Beautiful, isn’t it?

Book 1: Water

Chapter 17

The Northern Air Temple

WHAT HAPPENED?

After hearing stories of airbenders nearby, the group investigates the Northern Air Temple. Aang is upset to find that the inhabitants are not Airbenders, and that they have destroyed much of what was once there.

It’s not long before they find out that the lead inventor there, the Mechanist, has been making weapons for the Fire Nation in exchange for the safety of the community. When the Fire Nation representative comes to collect, Aang drives him away and they decide to fight. A small army comes up the mountain and the battle begins.

Using his hot air balloon design, the Mechanist and Sokka fend off the Fire Nation, but lose the balloon. Although the battle was won, the war is far from over as the Fire Nation retrieves the wrecked balloon.

WHAT TO TAKE AWAY

You do know how industrialism works, right?

Katara is an idiot in this episode. It seems as though she forgot the events of The Southern Air Temple (episode 3) when she asks Sokka if he thinks they’ll find airbenders at the temple. However, Aang says the line that makes it quite clear that they won’t:

“And if firebenders found this temple, they found the other ones, too. I really am the last airbender.”

That realization (coupled with what horrors the group has seen and will see spawn from this war) should be enough evidence to not have to ask that question. If Katara’s question was her character being curious, then she hasn’t learned anything. If the question was for the audience, there is another piece of evidence we can use to answer this question; the title of the show!

Think about it! If they actually found other airbenders, the show’s title would have no meaning, and the plot wouldn’t hold as much weight. To undermine those things would be to make the show irrelevant and rob future episodes of any drama or stakes.

Of course, the people flying around the temple aren’t airbenders according to Aang. Apparently, they’re gliding and not flying. He is able to tell by the way they move, which makes sense since he is an airbender himself. However, instead of turning around and continuing on their journey to the North Pole, Aang decides to showboat. However, see is shown up with an epic mic drop!

Poor Aang…

There is no reason for the group to visit this temple other than to yell at the inhabitants for changing things. This episode could have easily aired earlier in the season and it would have the same effect. However, this reminds me of a point that I can now elaborate on from the last episode. Remember when I said that we should see more of the group training and getting better?

I’d like to expand on this by saying that Aang is, in fact, the last airbender. He is a living relic with first-hand knowledge of airbender culture and techniques. They could easily expand on his pacifist nature and share stories of growing up in the Southern Air Temple. Those stories could teach us a bit more about the character, as well as teach us about Airbender culture. However, this is not as big of a gripe as some of my other grips, so I won’t harp on it too much.

That Aang face, though…

I WILL harp on the showdown between the temple’s inhabitants and Fire Nation troops. The Mechanist and Sokka use the flammable gas within the mountain to win the battle. I’m not a big science buff, nor do I pretend that I am, but there is an issue with that solution. The gas is leaking everywhere in the temple, but it can’t be detected unless they throw rotten eggs everywhere. They even have a room that’s blocked off because the gas was coming through there.

Riddle me this: when you create an explosion that ignites all the flammable gas in the area, won’t that explosion rip through the entire mountain? The Mechanist says that whenever he smells the rotten eggs, he’ll plug up the leak. That implies that there are more leaks all over the temple that he hasn’t found yet. Wouldn’t that explosion tear through the mountain and possible destroy the temple? As I said, I’m no scientist, but come on!

Blegh…

If this show was rated for adults, that explosion would have ripped the temple apart. The group would only have enough time to jump on Appa for a Death-Star-explosion moment. Perhaps I’m being ridiculous, but that idea bothers me the most in this episode. I could care less about how they’ve changed the temple, and some handicapped kid that I’m clearly supposed to have sympathy for. However, I could be wrong, but you can tell me all about it in the comments below!

Now that the new people of the old temple are safe, the group reaches their destination to train with the Waterbending Master!

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