Leaves from the Vine

Water.

Earth.

Fire.

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

Hey, can we get started?

You have a frog in your throat. That's arguably the most adorable thing that's ever happened. Did you know it was in there? Guys, do you ever get frogs in your throat and you open your mouth to speak?

And Jordan likes to call it out all the time.

But then if it happens to him, he just plays a cool No, I hold my breath and I let that frog live for as long as humanly possible in my throat. Troy, what's frogs like for you?

Neutral.

Neutral frog.

Well, first last week, the last time we we did the pod, it was she clicks her tongue before she speaks. Oh, that wasn't just last episode. That's like every episode.

That's been since November 1st, 1988, I think.

Please do not reveal my birthday. That is personal information.

Okay, February 29th, 1842.

Okay, for the millionth time, could we get this party started?

Yeah, our headphone was like falling out, so everything sounded goofy, and we were very confused, and I'm very technologically advanced. I'm a robot. That's what we're talking about.

So I will start. Welcome to Yip Yip. Hooray.

Wow. That was very good.

An avatar podcast.

Are you trying to communicate with squirrels?

Well, but when I do it, I think it's usually just one. It's just one. I'm trying to bring awareness for myself.

Katie also needs to bring awareness to crossing her legs. Her chiropractor said that she's crossing her legs too much.

I know. And so then when you try to stop it, I realize I'm doing it all the time, so that's special.

God, just like me and meth. Like I'm told to stop by my chiropractor, and then I just keep realizing I'm just gonna do it.

It's not good for your heart, so you need to switch it to heroin.

And then that's like a whole other thing. You know, I can't find the vein. You know what? That's probably a little insensitive, you guys. So now I'm drinking chai tea.

What are we doing here? I don't even know anymore. So for the record, I feel like for these three specific episodes, the writers just said, okay, how do we make all three of these as just as dark and emotional as possible? Aww.

Why are you just jumping right in? We haven't even done an intro.

Yeah. Who are you?

Introduce us, Troy.

Hi, welcome back to the Avatar Podcast. The Avatar Podcast. That's not the name. Yep, hooray, another Avatar Podcast. It's not another Avatar podcast. Are you sure you want me to do the introduction? I am Troy Peterson. Hi. Hello. With my sister. Jordan.

And your other sister. Jordan.

This is stupid. You guys can just turn this off now if you want.

Better not turn it off.

So we started off with a good episode called The City of Walls and Secrets. You've yet to be introduced.

Say my name, Troy. Say my name. Say my name. My name is Katie. Wow.

Me too. When no one is around you.

Say baby while you run in game. Say my name.

Wait, what's the name of the episode?

So we started off with chapter 14, City of Walls. No, get comfortable, Troy. Just uh bring the bring the chair in if you want. Sorry, everybody.

Guys, if you hear it. He had the green tea, remember?

Which is like amino acid. I don't know what you're drinking. Close enough. So if you guys hear any ambient sounds, it's no longer their cousin on a motorcycle. Now we have like a whole crew of like, I don't know, burly men and heavy machinery replacing a culvert. And they're doing something with a stream, and I think they are redirecting the stream.

And so at night we tried to watch Stars last week. Watch Stars.

Wow, we tried to watch like Stargate. Like, I don't know. It sounds like like Starz on Demand or something.

Hey, there's some good there. There was a movie on Stargate.

They were trying to watch Stargate Atlantis.

Alright, we were trying to look at the Perseid Meteor Shower, which Katie and I have been chasing for like eight years at this point. I don't know if we'll ever actually see it. No.

Anywho.

So yeah, we're laying out there Stargazing and we hear like gurgle sounds coming, and it's like the stream being redirected. So you might hear some heavy machinery in the background. Don't worry, we're not being abducted by a freight truck.

Good, or like a light buzz. This is like or I don't know. And we got different things.

That's all coming from me. Yeah, Troy.

He's a robot. Do you have di I don't know, Troy? You have dimples? Wait, so let me see. Oh, Troy does have dimples.

The moment Kate and I actually find out about each other that siblings should know.

We're really connected.

Early childhood. Actually, these two are separated at birth. So they've actually never met until this podcast. It was a way to bring the family together.

Family reunion.

And I'm your also your brother.

Well, anyway.

So dimples.

Troy is introducing this episode.

Yes, I am. Now I'm done introducing this episode.

Alright, so we started off with episode uh. Yeah, we started with episode one and then we just kept going. Now we're on chapter 14 of season two. Katie's like fanning herself.

It's summer. It's summer on the Oregon Coast. It's so buggy. You never hear about Telemockians talk about how hot it is here. It's usually how rainy it is or how um sluggish the weather is. But when you actually hear that we are sluggish, what does that mean? It's sluggish, sluggish, muggish. No, I don't think it's sluggish, muggish, muggish, muggish.

And you know, it's a slow weather. You're like, oh, it's kind of sluggish today.

Basically, it's never that warm in Telamug, so we are very appreciative and we're trying to handle it as best as we can. Okay, I'll talk about the longest introduction to an avatar podcast ever.

Yeah, we're not okay.

Is that what we're doing here?

I don't know. Katie, take it away. Okay, so whatever the name of the episode was.

City of Walls and Secrets.

We finally make it to Boss Singsei.

What was it like finally going to Boss Singsei for you, Troy? You've never been. Well, let me tell you a little story.

Well, they've been talking about it for a while.

Yes, they have been. And when we finally saw Boss Singsei, I thought Thank you for not saying Bong Singsei again. I've been practicing every day. Looking in the mirror.

Bah, bah, bah. Bears beats Battlestar Galactica.

Oh, Jordan's gonna be so proud of me. Oh my good little sister.

Okay, let's hear it.

So they go inside the city, and I thought to myself, weirdly enough, it reminds me of where we live. How?

It's a giant metropolis, a Chinese metropolis.

Yes, and it was just this really weird because growing up, I always looked at like how we're always just surrounded by what seems like a bowl of mountains, and we're just like this town is plopped right in the middle of it. It's called a valley. So we're plopped in the middle of this valley, and I'm like, Basing Se has got a wall instead of mountains.

Other than that. About the same population. I actually I had high hopes for Ba Singse, but it was, yeah, for somebody that's never seen it before, I was like, okay, that's that's a pretty good sized city.

Yeah, it's huge. Uh, in like three tiers, which is really interesting that we're kind of exploring like the socioeconomics of this giant metropolis.

Oh yeah, no, and super like creepy Ba Singsei. So, Jordan and I, for our honeymoon, went backpacking in Asia for a few months, and we ended up in Singapore. And I don't know, it's not like a really a fair comparison, but similar enough. Like we really liked, liked it, like just kind of first glance, I guess.

I wouldn't say that we didn't like it in the end, but there were kind of creepy factors of just kind of the government watching you and they wanted to keep keep it nice. I think they had paid citizens to kill off the birds so that the back in like the 60s. Right, so that the birds weren't making a mess on the streets.

Like so, Singapore's very clean. If you're being too loud or disruptive, you know, they encourage kind of the neighbors to keep tabs on each other and uh to report anybody who's kind of acting out.

It's illegal to bring gum into the country.

