The Day of Black Sun

Water, earth, fire, air. This is what's gonna be Avatar Podcast.

Welcome to another Avatar Podcast.

unknown Another Avatar Podcast!

I swear that's what the podcast says.

What's the name?

Yip Yip Hooray, an Avatar Podcast.

An Avatar. Okay, we decided to start without Jordan. I'm Katie.

And I'm Troy.

And this is our podcast now. Yeah.

Jordan will be here shortly.

Maybe. He's taking a lot of notes.

Yeah. Well, he was always a good student, unlike me.

I don't think he was. I don't think any of us were.

Really?

That's not good.

I don't know. When I saw him in band class, he really knew his notes.

But is it the same as being a good well.

I took good notes. I was an honor roll, you monsters. I had one of those gold. Remember the Renaissance Club? Oh no. I don't know. Oh no.

What's the Renaissance Club?

Well, it was for people who had good GPAs. They got a little bit. You got a little sticker on the back of your ID card. Oh yeah. Yeah, you gave you like, you got all sorts of like free perks. Like what? Well, I'm I can't tell you. You weren't a part of the Renaissance Club.

I was.

Hey everybody, so we're in a spaceship right now. I uh put my phone on the desk. It's uh it's a mover up or downer desk, and it just kept rising. It was like the sea level.

Okay.

Welcome guys to Yipia Pray, an Avatar podcast. Another Avatar podcast. Yipia Poray.

I'm your host.

I'm your host, Katie.

Alright, Renaissance man. And I'm your host, Jordan.

And I had a high GPA and had a Renaissance sticker.

But I you know, it's it does it's not fair because I always in my right pocket in high school, I had my ID card with my Renaissance sticker and my I could use the internet sticker because you had to get one of those.

Oh, I never had one of those.

How'd you use the internet for school?

I don't think I did.

So when it was like, oh, we're all gonna go use the internet in school today, you're like, I'm just gonna play Oregon Trail again.

And I think there were times that I had a Renaissance sticker, but I didn't get it.

Yeah, because it was per semester, Shermaster.

Yeah, so I think sometimes I didn't have it.

Well, I had I had a gold Renaissance sticker, which was the highest you could go. As far as I know.

Maybe there was a now I remember those things.

Okay, so I my gold of the sticker rubbed off in my pocket because it stayed in my pocket all the time. And it was there in my pocket alongside my my small. This is a shout-out to Smiley if you're listening, which you frickin' better be. I had a small piece of cardboard that was in my pocket from freshman year all the way till I graduated.

His name was Smiley Jr. He was a piece of corrugated cardboard with a little face on him, similar to like a Dragon Ball Z face, had like little like eyes and a smile.

It's like really weird that you had a piece of cardboard in your pocket for four years.

Every day, Smiley Jr.

was in my pocket. You know, Smiley Sr. is gonna text you after this podcast and just be like, I don't I don't like you calling me out like that, bro.

What no, no, Smiley Jr. was a well-beloved member of our group, and Smiley Jr. went through the wash twice. Once it made the corrugated cardboard like split into thirds, and so Smiley Jr. was literally falling apart, and I opened up one of the layers of Smiley Jr. and then I gave Smiley Jr. a heart.

Wow. I thought you said you didn't have good grades. So how were you on the Renaissance class?

I had a 3.3 GPA, which is not it was enough to get the highest. It's a B average. What did you get in a D in? I got an F in algebra 2, Troy. Also, saying B average doesn't mean I get a D in something. Alright.

Right, but then you said you got an F.

Alright, moving on. And I'm not happy that I got that F.

Let's talk shop. Jordan's just upset because the way the invasion went.

Yeah, I am upset with how the invasion went. We just watched The Day of Black Sun, the second failed invasion of the series. May I remind you guys of the first failed invasion attempt, the Siege of the North.

Okay, so I just gotta let you know, I think Firelord Ozai, if he could speak to you right now, he'd probably Firelord Ozai, aka, Mark Hamill, aka The Joker.

I thought we were gonna go for Luke Skywalker on that one. I'm very impressed.

What do you mean, the Joker?

The Joker. He voices the Joker in Batman the Animated Series. Oh, that doesn't count. It doesn't count. He would tell you that.

Suck it up, buttercup. Okay. Because his son couldn't.

Wait. What? You're gonna get Zuko stuck in it up? Yeah. Okay, wait.

Wait, wait. Yeah, let's let's start.

So we talked about Day of the Black Sun, parts one and part two. My god.

What? Where does Zuko stand with you, Troy? Oh.

I don't know. He's so bipolar at this point. I don't know if he's bipolar. No, he's bipolar.

He's got some issues which we address.

Look, as the new guy on the show. On the show. On this show. You know, he's just. I don't know. He's just. I give him like an Apa growl at this point.

Okay, Apa Growl, he made so much noise the whole two episodes.

Oh my god. Not really. I was mostly picking up on Bato's growl.

That dude, that dude that voices Apa, I swear to God, he was drinking in his voice booth as he was doing the character. But you think D.

Bradley Baker was intoxicated? Yeah. I'm bent money on it. So you hear that D? Is it true? Were you just in your underwear, highly intoxicated, doing APA noises?

He's like, guys, I'm not looking forward to these episodes. I don't want to hear Azula's voice. Just let me do it the way I want to.

Okay, let's get into this invasion plan. So before we even start, Troy goes, Hey, you excited to watch this failed invasion attempt?

Oh, is that what he said?

Yeah.

Well, you already knew?

unknown What?

Did you know they were gonna fail?

Look, they're halfway through the season. Why would you take out the Sith halfway through Star Wars? Because then you get a better story. The Siths suck. Okay.

Well, anyway, it was a failed invasion just because it had to be. So what was your vibe during the invasion? Did you think they were gonna succeed?

What did you think was gonna happen?

I I was kind of curious as to how he was gonna handle either Zuka Azula or Fire Lord Ozai without their firebending skills. I know how it turned out. Yeah. It was like, I don't know, for like a mid-season finale, it was like, eh. Oh Troy, this is a great mid-season finale. Like, as any battle scenes go that involve cast and crew from the last two seasons, I was like, oh, it's gonna be so good.

And of course my heart starts racing like it's an actual battle, like it's the actual last battle scene. But I'm like, wait, we're only halfway through the season. I had to keep reminding myself that. I'm like, alright, let's just just keep a good ear out for uh for Sokka and Toph jokes. And boy, was there plenty.

That's how I thought the episode was gonna go. Which is I just answered my own question.

No, it's good. I enjoyed the beginning. Like we start the episode, everyone starts getting into like their new outfits.

Like Yes. No, I even took a note. Like, when did Katara, Toph, and Sokka change, but then Aang's still in his fire getup, but then obviously then everyone else is changing, and then you know, there's like this dramatic moment of Aang giving himself a haircut.

Okay, Aang is clearly the most powerful person in the world because he dry shaved his head. His whole head. He just took like a straight razor, completely dry, whacked it all off.

Yes.

Nobody on this earth can dry shave like that. There was no stubble, there was no like awkward patchiness. He took all that hair off.

Okay, and then Troy's upset because right out the gate they were like, well, you know, Aang's like, I can't go into the Avatar state. So Troy's like instantly like, nope. Nope. Looks like we're not getting that finale I want.

No, just sitting on the couch drinking my green tea, just like, oh no. Okay, it's not green tea, it's like some sort of like wacky energy drink. Well, it works. Well, it works, man. Iro wouldn't drink that. No. Okay, so can we discuss the fact that they did this invasion possibly ill-prepared? Do you think it was like an ill-conceived idea to still invade during the eclipse?

Because the original idea was to have the full power of the Earth Navy, along with some other powers. Theoretically, Aang would learn firebending by now, be a fully realized Avatar who could go into the Avatar state. And I think at that point, the invasion sounded like an idea that could potentially work.

But in this time, we have this like eviscerated squad. We get like just the water tribe, no offense to them, but none of them are benders. And then we have just mismatched crew that they've met along their journeys. And how'd they get letters to them? Did Hockey make some pit stops along the way?

Yeah, that was definitely questionable.

And so do we think that it was even a good idea to still proceed with the invasion, knowing that the eclipse would still give them a slight advantage? I don't know. I well only for a few minutes.

Well, that's for sure. They definitely did not have a military advisor on set that day. Uh I'm hearing this more and more. It drives On set.

It's a it's an animated show. There's no set.

But I don't know. Whenever they do battle scenes on shows in particular, a lot of military people are just like, they like roll their eyes because nobody really gets it right. And so I guess, yeah, I I I thought I was sort of sensing like strong like Avengers vibes, just people from all different elements coming together for this one genuine purpose, but I'm like, for how small their fleet was to invade with.

I'm like, that's not an invasion force. I don't know, I was just like, you guys are literally just going in there just to surrender. That's pretty much what I felt.

Well, and I'm curious, you know, did everybody else who showed up, you know, did they realize that Aang wasn't fully like doesn't know fire bending, isn't really as prepared as he could be? Because I think had they known that, maybe they wouldn't be quite as on board. You know, because it's like, oh, we got the avatar, so obviously let's do this.

But I don't know.

Yeah, I know. If nothing else, these two episodes just literally just prove to me just how annoying Azula and Lord Ozai are.

I mean, Azula is definitely just so conniving, and obviously, I think I forgot how important it was in the season two finale that the Earth King just blabbered about the eclipse. And so I never really considered the fact that they would have known and would have anticipated it. Because, you know, I was like 17 and not that smart when I first watched it.

But then, yeah, the the full impact of that, like the fur the whole first half of the season, like us as viewers should watch this being like, uh, maybe the invasion's not a good idea, you know, because we know that Azula knows. Right.

Well, we know, and then it's interesting because right, maybe Katara never put that together, because it's not like they didn't have anything going on. Aang almost died, and they've been dealing with that, and I don't know.

Right, I guess they never would have imagined that the Earth King was just gonna like talk to everybody.

Wait, are we just going to roll over the fact of um Sokka's attempt to public speak?

I mean, uh did that did that resonate with you, Troy? Oh, it totally did. How so? Oh, in junior high, I I was really reminiscing about school these days.

Yes, we are. I was chosen to lead um warm-ups warmups and PE class, and I think it was like my it was month one of the very first times I did public speaking, and I don't know how to do an outside voice, let alone a public speaking voice. And so instead of just you know, happily encouraging everybody to to do the warmups with me, I'm sitting there in the front row facing a class of 20 students my my age, and I'm literally shouting at the top of my lungs to for them to do jumping jacks and this and that and side-to-sides and and flex and or not flex stretch.

And uh I couldn't help myself. I was like I was yelling a mile a minute, got to the point where the PE teacher had to stop me and say, Okay, let's take a break.

