Mark Watches ‘Avatar’: S03E01 – The Awakening

In the first episode of the third season of Avatar: The Last Airbender, Aang awakens after the devastating defeat at Ba Sing Se to find himself on a Fire Nation ship and all of his friends dressed as if they are now part of the Fire Nation, too. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Avatar.

Well, that’s one fantastic way to open a season, isn’t it? In the cold open of “The Awakening,” I believed that we were seeing a dream of Zuko’s again, that the guilt and uncertainty over the decision he made in the Crystal Caverns was manifesting itself once again as a dream in his mind. I mean, this boy had hair. But it’s made very clear to us that this is Aang and that this is no dream at all. In a way, our confusion matches that of Aang’s: After a long period of being in the dark, we’re confused and disoriented by what we are seeing. (Ok, to be fair, most of y’all had to wait nine months for this episode and I waited four days. This is only minimally the same as me. I FEEL YOUR PAIN.)

But it all had to be a disguise, right? How long was Aang out of consciousness? I mean….they all couldn’t have converted to the Fire Nation already, right?

It seems not, as we switch over to Zuko’s perspective and there’s no talk of Team Avatar turning to the Fire Nation. We see Zuko’s familiar face, wrecked with the same difficulty we’ve come to expect from him. I know that in “The Guru” / “The Crossroads of Destiny” we saw a Zuko who certainly was happy in a way, but that transformation wasn’t entirely genuine. Still, upon seeing Zuko’s forlorn face here, I just wanted his happiness more than anything. I think no character has suffered quite as much as he has over the course of his life.

Yet, even saying that, when Mai, who I rather adore, comes up behind Zuko and asks him how he’s doing, something feels wrong. Zuko gives an answer that, again, is quite predictable. I don’t mean that as an insult because Zuko has every right to feel what he’s feeling, but Mai is well aware of Zuko’s brooding seriousness.

And then she kisses him. She kisses him. And it’s as if my mind was able to travel back in time and hear the ceremonious cries of anguish from all of the Zutara shippers. I mean…even I did not expect this in the slightest, even though it was hinted fairly obviously in the past that they had some sort of relationship. Or mutual crush. Or whatever.

Just….it’s been like five minutes and my brain can comprehend none of this.

But we really, really need to talk about…..Aang. Aang has hair. AANG HAS HAIR. Cut it off. CUT IT OFF RIGHT NOW oh my god. I don’t even like having hair and I’m not even an iconic, destined being who can save the world and has arrows all over his body. Just….what the hell?

OK, but there are far more important things we need to talk about than hair. (No, seriously, please cut it.) Understandably so, the entire team (except perhaps Sokka and Toph, who aren’t phased by much anyway) is a bit on edge after the events at the end of last season. Aang is dealing with a lot of guilt and shame for his failure, but I couldn’t figure out Katara’s rudeness towards her father in the early parts of this episode. I initially thought that Katara was doing that passive-aggressive thing where children think their parents are totally uncool and get snappy whenever they try to interact with their friends. (I’m happy to say I never went through this period myself. Oh, wait, i didn’t have friends who met my parents until I was in college LOL LOL oh god what am i doing).

It’s clear that the feelings both Aang and Katara feel for one another are growing and they’re both rapidly progressing towards a point where they’ll have to talk about it. I should have thought about the fact that this is just the first episode of the season and that it was pretty unreasonable to think that this would start right away. But that is where my mind wandered fairly quickly when Aang and Katara had their private healing session. And I wish that didn’t sound so unfortunate, like it was a DIRTY SEX ACT. whatever.

We’d seen how guilt, shame, and trauma manifest in memories with Zuko, and I loved that the writers dealt with how memories can be held in physical pain when it came to Aang. As Katara works her healing magic on Aang’s back (why does that sound so dirty i swear), we see the way that these memories seem intertwined with the wound on his back, as if they are one and the same. It also serves to provide Aang with the knowledge of how he came to be in such a state, and unfortunately, that knowledge still hurts. I wonder what effect Azula’s attack actually had on Aang, aside from the clear physical damage. This weird recollection sequence seems to suggest a much more serious side effect. (That’s a fun bout of alliteration.) Has Aang’s actual Avatar spirit been lost in some way because he was in the Avatar state when he was wounded?

