Sword Sokka and Ripped Iroh

Water, earth, fire, air. This is what we This is our podcast.

Maybe I should just start with this kind of music. Doremi Fasolati duh.

Doremi Fasolati duh. Doremi Fasolati du. That's the Telemu version. Doremi Fasolati duh. Why are you so down on Tillamook? I don't know. I mean, the cheese is good.

And Avatar.

And dove. Yeah, uh, we asked uh Troy what kind of shampoo he was using, and he proudly said Dove.

And for those of you that don't know dove.

It's kind of like dove.

It's exactly like dove.

It's got a little bird.

Got some dove in me.

Tomato potato.

Now Katie's accusing me of using a really good hair gel, hairspray.

I didn't say really good.

I think the question was, what's in your hair? Why do you look like you got shit hairspray or hair gel in your hair?

No, just stuff. There's just stuff. My hands, my hands.

My hair is sticking up.

Your hair is like combed over. It kind of has some little look, like a little bit of hold. And it's true. There is nothing in your hair, so I don't know. Maybe it's just that cut.

And the way I like my haircuts, I got a couple of bumps on my head. They just stick right through the hair.

I also have bumps in my head.

Are you like a cartoon character? Like Tom and Jerry? Like you get a bump on the head?

But where does it come from? Mom.

Unfortunately, folks, I feel like we're actually.

True's getting real close to the mic. He's like, so we're gonna take it into the midnight hour now, ladies and gentlemen.

This is the late, late, late Avatar podcast. It's 1.30 in the in the afternoon. Yeah, but some of those shows I'm sure are recorded and played late much.

That's true. They already recorded and played late. Come on out.

Like the late, late show with James Corden. Like, how late can you get it? James who? What's his name? James Corden.

Cor Corden?

Corden. How do you say it?

Corden.

Okay, whatever. What are we doing here?

Corden. Welcome back to Yippy Pare, an Avatar podcast. It's me, Jordan.

Thank you. Hello, I'm here.

Hi, you. Hey, you. Who are you?

I already have to say. My name's Caddy. Because I'm Caddy. Wow.

And this uh handsome gentleman with the hair product across from us is Troy. He says with a question mark. I think it is. Try. I thought it's a window for the joke is closed.

Oh yeah.

I don't know. You you ask half the people I used to work with, they look at me and they say, hey Trevor. I get Justin a lot.

Trevor? Trevor.

I look for you.

People just see the T and everyone's kinda like.

No, no, no, it's the T R. T R and then a vowel, and you assume it's Trevor.

And then some people just see the Y at the end of my name. They're like, they're like, oh hey, hey, Kyle. What? They just get so far off. Hey Trevor, Tyler, Kyle, hey man. Hey man.

Hey, Katie, do you ever get any uh other names?

Nope, never.

Well, as we've addressed, Katie is one of 7,000 Katie's in in the Tulmac area.

Hmm. Hmm.

Hmm. So this episode we watched uh book three, chapter three, The Painted Lady, and chapter four, Saka's Master. So Painted Lady, what do we think about this?

I didn't hate it. I thought it was okay.

It was did as much for the story, in my opinion, as the Great Divide did. It didn't really drive the story forward.

I think the only no story progress happened. Plot pretty much just stalled. But there was some good character growth with Katara, I guess.

Yeah, I thought it was good. I think it's nice that she's um taken charge more and was obviously very disturbed by these people that were being affected by the polluted water. And was like, yeah, I mean it was disturbing, and where Saga was like, yeah, just like look away and don't do anything about it.

And it was nice that she was like, no, I'm not gonna not do something.

Yeah, her line was, I will what was it, never turn her back on those who need me. Which I thought was good. And I think we've seen this from Katara's character ever since the imprisoned episode, where she rallies the the earthbenders who were trapped on that like oil rig thing back in book one. And so Katara's always had this in her of like wanting to fight injustice and wanting to help people who are unable to help themselves.

And I think that probably stems from how helpless she felt when the Fire Nation came for those raids and took her mother away or killed her mother. We haven't found out yet in the show.

Yeah, I know. I got some really strong Wonder Woman vibes this episode uh from Katara. It was actually a bit of a tear jerker for me, personally, just because she was actually at the right place at the right time to help these people out, and so she took the opportunity, despite it going against uh Sokka's mission, and I'm really proud of Katara for being MVP this episode.

Funny you talk about Sokka's mission. Like, I don't know, this is like the most anal I think Sokka's been in a while, like, and I don't know if they just made his character like that to serve as some jokes. Because at one point he like has that scroll of what the the schedule is going to be for like the the next few days, and what that is, it's actually like the the production crews, like it's a real schedule from it's very meta.

It's like actually their their schedule, and so he's like checking it out. I don't know, it's a weird joke. I wasn't happy about it.

Yeah, I don't know. I mean I think that it it was nice to see nice to see that the effects of pollution and how you know contaminated water affects people, you know, and it's something that people have have turned a blind eye towards. But uh yeah, so I was kinda happy that they tackled it a little bit.

It is interesting that the for a a show so dedicated to the order of the natural, the natural world, that we really haven't tackled much of that in the series, like the devastations that happened to nature. I think in my mind, the closest thing we've come to that is when Hay was like destroying the forest in the the winter solstice episodes.

