{"id":420,"date":"2011-06-23T13:00:04","date_gmt":"2011-06-23T20:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=420"},"modified":"2011-06-23T11:26:16","modified_gmt":"2011-06-23T18:26:16","slug":"mark-watches-avatar-s03e04-sokkas-master","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2011\/06\/mark-watches-avatar-s03e04-sokkas-master\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Avatar’: S03E04 – Sokka’s Master"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the fourth episode of the third season of Avatar: The Last Airbender<\/em>, Sokka becomes dejected by the consistent sensation of being useless as the only non-bender in Team Avatar. When he seeks out a sword master to improve his skills, he learns more about himself and the Fire Nation in the process. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Avatar<\/em>.<\/p>\n

There are times when I sort of despise the use of the word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153filler\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to describe an episode of television.<\/p>\n

I think I do understand generally what people mean and occasionally, I think it applies. (And for the sake of this conversation, I’m referring to “filler” as it applies to television, not other mediums like anime, manga, music, etc.) But there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s this weird implication that the writers had planned out x<\/em> amount of episodes but were allotted y <\/em>amount of time for a season, so those extra episodes are almost like games of Mad Libs. You know, fill out the characters and the general mythology that has to stay intact, and then WOOPS WE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122LL JUST DO WHATEVER WE WANT.<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m positive that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not how it works. (Though…oh god, what if that was<\/em> how it worked. we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been fooled everyone<\/em>.) There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a difference between an episode that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not heavily serialized, one that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s poorly written, and what could possibly constitute as genuine filler, and I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important to make that distinction.<\/p>\n

Someone on my Tumblr dash mentioned there were too many \u00e2\u20ac\u0153filler\u00e2\u20ac\u009d episodes in season three, and placed prominently on that list was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sokka\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Master.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Now, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m at a point where I just want to scream at them WHAT EPISODE DID YOU JUST WATCH BECAUSE THAT WAS REMARKABLY NON-FILLER<\/em><\/strong>, but then I thought that perhaps when they said \u00e2\u20ac\u0153filler,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d they actually meant something else: the overarching plot did not leap<\/em> forward.<\/p>\n

If the Avatar<\/em> fandom considers \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sokka\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Master\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as a filler episode, then allow me to demand a hell of a lot more filler episodes like this one, because jesus christ that was spectacular<\/em>. This actually might be one of my favorites from the entire run of the show; even if we put aside my sickening adoration\/empathy for Sokka, I still think we got one of the most entertaining and thought-provoking stories so far.<\/p>\n

I suppose I should touch on that point first: I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help seeing myself in the character of Sokka. This is not something I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ignored in the past, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve spoken about the parallels I can see between us before. We both desired strong father figures in our lives; we both craved that sort of affection; we both felt as if we were generally \u00e2\u20ac\u0153useless\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to our friends for periods of time; we both use humor as a coping mechanism. CAN YOU ALREADY SEE WHY I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122D LIKE THIS EPISODE. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not some huge secret or anything, but I wanted to acknowledge that yes, there is some personal bias about my enjoyment of this episode that would help explain why I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m willing to defend it.<\/p>\n

I even touched on it in yesterday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s review: Sokka latches on to being in charge of the map and the schedule because<\/em> he wants to make sure that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s useful to the group. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been hoping the writers would address the entire time. Wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t he be bound to feel awful about not being able to contribute?<\/p>\n

That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what the opening of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sokka\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Master\u00e2\u20ac\u009d sets up for us. As a fiery blue meteor crashes to earth and the ensuing fire threatens to destroy a local Fire Nation village, Toph, Katara, and Aang all use their bending to help neutralize the flames while Sokka is relegated to minding Momo, who, by the way, seems to do a better job at putting out embers than Sokka. You can see how forlorn he looks here, but I thought it would be a fleeting moment as the rest of the episode took a different path than it did. But the following morning, Sokka is still sulking, having resigned himself to the reality that despite what he does offer Team Avatar, he is ultimately useless in the the upcoming invasion. How is map reading or schedule-making going to help anyone once they reach the Fire Lord?<\/p>\n

