, it didn't seem like that far-fetched for her to care more about Zuko. Like that they that they had something more real and concrete than anything she has with Azula, which was some sort of like loyalty, but I mean that seemed like that friendship was more out of convenience.

You know, where it's like we have parents that are in charge, and you know, we went to school together, and so this is just kind of and I'm gonna stay in your good graces.

Well, I was gonna say, I guess Ty Lee was more of the what because I when Azula goes to round up her friends, May was just kind of bored, right? So she was like, Yeah, I'll come with you. Whereas Tylee, Azula basically forced her to come.

Mm-hmm.

So that's true. She was less afraid of Azula. So it makes more sense that she would. Yeah. I mean, obviously, she had more of a connection with Zuko than Azula, because Azula, yeah, she's not. I mean, she's like a sociopath. She doesn't have real friendships.

Ugh.

But she was pretty badass on top of that. Trolley? What are we calling that thing?

Oh, the uh the gondola is what they kept on.

The gondola, yeah, the gondola makes more sense.

Okay, what's your take on Azula being able to propel herself with firebending?

Um, I thought it was insane, but I kind of loved it at the same time because as you guys know, I'm like weirdly team Azula.

Troy hates it, but I uh I defend it. I'm really happy that Azula is so capable that she can like just rocket herself around all willy-nilly.

I mean, yeah, it's the concept like it's like a rocket pack, rocket boots.

Ooh, rocket boots.

Because she's using like the blue lightning fire, right?

Well, Katie has called it, what did you call it?

I don't know.

Blue blast off power is what uh Katie has dubbed it.

But you know, right, Azula can just she just harnesses any energy however, whenever. She's just so hardcore. There's nothing she can't do.

But I want to talk about when Mayana Azula. Azula face off because Azula takes the stance of getting ready to lightning bend like she was going to kill Mei. Like that that was her goal in that moment. Like there was no like let's talk this out, let's have like a little spar between friends, was gonna kill her.

Which, damn Azula.

Yeah, I feel like that's in character for Azula. Like they said, they're not really friends. It's like convenient for her to have these like badass assistants.

Exactly.

That are like the closest people she can find to competency to herself. And even then she like views herself so far above them. Which I mean, obviously, she has blue blast-up power.

unknown Right.

But if she was like, hey, you might be my sister-in-law one day, remember that time where you know I tried to murder you in cold blood?

But Azula wants to be an only child. Yeah, but she barely cares about Zuko. She's not gonna care about May.

Okay, okay, so then we fast forward, and here we are. Azula shows back up on a warship, has tracked them down to the Western Air Temple, and is like, hey guys, I'm gonna kill you, Zuko. I've and just announce it.

Yeah, she's just like, um she's like, obviously I can't manipulate you anymore, so you're worthless to me.

So Bye bye, Zuzu.

Yeah. I mean she felt no remotes about her mom. She thinks that her mom's dead, er, right? But we don't know for sure that their mom's dead.

We don't know what happened to Ursa, do we, Katie?

No, and I tried to have Jordan tell me because he knows what happened, because it's in the little book that I could read about, but I haven't read it, and he won't tell me, and so I don't know if she's alive, what happened to her. So that's what if she was with the dragons? That would have been a cool reveal.

She and Iroh were the firebending masters, like they showed up. They they teach them the dragon dance.

Oh, we still don't know where freaking Iro is. Greg and I kept being like, oh, is Iroh gonna show up now? And then he did that, and it was sad, and then we're like, oh, is it gonna show up now?

Alright, where do you think Iroh is?

Working out. Oh, wait, which episode is it where they make the oh, never mind, I remembered. Don't worry about it.

The guru. That was the the guru, that one. Okay, where is Iroh?

I don't know. Where is Iroh?

What could he be doing? Like he physically busted himself out of jail.

He's already in shape, so he's not like he needs to work out more. I mean he's a little bit more. Yeah, maintain.

Maybe he does need to work out more because as we've seen, the rock was perfectly fine, and then he became even more the rock.

He doesn't know what the Avatar and his little friends are up to.

Does he?

He doesn't even really know what Zuko's up to.

