ATLA Marathon: "The King of Omashu" & "Imprisoned"

 

One of these was victim to an infamous mistreatment. Also, that seems an unhealthy obsession with those cabbages.

The King of Omashu

This episode kinda plays out like an adaptation of Rumplestiltskin. We also see the introduction of the best running gags in animation.

Aang's third proposed diversion is to the Earth Kingdom city of Omashu, where his "mad genius" friend Bumi lived a hundred years ago. He shows Sokka and Katara the mail chute system, which Bumi used as a giant slide, but they get arrested after destroying a cabbage merchant's cart. They're brought before the eccentric king of Omashu, who deduces that Aang is the Avatar and puts him through a series of deadly challenges. To ensure Aang's compliance, he gives Sokka and Katara rings made of "creeping crystal" which slowly encase them.

This episode has some great slapstick as our friends ride the mail delivery system and cause no shortage of destruction (even if it's a little traditional in places, such as breaking a freshly decorated vase). This is followed by some tense moments as Aang takes the tests and has to come up with some creative solutions to solve them. The king's also fun to watch, even though he's presented as an antagonist. My favourite moment is when Aang has to pick an opponent for a gladiatorial contest as part of his final challenge. Presented with two rough-looking fighters, he picks the king, who turns out to be surprisingly brawny for his age and a powerful earthbender.

Now, I'm gonna have to spoil things: after completing the challenges, Aang is told that he has to guess the king's name, because as he puts it, "what's the point of a test if you don't learn anything?" Try asking that to the exam boards, mate. Anyway, based on the nature of the challenges, Aang realises that the king is his old friend Bumi. To be honest, it was kind of obvious when the king first appeared.

Nevertheless, it's a fun episode and helps establish Aang's quest for the series; learn the elements and defeat Fire Lord Ozai.

Imprisoned

Looking back, this episode is quite powerful.

While camping in the woods, our friends encounter Haru, an earthbender who is forced to practice his ability in secret after Fire Nation occupied his village and arrested all known benders (including Haru's father Tyro). Katara bonds with Haru over their shared experience of losing a parent to the Fire Nation, and she convinces him to use his eathbending to free an old man from a tunnel collapse in the nearby mine. Unfortunately, the old man promptly rats Haru out to the Fire Nation, resulting in his arrest. Katara opts to set things right by getting herself arrested for earthbending.

The episode does a great job at showing the effects of the Fire Nation's colonialism and imperialism. Not only have they banned earthbending in Haru's village, but they also extort protection money from the local shopkeepers like Haru's mother. The captured earthbenders are imprisoned on a giant offshore shipyard made out of metal, which they can't bend. This serves to break their spirits as they can't fight back. It also provides a brilliant perfomance from George Takei as the delightfully hammy warden. He's having a blast with it.

We also get to see an early example of Sokka's ingenuity. While it's Katara who comes up with the idea to get herself arrested for earthbending, it's Sokka who devises the scheme to pull it off. This provides some humour in the execution, with the siblings' deliberatley bad acting as they argue in front of a patrol, Aang being late to his cue, and the Fire Nation soldiers initially believing that Momo is earthbending. On top of that, we see how Katara will always look out for those in need as she tries to inspire an uprising amongst the captured earthbenders. It leads to a fantastic battle sequence after Sokka puts another idea to good use.

Before I go, I'd like to address an elephant in the room. I'm not going to discuss the live-action movie during this marathon, but I am going to make an exception here because of how infamous the events of this episode became when they were put to film. Mainly how the earthbenders were imprisoned in a giant quarry. Think about that.

Anyway, I'll be back tomorrow for "The Winter Solstice", which is a two-part episode.

ATLA Marathon: "The Southern Air Temple" & "The Warriors of Kyoshi"

 

Man, that's a cool door. Although commander is actually a lower rank than captain in most navies.

The Southern Air Temple

While most of the first season is akin to a road trip comedy with fun adventures, it doesn't shy away from darker moments and this is one of them. I actually tore up while watching it.

