Aang journeys to meet “Avatar Roku”.
Last time on Avatar: Aang first visited the spirit world due to Hei Bai.
Journey to the Fire Nation
Aang wants it to be just him and Appa going to the Fire Nation as it’ll be dangerous. Sokka, Katara, and the villagers won’t want to risk losing the Avatar to the enemy, however. When Sokka reveals Aang’s friends insist on coming with him, Appa licks the teenager to his disgust. Appa flies off so the Gaang can reach Crescent Island before sundown as this is the winter solstice.
While it’s still dark out Zuko arrives to question the village leader about where the Avatar went. He’s in the background, but it’s pretty clear that Iroh has not put on more clothes yet.
Appa is encouraged to fly faster by Aang due to the short timeline. Down below on Zuko’s ship, Iroh is convinced this is the most foolish thing Zuko has done in his sixteen-year-long life. Zuko is convinced his father will understand he came back into Fire Nation waters to pursue the Avatar so he could be un-banished but Iroh is just as certain Ozai will not approve.
Katara and Sokka notice the Fire Nation ship tracking them. Iroh is unimpressed by the odor of a wad of flammable stuff that once lit is catapulted at the flying bison. Aang guides Appa through dodging it.
But up ahead is a whole blockade of bigger, more modern Fire Nation ships. Aang has a plan to avoid the blockade. Despite his uncle’s pleading, Zuko is set on following the Avatar.
Commander Zhao is in charge of the blockade, who doesn’t care if Zuko’s ship goes down too despite a soldier expressing concern over “one of our own” being in the line of fire- literally. Appa dodges almost all of the fireballs, but the bison keeps going even after one hits him.
Zuko’s ship gets struck as well, damaging the engines. A second set of fireballs is sent out; despite going higher, Appa still has to avoid numerous fireballs. When Appa gets hit, Sokka falls out and towards the water. Thankfully Aang and Appa come to his rescue.
A third set of fireballs is launched, with a fourth being prepared. Aang uses air-bending to keep a fireball from hitting Appa, but the exertion weakens him. But Appa manages to fly into the Fire Nation, unnerving Sokka and Katara at the thought of being in enemy territory.
Zhao decides to let Zuko’s ship through the blockade at the last moment.
The Fire Sage Temple
It’s nearly sunset by the time Appa lands on the crescent island. There are some gorgeous black and white sketches of it in the art book, with captions that stress that the island is on the fringes oof the Fire Nation archipelago. Appa is understandably exhausted, which leads into a funny ‘squabbling siblings’ bit. Nobody can see any guards and they decide to just head in given the approaching deadline.
The five Fire Sages show up and attack. Aang has the siblings and Momo flee first, buying them some time before he heads after them. It turns out four of the Fire Sages don’t want Aang to contact Roku and therefore grow more powerful. But the fifth, Shyu (Michael Yama), reveals to the youths that he is still loyal to the Avatar when he catches up to them. He opens up a secret passage for him and the Gaang.
Zuko’s damaged ship is sailing along, billowing out smoke. Iroh points out that Zhao is likely following the ship in order to capture the Avatar himself. So Zuko has a plan.
Shyu explains that Roku lived here long ago and made these secret passages out of magma. Evidently it’s only been “a few weeks” since the statue’s eyes glowed in the temple’s sanctuary due to the events at the Southern Air Temple. Over time the Fire Sages lost hope that the Avatar would return, and besides, starting with Sozin they were forced to serve the Fire Lord. Shyu’s grandfather was alive back when Roku was. The group heads up spiral stairs to the floor where the sanctuary is.
But the doors to said chamber are closed and locked. Only a fully realized Avatar or all five Fire Sages can open the doors. Sokka gets an idea.
Zuko is leaving a small ship in hopes of using a literal smokescreen to avoid detection. Iroh is staying behind to man the ship.
Meeting Roku
“Fake fire-bending” is Sokka’s plan, although the explosion will be heard by the other sages. Shyu lights the twine and the mini-bombs go off but the doors remain shut and locked. Aang is upset, especially as it’s nearly dusk.