Does he?

Unless he's following them around.

Can you imagine? Like we find out Iro's just been like tracking them in the bushes. We get a whole episode dedicated to like just where Iroh's been. He was at the Boiling Rock too. That boy.

Yeah, he's like sweeping in the background. You would have seen it if you're paying attention.

Uh like that episode of community where Abed like is delivering a baby in the background, but like no one ever like catches it. That's a thing. Like Abed has like this whole adventure in the background of an episode. Okay, so what about Katara and Zuko finally making amends? What do you think about that?

Uh that was good. Of course, it was about her mom. The whole like sequence where they go, and then it's the wrong guy, and then I don't know. I feel like Zuko is like really gonna know, like, oh, I know that pirate. Let's go! Like it was kind of like maybe it was like, well, I've already had my adventure with Aang or had my adventure with Sokka.

Yeah, Katara, let's go, let's be friends, I'll go on this adventure with you and prove myself to you.

Well, I do think Zuko is like desperate to kind of fix that relationship with Katara because it's definitely like the weak link of the group. Like everyone else is like pretty cool, except for Katara's bringing everything down by just being really, really angry at Zuko.

Does he even try to apologize or explain why he turned on them after seemingly like he wasn't gonna turn on them?

Oh god, no.

And like go with Azula. I mean, as Katara, I would still want that.

That seems like a conversation that should have happened.

We can do that in the rewrite, you guys. That should have been part of his apology.

Yeah, like at the Western Air Trouble when he shows up, he's like, Oh, sorry about hiring the assassin. Like, he apologizes for all these things that happened in like season one, but then doesn't bother being like, hey, so when I tried to kill you in those caves, sorry. Hey, Aang, when I, you know, got my sister to shoot you with lightning.

Yeah, that seemed more I don't know, important.

Not cool. Also, I think Katara should apologize to Zuko because she's the one who ratted out to Azula that they were there trying to live their best life in the tea shop. So uh Katara owes Zuko an apology.

Katara didn't know what she was doing.

Yeah, but still, she could have just let them live out their days. She knew. Everyone knows that Iro's a good guy. They knew that from the season one finale, and they should be like, oh, Iroh and Zuko are like having a good time. Obviously, he's in good hands. Things are gonna be fine. Could have avoided all this heartache.

Did they know from the season one finale? I thought they didn't know.

Yeah.

Iroh helps him.

Right. He like Because after he defends the fish.

He shows up when Zhao's about to kill kill the moon spirit, and he's like, Whatever you do to that spirit, I'll unleash upon you tenfold. Put it down! And it's so good. But then he's like hanging out with the group after the fish is dead, and he looks over at Yue and he's like, hey, you should probably sacrifice yourself to the moon spirit, okay?

I mean, okay, but in that context, like, you're like just like, you don't know this guy. He's he's from the evil fire nation, he's the great dragon of the west, and then he's like, Yeah, your friend should probably kill herself. And maybe it'll be okay for you, and ultimately it'll be better for you guys, but it's still like killing, I don't know, you're not gonna trust a guy after that.

Oh, poor Iroh.

I don't know.

Still think Katara owes him an apology. Saying it right now.

Okay, so they make the mistake. The first guy is not the man that Katara is looking for.

But she bloodbends that dude.

Oh, like so casually. I know, and Zuko just kinda like looks. Yeah.

Is that the first time she's blood she that's the first time she's bloodbended since the creepy lady, right?

Which creepy lady is uh indirectly responsible for Kaya's death. I explained it in uh the previous episode. Give it a listen.

Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah.

But yeah, okay, so yeah, they waste all this time to track down the wrong dude to bloodbend. Do you think what do you think Katara's gonna do with bloodbending from here on out?

I mean, if she's doing it so casually, she she doesn't feel any guilt afterwards either. She's not like, oh man, now that I like am at peace with what happened to my mom, maybe I shouldn't have bloodbended that guy. She doesn't do that, so I feel like open season on people she doesn't like.

Oh god. Okay, do you think bloodbending's like a crazy, like painful experience?