That’s not that important right now, because in these immediate moments, Aang is simply tired. His body is weak from the battle at Ba Sing Se, and his heart is quickly losing strength to carry on.

There does seem to be a new form of hope when the session is completed and Aang and Katara join their friends and the Water Tribe army that has joined them. The mass invasion planned for the day of Black Sun can’t be carried out as planned, but that a modified (and much smaller) strategy will still be acted out. And they have one distinct advantage: The entire world thinks the Avatar is dead.

Naturally, Aang doesn’t take to well to this idea. For him, it’s the past repeating itself: right when the world needs him most, he seems to have disappeared. Hadn’t he just spent all these months doing everything he could to prove to himself and the world that he was here to stay? That he wasn’t going to abandon anyone? That he was finally accepting the responsibility that comes with being the Avatar?

It’s honestly a fucked up situation for Aang, and while we do see bits of his more immature overreacting in “The Awakening,” this time, his frustration stems from the unending absurdity his life seems to follow. What sort of meaning does his life hold if forces outside of his control constantly pull things apart? What’s the point in this struggle when he does everything within his power, making sacrifices, only to have it all taken away?

Aang reacts to this absurdity in the only way he knows how: By desiring solitary control. The thought of having to hide who he is, to deny his personage, and to sit back while the gears of the world turn without him enrages his very soul. This is not who he is. This is not the kind of person he is. Or so he thinks, that is.

It’s become a real treat to see how, time and time again, the writers are able to skillfully run parallel stories between Aang and Zuko and for those stories to never seem stale or boring. Miles and miles away, Zuko has returned home, and in a grand ceremony led by Lo and Li, Azula is welcomed for her heroic and brilliant efforts to take hold of Ba Sign Se through force and coercion. Much to Zuko’s surprise he is given just as much credit as she is. These scenes are intercut with images of Ba Sing Se’s literal fall while Azula was there, as the great wall is destroyed, troops march in and tanks roll forward, and we see Iroh’s old tea house employers, as well as Ying, Tahn, and Hope. I love that the writers don’t let us forget what happened there, as hard as it is to watch, because it’s yet another reminder of how serious this all is.

Gone are the days where a bait-and-switch or a disguise could get Team Avatar out of a dangerous situation, too. When Hakoda and Bato try to convince a Fire Nation captain that they are on a special cargo mission, Toph manages to overhear the captain tell his crew to sink the ship, and a fight breaks out. Again, Aang is left behind, forced to hide inside with Sokka while all of the others take care of the problem. (Thank you, Universe!) Aang’s patience starts wearing thin and we see here how he’s going to let all of this get to him. He’s the Avatar. Why is hiding? Why is he inactive?

For Zuko, though, three years worth of pain and frustration is finally going to have some release, but not in the way he expected it. (Hell, what am I saying? There is no way I could have guessed this development.) I had hoped that the next time we saw those adorable turtle ducks, it would have a much more positive connotation for Zuko, but here, it’s even more depressing than the first time. There’s such a visual power in the image of Zuko, now grown up, sitting at the side of that pond, but without his mother to comfort him. His father isn’t there either and perhaps more so than ever, Zuko has never truly been more alone. He has lost his uncle, he doesn’t trust his sister, and he’s morally conflicted about betraying Katara and Aang. And Azula is about to make it all so much more difficult: She finds Zuko feeding the turtle ducks and wonders aloud why he’s so upset, suspecting that Zuko is keeping something to himself about the Avatar. Looking back on this scene now, I can see how awful this set up truly is and how angry it makes me that Azula continues to torment her brother. And that’s the word I’m choosing: she torments him. She can never allow him to have a happy moment or thought, and it’s just depressing. I think that, at this point, there is nothing I want to see more from season three than for Azula to finally get her comeuppance. She has not once had to deal with the horrific ramifications of her actions. Of course, now that I’ve said that, I’m worried that Azula won’t be held accountable for what she’s done with Zuko.