The first stop on Aang's trip to the North Pole is his old home at the Southern Air Temple. While he's excited to see it again, Katara and Sokka are apprehensive, knowing that the Fire Nation carried out a genocide against the Air Nomads. Meanwhile, Zuko and Iroh sail to a Fire Nation naval facility to repair their ship and meet the ambitious Commander Zhao. It's here we learn that Zuko was banished from his homeland by his father, the Fire Lord, and has to capture the Avatar to redeem himself. Since the Avatar hadn't been seen in a century, you get the idea that it was meant as a wild goose chase. But when Zhao learns that he did find the Avatar, he decides to capture Aang for his own prestige.

This episode provides an ample opportunity to explore Aang's past and his relationship with his mentor, a monk named Gyatso. We see that Aang doubts his status as the Avatar, having been told of his status four years earlier than what's traditional. After all, a twelve-year-old learning of that kind of power and having the weight of the world on his shoulders is going to bring all sorts of stress and trauma. Chosen ones never have it easy, do they? We also learn that when the Avatar dies, they're reborn into another nation in the Avatar Cycle: Water, Earth, Fire, and Air. Aang's immediate predecessor was a firebender named Roku, and his successor would be born a waterbender.

While that's going on, we see the beginning of another conflict as Zuko and Zhao settle their dispute with a firebending duel. While Zhao has more resources at his disposal, the stakes are higher for Zuko. We also get some badass moment from Iroh. He might come across as goofy and more interested in tea than questing, but he also knows when to get serious when Zhao resorts to underhanded methods. To quote a meme I once saw, we see one of Zuko's lessons being to "behave honourably, even in exile".

If there's any moment that deserves special mention, it's when Aang chases a flying lemur (later dubbed Momo) and discovers Gyatso's remains. In despair, he goes into the Avatar State and almost throws Sokka and Katara off the mountain until Katara calms him down. It's a truly poignant moment, but shows something greater: We get scenes around the world in which the statues of previous Avatars get glowing eyes. This includes one at a temple in the Fire Nation, prompting the sages to report to the Fire Lord that the Avatar has returned. That's the only dialogue in the sequence, but it's clear that people in the Northern Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom have likely reached the same conclusion. Hope has been rekindled.

All in all, it's a powerful episode and helps solidify Team Avatar as a family.

The Warriors of Kyoshi

It's nice to see that Sexist Sokka didn't last long.

Carrying on with the road trip vibe, Aang's next diversion is to ride the gigantic "Elephant Koi" that inhabit the waters near Kyoshi, an island off the coast of the Earth Kingdom. His surfing is cut short by a giant water-spout shooting sea creature, and he and his friends are promptly captured by a group of all-female warriors who live on the island. After initially being mistaken for Fire Nation spies, Aang convinces the village he's the Avatar, learning that both the island and the warriors are named after a previous Avatar. Initially enjoying the attention and fan club, it soon goes to his head as he begins to show off. As word of his presence spreads off the island via a fishing boat, it's only a matter of time before it gets back to Zuko.

While Aang enjoying his celebrity status does provide some funny moments (like the portrait scene), it does seem to contradict his previous comments about not wanting to be the Avatar. Nevertheless, he's still a kid and that's probably more attention he's got from a circle that's different to the monks at the Air Temple. Katara is not buying it either, and seems uninterested that Aang wants to ride the sea serpent, but still cares enough to check up on him after his fan club leaves.

If there's anyone who does get some nice development, it's Sokka. The episode begins with him being a sexist douchebag, and he feels stung after being captured by the Kyoshi Warriors. Once again, there's some schadenfreude as he challenges their leader Suki to a rematch and gets utterly trounced again. Nevertheless, he's ultimately humbled by his experience and even asks Suki to teach him her techniques.

Zuko doesn't have his own sub-plot this time. He learns early on that Aang is on Kyoshi Island, but doesn't turn up until the end. It provides a sense of underlying tension, akin to Hitchcock's bomb analogy; the audience knows Zuko is coming, but the characters are too engrossed in their own stories to notice until it's too late. Nevertheless, it provides a great climax as his men ride into the village and the Kyoshi Warriors ambush them.