Uh, Troy and Sokka, very similar. But I do like when Sokka just started started to ramble, like he was so nervous, and obviously he had been thinking about the the eclipse so much that he maybe didn't have it really planned out to describe it in like a normal person sense. He just has this like very detailed oriented.

So so today we're we're invading the Fire Nation, but I mean of course we are, because why else would it you all be here? Let me just start from the beginning. So my sister and I, Katar, we we find this boy in the iceberg, you're like, dude, whoa.

So when you listen to the like, because they start doing like sides while Sokka's rambling, you can hear Sokka in the background. He talks about meeting Suki on Kyoshi Island, and he and he has this line that says, and then she dressed me as a woman, and then it it the next thing Sokka's rambling, he's like, and then we met Haru and his father, and uh and now he has a mustache.

And if you look up at the front row, you could see in like the Haru mustache line like just blows me away, makes me so happy, it's so funny. Okay, but this reunion scene, we meet so many people from first season of the biggest. That's why people the the airbenders, we meet so many people. The airbenders, they weren't airbenders.

Sorry, the airplane. You shut your mouth. Okay, get off the battery.

But yeah, I never thought that we would see Teo and the mechanist again. I never thought we'd see Haru and his father again, let alone Haru's mustache. And then I just appreciate that all throughout this series since we've met Jet, we just kind of keep running into like splintered off members of his crew.

Okay, I'm not gonna lie. I was a I was legitimately a little bit worried when Haru said, Katara! And I just go, oh crap, is that Katara's old flame or something? And then the way they hug and Aang's all excited to see Haru too. I'm like, like, okay, who is this guy? Who is I totally forgot where him and his dad were were from, and they were all the way from season one.

I was like, oh wow, we're going back that far. They're from like what, like episode like five or six. I don't know. Yeah, little prisoners.

First, like serious ones, really.

When we find out that Katara has a perfect public speaking voice and she can inspire prisoners to break out of prison.

Right. It is interesting that like both Hakoda and Katara kind of have that, and Sokka's more because Hakoda, he he has the ideas and he has the courage, but he also is able to speak. And it seems like Katara kind of got that public speaking rally the troops kind of vibe, and Sokka got more of like his ingenuity.

Yes. But I think it was interesting because this is the first episode where Sokka finally gets to be a warrior with his people. And I thought that was a really important moment for him. And I think Sokka felt really lost that whole time after kind of fumbling over his speech. And then you get that moment where I Sokka sighs a lot in the invasion episode, but you get that really nice moment of him like staring at like the wolf helmet, like kind of like I'm about to finally do this thing I've been wanting to do since as long as we've known Sokka, and him to kind of feel like a failure without even getting on the battlefield already was probably rough for him.

It's like comparable to Aang, where it's like the thing that he's like had to do and he's been working toward, and then yeah, to feel like you kind of failed at something. Or failed at your thing that you were supposed to do.

And then we get into the ships. But then can we talk about them being submarines?

Yeah, I thought it was pretty good, but it's kinda like submarine fish.

Submarine whales. Always begs the question for me, is like, how do they pack submarines with oxygen? Especially with their lack of technology in the show.

I'm not sure.

Yeah, I s I'm not a naval man. When the inventor was just like, yes, shaka. He's the mechanist. The mechanist. When he's like, I took me a while to figure out how to do your subs. Nah, there is one thing that's wrong. I don't know. We only have limited air supply. I'm like, hmm.

Okay, and also with the mechanist, uh, the peanut explosion. Did you that was supposed to be like a throwaway gag. I found out that peanut is actually a pivotal ingredient in dynamite.

Wow. What?

So it's like, it is like, if you don't have like a whatever derivative of peanut, you can't make dynamite. Wow.

Surprise, surprise.

I just blew your mind like a bag of peanuts.

I'm thinking about the uh quote from Fight Club when Tyler Jordan goes, if you got enough soap, you can blow up just about anything. Um seems like peanuts and soap. Those two biggest explains.

Okay, so they get into the subs and we get the the swamp benders who come out of the swamps to come. Alright, we got we got Huey, we got No, it's just Hugh. It's not Huey. He's not like one of like Scrooge's nephews. We got Boo, we got two. Oh yes.

What incarnation is that? Pants on Illusion.

I thought Oppo was like MVP this episode. Like he was he was ready, game faced, had his armor, had like water helmets.

Jumped like like dove back into the sea.

He was very energetic, ready to go.

So speaking of other MVP, I think uh Aang getting it together and just like having like a really good heart-to-heart with Katara, which I thought they were gonna botch that moment, kind of like they did Nightmares and Daydreams, where he's like freaking out, like baby, you're my forever girl, like that line.

Okay, what do we think about Aang kissing Katara?

It totally disappoints me.

You're disappointed that he kissed her?

You're shipping Zuko and Aang? Great great grandpa. Sup, babe. I don't know. It was just it was such a buildup over the last three seasons, it was like, oh, finally.

Was it?

No.

He finally kissed his mom. I knew they had it in them. It's an edible complex. Katie, how about you?

I mean, it's like the second time in that episode that Katara like blushed. I mean, I enjoyed the moment after where Saga's like, Katara, what are you doing? You know? Sorry about messing around. We gotta go. It's just like, oh yeah. I mean, I'm proud of Aang for being bold and like uh acting on instinct, and maybe it could have been their last moment together.

I have read some things that Aang kissing Katara like that, kind of without her her consent in a way is a little problematic. I uh see truth in that, but I'm more on the side of like they're really close friends, and maybe he betrayed that friendship, but also like there were feelings there between the two of them, as we've addressed, on some level.

And for Aang to like take it, especially because like it could be his last moment. Like Aang doesn't know if he's coming back. Like, whatever, I can't fault him. He's like 12, maybe 13 at this point. I'd do the same thing. I'd be like, oh, I'm gonna take this. I don't wanna die without kissing you for real.

Well, and to be fair, I mean Katara's like kissed him on the cheek, and I mean, if you're gonna go down that route, I mean that's also something where, yeah, it's a two-way street, and you know, we can't it's gotta be both ways. It can't be okay for the girl to kiss the boy, but it's not okay for the boy to kiss the girl.

And obviously, there's a fine line, and we can get into that, but it's not so black and white, like this is okay and this isn't okay.

Should we talk about the evolution of their kiss? In season one. When they got when they got stuck in that cave together. That's season two, friend. Oh.

Secret tunnel.

Secret tunnel through the mountains. Anyway, and uh they're like, you know, only true love or only love will help you see the way through the cave. I tell you butchered that line. But Katara goes, Um, you know, Aang, you're gonna get out of here. Maybe we should Yeah, yeah, Katara's like, hey, can we talk about that?

Yeah, can can we can we kiss? Aang. No. Yeah, no, Katara was the one that they're gonna. Oh, Katara proposed the kiss. She was like, maybe we should kiss.

And Aang's like, ew, are you are you serious? No, that wasn't his reaction. He was like so he was overjoyed that Katara would make that make that as a is an option for him. And so he did a it did a Jordan and totally botched it. He was like, Oh, uh, if the options were kissing you or dying, of course I'd choose kissing you.

And then yeah, obviously that wasn't. Oh, yeah, and then Katara's like, well, fine then, maybe you just want to die. Yes, but then at the end of that episode, Aang wants to talk to Katara about whether they did or did not kiss because they finally get out, and Katara's happy to see Sokka that is alive, and the you know, the bards didn't eat him.

Moving on. So wait, I'm gonna talk about Iroh being in jail and that jerk.

Like the guards guy.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I was gonna say this episode, and I know that we've kind of talked about it a little bit, and I've noticed it more specifically in the Fire Nation. There's been a lot more female firebenders and like guards. I just noticed it a lot this episode, or these past two episodes. And obviously the one gal Ming.

No, Ming. Uh you know, it was very kind to Iroh.

And Ming, as we've all addressed, is Serena Williams, the goat of tennis.

The goat?

Greatest of all time.

Wow.

Yeah, because Serena Williams was like a huge fan of Avatar, and I think I know, Katie, you could have totally taken that either way. I think uh, yeah, Serena pulled some strings, or or maybe they invited her. I don't know, I don't know the story, but all that matters is that Serena Williams is gracing us as Ming.

Wow.

The coolest firebending prison guard there ever was.

Oh, I know. Troy, what did you think when uh Zuko wrote that letter? And what do you think it said, and who was it too? Remember he wrote a letter before he had his chat with dad?

To be honest, there were so many different people. It was either I guarantee you it was either towards it was either written towards either Iroh or his mother.

I think he left a note in his bedroom for Iroh who's in jail who he might go bust out, or his mother who doesn't live there.

Yes. Well, definitely one of them was to May, because he is either in May's bedroom or his own bedroom, and he's like, I'm sorry, May.

Yeah, and where was that picture they had done?

I feel like you're really concerned with where they got that photo taken or like the portrait drawn. Not only that, but I totally forgot he was still with May. I thought they broke up last episode. No, and nightmares and daydreams have a very nice date and it it it improves on the toxicity from the beach.

Yeah, yeah. It was like, oh yeah, I want, I don't know, grapes or something. She wanted biscuits. I don't know what it was. It was tarts. Oh yeah. Tarts. And he's like, okay, yeah, I'll get it for you.

Okay, I'm gonna drop some knowledge about some of the outfits. So you notice that Aang is wearing a new outfit. He's no longer in his Fire Nation Scrubs. Scrub's a guy who thinks he's fly. So he's not in his Fire Nation outfit anymore. But he also looks like he's kind of in his monk outfit again, but it's not the original Airbender one.

So I never knew this, but from the waist down, he's still wearing like his Fire Nation pants and boots. And then I'm assuming like the orange and yellow is like saved from his original outfit, is the vibe I'm getting. To give him like that, you know, toga look.

Very edgy.

I wasn't I was digging Aang's toga look, like kind of shows off his tat.

Yeah.

Definitely.

Great.

And I like Katara's new outfit too. It's kind of like got battle armor on it. She's like wearing Greaves.

Okay, but again, where did these outfits come from? You know Dad bring them?

As we know, Toph made a significant amount of money in the runaway.

Right, but where were they gonna buy?

Hi, do you have this in Water Nation Blue?

Yeah. Okay.

Also Hokota me. Well, I guess he didn't bring anything because they already had the outfits. They probably just had him on them. It's fine, I'll explain that away.

Moving on.

Are we happy that the Mechanist made Aang a new glider?

I was just about to bring that up. Bring it up. Shout out to the Mechanist for making Aang a new glider. Now he's gotta get rid of this one.

unknown What?

You don't like this one? I don't like the glider. Why? It doesn't suit the avatar. Why?