Uh other than that, we haven't really discussed like nature necessarily, and so now book three, we finally get like a Fern Gully episode.

They also had this moment where I don't know, somebody, maybe it was Sokka in Anger, was like, oh, you know, Katara, get over it. And she has this like scowl on her face, but it looks like I don't know.

That's like a very standard like the uh like the vein like a scar or something.

It was like a vein. That's a vein. So let you legitimately realize that they are truly frustrated with the situation.

It didn't come across in in that way to me. I was like, what's happening with her face? Like I didn't know if they drew I mean it is like it took me a second to realize that that was supposed to be some sort of an expression.

And it's because you're not like super well versed in cartoons, probably. Probably.

I was like, ugh. To me personally, like I did not appreciate the animation work in this episode. Thanks, moi. Thank you.

And I thought we were done with Doctor Movie.

You know what else I didn't appreciate in this episode was when Aang goes and finds the painted lady and he's like, Oh, you're very pretty for a spirit, and like kind of coming onto the spirit, and he's like, Oh, Katara, look, get out of here.

It's like, oh, don't don't mind me. I wasn't coming on I promise Katara, you're the one I have feelings for the most. Yeah, it was kind of a weird thing.

No, I was not into that at all.

Not a good joke.

Well, it was a joke.

You're very pretty for a spirit, because most spirits I meet are not very pretty. I was like, wow.

Which I do think the the joke there is like a lot of the spirits aren't very attractive, but I think there was a better line there than just having to compliment her on her looks.

Well, I think that that's a problem just in society, right? It's like, oh, you're a female, so obviously I have to comment comment on your attractiveness, and it's like that's not necessary. What about Yue? She's a beam spirit. Yeah, and no one needs to comment.

She's the moon, leave her alone. Okay, what's up with the real painted lady? Because we meet, we're assuming, the actual painted lady at the end of this episode. Was she like trapped in the polluted river, kind of like in spirited away when the river spirit comes and he's like all goopy gloppy from all the pollution, and he isn't able to be free until they kind of remove the pollution from his body?

Is that what's going on with the painted lady?

That sounds nice. Yes. I mean that would make sense.

So she was like free, finally. Probably. And so the painted lady is really interesting because she's like actually a she's like a this water spirit in this Fire Nation village. And so I think that's interesting that they're kind of worshiping this water deity in the fire. And so I think it's a that's a sign that, yes, the world isn't as insular as the Fire Nation would like you to believe, and there is room for other cultures and other things besides fire within the Fire Nation.

Mokos, right. You have this like political movement and like the military, and that's the face of the Fire Nation right now. But right, then you just have average people that coexist with the other nations and don't really care and just want to live in peace.

Yeah, because I don't think that the village they didn't seem like they were gonna like grab their torches and pitchforks when they found out Katara was a waterbender, so they there's no hate there from like the average citizens. Aside from mistrust of like, oh, you you deceived us.

Whoever his name is, like he's been trying to trick them. Bushy. Bushy. He's been trying to trick them this whole time. I that was my brother. He's a little crazy. His nose is getting longer by the episode. Okay, you two, were you into Doc Shoo Bushy? I thought he was a wasted character. I just thought I just think the the writers got lazy with that one.

Just kinda like they kind of showed what the condition of the villagers were in through Bushy, but at the same time, like like the episode could have done without Bushy. Like more jokes from from the main characters, and you would have been just fine.

But I guess it was like to take away the heaviness of the village, or it's like, oh, these people are really desperate and really poor condition, and then we're gonna have this wacky crazy character. Yeah, to kind of take off some of that weight, and because you know it's a Nickelodeon show, so gotta have some of that.

There's like like that delicate balance that Avatar needs to walk, and I think sometimes they have to overcompensate for their heavier episodes by like doing these like throwaway gags.

Right. What they would have done, what they could have done, I thought, would have been incredible is since incredible. Since they said it was an it was a factory that made material for the Fire Nation. What they could have done was they could have shown raw material going in, show like the process of what it takes to make equipment for the Fire Nation instead of just boop a random factory just because it belonged to the Fire Nation.

So did you want like an after-school special, like Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, when they're like, oh, let's go into the Fire Nation factory. What are they making? Yeah. It's like jet skis.

No, I mean that makes sense to me that there could have been more you could have seen the process and how in in how these factories, you know, like how these rivers get polluted, like how this actually happens in real life. And yeah, like what you know, and was there another solution there besides just destroying the factory?

Being an eco-terrorist?

Right. Could they have done something to help filter out the pollution and create more harmony? Right, right. So yeah, was I really into Katara and Aang going and destroying everything? I don't know.

But I think part of it is like the Fire Nation is like a militaristic entity, is like still viewed as like being fundamentally pretty evil, and so if you could cripple them, I think that's gonna do a lot more for your cause than to just like create harmony because they're still gonna be making these like weapons of war.

So I I do think destroying it was was a good solution there. I wasn't interested in like the villain guy, like Scarface who showed up.

Who was very intense. Okay, but I was into the team effort to like save the village when like everyone got on board, and then you know it was like, okay, Oppa's doing his little noise, and Toph is moving the rocks, getting like the thumps, and then we pan over to Sokka. Saka's on the what, pan flute or something.