Out of those two episodes, I definitely think the first one's the stronger of the pair. I'm still looking forward to see more adventures.

ATLA Marathon: "The Boy in the Iceberg" & "The Avatar Returns"

 

It's time to start the marathon, looking at the first two episodes of the first season, which pretty much act like a two-parter. The seasons are referred to as "books", and the first book is "Water".

The Boy in the Iceberg

Man, that's such a cool intro and a neat way to explain bending and the avatar. Here's the rundown: There are four nations based on the elements of nature, and people known as benders can manipulate their native element using the physical motions of martial arts. Peace between the nations is maintained by the Avatar, who is capable of bending all four elements. A hundred years ago, the Avatar disappeared at a time when the imperialistic Fire Nation sought to conquer the rest of the world. The young waterbender Katara and her older brother Sokka have been left in charge of their village in the Southern Water Tribe after their father and the other able-bodied men went to the Earth Kingdom to fight two years prior to the beginning of the story.

Anyway, we open with Katara and Sokka (who isn't a bender) as they attempt to fish in the South Pole. The pair get stranded on an ice floe after their canoe is caught in rapids, but they discover an iceberg containing a young airbender named Aang and his flying bison, Appa. Katara quickly warms up to his goofy and fun-loving persona, while Sokka is more wary; nobody has seen Air Nomads in a century after the Fire Nation carried out a genocide against them, and the iceberg emitted a skyward beam which could serve as a beacon to their ships. He's not wrong on that, as it attracts the attention of one warship commanded by Zuko, a Fire Nation prince who has been assigned a mission to capture the Avatar.

Being the first episode, a lot of this is pretty much worldbuilding, but handles it well. Aang's a goofy kid, Katara's caring and optimistic, while Sokka's more of a wisecracking cynic. Although he's also a bit of a misogynist at this point. That makes it a bit difficult to find him endearing, but it also provides some schadenfreude from his misfortunes. In fact, Katara actually unearths Aang and Appa by gesticulating while calling him out for that attitude. Fortunately, he gets better as the series goes on.

There is some underlying tension with Zuko's ship being drawn to the skyward beam, but even then we get some comic relief from his more reserved uncle, Iroh. Some of that jasmine tea sounds nice. The tension ends the episode on a cliffhanger as Aang and Katara trigger a trap while exploring an abandoned Fire Nation ship. This sends out a signal flare which Zuko spots, leading him to the village.

The Avatar Returns

We've built the world, now it's time for some action. 

Upon their return from the ship, Sokka has Aang banished from the village. It's actually quite poignant, as Katara is torn between staying and going with him in the hopes of learning to waterbend with the Northern Water Tribe. Anyway, Zuko promptly arrives and single handedly defeats Sokka. Aang promptly returns and offers to surrender to Zuko in the hopes that the village will be of no further interest to him. After they leave, Katara opts to rescue Aang and Sokka offers to go with her. Their grandmother gives them her blessing, having realised that Aang is the Avatar.

While Zuko is pretty much an angsty teen who can bend fire, this is the first episode to show his honourable side when he accepts Aang's surrender. We also get to see Katara's determination as she opts to go after Aang, not wanting to see an innocent child being taken away by the Fire Nation.

As mentioned above, there's a lot more action in this episode. Sokka confronts Zuko despite not having any bending abilities, and even lands a hit with his boomerang after getting completely curb-stomped. This is followed by Aang escaping from the ship, and when he almost drowns after falling overboard, he subdues his pursuers with the hidden ability that later gets called "The Avatar State".

The episode ends with our trio escaping on Appa, planning to travel to the North Pole (after Aang plans a few detours). We also get a hint to a darker past for Aang, when he mentions that he never wanted to be the Avatar.