We were going to sleep on the streets one night because Singapore was really expensive and we were on a budget, but yeah, you don't see any homeless people anywhere, and somebody advised us not to do that because uh the police might come in the middle of the night and just kind of sweep you up off the streets and take you to somewhere else.

Anyway, so I never really thought that watching this episode before, but but this time I was like, oh yeah. Anyway, yeah, bossing say it's screwed me out.

But probably mostly like the middle and upper rings were probably more Singapore because Singapore is so wealthy, like you probably wouldn't really experience like the lower the lower ring situation, where it's like rougher. I mean, that was probably more equatable to maybe other cities that we've been to.

Kind of like, I mean, Hong Kong was sort of like that, kind of in certain areas. You're like, oh, maybe we shouldn't be here.

But I mean, I mean, I think also that probably exists in a lot of cities that you don't even know, right? Because they're not promoting that. It's not like, oh yeah, go to this neighborhood where everyone's really down on their luck and people are.

You ever read that in a lonely planet? Yeah. No, it is interesting that they kind of leaned into that utopia type thing, and how that is relevant to some some countries or even some cultures where to keep the peace and keep order, they don't want to disrupt people's daily life, and they don't want them to be really aware of like the atrocities of the rest of the world and what's what's happening there.

And so meeting Long Fang at the end of this episode and hearing him kind of describe kind of the rules of bossing say was really interesting. What was that like for you, Katie, this time? Well, the rules, how so? Don't mention the war. The king is just to keep the culture alive. Right.

It's like, yeah, I think this this idea if you kind of keep things the same, and if you can kind of control people and you limit their information, and we keep this falsified utopia and just happiness, and like, oh, it's all good, and everyone's living their best life, even though they're not, and they're kind of living in fear, and they can't really do what they want or say what they want.

And they're just like, you know, as we've seen in Avatar, just kind of the suppression, not so great. And I kind of thought that they talked to the king this episode, or just in general, I don't know. I can't remember.

It was kind of weird. He comes out, he's like all kind of shadowy, and then he gets marched off. What was it like kind of getting a glimpse of the king for U-Troy? Well, I mean, guess we don't know it was the king, we assume it was the king. Yeah.

I thought the king might recognize the avatar, give him a little bit of time of the day. But at this point, I'm like, okay, my mind's made up. At least with the Fire Nation, they're very upfront what their mission is. They just want complete control of everybody. With Bossingsei, I'm like, they're even more shady than Fire Nation at this point.

I don't trust Bossingsei or the King or the guy you put in charge.

Uh yeah, I mean that's that's fair. But to play the devil's advocate with Long Feng, though, he does make the point that Bossingsei is the last orderly utopia on Earth. And from what we've seen so far, because we haven't been to the Fire Nation, it seems like that's pretty much correct. I mean, the Northern Water Tribe is still a stronghold that the Fire Nation couldn't breach, but even that, like, they still had to defend themselves.

I mean, the war is very much like uprooted, like, their way of life. Basing Sei, outside of the refugees on the lower ring, seems pretty much untouched by the war at this point. Like, we don't really get a sense of that, again, aside from the refugees. And so, in some way, I kind of can see where they're coming from.

I don't agree with it. But yeah, I mean, if you're like if if you have lost hope in any way of this war ending, which Long Feng made very clear that it's an endless war that'll never end, I mean, what are your options if you don't have hope to fight back against that?

Right, and to kind of protect those people, at least they're safe here, and that they can kind of create some little false paradise, even though they know it's not perfect, but we're gonna kind of make the most of what we got.

I do have to remember, like, at this dinner for the high society, these are probably folks that pay a little extra money for their citizenship just to be around people that don't talk about the war.

Well, you think those people are aware of the war?

I'd say it's probably in the back of their minds, like, oh yeah, the war's going on. What's new? Like, there's bound to be a forest fire somewhere in the world, but what can we do about it? Not a whole lot, if anything at all. The only thing we can do is just retain order where we can.

Wait, wait. Or maybe those people don't even have access to the outside world at all. Maybe there's no news of like they don't even like they're so disconnected, and then like even if you're high society, you've no idea what's going on because they keep it that way.

Well, if you think about China, like they don't have a free press, and so all of their their information is regulated, and that's in the 21st century. Imagine whatever technology they have here, I mean you can regulate and prevent information pretty easily, which is probably why and I had this question watching this episode, like why they gobbled up Aang in the group in the group so quickly to like put them in a house.

Obviously, it's to like contain them so they don't go out and are like trying to talk to the people and like I don't know, gain some sort of like momentum to like help their cause. Because it seems like, according to the lore that we've learned so far, Bossingsei really hasn't meddled in the war very much.

Like they just kind of stood stoic, even in the face of Iroh trying to lead that 600-day siege. It doesn't seem like Boss Singsei's really sent out forces to like take down the Fire Nation. Like they don't it seems like they don't have any interest at all in kind of preventing any more of that that widespread genocide going on.

But yeah, you mean you assume that if you're not sending any troops out and you only have people there to protect protect and serve, I mean, yeah. It's probably a lot harder to to break it down because you have all your resources and you have you have everybody there.

And I don't I'm not a scholar on Eastern history, but I'm assuming that's probably what just ancient China did. They gr built the Great Wall. They're like, we don't necessarily need to expand, like we'll just defend ourselves. They are doing uh negative gin.

Okay, so we meet Judy, right?

Creepy 1984 George Orwellian Judy.

What did you think about Judy? Actually, I'm more curious about your your last statement. 1984 George Orwell, especially in our current times, that is the most talked-about political book. I would like to hear your remarks as to how 1984 relates to Judy.

Well, not necessarily Judy, but just kind of what Judy's representing. Like she is again, it's like keeping control and um suppressing the people, not letting them be free to speak out against the government or to go against the grain in that way. And you see Judy do this, like she's interfering while the the crew's trying to get information on OPA, and they're talking to these people who are very aware that they are not allowed to be talking about this, and that point uh is ballooned when you pan over to Judy, who's like shaking her head and smiling.

So they are like like information is not allowed to be spoken out here, and obviously the diali, you have like the secret police, just like in uh 1984, you have this force. Oh, yeah, you can hear them.

Just listen in.

So, yeah, if you do any sort of um thought crimes, if you're going back to 1984, it doesn't matter if you're gonna act on them, just the fact that you have the capacity to put a thorn in the side of this government, this authoritarian regime, big brother figure, like they're gonna do everything they can to stop you.

And so that's that's w where the Orwellian 1984 bit comes from with me, with Judy, is she's kind of the the avatar of of that society, if you will.

Well, thank you. I really appreciate that explanation.

Big brother's watching you. Yes, they are. And again, back to Singapore, we felt that way because there were cameras everywhere in Singapore.

But we saw that that China's now that way too. Like just kind of a lot of cameras. I mean, and I think just like society. I mean, even even here, everyone's tapping in, everyone has cameras, like on your cell phones. It just kind of well, that's it too.

It's like the price of safety. People are willing to sacrifice their own uh freedoms as an individual in order to give themselves a sense of like safety or information. I mean, what's that like for you? Or where are you coming from with that?

I'm not coming from anywhere. I just wanted to hear what Troy thought about Judy.

Yes. I'm Judy. Well, at first I thought she was a a Fire Nation spy. No my god! And then I realized, no, she's a Earth spy. An Earth Nation spy.