For what it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worth, I do adore that the group doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stoop to telling Sokka he is wrong<\/em> to feel that way; it seems all of them, especially Katara, recognize that self esteem is not fixed merely by telling someone they are viewing themselves incorrectly. Instead, the message they send him is far more respectful: We are sorry you feel this way about yourself, but if it helps, we view you as an important person in our lives. And I like that. As someone who has struggled with self-esteem since I was at least nine years old, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something patronizing about people who try to shame those who don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel good about themselves. I can see a parallel to depression in that as well, as it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something people try to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153fix\u00e2\u20ac\u009d by saying some awfully hurtful stuff in the process, even if they mean well.<\/p>\n

A lot of us who struggle with self-image and self esteem know that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not necessarily about what sort of person you are or how others perceive you, though that certainly can play a large part in it. For me, and for others I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve spoken with, it generally comes down to how you perceive yourself. That<\/em> is what has to change for there to be an improvement. Obviously, this is my experience and not some universal truth, but my self esteem troubles finally started to go away once I was able to accept myself<\/em> independent of what people told me. I had to accept my own merits and positive qualities and believe them, and no real amount of well-intentioned insistence changed that.<\/p>\n

It does make me laugh, though, that I just wrote out all of that and the one thing that makes Sokka immediately happy is shopping<\/em>. YES. <\/em>Sokka, invalidating my word vomits one shopping trip at a time. <\/em>But I jest; what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve just said does come into play later. For now, though, Sokka becomes enamored with a rather impressive sword at the weapons store, learning it was forged by the local sword master, Piandao. (Who is brilliantly voiced by Robert Patrick, who I actually enjoyed during his two-year reign on The X-Files<\/em>. I mean, like any dutiful X-Phile, I despised his guts when he was introduced, but I came to like him a lot on re-watches.) Aang suggest that Sokka seek out this master to see if he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll teach him, since the other three members of the group were all taught by masters themselves.<\/p>\n

In hindsight, this episode does address self esteem, but it also concerns itself with the power of modesty. Like all the great Avatar<\/em> episodes in the past, the writers give us subtle parallels between characters. In this case, we see two warriors concerned with how modesty affects their lives. For Sokka, as he first meets Piandao and throughout his teachings, he is entirely self-aware of his limitations. Despite that he approaches all of the tasks assigned to him by the sword master with a joyous glee, he knows that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not meeting the expectations set before him. At the same time, miles and miles away, we see Iroh new life in solitary confinement in prison. Wrecked with hunger, filthy, and alone, he has no shame left to feel. Each day, Warden Poon visits the disgraced and ruthlessly insults him. Iroh simply takes it quietly, concerning himself more with food than anything else. Unlike what his nephew would do in the same situation, he never once lets his pride even touch the surface. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an expression of pure modesty, even if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in a different context than what Sokka goes through.<\/p>\n

Of all the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153training\u00e2\u20ac\u009d sequences\/episodes we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen, I think Sokka\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s will probably end up my favorite of the bunch. (I say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153probably\u00e2\u20ac\u009d because I still have no idea who will teach Aang fire bending and\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.what if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s super awesome fun time<\/em>. I have to save this title for later!) The writers have found ways to avoid repetition with Katara and Aang, but when you get down to it, they both seem to follow the traditional pattern for these types of stories: They are taught by someone vastly better than they are, they struggle intensely, they are blocked by some emotional or mental problem, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s resolved, they master whatever they are learning. The details and context are obviously different, but the trope is familiar. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s familiar because it works so well.<\/p>\n