Maybe it's really relaxing. I don't know. I can't try to think. Do they like have a painful expression or are they just like is it being like I mean, they do kind of like Imperiod like Harry Potter? Maybe it's just a nice stretch.

No, that does sound nice. I mean, they do kind of like contort their bodies a little bit. It's kinda like it seems like it would be an unpleasant experience to me.

It's not like your blood affects your nerves, which would cause pain.

That's true, but I mean if you like were bending the water in my arm, you could just like flip it up around and like flick it all around, and all of a sudden I'd be like, oh, you broke my arm. Thank you. That hurt a lot.

Yeah, she could definitely bend it in an unnatural way.

Or could you like constrict the blood, like cause some sort of like damage that way? I don't know. Blood bending, it's not good.

Could she stop it from flowing? I don't know. I don't like it.

Yeah, don't, yeah, don't go down that rabbit hole. I've stopped the blood from flowing in your body.

Whoa. Okay, moving on. So, what did you think about her being face to face with the man who killed her mother? And like how she handled that.

Can you uh re refresh me on exactly what happened?

Oh god.

So Yanra is this like gross, sad little man who's like gardening in the front yard. He's not that little. Well, he's like scrawny. He's a he's a of of a fine height.

Yeah, and his mom's like yelling at him. He lives with his mom. Yanra! Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so then he goes to the market, it feels like he's being watched, and he's being watched. And he's like walking home and he's paranoid, being watched.

So yeah, he freaks Yanar freaks out, he turns around, sets a bush on fire, and then Zuko pops out of presumably another bush, and his line to him is, we weren't in the bush. Or we were never in the bush.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Which is quite the line to say to a homicidal maniac.

So the guitar is like, Do you know who I am?

And he's like, No.

What would he? And same thing to say.

It's an odd thing.

Yeah, and she's like, You better know.

Like your life depends on it.

I mean, I guess he met her as a small child. Yeah, yeah.

I met you for exactly 20 seconds when you were about eight or nine.

Okay, were you awake for this episode? Does it sound familiar? I was awake.

It's just that I watched a good chunk of them at the same time, so it just all blends together. I'm just trying to do that.

See, and this is the problem with Countdown to the Comet, the promotional thing that Nickelodeon did where they aired a new episode every night for a week. Southern Raiders was on Thursday, Ember Island Players was on Friday. It's too much. It's too much Avatar in a week. How dare you, Nickelodeon?

Try it. Agreed.

So yeah, ultimately Katara's ready to kill this guy.

She does like She stops the rain. The rain drops and they become like little daggers, I guess.

Such a baller move to stop the rain. Daggers. So cool. But again, I think this episode's let down from being a moi animation and not a JM animation. It could have been a lot better. Because there were some funky moments in Southern Raiders, like where Aang's talking about how he hopes Katara chooses like to let go and to forgive.

And then like everything's still. And then as he gets part way through his little his little monologue, all of a sudden, like the wind rustles up, and him and Sokka are just like majestically like flowing in the wind. It's not good. Mwah, you suck. So then she shoots down the daggers to Yan Ra, and then right before they're about to skewer him like a kebab, like a kebab.

She just turns it back into water, and then he's like, We would like your reaction, ma'am.

Are you do you wish she would have I mean, did I think Katara was gonna kill him? No, it's a children's show.

But what a dark turn.

Just barely. And Katara is not a bad a bad character, but we did see her bloodbend, so it is a little intense at that point. But it was powerful. Obviously, not super memorable for me at the time, maybe because I was like part way through a binge. Okay, Katara. It was sad, like seeing her mom like die.

I kept thinking her mom was gonna pop up later. And so I was like, oh no.

Yeah, because they never really address like how she died. You just know that she's gone. But right, it's kind of like the same idea with Zuko's mom. Like, no one really knows where she's at. So hopefully it could have been the same thing with Kaya. So Katara and Sokka's mom, her name Kaya is the same name as the concept name that Katara was going by up until the unaired pilot episode, then they changed it to Katara.

So she was she almost was Kaya. Also, where was Grand Grand in the Southern Raiders episode? Couldn't she have like had a cameo? That grumpy old woman.

Justice for Grand Grand.

