Day of Black Sun – FTSW Avatar: The Last Airbender Rewatch

Hello and welcome to the From the Spirit World Podcast, a legendary avatar of the last

airbender and the legend of core podcast for overly animated.com.

This is the FTSW rewatch, the definitive Avatar fans rewatch from the biggest Avatar

fans you know.

We'll be reflecting on Avatar and Core 20 years later after being huge fans of bullshows

while they originally aired.

I am your host Dylan and today I'm joined by Delaney and Jeff, we've reached the day

of Black Sun on our book three rewatch for the FTSW rewatch, the day of Black Sun Part

One in the invasion and the day of Black Sun Part Two, the eclipse.

Only these two episodes on this one we're just doing two instead of three and then we'll

go back to three for the next two podcasts.

Check out our previous book three podcast to catch up on all the discussion points on Avatar

book three so far you could search for from the spirit world or overly animated anywhere

to subscribe to either feed or dedicate FTSW rewatch feed to get all of these podcasts.

We're not on video for book three but you can check out youtube.com slash overly animated

for the podcast as well.

You'll be in full spoiler territory for all of Avatar and Core throughout this rewatch

regardless of what episodes are being discussed and you can let us know you're listening

to leave a comment wherever you are or you can send an email at podcastatoverlyanimated.com.

YouTube comments, Spotify comments, seems some YouTube and Spotify comments on the last

juice.

That's good stuff.

Thank you guys.

But we have some exciting episodes to talk about here revisiting day of Black Sun and

we will later on I will recap the old from the spirit world podcast might be the highlight

of this one.

There's some good stuff and we'll discuss current events maybe so a lot of fun stuff

coming.

But more importantly, Katang, Kiss, Zuko, Betrayal, does that what we call it?

I don't know.

These are big, big moments in the series that we're getting into here.

So let's, I guess I can introduce the episodes day of Black Sun, part one, The Invasion, directed

by John Clare Volpe, written by Mike D. Martino, day of Black Sun, part two, the eclipse directed

by Joaquim dos Santos, written by Ernie Haz, and these aired on November 30th, 2007.

I believe two, two weeks or so after the last episode, we'll get more into what was happening

at that time when we recap the old podcast Delaney.

What was it like for you rewatching these episodes?

I enjoyed it a lot.

I don't remember if I watched these live, like when they actually came out, I'm not sure.

But rewatching this group, right?

I don't think I, I don't really, I haven't watched these episodes like a bunch in comparison

to like other parts of book three, so it's nice to watch it.

It's very cinematic, it's very, it's very much like epic battle.

It is funny to watch it like knowing what's happening, like what's going to happen, like

oh, you know, like it, like I know it's a trap, like that also you know like beforehand,

like it's kind of like it's really interesting, I think tension, because you know Azulino's

and then you're just like great, this is great, and then it's kind of funny, it also kind

of like it, which I don't think I realized like originally is, like when Anne goes to

the palace, like it plays out like his nightmare, kind of, so which is interesting.

And it's just nice, it's just good, what do you think of the kiss?

I mean, the kiss is great, the whole time I was like kiss, like I'm waiting, I was like,

let's get to that bit, let's, the subs are cool, it's all great, and then I'm like kiss,

kiss, kiss, kiss, it was great, and like guitar blush, it's great, it's great, they're

both so cute, and then Anne just flies off, and then, and then I'm like, I can't wait

for the argument that's in like eight episodes, hey, fun, yeah, yeah, I don't, well,

I remember, I remember the Zuko bits, I didn't really remember so much him like telling

his dad off, so that was cool, I was also like super rolling my eyes about his mom,

but it's also nice, because Zuko's also like, it's the Zuko's like kind of, it's very

much following in her footsteps, but also Zuko, you could have just stabbed him, like

that would have been fine too, like, it's not my first time in it, like, you know,

right, like you, okay, you put, you put, yeah, you could have done it, like, okay, um, yeah,

I liked it, it was a good time, um, the CGI wasn't like disgusting, like he can be when

the tanks are involved, um, I like did not remember it all, that they introduced airships,

and they were like, they're super ministering, it's great, um, it's also, right, also it's

really funny, like, it's just, the show is so goofy, like, it's so funny, like, how much

the airships become like, like, you know, they're in, they're in the opening sequence,

they're in, um, you know, we, we introduced the airships, and then like, the airships are

a big deal in Korra, and I'm like, which one of you just really like Zeppelin's, like, who is it?

Like, yeah, well, the answer is, which Zeppelin's are cool, I'm not going to argue about it, but like,

the answer is, the answer is Miyazaki likes airships famously.

You're right, that's right. They're, they just copy Miyazaki.

He's great, like, they're great, like, um, I love them, it's just really, it's just funny.

Also, one of my souvenirs, who, yeah?

Well, one of my souvenirs from my recent Japan trip was a metal model of the Hindenburg,

excellent, looking forward to building that.

Um, I may, I want pictures because I made one in fifth grade for like a project.

Mine was not that impressive, yeah, because it was like for a fifth grade project, yeah, my dad,

we used like, my dad helped, yeah, I was like, okay, anyway,

but we used like hobby lobby, like, hardboard, like, eggs, and like, like, it was like an oval shape,

and then like a lot of duct tape, and like a gray tape cloth.

That sounds fantastic. That's what I remember. Yep.

I don't remember what you were talking about there, ships, but anyway, anything else still ending?

Well, there's also lots of focus on top, excellent, love top, and then, uh,

Tania came in at the end, and so she was like, so that was funny.

Tania's commentary is always a delight, so.

Tania had not seen these episodes?

Probably not, or doesn't remember. Yeah.

And she got confused, because it's who it is, and she was like, that was it.

She's like, you've watched another one, I was like, no, I'm like, that's the last one.

Like, I watch, because she had, she ran to the store, and I like watched both episodes.

So she just caught like the tail end of her two.

That's good. Okay. Well, saw the very exciting, uh, Haru and friends joining them.

Very important. She was very much like, she was like, uh, heckling soccer, because she's like,

shut up. She's tricking you. Like, it was really, it was pretty funny.

That's good. Okay. Good stuff. Jeff, what was it like for you rewatching these episodes?

I really like these episodes. Uh, the first thing that gentleman was like, oh, cool. We have new outfits,

you know, um, it's always fun to see. Love new outfits, always. Yes.

And I'm just looking at like, like, when you watch something, and it's like, oh, that's so cool.

That's so cool. I, I'm looking at the notes I took on this last rewatching. Like, there's like,

five or six, like, oh, cool gates, cool subs, cool sub entrances, cool tanks. Like,

that was just so much cool stuff in this episode that I remember loving when I first watched it.

So, um, I also remember not thinking too highly of the invasion plan in general. And now it was

carried out. We can talk more about that. But, uh, yeah. And you mean the plan itself, right?

Um, well, actually, I now have issues with the plan itself. At the time I first watched it,

I just had issues with the execution. I think Hacota did some dumb stuff there.

Yes. I like the Hacota criticism. Yeah, he sucks. He's so untouchable in the show, you know,

like he's the big, uh, the big figure. But, uh, dressing up his tactical failures in

high-minded rhetoric, it feels like they're kind of just sitting there defending off attacks for a

while. I don't know. There's probably more efficient ways to go about what they're doing.

I feel like he was pretty clear that it was all trapped from like the get-go and they could have

figured it out earlier. Yeah, interesting. I don't remember if we thought, I mean, it's,

it's hard to say because as a viewer, you know, right? You know that they know for so long that it's

like, I don't even know. It's like, do I, are you supposed to understand? It's a trap as it's

supposed to be like kind of a surprise, but kind of not. And the way it plays out, it's, it's kind

of interesting and in the way the options they had and executing these episodes.

Anyway, yeah, I enjoyed both parts of this. Um, yeah, I think these are maybe not the most

rewatchable. If you're, I guess if you're into the invasion action stuff, I think then maybe

they're super rewatchable. But there's, there's a lot that wasn't top of mind here. I think the,

uh, Cotankis is the thing that was most ingrained in my mind. I'll say again, once it starts, I'm like,

just, I have like, uh, something, like a flashback or I don't know what movie comparison to make,

but it just like, I like my mind like locks in. It's like, wow, this is the emotional trigger for

me as I've described with past Cotank scenes. Like, I'm like, wow, okay, I know, I know everything

that's happening here. I've rewatched this probably hundreds of times when I was younger and, uh,

this is so emotionally resonant and meaningful for me. There's this kissing along with all the other

iconic Cotank scenes, but yeah, hard to overemphasize that this is like some of the most emotional,

stuff in my life is these Cotank moments in an avatar. Um, like out of all of TV and movies,

this is definitely the most emotionally resonant thing rewatching is these big Cotank moments.

Definitely true of this kiss. This is like super iconic scene for me. And yeah, I loved it again.

I mean, I'm too biased to really comment on. Is it, is it good their approach? Is it bad? I don't know.

I think it, I think it was great, but I'm, I'm too biased. I, part one, I think it's good. I don't

remember if, I don't, this episode isn't super like, stand out in my head in terms of isn't all

time great or anything, but I think it's a great part one, uh, for, for the invasion. Um,

everyone's coming back is good. Ang mentions the avatar state in the beginning of this episode

for the first time since the book to finale. And, uh, I was just getting having trauma, uh,

from being raging over that as a child, like, weirdly, I didn't really talk about it much

on the podcast at the time, but I know I hated it so much that they just did not do anything

with it for so many episodes. And then just mention it here. I guess it's good at least they

mention it. And then toss is like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Let's face, they, trying to trigger

me basically as what they're doing basically. Yeah. Well, I guess at in the finale,

I guess we'll give the ultimate evaluation of how bad is all the avatar stuff handled, uh,

when we get to the rock. Does it even matter anymore on this rewatch? Uh, I think it definitely

matters less so far than at the time because I'm not like sitting there waiting every episode,

not knowing what's going to happen. And I can kind of appreciate the episode episode more.

But we will see how, how much I rage at the rock when we get there. Uh, but, uh, sure.

I, and not a good sign because I did kind of rage at this one line in this episode. So I,

I don't think it'll be good. Uh, but it was, it was like, uh, not, not like, it was, it was, uh,

contained, contained, right? It was just like, okay, that's kind of funny. Uh, the battles, uh,

stuff was, I said, battle stuff was coherent, interesting. Uh, and there's good character moments.

Uh, the Zuko parts, I appreciate the quiet, I continue to appreciate the quiet Zuko stuff

between last episode, uh, so nine in this one a lot more than I did at the time. I think that's

kind of the one thing, the melodramatic Zuko stuff from three of, three of six, three of seven,

uh, or three of five, the, like, the beach and then, uh, like, uh, my, my, my grand, both of my grand

fathers, like, I think that stuff's like whatever. It's, it's, it's, it's good enough, like,

the show is very over it. But I, this rewatch, I'm just appreciating the quiet Zuko moments more.

I do think, like, I think at the time I was like, this, I'm expecting so much more from Zuko,

this, these, these, these quiet, this quiet stuff is, is not what I'm wanting. It doesn't hold up.

But the, now it's like, I, I really like the, I don't know if I'd say subtleness because it's

clear what the show is doing. But I, I just, I like the quiet Zuko contemplation and decisions

and now he's acting on it in this episode. Um, so that's kind of the biggest, the biggest change

for me from before, uh, part two, um, I think it's really good. But mostly just the Zuko,

Ozai face off, I feel like is the biggest, um, other than that, I don't know if anything super

iconic for it. Like, like, like, there's other, there's, there's tons of memorable lines and stuff

from both that parts of that episode. But in terms of like, what's like truly great from part two?

I think it's the Zuko as I face off. Uh, the, Azula stuff is like fun, but I don't know if it's,

it's, uh, the best in the show. I think it's, and, and to be honest, it felt like a little bit of a

repeat from the book to finale, uh, with Diley there. Um, but, uh, I forgot they were there and

then I was mad all over again. I was like, go away. She's such a cheater. It's so annoying.