It's just Think about the lava. Jordan just smacked and we smack and we collided. You smacked. I was here first. We collided our headphones.

I say I I don't like glider. Boom, two people clash.

Um remember he had to glide over the magma?

I know. Okay, what's your what's your beef with it? It's just I don't know, it just seems like uh I'm like looking directly at another.

I have the I have a decal of Aang's OG glider on the computer.

Troy's like disgusted.

How awful.

Okay, Troy. Name something you like. Silence.

I do like the teachers in the show. The people that teach everyone schools. Yes.

Like the Fire Nation teacher. Hey, shut up! Kuzan. Okay, back to the glider. Back to the glider. I want to talk about the glider really quick. So the mechanist is like, oh, check out this glider. I put it in a snack compartment. And it looks like he's eating rice or something. Like it's not, it doesn't look like any disgrace.

I don't like the glider, because to me, it looks like a crutch. As long as the avatar has a got a glider, he's got a crutch on him. And I'm so sorry, Jordan. I know that's totally insulting, but that's my my point of view. It feels like he relies more on his wits and his spirit when he's without his glider.

But it's like a bow staff.

Okay, wait. It's also compared comparable to like Roku. Roku? No.

Roku. Roku, the previous avatar.

Like a dragon.

Yeah, but still, it's whenever he has the glider, the bow staff, as soon as he sees a Fire Nation person, he blows the gust of wind at them. I'm like, that is like the worst first move in a battle you could do. Why? I would hit someone with with air first.

Like, surprise! Cop out. How's that a cop out? It just is. Okay, moving on. Okay. There's rice. Okay, it looks like rice comes out of the staff, right? And then Aang's got the gurgly tummy. He's going over some amount of land trying to get to the Fire Nation capital. And then it sounds like Velociraptor's in his stomach.

It's like and then Aang uses that to uh get some more snacks. Rice does not come out this time. It's like hazelnuts. And then like 20 hazelnuts, and that's not accurate. This was like hundreds of hazelnuts like fall out.

Jordan just paused and counted them one by one.

I could we could pause it. I'll count all those hazelnuts.

I don't think they're hazelnuts. They look like little puffs.

So you think the mechanist made bonbons and filled it? Also, is there rotting food in there? What if he doesn't eat it all?

Yeah, no.

Okay, I do agree that the glider doesn't look as great as OG glider. But it has like a bat motif going on.

That's not Troy's problem.

Or maybe gargoyles. My name is Goliath. He doesn't sound like that. My name is Goliath. This is just like therapy session.

Okay, moving on. Troy, you and me now.

Man, we got a lot of rabbit holes in this podcast.

Rabbit holes? What makes you happy?

You said the teachers. The masters. I don't know. I feel like the masters that they meet along the way that teach either Aang or Katara or Toph or even Saka. Something like that.

Who taught Toph? Toph taught Toph.

Yeah, Toph teaches Toph. You just like Toph. Ain't no one teaching Toph.

What did you think about Zuko chatting with his father?

I did like that. Him scolding his father because every once in a while you gotta scold your father.

Speaking from experience? No. Hey, the DVR's broken. Hey, so what was going through your mind? What do you think Zuko's point was to get into Ozai?

I hate to say it, but the way he was speaking to Fire Lord Ozai, it just feels like we could usually we could use some we could use somebody like that to uh get to deliver a similar speech uh to our current political leader. When Zuko confronts Fire Lord Ozai, he gets very philosophical and he goes, You taught me nothing, I'd learn everything by myself.

And what I learned is that the lie of the Fire Nation is you wanted to spread everybody's prosperity with the rest of the world, but everybody fears us. They actually hate us. The world needs more peace and kindness in the world. And the way that uh Lord Ozai just kept laughing off Zuko really highlighted Lord Ozai's insecurities, and I was just like, yeah, I mean the writers, the writers, they did a great job of making Fire Lord Ozai that much more despicable.

Now the episodes did have Iroh, and I really do enjoy Iro's presence in every episode that I see him in.

It feels like Zuko was now our conduit for Iroh. In a way. Iroh hasn't really been present, and I didn't really appreciate that Iroh, we didn't get to watch him break out of jail.

unknown I know.

Yeah.

It seemed pretty weak.

It was uh the great disappointment. They could have totally got me more hyped had they shown Iroh busting out of prison and possibly helping uh fend off the invasion of the Fire Nation, helping the guys escape.

I mean, it wouldn't have been that long of a deviation. I mean, you could have cut something else in this episode to give Iroh a quick, a quick little get out of jail sequence. Yeah. But also this was a moi episode, so maybe they were like, we can't do that. Oh, no, I didn't like it. Don't know how.

Both were mois.

The second one was moi. Wow. So what was the confrontation with Oz I Like for You, Katie?

Direct. And necessary. And I'm always happy when people speak their truth. And I think it was good. I think it was good for Zuko, and it was great timing.

So we got this eclipse.

Uh I also Yeah, I'm gonna tell the colour. Because you know it's like it's like almost like my first time watching it. Yeah, I forgot that dad shot him with lightning and Zuko shot it back.

Okay, as soon as Ozai took that shot at Zuko, when I first watched this, I thought Zuko was done for. Like he was donezo. Did not think he would be able to redirect lightning. We know he struggles with pretty much daily tasks.

Dad, I don't agree with you. Dad, I I almost hate you, and and the dad's like, yeah, well, the heck with you. Okay, speaking of by- I'm gonna help the avatar.

What'd you say to me? Bye, Zuko.

unknown Yeah, what the heck?

That's terrible. Ozai is father of the year. I almost feel like Ozai is as short-sighted with his planning as Zuko is. Like, Ozai changes his opinion like pretty much daily, it appears. Like, seems like he pretty much has a lot of animosity towards his son. Zuko comes back as kind of a hero. Ozai's like, hey babe, let's hang out.

Like, Ozai's like, kind of very unhealthy. Oh, it's terrible. And like the second you say one negative thing, Ozai decides to like murder him.

Yeah. It's negative.

Straight up murder him.

Okay.

Okay, also the revelation that we get verification that Ozai is Fire Lord because Ursa struck a deal to make Ozai Firelord over Iroh after realizing that she could save Zuko's life by orchestrating this deal.

But why did they want to get rid of Zuko?

Because remember, Ozai spoke at a turn about replacing Iroh in line. And Azulan was like, What'd you say to me? You're gonna kill your son. And Azula's like, Dad's gonna kill you. And it's like, well, Azula always lies. But then we find out Ozai was straight up gonna kill Zuko.

Okay. So what do you think about that, Troy?

Oh, just a despicable scene. Can't wait for the Avatar to uh you know work with whoever and get back the fire. Who?

I don't know.

Anybody?

Okay, anybody Okay, going back to the invasion, they land. We get like this World War II Normandy vibe. You picking up on that? Oh yeah. And then I've never been into the tanks that think like the earth-bending tanks.

Yeah, they're kind of like caterpillars.

Yeah, they're like caterpillar flintstone mobiles.

Yeah, I like them. I was into it.

Okay, my issue with them is that there's this moment where there's like some sort of like little building thing, and one of them like crawls up on top of it and then like makes this like right angle and then crunches it. Yeah, that was my favorite. And then the other one that like lifts up on like its hind legs and then like smacks the other like Fire Nation tank.

I don't understand how they work. There's fire, there's earthbenders in there. How are they making it like move like that? I know it was for it was like a visual gag for the Nickelodeon show, but it really bothered me. I didn't like the tanks, don't like them at all.

I wonder how many kids watched that episode and they were like, I want to be a tank operator when I get older. A tank operator? A tank. Tank operator. Maybe a tank operator.

Alright, and then we have everyone kind of laying siege. It's a battle scene, and then Katara Sokka and Hakoda go off to go take out a couple battlements. And we get this really great visual of like Sokka hanging off the edge of like Appa's horn. Using his sword to like cut through steel, so we get verification that the meteor sword is a really nice sword, and P and Dao probably should have charged him for that, or maybe not given it to Sokka in the first place.

It was good. It seemed like Sokka knew how to use it.

Which is good. Oh well, he is a swordmaster, as we've addressed. But I did like when Sokka took charge, and I was definitely really worried that Hakoda was gonna die.

Also, weren't we a little disappointed once they realized that obviously it was all part of the plan and they all should have just evacuated.

When they first had that idea to evacuate.

And then all the men were like, nah, let's stick it out. Troy, counterpoint to that?

No. But so what's on my mind though is um we were scared that Hakoda was gonna die, we're scared that, you know, Ozai was gonna murder Zuko right then and there for talking back to him. I'm like, other than Jet? If he did pass away, I don't know. Maybe he's just m still wounded, just laying up against a tree somewhere.

Has anybody else on this show Has anybody else on this show been killed? The Jet was the only on-screen one. I mean, there's not been like any on-screen deaths. I was gonna say, you know. I mean, Yeah, but you still you don't know if you're gonna pull. Yeah. I thought Zuko was dead when he got shot by lightning.

I'm sorry. What did you think? Did you think I was like I was taking it? Did you think Zugo was dead?

I was gonna I at first I was thinking uh you feel like you're like final eh. You son of a bee. You're gonna scar the other side of his face.

Oh my god.

Can you imagine Zuko comes out with two scars? I'll give you a matching scar.

That's sick. You know, you're a sick dad, why the other side? Don't you ever speak back to me again.

Okay, hold on. And we gotta talk about Azula. I'm always impressed with her agility, sassiness. Like she's just really she's an impressive person.

She's always several steps ahead of anybody.

Do you think she actually has Suki?

Yeah. I mean, I don't know what she's gonna use her for. I mean, she's kind of like wasting her time keeping Suki as a prisoner. Why?

It doesn't really Suki's a pretty good, you know, she's a pretty good warrior. She would be an asset to the gang.

Yeah, true. I just I was I'm thinking more terms like doesn't do Azula much to antagonize Sokka. Why? She's already proven she's like ten times more powerful than Sokka.

Right, but Azula's cruel. She's going to take her time to like crush anybody in her path. And if she can defeat the morale of someone important to the Avatar, she's gonna do whatever she can to like take him down.

Yeah, I will admit, it was a little like unnerving to watch everybody get baited so easily.

I think um uh tensions were high, man. Yeah. It was like we are on a mission. We are on a minute mission.

I gotta forgive him because they were definitely like baiting kids at war. That's pretty much what this episodes were. It was kids at war.

Yeah, I mean, some of the most important people in this invasion were children. Yes. They legally couldn't like drive a car in the United States. I know, that's sick, Nickelodeon. So I speaking of people I thought was gonna die, so I thought Okoda was gonna die, thought Zuga was gonna die. And then when Sokka charged Zula after she baited him, she pulls out like the batterang, I was like, oh god, she's gonna murder Sokka!