Grandgrand's terrible, she's a bad character.

Um, I'm also remembering that the voice actor for Kaya was also very distracting to me because I couldn't place where I knew her voice from.

Did you look it up?

I did, and now I'm trying to remember. I feel like she's a voice in Kipo and The Wonder Beast. Uh, which have you guys seen Keepo? No. It's on Netflix. It's really cute. Sterling K Brown is Keepo's dad. And uh Dan Stevens of Downtown Abbey Fame is the bad guy. He plays like uh Mandrel. Yeah, I recommend Keepo and the Wonder Beast.

But I don't think that's what I knew her from though. But that is what I had watched most recently that she had been at voice in. But I was like, I just like was like, how do I know this voice? It's so familiar to me.

It was you, Jessica. You were the voice of Kaya. Who's this woman?

Yeah. Oh, and then I tried Googling Kaya, and then I was getting like spoilers for Cora, so I stopped.

Oh, Jessica.

I was like, got multiple characters at the same time.

I haven't really worried I have been really worried about spoiling like the finale with Jessica and Troy, but also it doesn't really matter because it's about the journey. It's about this experience, you know?

Well, I still don't think you should do it.

I'm not going to. Well, I was So Jessica. So this is what happens.

Just just spoils it right now. This is what happens.

A couple things. So in Southern Raiders, it's the first time in the series that Aang says the names of Aang and Katara, which is kind of crazy to me.

Like he never says that Aang.

Sorry, it's the first time Zuko says the names of Aang and Katara. Like he never says their names before then.

Was he just like, hey you?

Yeah, like especially like in Western Air Temple, like when he addresses Aang after Sokka and Katara like kind of berating him, he looks to Aang and goes, What about you? You've been kind of quiet. What do you think? Like, doesn't even like say anything.

I mean, do they I guess they never really introduce themselves, do they?

Yeah, because I mean, how would that introduction be like, hey, it's my name's Katara. I'm from the Southern Water. I mean, you kinda like it's like that thing when you kind of befriend somebody that's been kind of like orbiting you a little bit. You're like, well, we kind of already know each other.

I don't need to tell you my name.

And I picked up on what your name is. Okay.

I would like to talk about Whaletail Island and how it's the worst place in the Avatar universe. Every time I hear about Whaletail Island, I cringe and a part of my soul dies. Kind of like a whore crux. It splits off from my soul and then dies.

You don't like Whaletail Island?

I despise Whaletail Island.

I hate the name?

Yes, I hate everything about it. I hate that it reminds me of things that were going on in the mid-2000s.

Called whaletails?

Yes.

Like, literally, all I can think of is Manny from Degrassi every time you say whale whaletail.

Right. And you're like, was this on purpose? Like Absolutely it was on purpose. Like, what's up with this creative team? Yeah. Well, like I said, well, whatever. Nickelodeon. All of them. What would you rename it? Anything.

Crescent shaped island. Anything. I would name it anything. Dolphin. Dolphin tail. Dolphin tail. That's fine. Porpoise tail. That's true. Orca tail. Yeah. Anything. Also, also, let's talk about whales really quick because in the Avatar universe, everything's a dual animal. Like pig rooster, you know?

Everything's too. Platypus bear. Right. There's no whales. Oh, right. There's no whale. So you know what? Team. Double bad. Yeah. Well shark tail. Shark whale tail? Yeah, they even uh they like koi, giant koi whales or koi fish. Yeah, so they yeah, elephant koi. Ugh. Elephant koi island.

Elephant koi island.

Thong island. Thong island.

unknown Thong island.

G-string island would have been preferable.

Flip-flop island.

Uh butt floss island. I'm gonna go.

Alright, we're moving on to the next.

What do you think about Ember Island players, Jessica?

That was great.

Thank you. Tell me why. Tell me why.

So great to have a recap. I was like, this isn't saying that it's like a recap of literally like every single episode. Like, do they skip an episode in the recap? Like, they don't talk about the lady at the lake and pretending to be a spirit.

Yeah, none of that ecoterrorism.

Mm-hmm. I don't know why that was the first one I thought of. Yeah, they didn't talk about ecoterrorism.