And I, I just, I just continue to question the logic of the Diley following Azula. I think it's

one of like, some stuff, some stuff you just have to accept in the show, but like, in any show,

but like, what, the Diley following Azula cook, I, I, I rancid about this in the book to finale

podcast, uh, the, the rewatch one. The, the, why, they follow her in like one scene, uh, they're,

like, betraying their nation to let the, the fire nation in that, I mean, that happens to the

beginning of book two. Okay, that's already big logic. Like, leave why are they doing that? And

now they just leave their home nation to follow Azula blindly into the fire nation. I don't really get

on it. Um, and I don't think the show could try to convince convince you of them, but it doesn't

like, what, like, what do they get out of it? Like, is she paying them? Is it because they don't

want them? They don't want her to kill her, kill them like, they just, they just follow her,

but it's, she's intimidating. That's all. Yeah. That's, that's the only thing you

just said. Like, obviously, you know, you only realize this now because like, for adults,

because when you watch it as a child, or, you know, everything is like the same, you know,

because you're like, yeah, that makes sense. It was like, like, when it's, I guess one of the

waves is like, that's a 14 year old girl, the dollar terrifying of a 14 year old girl.

Right. This, this is the aspect of the series where she was 14 doesn't work. Yeah. Yeah.

It's like, we, even at the time we commented, Azula, it's not 14. It doesn't make sense, but

this is the, this is the aspect of Diely following her that really, really doesn't. Yeah.

Like, it's like, what? Like, you know, when you're 14 and you're watching this, you're like,

you're like, okay. And but now it's like, okay, you are like really late. I agree. Yeah, I agree.

Okay. Well, I guess to be fair to Diely, like, if, if they're in this situation where they've

like, let the fire nation into the capital, and they've taken over, now you have this crazy

scary ruler who's like, hey, you two, you come with me. We're going to go on field trip. It's

like, okay. Right. Like, if you don't listen to her, she, you know, like, don't me in the

other way. Given that they already did all the other stuff. Yeah. I, like, there, there's

some logic to like, yeah, once you're already so committed. Also, like, they also kind of

have already betrayed their nation. Yeah. Well, the biggest thing is they just, they,

aligning with the Zula and like, if you're on fan, you could debate that, but like, letting the,

and then like, letting the fire nation it, like, it just, it just escalates so fast and they don't

show any of it. Right. Uh, it's just kind of in flashback. Um, I, I have in my notes, where is

Suki? That's a big moment in the episode. Uh, who cares? I don't care where Suki is, but, uh,

hello, but, uh, the, it's kind of true. I still don't think that that, I think the show still makes

a bigger like that's supposed to be one of the biggest moments of one of the biggest episodes of

the show. And it's like, where is Suki? Like, honestly, I don't think it's deserved. So maybe

it's my Suki hates still coming out. Um, I agree with you. Like, and it's not even like, I hate

Suki. It's just like, she's been in two or three episodes. Like, it's, honestly, I agree.

I'm sorry. Sock is fickle. Oh, is this a, uh, anti, anti-Saka Suki take? Yes.

Okay. Uh, we could, we could get more into it. There'll be more of that to come in boiling

rock too. But, um, the, oh, so the aspect I didn't like the most of this episode part two,

by the way, it's great. It's, it's one of the, the great episodes of this show, but I'm building

up to a, uh, a conclusion. Um, the Katara staying behind, uh, with, with her, her dad. I, that,

I'm just like, wow, considering I've been commenting over and over again in Ernie Ha's episodes,

Katara gets sideline, her plays emotional support. I didn't remember that she was sideline

in the invasion. But, oh, my goodness. Like, uh, that, that was, this one wasn't good.

It's so jarring, especially because of everything she does in part one.

Yeah. And then to be fair, she gets to do stuff at the very end, but, um, why, it's, it's just,

it's a very arbitrary decision that Saka, Toph and Ang go after the firelord, Katara stays with that.

It's so, it was really strange. Like, Sock, it didn't need to be there.

You could trade Saka and Katara. Uh, it's not, Katara's like healing him, sure, but, you know,

there's, they probably should have brought another healer, but I guess there's not a lot of

available. Uh, but, uh, it's, it's, it's, they didn't, they should have went to the Northern

want to drive and brought people for the invasion force. Uh, but, yes.

Anyway, it's, it's, it's in isolation. This is like, maybe annoying, but not terrible,

but it's just over and over in Aaron episodes, just, you know, sideline and Katara. So this,

this would, this is kind of the nail on the coffin on the trend. I didn't even remember this one.

Um, so overall, I would say for me, because of that, and because of, again, only the

really the Zuko stuff was like super iconic, although it is one of the best scenes of the show.

I'm, I dropped this out of my top tier of Avatar episodes, and this is the only,

which to be fair, it's still in like the second best year, which is incredible. No, no one cares

about my rings, but the point is that this is the only formerly top tier episode ranked for me

that I have dropped out of the top tier is the part two of Day of Black Sun. Um, again, not,

it's still a great episode, but, uh, it, I guess that my point being is maybe because of the hype

of watching it without that. And it's like, okay, I know this is like an anticlimax. Maybe it plays

a little less, less well overall. And I just went and not as into like all the invasion fighting

stuff, but, uh, it is, it is well done, but a lot of that's in part one, I feel like, um,

but yeah, I don't know. What do you guys think of that? For me, this episode may be more very,

very good, not truly great. But it's also a hard thing when you have a two-parter. And that's

the thing. Honestly, all the interesting like invasion bits happened in the first half. Like,

we get the subs, we get, like, we get, we get the gate of a zoo on, we get the subs.

The invasion glasses. That's in part. Yes. That's a good one. Yes. And we get the tanks. Like,

those are all the fun bits that are in, like, that's all in the first part. So, like, by the time

you're in the second bit, you're like, okay, it's trapped. And like, we all know they're just

marching up there for no reason. Like, they're all going to go to jail. Like, I just, I just kind

of started to like, it's just, just slowly spinning. Like, yeah, well, that was my first question here.

That's what you're talking about, Delaney. How does the fake finale play in retrospect? Like,

this is kind of a classic move is to have, uh, have a finale before, have, have, like, a climax

before the climax and have a tour does its version. So, I get that. My answer was, I feel like it's,

it's without the hype of it at the time, because this is a huge episode while we were,

huge two episodes while we were watching. I do feel like it's a little of an anti-climax,

but it's supposed to be an anti-climax. So, it's kind of interesting, because it is, like,

it is supposed to play as that. I'm not sure how I feel about the choice to make it clear to the

viewer that Azula has known. So, because my thing is, I think it would have played a little bit better

if we didn't know Azula knew. They try to do it. They try to have, but this is what I was referring

to before. They try to have it both ways because show us in the book to finale that Azula knows,

but they don't mention it in book three until now. So, is that right? I don't think she mentioned it

in the first episode, but I could be wrong. At the very least, it's not like, they don't like

Advocates like this. She doesn't mention the invasion, but it's, she knows, she knows the avatar's

alive. Yeah, but yeah, the invasion, there's an invasion force coming, right? Like, that's the key,

but so, they could just say, okay, like, they could have a scene in, in last episode,

in episode nine, the wide open first scenes of like, okay, here's how we're preparing for

their invasion. Here's how we're going to trick them. And so, it's kind of plays out like that,

but it kind of plays as a surprise, and yet they revealed the information before. So, it does,

it's weirdly both in terms of their intention. Yeah. So, it's an interesting dynamic.

I think it doesn't, I think, especially, especially because of that, that on rewatch, it just

doesn't work. Like, it like, like, the, and that's the kind of, that's kind of like the,

which, and of course, you know, in general, like, they don't make TV with the intention of rewatching

it. But at the same time, it's like, it's hard not to feel like, especially on this rewatch for me,

there's all this build up to the invasion, and it all, I don't think it hits what, I don't,

to me, it doesn't reach what it, what it felt like it was supposed to.

Brandon, this also could be my bias, because I love the finale. Like, I absolutely adore the finale.

And like, to me, the finale hits like all my notes, and we'll see what happens on rewatch and

how I feel about it. So, some extend when people talk about Avatar, they talk about the series

finale, and they don't talk about Day of Black Sun. I don't know, I don't know if you guys have

found that to be true, but it is, the legacy of Day of Black Sun, it's interesting. I don't know,

do people write these as some of the top episodes of the show, and I don't necessarily see it up

there with the finalies and everything. Jeff, what do you think of the legacy of Day of Black Sun

rewatching it, the anti-climax of it? What do you think of all that?

I, well, on, I do not recall on first watch being bothered by like, the switcharoo of like,

wait, I thought she already knew about it, but then they didn't mention it. I, I think they,

like, having half the season between the two with no mentions, I think it just dropped out of my

mind. I was like, so I, I think I was appropriately surprised, like, oh, they knew it was happening.

Okay. I forgot about that. But I do see on rewatch, it could have been done a little bit,

they could have done more interesting things. It's, it's kind of like it's supposed to be a

surprise. So, well, I mean, it's not like that's a bad thing that when the surprise isn't there,

it plays differently, you know, like Delaney saying, like it's the intention is the first,

the first watch of the episode. But yeah, it is kind of interesting that it is kind of supposed

to be a surprise, especially when we're a kid. I don't think I didn't hear us in the podcast

talking about like, oh, the invasion, it's going to fail, because Azula knows. Like, I don't,

maybe I, maybe there's like a small amount of talk of that, but I don't think we were anticipating

like, it's all a trap. Like, that wasn't really like what the discourse was at the time, I believe.

So, yeah, I don't know. The point not being that these are like bad or anything, it's just like,

we're trying to capture the different experience of the rewatch and everything.

But yeah, I wonder, what do you guys think? Do you, is Day of Black Sun

from, listen, listeners, what's what's your, did you think of these as some of the best episodes

of the show? I don't know, it's still like in my top 20, part two will still be in there,

and like, you know, if you're going to rank them together, like it probably makes more sense.

But it's still like a top third avatar episode, right? But yeah, that's, I didn't remember this

dynamic of like, they didn't mention it, but Azula knows it's probably one of the more interesting

things. But we're kind of just in there, how about this? We're just in their perspective

of the invasion force, right? And so we get to see their perspective and then the,

because we don't see, like I said, we don't see Azula preparing. We just see Zuko's actions,

and he's kind of divorced himself from what's happening. So although Zuko, in his own way,

was preparing for the, for the Day of Black Sun. So they just kind of, the decision to firmly

put us in the eyes of Ang and the invasion force. I think, I think it's overall successful,

right? But it's, but it's one that, that relies a lot on, on that first viewing experience.

I guess I would say in conclusion. I'm, I'm binge watching Andor recently, and really

digging the view from the other side. Like here, we're comparing this to, to, to Avatar,

these episodes we're seeing from the perspective of the heroes, and oh no, there's been a switch

room. But with, with Andor, and I'm sure many others, but to Andor's, I've brushed my mind,

like you see some really compelling and fun perspectives from the bad guys and how they are,

like, how the good guys think they're going to, to win the day, but the bad guys are like,

three sip ahead of them. That's fun. Nice. Nice. Yeah. It's interesting, because when you think of

Avatar, you think of a lot of Azul and Zuko and like, perspective stuff. But like, ultimately,

Zuko's stuff is, maybe that was more books one and two here. Zuko's clearly on the like,

turn, you know, going to, going to change sides, trajectory, and we don't necessarily see a lot of

the outside of the beach, a lot of the Azul and Ozai. We never see Ozai POV. This is a decision

I've heard my combine talk a lot about not showing. I mentioned this not showing Ozai until book three,

not, you know, and going along with that, not a lot of Ozai perspective. So yeah, that is,

that is in Shama. So I'm also interested to rewatch Koran. How much of the villains POV we get there?

I mean, I think there's more of a man. So that'll be a lot of interesting. Okay. How about Zuko,

facing off against Ozai? This first half Zuko are culminating. That was one of the highlights of

the entire episode for me. Is it not the whole like just the lightning redirecting or is it like

the whole thing? Yeah, that's it. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's, it's, when I think top avatars scenes,

I think Zuko redirecting Ozai, it's up there for sure. I think it played just as well as I

remember, it's just beautiful and exciting and like, oh, this guy's powerful. Okay. Yeah.

The, the start of Ozai, yeah, Ozai's power. And again, they don't like remind you of Zuko being

able to redirect lightning. In fact, it's only from one episode. But yeah, I think it all, it all

plays tremendously well. But honestly, the part I didn't remember was the whole Zuko is like,

you're gonna sit down and listen to me. Here's, here's, here's, here's all my feelings. And then we

have a whole earth, here's everything about Ersa too. So there's more than I remember, but I loved,

so I was loving all of it. Tell me what do you think? Um, for, I liked it, but it's also hard

on to watch it and be like, LOL, like, yeah, because Ozai's right. It's like, yeah, you're,

you're talking all this stuff, because I can't burn you right now. Right.