All in all, these two episodes do a fantastic job of opening the series. In fact, I'm getting the urge to watch the next couple of episodes even as I sit here writing about it. I'll probably do that and schedule the next post for tomorrow.

The ATLA Marathon

I don't know about anybody else, but it feels like 2025 is shaping itself up to be a rather horrid year even though it's only January. Feeling worn down, I've found that my writing has been slow and I'm in need of a comfort watch. With that in mind, I've decided to kill two birds with one stone through another blogging marathon. To commemorate the show's 20th anniversary in February, I'm looking at my favourite animated series: Avatar: The Last Airbender (also known in some places as The Legend of Aang).

Now, here's something a little ironic about my looking at this show; it originally passed me by when it first aired. I would have been eleven years old in 2005, but I wasn't really watching cartoons other than The Simpsons at that point. Flash forward to my 21st birthday, I was visiting my older brother and he showed me the first couple of episodes on Netflix. With that, I was hooked. As soon as I got back from my trip, I got my own Netflix subscription and slowly worked my way through the series. It's since become one of my favourite comfort watches. I love the characters, the animation, the worldbuilding, and the deep themes. It was such a ride, and I love the epic journey the characters embark on.

I'm going to start the marathon tomorrow, looking at two episodes per post (possibly more if there's two-parters). I'll try and keep spoilers to a minimum, but that's not always easy for events that carry over into subsequent episodes.

I hope you can join me this odyssey, and save me some cactus juice.

Book Review: Red Daisy by Gemma Owen-Kendall

Happy New Year. Things have been a bit quiet on here lately, since I've been getting used to starting work again and have been in a bit of a creative slump during the Mondayest month of the year. Nevertheless, I have some plans for blogging projects. Anyway, to start this New Year, I decided to take a look at Red Daisy, a fantasy by fellow Swanwicker Gemma Owen-Kendall. This post is part of a Reading Between the Lines blog tour organised by Lynsey Adams.

Blurb

What if the girl who wore the red coat fell in love with the wolf? 

Grace Kennedy was once a quiet teenage girl, growing up in a rural area with her parents. When Grace turns sixteen, she moves to a new town to live with her grandparents to study a diploma in Dance at the local college.

It's there that Grace’s life changes when she meets the polite and charming Daniel and also encounters the dark and mysterious Ben.

But are both boys truly who they say they are ...

Dealing with the sudden strange events happening to her and a complicated love triangle, Grace world implodes when she learns that werewolves and spellcasters do truly exist.

Review

At first glance, you'd expect this book to be a modern-day re-telling of Little Red Riding Hood. Even Grace herself lampshades this during the narrative. However, I was surprised at the angle it took.

The first chapter acts as a prologue of sorts. Taking place in 1884, it tells the story of how the boys Magnus and Constantine became werewolves and were told to protect a spellcaster named Florence, but fought over her affections, resulting in their death's and Florence becoming pregnant.

The rest of the book is told from the perspective of Grace - a descendent of Florence - looking back on her teenage years. While studying dance, she's courted by Daniel and Ben, but it later transpires that history is repeating itself. Having read the outcome in the first chapter, that made me want to know what would happen the second time around.

There are some great twists and turns as we find out who's filling what role in a prophecy that was both laid out and played out in the prologue, and I enjoyed how the story developed and added more layers to the myth. While both Daniel and Ben have a creepy overtone, it was interesting to see the interactions between them and Grace, especially after the more fantastical aspects of the story came to light. And when the fantastical aspects do come out, it provides some great action scenes and some memorable moments from characters you'd least expect.

Red Daisy is available on Amazon here. It's not a particularly hefty read, but certainly an enjoyable one. I look forward to seeing what other adventures Grace Kennedy will get involved in.

About the Author

Gemma is a writer from North East Lincolnshire, UK. Graduated at the University of Lincoln in 2009, she studied a degree in Drama. However years later Gemma has discovered writing is her hobby and passion. She hopes to one day to be able to go back to University to study creative writing. As well as her own writing, Gemma is a huge supporter for writers within her local area.

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Happy writing.