And I thought Sokka was the one who had the best chance of going down on that episode.

That's too funny. I thought she was gonna cut his nick his hand that it was carrying a sword, so he couldn't sword fight anymore. I've been like, that would have been that would have been worse than death if he couldn't sword fight anymore.

Is that like a Jamie Lannister thing? Oh, you can't use your sword hand anymore. Oh, spoiler alert, yeah. Who cares? Game of Thrones sucks.

So again, Toph, MVP, where she's like, uh-uh, not my friend.

One of my favorite masters, Toph. Uh, when Toph takes down that giant metal door and she like uses her elbow, she's like, and then kisses her like pointer fingers and then just like sticks them into the door and just like rips it apart like tinfoil. Also, when she uh got the like stuck the dialy agent in like the girder, she's like falls in there, she's like oh yeah.

Get in there! She has the most sadistic smile too, like, I got you now. Okay, can we talk about the eclipse finally? Like the eclipse comes, firebending's gone.

For eight minutes.

I thought I thought the plan was gypped from the beginning when they said that the eclipse was gonna last for eight minutes. I'm telling you, it w when you're when tensions are high and your heartbeat's going fast, eight minutes is nothing. And so the fact that they they felt like they could find the fire lord and and end his reign within eight minutes, I'm like, okay.

We're gonna ruin this whole man's career. Pretty much. I'm just like, who do you guys think you are? Like, you guys have the most strongest being in the universe, the Avatar, but you got eight you got an eight-minute window and all you guys are gullible kids.

I think the invasion would have been a success had they been able to if if if Ozai didn't know about it, I think Aang would have been able to subdue him.

Actually, no. All they had to do was take out Azula, and then the Fire Lord would have been screwed.

Well, no.

She oh yeah, that's for that's what I got from these episodes.

Well, I mean, obviously Azula's like gathering like important intel on the world.

Tough could locate him sooner or later, but it was Azula that baited them all until and wasted all their precious time. Right. So you take out Azula, you pretty much take out the queen. The queen can do much more damage on the chess board than the king.

But wouldn't it have been wouldn't it have been really awkward for Aang and the gang to bust in in the middle of like father and son like series chess?

How awkward would that have been? Zuko'd been like, hey, I I'm gonna join you, and like Aang's like ready to like take them both. They probably just would have recklessly.

I suppose I would have had the perfect chance to distract them all just in time to zap Zuko and think of another scar on his face.

And Zuko's like, well, I was just telling my dad that I'm gonna join you to take him down. And he'd be like, what? No. Oh my god. We don't want you.

So yeah, this uh clearly the episode ends in like a great defeat for everyone. We realize that technology is kind of advancing in the show. Like we're getting like the use of submarines, we're getting like different types of tanks, but then we find out that they've been mass-producing like the air balloons from the Northern Air Temple episode that the Mechanists created.

And then, surprise, we've created Zeppelins! So all of a sudden we got blimp power on our side, and by our side, the Fire Nation side.

Yeah, not our side.

What'd you think about blimp showing up? Is that how to is that another word for a Zeppelin? Is that blimp?

Don't just call it blimp. What? Zeppelin's way cooler. True. Zeppelin's the better name. Bled Zeppelins. Yeah, no, I uh I just thought, oh come on. Like in certain shows, it was nice to see them advance in their technology, but I'm like, don't want to advance it too far because it's just like I don't know, then it it kind of lost its uh I want to say plausibility with me.

I don't know. I think Zeppelins were pretty plausible considering the fact we've already seen tanks that are like rolling around. I mean it kind of makes sense if we're looking at this like World War I, World War II era. Like we're on the cusp of new technology.

And so when I saw those those air balloons and those and those zeppelins. I just thought if they were not if they're not made of metal, if they're made out of whatever blumps are usually made out of. What is that, like hard tarp? Well, I think the zeppelins.

I think the zeppelins were probably fortified with metal, as we know the Fire Nation's pretty industrialized.

I don't know. I just yeah, I just especially with the main air balloons, they did a good job of just cutting those things down. But I don't know. I I feel like they really, if it was really life or death, you know, push the pedal to the metal, I feel like they could have disposed of all those a lot sooner.

But the Zeppelins?

Yeah. With just Apa and Aeon as glider. So apparently the Zeppelins, each Zeppelin can house like 50 firebenders, because you saw they all had like little platforms they were standing on. They're all kind of like tethered to them. So I mean, just I mean, they were just sheerly outnumbered. I mean, it would take it would have taken a long time and a lot of effort to dispose of one of them.

Right. So that proves two things. One, the guys on the show failed to consult a military advisor. And two, I'm not a military guy myself, so I'm just like, I'm like, well, wouldn't it just been easier to take them out this way? No, because they were uh they had their defenses set up that way. Well, wouldn't it just been easier?

I'm like literally arguing with myself over the military tactics in these episodes when I know nothing about military.

Okay, if you had Katara on Oppa with a finite amount of water and Aang in his glider against five Zeppelins, each equipped with 50 benders, what are you gonna do?

Exactly. And every episode that I see Iroh or Aang or Zuko or Katara, basically anybody that's that knows how to bend an element, I guess with every episode, I look forward to how far can they push themselves with that element. And I guess with uh Aang's part, you know, he he did alright with his with his bending, but just didn't quite get it right.

Alright, back to the eclipse. Yes, back to the eclipse. So I read some theory on I think it was Avatar Extras that it was like, oh, little there's a rumor going around that UA was trying to help help our friends with the eclipse. Whatever. Do we think that oh what's your what's your opinion there?

No, I think it's BS. I think that people are want to see something that's not there.

Yeah, no, I I wasn't buying into UA having any sort of agency in that in that moment.

Moving on. I don't even want to put energy into that.

Oh my gosh. I want to talk about the differences between Ozai and Zuko, because Zuko and Ozai both clearly are very short-sighted in their approach to most things, not really looking into like the broader picture. And I think a lot of it is uh clearly Ozai has never like really traveled or been outside of the Fire Nation, and so like his predecessors, they're all very insular, and they have this belief of the Fire Nation being superior that they're going to share with the world.

But then we have Zuko, who was on a trajectory to have that same life of being in the Fire Nation his whole life and not really doing much else. Because he had kindness and a good soul, he was banished from the Fire Nation and was forced to go travel the world in like less than stellar terms. Like he wasn't going around with like a a large backpack to explore the world.

No, like he didn't have like this convoy, like it wasn't a very regal presence. I mean he was pretty like he was roughing it, you know. Right for the most part. And then it got worse when he was like a refugee or he was, you know. He was a traitor to the Fire Nation. And so you get all these things where Zuko is being like bombarded with like almost sensory overload while he's going through his journey.

And he's like being introduced to a bunch of different people and a bunch of different theories and ways of life. And even though he was kind of leaning toward villainy in those moments, like he still was getting out into the world and he was seeing like how the people of the Northern Water Tribe are, how those people of the Southern Water Tribe are, how people all around the Earth Kingdom are.

And all the while he had Iroh kind of holding his hand and kind of subtly teaching him things about the world and kind of hoping to redirect Zuko in his life. And as we saw in the book two finale, it didn't really work because he saw his path to redemption was with Azula, but only because he held on to that nostalgia that the Fire Nation was going to be the best place for him.

But then when he gets back to the Fire Nation, he starts seeing how th things for how they are, not how he wants to see them. And no matter how much he wants things to be really positive there and how much he wants that to fit, it's not working. And so it took him until when he makes that decision. And I think it really came out in Nightmares and Daydreams, where he's talking like he's kind of going through all of this, these emotions of like, I was there, I was the perfect prince my father always wanted, but I wasn't me.

And then we have this episode where it's almost like all of his experiences from book one and two just like cascaded on him, and he finally was able to internalize all those lessons he learned, and it just kind of caught up with him. And it's almost like Zuko like finally aligned himself. And it was a very mature moment where Zuko's like, I know my destiny, which is something that Zuko's like been struggling with for two seasons.

Like, my destiny is to like capture the avatar, and now he knows it's not what he needs to do.

And it's an interesting thought, because right, I mean, when you travel, it can broaden your mind and you can just see how other people live. Yeah, and there's a lot of very positive, many positive uh aspects of traveling. But anyway, it's interesting to think that Iroh also left the Fire Nation, and now Zuko's left.

But do you think Ozai has ever left the Fire Nation?

I don't think so.

Yeah, I mean, I guess it didn't really work for Azula, but she was, you know, surrounded by her fire squad, and you know, it's not like she ever had to ref it. Anyway.

So then the episode, we get the ending. Aang has expressed through the whole Day of Black Sun to Parter that he doesn't want to fail again, and he doesn't want this to to be another like kind of stain on his reputation as the Avatar. Which is building up at this point. Went into the ice for a hundred years.

I think his only like real victory at this point has been helping the Northern Water Tribe uh not be in fully invaded by the Fire Nation. And then pretty much he's just kind of like stumbled all the way. I mean he successfully like held off the drill, but really that was just delaying the inevitable, really.

Right.

And so we get this really great moment where Aang is like he's just like really down and he's crying and he's sobbing and they're loading up the children on the hopper and the elders are staying behind, gonna surrender. That was like a really powerful scene for me, and it was really emotional. And I appreciated that Katara's character like didn't tell Aang to like you know, chin up or stop crying, you gotta like be a man.

And she kind of gave him the space to kind of like kind of let that through let those emotions play out. And then gave that really great line of how like he really like loved like them being brave and that he promised to like make it up to them. It's like short and sweet and to the point. And now we have the men just kind of agreeing to surrender, to kind of give themselves up to the Fire Nation, to kind of you know live to fight another day.

And now Aang pretty much doesn't really have anybody right now. So what's I mean the gang has pretty much been decimated at this point. Like all of their allies have been captured, or if they've turned. So I mean they're pretty in a pretty low place, all things considering.

And we now have Zuko tailing him on his little hot air balloon. Alright, Troy, what's gonna happen?

I don't know. It's is Zuko gonna catch him? It's anyone's game at this point. All I can say is that this episode really just It really allowed me to just be super beyond annoyed with everybody in the Fire Nation for the most part. Most of the people in the Fire Nation. And as far as Aang and the gang go, there's only one way to go.

Where? I don't know.

We'll find out in the next episode. Okay, so then after this episode, I want you guys to know that the series went on an eight-month hiatus. Like, a single episode did not air in the US from November, like late mid to late November, till July. There was nothing after the black Day of Black Sun. Absolutely nothing.

There was no word from Nickelodeon. They weren't like, oh, hey guys, guess what? We're gonna take a break, but stick with us because eventually the show will come back and it's gonna be great. Nothing.

Yeah, that was pretty crazy.