Do you think it was cowardly of Zuko?

cowardly of Zuko, I think I mean, it was definitely like, it was smart to do.

Absolutely. Like, at the same time, like, it's also one of those things, like Zuko didn't have to

tell his dad. He could have just left. But it was important for Zuko to tell him, which I can relate

as someone who can't let anything go. Um, so like, you know, Zuko needed to say his piece,

so then he bounced. It was great. Um, incredible power move. But also, it's also like,

LOL, this is really funny. Like, he's like, no, I'm gonna, like, I'm gonna tell you what's going on,

and I'm gonna have my swords out. Like, it's like, it's funny, but like, they do, like, unintentionally

funny, but like, it does, it does work, and it plays well. And I think I do think it's important

to get for it to all get out there. Because like you said, they do a lot of quiet stuff for Zuko.

And so, especially because this is a big deal, this is the moment Zuko is leaving. Like,

and he is chasing the Avatar, but not the way he has, which again, that is it. I really like that scene.

It's such a good parallel. Like, when they show them flying away on Oppa, and then you see his

airship. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's a great point about this in comparison to the quiet Zuko stuff.

Because a lot of Zuko recently is contemplative quietness at a lot of it from his, the first few

seasons, honestly, is him, him just being very contemplative and then just seeing him overtly,

say, how he feels is very satisfying. Um, so I think they built. Go ahead.

Well, I think it, so I, and because I didn't remember this, it made me think to back, you know,

when he, when, you know, at the end, when he's fire Lord, I think it ties in really well because Zuko,

you know, because Zuko does lead, he will lead the country in the right direction, which I think

is really like, so I think that that's really interesting is, and I think something that we don't

necessarily explore enough in the show is during Zuko's banishment and how he comes to understand

the world and like everything he's been told is a lie and kind of this like unraveling like,

because it's interesting too, because they do this with Shira, because Adora grows up in the

Horde and then, you know, and then she's, you know, all the stuff. So, um, which I think they

ultimately do a better job in Shira than we do here about, you know, the, of the unraveling

of like your indoctrination and like, you know, the, the reality of what's actually going on.

And again, Avatar had a lot more to juggle than Shira.

Yeah, it's a good point. That's stuck out to me too, Delaney. Zuko says it's a lie that the

war is sharing greatness with the rest of the world. The world is terrified of us. They hate us

and we deserve it. We don't really see Zuko overtly come to this conclusion, but I think it is,

so I think you could argue there should have been more build up, but like we see books one and two

are like entirely about this, right? Like if you just like look at Zuko's journey, like him

realizing this through I wrote, then I mean, his experience is blending and embossing say I think

are key. Um, he, you know, he has all the evidence in front of him, him and Zuko alone. I mean, he,

you can look at this and then just like see his journey kind of building up to this moment. I do

think Avatar, you could argue is at its best when it's, it's most, at its most subtle and then it

can be over in the most important moment, like the Zuko speech. I think Zuko's arc outside of

some, some, some key scenes is, is, is pretty subtle and, and to see him come to this conclusion,

I don't know. I think it's, I think it's well done. It certainly could, it could have been a

bigger part of the series. That line really stuck out to me. The line, Zuko says it's the

era of fear in the world. And if we don't want the world to destroy itself, we need to replace it

with an error of peace and kindness. Um, like, I just, honestly, one of my biggest takeaways

this rewatch, I don't remember Avatar's just so blunt at times, like, it's like Zuko just says, uh,

he said, and then the show, like, to be fair, I was like, calls him out on it and he's like,

your uncle's gotten into and Zuko says, yes, he has any smiles. And that's a great moment.

But just the bluntness of Avatar, it's, it's, it's very much says its themes, like constantly.

Uh, but I, and I think it's a good point that we're talking about. Like, because of a lot of

the quiet contemplativeness of the build up here, it was done very well, but building up. So

that's why I think in large part this works so well with, uh, Zuko Ozai here saying, saying

things very, very blatantly. I mean, he literally says, you were, you challenged a 13-year-old boy

doing any kai was cruel, and it was wrong. Like, like, I was saying what it means, like very clearly,

like, uh, it's, it's, it's the type of thing in where if a modern show like has lines like this,

I think it, it's criticized, um, because like, you shouldn't say your discoursey things as part of

the dialogue, right? Which is, which is, which is interesting because media literacy is like

negative five now. Yeah. And maybe one of the reasons Avatar is so widely excessively,

widely accessible and great is just like, accepted is because it's pretty clear with what it does

to say. Like, there's no. Well, it's like Steven Universe, Steven Universe, I think, got a lot of

flack for, um, you know, the, which, and they, which, and then they also impune itself in the show,

like, with, you know, like, uh, with Sunstone and like the PSA-ness, but it's also like, well,

we have to be, oh my god. And, and I, I personally, I mean, you know, I'm conditioned from shows like

Avatar and seniors, but I, I do, I think you should be blunt with your themes. I think like,

for the things that matter most, make them clear. So it comes across to the audience,

but people don't think of Avatar as, as very blunt. I'm telling you, like, this we watch, like, it is,

it's not just shows like Steven Universe, like Avatar maybe does a better job of handling the

bluntness. I don't know. I think it's more just in, in theme, like, the aesthetic of it,

works better. Maybe for some people, but, uh, like, it is, it is, this Zuko speech is very overt.

Um, and then, uh, like, he says, again, continuing. I'm in a free Iro. He's been a real father to me.

Like, like, Zuko is just saying all of the, the past few seasons. All the things, uh, tea and

failure says, as, as, as, as I, uh, I'm going to join the Avatar and I'm going to help in defeat you

says Zuko again. So good. It's great. I would have liked to, this is one where I would have liked

more maybe overt and how he came to the conclusion of specifically joining the Avatar.

It's because he kind of just comes out at here. Right. Because I do, Iro, I think, doesn't tell him

this, but like, hints at it throughout the show. Like, yeah, talking to, like, like, like,

your destinies are intertwined. Like, there's all the stuff. The destinies thing. Yeah. I want to,

yeah, I want to, like, I would be helpful. Zuko, like, you know, it's cool that you figured out that,

like, you were like, yeah, this isn't what I wanted. But like, when did you, when were you were like,

I'm going to help the Avatar, like, when, when did you get to that point?

This is the trade-off for the, the, the quietness of half of his stuff this season is we don't get

to, to know this and to be fair, who would he have told? Uh, because he could have told May, but

it is, that's kind of what part one is about. He did is, he decided not to tell May until the

very ends that he's leaving. Um, but, yeah, we, we just, we don't get to see this. I don't think we,

I mean, I, I just, I don't remember large swaths of some of these more random episodes coming up,

but I don't think he tells the group when he decided this, but I don't remember. Maybe there'll

be some stuff coming up that explains it. I don't know. Great. He says a lot of time trying to make

sure his heart isn't killing. So that's like a, he's a little occupied. I'm excited for that. Uh,

but yeah, it's the best. Uh, Ozette, yeah, and then Ozette, you should, you should do it now. Uh,

taking, taking you down as the avatars destiny. Uh, so this part, like, um, I feel like it can

trash it. Like both here and with Azula, they're like baiting the other guys, like, yes.

Yeah. And, and, uh, and the avatar and his group fell for the bait. And as you go to not,

he does, he does kind of fall for it though, because he does know he's made so much when it happens,

like, ah, just go. But, um, I'm wondering if, like, if Zuko would have gone after Ozai,

if they wouldn't have pushed a button and, like, dumped molten lava on him or something.

Right. No, I, I, I, my read is that it is a trap. And he, like, Ozai has a sword behind him

or something, right? Like, he, like, Azula had the dagger when, when soccer charged at him,

like, Ozai was ready for him if he, if he came at him, that, that's my read on it. Um, but it's

kind of interesting that it's ambiguous. That's a good point that they're both baiting him. But

yeah, Zuko largely avoids it, except he stays with, for, to hear about Ersa, but he's, he's prepared

for when, when the fire is back, is he has the redirection that, that Ozai doesn't know about. Um,

so, um, I do love the line. Ooh, the fire is back on. Like, I like that. Yeah. Oh, sounds like

the firebending back on says Azula. Yeah. That was, that was great. Great line. Azula, Azula is,

is very funny. These, these, this, absolutely. Or it's like what they were, like, just ignore,

or she's like, what? I'm like, am I not, am I not enough for you? Like, it's really funny.

Yeah. She says, as Saka says, Azula's not trying to win. Azula says, not true. I'm giving it my

all. Yeah. No, there's, I mean, like, I'm like, when she's lying to top and top, like, oh my god,

it's so good. Forging it for tall purple platypus pair. That, that's an iconic line, for sure.

And that's really funny. So, uh, yeah. Her whole, her whole fight when she has no bending and

is still, like, wiping the four of them, that was also really cool. She's just being an absolute,

oh my god. It's like, it's like when I'm fighting people and fortnight, you just keep jumping

around. Like, I was getting frustrated just watching it. Like, I was like, honestly, it's, it's

it's the angtactic, like, it's great. And I'm like, it's also just absurd. Like, it just so,

like, she's so annoying. And, and the dialier there, like, so irritating.

Azula also says, uh, to top. And since you can't see, I should tell you, I'm rolling my eyes.

Also, top says, I'll roll your whole head. Um, can you really like that bit? She was like,

I'm, she's like, wow, the show is so inclusive. Thanks. She thought it was funny.

Well, we are, our, our, our discursia of the, uh, of the top blindness is that if it's kind

of her making jokes for herself, it's good. If it's other people making jokes that are expense,

that's not so good. So this is, this is a rare instance, but there haven't been many of,

of someone else making a joke at her expense. But it's, but this is from a villain. And it's clear

that like, she's being mean. So I think, uh, I think the show is aware that this is mean.

Also, it is unfortunately really fine. And top, it's funny in a wrong way. It's clear.

Yes. And then immediately top's like, I will, like, I'm going to end you. Like, it's, it's great.

Yeah. And it's, it's, yeah, top never, never backs down from it. But yeah, I mean,

it's, it's funny, but also not keeping in mind that is, the show keeps you in mind that

is all this kind of bad. Um, and also, maybe in Chelsea, like, pulls a, a dagger out for

Saka and. And top's like, oh, my God. And top's like just slams her into the wall. Yeah.

And then we get the wears suit. Anyway, back to the, uh, those are Zulu interlude back to the,

Zuko scene. Um, yeah, don't you want to know what happened to your mother? I forgot about that.

I, I rolled my eyes. I was just like, oh, no, no, no.

Is this, I guess this is more frustrating in retrospect knowing we don't get to see Ersa

until the comics is, uh, but. And then like, and also what happens in the comic, it's so annoying.

And then also it's so funny, because I was like, yeah, so I was totally going to kill you.

And your mom was like, no, like really like that's like, what are we supposed to get out of this

story? Well, the thing is about everyone's frustrated that, um, you know, this is one of the

big things coming out of Avatar is, oh, it's so good, except, uh, they did what happened to Ersa.

So that's like the normy talking point about Avatar. We were probably like that at the beginning.

Um, but the thing is, is they, they, this scene is the conclusion to what happened to Ersa,

because I was, I was, I just just tells, just tells them everything. Uh, I don't, I would argue we

don't get any much of anything out of the comic that we don't get from the scene. Like we learn

basically the high level of the story of what happened and Ersa still alive, perhaps. Like,

there you go. She's still alive. She's banished. She's out there somewhere and, uh, she

killed a, a zoolon made a deal with those out of spares who cook it. Like, like, like we, we,

we figure out what happens. Like, I think from the show's perspective, this was the explanation

without them wanting to be super overt about it. Um, so I don't think they really intended.

Now Mike and Brian might, might have said since then, like, oh, we would have loved to

have fit in some more, more Ersa, that, you know, but I, I feel like this is supposed to be kind

of the conclusion to Zooka alone here. It does it. I don't, did that play well at the time.