The bear is a Fire Nation spy.

Yes. The fact that She's just a tour guide, Troy. She's just a tour guide, yes. At first I thought she was nope, never thought she was welcoming. The first second you see her, like, foreshadowing moot music occurs.

Oh yeah, I mean they're not they're not subtle with that at all.

No, they're not subtle with that at all. And I was just like, well, that makes it kinda easy. So what what sh what does she have up her sleeve? And it's like she actually has quite a lot up on her sleeve.

Obviously, Judy isn't uh It's not like uh free thinking.

I don't think that that's she's doing her job.

No, she's really a bot into the propaganda. Propag propaganda? Propaganda.

Propaganda.

It's kind of like Uganda propaganda.

Propaganda.

So Judy was designed after uh a line producer on the show who was like the smiliest, happiest line producer, and so they kind of modeled her and and turned her into Judy, which I don't know, I'd have mixed feelings if I was turned into Judy.

Torley's like, thanks, guys.

You turned me into Judy.

Yeah, Judy. How many Judies are there?

Well, what was that like for you at the end of the episode? Like, there's a new Judy.

It was either they either picked only the women whose names were Judy conveniently, or that's just that's just Earth Nation talk for, you know, tour guide slash spy. You're now you're now the new Judy.

I think it's a lot of brainwashing where it's like if you can if you can clear the slate and start from scratch and it's like this is your new identity, here Judy. You're gonna show these people around the city and make sure that they stay at the house. And then if you don't succeed with that, we're gonna get the next Judy to come in.

What happened to the OG Judy?

Yes, I know. I had my heart kind of sank for a little bit when the Avatar made his appearance and her face just went.

Yeah, that was a very uh yeah, and then you're kinda like, does the crew feel really bad about that? Because they probably are like, oh no, what did we do to Judy?

I don't think the crew cares about it that much. Honestly, their reactions wasn't like, you know, what happened to Judy? Well, the heck. Alright, new Judy. Will you guys ever listen to us?

Moving away from Judy and talking about Uncle and Zuko and they get their tea jobs, because they finally make it to Bossingsei, also.

And Iroh has trimmed up his beard. He's looking pretty good. Except clearly, also a little rounder in the belly, can't get that apron on.

Well, you know.

That was pretty great for me. So in the Avatar art book, My Little Bible Thing, they have a whole section about Bossingsei where Mike and Brian kind of describe like the symbolism for Bossingsei, and he mentions how Iroh failed his 100-day siege of Bossingsei, which in the show, in the first season, it's a 600-day siege.

So even Mike, the co-creator of the show, is confused on the semantics of the siege. So they talk about how it's symbolic for him, this place where he faced his greatest losses to kind of finally be in Bossingsei, which is probably just really mixed emotions for him, but he's making the most of it.

Maybe he feels good that he can just like that he can kind of start fresh. And he's like, I can just be here, I can just live, and I don't have to be the general, I don't have to be like doing all the stuff for the Fire Nation, I can just be here, make my tea.

Well, Iroh is the crown prince and first in line to assume the throne until we're assuming like seven or eight years ago. And so, yeah, his whole life has just been dedicated to that. And I do like the quote that he tells Zuko life happens wherever you are. That's nice. That is nice.

You got that dimples?

Yes. So what do we think about Jet and the crew? Paranoid Jet. I'm kind of bored with Jet at the time.

Why are you bored with Jet? I I feel really sad for Jet because obviously he's right, right? He sees something that's off with Zuko and Iroh and wants to prove it and can't, and then yeah, has this like paranoia and like can't even he can't just let it go and just kind of put himself first and like starting over and has his friends come and they try to help him and yeah, I mean it is, it's just really sad to watch because it didn't have to be like that.

Well, and Jet is such a tragic character in that way. I mean, he tells Smellerby and Longshot that once he finds out all the information he needs, he's just gonna report him to the police. But that goes awry because he just is so he gets so fed up waiting to catch them, and so he uh loses his cool, which obviously Jet has no cool whatsoever.

And then

That leads to him busting into the tea shop, which in the Avatar art book they they talk about how every time someone bends in the show or there's a martial arts sequence, they have video footage that they use for reference for every time they do that. And so in the book, they have all these pictures of Sifukisu, the martial arts instructor, and bending instructor, and Brian Konitsko, the co-creator.

And you see these stills where Brian or Sifu Kisu uh they're either holding like the twin-hooked swords that Jet uses or the broad swords with the like little flaggies that Zuko's using. And so you can see them creating what they ended up animating. And so it's really cool to like see how they get like the shots and they frame it all, and the storyboard artists and the animators go through and they they make it look as realistic as possible.

So yeah, the fight, that sword fight between Zuko and Jet, yeah, it looked like they did a really good job of bringing that over.

Uh yeah, it was just something I didn't see coming, to be honest with you. He keeps wanting Zuko to fire Bambett. Zuko's like, no, I will not. I don't know what you're talking about, you know. Me and my.

That's old Jet's sayings. Like, hey, it'd be pretty good if you got some of that hot stuff out right now. Uh-huh.

And I think you mean Lee. Lee doesn't know what he's talking about.

His name's not Zuko.

Alright.

His name is Lee. Sounds like Rush Hour.

His name is Lee. Sorry, forget it.

Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth? I literally did quote Rush Hour when I said that. I left out one specific word though. Um, no, but uh yeah, a question that never popped into my head until today was who's the better sword fighter?

Who do you think? Lee.

Possibly.

I mean, I love that Zuko just grabbed that dude's swords.

Let's go! Busting into the tea shop, accusing him.

I'm better than you.

And then Jet like cuts the table in half. But then Lee, Lee Zuko cuts the thing in his mouth. His wheat. His wheat.

Almost cutting his nose off.

That was a highlight.

Poor Jet. Almost meant almost turned him into an MJ.

Whoa. So do you think they were right in capturing Jet and taking him away?

For how much money they pay for the peace in that city? Yeah.

Well, it's definitely like judge, jury, executioner. Like, they don't really question Jet or his motives. Like, they just take like the tea shops, the tea shop guys. It's just like, oh, there's so many witnesses here, we're gonna arrest you. They don't arrest Zuko, even though he's also causing a disturbance, but I guess also he was acting in self-defense.

You can't arrest Zuko. He's one of the finest teammakers in the city.

No, he is not. Iroh is one of the finest teammakers in the team. We're behind Iroh. Oh, Zuko can't do nothing with teammakers. I don't believe him.

I think that that they arrested Jet because he wouldn't calm down. Yeah, so it wasn't just some like, you know, like bar fight type of deal. Yeah, I think had he been able to just calm down and walk away, maybe they would have left him. But yeah, then obviously we see that he kind of goes to some sort of like therapy and they're gonna retrain his brain to be like, you're safe here and yeah, re-education camps, aren't they fun?

That's also happening in China right now with the Uyghur population. Check it out, watch it. It's freaky.

Well, watch it, read about it, learn about it. Yeah, they also say all these like masks, I think specifically like the blue ones, like the mass-produced like medical masks are being like kind of like slave labored in China from these like Uyghur population. So if you're not informed about that, you should look it up.

Yeah, last week tonight with John Oliver has a really informative, creepy, scary, sad video you can watch. So moving on.

