Avatar Day
I thought Aunt Wu's town was the worst one our heroes visited, but this is also a close contender.
While shopping for supplies in the Earth Kingdom town of Chin, the party learns that there's an "Avatar Day" festival. Unfortunately, the townspeople actually hate the Avatar, whom they hold responsible for killing their revered founder, Chin the Great. Aang offers to clear his name, but is arrested (because they wouldn't accept Water Tribe currency for bail) while Sokka and Katara investigate the circumstances of the crime committed by Avatar Kyoshi over three centuries ago.
This is one of the more humorous episodes, with Sokka adopting a new Sherlock-look as he investigates the crime scene in Chin and later pays a visit to Kyoshi Island. We get the return of the viral "foaming mouth guy" from "The Warriors of Kyoshi", and we also learn that Suki and the other warriors have left to fight in the war. Meanwhile, Aang encounters a group of rough-looking inmates in the town jail. They're initially presented as menacing, but the very next scene shows them being sat in a circle giving Aang relationship advice. In a similar touch, Aang's initially locked in a pillory collar, but when he's talking to the inmates he's not wearing it. It establishes he could escape at any time, but is choosing not to so he can clear his name.
The criminal justice in this town has probably done a lot of those inmates dirty. The mayor - voiced by James Hong - also acts as the prosecutor, and it's pretty obvious that the trial is merely for show. At that point, Aang is inhabited by the spirit of Kyoshi, who reveals that "Chin the Conqueror" was a tyrant whose empire had spread across the Earth Kingdom and threated Kyoshi's own home. Using the Avatar State to alter tectonic plates, she pushed the end of the peninsula away from the mainland, forming Kyoshi Island. Chin stood and ranted, until the cliff he was on broke away and sent him plummetting to his death. After Kyoshi's airbending had blown off his clothes. It's almost like something that would happen to Wile E. Coyote. I always thought the town in "The Fortuneteller" had a cult vibe, but it's a lot more blatant in this one. While the residents of that one were plain stupid, the ones here are downright sadistic.
The town declares Aang guilty, and sentences him to be boiled in oil (a punishment determine by a Wheel of Fortune-style spinner) when they're attacked by the Rough Rhinos, a band of Fire Nation marauders whom the party narrowly escaped from at the beginning of the episode. Aang actually refuses to help until the mayor changes his punishment to community service. We get a pretty good action scene as the party battle the Rough Rhinos, which consist of one firebender and four different weapon experts (polearm, ball and chain, bombs, and a Yu-Yan archer). In one particularly cool moment, Sokka uses the magnifier on his detective hat to dazzle the archer, causing him to ignite the bomb expert's bag.
Meanwhile, Zuko has adopted the Blue Spirit mantle, and has resorted to banditry to obtain food and supplies for him and his uncle. We get some interesting philosophy from Iroh about the nature of hope and how it can manifest during our lowest points. He expresses his disapproval in Zuko, and suggests that capturing the Avatar won't solve anything at this point. Feeling despair, Zuko decides to strike out on his own. There's a couple of episodes that delve deeper into this.
All in all, this was a suitably amusing episode and an interesting message about cults of personality.
The Blind Bandit
A new player is about to join the party. There's also an important lesson about how it's okay to stand up to toxic family members, even parents.
During a shopping trip, Aang is given a coupon for an earthbending academy run by Master Yu. Hoping to find an earthbending teacher, Aang attends the lesson but finds it's one of those strip mall dojos that doesn't really teach anything. While there, he learns of the "Earth Rumble VI", an underground earthbending tournament akin to professional wrestling (with one fighter - The Boulder - voiced by Mick Foley). He and his friends go to the tournament, where they learn that the reigning champion is a 12-year-old girl known as "The Blind Bandit", whom Aang recognises as the girl from "The Swamp". He soon discovers her identity of Toph Beifong, the daughter of one of the wealthiest nobles in the Earth Kingdom. Unfortunately, his attempts to recruit her as a teacher are hampered by her own belligerent attitude, her overprotective parents, and the greedy Earth Rumble VI organiser Xin Fu.
Toph is an awesome addition to the party. While she's blind, she has developed a unique earthbending style which allows her to sense vibrations in the earth and essentially see with her feet. She adopted the title of "The Blind Bandit" to give herself an outlet for her abilities (and learning how to trash talk opponents), leading a secret life away from her parents. In fact, her true identity is a mystery to all; when Aang questions two of Master Yu's students and asks about the winged boar, they identify it as the symbol of the Beifong family but claim they don't have a daughter.
I love the humour in this episode. At the beginning, Aang questions the two earthbending students about the tournament, but they rebuff him. Katara then goes to speak to them and obtains the information desired. She claims "a girl has her ways", and we cut the two students frozen to opposite walls in an alleyway. There's also Sokka being a wrestling fan, and the various gimmicks used by the Earth Rumble VI fighters.
After Aang defeats Toph at the tournament with his airbending, The Boulder and Xin Fu suspect that she threw the fight, and the Earth Rumble fighters band together to kidnap them. Toph's father pays the ransom and he releases Toph, but expresses an intention to hand Aang over to the Fire Nation for the bounty on his head. At this point, Toph reveals her secret life to her father and single-handedly takes down Xin Fu and the other fighters. However, her father decides to double down on his overprotective nature and banishes the party from his home. As they're leaving, Toph goes with them, claiming that her father changed his mind. In reality, she ran away from home, and her father hires Xin Fu and Master Yu to bring her back.
All in all, a pretty good episode with the introduction of a new major character.
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