I think we were not satisfied with that. I would say most people probably are not maybe buying

what I'm saying, listening to it. Well, I think the difference is like, if this was it,

cool. The problem is the finale. Okay, well, uh, I need to rewatch in and so we'll follow up

in the finale. I'll follow up in the finale, for sure. Um, it's like obviously the comic,

you know, we brush over this and then my issue is like the ultimate conclusion to the story is

terrible. Look, okay, well, you can listen to our past from the spiritual podcast on the,

the search. Is that it? Um, and, uh, I, I think we're more positive on it than Delaney's being,

but at the time, I still liked seeing what happened, like Ersa in the, in the present,

I still liked seeing it. That being said, I kind of this would have rather the show like stuck

to its guns and just like not followed up on it. Like, I think it's kind of bold to just

put it out there like Ozias here and then just like just we're just not going to show you where,

so like like some things you don't have to you don't show and you end the show. Like I kind of,

I kind of a little of liked if they didn't. That being said, there was such a fan glam,

right clamoring for it. Like this was like, and again, it's because of what they did in the finale.

It's your own fall. We'll get to it. Okay, I'll get to it. I've forgotten, but we'll see. Um, so

in terms of the rewatch, where we're at now with Ersa, I'm loving, but uh, yeah, it's fine. Like,

they say, yeah, it's fine. Like, this is completely fine. Like, it makes sense. And it's like,

a parallel to Zuko story completely makes sense. It's fine. She's still at perhaps like, uh,

such a classic. Yeah. Perhaps I, I, I loved Mark Hamilton's work in this episode. Yeah. Yeah.

It's so funny that he's as I, it's hilarious. Perhaps and then don't you want to know what happens

here? That's like such an iconic line. Like, uh, yeah, probably my top 10 Avatar line reads,

and there's so many good ones, but yeah, no, he's incredible here.

Now I realize that punishment is far too. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, my god. That's so good too.

You're right. That's really good too. Yeah. He's like, he's like, you're, yeah. Yeah. He's like,

you're so dramatic. And he just blasted. It's so good. He's just trying to kill it. Like,

like, it's, it's kind of shot. It really is shocking. Like, he's just trying to kill his child.

It's so blatant. Oh, my goodness.

Well, he admitted he was going to kill when he was a baby. Like, at this point, it's like, whatever.

It's true. He did say I was going to pull it through out of here. He was like, yeah,

I was totally going to kill you. Like, my dad told me to do it. Like literally. It's kind of like,

you know, you, I mean, it's terrible then. But like, to some extent, there were circumstances

outside of his control. There was like someone pressuring him. Here is like all him. Like,

this is just now, you're right. You're right. You're right. It's still terrible. I'm not making

an excuse. But like, this is like, you know, you're correct. But we shouldn't be surprised.

I mean, it's, it's kind of the introduction to Ozai's like, Ruthless. I mean,

I did, we see much. I don't know if we've said, we saw like much for you. There's also

for shadowing to Azula becoming fire Lord. She's on the throne. Oh, yeah. Yeah, because she's

the distraction. She's on the throne. That's true. Also, it's funny when she's leaving. And she's

like, yeah, daddy is like, down that way. Bye. It's really great. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's a good one,

too. We're kind of, I'm kind of, we're kind of convincing me to boost this episode back up.

That's because the, the Zuko scene is so good. And those are all the stuff is really good. What

I thought Azula is deeply funny. Like, it's just as well as very funny.

The, we talked about the glasses. Oh, okay. Well, let's finish out part two. Then we'll come back

to the, to the kiss. And oh, yeah. Well, this action scene, Ango's to battle the airships. We

thought we talked about the airships coming on in the war balloons from Mechanist's invention.

Then Ang and Katara on Oppa go to battle. The airships, I don't know much to say, but I like this,

but I told, I was saying to my wife, I was like, boyfriend, girlfriend, things.

So, top, uh, top was earthbinding. And Tania was like, I love her. And then when it,

and specifically in this, when Katara and Ang are doing the airships, Tania's like, I love

her about Katara. When the girls are bending, my wife's like, yes. That she can venture to,

to rewatch the show with you. It, oh, she, she will. It's one of those things, you know,

I have to sit her down and it has to be done. And then that's the whole thing. Yeah, Jeff,

we got through bits of the one. This was one of my problems with the execution of this thing.

They left the subs on the beach. They should have moved them underwater and then brought them

back. That's true. That's true. That's why I want you to just stand up under water. Also, they're

like, just stand like, they just stand there and watch you. So like, obviously the airships

travel quite quickly. Is there a technical limitation with them? Not like they need a,

they can't be underwater too long. Like, Raleigh, no, we don't know. That's what I, yeah, I realized,

so this was the opinion I had when I first watched it. Like, why did they not have the subs

in the water? Now in this watch, I realized, well, they do need air. And then you someone under,

someone on the, on the sub to bring them in, probably. Right. Yeah. So I'm in a periscope with,

with air pipe, maybe I don't know, but yeah, they could have, or they could have, I mean,

they could have just created like an earth shell, like, for while they were gone.

They're considering they invented these subs, made them and then invented these,

these wild tanks that like, they're like, they're like, they probably could have invented

something better for this situation. Right. It seems like they didn't think this part of the

plan through that they're going to be destroyed in traps there. But this, this kind of is a,

yeah. So like, the overall problem I have with this is this is basically, it's kind of relevant

to current events. This is a regime change operation. And they did enough. This is what my speech

is going to be about. Continue. Dylan, Dylan texted me this. God. I didn't tell you what it's about.

They do. Okay. We have what's your, what's your, I don't have to know what it's about. I've

what about, what about their regime change? Well, okay. If their plan is to, you know,

I get, I don't, I don't see the lot like, okay, they're going to send in the avatar to kill the,

or they were placing him with, right? Is that right? Like, like, that's what I was thinking.

Much like current events, there's no succession plan here. Like, what are you doing?

Right. And whoever else is in this discussion plan is going to be alive and is going to say,

hey, military, go kill these guys who are like, all bunched up. Like, in this instance, it would

now, if so, if we're, so let's, let's follow this logically. Okay. We kill the fire Lord without

knowing what is going on. Zuko is then fire Lord. And they, and for all they know, he's still bad.

Yes, also presumably like, Zuko and Azula probably have a fight in like Azula would murder Zuko,

and then Azula would be fire Lord. We're, we're kind of robbed of the house of the dragon

ask, because Zuko, Azula, or a succession civil, which I guess is kind of just the acne in the

finale. Now, now, if Azula is killed, at that point, we would assume, so that's the thing.

And I already have a whole article about this and like the, oh, so annoying. I'm just so irritated

by current world events. Like, yeah, then at that point, like, so presumably, there maybe is like,

so I'm going to say like in a, like, in Game of Thrones, or in like a different fantasy, like,

generally speaking, there would then be further succession. As we understand the fire nation,

he would end with Azula, but there might be cadet families, like maybe Mae's family, or like,

you know, there would maybe be like, okay, who is the person who was next related to

probably, I mean, if he was not, if he was not some franchise, right, he wasn't like in jail.

And even, but yeah, so wouldn't be, well, so he would be locked out. It wouldn't be, it wouldn't be

either. So at that point, it's like, it would be over probably, but then like, it wouldn't really

be because you know, there's cadets. And then also, we would probably then have the generals.

And it would be, yeah, if he wasn't dead, or I'm sorry, wandering, um,

spare world, excuse you, the square world. Yeah. But no, but yeah, at just point, other than like,

who's the resumption, just like, okay, we kill the father, then what? Like, even if it goes

according to plan, they didn't, they didn't, they didn't know what they're doing. Yeah, I agree.

Also, that's the whole, also, that's like the whole show. Like, they're like,

we have to defeat the fire lord by summer's end. Okay. And then what? Yeah.

That's it. And that's, and that's still, and everything works out because Zuko has a change of heart.

They are kind, it's a good point. They're kind of dependent on someone in a position to rule the

fire, put the, put the fire nation in a good direction, having a change of heart. Otherwise,

they would have kind of, yeah, if Zuko didn't do that, it would be like, we would just have,

like presumably if Zuko, like, didn't have a soul or whatever, he would, like, he would then be,

he would be fire lord Zuko. Even if Zuko was bad, him and Azula would like fight to the death

because Azula would be like, uh-uh. Yeah, I mean, they have Iro too, which I guess the white

Lotus knows about the whole time, but that would take some finagling. Anyway, let me, let me say my

little, my, my, my, just brought the regime change up already. Okay. So for, yeah, for context,

when you're listening to the future, it's March 1st, uh, 2026, so we're referencing the US bombing

Iran, which we did, we, you know, we don't know what that's going to be called in the future. When

you're, when you hear this, what the, will this be known as a war? I don't know. Uh, the, I was struck

when I heard the president say that the goal is regime change. So Jeff are you kind of spoiled

this, but isn't the invasion force trying to enact regime change on Ozai in, in this finale?

But they're going into a sovereign country and trying to kill their leader, right? Like,

this is like, it's, it's, it's, it's just such, uh, as an interesting time to be talking about

the Black Sun. Um, and I have a point here, but the point isn't necessarily like,

are there actions in the context of the Avatar world good or bad? Like, are there, is them trying to

enact regime change good? Oh, but I do think you can make an argument that they're going about

this in like the wrong way. Um, we do need to have the important context that this is also,

we have been the 100 years war, the Fire Nation has. So there's a context of the Avatar world. Yes.

And in the, in the book through finale, it ends up being an aggression, an active aggression

by the Fire Nation and then countering that aggression, which is, you know, not, not as much of

what they're doing here. They're being the aggressors here. That being said, you can already

the Fire Nation still the aggressor in the context of the current war. Anyway, uh, I think my,

my point here is that like the media like TV shows and movies like Avatar showing regime change

like this, like as a good thing that heroes do, uh, I think it like normalizes it for those in

American and the West. And that maybe leads people to think of this as like an acceptable

option for when the, when the American other countries could do this. Uh, now the context is

completely different from the Avatar world. But even if they're in the right in doing this in

Avatar, them going about it in this way of again invading a sovereign country with the goal

of killing their leader and not like talking about it and talking about is this, this is normally

bad, but justified in this case. Or should we do this? Should we not do this? They just do it. This

is like seen as righteous by the show and millions of children watch us and take away that this is

like a righteous action. I can understand from my perspective now in, in my thirties that I can

understand more of why maybe people in America think the way they do even progressive shows like

Avatar show tactics like this as a good thing. Again, context is completely different, but I think

that's interesting to think about. Well, especially, um, these, these kinds of stories I think are

unique to the American consciousness and especially like we, a natural comparison would be

on comic books. And our comic with industry was the, you know, a hero defeating the villain and

it's always like this all consuming villain like, you know, it's very much good versus bad.

And, you know, and, you know, our comic book industry was very much spun out of the end of

World War One and then, um, carry in and also World War Two, like Captain America, like lunches

Hitler, like these are these are these stories that are very much ingrained in American consciousness

and the, you know, the American hero and like, and it's, and, you know, in, um, Half America and

Red Skull, who is just literally a Nazi. Um, so it's very much this, I like, I don't like,

obviously, you know, we do cover shows that aren't American like Ladybug and, but like these kind,

which is a superhero show and like superheroes aren't unique to America, but these kinds of stories,

I think are, and it's very much that. And we're, as the country, the only country that does this.

Yeah, it's, it's a good point. It's a very American, again, as much as Avatar is progressive.

It's a very American perspective show and it's, it's still playing within the, the framework

of like an, an, of like a Western imperialist nation, which is interesting because I also think

Dayablaxon has active anti-imperialist messaging, which we just talked about with these Zuko

speech. Uh, the rest of the world has terrified us. We said we're sharing the greatness with the

world. Literally just explaining why imperialism is wrong is what Zuko is doing there. And it's

interesting that a show that is like clearly so has such overall anti-imperialist message.

I think is not aware that it is playing within an imperialist framework is my political analysis

in 2026. I think Brian specifically and Mike and, but I know Brian's politics more would not do

an episode like this now. I think that this is a product of this show being made in, to you know,

2006, 2007 when these episodes are being made. Uh, I don't think Korra has an equivalent of this,

I believe. Um, so I think that their perspective maybe evolves. Again, I'm not saying that what

they're doing in the invasion is wrong in the context of avatar. I just think that it's like

shortsighted in terms of what they're communicating to their audience. I guess it's my overall perspective.

Of course, Korra is interesting too because we all Korra also explores the ramifications of

everything that happens in Avatar like the Republic City and you know, ultimately like what becomes

of the Fire Nation colonies that are in the Earth Kingdom, which is something Avatar, I think,

which consistently like we address it, but not in the way like.