Exactly my point. Darkest emotional episodes. Yeah. Starting off with brainwash.

So on the lighter note, once we get back into the house, uh, where Aang and the group are, there's like some little like things I wasn't quite noticing before. Like, Top gets like the booger when she's talking about being high society. And then we watch her flick it onto the ceiling, and you track as the booger flies through the air and gets stuck to the ceiling, and then I don't know, a couple minutes later at the end of that scene, it falls on Sokka's face.

Yeah, it was really a whole moment. Makes me wonder how many kids that grow up in high society choose or try to leave that that part of them behind just so they can just be like, whatever.

If you're high society, can you uh send us an email?

Yeah, uh Prince Henry. Can you tell me about Prince Harry?

Come on. Come on. You know, I'm looking maybe that is his real name.

Oh, but he goes by Harry.

Remember to blow your nose, don't flick. It's not cool.

Don't flick. Okay, another bit that I really enjoyed was just Aang and Sokka just being two dumb friends. And I don't think we get enough of Aang and Sokka just having shenanigans together. And so I loved when they were having their like, oh hello, Aang of the Air Tribe. Oh, Sokka of the Water Tribe.

It's true, and the bows and the bow and the bow.

Okay, the bow reminded us again, going back to our trip in Asia. We were in Japan walking around and we saw this like it must have been a group date or something of like a bunch of guys and a bunch of girls who were probably a little bit younger than us, and they just like kept bowing as they walked away from each other, and they progress progressively like got deeper in their bows as they like it was like the opposite of Jets versus Sharks in West Side story.

I mean, we probably watched them do I mean over 10 bows back and forth as they kind of like backed up and like said goodnight.

I loved it. And then they eventually hit heads. By the way, don't ever smack your head against somebody else's head. It hurts. I would know.

I would also know. Did we do it together?

I don't know. You're all discovering things for the first time. Maybe this is why you rattled your brains.

Have you and I hit our head together? Yeah, I think so.

Just yelled if we put our heads together.

unknown Okay.

But Lord Momo of the Momo dynasty, like when we get that peak of Momo and he's like in the blanket and you hear a gong go off. Hilarious. And then we get a repeat of that joke at the very end of that scene. I think it's pre-booger. Maybe it's post-booger. But yeah, Momo walks by carrying the blanket, and it's you hear that gong again?

Makes me laugh so much.

Okay, that almost made me laugh. But you know what was nice? The king's bear. Huh? You liked the king's bear? No, but I liked I liked when they were trying to figure out which bear.

We've raised a couple bears in this household. Whatever that means. Okay. We've raised two massive big dogs in this house over my lifetime, and they both acted like bears. They are both the color of bears. Coffee and Sadie. Oh, you're a dog.

Coffee, a big dog? I'm gonna say medium.

I was a kid when we had coffee. She was massive. She was a huge.

I think that way about Bretzel sometimes. I'm like, oh, you're classified as like a big dog. And then sometimes I'll like look at her like in the mirror next to me. I'm like, I'm I'm quite large next to you.

Mm-hmm.

Alright, we go to the party. The girls are denied with the seal of the golden boar, so you know that thing's not.

After they get dolled up and they're almost unrecognizable, in my opinion.

And Aang blushes, but does he blush it? Katara or Toph or both?

Yeah, I wasn't really sure.

Well, Sokka flicks him in the head, so I don't think he was blushing at Sokka.

The boar seal wasn't as fancy as we thought it was. It could get you a transportation, but it can't get you inside a high society party.

That probably is more interesting to people of lower class anyway.

But we also assume that the Daily were watching their house, probably watched the girls leave. And so I don't think it was a surprise that they tried to go to the party and were denied. And it probably wasn't by coincidence that King of the Dai Lee Long Feng. Right, was walking in that moment of the city.

Oh, that's I never thought about that before. I was just like, oh, what a fun coincidence. But yeah, you're right, they probably were tracking them. Long Feng is a fan uh famous voice actor. Do you uh recognize him? I'm not even gonna try to guess.

Can I have a clue?

Uh his name's Clancy Brown.

Have I seen him in something?

You've heard him in something.

Have I heard him in something?

He's not the guy that voices that voices Momo, is he? No, he's not. That guy's uh Chong. Chong, the uh the guy from uh Cave of Two Lovers. Ah. Ah. Hey, River People.

What kind of people are ya?

He uh voices a main character on another Nickelodeon show that's been going on since 1999.

I don't know any of those other things. Spongebob.

Okay, you're right. What what who do you think he voices? Patrick. He voices Mr. Krabs. What? Yeah, and he's Sirter in uh uh Thor Ragnarok. I think that's who it is. The giant uh fire monster at the beginning of Thor Regnarok.

What?

That's Clancy Brown. Wow.

Were you into SpongeBob Troy? Of course I was.

Yeah, see, and I definitely Spongebob literally teaches kids like the basics of excellent customer service.

Well, they also teach you like just to be a man child and not to drive and maybe aspire to just being a fry cook. And well, I guess it's just happiness. Okay, I take it back.

Were you inspired by Spongebob Troy?

Well, they had that episode about the mossy rock because uh SpongeBob and Squidward get lost and Oh, they had to ride? And they're blushing? Yes, I am. The pioneers used to ride these babies for miles. But no, the mossy rock, that was the one episode I I still remember to this day, but I can't remember how you found how you find your way off of a mossy rock.

Is this a riddle?

Yes. How do you how does one find their way off of a mossy rock? Let's talk about that on the Spongebob podcast. Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?

So we all make it in. The girls are at the party, the boys are busboys.

And it's like Momo's tails hanging out of the back of Aang's hat.

Yeah, yeah. Oh yeah, Aang like entertains the bear. Alright, that was kind of nice for me.

And he takes everyone's drinks. Okay, so then we meet Long Fang, the king comes comes and goes, the king and I. And then yeah, Long Fang's kind of sketch about Opa. He's like, oh, it'd be a shame if you wouldn't be able to complete your quest fighting your bison.

Right, it's definitely kind of a threat, which is too bad. And so you're I mean, I don't know, how are you feeling about them, Troy?

I've given up on the Earth Kingdom. Oh, dang! Don't give up on them. It was we're still here. They surpassed me my expectations by the sheer size of the city. But once I found out just how shady everybody is, I'm like, no, you guys aren't any better than the Fire Nation at this point.

Well, yeah, I mean they're definitely more uh They're just people.

Isn't that just you can just say you can say that about everybody. No one's better than anybody else. Everyone can be shady, everybody can be great, everybody Oh yeah. What quote was that that I said the other day? Oh, I read it in Mr. Rogers notes that says if you once you heard someone's story, there's no way you couldn't love them or something.

Which is very nice. So the Fire Lord, you could hear the Firelord's story and they'd be like, Oh, I love the Firelord now.

He just Well, or you could have love for someone once you understood how they got to that point. When you understand people and you know their stories, you're like, Oh yeah, you're really shitty right now, but I can understand why. Maybe.

Yeah. So we move on to the next episode, which I was surprised by this because you get to Bossingse, and everything's just been so serialized at this point. You get this next episode where the series kind of takes a breath almost, and we're not gonna continue the plot.

Was this Doctor Movie by any or any of these episodes by Doctor Movie?

Tales of Bossingsei was Doctor Movie. The other two, JM.

