In the eighth episode of the third season of Avatar: The Last Airbender, Team Avatar meet a woman hiding a potentially deadly secret from the Fire Nation. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Avatar.
WELL THAT WAS UNEXPECTED.
The versatility of the storytelling on Avatar is what makes it so fun for me. We’ve seen recent experiments with in media res, or flashback-heavy episodes like “Zuko Alone,” or “Appa’s Lost Days,” or an episode made up of vignettes. (“Tales of Ba Sing Se”) Even within episodes that don’t have a different technique being used, the writers have always kept things interesting and varied. I don’t know if they had to prove that they could write a successful show before they could start experimenting, but season three is such a different beast than the first one. After having watched “The Puppetmaster,” I can see why the writers chose to avoid telling a story that is so pervasively creepy early on in the show’s run.
It’s great being able to watch this after the fact because I generally don’t have to concern myself with such ideas. While I have missed out on so much good television because of my strict upbringing, I do like that I can just sit down and watch a complete work in order and I don’t have to have the unbearable waiting that comes along with watching something in real time. I’ve been able to follow a few shows in the last few years, like LOST or Breaking Bad or Fringe. It’s fun. I enjoy the experience a lot. But Fringe is a good show to use as an example: I can enjoy the show, but I’m always concerned about who is watching it and what sort of interference can come from the network. I don’t know too much about the way that Nickelodeon interacted with the creators and writers of Avatar, and I can imagine that sometimes, it wasn’t an easy process. As the show started to show darker themes, more violence, and wrote an ending to a season that was bleak as hell, I always wondered how much the network let them do what they wanted or told them to hold things back.
(Yes, that is a request, and you’re welcome to share anything you know in the comments! I read ’em all every day and as long as you don’t spoil me, I would be totally in to learning more about the creation of this show.)
The reason I’m thinking of these sort of things is because a great deal of “The Puppetmaster” is CREEPY AS FUCK. I initially thought that the whole “scary story” vibe from the cold open was just meant to be a situational joke, an opportunity to poke fun at the idea of telling urban legends around a fire. And seriously, what could scare this group of kids after all the terrible things they’ve seen over the last six months?
Hama could.
The episode initially rests on the assumption that some creepy lady who pops out of the forest is meant to be feared, and it’s here that we start a rollercoaster of a ride with this character. Of course, you want to mistrust Hama: she’s a Fire Nation citizen who is a little too friendly to Team Avatar, taking a particular liking to Katara more than anyone else. It doesn’t help that, after taking the group back to her inn, she talks about the disappearance of a bunch of local children as if it’s just a thing that happens and is totally not a big deal! Have some tea!
In that sense, I get why Toph, Aang, and (especially) Sokka are suspicious of this woman and of the rest of town. Sokka’s the kind of person who can take an idea too far, and that’s his dilemma for the bulk of the episode. Is it wrong of him to assume that Hama has an ulterior motive? Is it wrong for him to associate someone, who has only show him and his friends kindness, with the kidnappings occurring in town? Where do you draw the line in terms of personal ethics if you feel so strongly that someone is up to no good? I can’t deny that I, too, felt that Hama was too good to these kids, so as Sokka led his mission through the woman’s house to discover what she was hiding, I did understand it at a base level. But I also have to admit how incredibly foolish this was: No one was keeping a watch out for Hama to return. They were just opening every door without preparation. They entered a room with only one exit and used Toph’s meteor bracelet to break into a lone box in that room. THIS IS ALL A RECIPE FOR DISASTER.
So of COURSE Hama surprises them all by sneaking up behind them. (How did Toph not “see” her?) She has nothing to hide at this point, and that made me stop abruptly. This is not the behavior of someone who is kidnapping children. Wouldn’t she try to conceal the truth until she won their trust? (Well….ok, SHE DOES, but I meant in terms of me being at this point in the episode.) So she tells the kids that she’ll show them what’s in the box.
A comb. From the Southern Water Tribe. WHERE SHE GREW UP.
In just an instant, this episode completely changes. Now I know why Hama was drawn towards Katara. I know why she was so nice to these kids. I know why she was so willing to take them in. They were just like her: OUTSIDERS LIVING AMONGST THE ENEMY. Oh my god, I love this show. I LOVE IT SO MUCH. If you think about it, it’s all one giant sleight of hand, using changes in tones to trick us into believing certain things about the characters, thinking that we’re being shown an opportunity for Katara to improve her mastering of water bending.
Actually, that’s a great thing that this episode does very well: show us water bending in a new light, both in terms of training and execution. Hama’s backstory provides us with a context we’ve seen before: the Fire Nation stole the water benders from the Southern Water Tribe, leaving only Hama behind at one point, before she was eventually kidnapped, too. It gives Katara something to latch on to. Both women have experienced tragedy at the hands of the Fire Nation. It’s a chance for Katara to feel a kinship with someone in way she never has before, and you can see the joy and satisfaction in her face as she lovingly expresses how excited she is to have found another Southern Water Tribe bender.
It’s precisely because of this that everything from here on out is so difficult and disturbing. Katara is in the right place–by design, which makes this all the more unsettling–to listen to Hama about what she has to teach her about her tribe’s culture. Drawing on top of sweat bending from the last episode, the writers finally show us just how technical water bending can be. I suppose it’s something I’ve always wondered about, and it was nice to have it confirmed here. Hama shows Katara that there is water in almost everything around her, and, using a field of fire lilies, she bends water out of the flowers surrounding her. It’s a haunting image, watching the life be sucked out of the flowers, and even Katara can’t ignore that. Yet it’s becoming clear that Hama has developed her own philosophy about water bending over the years. She has had to live amongst the very people who stole her life away. Was it to be expected that she would assimilate entirely and shed away her previous culture? Was it reasonable to assume she’d moved past the anger and resentment caused by the actions of an imperialistic nation?
As Toph, Aang, and Sokka begin to rapidly put the pieces together on the missing Fire Nation citizens, “The Puppetmaster” takes a turn for the downright horrifying, bringing back the tone from the beginning of the episode. But this is not just a story around a campfire. We learn that through years of concentration and practice, Hama is ABLE TO BEND BLOOD.
NO, SERIOUSLY, THINK ABOUT THAT. SHE IS A BLOOD BENDER. I think I may have wondered that out loud in a past review, but I never expected the show to deal with it. Not only do they manage to do that without making it a gruesome exercise, but it’s still just as terrifying as it seems. Even worse, Hama is not just a simple villain by any stretch. This is a woman who has been oppressed by the Fire Nation for most of her life, and she developed a method to bend blood in order to not only escape, but to enact some sort of vengeance for having her life stolen and her culture erased. I seriously cannot hate on that. It’s a powerful statement, and it makes this all the more confusing for Katara. She knows that Hama is right, that the Fire Nation has destroyed her culture and that they must do what they can to defend themselves. But she’s uncomfortable with the idea of controlling another person’s body!
SO HAMA USES THAT AGAINST HER. Watchers, the final “battle” between Hama, Katara, Aang, and Sokka is just RUTHLESS in its brutality. We don’t even realize what she is doing until the final minute, but she controls Katara, then pits Aang and Sokka against her, then forces the two boys to nearly kill one another. This entire time, we see the sheer power that Katara possesses and how much her water bending continues to grow. But when Hama goes after Aang and Sokka, flinging Sokka sword-first toward Aang, the full trick is revealed: In a moment of utter desperation, Katara, aided by the power of the full moon, finds the ability to blood bend Hama and control her, stopping her from killing Aang. Even when Toph frees the villagers and Hama is taken away in cuffs, she turns to stare directly at Katara, a look of malicious glee on her face.
She got Katara to blood bend anyway.
What a chilling, bleak moment. Could you imagine something like this early in the first season? It seems that Nickelodeon has let the show do whatever it wants, but I think that if they were handed this script, it would have been turned down in a heartbeat. I’m glad it exists here in season three; tonally, it fits in with the message that people from different nations are not monolithic robots, that there is more than just one side to everyone. It also shows us that the battle ahead will not be cut and dry and the themes of moral ambiguity will only get stronger from here on out.
Oh, yeah. THIS SHIT IS CREEPY.
THOUGHTS
- I generally sleep like Sokka does. True story.
- “The Moon Spirit is a gentle, loving lady! She rules the sky with compassion and….LUNAR GOODNESS!” Defensive much, Sokka? Oh, I love you.
- “It’s like my brain has a mind of its own!” I can’t ignore how hilarious this is.
- SOKKA IS A THEREMIN. Amazing.
- omg omg omg NORTH BY NORTHWEST REFERENCE! I love that movie!
I absolutely adore this episode. ATLA is a very versatile show but this is the first time they've attempted horror. The horror-movie motifs that occur throughout the episode, starting with the opening scene (forest under moonlight), Katara's story about Nini, the eerie nature of the town and, especially, Hama, everything is just top notch.
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The episode has some wonderful misdirection with the violent history of the Southern Water tribe allowing Katara and Hama to bond over their shared heritage. When Hama first appears,
she seems to be a nice old lady, but there is already a certain sense of foreboding connected to her. The audience already suspects her to be the one to make people disappear but I don't think anyone was prepared for the revelation of bloodbending. I remember watching The Swamp and theorizing whether bloodbending was possible but the thought soon slipped my mind.
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As a result we get to see the darker side of Waterbending. I realize bloodbending is creepy but it's an incredibly powerful weapon to have. Even though Katara was understandably upset at the end of the episode, I felt excited to see whether we would see anymore of this technique.
Sokka: It's like my brain has mind of its own.
Sokka never change.
AWESOME PICS ARE AWESOME.
What is this cat gif from????? It looks so familiar!!!
"The Puppetmaster" is a pretty sick and disturbing episode. People in the Television Without Pity thread had been talking about bloodbending for a year before the episode aired (and discussions yesterday came dangerously close to making the logical leap), and it was always qualified with "But the show would never go there." BUT IT DID. That final scene where Hama forces Katara to bloodbend against her will and then revels in the fact that she got her to cross a line she didn't want to cross…that is dark stuff for a twelve-year-old. Even though Hama lost, she won. (My little cousin, of course, didn't really see it that way: "Why is it so bad? She doesn't have to do it again!")
And that's the ending! There's no upbeat buffer; it's just "Ha ha, fuck you, I totally corrupted you, little girl," and then it's over. *shudder*
I said what your cousin said lol. Perhaps I am a bad person, but I was just like "So what, just don't do it anymore!"
It's a matter of principals. Madam Fussy Britches was adamantly opposed to even learning bloodbending let alone using it. But in the end she did, and even if it was to save her friends, even if she never does it again it doesn't change the fact that she violated her own morals.
Not only that, but she has the skill now: she can't not know how to bloodbend. Even if she never uses it again, even if she never teaches anyone else how to do it, it's going to be a part of her for the rest of her life.
I saw it as this: She used what she sees as an immoral tactic to save her brother and best friend (or, I guess, to save the Avatar) in the heat of the moment. She can't unlearn that skill, and I think perhaps she's worried that when it comes down to it, if she's really pressed, she'd be able to do it again, against (for example) the seemingly undefeatable Combustion Man. Then she'll maybe rationalize it by saying that the Combustion Man was trying to kill Aang. And then she'll use it again if Azula starts posing a threat, and then maybe Zuko shows up and maybe he'll join the Avatar and maybe he won't, but she can't take the chance that he's just there to kill Aang and so she uses it on him, too. And it all becomes completely defensible, just another tool in her belt. (Which I think is one problem people had with the use of the Unforgivable Curses in the later Harry Potter books, I think?)
ETA: I could also see her thinking about what caused Hama to go so wrong, and seeing how easily the same sort of off-balancing damage could happen to her. Hama ended up like that, and it was just from being captured and imprisoned after defending her tribe. Katara is doing something far more dangerous than that. She's in league with the Avatar; what happens to her if she's captured? And even if the Avatar wins and she sees the war to its end, what kind of psychological damage will she have been through?
I can see how she'd be afraid that even just having this knowledge is a tragedy waiting to happen. I think that maybe she can see how easy it would be to justify these sort of things, when after all she'd only be doing it to help the Avatar.
haha my little cousin agrees with you! so do I but still……dont judge us
sorry i replyed to the wrong comment
The end always reminds me of the Luke/Emperor scene in Return of the Jedi. Only in this case the Emperor wins.