Eight months. It comes out, speaking, bringing this back to high school, the first half of book three comes out uh the beginning of my senior year, and then just nothing for so long. And so I just remember like the entirety of my senior year for the rest of it. The only thing I was worried about was when Avatar was gonna come back.

I was like, you know what's gonna happen? Is I'm gonna die and I'm not gonna know how Avatar ends. And I was just like, I just kept looking at Nickelodeon like all the time, like wondering I would see like when an episode would come out on like a Friday night. Nothing. Nada. And so I like, I don't know, for eight months, like all through my senior year, it was just like me and my friends, like theorizing what was gonna happen because what a cliffhanger to end on.

That's not fair.

Did Nickelodeon ever make a statement about it? Like that they thought about canceling it or something?

No. And I thought they were gonna cancel it, and I was gonna be devastated. Wow.

Could you imagine the show ending on the invasion party? Can you imagine? You don't even get the like the the I don't know. You get nothing.

The gang is down, low, morale, Ozai and Azula win. So ultimately what Nickelodeon did was that they aired over the course of one week, every single episode up to the finale. So in the course of a week, you go from nothing to the back half of book three. They aired nine or ten episodes over the course of a week.

Wow. It was the dumbest thing I've ever seen in my entire life. I was so that Nickelodeon. I couldn't even be happy with getting all those episodes. I was just mad. I was like, this is how you this is how you treat me? This much disrespect. I loved the episodes.

Jordan didn't do his laundry, he didn't get anything to eat, he just sat there in front of the TV that whole week.

No, I didn't, and I'll tell you why. Because they started airing the episodes in Canada before they started airing them in the US. And so I think a couple months in, I don't remember when, maybe it was April, maybe it was June. It was close to that one week extravaganza, but I was on the, it was in, you know, the the the middle ages of of the internet where we weren't everything wasn't accessible, and the only computer in the house was this like clunky desktop, like up in my up in my mom's room.

And so I went up there, and then I find out that they're airing these episodes. And I mean, YouTube wasn't like super prevalent at that time. It was 2008, it was around. So I finally I had all this anxiety. I was like, okay, what's gonna happen is I'm gonna pirate these episodes and they're gonna cancel them anyway, and I'm not gonna be able to finish it.

I had a lot of anxiety about this. So I started watching them online when they came out in Canada.

Cool story, bro.

Yeah, so uh the next episode's called the Western Air Temple. It was agonizing waiting for that episode.

Were you happy?

Can't tell ya, because we're gonna watch that next. But before, I'd like to talk about eclipses because eclipse eye? We've experienced our own eclipse, the three of us, I believe. Troy, did you see the eclipse when it happened a couple years ago?

I did. I it was actually on my day off, and my wife and I were in front of um the YMCA. You're married? Yeah. Yeah, no, it was a neat it was a neat eclipse.

Wait, so you didn't see the see it in totality? No. Did you? We saw it in totality.

Yeah, we drove, I mean like 20 minutes down the road.

It happened 2017. Was that when the eclipse was?

Sure.

So I just remember going to excuse me, I just remember going to the gym and all they at the YMCA here and tell them like they got four nice big screen TVs in the in the fitness center, and the entire time during the uh eclipse, all four TV stations had the most horrendous angle of the eclipse. Like none of them could get it right.

Like some were a little off by their left, some are off by the right, one was like a little above it, one, and then like the fourth one was just below it.

I was like, oh come on, you guys, get it right. So we went down to Pacific City, which was in totality, but it wasn't the direct center of totality, which is more Depot Bay. But on the Oregon coast, it was like we were preparing for the apocalypse. It was like there's gonna be gridlock in the streets, like we're not gonna be able to go anywhere, it's gonna be a nightmare, like there's gonna be millions of people that are gonna flock to the Oregon coast.

Yeah, they scared everybody from coming, so it really wasn't too bad. Yeah, it was a ghost town for the most part. And there was like uh cities along the coast that had like overly prepared for all this stuff, and then they had uh more food than they had expected in restaurants that were all like going bad, and it was like not super great for a lot of people.

But we went to the beach to watch the eclipse, but it was socked in, so it was like super foggy, and it was like a half hour till totality, and Katie and I were like starting to get really like sketched out. We're like, Oh, you know what's gonna happen, so we're gonna totally like miss it. And so we called our friend who lived a mile or two inland, and he was like, Oh no, the weather's great, like it's a beautiful day.

Like, you can go to my backyard. I'm not home right now, but you guys can go. So then Katie and I go and crash our friend's backyard, and we're just hanging out. In totality, it was beautiful, it was amazing. It was like it did get like super dark, like surprisingly dark. And then really quiet, and really cold, like the temperature dropped, you could feel it.

That's what I remember the most. Like the shadows went the opposite way, and it dropped a good 15 degrees where I was at.

I mean, it was definitely colder. And then, like, as it was like the sun was coming back, then the animals kind of started freaking out, and do you remember that?

Yeah, it was it was a strange event, but totality only lasted for where we were. I think it was like a minute and a half, maybe two minutes.

Okay, here's another random fact about that eclipse. I didn't realize this, but bees work really super hard in the sun. They work hard all the time, Troy.

And sunny bee is the most important thing on this planet, right?

Out and about, the eclipse totally took them by storm. And so once the in that when when the eclipse was at its full totality, apparently majority of bees, if not all bees around the world, stopped working.

Good. Everyone should have stopped working during the eclipse. Yeah. It's beautiful.

Yeah.

Okay. Well, anyway.

I hope nobody got pulled over during the eclipse. How's sad would that have been?

Wait, I just want to look at it. You're like getting your Miranda rights read, and you're like, can you do it on the other side? So, yeah, uh, I'm happy that our eclipse uh didn't impact our firebending and that we didn't have to experience uh an invasion of a foreign lane.

I was gonna say, um I was also happy we didn't have to experience an invasion and that I didn't have to cry because we lost the invasion.

No, a good cry is good. I got emotional. Okay, I almost cried several times that in those episodes.

Me too. It was a little much.

So we're in a low place, but uh we'll see what happens. Uh maybe Zuko's gonna join up.

Maybe he's gonna Okay, Jordan's in a low place. I'm in a pretty high place because Iroh busted out of prison.

But where's he gonna go?

Oh, there's plenty of places where he can go. They sure like him in the world more than they like Ozai.

Do you think Zuko and Iroh are gonna work it out, or do you think not so much?

Oh, well, I'll just have to wait and find out.

So, do we think like Zuko was gonna bust Iroh out so they could both go teach Aang? Yeah. And I appreciated that Zuko finally gave like props to Iroh being the father that he never had.

Well, you look at Ozai. He's definitely not father material. Good god, he raised a little monster named Azula.

Monster Razor. Yes. Well, let's see what happens to the monsters in the next segment. So until then, guys. Yip yep. Yip, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. Well, hello everybody. Uh, we're back with Yip Yaporay, an Avatar podcast, and uh it's me, Jordan.

It's me, Katie. And it's me, Jessica.

Wow, this is like the most energetic intro I think we've ever had.

I think you set the tone, and I had to kind of do a little bottle head.

That's because Katie had coffee. It usually has no effect on her, but maybe, maybe, just maybe.

No, I think it was the cheese and apple and salami.

Katie made a, I want to say, it it wasn't a charcuterie board.

Not together. I don't know.

It was like a like just blended in your mouth. What did you have for lunch?

I had some leftover lentil soup.

Ooh. Uh so my new thing that I'm really into is carcinization, the uh the act of evolving into a crab.

Okay, Jordan was like losing his bananas last night telling me about this. I'm like, is this funny? I don't know.

Just a way in. Was it funny?

You sent me the article, and I think I read like two or three sentences, and I was like, what? And I was like, I I can't deal with this in 2020. We're all gonna become crabs. Like, what's happening?

So what happened was is that whatever species it was evolved into crab, and then so we had crab, and then like within that same habitat, there was like four or five other species that weren't crabs that have evolved into crabs or a crab-like thing. So spider crabs aren't crabs, they were perhaps like some version of hermit crab, which again, not crab, but then they evolved into crab.

And so we are all on this trajectory to be crab.

So are they in the same taxonomy, like genus, blah blah blah, or do they have separate ones?

Well, I think they slowly evolve like similar like circulatory systems, and so they're like becoming crabs, but again, they are not crab. Kind of like Neanderthon Homo sapien. I mean, they're they're similar, but they're not the same. I was losing it last night. It was the funniest thing ever to me.

Just to you.

Like things just keep turning into crabs. Like you look into the ocean, you're like, oh no, the whales are crabs now.

I think that's your new comedy pilot script about the eventual crabization of the world.

Could it be like Spirited Away, where like people are in like different forms of like transforming into like witch people and frogs? Because like you, when you watch Spirit Away, like everyone's kind of in like some form of trans slowly transforming into a frog. So the the sitcom would be a family, and like maybe the maybe the grandpa's a crab, maybe one of the kids are a crab, but everyone's kind of like kind of turning into a crab and someone's your crab face, like you kind of yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Really, really a shame that people at home can't see it.

I know. Uh, so this is when we reveal the spoiler to Jessica that actually the series finale of Avatar the Last Airbender, uh, everyone becomes crabs.

Oh. Whoa, it didn't seem like I wonder how Koran ties into that.

You actually she has to save the world from crabs. She's reborn into the world as the Avatar, but as a person, and she looks around and everyone's crabs. Can you imagine a crab airbender?

Like Yes.

Crab waterbender.

Crab firebender, crab bake. So, speaking of things that aren't crab related, we have watched the Day of Black Sun two-part special. Jessica went ahead and watched the Western Air Temple, which we will also address in this podcast. But, Jessica, what'd you think about this invasion that happened?

Well, before I started the episodes, it was like, wait, how many more episodes are left in this season? And then it was like, well, obviously this is not gonna go great, guys, because there's too many episodes left for it to be like the rest of the time being like, it's great now. Um and then I knew in the back of my mind that uh so Azula that we already know knows about the eclipse, and we know that she's crafty.

So I knew that they were gonna be prepared. What I didn't realize until watching the episode was that the Avatar team didn't know that she knew. Like Earth Queen kind of forgot he told her, like, come on, Earth King, like it's worse and worse.

Yeah, that's like weak on his part. Yeah, as they're like flying away from the fallen Earth Kingdom, he wasn't he wouldn't bother to say, Oh, yeah, hey, those ladies uh definitely told them about the plan, but they dumped him off somewhere, so he's just like roaming around. So you can't you can't get to Kui at this point.

But it's fine. I mean, critical thinking with him obviously had everybody else making the decisions, and he was just kind of doo-doo. Right. So yeah, not good.

