ONE
Sokka sets up a tent, casting the rain tarp aside.
TWO
Katara, carrying some kindling, questions his judgment. Sokka fights back, telling her to worry about her own job. Aang, as the Avatar peacemaker, comes between them and suggests they switch tasks. How can people who disagree get along, and can Aang actually help them reach accord? That’s the Trouble.
THREE
Appa and Momo also fight over a piece of fruit. It’s hilarious because Appa, giant bison, holds the melon in place with his toe while Momo, small mammal, goes all ballistic on trying to free it. Aang halves the fruit, sharing it out.
This is basically a repeat of the Two, so why is it the Three? Well, first, it’s what comes next (and the material after that is clearly Four-ish). Second, food is part of the struggle in this episode and recurs in a Six-ish way. Mostly, though, I’m reaching.
FOUR
The gang must cross a canyon, the Great Divide. They’re prepared to just fly across, when two groups approach and argue over who will go first. One group is tidy and snooty, the other is messy and uncouth. The canyon guide, an earth bender, can’t decide who to take. Aang offers Appa to carry the groups’ injured and elderly while the rest of the people, including our gang, walk together.
No food is allowed in the canyon as it attracts giant bugs. One day of hunger lies ahead.
After they all descend, the guide earth bends away the road they used because Fire Nation troops are said to be following. A bug attacks and breaks the guide’s arms, meaning no one can earth bend the road at the other side. Everyone is trapped.
SWITCH
The guide is removed as a resource, and now Aang must solve the problems.
FIVE
Aang splits the two tribes, letting them take different routes through the canyon. Sokka is assigned to the messy people, Katara with the tidy. Of course.
That night at each camp the tribes bring out the food they secreted away. They each assumed that the other would sneak food, so they did, too. And then each tribe tells its story of how the feud began. It’s the same tale about two brothers from different perspectives with the blame shifting.
Meanwhile, as Katara and Sokka eat well in their camps, Aang and Momo, separate, go hungry.
SIX
Reunited at the base of the wall, with no way out, the leaders of the two tribes decide to fight. Aang, using his glider/wand, blows them apart. Like the Three, this is a ridiculous tussle that Aang must defuse.
SEVEN
When the air blast hits the tribes, all of their food spills out from its hiding places. Aang, starving, is furious. Who knows what Aang would’ve done next? It’s a moot question, because the bugs attack.
As I said, we have an argument and food, as we did at the Three. Pitiful attempt at a mirror. The next thing that happens, though, is the Eight, so here we are.
EIGHT
Battle. Aang fights off the bugs but he can’t do it alone. He comes up with the idea to use the food sacks as muzzles with reins, and they all ride the bugs up the cliff and out.
At the top, safe, the tribes still argue over their history. Aang jumps in and says, “Wait. I know those guys.” He retells the story, framing it as a ball game between children. The tribes accept this and move forward in peace.
NINE
Except Aang made it all up. He lied to get them to agree. Is Aang really that devious? Well, he was hungry.