But Sokka does like he fills Aang in when he comes back in after the problematic kiss. He's like, Oh, so this is what you missed. I think Combustion Man died. I got a sword. It's like, it's very well done and very funny.

Yeah, I mean it's hilarious that like Sokka is just upset that like the jokes of his character are one note, and he's like, I have more dimension to my comedy. Um, I literally screamed out loud and looked at Greg with the biggest grin on my face when they name checked the cabbage salesman. And I was like, oh my god!

And then I was hoping he was gonna be like a stage hand in the back, but he was not, and that made me very sad.

I mean, I I do think Cabbage Man should have shown up. Cabbage Man hasn't made an appearance in this show since the middle of season two in The Serpent's Pass. Has have all the cabbages gone dry? Is he not does he is he not peddling his wares in the Fire Nation?

It's upsetting. Um, shouldn't they have kept that going?

This goes back to Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom Boys. They're terrible. All the Earth Kingdom boys.

Hey, cabbage salesman should have shown up, giving them some cabbage.

unknown I don't know.

But there was another old man that was the start of the show in Ember Island players, and that was like the special effects old dude who was like just making all the magic happen.

Yeah.

I loved all the ribbon dancing bending.

Have you ever done ribbon dancing?

No.

Katie has.

She's talented.

In the the Tillamuk production of Boy in the Iceberg, naturally.

Oh yeah. Well, I was thinking, I was like, has anyone put try to put on this play? Because it would be pretty funny, and obviously, like semi-doable based on the stagecraft that they're using. And I think someone should stage their own version in real life. I think it would be amazing.

I mean, I know some people at the local community theater. I can make this happen. Tear bending. Okay, I also think that all the actors who were in this were all just fugly. Like they were all so hard to look at. All of them.

That's mean. Toph was cute.

Toph was cute, that big strong man. You could really cuddle up to him. I do want to talk about some of the voice actors uh because the voice acting crew of the Ember Island players is stacked. Like, Girl Aang is Rachel Dratch.

Oh my gosh, how did I not pick up on that?

Yeah, I was like, wow, what are you doing here, Rachel Dratch? Like, every time I read that, I'm surprised. I'm like, what had you getting there? My favorite one is the guy who voices stage Zuko is Dante Bosco's older brother, Derek.

Oh, that's cute. So I think it's funny that they get the wrong side for his like scar. It's like, he's the prince of the Fire Nation. You're in the Fire Nation. How could they get a detail like that wrong?

And see, that's what makes it so funny. It's so funny, like how wrong it all is. But they do they do pay homage to like actual kabuki theater with the with like the stage hands who are coming in and out, like kind of switching things out because they're the way they're all dressed is like how kabuki was.

And how kabuki was presented is actually the idea was to make it seem like they were ninjas, and so this is actually why people in pop culture associate ninjas with wearing all black because of kabuki, because kabuki are trying to emulate how ninjas are. So a little little nugget for us.

It's a nugget. Wow.

So what did you think about the uh like m possible foreshadowing at the end of the play?

Well, so when they're like at intermission and everyone's like clapping and like team avatar is like winning, and I was like, Aren't these Fire Nation people? Why are they cheering for the Avatar? I'm very confused. And I was like, if this is pro Team Avatar, then why how would they even be allowed to be like touring the Fire Nation?

So then at the end, when everything goes bad and um the Fire Lord takes over and defeats, I was like, and everyone's like cheering really loud. I was like, okay, now we're back on track. I was like, this makes much more sense. Um because it was also funny too, because like all the Fire Nation kids were like dressing up as all the different Avatar characters, like cosplaying, and they weren't cosplaying as Fire Nation people, really.

So weird.

Yeah, I don't know. The end of the play made sense to me that of course they're like, this is what we think is gonna happen. Firelord, oh we forget his name.

Ozai.

Firelord Markamel. But it was it was done by an Earth Kingdom playwright.

Done by an Earth Kingdom playwright, interviewing a bunch of people. But the wasn't the troop Fire Nation people?

They were, but I mean, isn't it kind of weird that like an Earth Kingdom playwright would be like, so we're gonna write a play about how the world comes to an end.