Right. So I didn't realize that they didn't know that they were walking into a trap. So that was kind of exciting. I mean, I didn't expect I don't know, did they make a reference earlier that um Sakko told his dad to go find all their old friends? Or is that a surprise completely?

It might have been a bit of a surprise because like the season opens with them hanging out with the Water Tribe Warriors, and so I guess once they piece out, because you actually don't see them leaving the Water Tribe Warriors when they go to catch Aang after he like washed up on that shore. So I guess it was an off-screen thing that happened.

But also, how'd they get a hold of everyone?

I know. I was like, those are really good instructions Sokka gave his dad because I mean, and like convinced these like swamp guys to be like, let's go fight the water tribe. I think that's pretty or water tribe, the fire nation.

I mean, you don't think hockey did it? You don't think hockey pulled down?

Did Hockey ever make it to Top's parents?

Hockey was definitely shot down. Like he is he was murdered. Okay, Top's parents should have been there. Yeah, why didn't Top's parents like send an army? They've got the money. Money wins wars.

Money and the resources.

Okay, what'd you think about the advanced technology we see in The Day of Black Sun? Like we get subs.

Yeah, I mean that uh one inventor dude. I guess we already knew from that episode with him in the air temple. I don't remember which Cardinal direction.

The Northern Temple.

Um that he obviously was like way ahead. He's like the uh Da Vinci of Avatar.

I'm glad that you mentioned the Da Vinci of Avatar because the tanks that we are shown in the invasion, like those earth tanks that are created, and I was really bothered by them. Every time I've watched them, I've been bothered by them because they're like Flintstone, they're like run by like Flintstone power.

Everyone's like running with them. But apparently they're based on a Da Vinci model of a tank.

Oh. I thought they were just like based on like centipedes or something.

I know. Well, I don't know if that's what like Da Vinci was doing. I don't know. But I don't like it's really confusing to me that Sokka, I don't know, drew a picture of them sitting in a whale, and that was like the inspiration for the subs, and he was like, hey, mechanists, can you do this? It was like a dumb kind of throwaway gag.

I was like, oh come on, Sokka.

Yeah, like the drawing should have been like a little bit better. Like that was like a four-year-old drawing.

Poor Sokka.

There should have been a rainbow.

Oh, always a rainbow. So what did you think about Sokka like kind of losing his self-esteem trying to talk through the the invasion plan?

Well, it didn't really make sense to me that Sokka would be the person giving the speech of the invasion plan.

The 15-year-old boy?

Yeah, he's 15.

Okay, Sokka, tell him the plan.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So I mean it made sense when his dad uh stepped in to be like, okay, and like obviously he hadn't practiced. Like, was he aware that he was gonna give the speech? So yeah, I think he was too hard on himself uh about it because it was just like, hey, you know, sometimes it goes smoothly.

People get frustrated. What did Aang say? He was like, not everyone can talk in front of crowds or something like that.

Yeah, like no one, no one's good at public speaking, Sokka. Okay, speaking of Aang, what'd you think about as his new outfit for this part of the season?

Oh yeah, I was like, um I like to I was like, where did he get like some airbender clothes? Like, did um Sokka's dad like bring some on the ship? Like, oh, here's your extra airbender clothes.

Hey, so I raided your wardrobe. Uh, here's this. I don't know.

Maybe maybe the mechanic guy brought it. You know, they have all the the air nomad stuff.

I guess that's true. So we found this. Uh I'm assuming it's uh important. My theory was that they just took like his old clothes that were all burnt and beat up and just like tweaked them to because he's not wearing wearing that much. And his bottom half is like his Fire Nation school uniform. So he's got like Fire Nation pants and shoes, and then just kind of like a toga.

Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, I guess if soccer can somehow make armor for APA, I guess. Okay, do we believe being able to make an outfit isn't that big of a stretch?

I don't know. Well, he is a craft swordsman now. So yeah, he can make armor.

He did it with his sword. Do we believe it?

He doesn't even have a forge. Whatever.

Maybe he just bought like pre-I don't know, just like hammered it. Maybe Toph, because Toph's a metal bender. Shouldn't Toph.

Okay, wait. We didn't even talk about, or did you talk about the like uh Caterpillar?

The tanks? Yeah. We did talk about the tanks. Oh, sorry, I missed it. Inspired by Da Vinci.

I had a text to respond to.

It wasn't from either of us. Who are you talking to?

Yeah. Who else could have any people?

Yeah, okay, so Aang's.

I was like, did you want to add something about the tanks, Katie? No. Jordan was super disturbed by them, but I was into them. It's like, yeah, it's gonna eat something.

I was disturbed when like during the fight scene, like the tanks are like they seem like they're autonomous. Like they're like crawling up onto like, I don't know, different buildings and like crunching them. Like it they seemed like they had become their own entity and they were eating things to sustain them.

I don't know, it was weird.

I mean they also reminded me of and I think this is like a Roman tactic or something, but in like Lord of the Rings, where they like put the shields around, I think it's the Orkai at Helmstead. Oh my god, this is like so.

Ah, the Uruk.

And they like put their shields up to protect themselves from like the oncoming like um but or arrows coming down. And I feel like the mechanism of the tanks was kind of similar to that. And so and again, that made it feel like less like super modern compared to everything else.

It's true. So did you think that they were like as soon as they landed on that shore, did you think that they had any chance of like winning? Did you think that like the body count was gonna get high? Did you think that someone was gonna go down, like Sokka was gonna meet his end?

I didn't think anyone I don't I didn't think any children were gonna die. This is still a Nickelodeon show. I mean, I guess we did see a child die. Um Wait, which child?

Who are we talking about?

Jet.

Oh do you not count him as a team?

I don't know. He's a teenager.

Legally, he's a child, but I mean Jets Jet's been through some stuff.

Yeah, he's probably 18 soon.

So like I wouldn't have been surprised if like Pipsweak died or something like that, you know?

You think my name is funny?

Yeah. Um but I did expect like I don't know, like maybe like some of the swamp people or no.

You didn't think Sok and Katara's dad was going down?

I mean, maybe. I knew Katara had conveniently Katara has learned healing powers, so she can kind of heal. So as long as they had an opportunity to be able to heal him, I thought he would probably pull through.

But when like Hakoda came out, like that that explosion thing happens and like the other tower that he goes in. But then he comes out, it looks like he has like a Wolverine slash on his side. It was like, what happened in there? What do you think?

Yeah, I was also like, what happened in there?

Uh so what'd you think about Aang's little like side journey of like going off on his own to go find the Fire Lord?

I was like, this is the plan? Like, I didn't understand how that was the plan. It's like they're coming in and bringing their th like their army, but he's just gonna go all the way to the palace by himself and they're gonna catch up with him? Like, aren't they supposed to be getting to the palace to like make a path for him to get to the Fire Lord?

Or was he just gonna sneak in and have like a secret battle with the Fire Lord while they were like I don't understand how they both like integrated together.

I guess it could be like Aang was gonna go surprise them because maybe more of the effort would be on stopping that army that was coming in, and so maybe like their thought was most of the firepower or any like non-bending weapons they would have would be focused down there and not on Aang kind of trying to fly in.

Maybe.

So basically the invasion's kind of like a distraction, so that's easier for him to sneak in.

Yeah, yeah. But yeah, so apparently the according to the lore, like Fire Lord Ozai is the most powerful firebender in the world, according to whatever. Uh so yeah, but you would have you would think that they would have, I don't know, like arrows or something at this point, like to take him down. I don't know.

Was he uh more powerful than um was the last avatar's name?

Oh, Roku?

Roku.

I guess he didn't Iroh and I was like, it's not Iroh well, not the most powerful firebender ever, but like the most firebender, like the most powerful firebender like alive right now. I don't know, but I feel like Iroh could probably take him down. Dragon of the West.

That's right. He broke out of jail, so he's ready to go.

But like, yeah, so Aang shows up at the palace and he's like, oh, this is weird, no one's around. Which is apparently a Fire Nation tactic. Like, they're very nice, they're very good at making sure civilians don't get in the way. They're like, hey, uh, can you guys just clear out of here?

It's like Ninja Turtles and the what the hell is it called?

The Foot Clan.

Yeah, and it's like, oh, I don't know, disappear. So I can't even remember what they do.

Yeah, apparently we have to watch Ninja Turtles next.

Yeah, you know what I'm talking about? It's like, oh, vanish.

Okay, random leave. Random Ninja Turtle sidebar. Okay, April O'Neal. Okay, April, April O'Neal, right?

Fire Nation's like ninjas. Okay, this is like totally not.

Hey, you two, I have a I have a nugget to share. I have a nugget to share. Okay, April O'Neal, original Ninja Turtle movie, right? She's a crab now. Okay, so she's the mom in Halloween Town.

She's the mom in Halloween Town? I don't even remember what the mom looks like in Halloween Town. She's called the grandma in Halloween Town.

Well, time to watch. It's October. Debbie Reynolds.

Aww. Okay, so they disappear like ninjas. Okay, I'm I'm impressed that the Fire Nation looks out for its citizens. That's all I'm saying.

Okay, so whatever. So yeah, it's like, oh, no one's here. Obviously, something's not right, but better keep going. Oh, yeah, I guess they have the pow out. It's like, well, should we get everybody out safely or should we continue with the plan? It's like, nah, we all plan to die, so go ahead, eh.

No one lives forever.

Well, I mean, at that point the eclipse hasn't happened yet, so they're still like, well, we gotta do something with this eclipse. So I understand, like, being like, well, and also like they wouldn't expect, like, even though they know they're coming. I don't know, does Azula know that Toth can like see with her feet?

I don't think so.

Yeah, so I mean they still have that kind of element of surprise. So I think she's pushing forward at that point.

What did you think about them, like their BS fight with Azula?

I mean, I like saw Azula and I was like, man, I'm I like really into Azula now because I was like happy to see her, and like I was like, she's totally playing these fools, like even though she's like a psychopath, I'm all of a sudden being like, yeah. And then when they like point out like what she's doing, and then she just keeps doing it, and Saka keeps falling for it, I was like, this is on you guys.

Like Azula is like obviously gonna keep doing her best. Like, so I mean, respect the game. Did the guy that told them where to go, who was like doo doo doo doo doo, was he in on it, or did he really think that that's where the fire lord was? Like, did he know it was Azula?

unknown I don't know.

You could probably go either way with it. But apparently that guy, that guy showed up before in the series. Like, he was the one hanging out in the drill, and he was also the one that showed up in the the Northern Air Temple episode. So he's been around. So apparently he's like a high up guy. Maybe he's just like, Oh yeah, can't kill him.

I could see him like being in on it.

I was surprised to see the Daily. I just like forgot about him. Like, oh yeah, you're here, still loyal.