I totally knew it.

I mean, you could tell by those bulging eyes and tiny necks and goofy movements. I mean, the way Iroh ran in his little bit, you wouldn't see that in JM. They're a little I feel like JM animation's a little more grounded in reality, just slightly more. Okay, so Tales of Bossingsei, we get, I don't know, five, six, like little snippets.

So these episodes six, I counted. Oh, dang. Okay, so little vignettes. And so we're not progressing the plot necessarily, but we all get these like character moments. And so these episodes weren't written by the writers, like the traditional writing staff of the show. The head writer just wanted to give anybody an opportunity to write an episode, and so these people who are producing them, writing it, and coming up with the ideas were just on the crew, and so they were like producers or production assistants or directors.

So these episodes for me.

Let's talk about all of them.

You want to go in order?

Yeah.

Okay, guitar and toff together spa date.

So here's my deal with that is all the boys got uh their own episode, and then we grouped the girls together. That was an interesting thing, and it's like, oh, and of course they're girls, let's send them to the spa. Yeah. I mean, it was kind of uh not super great for me. Of course, there's a nice moment that Katar Katara's trying to lift up top.

And it is interesting that they whoever came up with that theory, they're like, oh, the girls can go off on their own thing. Like they couldn't yeah, they couldn't have thought anything better or more clever.

You know, because it's like, yeah, Aang and Sokka, we could have combined their hot mess thing where it's like Sokka's doing poetry and Aang's letting out all the animals and creating a zoo outside the city. Anywho.

Yeah, I mean it wasn't it was a nice tender moment with Katara and Toph because usually they're kind of like at each other's throats for the most part. Like they just disagree a lot in the show, um, because they just have contrasting personalities.

And I also think that that's kind of how they were gonna like group the girls together, and that's their and this is what we can do with them.

So if you would rather have had Katara and Toph have had their own episodes, what kind of adventure would you have liked to see them go on?

Uh I'm not really gonna go there. I think if I really thought about it, but it doesn't matter because it's already said and done. So, people, let's just be aware that Avatar's really good, but as we know, it could be a little bit better.

And maybe the boy should have gone on a spot eight. Right. But seeing Toph get her her feet worked on was pretty hilarious. Trying to like take a pumice stone to those those bad boys.

Troy, what'd you think? Well, I feel like this episode could have gone without the sa the soccer, the and the ang snippets. Why? Just like most books I read, like it feels like 50 to 100 pages you can rip out easily and you still get the whole idea of the book. They could have easily done half the episode dedicated to, you know, to Toph and Katara, or done like, yeah, their own little tales, and then ended the episode with Iroh.

That would have been more powerful. But the fact that they added in Sokka and Aang, who are already like big characters, they've been sucking up so much screen time at this point, it kind of saturated the episode.

And I'm just like, eh. Okay, hear me out. Like, I think this whole episode would have been so much stronger if we had just done like a Zuko alone and had the entire episode about Iroh kind of going through Bossing Sei and reliving what he experienced doing the siege and losing his son. And I think that just would have been a incredibly powerful episode if they had just done that and kind of expanded his entire story to be a full episode.

It would have been really bold and and just really incredible to watch.

It was it was wasted potential on my on my end.

Right. They had these really super awesome moments of like a lot of heart, but then there was like so much BS sprinkled in it.

It was just really Like they could have easily just had, you know, Toph and Katara for half the episode going over their histories and sharing their histories with one another and how they feel about boys or what they really No, because then if they talk about boys, they fail the Bechtel test.

Two female characters should never talk or argue about a male character.

Right, they don't need to talk about that. But I think what you were saying with their histories, you know, just like where Katara grew up and how Toph grew up, and like I mean, that would have been something interesting.

Yeah, sweet and funny. Like they like and I think the point of that episode is like bringing them closer together. But yeah, Troy's right. Like it would have been there were better ways to do that.

How did the workers handle Toph growing up? Like she says she was raised in high society. I would have liked to see how she was raised and how she lived before she joined the A gang.

Yeah, a lot of telling, not a lot of showing in that regard. But I mean, do you show a flashback? I mean, what do you do?

Right, they could have. Well, anyway, they didn't, and that's where we're at.

I do think Iroh's like his vignette should have been the the very last one, obviously. Obviously. I mean, they try to set up with like a cliffhanger with Momo, like finding Oppa's footprint, but uh that doesn't even you can put that at any point. I mean the Iroh one has to be at the end.

If they had left it there, they could have actually easily left that on a huge teardrigger.

Yeah, I mean, well, you have Iroh's episode, but then you go right into Aang, and like having his baloney with the animals, and that was Yeah. So let's save Zuko's for l or not Zuko's Iro's for last. So we have Aang, and he goes out and lets the animals out. There's like a nasty bossing, say, public zoo.

And the the zookeeper literally says, My zoo's nasty and broke.

Yeah, no, like the dialogue was just kind of awful.

They weren't writers, Katie.

Yeah, no. Sorry, guys. No.

Let's not even talk about it. We do have uh we do have an awesome avatar moment when we find out that Mike takes the land. When he uh takes the whistle, and because the animals are just going they're just losing they're going ape on the city. Yeah, did did they just open up all the gauges?

I guess so. But why did the bison whistle work for all the animals? Where it's like, oh, you're gonna make everybody respond. Here, I gotta whistle for that.

Every animal reacts positively to the bison whistle. Yes.

And so when uh Aang goes, man, there's something cheesier in my head, of course, you know, uh kind of a cheesy line. Sorry, people. But when he just goes, Oh, that's right, and he just he blows so hard into the whistle, you you see the sound wave stretch across Bossing say, you know, I thought that was corny, but at the same time that was awesome because I like it when Aang really focuses hard and he really uses his powers for for for order or for good.

And he didn't even have to be in the Avatar state to achieve it.

But had he had he been in the Avatar State blown on that whistle. Okay, but can we talk about how Aang just unilaterally decided he would just take all that farmland? Like it's clearly farmland, like it's like all kind of positioned and like like squared off. It's probably owned by the government. But still he took it.

Yeah, for the greater good. We know what bossing says creepy, the Daily would have arrested him. Okay, moving on. Okay, Sokka. We get the haiku master. I liked it because I think haikus are hilarious, and I tried to make really funny haikus, and I think that's fun.

Yeah, no, I it was delightful, but it wasn't, yeah, it was fine.

It was weird, it was off-putting. I didn't see it coming, I don't understand it. Like I never knew Sokka was in poetry. He's never even mentioned it until this episode.

Troy's like, boom.

Hey, you know, he spent weeks in the Northern Water Tribe with Yue, who was a cultured princess. I'm sure she taught him.

That has nothing to do with it. Okay. Yeah.

Okay, but what did it do to progress Sokka's character?

Nothing. Nothing.

Right. You just have like a moment. And uh with Aang, too, like I guess he had a little bit of like being clever, but yeah, Sokka was just getting attention.

Yeah, Sokka's part was totally like, okay, last last chance, you know.

Here I'm walking by, I see this girl in the window, and I'm gonna creep on her, and then I get kicked in through the window, and now I'm here and busting out some haikus. Good one, guys. That's a slight.

I distrocked all y'all girls. But then, like, the the main, like the leader was like kind of weird, like, especially pulling out the plum to squish it at the end.

