Nice moves, but just fling some water around!

Book 1: Water

Chapter 18

The Waterbending Master

WHAT HAPPENED?

The group finally makes it to the Northern Water Tribe to begin training with a Waterbending master. The chief throws them a party and Sokka falls in love with the chiefs daughter, Princess Yue. The next day, Katara is turned away by Master Pakku because of the tribe’s sexist customs. Aang and Katara agree to practice in secret, but are found out by Pakku.

Katara refuses to apologize and challenges Pakku to a fight. She puts up a decent struggle, but is defeated. Pakku realizes that Katara is the granddaughter of Kana, the woman he was supposed to marry, but she left because she couldn’t live with the customs of the tribe. Pakku decides to teach Aang and Katara.

Meanwhile, Admiral Zhao commandeers Zuko’s crew, including Iroh, to build an invasion force. After learning that Zuko is the Blue Spirit, Zhao makes a deal with pirates to kill him. However, Zuko barely escapes and Iroh helps him stow away on Zhao’s ship. The episode ends with the Fire Navy preparing to depart for the Northern Water Tribe.

WHAT TO TAKE AWAY

A lot happens in this episode, so I’ll break down the main points:

-Katara and Master Pakku butt heads because of the customs of the Northern Water Tribe

-Sokka courts Princess Yue, but fails when she tells him that she is engaged

-Zhao tries to murder Zuko

I have to begin with the conflict between Katara and Pakku because I dislike this one the most. I’ve said before that this show has plenty of examples where it shows us through dialogue and action scenes that women are awesome. Actually, my second favorite character (behind Appa) is Toph. I’ll get more into why in the next season, but she’s disciplined and her skills speak for themselves.

Beyond that, the fact that the show gives us another one of these ‘women are awesome’ plots is insulting. The conflict between Katara and Pakku bothers me because I know how it’s going to turn out in this instance.

‘A woman wants to do something, but a sexist man stands in her way. She then has to prove herself by fighting the man to change his perception.’

By the end, Pakku changes his mind even though it’s the culture of his tribe. Did they change the law overnight or something? What bothers me most about this is sexist in itself because Katara has been proving herself all season by helping Aang and training to become a better Waterbender. Now, she has to prove herself in this ‘woman are awesome’ story?

She didn’t stick the landing!

And it was resolved by mere chance. You’re telling me that Katara’s mother’s necklace actually belonged to her grandmother? And that it was carved by Pakku sixty years ago because he wanted to marry her? And now Katara just happens to meet him, fight him, and drop her necklace in front of him so he wouldn’t be so sexist?

What would have been better is if Pakku stood his ground and refused to train her. Sure, it’s sexist, but it would lead to a payoff moment where she saves his life in the next episode. Then, she would refuse training from him and look elsewhere for training. Maybe that’s just me, but that seems like it would have been better.

And the crowd goes wild!

I realize that I’m coming off a bit ignorant right now, but allow me to extend an olive branch. I have said before that there is nothing hotter than a woman blowing stuff up. Check this episode of Point Streak for that comment. I am an advocate for equal rights, but when any medium of entertainment tries to do something like this, it feels like someone is trying to shove a message down my throat. Women ARE awesome! I know that for a fact, but it ruins the overall message when television shows do this.

And in this show, it has happened before. Here is a quote from an earlier Spoiler Talk;

“I understand that the show is meant for a younger audience, but throughout the show, we are shown example after example of how women are not only excellent ass-kickers, but that they can surpass men because they are so awesome. And that’s not just in fighting; there are plenty of strong female characters in this show to go around. Some are even pretty terrifying, but we’ll get to them when we get further along. Some of them don’t need to fight to show how strong they are.” From ATLA: The Warriors of Kyoshi (Spoiler Talk)- July 15, 2014

And I stand by it to this day. These types of messages are better taught through actions. Even if Katara wanted to convince him that she’s a competent Waterbending and that she deserves to be trained, she comes off as a petulant child, which negates the message the writers were going for. All she does is get angry and shout about it, and then she attacks a village elder in full view of the natives. To me, that would be grounds for an immediate expulsion from the tribe. Is it just me?

This show IS about Aang, right?

Her actions are selfish and arrogant. Katara fails to understand that she is an outsider that is disrespecting another culture and their customs. Despite her being with the Avatar, she could have gotten the group kicked out and ruined Aangs chances of defeating the Firelord.

Also, I think this episode would have worked better if it was focused on Aang trying to get along with Pakku. He is the main reason the group ventured to the North Pole in the first place. And after everything they’ve learned in conjunction with their mission, I would like to have seen Aang as the central focus. The side stories can stay, but the Avatar needs to learn the four disciplines and he’s on a time limit.

And let me just say that it’s quite strange and hypocritical in this tribe that women can’t learn waterbending. Why can’t women learn waterbending? Isn’t healing an extension of waterbending? So, all the female waterbenders in the Northern Water Tribe are healers by default?

What if I played along with this sexism plot? Let’s say that they arrive at the Northern Water Tribe and learn that rule. Wouldn’t it make sense for Katara to get as much out of the healing lessons as she can while Aang trains? Once they leave the tribe, Aang can then teach her what he knows. This way, Katara comes off as respectful of cultural customs (even if they are sexist and crappy), instead of a whiny child.

To change gears, it was great to see Sokka court Yue and be totally awkward. However, the fact that she plays games with him is a little offputting. The fact that she and Pakku are from the same tribe leads me to question why she isn’t more familiar with their customs. And once again, the audience isn’t really clear on their customs, either. Why is it commonplace for teenagers of this world to be married at sixteen? Why is it Yue’s duty to her people to accept a marriage proposal from a guy she doesn’t like? And why didn’t Yue just tell Sokka that she was engaged? Or how did he not already know since her father announced that she was of marrying age?

What an instigator, Yue is…

That seemed like the Chief was announcing it because she was available. But the next night, she runs off. This is presumably because she knew she was engaged and that she was wrong to lead Sokka on. Then, she kisses Sokka and reveals that she is engaged. It seems like they’ve only known each other for two days, though. Is the show implying that she’s been engaged since before Aang and his crew arrived? Please comment below if you know the answer.

Then, there’s Zhao and Zuko. Zhao determines that the best way to take care of the Avatar is to invade the Northern Water Tribe to stop him from learning Waterbending. In the process of commandeering Zuko’s crew, presumably to piss him off and spite him, he recognizes the broad swords on Zuko’s wall. They were the same swords used by the Blue Spirit. So, he decides to contract the pirates from the Waterbending Scroll to kill Zuko.

Holy crap! This is huge for a show that is meant for a younger audience. But I have one question;

How did Zhao know how to contact the pirates? It’s not known that Zhao knew them beforehand, and Zuko came across them by chance. I guess one could make the assumption that Zhao might have interrogated Zuko’s old crew to gain information from them. Or he may have overheard a conversation between Zuko’s crew members. It’s not a big deal, but I’d like to know.

Damned pirates…

Also, during the explosion on his ship, Zuko protects himself with a fireball before getting blasted out a window. If you didn’t catch it, slow down the playback. It’s something that’s almost too quick to spot, but I thought it was awesome.

To conclude, I think that arrival to the Northern Water Tribe was alright for what it was, but I think it could have been better. Had they cut some of the more useless episodes of this season, they could have had more time to explore the Northern Water Tribe. However, with the season finale around the corner, I wouldn’t fret too much. I’m serious. It’s actually pretty good!

Now that the group has finale made it to the Northern Water Tribe, grab some popcorn in time for the Siege of the North!

If you want to discuss this show, stop by our dedicated discussion thread on this show!