Oh, I agree with you completely. The ending is just… so bleak and leaves you feeling all wrong and disturbed. 🙁
"And that's the ending! There's no upbeat buffer; it's just "Ha ha, fuck you, I totally corrupted you, little girl," and then it's over. *shudder*"
Yeah, that shocked me. I mean, this is a kids show. These episodes aren't neccesarily run in order and it's not even guaranteed that a kid will see an episode after this to check that Katara isn't still messed up over this or see how she deals. It just ends with her having been toyed with, and that's part of the reason I feel this episode gives so many people the heebie jeebies. It's not that there's ultimate creepy; it's that ultimate creepy WINS.
And that's the ending! There's no upbeat buffer; it's just "Ha ha, fuck you, I totally corrupted you, little girl," and then it's over. *shudder*
YESSss….muahaha….
Any episode of Avatar that ends in this fashion (like, without them holding hands and feeling all warm and fuzzy) gives me the hardcore chills.
Thank you show.
Set list for Forever Flaming Darkness:
Act One:
Nothing is Beautiful and Everything Hurts
Firebender in a Waterbending World
What About My Feelings?
Rage! Part One
The Lone Wolf-Mongoose
Act Two:
Nobody Knows My Pain
Solar Eclipse of the Heart
Rage! Part Two
Cataclysmic Devastation
Dead Inside
Act Three:
One Sister in Hand, Two Stabs in the Back
Iridescent Mourning
Rage! Part Three
Soul's Fleeting Rapture Scorched
Uncles Don't Know Everything
Act Four:
Four Elements of Anguish
Does Father Love Me Now? Why Not?
My Quintessence Is Just Kindling
Honor's Conflagration
The Agony of Everything
Nothing is Beautiful and Everything Hurts (reprise)
(There will be no intermission.)
This is brilliant and wonderful. I award you all the upvotes for today.
This is amazing but Solar Eclipse of the Heart actually made me laugh out loud.
My favorite is "Does Father Love Me Now? Why Not?" But "Solar Eclipse of the Heart" is very clever.
I think I love you
Nothing is Beautiful and Everything Hurts (reprise)
brb DYING
THIS IS PURE BRILLIANCE. <3
All the upvotes for you.
Bravo, good Sir
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Bravo
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I love you dearly.
This is ALL the win. <333
All the upvotes are not enough.
No matter about yesterday's lack of entry. THIS WINS IT ALL.
Why do I feel the same as everyone about Solar Eclipse of the Heart? But I don't know what, I want to see the Wolf-Mongoose more than the rest.
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I asked for more Forever Flaming Darkness and I got it! 😀
Once upon a time there was fire in my life
Now there's only ash in the dark
Nothing I can say
Solar Eclipse of the Heart
MOAR PLEASE!
LOL! I love song parodies…
Besides Solar Eclipse of the Heart, I love One Sister in Hand, Two Stabs in the Back
I just can not imagine Mai agreeing to watch the whole thing, though! 😀
We need to make this happen.
The first time I saw this episode I automatically fixated on the puppets. Right up until the Gaang figured out what was going on I was certain that they were the missing villagers. Because lets face it, there are exactly 2 reasons to collect puppets:
1)They are made from people.
2)You wish to take advantage of the 3000% increase they give to your Creepy Quotient (A value only matched by clowns)
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Bloodbending made me start consider all of the most gruesome applications of bending. For example, couldn’t you pull the water out of living things just like with plants? Hell, it would be easier then draining a tree. Or could you suffocate someone with airbending. And remember in The Avatar and the Fire Lord how Sozin pulled the heat out of the lava, does that mean that you could pull it out a person? Or put it in? Dear god you could boil someone’s blood. And depending on how earthbending works it could be nasty. I mean if it works by manipulating the minerals in earth, then why not use the calcium in bones?
no one talks trash about the moon with sokka around!
i absolutely ADORE the lighting in this episode. gorgeous!
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the trees crumbling was a nice touch.
an epilogue:
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it's a cool trick on its own, but i was worried people might've been leading you too far with their emphasis on "sweatbending".
i know you were wondering about it early on, and right from the beginning, fans were trying to find the limits of bending. the writers established early on the limits on metal, but toph smashed that one good. so couldn't waterbenders control blood? could aang suffocate a dude? could you use airbending to get high? in the comments section here, someone mentioned the mineral calcium in bones, or a toph-specific "iron in the blood."
"it's okay."
Ah! I must have unwittingly plagiarized Der-shing Helmer! I love that comic!
Oh, that comic is so cruel! Poor ZuZu… 🙁
Must…resist…urge to…ship…Tokka…
DON'T RESIST
Still the only OTP I ever had during Avatar.
Sokka/Suki/Toph/Ty Lee/Yue.
To quote Beavis and Butthead, their offspring could RULE ANTARCTICA! Literally. 🙂
OH MY GOD that comic! 😀 Is there a link to the original source? I'd love to fave it if it's on DA.
Also, I'm pretty sure I read a fic once where Katara totally pwned Zuko using only bloodbending and her righteous anger. And maybe also the entire ocean…
Um, how can you use Airbending to get high?
Inhaling pure oxygen can give you a natural high, oxygen makes your body work so lots of oxygen makes your brain work on overdrive. They have actual oxygen bars in places like Vegas for this reason. So in theory an Airbender could separate the oxygen from the other elements in the air and get high off it.
I'd love to know where and/or from whom those fanarts come from.
Holy fuck, that was brutal. This episode was so up and down. For a while you think it’s going to be a “don’t assume things about strangers” episode with some nostalgia factor about the southern water tribe. And then things just go all the way to hell. The poor old woman. The fire nation kept the benders imprisoned and helpless, essentially torturing them. It’s completely understandable for her to have gone to such horrible extremes to survive, and harbor such hatred towards the fire nation. It doesn’t excuse her actions by any means. But such behavior is understandable, which is what makes it so terrible. (Except maybe for the imprisoning people underground part. That doesn’t make a lot of sense.)
And poor Katara. She wants so badly to carry on the traditions of her tribe. But she was forced to stop the old woman with the most disturbing type of bending we’ve seen so far. Most bending we’ve seen has simply been using a pure element in a very physical manner. This is a very intrusive act which seems to go against everything we’ve seen in the Avatar world. It’s pure body horror. And it’s antithetical to everything Katara’s stood for over the last few seasons. She wants to help everyone. This is a power that can be used only to hurt.
In a way it sort of goes with the 'yin-yang' theme that was brought up in the first season. Water has the power to give life and heal, but it also has this horrible corrupting power and the ability to drain water from plants.
How the hell did they get this approved on Nick??
Except maybe for the imprisoning people underground part. That doesn’t make a lot of sense.
I'm assuming because Hama and her people were imprisoned and helpless with no hope for escape, she decided to do the same thing to people in the Fire Nation, hence being chained up underground.
Yeah, I think this is it. She could have just killed them, but in a way, being locked up in horrible conditions for the rest of their lives could be worst.
The imprisoning underground thing can be looked at as mirroring locking people away from their element. With Waterbenders there were those dry prisons, with Earthbenders the metal rig at sea, and with Firebenders, being cut off from the light of the sun. I'm sure Hama saw it as appropriate payback.
This is probably my favourite episode this season. For one, I like that Sokka's baseless suspicions turn out to be right. Guy needs to catch a break every once in a while. And secondly, Katara.
I feel like Katara, up until this point, has been the character we can associate with stability when it comes to both kindness and goodness. And yet, in this episode, this bastion of moral certainty – who despite occasionally handling things badly, always wants to do what's right – is suddenly handed one of the most powerful bending techniques imaginable… and it's ethically awful. On top of which, the usefulness of drawing water from life is counterbalanced not by an outside force, which it would need to be if, say, Azula were able to weild it, but by the implications of destroying natural life to save other people.
I love the questions this episode raises about what is and isn't acceptable to win, because despite Katara's certainess that she would never bloodbend… she does it instantly to save her friends.
She's in for a rough time over this, poor girl.
Also, Hama = SO CREEPY.
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NO THANKS PLEASE GO AWAY.
One thing that came to mind some time after getting over the willies from this ep:
So Bloodbending is the horrible corruption of her Art that Katara was forced to use on Hama in order to save her love*cough* friend and brother… but what was stopping her from merely taking a cubic meter or so of water and beating Hama with it until she stopped moving? I am perfectly willing to give her a pass by nature of being rattled but…
Hama was sending Sokka, space sword brandished, flying at Aang. Katara needed to do something that would have an immediate effect that Hama couldn't control on her own. I don't think there was time enough for a conventional attack to save Aang and Sokka.
I APPROVE OF THIS ENTIRE EPISODE SO MUCH.
I mean. I'm sorry, it's WAR. There is a WAR going on and I always feel that kid's shows soften it up (& even avatar does, because it's Nick.) but this? I feel like Blood-Bending should've been introduced in almost the very beginning (no, I see why not, but honestly, all the water benders there were at the North & South Pole, it's not like Hama just invented blood bending – healing is part of changing the internal parts of the body, so blood bending must have been known, you'd feel it, being close to another person and sensing the water inside them – like toph is able to sense earth in metal & stuff) But, when the Fire Nation attacked the Poles, wouldn't have Blood Bending been like, FRONT LINE ATTACKS right there? I'm not sure if it works ONLY on the full moon. I mean, I guess it does (but then when the Gang minus Toph were at the South Pole we should've seen the warriors ambushing & blood bending the hell out of the ship captains & stuff, because it's not like there would have been any other choice for surviving such a raid. Morality doesn't come in war when you're trying to save your civilization.)
Or at the South Pole, it should have been used, or more strategy techniques, because the flashbacks we get in these episodes shows that while complex, it probably isn't as complex as it would/could have been in reality – and no, AMBUSH, surprise water icicles to the heart, etc.
Oh dear, it's just, it's a war, there's a genocidal maniac. You don't get out of war without being scarred, without being corrupted, not if you're as important to it as these kids are. You do worse things, you kill people and you don't stop to think – you do it for survival and for a cause & etc.
So, I love this episode, because it's dark & important as fuck, because it reminds us even more strongly of how fucked up war is, how terrible it is. (& really, in the real world too, Hama would have been raped. Lots.)
One thing I love about how they write Sokka is that he often goes on a tirade, and you think he's gone too far, but he's TOTALLY RIGHT. I love so much how the show does that. You never expect it.
This episode freaks my shit. Easily the creepiest episode of the series for me. Easily.
My initial reaction to bloodbending:
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My reaction to Hama after she reveals herself as a frightening, frightening person:
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Like. I don't even know. The creepy music at the beginning of the episode, the mysterious circumstances of the disappearances, HAMA LEECHING WATER OUT OF FLOWERS, the frightening implications of CONTROLLING SOMEONE'S BODY, scary trees, sneaking around, the terrible prisoners of war scenes, the rats, hair hanging in front of eyes, the colors, THE FUCKING PUPPETS. PUPPETS ARE NEVER NOT SCARY. KSHDF(S*Y(Y"Y*^^%$(^#593a67(SHF.
THIS SHOW, I SWEAR. They are just never-ending in their crafty characterization. Here's a member of Sokka and Katara's home tribe, someone who shares everything they know and feel about home, and she is TERRORIZING INNOCENT VILLAGERS BY BENDING THEIR EVERLOVING BLOOD. WHYYYYYYYYYYYY. It's such incredible and unnerving commentary about what war does to people, and playing with moral gray areas. On one hand, we know Hama's actions are wrong. On the other, we're able to completely understand how she came to this state of mind, this thirst for revenge. Her life was destroyed, her spirit crushed, her body tortured. OMG THOSE PRISON SCENES I CANNOT EVEN
The one light moment in this for me is Sokka and Aang "fighting" Katara and the little bits of humor the writers injected. "I'm sorry, Aang!" "It's okay!" Like, LOL, REALLY KATARA, IT'S COOL TO INCAPACITATE ME SO I DON'T KILL MY FRIENDS AGAINST MY WILL, REALLY.