I don't know. You know, and he's like, anyway. Yeah.

It was really That was pretty special.

I mean, yeah, it was like kind of emotional. I was just really I was into that.

And uh Then here comes the painted lady, scary spirit.

Well, and like scary Aang, like crawling underneath the dock, blowing wind.

Okay, this is whatever, and forgive me for this, but he's Spider-Man.

Like, how's he doing that? He's got really great upper body strength.

Okay, so Katara walks over Aang. I was thinking the same thing, though, with Aang. Like, how's he doing that? Like didn't look like he was like connecting or grabbing onto anything, and he was like facing downward towards the river. Like, if he was like, I don't know, his stomach facing upward, maybe he could been grabbing onto the wood, but yeah, yeah.

I was like, I was like, what the heck? Like I call BS. Yeah. That's where this episode was like, I was like, okay, we're getting a little too oaky with our powers.

Okay, so another part of this episode is that this is the first time, aside from Azula, that we've seen a female firebender.

Oh.

Which is weird. I mean, we've seen a female, we've even seen a female airbender. We've seen a female airbender before we've seen a female firebender aside from Azula.

Well, what do you need to see female benders for? Well, so it's really interesting.

It's uh it's almost like they had to like course correct by make a make a trivia out of it. They're like, oh, well, the female firebenders, they have to stay in the homeland. So even like in the colonies or something, like we couldn't have had some of that. Like, what wouldn't it have been interesting if Zhang Zhang had been had been a woman?

There's a lot of things. I mean, there is room to have a redo. And I mean, again, it's like Avatar is pretty good, but there is definitely room for improvement for sure.

Mm-hmm.

So also in this episode, this is the third time in the series where a main character has taken on an alias to achieve some uh exterior goal they're trying to achieve. The first is Zuko being the blue spirit, the second is Toph being the blind bandit, and then aside from Aang, you know, like pretending to be whatever.

The third is Katara becoming the painted lady to help these people. Which I think is interesting, the the the idea of aliases, much like superheroes. Yes.

It's interesting that she was like, oh, I didn't go at it with the intent to be the painted lady, that she was just trying to be a rando helping. And I don't know about you guys, but it was really satisfying at the end when they were cleaning the river. For me, I was like, oh yeah, it's like so dirty, and they're cleaning the river, and then it just looked really good.

How long were they there cleaning that river up? I think it was probably like the chakras, you know, it just takes a couple minutes.

unknown Yeah.

Like between Aang and Toph, like they might have taken about 10 minutes max. Do you think Aang bended bended at all doing that?

He bended the water. Did the the Aang was seen bending water? I saw him. Okay. Toph was sitting there holding the the mud to separate it, so isn't that interesting that Aang would like I mean, kind of reveal himself in that way? Because he doesn't look like someone from the water tribe if you knew like what those people looked like.

But they probably don't.

That's true. They're they're pretty dumb. Just look at Shu.

Get out of here.

Okay, that guy. I wish I I think there was like a better joke there. I think it would have been really funny had like, you know, another guy had come up, and then you find out they are like twins or something.

Yeah, I agree. Instead of the the illusion, it's like, no, no, I'm just crazy. It's like, right, that if you could have Ray, that there was like triplets or something.

Or there's like more. There's like eight of them. Like, wouldn't that that just like ridiculous?

Yeah.

Yeah, it definitely we got the seven dwarves going on here. Yeah, that would have been hilarious. I would have I would have Doc Shoe, Mumpy, Grumpy, Dumpy. Mumpy Grumpy?

You can't rip off Grumpy.

Mumpy. Bumshe Bushy. I don't know. Alright, rhymes. Okay, so the things that were bumping in that river were like freaking me out. Like the mutated fish with the two heads.

Everything was dripping, gunk.

Like, I feel like the clams looked so gross. Like, I would never put those in my mouth ever. I mean, they like they were generating mud.

Okay, and it is different, but yeah, we have been to some rough little fish markets that had flies flying around them and like where the stuff's looking a little questionable. So I mean I was like, yeah, this is believable.

Yeah, I mean, when we were in Thailand, we were on an island, and the people we were staying with were like, oh, let's go to the market and let's let's get let's get mackerel or something. And so we had to go to the market with these people. Their names were Yah and Yah. It was uh maybe husband and wife.

Uh Ya the man was probably about as big as my thigh. Ya the female was much bigger than my thigh.

So I gotta r ride with big ya.

And I rode with a little yaw, and I outweighed little ya like two to one. And so I'm like just like straddling ya on the back of his motorbike. My feet are dangling off the side, like I'm doing the best I can not to like like keep him steady, like I'm a pair of training wheels on this motorbike.

No, but you kept putting your feet down, and he kept telling you to like keep your feet up, and so you're like irritating him because you kept putting your feet down. You know, it's like when you're trying to ride a bike and someone in the back keeps putting their feet down. Yeah, it was like that.

I was so scared.

That was probably you just had to trust ya.

I did not. And then, yeah, so we go to this fish market, and I don't know, I feel like we picked like the like the headless mackerel that had like the most flies on it.

I was like, Oh no. But you just gotta trust. It's gonna be just fine.

