Book 3: The Awakening / The Headband

Welcome to Book 3!

It's been a long time coming.

Yep, Aang has been knocked out so long that there was time for him to grow hair - and someone made sure it didn't creep over his arrow. Nice to get a touchup when you're asleep.


He sees that he's on...A Fire Nation ship!

But he sees his friends and allies are here, and they seem fine.

So what's going on?

Hakoda's warriors commandeered the ship to easily sneak within the Fire Nation and find their allies from around the world. Makes sense.

As Katara helps Aang with some water therapy, you see the gnarly spot on his back where Azula essentially killed him in the climax of last season's finale.

Also, the entire world thinks that Aang, the Avatar, is dead. He's not thrilled about it, considering what happened the last time he was Only Mostly Dead.

When they encounter another Fire Nation ship who calls their bluff, they jump into action.

Is this the first crossbow we see in the Avatarverse?

Woosh!

That's a 'you' kind of problem.

It takes nearly the entire episode for Aang to realize that yes, he did fail, but it's not the end of the world, and that they're here to help him save the world together - but not quite yet, as he runs away again.

And in his eleventh hour, Aang gets a message from Roku -

"This shit is my fault, but you will redeem me. That's not a request."

And Yue,

In retrospect I'm a bit bummed she's not mentioned in Korra either. Though Korra already knows Waterbending pretty well, even Katara going "The Moon Spirit is a friend of mine," would have been nice.

"You already saved the world."

Aang's resolve strengthens again, and he finds himself upon Crescent Island - And the others find him too.

And he burns his glider and resigns to his life undercover.

On another, considerably less positively-staffed Fire Nation ship, Zuko is wondering about how life in the Fire Nation has changed, how he changed, how his father will react, and Mai (I know) tells him to stop worrying.

I know many people were on the Zutara train, but I think Maiko gets an unfair rep. You don't have to be hyper opposites to be in a relationship you enjoy. Me, personally, would just need someone to complain to who doesn't whine when I do so.

Meanwhile, in the Fire Nation, Lo and Li (It's never stated in the show, but it's kind of obvious they were Azulon's concubines, hence their age), are telling the embellished story of how Azula took down Ba Sing Se in the name of the Fire Nation.

You shouldn't feed ducks bread. Even turtleducks.

Give them frozen vegetables instead!

Zuko is like "Geeze, dad hasn't even seen me after three years, and I didn't capture the Avatar.". Azula goes "Well, he's dead.......right?"

She knows he possibly isn't. That's why she said that Zuko killed Aang.

There's a flashback to the scene with Katara in the old catacombs. Imagine if she had healed his face but then Aang was permanently dead.

You know, there's probably some fanfiction out there about that happening - which would be interesting - and some deluded weirdo making the next Avatar the offspring of Katara and Sokka.

Incest. Bleh.

Well, you finally get to see Ozai clearly. Still voiced by Mark Hamill!

I think the real question is how much younger than Iroh was he.

I've been writing this episode oddly concurrently, the entire idea is about the parallels between the good and bad guys.

• Katara and Zuko wanted their fathers to love them  - Hakoda always loved his children, and, well, you know what happened with Ozai.
• Aang says "I have to redeem myself. I have to get my honor," while Zuko doesn't feel as though he earned his back. And by selling out his uncle and falsely taking credit for murdering the Avatar, he didn't.
• There's also a lot of looking down in this episode at certain angles.

Don't ask me why the linework is darker here, where he confronts Azula in the middle of the night on why she gave him all the glory, and I've already outlined that above.

In The Headband...Zuko goes a'walking at night.

To see someone.

That's Iroh.

Zuko tries to justify himself to himself, let's be honest, but Iroh doesn't want to hear his excuses. He also goes on a date with Mai....until they're interrupted by Azula, who gives some cryptic warnings

And the Gaang find a cave.

It gets better.

Then they steal some clothing.

Everything was so color-coded for your convenience, it was strange no one pointed out Katara's blue eyes. Then again, it's said that the colonies had mixed people.

Aang tries to teach the Gaang how to blend in, with such awesome colloquialisms such as "Stay flamin'," and "Flameo, Hotman."

But instead, he is found by some kind of security force....as he has stolen a school uniform, and as luck would have it, he should be in class. The excuse that he's from the colonies shows that they treat those students with a certain amount of disdain in "The Homeland".

This dude should be in college or some shit. He picks on Aang, who takes it in stride.

Later, Aang goes back to the cave with the Gaang, and he has had a blast. Literally, he played Hide and Explode with some kids. When Sokka is unsure of the arrangement, Aang convinces him to let him go for a few more days to gather intel.

And engage in some good old propaganda. I wonder if he could refuse to say the Fire Nation Oath like students can refuse to sit down during the pledge of allegiance.

There's a moment where the teacher asks when Sozin defeated the Air Nation Army...but, as you know, the Air Nation didn't have a formal army. They were peaceful. And Sozin committed genocide.

The students are shocked when Aang points this out.

This rewatch has really opened my eyes to the unusual parallels between America and the Bad Guys.

Aang gets into another scuffle with the 5-times held back student.

We skip a bunch of stuff to arrive at a party in the cave for the students! And a legitimately great dance sequence for Aang and Katara.

That's most of the pertinent information of the episode.

Oh, and Zuko hires a psychic fire assassin to kill Aang.

He looks like an Instagram model.