I was so ecstatic and excited to see that the following scene would be one between Fire Lord Ozai and Zuko, since I expected this to come much later than it did. Like Zuko, I had no idea what I should anticipate from the meeting. Would Ozai forgive his son? Would he get his honor back? Would we finally see his face??????? All three of these are answered in a scene drenched in reds and blacks, dark, violent colors, and Mark Hamill’s voice work booms through the room. (Seriously, Ozai doesn’t sound like Hamill at all!) As Ozai begins to congratulate his son for his actions, he states that he is most impressed with the ferocity with which he used to kill the Avatar.

WHAT. WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED.

I couldn’t understand it. Why would Azula tell her father that Zuko killed the Avatar? For someone as self-centered as Azula, this made no sense at all. And thankfully, it makes no sense to Zuko ever. We see the shock in his face, but he smartly says nothing to his father. Instead, he chooses to confront Azula about it later and the set-up is revealed: In case the Avatar is not dead, Azula retains her honor and now has a scapegoat.

My fascination with Azula has waned pretty much completely. Because now I despise her. She cannot even allow Zuko the pleasure of having an approving father. She’s got to take that away from him, too.

AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH I AM IN A RAGE

Is it also proper to say that Aang is in a rage as well? I cannot ignore the fact that Aang finally has enough of hiding in the shadows, in the belly of the ship, waiting for whatever moment in the future where it’s ok for him to be the Avatar again. After a particularly awkward conversation with Katara, where he finally vocalizes his shame to her, he decides to abandon the ship. It’s time for him to get his honor back. (OH THE HOLY PARALLELS I LOVE YOU.) But Aang quickly discovers that this process is not simply as easy as he thought it was. But before we see this, Katara’s snappy anger at Hakoda is finally explained, adding a third parallel to this story about honor, abandonment, and suffering. And you know, I haven’t really commented on the voice acting on Avatar and that’s really unfortunate. The realistically written dialogue works not only because it’s written well, but because the voice actors speak with such genuine confidence. I wanted to bring this up so that I could heap praise on Mae Whitman, whose job of conveying Katara’s despair as she admits that she is so angry at her father brought me to tears. It’s the scene where the voice acting is what sells everything to me, and Whitman honestly knocks it right out of the park.

Aang’s closure doesn’t come with a single conversation, though, and I’m positive that we won’t actually see him get the emotional closure he wants for a few more episodes. But, yet again, Aang does not succeed in his mission to….do what? What was he going to do out on that ocean all by himself? Exhaustion gets the best of him as the violent waves overpower him and Aang expects loss once more. However, Avatar Roku appears to Aang to apologize. TO APOLOGIZE. What???? He takes accountability for not doing what he could to stop the war currently raging when he was still alive and for causing Aang to inherit all of his problems. Roku’s brief story also fits in with the general theme of shame that passes from character to character in “The Awakening.” Princess Yue even makes an appearance and I couldn’t help but feel an intense sadness as Aang, Roku, and Yue converse with one another. Roku is hurt by the sight of this young boy suffering because of what he did not due; Yue feels sympathy for a boy who has given up so much only to be swatted down by those with more power; and Aang realizes that his path to honor is going to harm him more than it will help him. Even as Aang gains the courage and strength to make a tidal wave to carry him out of the sea, we now know his awakening has brought him right to Crescent Island, the location that used to house the Fire Temple, now destroyed.

For all this talk of destiny and fate, it’s fitting that Aang arrives at this place, seemingly foreshadowing his difficult path towards mastering fire bending. His friends arrive to comfort him, and he accepts that they were right. He needs to stay in hiding. In a moment of dejected acceptance, Aang slams his damaged glider into the ground of Crescent Island, and it erupts in flames. The Avatar, for now, is dead. And he’ll need to stay that way in order to survive the oncoming storm.

THOUGHTS

• Someone allow me to travel the world with the Earth King and Bosco. RIGHT????
• “The universe just loves proving me wrong, doesn’t it?” “You make it too easy.” Oh, Sokka.