And then we we trusted Yah.

And ya.

Okay, so the one thing about this episode, I think this is my least favorite book three episode, so I'm really happy we're done with it. Part of the reason is that there's no Iroh or Zuko action coming on. Like we get nothing in the fire, in like the Fire Nation Capitol. And so we're just kinda like stuck with the kids.

I feel like Aang's kind of reverted back to like making dumb jokes, and it's hard when like Katara has to take center stage, like the boys have to be just imbeciles. Like, that's like what has to happen. And so that's kind of frustrating, like they can't all be kind of competent and have Katara be in charge.

Glad that that's that messes over. I'm glad that messes over too.

Alright, Painted Lady.

On to something better. Saka's master. Where we're introduced to P and Dow, who let's get some into some trivia about P and Dow. He apparently was born to two legendary fire bending masters, as the lore goes. He had no bending ability, and so instead he has become quote unquote the greatest uh swordmaster in Fire Nation history.

Okay, well I want to go back to the beginning. When they're laying there and they're looking at the shooting stars or the meteor shower, whatever's going on. And, you know, and Top's like, oh, haven't seen something once.

Haven't seen something a thousand times.

Uh right, right.

So then like the meteor hits and Which would have destroyed everything. Let's remember how destructive a meteor can be.

Right. But they're like, okay, we gotta put this out before it burns the village. Just kind of nonchalant. And uh, you know, and then Sokka's so deflated, like, I can't do anything. I was like, is this like season one? What's happening right now? Yeah, and then Sokka's got a babysit Momo.

It seems like a huge like reversion of Sokka's character for sure.

But then we see Iro's like working out.

Okay, what was that for you, Troy?

Oh, that was funny. I was just like, did Iroh give up completely?

Yeah, because you when we see Iro, he's like leaning against the cell wall, like drooling. It looks like he has like gone down, like Iro's dead.

Yes. And then the dot the guard comes in, mocks Iroh. As soon as the guard leaves, I was like, Ha, you only think I'm giving up. Starts munching down his He says in his mind.

Yeah. Okay, but that guard, it's like so rude. I don't know. Like, just stop with the crummy comments, right?

That's uh that's the psychology of prison, though. It's like once somebody's locked up, of course the guard's gonna take full advantage of it verbally. Troy did 12 hard years. And THS.

You went to THS for 12 years.

Super, super duper.

Super duper, super duper senior.

Okay.

Okay, so let's talk about the meteor shower. So if there's a comet that comes every hundred years that imbues firebenders with immense power, why doesn't a meteor shower what does that not have any ability on anybody?

No.

Does that not make an earthbender more powerful? What has to happen for an earthbender to become super powerful?

Nothing. They're already massive.

They're overpowered. I want to see some celestial event happen that makes an earthbender be able to like move a continent, Kyoshi style.

Yes.

Wow.

I was just gonna say, you know, I think for Fire Nation, it's to use uh comets that make them stronger. I feel like for Earth Nation, it might be earthquakes that make them stronger. So it's kinda weird.

So, Trey, what did you think? About Sokka being all emo, being like, I can't do anything. You guys have all the all the power and I'm kind of moping around.

This felt like uh the wrong season for that episode. Like that could have been like the beginning of season two rather than wait, hold on till season three. Like, he's just now realizing he's hanging out with a bunch of benders and he can't he doesn't have a special ability. Like this whole time he's just been cracking jokes, following a map, and planning with it.

And it's this episode he gets to decide that he's like, I'm not an earthbender, a thigh bender, or an or an airbender. I'm nothing. I'm a me bender.

I'm like looking at Sokka like, it's a little late, buddy. Like Well, it's interesting because if we look at Sokka's character at the beginning of the series, he is kind of anti-bending in a way. He's like, uh, you and all this magic and water and so I feel like he does he kind of discredits bending.

And it it seems like the creators maybe forgot to give Sokka that kind of development of giving him like a power or a tool that he can utilize because he's already like super proficient with boomerang, water tribe, goods. And it seems like they're kind of shoehorning it almost into season three, but I think it's fine.

Um, it kind of goes along with the storytelling trope, like in popular culture where you have like superhero stories, and then you already you always have to have like the one character who's like the regular person. But then eventually, if those stories go on long enough, usually like the regular person that's hanging around the superpowered people, they usually get some sort of power, like in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, like the normal friend ends up getting like a power like in in a later season.

And part of it's to like give that character more meaning and something more to do. I always liked in Static Shock. Anybody ever watched Static Shock?

I've never even heard of Static Shock.

Phenomenal DC animated series about Static, the African American superhero who can control lightning. I knew it.

Okay.

So good. So like his buddy in like I think season two all of a sudden like gets a superpower, and so then you know, you get the sidekick who who's no longer just like the the buddy who can crack jokes, but can like be more useful. But with Sokka, he's already been super useful, and I don't think a sword is gonna make him feel any better when a natural disaster happens and he has to sit there and babysit Momo.

Like you know?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. So yeah, so Sokka goes and knocks on this master's door.

Oh, that's Master Pi and Dao. I'm talking about that name. We learn about Pi and Dao from Pi and Dao is a Chinese word for a type of sword. Pi and Dao. But we learn about Pi and Dao from the armory that they go to. Right. Because Sokka wants a toy.