I was kind of hoping that she was gonna end it, because I was like, what are you like she just kind of walked away. I was like, no, kick him out and end this.

Well, he ended it for himself when he did a haiku that was 576.

I just wish she would have done it.

Too many syllables. Boo. Boo. Okay, Zuko. Wait, really quick, now that I'm thinking about it. Sorry, hold on. There's a moment. There's apparently a rumor, and this was generated by the Avatar Extras thing. We'll come back to the Zuko thing, but I know I'm gonna forget this. Longshot and Smellerby are apparently together.

I just like I just wanted to drop that on you guys. Wait, you know this for a fact? It was like it came up on the Avatar Extras thing, so it would play concurrently while you were watching the show, and it'd pop like little bubbles would pop up throughout the episode.

Oh, okay.

And this one said, like, oh, rumor alert. There's a rumor that Longshot and Smellerby are like romantically involved or something.

That was weird. That's fine. This whole time I was assuming they were siblings. No.

I feel like they're really close, they understand each other. They just moved to a city together. Makes sense to me.

So I just thought they were really good friends. And I always forget, Longshot doesn't never says a word. He's silent. Silent Archer. No.

So he just needs someone who understands him. Yeah, mind your business. Doesn't matter if they're together. I am so sorry, you guys. This is the advice, you guys. Mind your own business.

Okay, let's move on. Zuko. I mean Lee. Lee. Hey, uh, Uncle, there's this uh person who might be a Fire Nation spy in the back corner of our tea shop.

What do you think about Zuko?

Going on a date and no comment. I loved it.

Because he was awkward.

Oh, I loved it because he's so awkward. I love that you I love this version of Zuko because he's just lost, and it's hilarious to watch him kind of like just struggle through life.

He's very vulnerable and uncomfortable and doesn't really know how to definitely doesn't know how to relax. And uh and yeah, I mean it is hard where she's like just trying to get to know him and he's all these things that he really can't say and he can't really be honest, so it would be challenging.

Yeah, so that is hard. And it's hard because Zuko, like, he's not a very quick thinker. And so when she's like, Oh, you're in the in the circus, like, I bet you're a juggler. And instead of Zuko like pivoting that conversation, he's like, Yeah, I was a juggler, and then just throws a bunch of stuff on himself.

Seems slightly out of character, but I guess this is just kind of Zuko's growth and evolution.

Is it out of like out of character? I feel like he's like, Yeah, I can do anything.

But it's also true. Like, ultimately, Zuko is just kind of like an awkward teenager, like at his core. And it's not it's I don't know. I'm just really happy with this version of Zuko. He's not not hellbent on capturing Aang.

Right, that he can just be he can just be him and he doesn't have to be this like psychopath.

His day totally reminds me of the all-star athlete who's just perfect in every sport, but then you then you put him in a social circle and you just can't really talk about anything but sports. Like some of my co-workers. It just gets old really fast.

Yeah, hear that, Troy's co-workers. Yeah. Stop talking about sports.

All the time.

I don't care the Blazers beat the Lakers. No, it's not true. I really care that the Blazers beat the Lakers. Spoiler alert. I don't know.

You're not a real fan.

Yeah, be there in person in the NBA bubble. Okay, so I uh had a trouble with Zuko giving Iroh such a hard time when they first got to bossing say about like him just barely heating up his cup of tea. And then Zuko in this like courtyard tells Jin to close her eyes. You don't know who's in those I mean, clearly there's just houses everywhere.

And then he firebends, I don't know, like 30 times to turn on all those lights.

Yeah, no, it seemed BS. I was like, there's no way. And I'm like, okay, fine, maybe one. But I'm like, yeah, obviously you should be like, how'd you do that? Like, hello. Hello.

Come on, Jin.

Oh man. Yeah, no. Mm-mm. I mean, did you like the dynamic between Zuko and Jin?

It's just developed way too fast for me to even really have an opinion on it. I just went on a date. I think she was a good fit for him. Like, she kind of like almost giggled out of seriousness, and I feel like that's the kind of relationship that he needs, but he's not he's actually not ready for a relationship.

Not anytime soon. He needs one of himself.

But he is ready for some fun.

I like that Jin was direct and it was like no beating around the bush. Hey, I'm here. Do you want to go out? It's like let's do this. And she was just kind of steering it, and yeah. I mean, I thought it was good for what it was. But yes, I also think Zuko needs to work on himself.

My I loved when and I forgot I forgot this when Jin initiates the kiss and then Zuko backs away. But then Zuko goes in for another one. And then he kind of freaks out, like, my bad. Enjoy your coupon for your free cup of tea, bye. But then he gets back and Hyro's like, oh, how was it? And Zico's like slams the door.

He's like, it was nice. Good night, Uncle. I guess a girl. And I liked it. Okay, Momo. Okay, Momo. I don't I don't care about that episode at all.

Well, except for we see Momo's little dance.

Now Momo's thing was okay, but all they had to do was switch Momo's and Iroh's stories around, and that would have been fine. But we get a little intel about Appa. That's the whole reason why they need to switch it.

Barely. Barely anything. But you know, Momo has that nice moment with like the cats.

That's true. Saves the day. They break they break out of jail. I feel like you were enjoying Momo's dance moves.

I mean, was I? I mean, I was a little bit, but yes and no. Okay, let's talk about Iroh. Uh the tale of Iroh Okay, Jordan's been playing uh Avatar, The Last Airbender soundtrack.

Soundtrack kind of Okay, so if you uh Instrumental. I was on Spotify, and so I think his name was Samuel Kin. I don't or Kim. Kin or Kim? I don't have my phone on me right now, but he does these covers of Avatar. Maybe we should reach out to Sammy. So I reach like been listening to this, and he does like these really great covers, and so it's been putting me in the mood.

So it's been really good. What was Iroh's story like for you, Troy?

I thought it was awesome. He's you can tell he's definitely done his best to retire from his old life as a general, as a uh fighter, and he loves just helping other people.

Did you notice that he uh consciously helped every single person he came into contact to in that episode?

Oh yeah. The best part, funniest part was when he was helping the mugger, and he goes, I'm mugging you, and Iro's like, uh uh, you got a poor stance, you ain't mugging anybody. And then he teaches him how to mug better, and he goes, he goes, You know, you're not a good mugger. You need to be a mature.

But then he takes the knife and then he's like telling him, like, telling him what the stance is, hands the knife back, which is just hilarious. And that's just I think it's a really great moment of showing Iro's character that he knows that he has very quickly established like a bond or a trust with his character, and now he knows like he's seen this man's heart and that he's not actually in danger.

No.

And I think that was good.

I'm just confused, and I'm like, I I wonder how many muggers in the world are confused.

Katie, what was that episode like for you?

It was nice, it was positive. I always enjoy Iroh's kindness, and I think his ability to think clear and and be really level-headed in certain situations. It's like, oh, here's this wilting flower. It's like, oh, let's just move that, and this is let me help you keep this flower alive, and here's this child who's crying, and instead of just being uncomfortable, he goes and tries to help, even though mom or grandma or whatever doesn't react.

Like, fine, whatever.

A kindly man singing a song to my child.