Or Korra is an indictment on what Mike and Brian did in Avatar. They're like, it's an indictment

on their own storytelling, absolutely. Which I think is another reason why Ang can come across,

very poorly in Korra. And it's, which is interesting for them to kind of not, they don't villainize

Ang, but they definitely don't paint him always in the best light, which is interesting to do to your

own character and then also a character we all revere so much. And then we, we definitely have

a kind of negative reaction in watching in Korra. And it'll be interesting to see, you know,

in the movie that's coming out and then in. Very interesting. From this perspective, very

interesting to see them follow up on Ang's story, considering some aspects of Avatar very like

mid or mid to, you know, the early odds. And then also, there is also this literally was also

happening in when Avatar was being made. We were also beginning. We were going for it.

Last thing to say about this is as much as I'm like, this shows like this are kind of like

normalizing regime change in the minds of Americans. At the time, the Iraq war was initially

very popular, although quickly the tide turned on that. Whereas, thankfully, the current, you know,

my perspective, the current events in Iran are actually very unpopular. So despite the fact that,

like maybe regime change, this concept isn't as normalized now in America's,

America's minds, because people aren't as accepting of this type of intervention, I think, as

before ends, despite kind of what the government is doing. I'm, I'm thinking about this,

like what one is a good or bad to do regime change. I have not thought about this as much as

either of you, but I'm just like, there are examples in popular media where I think we'd,

well, I don't know if we'd say it's like that one's okay. Like, for example,

Star Wars Episode Three, taking out Palpatine, that is a regime change. I think that's

okay, though, because like it's the evilness is concentrated in the person and the theory is that

you take out the person and the regime will become better, even though he was elected and everything.

That is also interesting, too, because we also deal with that in Star Wars, and ultimately,

in the the following three movies, how that ultimately didn't matter. We had a new empire,

and it just kept going. So then, I guess in this context, like, maybe we're seeing more of it as,

no, this is a, this is not just a uniquely bad guy at the top. The whole structure is the

fire nation, and yeah, I don't know. I think you're right. Even this circumstance that is

present in the show, though, I think is uniquely, it's clear who's evil. It's like there's

a hundred-year war, and the firelords have been so evil, and it's never this kind of clear cut

in the real world, and so you present this kind of, despite any sort of propaganda that we had,

that we're growing up with in the West. But you present a story that's clear cut like this,

and it makes people think it's like that in the circumstance. Otherwise, when there's

kind of no nuance, no commentary on whether it's right or wrong. But also in the logic of the show,

it's like, yeah, like, okay, as we talked about, who else is there? It's not like this is

necessarily an effective plan, anyway. But yeah, Delaney, did you follow up?

Well, it's kind of like a mon in Book 1 of Fora, and kind of like, so you have a cult,

like, to have a cult of personality, and it is, so we kind of get into that, and there is a little

bit of, like, a mon, it's very much a cult personality, like, take out a mon, it's over,

which is ultimately what Tarlock does, which we do see some ranifications because he did begin

a movement, but that's a whole other thing that he didn't do. You know, it's different, you know,

we have like, it's the Fire Lord, and like, and yeah, it's funny for a show about family and

dynasties. We don't really get into it as much as we probably should in like how that works.

Like, all of this strife in Zuko's life is ultimately because of like, there was a succession spat,

and, but then we, but then we tie in this plan of like, okay, well, we just take out the Fire Lord,

everything's great. It's like, it's not really how that works, but Ozai has certainly cultivated

this sort of, like, this cult of personality, and, and then Granted, I also don't think we get into

it as much, like, I think maybe they would, if they had done a better job of like, how much is the

Fire Lord really revered? Like, is he, like, towards the end, he's like, he goes like full nuts,

right? Where are the pinnacles of the, of the Fire Nation, right? Like, we don't really know.

Well, yeah, no, well, I meant like, you know, that's the thing, which I wanted to bring up,

was that like, in addition to regime change, we're talking about a culture that is completely

foreign to you. Like, the Fire Nation operates very differently than the other nations.

They are a literal island, like, and, and then it's something, you know, and that is another thing

about avatars, a travel law, we get to know all these, all these nations, and the cultures,

and then we do, we dabble in the Fire Nation. Obviously, we're on the run, but it's a very different,

like, you know, it's the other thing, like, for the water tribe, and, you know, Earth Kingdom,

to them, like, like, it's completely, it's different. Like, it's a culture that's completely

alien to you. And, like, and, and, and, and kind of what we're talking about, I think, a failure to

understand, like, why did this happen? What happened? Right, they don't know what's going on in the

culture, and they're, like, just going in and deciding that their leader is gone, and, and

presumably going to try to pick the new leader from the outside, like, you know, it's, you know,

something that should be handled in their own. And, you know, and, like, even if we assume,

there were guards down at the bottom poking people with their spears, but, like, when they

announced Zuko's return, like, it was like, like, everyone was like, this is great. Our crown

prince is returned, like, whoa, it's interesting. Yeah, we see a lot in the first half of the Fire

Nation culture. The first half of the book, through that at the same time, we still don't know.

Anyway, I think one thing you said to Daniel is struck me, which is the message, the goal of

Avatar is always like to feed the Fire Lord. To feed the Fire Lord. Yeah. That's, they say that's

so often. But, like, that's not really the goal. It's like, you need to, like, it's Ozai isn't the

one who started the war. And if he were to die with just, if he were to just suddenly pass,

the war would continue. So it's not a very detailed. It's a very simplistic way of talking about

kind of ramifications of, like, how to end the war with the goal is, obviously, it's like,

a kid showing their not really going to get into the details of, of, ending war, starting,

like, but it feels very silly, I think, when you think about it in terms of the real world,

that the goal goal is to, like, defeat Ozai and to put everything on Ozai. And I'm interested,

I will keep this in mind, rewatching the finale, how that goes kind in the finale, as they do

just kind of defeat Ozai and then everything's okay. So I'm interested to see. And they don't

also do raise independently taken out. Right. And going off into the comics, it's like, I want to,

so I've read some of the, like, immediate comics, and there's some later ones I still need to read,

because it's like, you know, all right, we established Republic City, we do all this. It's like,

the Fire Nation committed genocide. And then, like, took over the rest of the world. Like,

what's their treaty of Versailles? Like, you know, like, that's what I'm, honestly,

you would think this is this might be something that's on their minds given recent, many recent

events, like in the movie, like, this might be something they want to get into. Is that what the

movie's about? How to handle, I mean, it's kind of like a, I would love that. How to, how to

handle around the genocide on nation. So, like, probably that's not what the movie will be about,

but I can see there being an undercurrent of that. And we, and honestly, we kind of, I mean, obviously,

the air nation is extremely important in Korra, but like, I mean, to talk about Ang and Katara,

and how much we love them, and they are, you know, they are the, it couple, but then also like,

the responsibility then of raising a family and of being your both vendors, and then to like,

to have children. And like, yeah, okay, I think it's so much getting into, getting into another

topic. But yeah, this is all very interesting. I think let's, let's keep this in mind when we

resume speculating about the finale when we finish. So none of this is going to be flippant

about current events. It's also just like too much. It literally just happened. Yay.

I mean, we were like rewatching this and then around stuff happen. It's like a very striking

to be at this place. Any last comments on this before we return to the actual episode?

Okay, it's deeply depressing. That was it. It's very depressing. People are going to be surprised

how much we talked about politics. But the, I mean, we're talking about in the context about

what are the, okay, they, they, they, they leave the adults stay behind as prisoners and the kids

leave. Also sad. Like, get on the lifeboat, guys.

Hmm. I mentioned this 14 year old me mentions this on the back. I guess like they could just kill

all of them and not take them prisoners. It's like literally, literally, like, you know what,

let's, let's give some props to the Fire Nation, which, you know, I don't know about their Geneva

conventions. I don't know. I mean, I assume not many. But like, we could have just killed them all.

Now, is the boiling rock great? No, it's especially compared to how real world nations operate.

They, they were very insane in this situation. And like, oh, it was on it. Like, those,

this whole speech where he was like, how much can start killing people? I mean, so it's for that,

you know, at that, like, let's, we're kind of debating on the podcast,

tactically, should they keep them alive, given the goal of Azula is, is like, they'll be back,

or should they not get, you know, like, we're kind of debating it from that lens, which is,

but anyway, it's, I mean, it's never an option in the show like the Avatar. But Teo, the Duke

and Haru with Goatee, which was what we called him at them. But they go with them. I did not

remember that. Teo, the Duke and Haru go with them. And they are part of the gang briefly.

This, this was, I do remember this. I mean, I remember it, but I buried this. I assume that they were

not. Did you forget, did you forget the number one reason people ship the Duke and Toth?

Yes. I think there's a scene coming up next episode, if I remember. But it'll be a surprise.

Okay. Do you know which scene I'm talking about that happened that we watched?

No, that we watched here. Was it the vomit and the thing?

Yes, it was the vomit and the, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. That was what I was thinking of. Yeah, yeah.

That's, that's, that's amazing. It's not, it's nothing, but it's why people ship.

I think, I think the, I think this is like very silly. These characters who we don't really care

about going with them. Um, and I don't think they do much with them later, but we'll, we'll see.

Yeah, they don't. I don't, I'm like, I want, I'm trying to remember. I'm like, what, like,

what happens? When do we get rid of them? That makes me, I don't mean it in a mean way, but

that's a point they just feel like every single time something interesting happens.

Like, that sounds like, uh, Zulu says they'll be back.

Ang says they'll be safe at the western air temple. Zuko follows them on the blue.

Yeah, up his call was very sad to me. It was like, oh my god, it was so sad. It really, I kind

of felt like crying at the end. It was so sad.

Sad. Um, I think I hit everything from, let's, let's go back to the kiss to change to go back

to a happier. Yeah, we talked about it already. But, um, I, I said how resident the, the, the

kiss is for me. Uh, the big debate is at the time was Katara's reaction to the kiss and what

did it mean? She's about it. Katara like it. Yes. She, she not like it. And, uh, I had all this trauma

that came to mind. All of this trauma, trying to debate the Zutarians on, uh, what, you know,

she, Katara looks, so she surprised, she looks away and be like, you lost. It's so nice.

It's nice to sit here and be like, you guys had children. So we know what happened. Uh, we

know exactly. It's so good. Um, it was always so, oh my god, when we got the picture of their family,

it's so funny. When I just to reply to anything, this is charian. It's so funny.

No, I forgot. It's so funny. Like, now, am I a horrible person for laughing? Maybe, but I also

laugh that we're going to be popping the biggest bottles of macora happens tomorrow. And I will

laugh about it every day. It's like, die. That's the ultimate. So funny. Um, yeah. But look,

if for anyone who thinks we're mean, when we bring up, like, I'm, I'm trying to put in the context

of there was a lot of, uh, denial of like this, this guitar reaction, how hotly debated,

a lot of weird to go through. I am like 12 years old and I'm going to shut the TV off. I

tarp finale. If, if satara happens, I am ready to turn the power button. Like, I am, I'm ready.

Uh, guitar, guitar, guitar says we've been through so many, so, so many things together with

been through so much. You're not that little goofy kid I found in the iceberg anymore. I guess

what I'm trying to say is I'm really proud of you. Everything will be different today. What if I

don't come back and says, don't say it. Of course, Joel. And then it kisses her and then guitar

surprise and closer as she looks away. And then she's like looking on blushing at the end. And

she liked it. Case closed. Case closed. I mean, we know now. So good. Oh, so it's so funny,

because they're like 14 and like, he might be 13 now. I think we, I can't. He's supposed to. Yeah,

I think he's supposed to be 13. Yeah, he's supposed to be 13 and book three. I don't remember exactly

what it's, or maybe it was going to use past out. Who knows? Oh, I didn't talk about my favorite

bit. And it's where he shaves his head with the rock. Okay. Yes. Love that. So important to me.

But yeah, it's so great. So this entire scene is so great because then the whole time it's

happening, I'm like, I need you guys to get away. They're about to kiss. Go away. Like, I was like

shoe. And then, um, and then like, anglushes and then guitar blood. It's so good. Just. And then

he has to like lean up to kiss her. It's so good. It's just so good. And then he flies off. It's

just, it's the best. I, I think it's really good. I think the follow up, you know, like, is,

you know, we'll see in the next three episodes them not following up on it. But I think this is,

I think that the scene played really well for me. The like worst thing you can say about it is

that it's like stereotypical or like contrite or whatever that. There's like, what if I don't come

back kiss before the final battle? But like, this is one of the reasons why that's a trope. Like,

this scene is like one of the, the, the, the processors. So literally, Anne could have died.