Hama's techniques are so so so unnerving. It's obvious Katara is SERIOUSLY morally conflicted about using these abilities. Destroying plants to derive their water? CONTROLLING PEOPLE? She's not cool with this. But she's forced into it. MORAL GRAY AREAS.
Katara crying at the end, absolutely horrified that she was backed into that corner… that will never not get to me 🙁 It's like some overall commentary on how these kids (KIDS, THEY ARE KIDS OMG) are being forced to fight in this war. They don't want to do this, but they have no choice. It also echos Aang's position — he WILL have to hurt (and potentially kill) more people, won't he? How can he deal with that?
THIS EPISODE
Slakjdsfjas;kldsf flawless commentary is flawless.
Also I am like … IRL crying with laughter at that first gif. Omg. HAWKY IS SHOCKED AND APPALLED.
Ha, I laugh every time at Aang's "Its okay!" too. I don't know, it just sounds so nonchalant.
My reaction to this episode can basically be summed up as
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Blood bending is definitely the creepiest and most terrifying form of bending.
That we know of.
I have never seen Tangled but AAWWWW THAT GIF
Rapunzel is pretty much that adorable throughout the whole movie. Which is why I want to give it a hug. 🙂
Its a cute movie; it knows how to use the "oooh, let me hug her" approach to loving a protagonist.
I read a fanfic set after the end of the series that had a serial-killing, Hannibal-Lecter-creepy waterbender. Terrifying, he was.
What episode of doctor who is that from I can't remember and its driving me insane.
Fantastic gifs!
Yeah, this episode is freaking scary. The first time I watched it I was all huddled up under a blanket in case I had to cover my eyes! (I may be exaggerating a tiny bit…but it's still creepy as hell!)
Poor Katara =[
I really appreciate that we see someone from the Southern Water Tribe in a less-than-positive light. Thank you show! I mean, it sucks for Katara and Sokka to meet someone from their home who turns out to be so scary, but it does make for a super-cool dynamic.
So Hama's pretty awesome, in a villainous sort of way. Love that she can pull water from the air and flowers. And it's creepy that she can manipulate people with bloodbending, but I think it's still pretty awesome. I feel some amount of sympathy for her, since she seems very happy to share her story and teach Katara some of her special skills. I mean, she's basically a lonely war refugee bent on revenge against the Fire Nation. And I get that.
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I have some issues with this episode – certain writing/storytelling issues that irk me, and ffs, can we please some awesome likeable older women on Avatar? But I'm not feeling particularly thinky right now, and I would rather sit back and appreciate what this episode does do well, which is a lot.
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So basically, I love that the show decides to go there and not only introduce bloodbending, but to also make Katara use it. Holy hell. Also very intrigued by the fact that Katara now has a lot more things to draw on for water now.
And last thought: "The moon spirit is a gentle, loving lady! She rules the sky with compassion and…lunar goodness!" Oh, Sokka.
Gran Gran is nice…
Gran Gran is Kanna (I think?)
Yep!
If you don't find Lo and Li both nice AND awesome, well, I don't know what to tell you!
When Hama was bending the water out of the flowers, just before she remarked on how beautiful they were. Then she killed them. Really, she must hate those flowers, as they're a representative of the Fire Nation.
Flowers grow back next year. She didn't destroy the roots, only take the water of the surface plant. However, she killed several trees during the fight without second thought.
The roots are where most of the water in those flowers would have been stored – I have no doubt Hama sucked those completely dry too.
I must praise highly the wonderful Tress McNeil who voiced Hama. That lady is seriously one of the greatest voice actors EVER and can go from warm and loving to CREEPY AS ALL GET OUT in a matter of seconds! I seriously adore her.
Toph had some of the creepiest moments in this to me, though. Not Toph herself, but just the lines that there are people screaming under the mountain. There's just something so disturbing about that to me, there are people screaming under the mountain!
Tress is the best! I seriously want to be her when I grow up.
Oh Tress MacNeil is one of my favorite voice actors of all time. It is totally believable that the lady who voiced Babs Bunny could be creepy as fuck as well. So flippin' talented.
Dude, that emphasis on people screaming under the mountain just gave me chills. Just reading it! OH THIS EPISODE.
JESUS FUCK THIS EPISODE IS SO FUCKING SCARY HOLY WHAT somebody hold me
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(Re: Executive meddling – I know the network did ask them to change things but I'm fuzzy on the specifics and someone will probably come along with actual examples. But I do know that this was originally a Halloween episode and due to the wonky schedule it ended up being aired in November I think?).
It aired on November 9. Happy Halloween!
Certain people at Nick need a good smack-around.
During the first season, the writers wanted to throw in a lot more female grunts, but Nick said 'no,' only allowing them to show, say, female Fire Nation soldiers once Season Three rolled around.
I'm pretty sure that's why all of the Old People (other than Gran Gran and Hama) are male, because who wants to see stories about old women? *rolleyes*
Seriously, someone at Nick is a misogynist. That's likely why there are no female action figures.
But at least they let us have Katara.
To be fair, there's plenty of female BAMF characters – Katara, Toph, Azula (even though she's evil, she's still badass), Ty Lee, Mai, Suki, Avatar Kyoshi…
Just not enough older female BAMF characters. Or at least they don't get enough screen time.
Hopefully they'll rectify that in Korra…
What? No Suki action figure? Now that's thinking with something that's not the brain.
Dude, there's no Katara action figure. There's an action figure for the Blue Spirit, but not one for Katara. One of the few good things about the movie is that there was finally going to be a Katara action figure, even though it was based on Whiteara. But IIRC, they cancelled the line with that one. Boo, hiss.
I thought Lycanthromancer meant that there was only a Katara action figure. That's how the comment is written.
I repeat, those idiots are thinking with something other than the brain. How can they let that much profit escape them ortherwise?
Nope, they made it. I only ever saw it once and you'd better believe I bought it as soon as I saw it. Whiteara is better than Notara, as far as I'm concerned.
Random thing of note: Hama takes Katara into the woods to teach her bloodbending, right? But it was just the two of them. Let that sink in for a minute.
So you're saying that even if Katara agreed to learn bloodbending, Hama would've manipulated her anyway as a demonstration? And if so, Hama would've had to allow herself to be bloodbended so Katara could practice?
IDG if this is creepier since at least then it'd have all been consensual….
Don't explain the mind-numbing horror!
LOL i don't find it nearly as scary as it being done against one's will like it was in the episode, but maybe that's just me…
The scariness would have more to do with the fact that Hama's so far off the deep end (of the alignment pool or otherwise, however you want to interpret that) that she's totally willing to go that far in the first place.
I figured that would happen when Hama mentioned blood bending. Then I figured Hama would use the techique on Katara to lock her up on that mountain if she refused. Or worse probably since her friends would go looking for her.
Like you say, that woman is far too gone, I wouldn't put anything past her.
I read this comment and actually said 'OH MY GOSH fscfhhfff' out loud and flapped my hands in horror 🙁
I know this only makes Hama more evil, but it could be that she was planning on finding and torturing a baby saber-toothed moose-lion as an example.
See, I presumed she meant to carry out her full moon routine of marching some unlucky villager off.
Huh. I guess I assumed that if Katara proved to be an eager student, Hama would demonstrate on an animal. Or maybe that no demonstration was needed at all – just by opening Katara's mind to the concept of reaching into the "water" in people's veins and arteries, Hama "taught" the technique.
I love how creepy this episode is and how unsettling the ending is. Katara now knows how to bend blood and Hama is taken back to prison. I always wondered if she escaped again because, well, she did it once.
I would guess Toph didn't notice because the floors were wood/she was focused on bending metal.
Part of me thinks she was _very_ tightly bound on the nights of the full moon… but I cannot ignore the possibility of her being executed out of hand (she has been kidnapping and at the very least imprisoning innocent people for at least a decade).
I think this definitely might have happened. I thinka major reason they only locked up the water benders was because the Avatar might have been one of them, and they didn't want to kill him/her and have to start combing through all the Nations. Now that they know that the Avatar was alive (and recently 'died'), they can pretty much assume this old lady isn't her.
So Earthbending Megazord Power = Metalbending. Water = Bloodbending. Fire = Lightingbending. Have we gotten a Megazord for Air yet?
(In related news: what is Mighty Morphin' Power Ranges being on Netflix DOING TO ME?)
ZOMG I just noticed MMPR was on Netflix the other day too! I tried not to click.
I'm not sure what the Airbending Megazord is, although I'm sure it's been discussed to death on TWoP.
Dude, it's so amazingly bad. The original pilot has the kids fighting with actual "SMACK!" and "CRASH!" words onscreen like old Batman episodes. In other words, I'm totally watching every episode.
Holy shit, I don't remember that at all. I remember kind of guiltily liking it even though I was in high school. Or junior high. I don't remember. But I totally watched it. Bulk and Skull!
In conclusion, my brother and I do a great impression of Tommy. It goes like this: "I'm losing my powers!"
I think there are two pilots – one with the crazy words and one without. I don't remember it either from when I was younger, but there it was on Netflix!
Tommy was AMAZING. I went and read up on those guys' wiki pages and apparently the actor who played Tommy has the distinction of being the ranger who has appeared the most on the show in all its iterations and seasons. I was like…maybe that is not something you want to be bragging about, sir.
(Apparently my Megazord power is threadbending. I swear this is somehow relevant to ATLA!)
Aang is the Red Ranger, Sokka is the Blue Ranger, Katara is the Pink Ranger, and Toph is the Yellow Ranger! OR SOMETHING. Azula is Rita, Ozai is Zedd, Roku is Zordon…IT ALL MAPS SO PERFECTLY RIGHT. Zuko and Iroh are Bulk and Skull, I don't even know. JET IS TOMMY BECAUSE HE GETS BRAINWASHED Y/Y??
(Also, please remember not to use "crazy" on this site. Thanks.)
Thanks! As I said below, I'm working on cutting it out and usually proofread my comments because it is a very, very bad habit of mine.
How about this: the ridiculous/silly/over-the-top/excessive/etc. words. Let's avoiding calling them "crazy."
Thanks! Spectralbovine called me out on it above – bad force of habit. I usually double check my comments because I'm working on cutting it out in real life as well as on the web.
You should totally check this out, then:
http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/linka…
This guy is basically making an anthology of all the themes and characters of every season of Power Rangers. Even the first season was a lot deeper than I remembered.
*gasp* Somebody else who follows HoPR? YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY.
I'm also a fan of his Atop The Fourth Wall show too.
As someone who never watched Power Rangers as a kid (I just missed it and latched onto everything Cartoon Network instead) I always look forward to Linkara's History of Power Rangers videos. I feel like he does a good job condensing and discussing each incarnation of Power Rangers in an interesting way. I quite like Atop the Fourth Wall as well, I'm glad that people here are watching his stuff!
I love Linkara. Not his Power Ranger stuff, because I was never really a fan of that show, but I think his comic videos are awesome, and I don't even read comics.
Anyone here watching Suburban Knights? Nothing like an awesome Adventure Fantasy Quest with LARPing parodies, Harry Potter, Aslan, and the Princess Bride.
I love Linkara. Not his Power Ranger stuff, because I was never really a fan of that show, but I think his comic videos are awesome, and I don't even read comics.
Same here, except that I also love his Power Rangers series, even though I never watched the show as a kid.
Suburban Knights has a sad lack of representation from my favorite fandoms. Also, Aslan should get retconned into the Cowardly Lion.
What are your favourite (fantasy) fandoms? *is curious*
Oh I'm loving Suburban Knights, just watched Part 4 a little while ago. The playground fight in Part 3 was my favorite bit so far.
I may be wrong, but I think the whole "Smack" "Crash" stuff is stuff that was added in when the Re-version was released last year. They added a whole bunch of comic-book styled effects to the whole thing.
Correct. Disney didn't want to do the show any more so their solution was to "remaster" the original series, which was basically just adding cheap comic book effects to it. That prompted Saban to reacquire the rights and now we have Power Rangers Samurai airing on Nickelodeon. I think the only major children's network Power Rangers hasn't aired on now is Cartoon Network.
DUDE! It's on Netflix? Thank you thank you thank you.