Well, again, I was like, oh, Azula, so smart. She's like, Well, eclipse, I can't find a bender, better surround myself with some earth benders. Makes total sense. I was like, she's so smart.

Okay, I'm glad you brought that up because uh I that didn't occur to me. I was just like, oh, Azula just had friends. I didn't think that was like a tactic. She just had them with her. So thank you for showing me the way. Kind of like the Zuko thing that I got wrong. That Zuko captured the Daily so the Daily would show him the way to Lake Laogai.

Because I was like, oh, Zuko just followed him. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The end. So uh what do you think about like Suki's fate?

Oh, I mean, that's sad, obviously. I mean, we don't really know what happened to Suki, right? Because we know Azula lies constantly, but like, I don't know. Azula doesn't have any like I don't know, I guess she probably is keeping Suki trapped somewhere to use his leverage, right? Because she's always uh so I would think Suki would be more valuable to her alive than dead.

And I don't think she just kills people to kill people. We haven't seen any evidence of that.

I mean, she did try to kill Aang to kill Aang. And I think she's gonna be able to get the kids. Yeah, but he's the avatar.

There's like a reason to kill the avatar. Well, and Zuko, but you know, it's her brother, so it's fine. Besides those two.

So when when Azula finally baits Sokka to like attack her and she like pulls out like a dagger, like a secret dagger, I thought Sokka was going down. I was like, Sokka's gonna die. This is what happens. And I was like, heart was going. Again, I was like, you know, 17 when I was watching this.

I was like, oh no, Sokka. Yeah, well, I thought that like last week when we watched this. Uh yeah. Even though I knew Sokka wasn't going down, but I still felt it. Toph, there to save the day.

Okay, Toph obviously has been MVP this whole series. If they didn't have Toph and didn't have like her specialized skill set, they would they uh they would be nowhere. They would nothing would be happening. Like they would lose.

What's your opinion between uh of Toph and Sokka's relationship?

Toph and Sokka's relationship? I guess I don't really think of them as a pair.

I really like their dynamic.

Well, because I really picked up on it this time. That right, Toph has these feelings for Sokka, is my opinion. So that she that she's like annoyed with him in a way, but also she's like kind of into him is how I am picking up on it.

Like we're kind of like siblings.

She does kind of defend his ideas a lot, doesn't she? And like Sokka has a plan, or I don't know how to do it. Yeah, I can see saved him a bunch. Well, I mean everybody's everyone has been established, yeah.

Well, in the Serpent's Pass episode, when Toph is like drowning, and Sokka's like, I'm coming for you, Toph! And he's like taking his clothes off, and Suki just jumps in with like full battle garb to go save her. Toph's reaction is to go, Oh Sokka, my hero, and then kisses Sokka, but kisses Suki, and then she realizes she's actually kissing Suki, and then Toph's like, Oh, you can let me drown now.

She's embarrassed.

But yeah, no, uh, like I don't think that Toph would have had that reaction if it had been Aang to save her.

So that's like my Because I think Aang and Toph like genuinely have that like brother-sister kind of dynamic, like just kind of like get on each other's nerves. Okay, yeah. Back backtracking a little bit, speaking of the feels, what was your opinion, Jessica, of Aang initiating that kiss with Katara before they part ways?

I mean, I got it, but again, like I don't chip them together. And so I was just like, I thought Katara's reaction was interesting because it she wasn't like disturbed by it. I'm not saying she should be disturbed, but get back, you little plurp. She like this whole thing, she's been giving off like uh friend zone vibes the entire time.

So I thought she'd be a little bit more like, oh, that was interesting, instead of just like kind of seemed like she was like embarrassed, but she thought it was nice. And like, of course, Aang is like going into battle, feels like he needs to like, you know, maybe we'll never see each other again.

He's going down, can't can't die without yeah.

Some things that I read was that Aang initiating that kiss is like a problematic moment, but for for Aang and Katara, do you agree with that?

Problematic in what way?

Problematic in like it's a man like asserting dominance in like it's non-consensual. Right.

So on the Bechtelcast, uh, which is a podcast where they review um women's roles in movies in light of the Bechtel test and other like lenses. Uh they call it the surprise kiss, and it happens all the time, and it's like men are just constantly all of a sudden like kissing these women in these movies, and they're just like, oh, I'm supposed to be great.

This is a surprise kiss. So I see that a bit. I feel like he wasn't like super like, I feel like Katara could have like turned her head to like if she needed to. I don't I wasn't I there's been way worse examples of a surprise kiss in media, I feel like.

When I think it's like a really nice moment, like they're kind of like alone, they get a chance to talk. Because I really don't think Katara and Aang have had that moment really to address things. Uh, and Aang is reflecting back on like what happened in the cave with them in the beginning of book two, where they're in the cave of two lovers and they have to kiss or turn their lights out because it's never like really revealed if they actually kiss.

And so that doesn't like quite get resolved. So I do think there's that tension there, but Aang and Katara aren't really able to be in the space to talk about any sort of like romance. And I think Katara gets in this thing of like, I have to be a mother to these fools, and probably associates like Aang like a little brother at times, kind of like like how she has to be a mother to Sokka.

And so I think that trickles Aim to Aang, but I don't think Katara's like consciously like, I look at you like a little brother, Aang.

But you know, I bet that was her role also in the tribe. It was like helping out her grandma and taking care of all the kids, and so I think she's probably just used to being a mom, or like being in that role just in general.

So I think that's Well, like, and I think Katara also is like more focused on like what like Aang's like destiny is of like, okay, you gotta be the Avatar and you gotta save the world, so we need to practice our bending, we need to do these things. Like, she's like feels like probably she has to like keep him focused because we know Aang likes to just like go and play and have fun rather than like actually focus on like most of the time doing things related to war because you know war is like depressing and sad, and like you know, he's not what you think of as like a classic warrior, like he's like not like super pumped to like go fight a battle, like oh let me go fight this battle, which is good.

Um, but yeah, it's like that's what kind of sock and Katara keep happening, like bring him back to be like, okay, but this is what we have to do, we can't just like go have fun and do whatever. So I think that also contributes to when like even when Sokka or sorry, when Katara and Aang have alone time, they have to be focused on like bending and training and stuff like that.

She's not like, hey, let's explore our feelings for each other and like go make out.

Right, because it's like this is eye on the prize. It's like if they we want there to be a future for anybody, we need to stay focused.

I mean, I hooped and hollered when Aang initiated that kiss on that sub when I was when I first watched it. Because the day of Black Sun was like a moment in time for me. Like I DVR'd it, I went to a football game to be in the pet band, I came home, I watched it, and I was like freaking out the whole time.

How much older is uh Katara and Sokka than Aang?

Well, at the beginning of the series, because again the series takes place around about a calendar year, Aang begins is a 12-year-old, technically 112. Katara's 14, and Sokka's 15. So I theoretically they're 16, 15, and 13 at this point. So Aang's finally a teenager, maybe.

unknown Right.

Oh yeah. No, I mean you can I love that that Avatar the Last Airbender is like one of those shows that they didn't cast like an actual like female voice actress to portray Aang. They actually got like an age-appropriate kid, and so you kind of get to hear Aang's like Aang mature throughout the series.

Like, if you go back and rewatch book one, he definitely sounds like a little kid, and now he definitely sounds like he's like on the cusp of like maturing, which is great. I love that. Okay, so let's talk about Zuko a little bit. What's Zuzu up to for you in this in this, Jessica? Because he's really like he's like writing secret notes, he's talking to himself.

Like, what was your vibe?

Meeting up with dad.

Yeah. I was like, okay, Zuzu, you finally like have figured it out. Like, I don't really. It's interesting. It's just like, you know, people have to experience certain things to like wake up to certain things, right? Like, you can hear about like injustice or whatever, but it's not until like your best friend's been impacted that all of a sudden you're like seeing it everywhere and it's like alive for you.

And so, but it's just crazy to me that it took Zuko being home with his dad and like actually going through the motions of being a prince to be like, oh yeah, this kind of sucks, and I kinda hate this, and this is what I've been working this whole time. But I guess when you're like in that mental space when you're 13 and you're just idealizing everything.

But it's funny that it's like the monotony of the day-to-day is what finally breaks him from being and being like, oh yeah, this is bad. I should be on the good side. This is an interesting, um, it's really interesting. There's not like one huge event where he has like, it's not like he goes into another bat, like you don't even see the war room meeting like last time where he like stood up to his dad.

He just like goes and he leaves, and he was like, Well, yeah, I don't I don't want to do that anymore.

Right. Well, it's like I think Zuko's like ultimate transformation for the first half of book three is like a slow burn. Like you get all of his experiences from book one and book two, and he just like that all that has been happening to him, and I think he he probably hasn't had time to really process any of it, and then finally he gets home.

He probably hasn't believed anything negative about the Fire Nation that he's heard or seen from people's reactions to him throughout the first two books, because like, no, the Fire Nation's great, like, why why do you think that? And then finally gets home, sees that these people maybe aren't the best in the world, and that actually there is some truth to how the rest of the world views them.

Yeah, and I wonder how much the story of learning about um the his mom's dad, I guess, his grandfather on his mom's side, and how you know this was a father n a Fire Nation person, the Avatar was Fire Nation, and he ultimately was against what the Fire Nation was doing. And I don't know, like I think we discussed that previously, that like it doesn't seem like the Fire Nation in their like schooling is like, you know, telling anyone about that or really talking about him that much.

So um I guess that combined with the uh coming back and just being like, this is not for me finally. But I guess yeah, go ahead.

Learning about how Rokus is great-grandfather, I could see how that was maybe like a push for him to be like, oh, like now I have another reason besides my uncle encouraging me to be on the side of good that maybe like somewhere in my lineage maybe I'm supposed to not be hot trash.

How long do you think it's been since he's been home? Like, is it like a month since they took Bong C Sei?

Well, so yeah, yeah, so there's I think two months between the end of book two and the the eclipse. And so the first half of this book has been, I guess, over the course of two months.

Yeah. So he's had two months of laying low at home. And yeah, I guess, and they also established that he doesn't really have anything to do around the palace. He's just kind of like hanging out, hanging out with his girlfriend. So he does have a lot of time for self-reflection.

Finally. But it's probably interesting because he he has to do that on his own. Like, Iroh's not there to like guide him through those things, so he's like, Oh, I have to like kind of be introspective without the guidance of Iroh.

But Iroh is still there because he's the one who's like sending him a note, be like, Right, but do you check this out?

Do you think Zuko and Iroh are like chatting it up, or do you think Zuko is like trying to avoid him?

No, I don't think Zuko since the last time he saw Iroh and was like, I don't even remember what he said to him, and Iroh didn't say anything. But I think Iroh is still obviously actively working. I mean, he's been training to get out, like he has some kind of plan, right? He like knew to try to escape the day of like did Iro know about the eclipse?