Sokka is confused by his plan not working. Katara realizes that, however, it looks like his plan worked. There’s an amusing bit about Aang doubting that Sokka’s a “genius”. Shyu leads the other Fire Sages to the chamber and together they fire-bend in order to open the doors in a cool CGI sequence.
Momo apparently was snuck into the sanctuary somehow (maybe when not gorged he can fit in air vents?). The flying lemur, Sokka, Katara, and Shyu all attack but Zuko has grabbed Aang. The siblings get tied up, but Katara tells Aang to go into the sanctuary instead of rescuing them, which he does just before the doors fully close. Once they do so, the doors glow bright blue.
Aang arrives just as the statue’s jewel glows. The other four Fire Sages and Zuko can’t open the doors, as apparently Roku doesn’t want them to come in. The beam of sunlight hits Roku’s eyes and smoke occurs. Roku (James Garrett) shows up and asks what took Aang so long.
Shyu feels it’s his duty to help the Avatar. Commander Zhao and soldiers show up. He’s very smug about Zuko’s smokescreen failing as some of them grab the banished prince.
Roku has an important message to give Aang. A century ago, a passing comet made the fire-benders extremely powerful for a day and thus they used it to strike the first blow in the war. It’s later clarified that’s when the attacks on the Air Temples occurred. There’s an image of a fiery Ozai as Roku explains that the comet will return by the end of summer and Ozai will use it to finish the war. If that happens, the world will be so out of balance that even the Avatar wouldn’t be able to fix things.
Aang understandably is unnerved by this. Roku stresses that Aang must master the other three elements by then even though such mastery usually takes years.
The Wrath of Roku
Zhao and soldiers are at the ready to attack as soon as the doors open.
Katara frets, “How is Aang going to make it out of this?”
“How are we going to make it out of this?” counters Sokka.
Roku assures Aang that he will find another way to contact him if necessary. Roku is willing to aid Aang against the threat beyond the sanctuary if he’s ready. Aang’s eyes and tattoos glow as he responds, “I’m ready.”
The doors glow white and open, billowing out smoke. Roku comes out, not Aang. Katara, Sokka, Shyu, and Zuko are all freed from their chains. Zuko takes this opportunity to flee. Shyu warns the siblings that they must flee because Roku is going to destroy the temple.
Lava rises up through the temple and said destruction begins, Zhao’s soldiers fleeing. As the solstice ends, Roku ‘becomes’ Aang in a swirl of smoke. The trio is seemingly trapped, but Momo (in a Fire Sage hat) and Appa come to their rescue.
Everybody on Appa’s back looks back at the island as Appa flies away. As seen above, the serious moment is somewhat broken when Momo pops in his hat.
Zhao is upset and blames all the Fire Sages for Shyu’s betrayal. Zuko leaves on his small ship. The group is huddled together on Appa as the flying bison seemingly soars towards the full moon.
Conclusion
This was a great episode that directly follows the previous one. The previous Avatar, Roku, is fully introduced here. The art book admits openly that Roku “was a good opportunity to show a kinder side to [Fire Nation] culture”. Shyu is another example showing that not all members of the Fire Nation are evil. I’m a little worried what’ll happen to him after this episode.
Zhao returns to be a less than honorable opponent towards both Zuko and Aang. And Ozai is built up as the ‘final boss’ of the series due to his plan to use the nearing comet as a chance to end the war in favor of the Fire Nation.
Both the island and temple were gorgeous, as was the general animation. Despite the overall serious tone of the episode, there were a few moments of humor (typically featuring Sokka and/or Momo). Yet Sokka is more than comic relief- he’s the one to stress he and Katara will accompany Aang to the Fire Nation and even if it didn’t work, he came up with an idea to open up the sanctuary doors.
Next time on Avatar: Katara steals a scroll on water-bending from pirates.
nerdgatehobbit 