Yeah, and then we'll already address the mugger. And I think just him wanting to celebrate his son is a very tender moment, sweet moment. And right when he says that he just wishes he could have helped him.

Yeah, I thought that was that was a really good way to kind of like show this episode. Like, who knows what Iroh was like before he lost his son. But yeah, now Iroh's like has this has this in his heart that no matter what is going on, he's going to consciously help whoever he comes into contact with.

Like, who knows? Like he could have he probably saved that mugger's life, you know, just like that idea. And so knowing that he consciously or unconsciously like caused like the death of his son. Him on that hill is like one of the most powerful images of the entire series for me. And the hill that he's on, uh we see it for the first time in the episode Bitter Work in a flashback.

And so I'm assuming that's where Luten died, I think. And so, yeah, for him to like walk up and like have that picnic and gives like a little offering and creates like a little memorial for his son with the picture that he sets down. So there was uh some calligraphy on there and translated the the picture of Luten that he sets down.

Uh the words say, General Iroh, I will see you again when victory is obtained. Your loyal son, Luten. And I didn't know that that's what that said until earlier today when I looked that up. And yeah, just like wrenches it in my heart, man. And then Yeah, you get Mako singing Leaves from the Vine, and he's just like sobbing, kind of having this moment of kind of being reunited with his son in some way, back in Bossing, say.

And maybe this is like really healing for his character to be to be back and kind of atone for for the loss of his son and to have that moment on that hill. And yeah, of course, like when he's seeing a leaves from the vine, like I'm just crying, like I'm just sitting there in the chair every time. Doesn't matter.

I always cry when we watch that scene. It doesn't matter what's happened, how long I've seen it, I could watch it again in 15 minutes, guarantee you I'll cry.

Yeah. And so at the very end of that vignette, it goes, it kind of Wait, wait, does it inspire you to live your life more like Iroh and take extra time? I think, yeah, to give people that extra moment to help them out and to learn their story. Some sweet life advice.

Maybe unconsciously, like I kind of try to be that way because of Iroh.

Okay, so at the end of the episode.

So the the image changes and then it says in honor of Mako. And so Mako is the voice actor of Iroh. And so he died July 21st, 2006, at the age of 72. This episode aired in September of 2006.

Oh wow.

And so Mako had completed his voice work for seasons one and two, but then he got esophagal cancer, and I think he very quickly went down. So Mako only filled his role for two seasons, and then he passed away. But yeah, he was a really famous Japanese actor. He was born in Kobe, Kobe, in 1933, and his parents were apparently like famous children's book writers and authors, and they uh didn't didn't like the government in Japan, and they they disagreed with the politics, and so they they came to America in 1939, but Mako had to stay behind, and so he was raised by his grandmother, I think all through World War II.

And then I think in the l late forties, I think, or maybe early 50s, he was able to come over to the US, maybe after the war. Um and so yeah, he he lived with his folks, and then he joined the army and became a naturalized citizen in the late 50s, and then from there he started to act, and then later in his career became uh very proficient and well known for his voice acting, where he voiced Iroh and Daku and Samurai Jack, and then I think his last voice role was as uh Master Splinter in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the animated movie that came out in like 2007, I think.

So yeah, really heavy to to lose him. Um just because I mean he had such kindness and wisdom in his voice and just did such a such a good job of of filling Iroh with a a really good humanity. So Mako's missed. He was only 72 when he passed away, so Yeah, very old. Yeah, I think we can learn a lot from Iroh, who is just a fabulous character.

So moving on to chapter 16, we get Appa's Lost Days, where we finally find out what's been going on with Oppa this whole time. And the whole episode spans about a month, I guess.

Yeah, it was like four weeks ago. Mm-hmm.

The whole episode's a tear jerker for me. Really? Why? It was a super raw to watch Appa, who's just loved by many people, and just have watch him struggle. Like it just kind of shows you like when you're not focusing on Aang or his friends or on Zuko and Iro, people that can, you know, for the most part handle themselves well.

But Oppa, you know, everybody wants to capture Appa. It is just brutal to sort of watch him and his struggles for those four weeks.

I think that's uh something that's a good testament to the writers and the creators. They cre they make Oppa a character in the show. Like he's not just this like vehicle, you know? Like they've they've been able to give him a personality. Oppa's generally active in the plot in some way, and they they treat Oppa with kindness and they engage with Oppa, and so he's he's so much more than just the mode of transportation.

And so, yeah, for him to to have such an impact on you is showing that they they did a good job of that. They did an excellent job, yes.

Yeah, I agree. That episode is tough. It's hard to see the circus and just Oppa like taking a beating, and and then he uh develops a fear of fire after this.

I thought it was really powerful that they they did paint that Appa gets this like PTSD and this fear, and that his his trust was kind of broken with humanity, but he still has a lot of love in his heart. Uh the circus that it gets sold to is the same one that Ty Lee's a part of in Return to Omashu. And so, as series lore goes, after Ty Lee left, she was apparently like the star of the circus, and so they used APA to kind of fill that role.

And so this episode, it won it was called the Genesis Award from the Humane Society of the United States for outstanding children's programming because of their uh depiction of animal cruelty and such as like circus captivity, and so yeah, I think the creators were very honored with that award. They they talk about it pretty regularly in like different material that's come up past uh after Avatars come out.

So you think about like when Suki finds Apa and and I kind of forgot that she she showed up, which is good, and like they uh the Kyoshi Warriors kind of clean them up and I guess I don't know what's is it like sticks? What was in his skin?

Oh, it was from the the Borcupine, because it was a boar porcupine, and so that like those quills got into him. But uh, so this was when Appa pulls out one of those quills, you actually see blood come out, and it's one of the only times in the series that you're shown blood. I think it's dark, but you still saw it.

Also, the Kyoshi Warriors, when they show up, did you notice that they were all um they're all unique, like they all had different character models this time as opposed to different hair and yeah. Kind of different heights as opposed to the Warriors of Kyoshi, where it was Suki and then a bunch of clones.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, so it was good.

Yeah, I'm really happy that we've seen Suki so much this season. But then what do we think happens once Azula and the girls show up?

Well, hopefully she survives.

Well, we don't see who the winner was of that fight, and they're fighting Azula and the girls. Right.

Yeah, that's very interesting. And I think that counts as a plot hole. It's not a it's not a plot hole. Season's not over tracking. It's called a cliffhanger. It's not a plot hole. No, I just like saying uh plot hole. I just it's one of my favorite words. Um plot hole. No, it was it was a good, it was an intense scene.

Um, you know, Azula's just basically a bully with whoever she comes across, and I feel like in some ways the warriors of Kyoshi somewhat match her and her girls.

I do think they were doing a good job. I mean, they pull out their fans, like that one girl like tosses both her fans, they like fly at her. That was a cool moment. Yes, it was. And then they're like fan shields that like they turn around in a circle, but then they have like an emblem on them. That was kind of weird.

Uh Suki pulls out like a katana and Azula like smacks it out of her hand. That was pretty rough. I I got kind of emotional when uh Suki tells Appa to leave and he starts to leave, but then he comes back to help them. Then Suki kind of like tells him to go.

Yeah, it was too much for me. Like, oh my god.

Which I feel like Appa could have stayed. Like, I think it would have been fine. Like, what were the girls gonna do?