So that's gotta be the most American in pronunciation of that word then. Pian Dao. Piandao. Okay.

So in that moment.

Pi and Dao.

We want to come- I want to come back to Pi and Dow. I didn't mean to bulldoze you, Katie. But when they're in the armory, Aang comes out in like that grotesque armor.

That was like no.

So there's a story there. So Nickelodeon, when they wanted to make toy products for Avatar The Last Airbender, obviously it was like the mid-2000s, and so when they made toys, everything had to be like super masculine and have all these like crazy gadgets. And so one of the proposed toys was this like Aang in battle armor.

And everyone was like, Why would we do that? And so this is them making fun of that. But they eventually like discontinued making the toys because no one was really buying them, but also they weren't making any female characters into action figures.

It was only add to that toy story. That's right. I had I didn't even think about that pun until I said it. That movie came out, it was called Bigger, Faster, Stronger. It was talking about steroid abuse and certain industries, sporting industries. And they said that when uh Star Wars first came out, the Ah Star Wars can't not.

No, I just can't. Luke Skywalker's toy was like, you know, he he had his like black shirt on and his blue lightsaber, and he was regular sized. Well then they rebooted the whole toy Star Wars series in the early 2000s, and the new Luke Skywalker was just like beefed out to the extreme. Like, still had a lightsaber, but he was like shirtless, six-pack, bulging muscles, and they were like we have a toxic masculinity epidemic going on across the market.

Yeah, so yeah, it was really unfortunate that they never made any female characters into toys because when you watch the show, there's such a such a female-driven characters, and some of the most powerful characters in the show are are the females. And so if you just do only the male characters, you get Sokka, Aang, and Zuko, and that's pretty much what you're gonna be going with.

And so, yeah, there just wasn't any action figures for the longest time.

Hmm. So they never made any toys.

I think now that we've become more woke as a society, there are now like kind of collectibles that have that have been made since.

Her name is Tough.

Troy. Get it to your air. You have watched the show, they say the name. You're not reading a book.

We're on season three, Troy.

She's been around for almost 20 episodes. I'm so sorry, our listeners.

Okay. So what I was gonna say about Sokka going and I don't know.

Knocking on the door.

Knocking on the door, meeting the master, and kind of saying that he's not not worthy. I guess he didn't talk about his honor. Maybe he did. I don't know. I don't think he talked about honor. But it's worth it. Yeah. It's like like the self-worth is like just feeling pretty low.

Well, if we also come to the fact that maybe Sokka's just kind of in a low point anyway, like understanding that Azula and her cronies like took out Suki and her friends. I mean, he I mean, again, we're we're understanding the fact that Sokka's not really processing anything. And so it's been kind of I think he's been trying to hold it together this season.

But we suffered a great loss at the end of season two, and he hasn't really addressed Suki or Yue again.

So Right, and I guess it's like you probably don't want to think too much into the future, but hopefully everyone's gonna make it. You know, he doesn't know if they're gonna make it or his dad or anyway, okay.

The butler answers the door. The butler's name is Fat. Like that that's the name of the Butler. FAT. FAT is the butler's name. Okay.

Okay, I think what do we think about the swordmaster? P and Dow? He's like kind of this like sexy, mysterious guy, uh, with this Batman voice. It's like Sokka. Like, I don't know. It's really intense.

So P and Dow's voice actor is Robert Patrick, who voiced the T1000 in Terminator 2 Judgment Day.

You got another example?

So he was no, that was a that was my one example. He was he was the bad guy in Terminator 2. Okay. Really? Okay, terrible. So I so Sifu Kisu, the guy who is the martial arts consultant on the show, they finally modeled a character after him, and they chose P and Dao to be the one they chose after Sifu Kisu.

So that's kind of what Sifu Kisu looks like.

Oh, good. Sexy and mysterious. Those eyebrows.

And I'm an I'm a big eyebrow guy, so watch out, try. I think Pi and Dao was very quick to take on Sokka, and I thought it was really interesting that that fat the butler. I just love saying that. I think P and like after being warned that P and Dao rejects almost everybody, I mean, there there really wasn't anything that Sokka did or said that made me think that even he just him bumbling, like it wasn't anything special to make him worthy of being trained.

But I think if you were just that idea, like, oh, I traveled so far to come and get trained with you, and I'm the best where I come from, or whatever, and I think if you can be more humble in that approach, like I don't know much, but I'm here and whatever. So I mean I believed it.

Yeah, so when he walks into the room and uh P and Dow's like, Alright, Sokka, tell me your story. And Sokka's like, Well, I've been all over the world. And P and Dow's like, oh, there we go. And Saga's like, I realize I am not worthy. I don't have any special capabilities. And P and Dow's like, You're not selling yourself too much right now.

But I'm like, I think Sokka had to create a pitch because when he was working with the Kyoshi Warriors at first, he goes, I have to warn you, ladies, I'm a very special warrior, and then they just beat him up right off the bat. And so that's great that we've seen that's character growth from Sokka. That was a good character growth.

I was impressed with his sales pitch, the fact that he's he's one of the few people that says he can he's been around the world, yet he hasn't really learned any capabilities. And so the swordmaster's like, You're humble, and you come here to learn, I might have a spot for you.