It will RUIN YOUR LIFE! You won't be able to stop watching, and suddenly you'll remember why you shipped the Pink Ranger and the Green Ranger hardcore. (Seriously, Tommy and Kim were my first OTP.)
Batman/Catwoman was my first OTP, but Tommy/Kimberly were my second.
I was ruined when that evil impostor Pink Ranger came on the scene. Who the heck did she think she was, cavorting with Tommy like Kimberly never happened? (Then Kim showed up on Felicity and was sexually assaulted by Brian Krakow from My So-Called Life and MY ENTIRE CHILDHOOD BECAME ENTIRELY WEIRD.)
In conclusion, I wish I'd had ATLA when I was little instead of MMPR, because I'd probably be a lot more well-adjusted.
OMG, RIGHT? WHO IS THIS WOMAN WHO IS ALL UP IN TOMMY'S BUSINESS?
Haha I must be the only person alive who loves these shows and stuff and does not do any kind of serious shipping.
I don't do serious shipping either! Basically, if the show is clearly telling me that two people belong together, I will buy it and root for them. Unless it's annoying. Any other "Huh, these two should bonk" feelings are just passing fancies.
I didn't ship anyone, but I may have had a major nerd-crush on Billy. Jason was also nice to look at.
The actor who played Billy recent came out a few months ago. He actually said that people made homophobic remarks to him on the set of MMPR. I was surprised to hear he was gay, but I was even more shocked and upset about homophobic comments being directed at him. 🙁
Ugh, that's horrible 🙁
According to the creators, airbending is actually the only form that doesn't have a unique sub-specialty or "killing move". Which makes Gyatso's "Taking You With Me" moment from way back in episode 3 all the more impressive, no? 🙂
Gosh, yes it does. Four for you, Monk Gyatso. You go, Monk Gyatso!
So we can guess Gyatso and other monks are responsible for the death of the Fire Nation soldiers found at the temple in episode 3… (ROT13 Spoilers) Naq lrg, va gur svanyr, Nnat unf guvf pevfvf be zbenyvgl jura vg pbzrf gb gnxvat n yvsr. Pyrneyl gur zbaxf jrer bxnl jvgu svtugvat onpx va gur rirag bs frys-qrsrafr; V guvax fnivat gur Rnegu Xvatqbz dhnyvsvrf nf qrsrafr.
I think Aang (rot13 spoilers) vf n yvggyr ovg anvir va gung nfcrpg. Be znlor abg "anvir", ohg gbb vqrnyvfgvp. Ur'f cerggl zhpu fnirq ol gur Yvba Ghegyr grnpuvat uvz Raretloraqvat, ohg jung vs Raretloraqvat qvqa'g rkvfg? Ur'q unir gb xvyy Bmnv. Gbhtu.
Air surfing is the ultimate airbending move…that, or getting the fruit pies all fluffy, a la Gyatso. 😉
I said yesterday that "The Runaway" is probably my favourite non-arc episode. I must correct me, because "The Puppetmaster" is even better. It was aired near Halloween and it is some of the creepiest stuff ever put into a Western animation series. It's also very powerful character stuff for Katara and it has my second favourite fight up to date in the series (and it is probably the most brutal fight too. Great, great episode.
This was supposed to be A:tLA version of a Halloween-centric episode. The Avatar extras said so.
Yes. It was originally aired in late October as well, so it was VERY Halloween. Ghost stories and bloodbending, woo!
This wasn't censorship, but how about airing a scary Halloween episode in November counting as "holding things back?" Oh, nickelodeon.
I love this episode. I'm glad to hear you've wondered about the technicalities of waterbending, because from the beginning of the series, I've thought "omg I want to be a waterbender because there's water everywhere," with the acknowledgment that you could use it on other people. I'm a terrible person, probably. Episodes like the last one and "The Swamp" made me think it had to be possible, but I was astounded to see it actually come into the story because of how gruesome it is.
MagnetoHama is denying people their free will and collectively punishing them for the crimes the Fire Nation committed on her. It's an ugly episode, and one of my favorites.Also, best waterbending sequence since Crossroads, right? GIFSPAM
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The look on Katara's face after Hama tells her she's a bloodbender is heartbreaking. She loves to help people, and be able to hurt people, to control people, is a horrible gift that she obviously never wanted. I'm reminded of what Jeong Jeong said about Katara being lucky she's a waterbender, but there's obviously a nasty side to it. The good and bad of bending comes down to how you use the elements.
I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who saw the Hama/Magneto analogy. (How'd that be for a crack pairing? :P)
I love this episode. I always had a thing for Halloween episodes as a kid (I blame/thank Scooby Doo), but this tops them all (The Hash Slinging Slasher comes in at a close second). For some reason, I burst into a fit of giggles when Toph says "Maybe it's treasure!" Every. Single. Time.
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Toph was clearly a pirate in a previous life. Or she's Haley's spiritual twin.
Oh, I could totally see Haley and Toph being the best of friends.
Absolutely. I also think Sokka would get on pretty well with Roy. What with both of them being originally warriors that took extra buffs in intelligence… 😉 And both have (or had, in Sokka's case) a girlfriend who is a spirit/supernatural being.
And actually Toph seems to have quite a lot in common with Belkar – they're both short, shoeless and UTTER BADASSES. 😀
Aang is a lot like Elan, with his peaceful and optimistic nature…
Katara is like Durkon, the healer of the group and also the one with the strictest moral code.
Can't think of an OOTS character to assign to Zuko or Azula, but Sabine is the closest thing for Azula that comes to mind…
Xykon is Ozai, Redcloak is totally Zhao (Zhao had a red sash, too!).
Lord Shojo is a spitting image of King Bumi (the parallel going further with Mr. Scruffy being the obvious equivalent of Flopsy).
… damn. That's a lot of parallels… XD
I find it wonderful that people knew who Haley was just from a single reference and nothing else. ^_^
No Belkar-Toph comparisons! Besides that Toph isn't a mass murderer, I don't want to think about her having Belkar's metaphorical hourglass hanging over her head.
Zuko could be Vaarsuvius? It's stretching a bit, ohg obgu fcrag n ybat gvzr gelvat gb nggnva n tbny (erfgber uvf ubabe sbe Mhxb, bognva hygvzngr nepnar cbjre sbe I), bayl gb svaq gung jura gurl nggnvarq gubfr tbnyf, vg jnfa'g nyy gurl gubhtug vg jbhyq or naq raqrq hc gelvat gb ngbar sbe gur zvfgnxrf gurl znqr juvyr chefhvat gung tbny.
Not a bad comparison between Zuko and V… Except that Zuko is not a genderless/sexless (delete whichever is inappropriate) elf who has a secret family with another genderless/sexless elf and two adopted children… XD
V totally has a gender/sex! …we just don't know what it is.
I actually started thinking about more comparisons, but as the Avatar characters filling roles in a hypothetical play based on OOTS.
Sokka = Roy, as you said. He'd also want to play Durkon for the WWTD? and tree jokes, but that's not possible.
Aang = Elan as well, with Aang turning his brain completely off, except for Sokka giving him genre savvy pointers and puns to use.
Katara wouldn't be too happy playing Durkon, but she'd warm to it once she realized that he's the most dependable member of the party, plus is a combat/medic.
Toph would have a blast as Belkar. Can't deny her that fun.
Zuko… needs some confidence boosters to pull of V's boasting, but otherwise would be a good enough fit. (Also, Iroh can voice Blackwing, and he'd replace all distractions by shiny objects to distracted by tea.)
Haley then is the difficult one, but I decided that Ty Lee would be best at it. She's a cute, bubbly stealth fighter with family issues seething beneath the surface.
To continue on to secondary characters…
If Bumi is Shojo, then Earth King Kuei should be Hinjo. This is based on the popular fanon that Bumi teaches Kuei how to be a better ruler. Plus, Hinjo and Kuei both ended up travelling the world after being deposed. Flopsy is Mr Scruffy (hope Toph likes him), while Bosco is the least threatening Argent ever.
Roy's love interests, Celia and Miko, would of course be played by Sokka's love interests, Suki and Yue. They can work out who plays which role. Celia and Suki both met the guy once briefly before later kindling a relationship, but Miko is also a fighter with a Japanese name like Suki, and Yue could better pull off Celia's sylph tricks.
I hate to reduce the Big Bad of ATLA to a mere annoying side enemy, but Ozai would be good as Nale with Azula playing Sabine. Plus, it preserves the Aang vs. Ozai dynamic. No suggestions for Thog, though.
Zhao would actually be better as Xykon. You know that if he had that much power he'd abuse it in much the same way. Redcloak… maybe Long Feng?
The Monster in the Darkness, though, is definitely voiced by Ty Lee (again), because like him(?), she needs to learn that just because people call themselves her friends, if they treat her badly, they aren't truly friends. And who better to teach that lesson than Iroh playing O-Chul?
Mai is hard to place, but emphasize the sarcasm more and she'd make a good Oracle.
It's like that time Fox asked Arrested Development to create an episode where Michael teaches his son a nice lesson.
bahahaha
is that true?
i thought they were trying to get us off dairy.
This reminds me of what happened with the 3rd season of Moral Orel. After the incredibly dark and bleak finale for Season 2 was such a hit, Adult Swim asked the show creators to make Season 3 as dark as possible.
They immediately regretted their decision. To quote TVtropes: "Originally conceived as a satire of '50s and '60s era sitcoms, designed to resemble an Affectionate Parody of Davey And Goliath (with shades of Leave It To Beaver tossed in), Moral Orel ultimately evolved into one of the darkest pieces of western animation in years."
Moral Orel had an incredible 3rd season. I saw a few eps and they were all so creepy and dark…stupid [AS] for cancelling a show after getting exactly what they asked for! (although I admit that I don't think I'll do a rewatch…)
I would really recommend a rewatch, at least of season 3. It's dark and can get pretty depressing, but it is honestly one of the most powerful pieces of television I've ever watched.
Thank you for the wonderful nightmare fuel.
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You're welcome 😀
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While I'm pretty sure the episode itself never actually mentions it, Hama's friend IS confirmed to be a young Kanna in the art book.
As we get another look back at the Southern Water Tribe, here's a bit of easily missed horror. Take a look at this brief glimpse we get of the village in young Hama's time:
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And now compare it to this concept art for the same village from The Boy in the Iceberg:
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This episode makes it pretty chillingly clear that what happened way back in Imprisoned is neither a new thing nor unique to Haru's village. The Fire Nation is systematically wiping out the benders of any settlement that opposes them, and possibly any settlement they conquer period. And this? Not a new thing. Not a new thing at all.
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In the series bible, we wrote that the highest level of Waterbending is the ability to control the water in another person's body to move them like a puppet. It wasn't until this episode, however, that the writers found the perfect opportunity to explore this dark side of Waterbending, which they coined "Bloodbending."
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After having so many villains from the Fire Nation, it was fun to change it up and have one from the Water Tribe.
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The fact that Hama was once friends with Katara's grandmother, Kanna, illustrated a core philosophy of the series: people aren't good or evil, but are either in balance, or out of balance.
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Hmm I really like the phrasing of in balance/out of balance. It implies that to be in balance you may need some degree of both compassion and ruthlessness, or other traits to those degrees. Could a 'good' person be out of balance if they're so good they fail to protect themselves/others?
Wow I'm about to go on a philosophy tangent i'm not qualified to go on lol
If it's a question of being "out of balance", than how the hell does Azula even stay standing up?
Maybe the scales tipped so far that they're now upside down?
Concerning the SWT, if I recall correctly they has scattered into small settlements rather than get reduced in population that severely.
I can't remember if it's stated, but this does seem likely.
Still, that's the same village. It's obviously in the same rough location (that Fire Nation ship stuck nearby), with Kanna still there. Even if all the people scattered, the change in the village itself is pretty devastating.
What? Gran-Gran and Hama were friends? How would we know that?
Gran-Gran only mentions it like a hundred times in the movie.
Not as much as Zhao mentions the library.
Movie!Zhao/the library = OTP. Obviously. XD
Oh THAT'S the season three spoiler. I couldn't figure out what it was. I guess because movie!Gran Gran is like 'BLAH BLAH BLAH AWKWARD EXPOSITION BLAH' that's all I hear.