Like, it's very, very good. It's happening. Like, he also literally died like six months ago,

guys. Like, cut them some slack. It's, it's warranted given the type of show,

Avatar is unlike we've been sent. Like I've been saying, Avatar is a very blunt show. And it's

very blunt. Like, uh, journey, uh, epic journey type show. So you should have this scene. And 14. Yeah.

Yeah. It's, it's, I, I loved it. Like, uh, I'm not, I, I wondered how I would react to this scene

because I remember loving it. But there's some questionable stuff to come, which will be one of

the most interesting things to revisit. But in terms of just the scene, I thought it was great.

And I thought all the Ketang stuff in book three up to this point is incredible. So like, they're like

perfect. And, and, um, when they're like, what angst crying, the guitar is like looking at him,

I think he's like, guitar like comforts him. This, this, this, I think that's like a moment.

Yeah. And, uh, in the, in the part two, yeah. And they fight together in part two. So I, I,

I love, yeah, that was great too. I love all of it. So through, through, uh, 11 episodes,

I had just, I think Ketang has been incredible in book three.

It's the best. Oh, and so when you're talking about what we'll get there, obviously, I,

I wanted to touch on where, uh, for me, the big emotional moment for me and for Ketang is in

the finale. Like, that's like, I could just watch it for like, ever. Yes. I will cry like a baby.

I do every time. This kiss is great. The next kiss will be great. Also the first kit,

well, the first two kisses in Kvetu lovers and, uh, the, the dream one also great. So,

for ever, girl, so blessed to get four kisses in some sort of, yes, yes, I assume they,

they don't kiss in, uh, in the play, right? In that scene that we're talking about. I don't think

that, uh, no, I think, I think, I think, I think Anne tries and she's like, no,

yeah, worth it to go for it. Okay. We'll get, I, I, I, I, we're talking about it negatively,

but I'm open to liking that scene. So I'm just just putting it out there. I have, I'm prepared

to be, so the problem with this episode. So I, like, there are TV shows that I can't watch. And

I don't, it's a miracle I can watch Ladybug. It's because I, the second-hand embarrassment

physically hurts me, which is why I was like a heart attack whenever we watch Ladybug. And so,

like, I'm curious, like, the, uh, in violin players is like peak cringe, second-hand embarrassment.

And so, like, that's like, that, that's like, for me, the worst episode for me to watch

in Avatar. So we'll see how that goes. We'll see how it goes. Other things from, uh, part one,

we talked about the, uh, the Avatar state briefly, uh, do, though, and who, pants are an illusion,

and so is death, iconic line. My wife loves the swamp vendors, so she was like, yay!

Yeah, they're great. I, this, this is, I think this is a very quoted

Avatar line, pants are an illusion, and so is death. And it's, like, weird because it's playing off

of, like, two previous episodes in a weird way. Um, it's great. But I think, I think it's great. Uh,

tough, uh, now we fight for King and Tops is sweet, more on that later. Uh, but that's a great one.

Yeah, any thoughts on the roots, all the returning people?

Um, I don't think hurry needed to have a mustache. I'm going to go there.

Wow. That's a controversial take.

Like, I hate, like, and maybe this is because I have such negative feelings about my brothers'

mustache, but like, it's really bad. Like, it's, it's just horrible. Um, I know they had, I know,

they were like, we need to have a thing time passed. And like, also, I, I, I, I understand that

it's funny. I think it's supposed to be silly, yeah. It's supposed to be silly, but I just hate it.

Like, I just hate his, I just hate his little goatee. I just, I hate everything about it.

I also hate that he's there because again, Keteng, OTP and Haru, like, threatened that for 10

minutes and I hated that. So just like, I hate it. So it's not like I hate Haru the way I hate

jet, but like, it's up there, you know, like, it's there. Well, one of the big changes for me,

this rewatch is I love Taru's episode. Um, and I, I like Haru. I don't think, I mean, he's a

little bit of a nothing, but I, I like him. Um, so, but he comes back here with the goatee and

it kind of kind of ruins it. I hate it so much. It's just kind of a joke. Uh, I liked his

model with Katara. Oh, I'm pretty sure like Avatar, you guys remember that old show Avatar

abridged? Yes. That was a big thing. And the, the, in Avatar bridge, yeah, it's a big thing. Yeah,

I feel like they did a special about like Haru's mustache. Yeah, I think so. You're, you,

it's a good point. We should mention Avatar bridge is a big fandom thing. I was like,

anti-Avatar bridge. That's why I probably have mentioned it. I like barely watched it for some

reason. I like, I felt the need to be very anti. Uh, I was, I was very stuck up about these

things, but yeah, that was a huge thing in the fandom, for sure. My brother and I can quote all of it

to you and it's so funny. Like, we still are like still quoted to each other. Like, it's just

so funny. Was it coming coming out while Avatar was airing? I can't remember.

I have no idea. Look it up. I think it's not. It's so funny. But it's a good, it's a good,

it's a good shout. Yeah. I do think like the first, like the first three episodes about Haru

bridge during a sterile cold. The day of Blacksmith. It might have been after the

Blanfly stash, was that what it's called? I have it up right now. Oh, calories. Oh, so good.

It might have been after Avatar is what I'm saying. We'll see.

Yeah, we can still quote it so funny.

Anyway, the, uh, okay, what else from part one? Okay, so, so Serena Williams,

this camera came out. Oh, yeah, Serena Williams. I want everyone to know that I edited the outline

because Dylan was like, uh, I real warned the garden. I was like, I real warned Serena Williams.

Mitt Ming, uh, yeah, and it was this role written for Serena Williams. Did they've decided that

this is because it's kind of like, I actually think that arrow parts this episode are pretty,

pretty silly because it's like, there's Ming who we've not seen before who is just like,

it's apparently important to forebode what's going to happen next episode. Um, my favorite part is,

I was like, Ming, you have to go home and rest. Ming's like, no, I feel fine. Like Serena Williams,

read of that is like unintentionally very funny. It is. It's really fine. Also, um, I, I didn't know

this. Obviously when I watched it originally and watching it now and it like being very obviously

Serena Williams is deeply hilarious to me. Like, yeah, you'd what? I was just going to say, my wife

came home, like, and I had paused it, you know, to talk to her and I was like, oh, yeah,

I get to back and I'm like, now I'm going to go back to Serena Williams and change his like,

what? I'm like, that's Serena Williams. Like, yeah, to be fair, in the, in the podcast,

we recorded hours after this aired, I did say this was Serena Williams. So we were aware at the time,

at least on the podcast. But it's, I don't, I don't know if we knew about it beforehand,

I can't remember, but it's like, it's very random. But the story is that, the stories that

Serena Williams was an Avatar fan. And so they like got her this cameo, Mike and Brian,

um, because I think she reached out to them. But yeah, she was a fan as Avatar was airing. So

shout out OG Avatar fan. I, like, that's amazing. It's so good.

It's, it's so like your, if you, if you ever wanted to like, was Avatar popular while there was

airing. Like, yes, one of the biggest athletes in the world was Serena Williams. Like, she was like,

get me, put me in, like, it's great. It's amazing. And like a fan early enough for like,

to have voice acted something in book three, which would have been recorded like a year before it

came out. Just absolutely absurd. It's just, especially now in a, um, like, we're still kind of,

like, would they get celebrities to do like movies and, you know, at first just like, you know,

people who are traditionally voice actors. But like, for this, it's hysterical. Like, it's like,

it's like, it's so, it's so like, this didn't happen. Like, and it did. Like, it's so random.

It was very random. I love it. It's so funny. Yeah.

Uh, Jeff, was there anything else about all of the submarines, the tanks, everything that,

the action in part one that I like? Um, so we talked about the futility of even

doing the invasion, like, what are you going to accomplish? If, if all they wanted to do was,

like, all they could accomplish was decapitating the head of state. So they could have done that with

the smaller, like, anyone who actually went into capital, just send them. Why, why send the whole

invasion force? Or are they going to do it? Right. At some point in part two, they're like,

there were, uh, we're in control of the palace city. So are they, are they intending to occupy

the, the palace? Like, how are they going to do that with so few people and maintain it?

And be like, uh, neater, neater, you know, you, you can't, you can't keep fighting the,

the earth kingdom because we're here in this building. Okay. All right. Yeah. But like, is there,

like, you feel like their plan was like, uh, all right, kill the fire order. We're going to leave.

Like, what? I don't know, but, um, given that they did this, okay, fine. Now I'm just going to

just what one knit of, like, after execution, like, Hakota, or he, he goes off to do some

heroics and gets badly injured. You don't, you don't do that as a field commander, right? You send,

right, like, send Bato. He could, he could have done that. Also, it's very annoying because right

before, where was Bato? That, and then he's like, it's very irritating because he's like, watch

each other's back. And I'm like, I want you to know that your daughter could, like, take out, like,

probably most of these people by herself. Right. And you're, like, you're like, like,

sitting could, like, honestly, sitting in Katara by herself, you and Saka go, like, you're stupid.

Like, oh my god. The guitar could, like, drown like all these people. Like, you're, you're,

like, don't piss me off. Like, it was, like, it's so annoying and like, knowing it was about to happen.

And then, and then the added context of then it puts Katara out because she has to heal her stupid

dad. And then also, I also, I get it. It's very upsetting. Your dad got hurt. But I'm like,

Saka, who cares? He's like, dad, like, shut up. You know, it's been a few references to Korra

have been made. And I appreciate that because I think, if I would have trusted Zahir in his group

to do this much better than the gang, they would have, they would have got the job done.

They did, they did, they did, they did, yes. Like, they just straight, like, they straight up

killed the earthquake. And they're like, ah, like, I don't, I don't remember what their follow-up

move to that was. Do they just, they just bounce after that? So, I guess it's kind of the same

thing. They like broadcast, hey, the, the city, they did the whole bane thing. The city is yours.

Yeah, like, yeah, like, yeah, it's just like, they get in, they get out and they're like, all right,

like, they're very much like v for vendetta, like, anonymous, like, broadcasts, like, I'm,

I'm, I'm very excited for Zahir. Like, this, this, this, it's, look three is so good,

but it also hurts really bad. I'm excited. Oh, it's true. They, they, I wonder if this,

whether that was their more effective, more effective version of this or them, like, repositioning,

because it's, it's a very different context in many, in many aspects. And it's like,

and it's like the redemption of, like, combustion man. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

Combustion man. Yeah. And why isn't combustion man a part of these episodes?

Well, he's off. Yeah, that's the, that's the, that's the next funny part is that,

so go ahead later is like, oh, great. I forgot I hired that guy. Like, dude, like, you saw,

it's just so silly. This is the, are you, like, are you for real right now? Like,

and it's like more, like, again, you were so lucky. Guitar doesn't just kill you. Like,

she should just cut you like a fish. Yeah. We've, we've, we've socked stuff in part one. He's,

tries to give the speech and he recaps some, some of the early episodes and, uh, very,

hard to, it's very funny. Um, and then they're like giving sock a pep talk and, uh, yeah. And,

and then at the end of part one, sock is going to lead the invasion force. I've, as mentioned,

after I go to get, so it's a lot of sock stuff. It's, it's good. It's just, uh, yeah. It's,

it's fine. Uh, it's okay. And then the end of part one, I feel like they kind of like glaze

over the, like, we have to go up this volcano and it's very much, we would be really, really easy

to just pick them all off. Yeah, not necessarily, we still going up a, something, but yeah,

I don't know. I feel like there was, I think it's pretty clear, like, especially, like, the whole

time that they're, like, not really in it, like, because the fire nation is just retreating

most of it, like, they're like, oh, yeah, we're finding a sort of, ha, ha, ha, ha. Like,

we could have figured it out. I think this, I think the soldiers themselves were not, like,

informed of, of the, of this, like, uh, the plan here. Well, I think, I think in my,

so in my, what I believe, my interpretation is that, so they evacuated the capital city.

And then they were like, all right, you guys are leaving you here. Um, deal with that.