With Sokka, though, his \u00e2\u20ac\u0153block\u00e2\u20ac\u009d never seems to completely go away, even until the end. And even if he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean to, almost every task and exercise is met with his own sense of humor. He made a seat out of the rock garden. HE DREW IN A RAINBOW DURING THE MEMORY TEST AND THEN ASKED IF THIS WAS OK.<\/em> Oh my god, he is seriously my favorite. Now, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to ignore that the training does<\/em> work rather well, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not long before Sokka is able to disarm Fat. Still, throughout all of this, he never loses sight of the fact that he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel quite right doing this all. Even when he succeeds, he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t brag or boast about it once. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a huge reason why Piandao agrees to train him in the first place, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what motivates him to continue to do so.<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very fitting that Sokka, who has such a non-traditional approach to life, gets to build his first real sword from materials that no other fighter has before. For Piandao, he could not be honored to help forge a sword that is so unique because this is the most unique pupil he has ever taught. I appreciate that the sword-making process is animated with a sort of quiet reverence: no dialogue mucks up the steps, as it is more important to show what a huge moment this is for Sokka. I mean, they guy gets a ceremony<\/em> from Piandao, showing just how much the sword master has grown to respect Sokka. He respects him so much that he is honest with him: he tells Sokka during this offering of the sword that while he may not be the most skillful swordsman, he is the most talented and creative student that he has ever taught.<\/p>\n

It’s a steep honor to be given to Sokka, but during all of this, you can see that Sokka is prepared to reject it all. His face gives it away. He is not worthy of the sword, he admits. I now understand this is because Piandao showed Sokka such respect that he was completely honest with his pupil. In return, Sokka is honest as well.<\/p>\n

He’s from the Southern Water Tribe.<\/p>\n

I literally–and I’m sure you all understand by now just how clumsy I am–fell off of my own couch. I thought about trying to describe the intricate process in which my legs got tangled up enough that it caused me to plummet to earth, but none of it makes any sense. So there it is. This reveal from Sokka shocked me so much that I became a victim of bad coordination and gravity.<\/p>\n

Sokka, on the other hand, is far more coordinated than I. He tells his friends not to intervene as Piandao begins to attack him. This is a battle he must win (or lose) entirely on his own. And for what it’s worth, the training that Piandao gave Sokka shows: Sokka is a lot more talented than I expected him to be after just a couple days. Even his master acknowledges this, constantly narrating all of the versatile and creative techniques the boy uses. (It’s also massively fucking creepy<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

Despite being unprepared for Sokka’s admission, I was just simply not even on the same astral plane when it came to the final minutes of “Sokka’s Master.” Cutting between the two stories, we learn how Iroh’s prison fa\u00c3\u00a7ade and Piandao’s intentions are intertwined. We’d seen bits and pieces of Iroh working out in between visits from Warden Poon. I merely considered them to be insights into what sort of routines Iroh put himself through to stay calm. As Piandao appears to have defeated Sokka, two secrets are nearly simultaneously revealed: Piandao always knew Sokka was from the Water Tribe and that the Avatar was traveling with him. And Iroh has been training himself into a HULKING BEAST OF MUSCLE<\/strong>. oh my god oh my god!!!!!!<\/em><\/p>\n

What the writers have been doing throughout season three so far is to show us that all of our possible preconceived notions about the Fire Nation are not necessarily true. Now we know that Piandao does not believe the art of the sword belongs to any one nation, a statement that seems to chip away at the superiority we’d seen from past Fire Nation citizens. (It’s quite Iroh-ish, isn’t it?) The Fire Nation is not a monolithic group of people, and to think so is unwise and unfair. This, combined with the revelations about Sokka and the Piandao, feel very serialized to me. Yes, they are character-based, but these are things I feel we needed<\/em> to know. It’s why I’m not comfortable calling this episode filler.<\/p>\n

Oh, and as Team Avatar leaves the village, Fat returns with a gift from Piandao: A white lotus Pai Sho tile.<\/p>\n

WHAT?!?!?! ASDKFJ A;DFSKJA DFASD;KA AA;LKDFJ F AJDS;KFJ A;SDLKF UGHA;ASDKF AS;KLDFJ <\/strong><\/p>\n

THOUGHTS<\/strong><\/p>\n