And also that Katara and Sokka's mother is dead. IIRC, the first time it's explicitly stated in the show is in "The Runaway" when Sokka talks to Toph about his relationship with Katara.
And the Fire Nation royal family picture that Zuko carries around with him and randomly broods over… 😛
i'm seriously going to want to throw my TV out the window when I watch this, right?
I would rather read My Immortal beginning to end than watch that movie.
It's not THAT bad. Or at least not that KIND of bad. It's incredibly inept, horribly acted, the dialogue is laughable, and it shows once and for all that any talent and ingenuity Shyamalan might have had with "The Sixth Sense" and "Unbreakable" has shriveled up and died.
Also, it's got like a 6% on rotten tomatoes, so there's that.
For me it fluctuated wildly between that and laughing hysterically at things meant to be deadly serious (usually the dialogue, but often the bending). Granted, it was 3am and I was sleep deprived and high on sugar at the time, so just about anything seemed funny…
Let's just say, you might want to nail your TV down and remove all throwable objects first
Or you may go into shock like I did and experience a sort of stockholm's syndrome inside your head where you desperately cling to the idea that it's actually a good movie, really, deep down somewhere, and spend hours trying to prove to yourself (and anyone who will listen to you) that there is good in it, truly. I mean come on! It's the liveaction ATLA movie! It can't be THAT bad!
For the record I have fully recovered control of my mind since watching the movie and I DO think it has good elements. They're just sort of completely overshadowed by all the bad ones.
Well, depending on how you set your mindset. When you accept straight away that it's a terrible, awful film that makes no sense, it's very enjoyable to laugh at it and shout abuse.
And it helps to be sleep deprived and/or intoxicated… 😀
It's not even a 'so bad it's good' movie.
The racism behind it is just disgusting.
The movie's daemon was cut away. >_>
Wait, we knew that Katara's mother was killed by the Fire Nation since Season one, when Haru and Katara bond over their missing parents in "Imprisoned".
Actually Katara outright says to Sokka it in the first episode…
Katara: You are the most sexist, immature, nut-brained…I'm embarrassed to be related to you! Ever since Mom died, I've been doing all the work around camp while you have been off playing soldier!
Damn, you're right!
I don't know, for some reason I always thought that up until now they only said that they "lost" their mother, without outright saying that she was dead. I guess I remembered wrong…
Hm? That Katara's and Sokka's mom were killed by the Fire Nation was outright stated in the first episode and several times afterwards. I don't know why there is the Urban Myth that they would avoid saying "murdered" or "killed" in ATLA because they clearly don't.
No, she did mention Hama just once.
I always wondered if that was really Kanna with Hama. The hair-loopies are a tip off I guess, but seeing the necklace pretty much confirms it.
This brings the count of BAMF old women in ATLA up to four…
I've already rewatched quite a few times because Hama is so creepy. 😀
You masochist. 😀
You know me, I choose strange things to fangirl sometimes (hello, Weeping Angels!). 😀
Just a further proof that (rot13'd) nyy byq crbcyr xabj rnpu bgure. XD
Mission fucking accomplished.
NO KIDDING. *hides behind the sofa*
That's… creepily insightful. *shudders*
Hama is possibly the only old lady that I wouldn't mind if she got killed. Seriously. She's just evil (with a VERY good reason). Also, blood bending is probably the one skill that finally made me decide that Waterbending is COOL.
Oh, and Mark, if you're interested in the process of how this show was developed, I've got to recommend the art book again (once you're finished! Because SPOILERS) (also I feel like a walking advertisement for it, but it's SO GOOD). It doesn't deal too much with their relationship with the network, and obviously the focus is on the art, but the entire first chapter is about how the concept evolved and where initial ideas came from.
For instance, originally the idea was it was going to be a scifi show about a young kid herding space Appas, basically. And he had a robot monkey named MOMO 3.
I must get that art book. Those scans you post are simply gorgeous, and I love reading the info snippets about the design and production. <3
You've been a GREAT advertisement for it. I love the art book, and I never would have bought it if it weren't for your scans. So, thanks for the millionth time!
I love love love that whole amazing first interview where you actually get to follow Mike and Bryan's creative process EVERY STEP OF THE WAY. So, so cool.
Thank you for being a great advertisement for that book. Because of your scans, I got it for my friend for her birthday. And she loved it!
Now she has to get it for you for YOUR birthday! (Is this your friend Mai?)
Yep! It was for her. I was originally going to get her season 3 of the show (I had already given her 1 & 2 for previous Birthdays/Christmases), but then I saw all the images from the art book, and decided season 3 could wait until Christmas.
Yeah, just when I thought I'd explored all the dimensions of horror in this episode… It's fractally terrifying!
Also, this episode firmly convinced me that Bryan and Mike should TOTALLY write a Doctor Who episode. Y/Y?
Though this episode was written by Joaquim Dos Santos, who was mainly a story boarder, looks like.
I would really settle for anyone on the Avatar team to get over and write for Doctor Who.
Koh with Hama's face.
I can enjoy [a] show, but I’m always concerned about who is watching it and what sort of interference can come from the network. I don’t know too much about the way that Nickelodeon interacted with the creators and writers of Avatar, and I can imagine that sometimes, it wasn’t an easy process. As the show started to show darker themes, more violence, and wrote an ending to a season that was bleak as hell, I always wondered how much the network let them do what they wanted or told them to hold things back.
kartikeya200, who posts excerpts and images from the artbook, might want to clarify this up. Basically by the end of the second season the production team and writers of the show were so exhausted; the writers basically went on some sort of prolific retreat and Bryan and Mike traveled to Iceland that served as an experience and influence for the beautiful Fire Nation topography and landscape.
Initially when Bryan and Mike were tossing ideas for the show before the pilot, they aimed to tell an adventure story that was non-violent, to pander to the usual "children's show" standards that would make censors happy. In fact, Avatar was almost at risk of losing its base concept of "Chinese mythology" because the network didn't want another show similar in the vein of anime*. Rather, they wanted a show to appeal and compete against the Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings franchise.
Considering that by this time (after the second season finale) that the ratings for Avatar were at its highest, proving the show to be the most popular the network has premiered in its existence, and voted twice in a row in Nick's "Kids Choice Awards" as the best show airing; it's safe to assume that the production/writing team earned the trust of the network execs and pulled all stops. You can see this in the much more fluid animation and score of these third season episodes!
*I might be mixing this part up
What Hama is doing isn't vengeance. These people did not hurt her. Most of them weren't even born when the Fire Nation attacked the South Pole. She could have used bloodbending to help the war effort. Instead, she prayed on innocent civilians.
And just what is she doing with those prisoners? Some of them must have been there for a few years if she can only do this on one night a month. And Toph heard screaming. This is probably one of those cases where not telling us makes it more creepy.
As for how Hama snuck up on Toph, they were standing on wood… which just raises more questions.
I think this is more revenge than vengeance. Hama just wants to hurt the Fire Nation and to keep on hurting it. Their army sailed into her people's lands, smashed her city, and took her and her fellow waterbenders prisoner. From Hama's perspective, I can understand why she's going about her revenge the way she is. Not condone. Not at all. But I can understand.
Another thing to remember is that AtLA's ongoing world war hardly has things like rules of war. The Fire Nation dresses POWs in FN uniforms and then marches them at the front of their lines during battle. They cage enemy benders in torturous prisons. They indiscriminately bombard cities. Zuko was willing to become a child killer if it restored his honor.
Which isn't to say the Earth Kingdom's hands are clean. General Fong was set on weaponizing Aang so he could smash the Fire Nation. Fong was willing to (fake) murder a 14 year old girl in front of a 12 year old boy so that boy could kill thousands of people for him. Long Feng ruthlessly suppressed his own people in the name of maintaining civil order in the face of generations of warfare and a flood of refugees. And the Water Tribe… well, it's not like Hakoda's men and Aang's friends captured that Fire Nation ship they were using at the start of S3 by asking nicely.
The actions people like Hama, Jet, and Azula take aren't the exception. After a hundred years of global warfare and all that entails, it's Aang that's the anomaly.
This episode guys….Koh didn't scare me as much as Hama. The moment she drew the water out of the flowers, I started to tense up and wonder just how much darker this can get. I mean it's a Nick show. So what happens? Bloodbending, the most frightening bending technique out there in my book. Not just because of what it can do to you, but also because of how it was invented. A person who was chained up for a long part of her life, denied her culture and basic human freedoms, and desperate to find a way out taught her self to control the blood of others. Afterwords, she can not go home, and is stuck in the culture of those who imprisoned her. So she starts to get revenge. Seeing what people can do in a desperate situation and the lengths people go to get revenge was the scariest part of the episode. And in the end, she passes it on to Katara, who learned it in order to protect her friends lives from Hama's technique. The look on her face in the end of the episode was heartbreaking.
Wait. If they chain them up when giving them water to drink, why don't they keep them up all the time?
After all, I know it's not the most pleasant thing to think about, but…
Urine-bending.
Never thought of that one. Thumbs up for making me think about other uses for water bending… (Like wondering if you can do the flower trick on people too.)
Yeah, the show is more likely to give names to one-off male characters than female characters, which I find frustrating. Haru's dad is Tyro. Haru's mom is . . . Haru's mom. Yue's dad is Chief Arnook. Yue's mom is . . . Yue's mom. Song's mom is . . . Song's mom. Iroh's wife is . . . actually never mentioned at all, so I guess we're just assuming Lu Ten wasn't hatched from an egg.
*gasp* MAYBE HE WAS! After all Iroh is the DRAGON of the West!
…<img src="http://images.icanhascheezburger.com/completestore/2008/5/27/iregretevery128564041885599913.jpg" border="0"/>
Watching Katara Bloodbend brings tears to my eyes every time. It's so against her character and you can see how badly she hates doing it in this episode. The facial expressions and minor details really are what make this show for me.
Heck, Katara knew she was better. But yeah, it's great seeing how Katara has progressed in the past ~6 months; she's very powerful and very confident now.
That would be awesome if someone would write it. I also kind of want there to be a romance novel called Honor's Conflagration. I would read it.
All of these things remind me of the scene in X2 where Magneto pulls the iron out of the security guard's body. Perfectly possible to do with earthbending, I bet, depending on the minerals (Toph could feasibly do it with any mineral at this stage).
He could only do that because Mystique had put a little extra iron in, otherwise there wouldn't have been enough to work with. So far all Toph's Metalbending has been the big/flashy/crude stuff, because it's still a new skill. So bones she might be able to do, but probably not trace minerals.
Hmm, well, different mythologies, different possibilities. It obviously wasn't a large enough amount of iron to poison the guard, yet somehow enough for Magneto to notice casually. With concentration, and with every mineral in the body (not just metallic ones like iron) it could be feasible.
Indeed, Mystique put the extra iron in, and honestly, that syringe of metal in reality should have killed the guy before ever got back to work.
Still, it was a cool plot point and so I will forgive it.
When you were totally astounded at Katara sweatbending, I couldn't help but wonder what you would think of Bloodbending. It's obviously the more powerful side of Waterbending, the way Metalbending and Lightning are for Earth and Fire. But clearly it's more accessible.
I felt bad for Hama, but this is a woman who had gone through unimaginable pain and torture for years before she just broke and decided to take out her captors. Of course it's wrong to take her pain out on unsuspecting villagers, but in her mind this was what was done to the Southern Water Tribe. Her home was destroyed, her fellow Waterbenders locked up and isolated, and she was out for blood.
I wonder if Bloodbending is only active during the full moon, since that's when Hama and Katara could do it. Is it possible to bloodbend outside of the three days of the full moon?
But yeah, very creepy turn in this episode from the previous ones.
Bloodbending is only possible during the full moon and I'm pretty sure it's up there in complexity with Lightning and Metalbending.
I think the only reason why Katara could learn it so easily was because of her strength as a Waterbending master and her knowledge of the body as a Waterbending healer.
Given that it's possible to plantbend outside of the full moon, bloodbending SHOULD be possible.
However, there may be something interfering with it, such as the bendee's chi or something.