Okay, well, that's fair. I I get that. Because yeah, if you were to come in hot saying like you've been all around the world, obviously the next thing P and Dow probably expects him to say is like, oh, and I've learned from everybody, but now I'm gonna learn from you.

So now you see why I would say that Aang is a terrible student. Well, I don't think Aang comes in like that. He does come like that.

Yeah, no, Aang's a cocky.

It's probably like, I'm the avatar, I'm the airbender. You need to train me. What's this accent? I don't know. I'm the avatar.

You have to train me now, man.

Okay, but then after Sokka and Pi and P-O?

I don't know. Pi and Dow.

Okay, yeah. After they have their little sword fight. Oh no, no, no, no. Because, right, they like make the sword after they get the crew to move the meteorite.

Well, they're training for a day, and P and Dow's like, hey, so uh you're good to go. Like, let's make you a sword, man. Was he trying to rush Sokka out of there? I think so.

I thought it was like, I'm we're on a schedule.

I was waiting for him to like to like do a sales pitch, like, and you can have this special sword for like 9.99.

Yeah, exactly. Well, you thought that was gonna be like a turn? Yeah. Kind of weird. Yeah, he doesn't sell I mean there's like no money is being exchanged.

That's no. And was I the only one that when they took a meteorite from space, rolled it up the hill?

As opposed to a meteorite from Earth.

Yes, forged it into a sword. Am I the only one that was half expecting, like, when Sokka first strikes that sword for that thing to like just either blow into ashes or to like some magical thing to happen?

Well, I assume that it was like a combo. I didn't think it was just the meteorite.

I would imagine I would be very wary to create a sword out of meteorite, but I'm assuming they kind of probably melded it with like other other types of metal, but maybe it is just the meteorite. Because you don't all meteorites are composed of different types of elements and pieces of of rock, so maybe it was a really good, maybe it was a really quality meteorite that they got.

Also, I take grievance with the fact that they made a sword in like a day, because typically in Chinese and Japanese culture, to create like a really nice quality sword, it takes months, maybe up to a year, to like really get because you have to like forge it over and over again, and you have to it's a lot of it's a big process.

Like our knives, we have really nice uh cutlery knives. Uh yeah, they have to fold that that metal over and over again. That's how you get like those ripples in it.

Yeah, well, as we know, we're on the express train. Oh, yeah.

We can make a sword really fast, we can open your chakras really fast, anything you want. Yes. Let's talk about the landscape really quick, because we talked about in the last episode about how there's like the comparisons of the Fire Nation to Japan. And I think as an island and kind of as a society, there is that kind of comparison with Japanese culture in the Fire Nation.

But the creators took a trip to another island country to get inspiration for the Fire Nation. Where do we think they went?

Fiji.

Switzerland.

New Zealand.

Switzerland is not an island.

New Zealand.

Iceland. So they took a lot of inspiration from Iceland, and so the the waterfall that they go and see P and Dow take Saka to, that is like it's pretty much drawn exactly like this. It's called like I have it written down. The Gulfos Gulfos waterfall and Iceland is what that is. So there's apparently a lot of like Iceland inspiration in like the rural.

Oh my god, it totally makes sense. Iceland is a beautiful country.

There we go. My god, it's a gorgeous country.

Have you been surprised that the Fire Nation is like a a pretty country? No. Because of how greedy and gluttonous they are? Well, I don't know. Trey can't be surprised. You'd think that a society that'd be greedy and gluttonous would be coming from a place that's like not super great, and they'd be like, I'm gonna take your resources and we're gonna- Right.

Like that, maybe their lives are so like everyone's impoverished or something, and we're gonna go force our yeah, try to take over these other stuff.

There's the pretty side, and then there's the ugly side. The ugly side of the Fire Nation is the as who has to pay for the expenses of how they make their colony or their nation so amazing.

So let's go back to when they're forging the sword. You get a shot of P and Dow kind of looking looking with pride on to Sokka. And in the background, I don't know if it's intentional or not, but there's a full moon. I don't know, it's like Yue like watching over him as he makes his sword. I don't know, which is like an interesting thing because they've been very very deliberate about any time the moon has been used as imagery.

This one kind of felt like it was kind of shoehorned in. But yeah, it was definitely like a full moon behind them.

Well, so I guess at the end when he kind of is like knighting Sokka.

You mess things up in a very special way.

Yeah, yeah, that was a lovely line. And but then like Sokka just looks so I don't know.

He's like disappointed in himself, I think, for like getting this knowledge through through treachery.

Right, and he did feel like undeserving and not worthy. Which Troy, what did you think when he like took out a sword after Sokka drops the truth bomb and says he's actually not from the Fire Nation and says he's from the water tribe?

Oh man, it would have been amazing if you just killed him, just cut him right in half.

Hey, you're cool here. But fat on the other end, don't talk to fat.

Don't talk to that fat. No.

Don't talk to that fat.

No, his name is Fat Troy. You don't say don't talk to that fat.

Don't talk to that Troy. Talk to this Troy.

