Book of Air Episodes 3 and 4
Book of Air Episode 3: “The Southern Air Temple”
Best Line: “I’m just a simple guy with simple needs”
Genocide. There’s really nothing else to talk about when you hit this episode of the show (except all of the other things to talk about). The third episode of a children’s TV show on Nickelodeon dives into the light hearted topic of genocide.
Aang decides that on the group’s way to the Northern Water Tribe, they’ll stop at the temple where he grew up, the Southern Air Temple. Despite Katara’s warnings, he maintains a veil of denial about what they’ll likely find. It turns out Katara was right. All that’s left of Aang’s people is a pile of skeletons and a flying lemur. (But damn, check out the huge pile of dead guys in front of Gyatso. Dude was a badass. And for more fun, Aang’s mentor in Avatar is Monk Gyatso. Korra’s mentor in the followup series is named Tenzin. Go look up the Dalai Lama’s name.)
The episode isn’t really about genocide, of course. It’s about the idea that once you’re out on your own, you can never really go home. All that you find when you go back are empty places where your memories used to live. Even worse for Aang – he realizes that everything about the culture where he came from is gone. He truly is the last airbender alive. That’s some fucking heavy shit to drop on a 10 year old watching a cartoon. We’ve come quite a ways since sitting around the TV on Saturday morning to watch Pepe Le Peu try to rape a cat.
Zuko’s portion of the story also revolves being unable to go home. We are introduced to Commander Zhao, the REAL villain of the first season of the show, who drops the bomb “If your father really wanted you home he would have let you return by now, Avatar or no Avatar.” This episode hammers home that Zuko really could care less about the Avatar, he just wants to reclaim his relationship with his father. Again, we see that our character has left home, and can never go back. Zhao, though a huge bastard made masterfully bastardly by Jason Isaacs, is right. If Zuko’s father cared about him, he wouldn’t have let him sail around in the ocean for two years after burning half of his face off. Oh yeah, we also get an explanation of the scar.
The Agni Kai that happens between Zuko and Zhao is nothing short of amazing. Despite the fact that it’s an animated show, the beautiful choreography outshines nearly any action movie you’ll see at the theatres.
This is the first of the sad episodes in the series, and while the closing scene is certainly poignant, it’s more fucked up that sad. Just wait until we get to “Tales of Ba Sing Se”.
Book of Air Episode 4: “The Warriors of Kyoshi”
Best Line: “Ohhhkay . . . paint the Avatar . . . seems easy enough . . . “
I’m not going to call this episode a throwaway episode, but it’s about as close as the series comes. It’s almost entirely about sexism and addresses the topic in a simple fashion that doesn’t need a lot of depth of discussion. Sexism is bad. Girls can kick your ass. Many other true statements. I wish they went a little deeper, but they cover what they do in a fun and compelling fashion.
The other main developments from this episode are the introduction of Suki, a love interest of Sokka, and the revelation to the rest of the world that the Avatar is alive. Suki is an interesting character that isn’t given quite enough time to shine in the series. She’s a badass warrior that also expresses whatever feminine qualities she chooses. Great example of how the show teaches kids that they don’t need to be trapped into roles other people choose for them. If I hadn’t learned that I’d be a Russian bear wrestler now, and we all know how that works out.