He knew it'd sell. But Earth Kingdom's under occupation by Fire Nation now.

He was a colony boy.

Yeah, maybe they recruited him to do it. We need you to write this.

And by recruited, forced him.

Yeah, like propaganda and forced him to have Fire Nation be in the positive light. Because obviously, he does like highlight the good things Team Avatar's doing. I mean, when you watch it, you're not like, oh, these people are terrible. So it is kind of funny at the end that they are cheering, but they get defeated because you've seen no reason.

They seem like a bunch of like bumbling kids that seem to like work out like it works out for them okay. And then at the end of the day.

You're watching it and you're like, oh, I I can't wait to watch them lose. It's like Game of Thrones, man.

Yeah.

Well, dang. Good stuff.

Okay, but it still ends on a somber note. Are you so how did it make you feel? Like you're ready for the finale?

Yeah, I am ready for the finale. I did want to keep watching.

Thank you for not.

With Egg and the Fire Lord and their big confrontation, like how when Like, because like at this point, like he's learning how to fire bend, and we have the specter of the comet coming. But otherwise, there's not really a long-term plan at this point, other than they like luckily broke out Sokka's dad, but the rest of everyone else is still in jail or prison or whatever.

Including like Mei and Ty Lee. Even the Boulder.

Also, what episode is it where Sokka is like hiding in the tent for Suki, and then Zuko comes in to talk to him?

One of the best scenes in that whole series.

I was like, wow, Sokka really has game where he's like got the row.

No pants on. He's got maybe some.

Yeah, I was like, this is very florid and sexual for this children's show.

Oh, I was I was ecstatic. I was like, Sokka, get it. You deserve this. Suki does too.

And was like Zuko oblivious to like what was happening, or is he just trying to ignore the awkwardness?

I'm going oblivious.

He doesn't like address it at all.

Well, Zuko's pretty asexual, so.

Right.

He has no.

I mean, did we see him ever he kissing Mei?

They do, but it feels wrong.

Yeah, yeah.

And I do think Katie's shipping Aang and Zuko a little bit.

Not Toph and Zuko?

I mean, you can. What do you think about Katara and Zuko?

I mean, it does feel like Katara and Zuko have more chemistry than Zuko and Mei. I agree that Aang and Zuko have a lot of chemistry. I kind of like Sokka and Zuko as a pair.

There's I think there's a big sect of the fandoms, like really into that idea. Yeah, they're great bros.

Do they have a ship name?

I don't know. So it's probably Zuka.

It's probably Zuka.

Oh man. Delightful. Oh, and then another great line when uh Sokka's talking about how his first girlfriend turned to the moon. Zuko. That's rough, buddy. So what is your overall take of the series up to this point? Are you happy that you've finally been introduced to the world of Avatar, the last Airbender?

Yes. I'm happy. And like looking back in the earlier, like again, it would be interesting to now go back and do a rewatch knowing what I know now. Um I do think each season got better and better. Like third season, I was like, this is crazy how much I'm like into this. Not like not crazy like how good it is, but just like I guess the uh I guess it gets more serious and more real stakes the longer and you like really understand that there are like some really bad people, but then even just the uh details we get around Azul.

I don't know, it's much more satisfying. Like Azul the entire time, even from the beginning, you knew you could just sense that he was gonna be a good guy eventually. Like you could tell he was conflicted and that he maybe it was because Uncle Iroh you knew was a good guy from the beginning, so you're like, he's obviously not the big bad.

So by the time it kind of switches and Azula takes the lead as more of the bad character, I think that's really when it locked into gear for me. And at first I hated Azula, and then the more we saw Azula, she really started growing on me, even though I think she is a psychopath and a terrible person, but she was just such a fun villain character that I think that really like whereas like Zuko's so like emo that it's never like that fun or compelling to see him defeat it because you were just like, oh Zuko.

Kick him wise down. Yeah, it will be interesting to hear what your take is when when the inevitable rewatch happens with Avatar.

Yeah.

The extra depth to win Aang asks Katara to go penguin sledding with him. Okay, we got four episodes left. I will tell you right now that the four-episode, four-part finale is called Sozin's Comet. What happens?