Yeah, I feel like they're not aware of the grander plans. That's, which,

but that's all I would also sacrifice them. Yeah, I also would not be shocked if that was true

also, because that's also literally why Zico's like, uh, don't do that. Yeah. I mean, yeah,

the maybe they're aware and they're like, you still have to try to fight them off even if we're

prepared. It's still important. Um, but yeah, no, they could have, they could have reinforced more

given that they knew is coming. They could have done even more. They just didn't, they were trying

to lure them in. Yeah. Um, and then at the end, Aang's with the empty throne room,

Fire Lord Ozai, where are you at the end of part one? So I think that, that's a fun scene as well.

Any other parts you guys wanted to highlight from the two episodes?

Off is great. She's so great. Yes. When, when any talkers like we missed,

well, when, when, when, when, when soccer's like, oh, I am so glad we entered you to the group.

Yes. Big talk a moment. Oh, so I also really like it when she like traps the Diley agent in like

the girders. I'm like, that's what you deserve. Um, uh, yes. Uh, when the, um, tanks, and if he'd like

crushes one of the battlements, great, 10 out of 10. Always. I like when Tof goes for the kill on

Azulah with the, uh, the longfang move. And Azulah passes off. Yes. Pretty, pretty ruthless. Um,

but I mean, Azulah was, was baiting them. Okay. I always, it's time to recap.

All over 2007 podcasts. Okay. From December 1st, 2007, podcast 20 from the Spurrow,

podcast 20 myself with Mel, Jake and Abby. And Abby leaves kind of early. So it's mostly male,

me, Mel and Jake for most of it. And it's like a really fun dynamic. Honestly, this is probably the

one that I listened to the most. I was able to keep going through the embarrassment because, uh,

young me, Mel and Jake is very fun. Okay. So this is right after it aired. I apparently, okay,

I'm forgetting about all this as I didn't reread the notes for. I had three pages of handwritten

notes on day of black sun. Uh, I guess I was doing handwritten notes at the time. Now I type them,

but still not a lot of change. This, we recorded this at 2 a.m. The more than,

but more than midnight, we referenced the time a lot throughout it. Uh, I said, best episodes

in Avatar history. Am I right? I don't know if that was my real opinion, but that was my opening.

Uh, I, uh, all throughout this, I, I, I hate, I hated Haru and we all hated the good, the goatee.

We're making, uh, did not age well jokes. Me and Jake about how insinuating Haru is gay because he

is a goatee. Um, that was our interpretation. What does that mean? We just, we thought Haru is

playing for the other side because he had a goatee now. We thought it was a gay look. That was our,

that was our homophobic 14 year old interpretation of it. Incredible. It was kind of funny. Um,

okay. We're, I, we're, I have a story. I didn't even know this was coming. We're tracking the

story of when do we start doing the unison word at the end of the podcast? And the answer is,

from the spirit world podcast 20, Mel says randomly, hey, I was thinking, instead of a unison buy

at the end, we should do a unison sweet like cough does in this episode. It is Mel's suggestion

inspired by top suites in the day of black sun. This is the start of what will become the unison

word from the episode. Incredible. So shout out Mel. Mel is definitely the star of this. We'll,

we'll see, we'll see Margaret. Mel says, uh, Mel says, I hope Haru randomly falls off,

uh, uh, some more Haru hate. Um, okay. I, uh, I brought up my theory apparently is that avatars all,

I think this wasn't like my definitive theory. I was just throwing it out there. Avatars all from

angst point of view, which kind of talked about this upset. Uh, but my evidence was because

Qatar always looks so good. So we're clearly seeing this from angst point of view, uh, which I

think is kind of in reference to all the sparkly stuff, but also, but also I'm just like, wow,

Qatar is so hot that this must all be ang inflating this. Um, and I said, I said the last scene of the show

could have been, uh, telling the story from the future, like older ang telling the story of

avatars looking back. That was one of my predictions. Wow. It's interesting. Which is kind of a how I met

your mother, uh, type thing, which I think was airing around this time. Um, but I think my idea,

there's obviously parts of the show that are not ang prospective, but I think my idea was

that I've heard about those and after the fact and now this is older ang telling them back, which

I think is a fun theory, uh, which I'm about to contain kiss. Uh, Jake was trolling saying she didn't

kiss him back. So we, uh, Jake frequently was trolling about Zutari, even though he wasn't really

Zutari, that was at the time. Uh, he says I read it on a forum. Uh, Mel will apparently was fighting

people on tv.com about this guitar's reaction. Um, uh, I, so I, my thing here is I was saying

guitar was being very flirty to hang with her lines and like trying to like, trying to bait

and in the kissing her, which I don't really think is true looking back, but that was my interpretation.

And cutting guitar off kissing her, uh, Mel, that was the best thing in the history of like anything.

Uh, ang, she is pretty, uh, we just, we just went through what guitar was doing this whole time

because you know, like the first 20 times I watched this, uh, this is me. I'm looking at

guitara and what she's doing during the kiss, because as I've said before, I put myself in

ang shoes during the story. So it's like, I'm kissing guitara like that. That's what I said.

Why don't I, why am I admitting that? Yeah, and that's that's on you. That's, it's kind of,

pretty, pretty dorky thing. I guess I'm 14. So I think it's cool that to imagine I'm kissing guitara.

Why am I admitting? It's pretty lizard behavior. Um, but I, I kept saying guitar is like

baiting ang to kiss her. It's interesting. If it helps like to be, you know, to be our age now,

and look at the look back, it's like it doesn't matter. Everything we did that age was just super

loose or like it's okay. It's true. Which is why these five guys are to listen to. Uh, Mel said,

Mel said C-A-S-D in reference to guitaring, but I do not remember what that one means. I'm,

I earlier remembered ZKST. If you listen to an earlier podcast, I don't know what C-A-S-D is.

If anyone remembers that. Um, I said, I thought Ozai's surprise at Zuko telling him that ang is

alive seems forced and that Ozai actually knew. So that's interesting. I don't know if I agree

with that, but I don't know that I necessarily disagree. So like did Ozai actually know that

ang was alive? I think no. I think I do disagree with that, but that was my interpretation at the time.

I don't know if there's any. Anything. I think it's a, it's a valid thought, I guess.

I think I think it's a valid like thing to think, but I don't like, I definitely don't think he knew like.

Yeah. Ozai's just very campy in general. That's why I don't know. Are there any magnifications?

Does he get mad at us, Zuko? I mean, I'm pretty sure the answer is no, but I don't think we see it.

But we'll see. Mel and I, so we're talking about Ersa. Mel and I thought Zuko would go lurk looking for

Ersa after this not go directly to joining. A valid makes sense based on everything that literally

happened. This, this was a big day at the time. I said, when do you think we'll see Ersa?

It was a quote from me, answer never. Uh, me, uh, Zuko, uh, redirecting Ozai as my favorite non-ketang

scene of the show, valid take. Uh, so it was beloved even at the time. Uh, I said, as Zuko is going to go

lurk for Ersa next episode, not immediately joined with Ang. Mel, uh, Mel said, well, no, he's

going to join them immediately and needs to earn their trust. She had like the exact right read on

that. Well, I thought she said, uh, the opposite before, but no, she immediately channeled the needs

during their trust type of thing. Um, although Mel predicts the Ersa will be at the Western

temple. So we all thought Ersa would be with all thought Ersa was coming into play. We didn't think

this would not happen. Um, I want, uh, I said, I, oh, yeah, I wanted season four so we could see

Ang guitar, a lovey-dovey. Um, we mentioned this possible season for a lot. I'll, I guess I'll

explain more in the finale, but yeah, I was, I wanted the Katang fluff season. Uh, I mentioned the

fanfic, the southern air temple by live ex the ex magic, which they go to the southern air temple

to live after the finale. And it's 21 chapters of, of Katang fluff. Um, and, and now I'm excited

at the Western air temple. Could you be just like that? That was me at the time. So I thought we're

going to get a bunch of Katang. Oh, no, I want to look it up and see if I read that. That's so fun.

I've, I found it favorited on my ff.net account. I might want to read it, but um, the, uh,

okay, I'm more on that in a second. Anyway, the, uh, so it's okay. The scores, we scored this

as one episode combined, which I feel like is blasphemous because I can't believe I don't,

I don't, that's very ugly. Uh, I gave the two combined a 9.7. Jake gave them a 9.9 repeating.

Mel gave them a nine, uh, only because she said some little things like guitar having to stay

back. Uh, didn't. So I'm sorry. I like the Jake is like just consistently strolling all of you

all the time. Like, he's just trolling, yeah, he's completely the comic relief is so obnoxious.

And then we had a brief, brief debate about whether 9.99 repeating equal, uh, 10, uh, oh my god,

that is so annoying. Oh my god. The thing is, I'm glad I wasn't there because he would have

rage baited me like so bad. He's, he's, he's, he's rage baiting the whole time. And this is

pretty funny. It's incredible. But Shada Mel for calling out the, the thing that annoyed me at 30,

which is Katara having to stay back that annoyed her. Mel, look, Mel. Mel is always locked in.

Mel knows she's very locked in speaking of here's Mel's hit it. Here's the hidden Zutara from

Day of Black Sun. Mel says you're hidden Zutara for this week. Angin Katara kiss while stationed in

Fire Nation waters, which has the word fire and water in it. Therefore, Zuko and Katara will kiss

creating their own Fire Nation waters. Bravo. Yeah. Indeed. Her mind is pretty incredible. This

high level hidden Zutara at the time. We'll see if Jake has any. Do you have a new, or Jeff,

do you have a new hidden Zutara for, for these episodes? I do. Yes. That's a two for one is,

one is, is the kiss, of course, and the fact that she was not super into, she was obviously

thinking about her other love interest. So there's that. And then also, uh, when Zuko is

confronting his dad, who shoots lightning at him, that lightning is going at his heart. And he

needs to use an advanced waterbending technique to save his heart. And so obviously, he's thinking

about his, uh, his waterbending love the whole time he's trying to find off that lightning.

Wow. Yeah. Cause Aaron says a key learned. He came up with this technique from the waterbenders,

right? Yeah. Okay. This is, this is, that's, that's next level. That's a good one too.

I just rolled my eyes. So that was a good one. That's how you know it was a good one.

Yeah. I was like, oh, they're just like, since I can't see you, I should tell you I'm rolling my

eye. Yes. Exactly. Like you started talking. And I just like felt this like visceral, like,

disgust. So great job. You did a great job. Well, my, it's good. It's good. Uh, okay,

shout out to all the sins of the, yeah, Mel's, Mel's at the time. Very funny. Jake's

crackship of the week. Uh, two people who love conquering towns. I don't know why there's a

Haru and Azula. Uh, he loves it. Azula has, here at Azula has a soft side for how his

brands of facial air and that was the crackship of the week. Um, I said, I think Western

Air Temple were air and February, wrong, uh, not for a long time. Um, and we did the Unison

Suite at the end. Oh, yeah, I guess I, we didn't come back this, but yeah, I, I, I, I guess, okay,

no, we'll talk about the next podcast. Um, but we did the suite. So it's the first Unison

something in podcast 20, in podcast 20, in podcast 21, we also do suite at the end. So I don't

think we could, we quite got to the point of doing something different every, each time,

but we did suite again. I love, I love this process. You're here. You see, this is, this is,

this is, uh, I'm a historian analyzing the other podcast, trying to come up with the truth.

Okay, we've podcast 21. I did not listen to this full thing. So I have much less for it.

But I guess 21 on December 8th, 2007, this is more day of Black Sun dock. So this is the first,

I think the, the first instance of me doing multiple podcasts on a big episode. That's a classic move.

Um, that I have me with hours of core finale, uh, yes. This is the, this is the progenitor of that.

Me with Abby, Jody, Jake, Ruth, Mel and Martin in his first podcast, um, who I believe was

wrote into the podcast before that, but Martin was very smart. He's a great podcast guest. Uh,

I just skipped, I couldn't do another full one. So I skipped around this podcast. So here's some

highlights. Mostly these are from the mailbag, but this, this was from Avatar News. I, we were,

we revealed all the episode titles. So the, uh, we have, we have just posted four choices for

the 313 title for title elimination. Only one of them is real. Here were the three fake titles,

uh, the fire lady, the firebending masters, the real title, the white lotus and the escape.

So people had to figure out which was the real title amongst all those options.

At least on either fire lady is like foreshadowing.