I think Iroh just knows any everything. I don't know. He's very smart. And like, I don't know, there's a whole whole question about what he's doing. Like, how did he Okay, so jumping forward, how did he break out of that cell?

I know he's not metal bending, but he's a spider bend.

Well, who knows? Maybe what's her name was really helping.

Serena Williams.

He was like, get out of here. He was like, you don't want to be around for what I'm about to be doing.

I'm gonna mess things up.

Also, I was reading just to talk about Little Miss. Uh, I was like, I gotta refresh myself on the what happens exactly in the episode. And then it was like, there's like a goof section. I don't know if you guys read this on the Avatar Wiki. And she offers him like white jasmine tea, and apparently in a previous episode, that was established to be like poisonous.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

In uh the I was like, Oh, that's a weird oversight. Or was she trying to poison him?

Oh my god.

Like here. But like Ira would know. It's not like she says it's not white jasmine tea.

And that's why he excuses her. He's like, hey, you gotta go.

Yeah, he's like, we're actually not actually friends.

Okay, so what did you think when Zuko entered that chamber and he saw it and it was with his dad? Like, what did you think Zuko was gonna do?

I I don't know what I thought he was gonna do. Uh I thought maybe he would challenge his dad. I did think it was interesting. As soon as dad's like, oh, wait till the eclipse, and I was like, Oh yeah, Zuko, wait for the eclipse.

Like You can't. I was like, yeah, Zuko, wait.

Yeah. I mean it puts them more on even ground, so that's good.

You can't burn me again, dad.

Yeah. And I guess I should have known that Zuko would try to like launch into some like monologue about how much injustice he has. He should have just like flipped him off and then like was like, haha, I remember actually just disappeared. I don't know. I don't feel like what he did was the right move.

I don't just like tell his dad to shove it. Like, I mean, obviously there's no love loss there.

Right. I feel like he should have just like sabotaged some Fire Nation stuff and got out of there. If he really wanted to like join the Avatar.

We all know Zuko.

And then when his dad brings up his mom, uh I was like, this is like uh Azula tactic right now. Like, you need to get out of there, Zuko. He's clearly delaying.

Uh so what did you think about Zuko's monologue just in general in terms of its content to his dad?

Uh I think it was good in the moment. I obviously wasn't that memorable because I can't think of exactly what he said at this point in time.

He's like he tells his dad that like the everyone hates the Fire Nation, he wants there to be an era of peace, peace and kindness.

Right, that he grew up thinking that it was, you know, that they were the greatest nation, they were gonna just s share their knowledge and greatness with the world, and and he's traveled around and you know he's got a different perspective now.

Right, and he's like obviously defended people from Fire Nation soldiers because they suck. And he's just like, yeah, he's like, turns out the world hates us, so maybe we should not be terrible to the rest of the world and like let them be. I think it was weird that he was like, we need to bring peace so we don't destroy the world.

I don't know, did you I didn't think that like Fire Lord Ozai wasn't gonna be convinced by this speech, but I don't necessarily know if Zuko thought he was gonna convince him. Like, oh you're right, son. Yeah, let's call it all off.

I almost think that Zuko's making a play. He's like, Yeah, you banished me, like you probably you're telling me I'm a traitor, but I'm technically next in line to like rule this place. And so here's my here's my plan, friend. And when we take you down, I'm taking over this country. I think that's kind of where he was coming from.

Right, like this is what's gonna happen.

I took it as like this is probably his one opportunity to really say anything he wanted to say to his dad, and not because his dad is gonna change his mind or even hear everything, but I just think that it was it was more for Zuko and less for his dad. Just like, hey B, this is how I feel, and just know that you're a worthless father type of brutal.

And then in a certain way, by banishing him, he like led him on this path to eventually reject the Fire Nation.

Yeah, which I agree, like how Zuko says like banishing him was the best thing he could have done for him. Yeah, I agree with that 100%.

Alright, so fine. Maybe he's not totally worthless.

Well, it is interesting because like obviously we all know from the beginning Zuko's terrible plans and like can't like figure things out.

Well, yeah, I mean, clearly, and in on the next episode after the clips, you're like, oh yeah, you had no plan. You're like, oh shoot. How am I gonna get these people to like actually trust me after I've creepily followed them in my air balloon?

Do you believe his intentions are good?

At this point, yes. I feel like Zuko in a certain way is fairly straightforward. And so at this point, I think he's like, yeah, I need to. On the straight narrow. My my path is to help the Avatar. I could see once he like meets up with Azula again. If or may, that he'll might like second guess some things again.

Like, I'm not I don't think he's not gonna like second guess.

He's got another turn coming.

I'm not saying he's gonna turn bad, but I think he'll be like, hesitate or you know. I I predict something bad will happen because Zuko had to hesitate because he like didn't know what to do. I mean it it's his family, like he's not Azula, he's not gonna try to kill his sister and his dad. Clearly, I mean he wasn't gonna kill his dad in the throne room, even though his dad's like basically like, I was gonna kill you.

I think he had the opportunity to kill his dad, though. Like when he redirected that lightning, I think he could have easily hit him with that.

Yeah. And I don't think Iroh wants him to kill his dad either.

Right. Because that would also like you know Because that's the Avatar's job.

Well, that's also a weird thing to say.

unknown He's gone.

Well, I mean, Roku promised Sozin a couple Fire Lords back that he'd take him down if he stepped out of line. So, I mean, they had it coming. Some some avatar has to kill the Fire Lord, right? It's not you, then who? Okay, so the war or the the invasion is failing, and so we watch is like Zeppelin show up.

What'd you think about Zeppelin showing up?

Yeah, that was crazy. Like the amount that they had. Because uh, did our Tinkerer friend did they show Zeppelins in a previous episode? That was his final thing, right? That he was like worried the Fire Nation was gonna get that technology.

The Northern Air Temple episode, he uh he created the bull the war balloon, and they the air Fire Nation gets that back, but then he was also responsible for creating the drill, and so in that episode you see like him working on blueprints, and it's the drill. Uh we're assuming he's the one who created the Zeppelins, but I guess we don't know that for sure.

Okay, because it does feel like the Zeppelins are a step farther than the air, like that's a big jump from a hot.

Pretty big jump.

And the fact that they have so many manufactured, but I guess they're industrial, so that's how they they've like done the Henry Ford method, and they're able to like have like So an assembly line.

This is what we're going to do.

I mean, I think once the Fire Nation commits to something, they're pretty gung-ho.

Like genocide. We're all in.

You could do like uh have you seen the Wind Also Rises? Is it the Wind Also Rises?

Oh yeah.

The Hayamazaki movie about designing airplanes during World War II.

Haven't seen it yet.

Anyway, they uh got the like the Zeppelin version for the Fire Nation.

Okay, so what'd you think of the end of the episode where the men the men battling are like, we're gonna lose this day, so we'll we'll be captured, but you kids gotta go. So what was your what'd you think about that?

I thought that was interesting. It made sense because it was just like, yeah, there wasn't a really retreat strategy. Like, there was no way they're gonna make it back to the submarines, and if they even did that the submarines would be able to be make it, they have to like like yeah, it just wasn't gonna happen.

So I think it made sense that the dad was just like, okay, kids, get out of here. Obviously, we're not all gonna be on APA, so it's important that the children live to fight another day and support the avatar. Um yeah, but I mean it's rough knowing in these next episodes that like in the back of their minds, it's like our dads are like in this Fire Nation jail being cheated terribly.

I mean, it's uh it's definitely interesting that now they have no one, like they're pretty much alone. Like they probably stretched to get those people to come and support the invasion.

So And was the the Southern Water Tribe part of this at all?

Yeah, so those Southern the Southern Water Tribe is where Sok and Katara are from. Oh sorry, the Northern Water Tribe. I don't think so. I think they pieced out.

Like they they're like, we already did our battle.

Yeah, I went back to like revisit like the synopsis at the end of season one to be like, where do we leave the Northern Water Tribe? And they were like, we're gonna go out. Oh now I can't remember. They were gonna go to the Earth Nation? Well, I think so. Oh, they're gonna go rebuild the North the Southern Water Tribe.

That's right. They're gonna go all the way to the South Pole and help them. But I was like, but the war means nothing to these people.

Yeah, that is an interesting thing because I think they probably owe Aang and Crew a solid after thwarting their invasion of the Northern Water Tribe, and they could have helped with an invasion of the Fire Nation.

Well, maybe they were just so confident in Aang's ability. They were like, well, we're just gonna go help rebuild, and you you got the.

Yeah, the Northern Water Tribe's like, hey, he turned into a giant fish monster. Like, right, exactly.

Just go ask the ocean god to help. I sacrificed my daughter to the moon.

Yeah, he's like, I'm done. Okay, so what what do you think was gained by them doing the invasion?

Uh, I guess they found out that the Fire Nation knew about the eclipse. I mean, that's about all that they gained. Other than I mean, if they hadn't invaded on the eclipse, would Zuko have still left that day, I guess, right? Because he doesn't really know that they're invading while he's doing his little plan.

So they still would have gotten Zuko to their side. And then, and for some reason, Iroh chose that to be his day to escape. So, I mean, it probably helped out Iroh for his escape to be easier, honestly. So that's good, but that's also unintended consequences. But yeah, I mean, they're so small, and even with the eclipse for like the seven minutes, I mean, whatever they do not try.

Oh sorry, eight minutes. Come on.

So of course they had to try, but like I think it was kind of like a go for broke, and then they ended up being like poor but not broke at the end, luckily. Like they still some of them still were able to escape. They didn't have any crazy mit I mean, we did see a couple people die, right? Like some earthbenders or something.

I don't th I don't think so.

I feel like when they were like going through, but maybe not. I don't know. But yeah, I mean they fared pretty well for how small their little bandwagon was and for not defeating the Fire Lord. But even when they if they would have defeated the Fire Lord, would the rest of the Fire Nation just stand down?

Right, like I don't know. It's like come on, you guys. Sure. This is ours now.

Okay. Yeah, you know Azula wouldn't be like, wait a second.

I'm just gonna have to defeat him and Azula at the very least. And then like, yeah, all the generals, we all know they're as big as A-holes, it's Ozai, so like there's no way. So it'd be step one from being like an undefeatable Fire Nation to hopefully but yeah, Earth Nation doesn't have anything. Yeah, it's not looking good.

Well, on that note, you ready to go watch? I don't know. Yeah. Are we doing two, three? What's coming up?

Go watch the firebending masters. That's the next episode.

Oh, masters plural. Ooh, does that mean that Ira shows up? Number two. Yep, yep.

unknown My honor.

The Day of Black Sun

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