I think bloodbending is much harder than plantbending – given that animals and humans are much more complicated organisms than plants. They can move by themselves and they can fight it. Plants don't offer any resistance, that's probably why plantbending can be done also outside of the full moon.
There's a huge variety of animals, and a huge variety of plants. Some plants are arguably more complicated than some animals, and some animals arguably more complicated than some plants. (And that's not taking into account that "complicated" is a fairly nebulous term when describing organisms.)
Let's see someone try to plant-bend a great big woody tree – I imagine such a tree would be pretty resistant to bending. And I'd imagine a water-bender could bend a sea cucumber with utmost ease.
Tl;dr: life is diverse. You make me sadface with your generalizations.
I'm not a biologist, so I don't claim to be absolutely correct. I merely posted my opinion and how I interpreted the differences between plantbending and bloodbending. If you think I was generalising… *shrug* It's not like it actually matters.
Just yesterday there was a comment thread about the physics of Katara changing the physical state of water – does it matter? Not really. But it's fun.
You're taking a limited view on biology and the two kingdoms in question. Does it matter? Not really. But biology is awesome and people not fully appreciating it makes me sad. Just like someone positing that Katara is really manipulating the pressure made me happy.
Sorry, I never liked biology that much. 😛 I much prefer maths and physics, and to a certain extent chemistry (and even there I prefer anorganic chemistry to organic chemistry).
I mean, I appreciate the complexity of biology – but it's just not my cup of tea. Sorry. 😉
Then bloodbending should be possible outside the full moon. At least for some. I can think of two sources that won't fight it; all you'd have to do would be bite your lip or something for one of them, though since it is your own blood you'd only want to be doing that if you were desperate, and you wouldn't want to use much of it.
As for the other… any female waterbender between the points of puberty and menopause has a potential source for almost a week of every month, and one that won't weaken her with its removal, at that.
If both Toph and Katara can bend mud because of the respective elements in it, that blood source should work just fine for a waterbender.
Eh, if we're talking about expendable bodily fluids, then urine is a much easier-to-obtain source than menstrual blood, methinks…
True, and it'd be the ideal one to use if matters got to that point. Only brought that up because it was bloodbending specifically that was being discussed.
Ooooh, depressurizing! Have never considered that!
This is my brother's favourite episode, so, naturally, when he was getting me into the show, he started with it, so it was the first Avatar episode I saw. My brother is a big fan of spoilers (kinda like the reverse of you, Mark) and he doesn't get that other people don't like being spoiled – which is why he gleefully told me all about Toph while we were watching this. Needless to say, I was a) mightily confused later on when I started actually watching the show and realised that Toph wasn't in it yet and B) pissed off cause I got to learn about her way ahead of schedule. Also, I thought that 'The Puppetmaster' was the usual format of the show and thought it was weird when 'The Boy in the Iceberg' didn't have its story-telling round the camp fire part. That's what you get when you watch your shows all wonky-like.
Aunt Wu does have a name…always makes me sad people don't remember it 🙁 Just because she's one of my favorites….*Sniffle*
can somebody please post a picture of the cabbage Katara holds up after they go shopping? 😀
What's most disturbing about bloodbending is the sound – like leather being twisted. Ugh. *shudder*
Well that's exactly what it is really. Leather= dried out skin.
Which is what freaked me out the most. Hama has clearly, as shown from the lilies, pulled water out of humans. Leaving them as shrivelled husks.
OMG I never even thought about that….
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!
I know, right? THIS EPISODE IS AN UNFATHOMABLE PIT OF HORROR.
So, by this point in the show, we'd pretty much figured out that very little is introduced without it coming back in some way (the meteor bracelet, the pai sho tiles, sweat/metalbending, the spirit oasis water, the bison whistle, etc.)…which meant when this episode aired, not only did the fandom explode with "HOLY HELL WE'VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT THESE DARKER SIDES OF BENDING FOREVER AND NOW THEY'VE ACTUALLY ADDRESSED ON A KID'S SHOW," but we spent the next….jeez, I think it was like a month or something before the next episodes aired?…terrified that bloodbending was going to come back in a big, big way.
Congrats, Bryke, you made the entire fandom ABSOLUTELY PARANOID.
I was spoiled re: some form of Bloodbending occurring in this episode, but I wasn't sure what form it would take or how it would fit into the grander scheme of the episode. At the beginning of the episode, I just predicted that Katara would be in a situation that would teach her (spontaneously, a la Toph's Metalbending) how to bend with blood. I'm guessing the fact that I was spoiled on this particular point is the reason why I was a bit more keen than usual to spend time doing predictions and reaction notes during the episode, and why some of the interest I would have otherwise had in watching the episode diminish. (Protip: Don't Spoil Me, Bro.)
I pretty much immediately predicted that Hama would be revealed to be a Waterbender. The full moon was getting far too much emphasis for it to be a coincidence; plus I had realized that the Painted Lady was a Waterbender because of her eye color (though I was completely oblivious to the fact that it was Katara for some reason), and in that review (I think?) someone mentioned that pretty much only Water Tribe people have grey or blue eyes. At that point, I predicted Hama either being some form of the Nini woman Katara told the story about at the beginning of the episode, or one of the people who disappeared while looking for her, though I couldn't figure out how the plot would progress from that point onward.
I took Sokka and Aang's belief that the townspeople were being stolen by spirits as fact, but because the full moon was getting so much emphasis, I assumed that Hama's Waterbending tricks were too destructive toward nature ( the screaming Toph heard). I think the dramatic music flares during her Bending scenes helped; though I'm pretty sure it's a common thing for horror movies to have those sort of crescendos at completely innocuous moments to make everything seem creepy, it nevertheless seemed relevant to me (maybe because I never watch horror movies?). I figured that Hama's "ultimate technique of Waterbending" would be something so powerfully destructive toward the earth that it needed the full power of the full moon, and would also cause the spirits to attack the town, unable to root out the real cause of the problem. I guessed that she would be sort of a "Mad Scientist" figure in the episode, that she somehow used her Waterbending to escape and is now fixated on experimenting and perfecting her skills (with no thought to the consequences) because she still lives in a constant state of worry about being trapped and powerless.
It wasn't until Hama expressed a supreme lack of concern about the danger of the full moon that I realized that she was the direct cause of the disappearances. Luckily, it was confirmed in the next scene with Old Man Ding, and I was actually able to sit back and just watch the episode from there on out. I reformed my analysis from "does destructive Waterbending experiments on nature" to "does cruel Waterbending experiments on innocent Fire Nation civilians," but I'm not sorry that that wasn't somewhere the episode wanted to go.
Other things:
-I like how even though I feel I was extra-perceptive in watching this episode, I completely missed the connection between the puppets in Hama's closet and the title of the episode.
-I think I typed "LOL @ Ash Bananas being a thing in Avatar" at one point (even though I feel like they've been mentioned before?), only to have it pointed out to me by a family member that Ash Plantains are actually a thing in Sri Lanka.
-The Fire Lilies in the episode reminded me of the magical lily in Tangled, which for some reason led me to the momentary belief that Katara's mother may not be dead? I should point out that I was tired when I watched the episode.
-Poor Elephant (Shrew?) Rats. Poor everyone, in fact.
-Did I miss something, or did Hama call the other captured Waterbenders her "brothers and sisters," and then just leave them to rot in prison while she escaped? I don't seem to remember her saying that the other prisoners had died by that time, but perhaps she did and I just don't remember it.
You know, I don't think she ever did say anything like that…and we didn't really see the other cages when she escaped. So either they died, or there's some REALLY nasty implications as to how mono-focused Hama became in her plans to escape and get her revenge on the Fire Nation. Not the least of which is the possibility that she left the other benders behind because they wouldn't want anything to do with someone who could do such a thing…
Right up until the Gaang figured out what was going on I was certain that they were the missing villagers.
RIGHT??? I thought this too, and then I realized I was confusing Hama with a character from Naruto Shippuuden ._.;; TALK ABOUT CREEPY PUPPETS JEEZ
Sasori is not the first connoisseur of people puppets. Not by a loooooong shot.
I realize that. He's just the one I'm most familiar with.
Oh, I'm sorry if you thought I was implying ignorance on your part. That was not my intention.
No worries!
Hah, when majere616 said that Sasori was the first person I thought of. OH SASORI you are – still not the creepiest person in Naruto but you're giving some of the others a good run for their money!
Creepiest person in Naruto is probably Orochimaru. Yes, he may be Masashi Kishimoto's version of Voldemort, but he could shoot an infinite amount of snakes from his mouth! Not to mention human experimentation and that whole pedophilic vibe..and he just…won't…die!
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A+ to everything in this comment, especially the second part.
This may be my favorite episode in season 3 – its ties with Sokka’s Master- and that’s saying something because i hate horror type movies/shows. Well i dont hate them i just have an extremely hard time watching them. But this episode made me WANT to go out and watch a creepy horror film.
I absolutely love this episode. It's one of my favorites so far. My only wish is that they'd been able to use Hama as a recurring villain and not just a one-shot character (I'm assuming, since she's appearing so late in the last season and the chances of her popping up again seem to be slim) because she's hands-down my favorite villain so far. Her transformation from strange-but-harmless old lady to deranged serial kidnapper gave me chills, and the fight at the end between her and Katara was incredible. Furthermore, it's hard to fault her as a villain, given her background in what was basically a concentration camp (SERIOUSLY, NICK?). Such a compelling character.
didn't this episode come out at sometime around Halloween? because i always call it the Halloween episode.
Pretty sure it was advertised as one, too.
Wow, you bring up a really good point about the potrayal thus far of the nations…The Air Nomads (since they are gone *sadface*) have really been off the hook. I would love to see a complicated Air character – one who is out of balance – but it will probably never be. You just wonder if they were out there…I mean, they had to be, they are only human as well….
It would be difficult to get a complex Air Bending character, simply because they all existed in the past. They don't have much bearing on the current plot, so unless its revealed that some escaped the slaughter and are fighting back, I think its unlikely.
I can suggest some sort of bending of the air from the lungs, choking a person to death. Would that count as an evil air bender?
Oh, its definitely possible from a technical standpoint (vacuum bending is a popular theory) but unless we get more Air Benders in the present time, its unlikely to be discussed.
It is something that I think might show up in Legend of Korra. Given that the writers have said they intend it to be a more mature, darker show, and given all the stuff they put in THIS show, which is intended for 10-year-olds, I do wonder if they might not give us a chance there to see the darker side of airbending.
How else do you explain all those dead firebenders around Gyatso? It's pretty much the only offensive technique you could do with airbending.
Not really. We've seen that you can cut through rock with air and water moves very easily. That's pretty offensive to me.
I call shenanigans on some of them escaping. The title of the show confirms that there's only one left!
For the TCG game for the series a few original characters were created and one of them was an air bender monk that betrayed the other Air Nomads to the Fire Nation and allowed them to get to the Air Temples. Unfortunately none of these characters made it into the actual show because a couple of them seemed like they would have been interesting to have seen in the show in some way or another.
OK, here's all the details about the creation of the show I can think of off the top of my head:
Katara was originally named Kya, and indeed had the name during the show's pilot.
Sokka was going to be a more sullen, snarky character. This ended up changing when his voice actor (Jack Desana, a Jim Carrey-inspired comedian, started improvising Sokka's lines. You can still see some of this in the early episodes.
Toph was going to be an older guy. She became a girl due to a) criticisms of the first season for not having many strong female characters, and b) the creators found the idea of a little blind girl who is also a supreme badass hilarious.
There are some rumors that executives meddled in the creation of season 3, having it become more episodic and adding more filler. However, I don't think it has ever been confirmed, so you might want to take it with a grain of salt. (Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about this.) There are two major instances where we know executives got involved in the creative process. The second I can't talk about without giving giant spoilers, but the first was Jet's death, which was rewritten several times in order to make his death more ambiguous. (Didn't stop the creators from confirming his death in an interview.)
Here's some details from the series' bible (which was somehow found on the internet, but you shouldn't read it because a lot of the early plot is the same as the released product.)
Azula was also changed to a guy.
The second season finale would've ended more or less opposite to how it did. The Earth Kingdom would've learned of the eclipse on their own and used it to launch an invasion on the Fire Nation. As in a full-scale invasion on every front with the full power of the Earth Kingdom, not like what the group is planning now.