No, I yeah, I was like, I was like, Saka, what are you doing? But I'm like, oh my god, if the writers want to get genius, they could have just been like, you know, PNDA actually doesn't work with the Fire of the Fire Nation. He's actually like undercover for like one of the other nations. That would have been a perfect time to drop that joke or that line.

Ah, that joke.

Did you think that he he was gonna turn him in? Or how did you think that episode did you know that he was just kind of wanted to juke it out with Sokka? I didn't to continue his training.

I thought if he's gonna do a fight, I didn't think it was gonna be a sword fight. I thought I was probably gonna like blast him with fire, either that or turn around and be like water try people.

I think uh so it's interesting that both Sokka and Katara have like battled their masters. Mm-hmm. So Katara was battling what?

I was gonna say it was good that Sokka you know put his hand up and was like, whoa guys, because obviously the crew was like, let's take them down. Yeah.

Yeah, because Sokka feels like he needs to earn this thing, earn the right to have like had this knowledge and like kind of getting away all these lies that he had to put up over the past, like, I don't know, 48 hours to this guy.

I want to point out the fact of the next scene is the best part. Katie can't stop laughing at the fact that Batman slash P and Dow slash the T1000 villain guy cannot stop complimenting Sokka. And I'm just like, I'm like, at first I thought the guy was mad that Sokka's water tribe, but no, he's actually trying to push him, push him, push him, push him harder and harder and harder.

Like, good, very use your terrain, use your terrain, use your weapon, use this, use that against me. Very smart.

Oh, the dirt kind of hurts in my eyes, but good job, Sokka.

I can still hear you. And then Sokka's just trying to do a snip.

There's a twig, and Sokka's like, oh man, I don't think about Sokka like piecing out into the bamboo.

I love that part.

He's like cutting the bamboo, and Piendao comes through and just like, nice use of your terrain, Sokka.

Yes, use the natural environment as a fighter. And then I was expecting when he pulled on the app bamboo, I thought it went excellent. Had bam uh had Sokka defeated Pindao in a sword fight by whacking him with a piece of bamboo and knocking him out. Yeah, I definitely thought that's where that was going, also, even though Sokka can be that clumsy at times.

Like, he wants to be a sword fighter, but he's got better use of his terrain. So wham, right comes uh bamboo.

So we've got this guy with swords. We know another character who somehow is very, very proficient with swords. Are we assuming P and Dao as the greatest swordmaster in the Fire Nation taught Zuko? There's a chance. Oh come on, you guys.

I mean it would make sense.

Have you seen Zuko with swords?

Yeah.

He's insane! Double swords. Well, still Pi and Dow's one sword. Well, Pi and Dow taught Sokka with one sword. Yes. What do you imagine? He's probably well versed in always with a sword.

There's definitely a high chance that he taught Zuko. But I feel like Zuko might have been like, no, teach me with two swords, and Pi and Dow's like, no, one master, one sword.

Okay, but what did you think after I mean when Sokka pretty much lost, right? At the end. But he did lose. He definitely lost. Yeah. I mean, what was that moment? Did you know that it was gonna be over or was it gonna look at it?

I just looked at that and I'm just like, huh. Alright, so they make Sokka lose. Alright, what's the writer's next play here? And it was just, I don't know. It was definitely enlightening for me to see something from the Fire Nation actually be like, You have finished your training, Sokka. I'm like, did he?

And he goes, by the way, I can tell you guys were Water Tribe from the moment I saw you. Sokka, terrible name, or what was his? Did he have a cover name? He recommended no, Sokka did not have a cover name.

It's like you should go by Lee.

There's a million Lee's million Lee's. Okay, so yeah, let's talk about that because when they leave, fat comes out and gives him like a little baggie, and it's like, oh, I can't remember.

Wait, and he calls out and he's like, Oh yeah, hey, Avatar, like, duh. Obviously, I know it's you. Which is interesting. Because it's the first person that's been able to recognize who obviously knows that the avatar is alive. Because assuming that you assume that he knows, like the whole world knows that Aang is dead.

Yes. And so it's interesting. But we just kind of brush over that.

Yeah, why do we think that he knows who Aang is? Like he can recognize he's the Avatar just based on based on what?

Well, we'll assume that's because the Fire Nations.

Fat came up to behind. So yeah, when Fat comes out, when they're leaving, gives them a little baggie, and inside is a White Lotus tile.

For Pai Shell.

Who do we know that's a part of the Order of the White Lotus? Ripped Uncle Iro. Okay, so uh P and Dao obviously is giving like the the viewers like this quick like little Easter egg that P and Dao, we're assuming, is a part of the Order of the White Lotus. This soci secret society in the world that's like basically trying to like keep peace and share like the knowledge of the world.

And so I'm thinking, like, P and Dao like has had to like have some knowledge of what's going on. He's probably been in contact with Iroh. You know, Iroh's probably like, hey, if you I mean, I could see Iroh like sending P and Dow information, and like all the people are part of the White Lotus information of like Right, here's the Avatar and these kids or whatever.

Yeah, and if you see them, help them out. You know? And so if he knew that there was like some water tribe kid that would be around, like how how often do we think the water tribe is just like hanging around the Fire Nation?

Right.

