As the kids would say, I am still on this bullshit. Episode 3 was actually better than episode 2, but I do wish that the show had a more consistent quality. This is the second season of a three season show. You gotta improve and you gotta improve fast.
The episode opens with the Gaang settling into life in Ba Sing Se. Aang is being paraded around the city by Long Feng, while Sokka is looking for Sai. Iroh is serving tea at a cafe, and Zuko is shoveling hay at a…barn? I think it’s a barn.
Things are different at night, though. Zuko is the Blue Spirit robbing from the rich to give to the poor, while Katara is the Painted Lady doing Painted Lady things. Seeing it now, I can kinda see why they did it, since Ba Sing Se in this adaptation is also suffering under a ruler that isn’t looking out for them, but what are they going to do for the third season, then? I feel like they’re stuffing everything they can, rather than zeroing in on the season’s theme and deciding what to take and discard from there. I did love that montage, though. Great work on that!
Elsewhere in the Earth Kingdom, the Kyoshi Warriors are spying on a Fire Nation rallying point. However, Azula and her gang get the jump on them. Suki can stand up to Mai and Ty Lee, but Azula is another matter altogether. We don’t get to see what the outcome of that fight though, because we get a flash of lightning and then we’re back to Aang’s earthbending training, which has plateaued after his improvement during that early montage.
Zuko, on the other hand, has nothing much to show from his nightly exploits other than a new teapot that Iroh gives him the side-eye for. Gotta say, animated Iroh is so much better than the live action one. It’s not so much the acting, but the writing. Where’s the humor? Where’s the levity?
Meanwhile, Aang is trying to get some earthbending advice from Long Feng, and I hope that there’s a payoff for Long Feng’s extended presence and longer interactions with Aang. He does try to subtly influence Aang against Toph, so let’s see where this is headed.
Iroh, on the other hand, is headed elsewhere after he sees an area featuring the tree that featured in the “Leaves from the Vine” scene in the animated series. This already feels like it’s not going to be a satisfying payoff because Iroh just hasn’t been handled well in the show.
From there, we jump to Sokka, who is visited by the scholar he met in the previous episode and who tells him about the ancient library of the spirits, and I truthfully cannot remember how this all happened in the animated show. The scholar also tells Sokka that there have been disappearances in Ba Sing Se over the years, and that these disappearances are performed by the Dai Li.
We then get the return of Jet, who is planning to attack ~reformed Fire Nation refugees~ staying in Ba Sing Se. He tries to enlist Zuko for this mission, not knowing he’s the actual Prince of the Fire Nation, and I guess this is an acceptable way to depict Jet’s continued and understandable prejudice against the Fire Nation. The invite also has Zuko feeling guilty, because he indirectly caused that fire and now his citizens are going to get attacked because of it.
While all of that is brewing, Iroh happens upon a Pai Sho match that’s interrupted by an Earth Kingdom citizen who earthbends the names of the people the Fire Nation have killed on Ba Sing Se’s walls. I get what they’re trying to do here, and I’ll give them points for that, but I do have to say that it was so awkwardly executed. I also was meh about them showing Iroh feeling guilt about this because we know that he feels guilt about the war. I thought it was unnecessary.
Back at the Fire Nation rallying point, Azula has her plans stymied by Ozai, who has ordered the attack on Ba Sing Se be postponed indefinitely. Azula was planning to use the attack to get to Zuko, and now she has to think of another way to do it. Ty Lee points out that maybe Ozai is trying to tell Azula something, since this attack was approved, and she eventually has a realization, but I’m too stupid to realize what it is. Maybe they’ll show it in a few minutes!
Inside Ba Sing Se, Toph confronts Katara about her nightly trips outside, and the show also plants the seeds of Kataang this early just so nobody else has anything to say when the inevitable happens. To be fair, they also seeded this early in the animated series, but given that people still missed it all, I understand why they’re being very in your face about the Kataang of it all.
Toph heads outside while Katara ponders the Kataang of it all, and ends up being accosted by a blackmailer. Aang and Sokka are also accosted by Joo Dee when they finally break into Sai’s places and find it empty, and I gotta give props to the Joo Dee actress because she’s good. She’s unsettling with a little dash of bitchiness, I like it.
Somewhere else in Ba Sing Se, Zuko has arrived at the Fire Nation refugee enclave to warn them about the upcoming attack, but he also gets to hear an earful about how horrible his father is. With just three episodes left, it’s an efficient way to sow the seeds of doubt into Zuko’s brain, and hopefully it’ll bloom in the third season.
Back with the Gaang, they have a little tiff after it looks like Aang is listening more to Long Feng than he is to Katara and Sokka. It’s quickly resolved, and now the three of them are planning to find out exactly where the Dai Li are located.
Meanwhile, Toph is with the blackmailer, who tells her that he has proof that her parents are selling to the Fire Nation, enabling it to continue its war effort. We’re not told what he’s asking for, exactly, and I sorta appreciate this effort, because it does make Ba Sing Se look more sinister.
Aang and Katara are in the lower ring of Ba Sing Se, trying to escape from Joo Dee so Aang can track the Dai Li agent that’s been following him, and the perfect distraction appears in the form of the Cabbage Man.
Aang uses that distraction to trail the Dai Li agent, but Katara is herself distracted by Jet, who is meeting with his goons to attack the enclave of Fire Nation refugees. Sokka has chanced upon Toph talking with her blackmailer and some other dude and then heading to a poetry class, where they actually have a nice conversation and character development!
After a little Iroh tidbit, we get to the Fire Nation refugees, who are attacked by Jet’s gang before Zuko in Blue Spirit garb steps in. Katara also makes an appearance, but her using the same move she used on Jet on season one leads to Jet — and Zuko — finding out she’s the Painted Lady. Guess that won’t be making another appearance in the third season.
But then we get the “Leaves from the Vine” moment and maybe I’ve gone soft in my old age but that got to me.
After that, we get back to Aang, who was captured by what he thought was Dai Li, but is actually the guard from the outer ring. He and General Sung have been talking, and they want to know what it is that Aang needs to tell the Earth King so that they can tell him and prepare for the Fire Nation army set to attack Ba Sing Se. Unfortunately, Aang doesn’t trust them as they kidnapped him for this meeting to happen, which is fair. It also doesn’t help General Sung that she tells Aang that Long Feng is the Dai Li, since Long Feng has been the only one “helping” out Aang.
Aang heads to the palace to tell the Earth King about this, but he is stopped by Long Feng, who tells him that there is now war in Ba Sing Se and then introduces Joo Dee 2, and I gotta say that scene was well done. The music, Joo Dee 2’s face, Aang’s face, it all worked well together. And the ending scene where Zuko has finally found the Avatar after following Katara? Made me actually excited to get to the next episode. I just wish that moments like these were spread out more in the episode than what we actually got.
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