Oh, and there were plans for an Aang, Katara and Guy!Toph love triangle. Apparently, Guy!Toph got aged up to an adult at some point.
Also, Iroh was going to be evil. (Or more specifically, would have appeared friendly only to reveal he was secretly working for Ozai all along.) And I realize that these posts have been kind of dry and academic, but THIS IDEA SCARES THE CRAP OUT OF ME AND I AM SO GLAD IT DID NOT HAPPEN.
WTF EVIL IROH??? *hides behind the sofa* Screw Hama, this is the scariest thing possible! O.o
Re evil!Iroh wasn't part of the change because of Mako voicing him? Or is this something I conveluted from reading in the art book and am too lazy to go and look myself?
Note: Harry Potter spoilers below.
Katara’s bloodbending dilemma is like the HP trio’s use of Unforgivable Curses and another example, in multiple ways, of how war inherently corrupts. Jet went on a similar journey but it was ultimately a redemptive arc.
Also, this is late but I also wanted to note that Sozin and Roku have parallels to Dumbledore and Grindelwald. Bh series push a lot of the same buttons for me and I wish there were more stories that successfully combine the dark and the joyous but do not spend all of there times at those extremes. Ambiguity is prevalent but it’s apparent that moral clarity and action must still be sought.
About Hama sneaking up on Toph – other people have already noted that Toph was concentrating on the box and that the wood floors may have muffled things a bit. But I think she did notice Hama, but at the last minute, when it was too late to do anything about it. If you watch the Gaang's reactions, Toph is the only one who doesn't seem surprised.
Actually, a similar thing happened at the start of the episode, when Hama showed up out of nowhere and everyone screamed and hid behind Toph.
Maybe Toph's sense of humor is just sardonic enough that she gets a kick out of not warning the others, as long as it won't result in them getting hurt. (I like to think that's it, anyway!)
While I applaud the writers for trying something different by ending this episode on such a bleak note, I personally needed resolution on a couple of points. So I wrote a "deleted scene" that ties up some loose threads. And now I'm going to share it with you.
We Are Who We Choose to Be
I was fucking blown away by this episode the first time I watched it. I wondered, after we met the water-benders who could use the water in plants to control them, if people could be controlled in the same manner. BUT I NEVER EXPECTED IT TO BE SO FUCKING CREEPY. This is one of the creepiest episodes of television I've ever seen, and that includes "Blink" and episodes of The X-Files like "Home" and "Irresistible".
ahhhhhhhh both of those episodes are 🙁
Me and my brothers watched this when we were about eleven, six and seven and we thought it was so scary. My brothers actually fled the room at one point. I kind of grasped the ending but at the same time, I kind of couldn't. Now I understand what was the importance of Katara blood-bending.
I'm such a weenie, I can't watch this episode. Once was enough. Same thing with the Firefly episode "Ariel." Both are considered fantastic episodes by large chunks of the fandom, and I can see why, I just personally can't take it. ::shudder::
Two by two, hands of blue….
For those of you who don't like fanfic, I'll summarize:
I believe this episode is a dark echo of "Jet," which was another episode that defied all expectations and actually had the villain succeed in what they set out to do (he missed the people, but the village still got destroyed). It also taught that just because somebody belongs to one of the "good" nations, it doesn't necessarily mean they're on your side. That concept is explored in even more depth here, and I appreciate just how dark the tone gets.
Jet and Hama are significant because they are dark reflections of Sokka and Katara, respectively. Jet demonstrates what happens when paranoia and rampant prejudice go unchecked, and it's worth noting that Sokka starts to let himself trust other people after that encounter, even though it's not spelled out (I love how the character development on this show is so subtle you don't even notice it unless you're looking for it). Hama, on the other hand, teaches us that if you hold onto revenge your entire life, you eventually lose the ability to distinguish between friend and foe. And this is a lesson I really believe applies to Katara.
Even though she does a good job keeping it under control most of the time, it's no secret that Katara has an anger management problem. She's grown up angry and spiteful as a direct result of the Fire Nation taking her mother away. She manages to keep it at bay a lot of the time, but if she doesn't get some resolution, she's in very real danger of ending up just like Hama. That's why I believe she starts crying at the end: she's looking into her own future.
But what separates Sokka from Jet and Katara from Hama is this: even though they all endured tragedy at the hands of the Fire Nation, Sokka and Katara didn't choose to let it define their lives. Slowly but surely, they're growing past it. This was a warning sign that Katara encountered here, but I believe she has the strength to heed it and not turn into that person if she doesn't want to.
But we'll see where she chooses to go from here.
THIS IS AN AMAZING COMMENT. <3
Another thing that separates Katara from Hama is that Katara wasn't imprisoned and tortured for years on end.
On a less flippant note, I think the bigger difference is support structure. While we've had vague references to their mother being killed in the war, Sokka and Katara still have their family and community. Jet's family was killed and his village burned down. Hama was torn away from her home and got a front-row seat to view her countrymen and women being treated like the scum of the Earth. The Water Tribe siblings could fall back on their father, their grandmother, an old family friend like Bato, and all the other villagers.
I don't believe it's fair to say that Hama and Jet were morally deficient in some fundamental way, that they lacked a moral fiber that had helped Sokka and Katara not to go bad. It's a matter of circumstance. Even Aang, sweet and lovable technical pacifist that he is, lost it when he saw Gyatso's weathered bones surrounded by the skeletons of Fire Nation soldiers. It was only Katara, with her reassurances and empathy and promise of including Aang in "their" newly formed family, that pulled him back from shattering the Southern Air Temple with the Avatar State. What if she hadn't been there for him? What sort of person would Aang have become if he'd been left adrift with pain and loss?
If circumstances had been a little better, Jet and Hama would've led far less destructive lives.
If circumstances had been a little worse, Sokka, Katara, and Aang could've all become horrific monsters.
I agree. I think one of the biggest themes of this show is that the ability to trust and love increases strength.
And, given the difference between the GAang and the Fire Nation royal family — how important "found families" can be. Friendship ftw.
*cough* Ohssl gur Inzcver Fynlre *cough*
(spoiler for something Mark hasn't reviewed yet)
Even though she does a good job keeping it under control most of the time, it's no secret that Katara has an anger management problem. She's grown up angry and spiteful as a direct result of the Fire Nation taking her mother away. She manages to keep it at bay a lot of the time, but if she doesn't get some resolution, she's in very real danger of ending up just like Hama. That's why I believe she starts crying at the end: she's looking into her own future.
That's a very scary thought, but I really think that as Katara continues to travel the world and deal directly with the horrors of war, battles, and the aftermath thereof, she's starting to lose all the hope and optimism she started out with. It's subtle, but it's there: look at her immediate reaction to Jet when she met him in Ba Sing Se, for example.
Meeting a fellow Waterbender from her tribe was a great source of hope for her…she could learn more about her culture, develop a real connection with someone who actually knows Southern style Waterbending. Hama's twisted views and techniques were the ultimate betrayal of Katara's spirit, made worse that in Hama, Katara can recognize both the best and potential absolute worst aspects of herself and her powers.
I also think (ROT13): Unzn'f fgbel pbasvezrq n fhfcvpvba gung Xngnen'f zbgure qvrq gb cebgrpg Xngnen, fvapr gur Sver Angvba jrer bayl vagrerfgrq va xvyyvat oraqref naq ab bar ryfr. Guvf vapernfrf Xngnen'f natre naq thvyg bire ure zbgure'f qrngu naq riraghnyyl yrnqf gb ure bgurejvfr BBP orunivbe va Gur Fbhgurea Envqref.
Damn, now I wish I'd read all the comments before posting mine, because you said what I was thinking only a lot better.
Creepiest animated childrens episode ever as far as I'm concerned. Well done Avatar writers, this is why I respect you guys. Everyone else has pretty much said whatever else I have to say.
WHAT THE FUCK
I like how I didn't even notice anything weird about the picture until I saw your reply and looked at the image more closely.
Like, I just assumed that CabbageMan was going to use it for a macro or a compilation of Avatar cabbage sightings, like maybe an Avatar cabbage fan-graphic or something(?). I don't even know. I just saw an innocuous request on the internets and mindlessly complied, because this is apparently something I do.
thanks for helping me out Mauve_Avenger. i knew at least a few people would get a kick out of it!
Chiming in on the 'didn't notice a damn thing wrong until this' bit. I was beyond confused why a picture of the cabbage was requested.
About the campfire, did you notice that Sokka let go of Katara but Aang never did, even after being relieved? LOL at the kid!
This is the first time I ever saw this episode and when I did all I could think was "What just happened?" this episode was extremely dark and frightening. We have seen frightening people or situations like Azula but they tended to be quick. This episode is the opposite of that, it is long and you don't know what is going on until the big reveal of the blood-bending. Because I am skeptical person by nature I was not taken in by Hama when I saw her, so I sided with Sokka on being overly suspicious. Then when I saw Hama's new technique I was shocked at the prospect of this new bending style. The way Hama ultimately gets Katara to blood bend is just so hard and agonizing to watch that old woman grin at her in such a way it made my skin crawl.
I would love to see air bender, whether nomads or not. I can't believe that only monks had the ability to bend air. Somehow, it doesn't make any sense to me in the layout of the world. There should be more people around with the ability to bend air. I just don't understand how a whole quarter of the world can be only within 4 temples and never have had any other contact with the world. It just doesn't make sense to me that everyone's erased.
Yeah, it was my impression that the deal was whenever an airbender was born they'd get taken to one of the temples to be raised by the Air Nomad monks and nuns, and so airbenders could be born in any nation? But that's just my theory, and I have no clue what TPTB intended…
Me neither, but it doesn't make any sense considering the kind of world they built. It's like they intentionally took away a big complexity from one of the cultures and made it just vanish.
(rot13 for spoilers) Rira gur Fha Crbcyr jrer nyybjrq gb fheivir nsgre orvat qrnq sbe gubhfnaqf bs lrnef, fubjvat gung ab phygher qvfnccrnef, gurl whfg fgnl uvqqra fbzrjurer. V gubhtug gung ol gur raq bs NGYN gurl'q fubj jurer gur Nve Abznqf phygher jrag vagb uvqvat be fbzrguvat; lbh pna'g whfg ryvzvangr gur ovegu bs nve oraqref, gurl zhfg or fbzrjurer. V ubcr Xbeen vf znqr gb pbeerpg guvf. Gur ceboyrz vf, Xbeen'f ynfg ryrzrag jvyy or Nve, fb, vs vg tbrf va gur fnzr beqre nf guvf, ubj ybat jvyy vg gnxr sbe gurz gb gryy hf fbzrguvat nobhg gurz.
Bar bgure guvat gung obguref zr vf gung nyy gubfr byq crbcyr va gur Beqre bs gur Juvgr Ybghf fheivirq, lrg abar bs gurz ner rvgure jbzra be nve oraqref. Frevbhfyl? Abg rira GURER?
Actually, Korra (rot13 for spoilers) nyernql znfgrerq jngreoraqvat, rneguoraqvat naq sveroraqvat, naq bayl arrqf gb znfgre nveoraqvat, juvpu vf jul fur'f frrxvat Nnat'f fba, Gramva, gb grnpu ure. Guvf zhpu vasb unf orra nyernql eryrnfrq ol Oelna naq Zvxr.
Fb gur fgbel fgnegf cerggl zhpu ng gur ynfg fgntr bs ure genvavat. V gubhtug jr jrer tbvat gb jvgarff gur jubyr genvavat sebz gur zbzrag fur'f vasbezrq bs orvat gur arj Ningne. Abj guvf fbhaqf ernyyl vagrerfgvat. Nal vqrn jura Xbeen jvyy ortva nvevat be ab arjf lrg?
Considering that water must be much harder to draw from the hardened trunk of a tree, just imagine how easily Hana could draw water from a human's flesh…
Yeah, sometimes I'm glad that we live in a world where no one can bend elements! ^_^
I have no meta for this episode.
I have nothing but pants-wetting fear and nightmares forever.
Someone hold me.
Don't forget Lee and Lo. I think they're kind of awesome in their own way.