And so who knows if Iroh gave him the names, but yeah, this water tribe kid comes in, he's like, My name is Sokka. P and Dow could be like, oh dang, I think this is the kid is with the Avatar. Or the other option is that P and Dow, being a part of the White Lotus, is so well versed in other cultures, he could understand like how to identify people from all over the world.

And he could be like, Oh, this looks like an airbender. Obviously, this is the Avatar, you know, just things like that. Or like the blind Bayfong girl, who's this famous. Well, I guess no one really knew that they had a daughter, so never mind. Well, right.

Yeah. Pretty crazy.

Yeah, so I think that could have been like one of the reasons that he taught Sokka. Like, oh, the Avatar needs help. I will give it to him.

And it was like, oh, here's this tile, something to remember him by. That's nice. Makes me feel like we'll never see him again.

I know. But I love that he said knowledge of the arts. Knowledge of the arts belongs to us all. That was a great line. Yeah, like like the art of the sword. Like it doesn't need to belong to the Fire Nation just because they have the greatest swordsman, you know, just because you your country or where you live is home to like the greatest of something.

If someone comes with a with a pure heart seeking that knowledge, yeah, you should give it to them. So moving on to cut Iroh.

Oh man.

And just I was so bothered by the guard. It was like, look at you. I was just like, get out of here.

You're ugly scum of the earth, you crazy old man. No, it's so annoying. I swear that guard is eating a potato at one point, like when Iro was like. He was like, Ugh! I'm not done with my raw russet potato.

Yeah, but Troy and Uncle Ira, like the same thing. Do those push-ups with those claps.

No, no, no. I I do push-ups and then I sit down and clap.

Jeez.

So when Iroh like takes his shirt off and like the pillows fall out and he looks like a Greek god, you know, he doesn't have any marking or any scar from when Azula shot him in the heart. So I was kind of upset about that.

Oh, I didn't realize she shot him in the heart. I just thought she shot him in the arm.

Well, right. He got shot like in like the chest, and then in bitter work, he's like all bandaged up. So it's like his shirt's kind of off. And I imagine he would have some sort of mark on there from again getting shot in the heart. Sorry. So why is Iroh training, Troy?

Why is he training? Well, I think he's training because he's just so pissed off at Zuko, who I've really I'm gonna kick your ass if I ever see you again.

You come visit me one more time.

His betrayal, his deceivement, his just he's just full of piss and vinegar now, and I think he lost his tea shop, he lost his dreams. All the tea shops. Because Zuko refused to stand next to him. I'm like, I want Zuko, I want Iroh to get out of jail and just just lay down some thunder.

So you want Iroh to physically beat up Zuko? I think the kid deserves it. Do you think that's in Iro's character though?

No.

I mean, would that really fix anything?

Of course it wouldn't. Thank you for the admission, Troy. Buddy. It would make me give it a standing ovation.

But yeah, I mean, it would be funny. Listen here, you little bee. Yeah, but no.

I don't think Zuko's in a headlock. Iroh's like.

I'm trying to be nice and encouraging.

For two whole seasons! And this is what you did for me? Oh god. Alright, so one last thing is I want to talk about Toph. Like, Toph in this episode very explicitly is like, I'm into Sokka. No, no, no.

She was totally blushing. She's like, oh yeah. Yeah, yeah. Because that's how we have to do in these, you know. They're girl characters. Gotta have a boy character. It's gotta be crushing on each other.

I gotta say, I think that all the characters blush about the same amount. Not as much as me. Huh? What? Okay.

Don't laugh at that.

Okay. I do think like Aang and Qatar's relationship isn't feeling quite so it's feeling pretty brother and sister, pretty sibling-esque in these last couple episodes.

Good. It's been awkward. I'm like, shut it down. No, they had that great moment in the cave. Whatever.

And the other great moment in the cave. Well, get them to a cave, man.

No, get them out of the cave.

No, they need to be in a cave.

Troy.

Get into bossing say. Yeah. So they can do the bossing say ballet or whatever.

Anyway. I don't know. So do we think Toph needs to be respected. And I don't know if Sokka would respect Toph.

What, because she's blind? That's rude.

No, because Sokka's immature and doesn't have it together and crushes on everybody and he's annoying.

Sokka is very immature, and his immaturity was shown a lot in this episode. Like he was biting the material for the sword. He put ink on his face and like rubbed it around the like the piece of paper.

He drew the waterfall with like crayons and mountains.

Oh god. Poor Sokka. So do you think him being a swordmaster now is gonna fix anything?

He's gonna he's gonna tell Iroh to stop beating up Zuka per minute so that way they can have like a duel of swords.

Maybe Iroh will become or no, here we go. Maybe Sokka will become Iroh's new nephew, and Iroh would take Sokka in.

Oh, that's cute. That'd be sweet.

Fan fiction.

Alright, we'll get to right into that. And so next episode we watch The Beach and The Avatar and the Fire Lord. So those are our next two episodes.

Oh.

Alright, kids, until next time. Grab your meteor sword and go off into battle. Yep, yep.

Yep, yep.

unknown Yep, yep.

You hear that? That was Bruce Wayne.

Yes, yes, Sokka, use your terrain. Yes, the sword is sharp. Don't hit me with it. Where is she?

Whoa, Martha?

Sword Sokka and Ripped Iroh

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