Yes, we, we, we, we, we, we, we nailed it. Um, three, okay, these two episodes apparently aired in

the Netherlands and Belgium early, by the way, we talked about, oh my god, I guess 21, uh, they were,

they were dubbed though in not English. They were not, they're not aired in English. So that's a

classic, uh, core of book three move with the Spanish dub. So that was fun. Um, okay, here's some,

okay, I skipped the mailbag because I didn't, uh, I couldn't, there's only so much for if you're

dealing with an handle. Yeah. And I also usually can't handle a mailbag, but there's some good stuff.

And here's a letter we got, uh, from Crazy Zuko fan girl. Um, first of all, I love your podcast.

People think I'm crazy because I put it on my iPod. And when I listen to the podcast in public,

I laugh a lot. Uh, second, I want to know if you think it's fair that older kids in like eighth or

ninth grade get made fun of for liking Avatar. Uh, people always call me grassbender or something

of a similar nature. And it's very annoying. Has this happened to you? That was a letter. What,

what does that even mean? I don't know. I don't know a grassbender. Also, so one, incredible. Um,

I used to listen to the podcast on my iPod. That's incredible. Um, wow, eighth and ninth grade. I

just older kids in eighth or ninth grade. No, no. Okay. Okay. So here's, we're talking about that

for a while. And then here's a, here's a, here's a story mealtold. I copied this from the transcript.

But, uh, thank, thank goodness for the auto-generated transcripts helping me get through some of these.

Uh, this was in response to telling people that this is story mealtold just randomly. I find out

my friends and people at my school actually watched the show today in PE. We were like waiting for

the belt to belt ring. And there's like, this is a weird story. But there's like a hole in a

brick wall that looks like a nail or a screw had been there once. And someone said something like,

oh, it must belong to the aunt people and stuff. And then someone comes by and says,

or one of my friends comes by and says, oh, we should like invade it on the day of black sun.

And I just look at it like, oh my god. It's like, oh my god. That's a story mealtold. I thought, uh,

I thought Mel is so, so smart despite big hug. I said, she tells us this, this, this, uh, wow.

This is the nonsensical story. Uh, but this, this, this, this caps in. This truly taps into being like

14. I feel like is this. Yes, absolutely. Uh, I don't, I didn't really follow. This is what happens

in the trap of a bunch of teenagers in a building for eight hours a day, for 12 years. This is

the truth. I think the ultimate point was that someone referenced Avatar without her prompting

them. So the point was that yes, right. Right. Avatar. And yes, it's not uncool to watch Avatar.

Well, and again, I am, so I will be 30 this year and there I go to this donut shop,

which I went to recently and she's like, yeah, you know, I, uh, you know, I used to watch Ladybug

when I was a kid and I'm like, I'm going to shoot myself. Like I have, I have only been an adult

watching Ladybug. So I just want to die. It was mean was still watching. Like, I'm literally like,

yay, new episodes came out. Like I'm going to go die. Thanks. People are going to be like Avatar. This,

this like, uh, old-fashioned show from like my parents youth. That's my favorite. So people like,

you know, it's really bad. Like I'm like, I'll be in like that work and it's like a normal person

will be like, and just say normal, I guess, just versus myself. Like when people talk about Avatar

around me, like you can't, it's like activating a sleeper cell. Like people are like, hey, do you

know about Avatar? And I'm like, don't talk to me. Like please, like, I mean, they're one of us

going to go through this. Like, it's not worth it. It's like, yeah, obviously, I'm a big

kind of Avatar. We can't get into this. It's like, I can't, like, I was like, I can't deal with this.

Like, I like, even if we left aside the whole like podcast bit, it's like, I can't deal with this.

Like, I'm not, I'm not dealing with it. Like, it's like my, my supervisor said something

the other day. And then I just unfortunately had it was like, oh, did you know? Oh, it's what he

asked me. He was like, have you seen the Avatar, like, the live, the live action on Netflix?

I just tried to stare at it for a minute. Oh, my God. We're not talking about this right now.

Exactly. I was like, I can't, like, I was like, I can't deal with this right now. Like, that's

yeah, we can't do this. We're not doing this right. Well, we'll have to do this again this year,

but the live action show. Yeah, I was like, don't talk to me. Don't talk to me bad. The only

recent thing I have is the Avatar Magic cards, my two of my co-workers were, because we also got

some Avatar Magic cards. So we had to talk about that. My brother actually, you got some Avatar

Magic cards from Japan just now. Oh, are they Japanese? That's even better. Yeah. They're not

for me. They're for my brother. He does magic. You're a good brother. Yeah. Good brother.

Let me let me resist every time when I go to like GameStop or like one of my other gaming stores,

like because the boosters are just there. And I'm like, restrain yourself. I can just

on this sort of like meeting people in real life who know the show like, I came close to meeting

someone who actually listened to our show a few years back or I met, they listened to some Avatar

podcast and we all thought it was ours, but under section it might not have been, but anyways,

that was fun. Other Avatar podcast. So you do know, Jeff, you do know that I worked with someone who

ended up being an actual like very regular, um, what would we call it? And we got, we got,

we got YouTube comments from, yes, from top. Very nice. That's good. No, but so I'm like,

literally work and it's a brand new job. This is my first job out of college. I've been there

two weeks. He comes in and I'm like, Oh, hi, I'm Delaney. And he likes, he like pauses. And he's like,

do you like Steven Universe? I'm like, what a weird question. Yes. And then he's like, are you on?

And I was like, I shouldn't believe I have to quit my job and like, go hide in the hole.

This was a whole thing and from the spare world, I think of people recognizing some people.

There was like some instances of, of people being recognized, but we could, I think that was,

now this was over me. Maybe mel and bread or something. Yeah, but this was over there. I don't know

if we have a talk with us, but anyway, let me finish out the recap here. Yes, for all side,

I don't know what grasp it. I mean, it's like, I don't, I don't know. I don't know what that means.

It was an insult apparently. There's a question about will an guitar be a couple? I said, yes,

and guitar will be in a romantic relationship in the next couple of episodes. This is what I said.

I was, I was convinced that they were dating now. Like, wow, I didn't remember that. I thought that.

I was like, okay, I was pretty, I, well, I, from memory, I did not like the second half of a book

three. So we'll see what we'll listen to. So what are you? Oh, my God.

And the podcast, I'm like, okay, dating is like a strong word. So I don't know if they're going to be

dating, but they'll be in a romantic relationship. That was my question. Also, it's really funny now

after having, after we covered Ladybug. Like, yeah, why? Yeah, I guess because it's so you,

like, you're like 14 and you're like, oh, my God, they're going to be dating. And then we watch

Ladybug, which is like the most horrible will there won't be show this ever existed. It's just funny.

Yeah. No, I'm like, like, like, if you would have given up on love, it would have, like, it would

have been understandable. Like, I think you didn't, like, it's deeply funny to me. Like, I just,

I should have, I should have given up to TV shows are just the worst. They never show couples

actually dated. We talked about this a lot. Yes, except impossible. Okay. That's a good one.

Okay, last email I heard what type of vendor are we? So I have the receipts of what type of

vendor we were at the time. Abby said, many jakes firebending, joedy waterbending, martin

airbender, male firebender, because you don't need to be near the element to use it.

So males could still was consistently firebender, brute earthbender. And myself, I said waterbender,

ever since season one, because it's defensive and it's not aggressive. So yes, I'm, I

identify as an airbender now to Ladybug, but I, that was a change during core times. I use, I was

more of a waterbender. I don't know. I can't. This is a walk. I think, I think I said this.

You think you know somebody. I think I said this on this rewatch, but I guess I,

this is a known thing that I remember, but yes, I was originally, I thought I was much more waterbender.

I was very like a pacifist and so identified with the what that aspect of waterbending,

but really, airbending's the more. So core, core really unlocked the airbending stuff more.

I'm just so shook right now. It's, it was like a big deal in my identity when I like

change what what bending type identify it. It's like when I decided after college,

my favorite color is green now instead of red. That's like a big change. That is, that is a big

change. Well, it's like when I went from I, because I used to black was my favorite color.

And now it's orange, so I can completely understand. It's a big deal. Okay. Just a big deal.

And then we, Mal notably still identifies as a firebender. Yes. So at that point from the,

and that was the best, that was the best explanation, why honestly? And it's true firebending

with the most useful. So trying to remember Jeff, you're also an airbender, aren't you?

Um, I am, uh, I think I love, like, give me a superpower. I'd love to fly. That'd be amazing.

But I think I'm more a waterbender. Sorry. That's right. I'm an earthbender. Obviously.

It's me. Yes. I think we, I think we did this in the, uh, I couldn't remember. Well,

I know we've had this discussion, which is why I was trying to remember Jeff's,

but I just wanted to recap what the children thought said to that question. So,

amazing. It was notable. Uh, and it's funny. Even at the time I was like, I think we answered

this already on podcast 20. I was like, I think we talked about those. And then we did the

Unison suite. So I think we have to end on that on the spot. I completely agree. That's how I

felt when you brought it up again. I was like, we, that's what we're going to contribute to it.

So we'll see if we, I'll try to list, even though there's, you know, there's podcasts,

and because it's now, okay, so if you look at the timeline, there's many months between

Day of Black Sun and Western Air Temple. There are about eight months between the two,

which is wild. Um, so we did a lot of podcast then. So I'll have to let's just kind of skim through

some of those to see how the Unison evolves at the end when we start doing different words.

So I'll report back on that to come. But anyway, that's all I got. Uh, oh yeah, we did it. We

did in Zutara. Very important. Any final thoughts, Jeff?

You really saw a couple episodes. And I think at the time, and like, it's like, okay, cool.

This is like a cool Koda or whatever, like midpoint of the season. Now I'm excited for the back half.

Yes. Plenty of final thoughts. Um, basically everything Jeff said. Jeff's right.

You're right. You could have just said you're right. You're right. You're right. You're right.

That's what I would have said. Um, yeah. So this was even when I watched the episodes, I'm like,

okay, I don't know how much we're going to get out of them. But we got a lot out of this. So then

this, the world had evolved to contribute to our discussion on this. That's great.

Unfortunately, there's one way of looking at it. Uh, but okay, honestly, one of the most

high parts of this rewatch for me, because like I said, there's a lot of parts of the second half

of book, too, that I was not a fan of. So will I like western air temple, fire burning masters,

boiling rock? These are all cans that it's to that I could love more than before.

I can't wait to make a fire burning masters. It's so good. I think I liked it. I think I liked it.

I just like, right. I can tell you where I can tell you where I ranked it originally. I have

this information. It's the zooking episode. Like it's like, it's like, I don't think I was

shipping zooking obviously. Fire burning masters was ranked 41. So not that high for me. So maybe

that's a candidate to go out. All right. Um, what was I going to say? Uh, I don't know. Oh, the

western air temple. I hated Katara threatening Zuko at the time. So I, that's one of my

clearest armors. That has got to change. So it's like, so I probably will not feel that way

this time, but I'm also eager to listen to the podcast on that. Give Tara a gun. Like, she

let her have a hammer. Like, just take him out. Hammer. She could get a hammer. It's not like

it's not. Oh, she could get a hammer. No, I just met in. Oh, that's, oh, sorry. That's a lot. Oh,

she could get a hammer. I'm sorry. Let me get some. Oh, I have to do it. It's we're almost over,

but I have to do it. I know all the time we're talking about Doctor Who and we're like, give the

companions hammers. Like, just let them hit the doctor. So that's what I'm used to saying, give

them a hammer. So give the driver. It's part of the toolkit, I guess. Yeah. But no, like, hit

the doctor with a hammer. It's what they deserve. Hit Zuko with that. Okay. So that'll be fun.

Oh, yeah. Give the car a gun. Also valid. Just let us know what you thought of these episodes,

our discussion on everything. Leave a comment wherever you're listening. Thanks to those guys who

left, left comments so far. I've been good stuff. You can support us via Patreon at patreon.com slash

overly animated. Thanks to our current patrons, especially our patron five guest Carter. And thanks

as I starvation executive producer Steve Michael and Phoenician. Three left on this rewatch might be,

it might be a minute before our next ones. We will see. But three lefts. And so I'm confident we

can get three in and how many months, seven months before the movie don't say to you know, it's

over now. It's jinxed. Maybe even Korra before but probably not. Oh, Jesus. I got the, I got, uh,

I got the what comics I had from my collection from my parents. So I'm trying to read the comics

beforehand. That'll be an endeavor. Anyway, thanks for listening. Oh, yeah, we're gonna end on

sweet. Yep. Okay, thanks. Listen guys, we'll see you next time. One, two, three. Sweet. Sweet.