Moral quandaries aside, I think that Bloodbending is awesome, and nearly makes Waterbenders the most powerful benders, period. They can heal you; they can control you–incredible extremes! Of course, there's the caveat of only being able to use the power under a full moon….
I also wonder/hope that if this war ends and things stabilize, the Southern Water Tribe might be able to extradite Hama and at least allow her to live her life among kin. That's pretty unrealistic with virtually no real life precedent (a prisoner of war who escapes and commits crimes against civilians should not be pardoned), but I do feel bad for Hama.
PS: That Nini story was creepy!
YES. The Nini story creeps me out just as much as bloodbending does.
Seriously? She was BLUE? *shudder*
Nini was a zombie created by the White Walkers!!! O.o
Late to the party (moving is time-consuming and exhausting, yo, and we're not even finished), but I didn't see anyone mention a couple of things that stuck out at me.
First, the absolute horror of the waterbender prison. Remember how you made a big deal about how the earthbenders in "Imprisoned" were separated from their element and psychologically broken because of it? How many times worse were the cages? And being tied up while given water?
Second, the episode does have a slightly hopeful note at the end. Hama says in front of all the Fire Nation citizens that Katara is a Bloodbender, yet none of them arrest her for being an enemy waterbender or even look askance. It's possible that they didn't put two and two together, but I like to think that they did and realized that Katara was helpful and not dangerous, and deliberately ignored the implications so they wouldn't have to arrest her.
…Now that you mention it, it would be impossible to keep an airbender from his native element. They had to die to make things fair for everybody.
I know, that was horrible. But seriously, unless you put an airbender in a vacuum, what kind of prison can hold one? Aang can bend WHILE SNEEZING.
You know, seeing Kanna wearing the engagement necklace in the Southern Water Tribe makes me wonder why she didn't chuck it as soon as she left. I mean, she was escaping an arranged marriage she didn't care for, so why did she keep it and wear it on a daily basis? I could see her keeping it among her belongings as a reminder of her true heritage and passing it on to the next generation, but this doesn't make much sense to me.
I reckon she was genuinely fond of Pakku, she just didn't like the circumstances under which their courtship took place. Pakku interpreted her leaving as not loving him, but I think Kanna's feelings were more complex. It wasn't the man she disliked, it was the system. To her, the necklace is a symbol, not of the arrangement she escaped, but the love she left behind.
Well, actually, we all tend to assume that Katara has the right of it when she says that Kanna left because of the marriage/because she didn't want to let her life be dictated by the Northern Tribe's traditions, but Katara has no way to know. Kanna obviously never told her. It could have been for any reason under the sun; we have no reason to believe that Pakku/the arranged marriage/traditions had anything to do with it.
THIS.
I can also see her wearing it as just a necklace. Obviously the Southern Water Tribe doesn't share the tradition as Katara was surprised to find out that's what the necklace meant. Plus it's like Hama's comb: its a piece of home.
I like that explanation. Thanks, that makes a lot more sense to me now!
I sleep in front of my T.V. I have insomnia, and Avatar is what I love falling asleep to most, because it's soothing and happy and makes me dream good dreams
EXCEPT HOLY FUCK NOT THIS EPISODE.
Seriously, once the sun has gone down, I will not watch this shit. At all.
But something I haven't seen mentioned yet–one of the creepiest things in this entire episode is that FUCKING STORY KATARA TELLS AT THE BEGINNING. "She was blue, like she was frozen." "I'm cold…and I can't get warm…."
HOLY. FUCKING. SHIT.
Also, someone has probably mentioned this by now….but when Hama is telling her backstory, we TOTALLY GET TO SEE HOW THAT FIRE NATION SHIP (The one that Katara and Aang go into in episode 2) GOT THERE!
Lastly…
"I think I liked "The Man with a Sword for a Hand" better."
I can't believe I forgot to comment on the perfection of this gifspam.
And it will forever be impossible for me to take House M.D. seriously again.
Have you seen Blackadder? Or A Bit of Fry and Laurie? Yeah, try that. 😉
I love this episode. I love how the writers were not afraid to go there, and I love how they tie the new episodes together with the old ones. (MARK, YOU ARE *SO* NOT PREPARED.) I love sneaky suspicious Sokka, and Hama's story is beautiful in a dark way. Also, the animation for this episode <3.
I think that this episode is a strong parallel to The Deserter. Aang tried firebending, hurt someone, and now he refuses to use the technique, but fire doesn't have to be destructive, and neither does waterbending. I think Yugoda and Katara could work out ways to heal with bloodbending…imagine keeping someone from bleeding to death with bending, or giving blood transfusions!
Yeah, this episode was pretty creepy. However, I really do love the concept of bloodbending. I think that it opens up a whole new type of element to master. And it does all come down to how you use that power. But I'm surprised that no one else ever saw this coming. It's kind of just one step away from being a healer. Isn't bending the blood or "water" in a person's body the whole point of healing with waterbending? But anyway, if I'm remembering correctly, there is a pretty simple explanation as to why Nick allowed this to air in the first place. I think it was a Halloween special. It's been quite a while so I can't be sure, but I'm almost positive that this aired on Nick with other creepy scary story type episodes from other shows. They planned for this to be the scary one that would make kids a little jumpy. I'd have to look into it a little more to be sure, but I think it makes a lot of sense that way.
DUDE. This is not only my favorite episode of the season…it's one of my favorites 'period'.
1) I love how this episode messes without throughout the whole thing. Oh, this sweet old lady is too sweet, there has to be something up! Oh, there is; she's a secret waterbender who was captured from the Southern Water tribe! Well, that's understandable. Oh, wait, she is the kidnapper, and she USES A HORRIFYING TECHNIQUE CALLED BLOODBENDING.
2) Despite Hama being creepy as sin, I like how they made her kind of sympathetic. I mean, it's pretty much established that bloodbending is shady-ass business, but you get how she got got that way, you know? But it's passed warfare into cold-blooded revenge. Er, pun unintended. ;P
3) Katara is quite good at telling scary stories.
4) Waterbending is my favorite bending type. Just the movement of it is smooth and gorgeous and the water looks awesome and..ugh, it's magnificent. So any episode that focuses on waterbending/has a waterbending fight is alright by me.
5) When it comes to Nickelodeon, I think I remember in one of the episode commentaries, the creators/writers rather passive-aggressively alluded to "someone at the network" who wasn't too fond of the idea of having a lot of strong female characters. I don't know if this person got overruled before the writing of the second season or if it was more of a "the network doesn't like so we're going to add more of what they don't like just to spite them" thing that writers sometimes do. 😛
Remember way back when when some people were saying there was a lack of older female sex symbols in Avatar? And I said there was one, but it's a spoiler? Well. Hama. I'd hit it, just sayin'. She's beautiful and powerful and intelligent, and honestly, though I think she's twisted by bitterness, I don't think she's "crazy."
Maybe part of my love for Hama is partly because I can identify with her story so much. I was taken from my home as a teenager, I was kept a prisoner, made to feel powerless. I had a lot of bitterness to deal with as well, and I still do. Her suffering was obviously much worse than mine, and it affected her life more. I don't think she was in the wrong. I think if anyone had a right to revenge, it was her. They were innocents, but SO WAS SHE. I don't think Katara was in the wrong stopping her, either. Morality is complex. Sometimes there are a lot of rights and a lot of wrongs, and sometimes they overlap.
I still think she has so much to teach Katara, bitter and angry and a bit broken as she is. She is Katara's culture. Seeing Katara sell Hama out to the Fire Nation prison hurt. Hasn't Hama suffered enough? I wish Katara could see that this is her pain too, this is her anger as well, her righteousness and despair, this woman is the Southern Water Tribe. I wish she could help her heal.
I totally agree with you here…as "creepy" as Hama is in this episode, she is clearly just a result of her horrific situation. Seriously, it is awful to watch her story, and I love the evolution of blood-bending as a means to stand up to the bullies keeping her imprisoned. I think that blood-bending could seriously help in the war-effort (especially when used as a means of self defense!) and it made me a bit upset that Katara was so opposed to the technique.
I think the ending (beyond being chilling) was very upsetting. Poor Hama – headed back (presumably) to Fire Nation prison – the place that distorted her in the first place 🙁
So what are Hama's victims (not her jailors, not soldiers, just ordinary townsfolk) justified in doing to any of the Water Tribe they find?
The parallels with Jet are quite obvious here.
I remember reading a certain rumor years ago. Someone was on a tour of Avatar's studio and got to see early drawings of the Fire Nation kids' costumes in "The Beach." The outfits were verrry skimpy and thus disapproved by Nick. I don't think this rumor was ever confirmed or denied, though, so take it with a heap of salt. : )
"omg omg omg NORTH BY NORTHWEST REFERENCE! I love that movie!"
Wait…where ?
This episode was incredibly awkward for me to watch because my cat's name is Hama. T~T
(super late to the commenting party, but hey, whatever)
This episode is interesting to me because I think it's actually showing us a bit of what Katara could become in the worst situation. Yes, Katara was very adamant about not wanting to learn this technique and was horrified by the whole idea of taking life from things to use as a weapon, and understandably so. But Katara also has some major hate for everything Fire Nation– remember how she exploded at Zuko during the beginning of 'Crossroads of Destiny'? She's gotten a bit better, but I don't think she's really over it by any means. She's still really bitter at the Fire Nation for killing her mom, and while she can do things like pose as the Painted Lady and help Fire Nation citizens, I think it would be incredibly hard for her to similarly empathize with, say, Fire Nation soldiers or firebenders.
Hama is a reflection of that bitterness and anger in Katara. It's what Katara could become if she were really pushed, I think, into a situation where that bitterness had a chance to crystallize. Hama hates everything Fire Nation (even though it's now her home!) and is taking her hate and bitterness at her long imprisonment out on completely random Fire Nation citizens, just because they're Fire Nation. The potential for this is there for Katara, which seems to me to be what the bloodbending thing is really all about. You need a certain mindset to make bloodbending work. Like it or not, when pushed, Katara did have the ruthless mindset required. Which was Hama's point– it's not really that Hama corrupted Katara, but Hama made Katara acknowledge something that was already there. And even if she never bloodbends again, that bitterness and anger is still there. If Katara really wants to make sure she doesn't bloodbend, she needs to resolve her generalized hate at the Fire Nation, and realize that what makes someone a monster isn't their element or their nation, it's their actions.
Upvotes for you.
I've been waiting with baited breath for you to see this episode. One of my absolute favorites for a reason. Honestly, I had this whole comment typed out for you but you've pretty much covered everything. I love that this is in season three, where we realize that not all of the Fire Nation is bad, and not all of the good guys are so great after all. It's morally ambiguous and creepy and just fucking creepy.
They keep changing the release date–more like month (forget that estimation of the approximate season, really–on Korra. I don't know if it's typical Nickelodeon scheduling fail or last minute changes to the series that's causing the delay.
But there is lots of info on the story's plot, characters and voice actors available if you search the web for it.
The Track Team will be back, and they'll be at SDCC this year, so I'm hoping that somthing will leak from the con!
This video explores the parallels between Katara and Hama, using a wonderful song by P!nk:
Katara: The Thirteen Year Old Me http://youtu.be/fzgEtGOr0Ns?t=3m41s
<src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fzgEtGOr0Ns?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I tried to imbed and take out the suggested vids at the end, because one image in one of the suggested vids is a spoiler. If not, I included the link. Very worth watching!
This episode is just painful to watch 🙁 but I do like how it adds a different moral dimension to Katara's character.
I actually like Katara's story. "NO ONE KNOWS" is my favorite ending to a ghost story.
Also, I like the subtle references to actual ghost stories in the opening–"the man with a sword for a hand" is probably "the man with a hook for a hand," and Sokka's description of urban legends is spot-on.
Mmm, spiced tea.
Hee hee, I love Sokka standing up for the moon spirit, especially since Toph knows nothing of this.
All of Hama's waterbending tactics seem kind of sinister, even before they get to the bloodbending thing. Sucking water out of flowers and making them die? :/
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Oh Katara, I'm such a fanboy it's not funny.
I also like the difference between the graceful, fluid motions of generel waterbending and the creepily jerking motions of bloodbending /small observation
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