The comet misses, and it turns out everything's okay.

You can imagine. It's just a four-part epilogue. Ozai like finds the air of his ways. He's like, he writes a letter. He actually caught Hockey, writes a letter to Zuko apologizing with hockey, sends it back.

Yeah, and then the rest of it is just about like Uncle Iroh opening his tea shop, and then like it's just like drama in the tea shop.

It's just like a sitcom, it's just a normal Zuko. I told you it's Jasmine T. But um psh god. Good stuff.

But yeah, I mean, I guess Uncle Iroh, I hope he's I hope it's the next episode. I'm really missing him. Do you think they like kind of wrote him out of the season because the voice actor died?

I don't think they've ever like confirmed anything. They did, they have confirmed in the past that the reason like Iroh doesn't talk at the beginning of the season is because of the betrayal with Zuko, but I'm assuming they kind of give him a back seat because it's not Mako voicing him anymore. And it just every time you hear Iroh speak, there is just something off because it's not that same warm Mako voice that we're used to.

But still, I feel like Iro could have been a great contribution to season three, personally.

Right. So maybe that's not I don't know. Maybe they just decided whatever, they've been making bad decisions all the time. So who knows if that evening. Yeah, whale tail island. God, yeah, no. We should have a grievance episode. I mean, we've been grieving, grieving.

Oh, we could have a grievance episode. Do you think all of the casts will get a happy ending?

Um, yeah, I think Azula is gonna be really happy at the end of all this. Do you consider her part of the cast? Yeah. Yeah. Violet Ozai is gonna be so happy at the end. Do I think Azula? Who what do I think would happen with Azula? Because it's like, what? I don't think they'll gonna kill her. So what is she like in jail?

That seems intense. I don't know.

Will she get a redemption arc in these last four episodes?

I think if she does, unless it's done very well, it'll be like, this is BS. There's no way. Like, there's no there's a building to show that Azula at any point regrets anything that she's ever done. So I don't see how she could have a redemption arc unless somehow Team Avatar was able to give her more power, but they wouldn't, they would never give her more power, so how would how would she ever want to be on their side?

Um, and I don't think I don't think losing Mei and Tai Lee and like imprisoning them is gonna change her tune.

We have a an issue with Aang. He's been posed the question by Zuko what is he gonna do when he faces his father? Because Aang has expressed that he don't doesn't think that revenge is necessarily the answer, and so he's kind of at this dilemma of killing Ozai or not. What do you think Aang's decision will be?

If and when they meet. Maybe they won't. I've never seen the show before.

They just don't meet. Jordan's never seen it, he doesn't know what happens. It's just like the book.

I feel like uh, what do I think? What's my prediction? I can't really see Aang killing him, especially after they establish that that's not really a thing that he should be doing. But then it's like, how are you gonna stop him? So maybe Iroh or Zuko will step in at the last moment and kind of have the final blow.

Oh man.

Zuko's like maybe it'll be like an accidental like push off a cliff, you know, where it's like, oh no, I didn't mean to, and then he's like gone.

Kind of like a gaston. Like he goes, he goes to killing.

Yeah, like a classic Disney villain.

You know the Katara and Toph. I mean girl power.

I would love Toph would be very Game of Thrones, like when Arya takes down the Knights King, it's like Toph shows up and just kills Ozai. You're like, wait a second, that's not who I thought was gonna do this.

That would be great. Now I'm wishing that was happening. Maybe it is. But it doesn't tell you that's what happens.

We got so much fan like fanfiction to write now. Alright. Well, I guess this is the Calm Before the Storm, four-part finale. So, kids, buckle up and we're gonna get ready to experience Sosin's Comet.

Yeah, it's crazy. We started this, Jessica. We started this in January. Pre-pandemic. That's insane.

Yeah, no, it's crazy one how long it's taken us to like crazy.

It's like a year.

Yeah, it's a 2020 project.

Yeah. Okay. On that note, yep, yep.

Yep, yep.

Yep, yep. Yep. Yep, yep, yep.

Calm Before the Comet

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