I heard it. I heard my little Okay. Yeah, but I think Suki was right, where it's like, we can figure this out, and you just need to get out of here, and we don't need to r to run the risk, cause Azula is crazy. Okay, so then Appa gets out of there and goes to the Eastern Air Temple.

Yep, the Eastern Air Temple. And so we find out that's where the air bison are raised in the Eastern Air Temple. And so apparently in series lore, the idea is that monks uh are the ones in charge of the northern air temple and the southern air temple, and then they call them nuns are in charge of the eastern and western air temple.

And I'd never heard that or read anything about that before, so I guess they're they're air nomads, air nomad mu nuns instead of air nomad monks. So that was interesting. So I think this is the first time we see like an actual like female airbending master. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Also, back to Azula, really quick. This is the first time we've seen JM animation animate Azula, episode 16 of season two, finally. Wow. Which I guess that's also tidally in May. Okay. So what was it like seeing a female airmaster for you?

I mean, I think I was pretty indifferent. It was good to see, but I think I was just too caught up in the story of uh just kind of feeling sad for Oppa. And and yeah, obviously he's super upset, has a lot of turmoil and in PTSD. And so for me, I think the and again, I just kind of forgot about it that yeah, he kind of gets this energy, gets his energy read, and gets his energy work done.

So that was really I was just kind of more aware of that.

Well, because you've you've actually had energy work done to you since the last time we've watched Avatar.

So I mean Yes. So so yeah, it was taking me back to my own experience, and so that was yeah, it was just interesting to see.

It was also interesting that we meet Guru Patik, who I don't think we get his name in this episode, but he's like the first Indian character we've been introducing. Okay. So he's the first Indian character we're introduced to, and it's interesting that he's very spiritual, probably the most spiritual character we have met so far in this in the show, and he just has like a very kind of zen vibe about him.

And is very respectful to Oppo, and like Appa keeps growling at him and just like allowing Appa to experience and give him space. I thought that was really nice. Where it's like, I'm just gonna lay here and just allow you to process those emotions, and then finally, when Appa is able to fall asleep, he Yeah, but he doesn't do anything to Appa, which is nice.

I mean, he reads energy, but then after that, like he knows he's not gonna force Appa to do anything, he's just gonna like kind of gently encourage him to follow this like trail of, I don't know, papaya. But yeah, it was interesting that he did the same like energy technique that Aang does to find Appa and Momo in the swamp with the Banyan Grove tree.

And so you get like that that light going on.

And then where they talk about Aang and Appa being connected for life, and that was sweet too.

I think you do get a greater sense of the bond between Appa and Aang in this episode. You you get senses of it throughout the series, but this one it really it shows you like how how important they are to each other and showing like how Aang and Appa like met each other and how Aang chose Appa. I mean we don't really know why, but I guess we're also just seeing the flashback from Appa's perspective.

So some other lore. Apparently, Guru Patik is 150 years old.

Alright.

So he is, if you're thinking about it, the war's been gone for 100 years. He's 150 years old. When the air nomads were wiped out, he was already like in his 40s or 50s. So there's something there. And then other series lore that popped up while I was doing my research. Apparently, there is the thing that popped up, it said there's a rumor that not all airbenders are gone, but they learned how to quote unquote become wind.

So, what does that mean for you, Troy?

I'd say they w they actually did pass away, but their spirits became part of the wind, and that they're that's their way of feeling how things are going for Aang and his friends.

It's a nice lore thing. It is interesting when you when something crazy happens in the world and so you look to like the mythical to kind of give you an answer. But it would be really interesting if we do find out at some point that the airbenders weren't actually gone, but they learned this like amazing technique where they almost like become one with the force.

It's because we have to have a Star Wars reference. Where you become one with the force, and so you just like give your body to your element. So then finally, and this is a beautiful scene, once Guru Patik tells Appa where Aang is, and to guide him to Bossing Sei. I think it's a really beautiful scene of Appa coming into the city at night, and he kind of like passes by the moon, and that's really pretty.

But then, of course, the Dailyer like scouting the skies for Appa, and Long Feng is just ready for him. So, were you surprised that Long Feng like pretty much just abducted Appa at the end of the episode?

Yeah, that's that's what that was the final straw. That's what made me give up on Bossing Sang. And that that guy he just I was like, what do you have against the bison? Like let the kid have his bison back.

Mm-hmm. And why do you think he he did that?

Somehow he's convinced himself that if Aang sees Oppa, or if anybody sees Oppa, like it'll somehow alarm everybody in the city. But since Oppa can fly, he I'm sure Aang could easily use him to fly up to the Earth King's temple to tell him of the imminent war that's coming. Right, that's true. That'd be the only reason why he hid Oppa.

Yeah, and to like kind of cripple them from progressing their own story and to to really give them no hope of having Boss Singsei help them. So that's also interesting. What about you?

And it's kind of interesting because you're like, what is his goal? You know, what does he want? Does he want them to stay in the city? Does he want them to leave? You know, are they happy with like the Avatar fighting the Fire Nation outside of Boss Singsei?

Right. You'd think they'd want him out of the city as soon as possible.

Right. Here's your bison now, like, get out of here.

I don't know. In a lot of ways, I feel like Long Feng is fighting a losing battle, just in general, to like kind of keep keep all this out of Boss Singsei. Like, there's there's that's I mean, there's gotta be an exhausting upward battle to to kind of prevent all this. And so there's no way you can keep all that information locked away for so long.

So I think he's just kind of grasping at straws to do whatever he can to to cripple Aang and his ability to alert the people.

Yeah. So, where do we go from here, Troy? What's gonna happen?

We have about what, seven episodes left?

Four in this season.

What? What? Alright, we're getting there. Sorry. A little bit of twang going on there. No, um, what happens now is I pray for I pray for I pray for that opera, and I No, it'll I'm excited for this season finale. Maybe Aang will definitely use all the elements to the extreme.

You think he's gonna firebend?

Oh yeah. He's he's gotta. Well, he doesn't really know how to.

Are they gonna go drink tea?

Yeah. Iroh's gonna make the best tea ever here soon.

The secret ingredient is love. Is love. So I'm excited. Alright, kids. The next episode we're gonna cover two episodes. We're gonna do Lake Lao Guy and the Earth King. So until then, we're gonna keep enjoying our sluggish weather here on the Oregon Coast.

You know what we're talking about. Yeah.

Sluggish and muggish.

It's muggish and it's warm.

All right, chippers. Yep, yep. Yep, yep.

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

A special thanks to all of our listeners from Germany.

Oh, yes, as Troy pointed out, I only uh say thank you to our German listeners.

Yeah, you're kind of uh We're kind of coming off as prejudice.

Guys, I'm 53% German. I'm gonna give a shout out to the homeland.

No.

53 What's the other percentages? I believe I'm like 23% English Welsh, maybe 11% Swedish. At some point it said French, but now it's gone back on that.

Peruvian. He's been all over the map. They keep changing it.

It was yeah, yeah, Peruvian and Andean. Uh now I think it was like less than 1% Mexican.

And then Less than 1% Mexican. Yeah. So a shout out to all the Hispanic listeners out there. I Swedish, Finnish, English. I think we had exactly one listener from Mexico City.

Hmm. Well, let's up that.

We really appreciate you.

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