Wow. It’s been almost two years since my previous Avatar: The Last Airbender post. I definitely intend to finish this second season no matter how long it takes, lol.
Since my last look, the live action version of Airbender has dropped. Of course I watched it immediately. Some day I may write an Enneagram Story Breakdown for the season. I would love to compare the two versions, including Character Enneagrams. What changed from animation to live action? And — spoiler — what was lost in the reboot that kept it from being as enjoyable?
For now, though, the guilty weight of the unfinished animation review takes precedence. Let’s go! The next two episodes run together under the title: “The Secret of the Fire Nation”. Will they each have an Enneagram, or are they one complete story?
ONE
The gang — Aang, Sokka, Toph, and Katara — rest and swim at a pool formed at the base of a waterfall. They seem congenial. Sokka looks at the map he stole from the Owl’s library that shows the location of Ba Sing Se. The only path through a series of lakes is “The Serpent’s Pass”, a thin bridge of land.
Sokka mentions that, without Appa’s flying, this is their only option. Katara shushes him, but Aang calmly says he’s okay. He just wants to get to Ba Sing Se and tell the king about the solar eclipse.
TWO
As they prepare to pack up, three “fellow refugees”, including a pregnant woman, greet them.
THREE
Smiling, Katara offers to travel together to The Serpent’s Pass. The refugees startle, calling it a deadly route. They’ll be going to Full Moon Bay to take a ferry.
FOUR
Cut to all of them arriving at the ferry terminal. Refugees are everywhere. Earth Kingdom citizens have been uprooted by the Fire Nation. Only the walls of Ba Sing Se can protect them.
A ferry leaves. On it are Zuko and Iroh, who remarks that he’s returning to the site of his greatest military disgrace. As always, Iroh is cheerful, plunking a silly straw hat on his head. Zuko, though, complains. He’s tired of living like this. “Aren’t we all?” says a sardonic voice.
Reveal Jet. He and his Freedom Fighters (Smellerbee and Longshot) have heard that the captain of the ferry eats like a king. Zuko agrees to help them steal some of the food.
Back to the terminal. A sour-faced clerk stamps boarding passes. The Cabbage Man makes an appearance, denied the chance to bring his vegetables, and security removes him. Aang, next in line, asks for four tickets. However, he has no passport. Sokka steps forward, identifying the Avatar as a way to skip the paperwork. Sour-Face scornfully points to a group of rejected fake Avatars. When Momo pokes out his head, Sour-Face threatens to call security.
Toph confidently steps forward and presents her passport. (It’s shiny.) Sour-Face bows down when she sees the golden seal of the Flying Boar, the family’s crest. Toph names the rest of the gang as her seeing-eye idiots, and Sour-Face stamps four tickets.
Just as Sokka fist-pumps at their triumph, a young woman grabs him and demands his passport. She chastises him before kissing him. “Suki!” Sokka smiles when he recognizes her without her make-up. They all catch up, hearing that the Kyoshi Warriors are here helping the refugees. When she asks why they would take the ferry rather than fly on Appa, everyone turns to look at Aang.
SWITCH
They’re interrupted by the pregnant woman. Someone has stolen the refugees’ belongings, including their passports and tickets. Sour-Face won’t make an exception. Aang responds: I’ll lead you through The Serpent’s Pass. Suki, in her warrior uniform, comes along.
FIVE
The Serpent’s Pass is a very narrow spine with a path on it. On the western side, the Fire Nation controls the lake and is, according to Suki, rumored to be working on something big. One of their battleships glides by and spots our gang on the path. They fire, and Aang air bends the missile back at them.
At night they camp in a flat spot. Sokka fusses over Suki’s safety.
Cut to Zuko on the ferry. He and Jet break into the captain’s cabin while Smellerbee stands watch. Successful, they sneak away with sacks of food.
Aang looks out from a ledge on the Pass. Katara asks him how he went from being upset in the desert to not caring at all now. He’s closed down his feelings. Aang answers that the pain made him out of control. She offers a hug, but he bows to her and walks back to camp.
Meanwhile, Suki approaches Sokka and asks why he’s being so overprotective. He lost someone at the Northern Tribe, he says. She lost someone, too, because he went away. When Sokka realizes she’s speaking about him, she leans in for a kiss. Their faces are framed with a crescent moon between them. Sokka turns away.
Crosscut to the ferry as Jet distributes the food to the traveling refugees. Iroh and Zuko sit with the Freedom Fighters and eat. Jet mentions he’s going to Ba Sing Se to change his life; Iroh pointedly says he believes in second chances.
The next day, and our gang continues to lead the refugees across The Serpent’s Pass. However, a section of the path is underwater. Katara parts the lake with her water bending, and everyone walks on the revealed path. Aang must help, providing an air bubble when the path goes completely under the lake’s surface. Fish swim alongside them. Suddenly something very large swims by, breaking the bubble. Toph immediately stamps, raising their piece of path up to the surface.
They’re on Toph’s rock island in the center of the breach, a finned serpent circling their position.
Sokka (sounding remarkably like Shaggy in Scooby Doo) holds up Momo to the serpent as a “humble and tasty offering”.
Katara bends an ice bridge while Aang flies up to distract the serpent. When the refugees are safely across, Katara bends an icy surfboard for herself and attacks the beast.
Meanwhile, Toph, unwilling to walk across the silent ice bridge, stays on the rock island. When the serpent’s tail smashes the rock, she starts out onto the bridge. It, too, gets destroyed, and now Toph, who can’t swim, is in the water. While Sokka removes his shoes to help, Suki immediately dives in to rescue Toph. (Thinking she’s been saved by Sokka, Toph kisses Suki on the cheek.)
SIX
Aang and Katara make a whirlpool around the serpent, twisting it until its head bangs against the path’s spine, knocking it out. The gang cheers.
SEVEN
And they’re off the Pass, safely across the lake. In the distance is the giant wall of Ba Sing Se. Just when they think they can relax, the pregnant refugee begins her labor. Sokka freaks out, but Katara calmly takes charge. She’s helped Gran-gran many times.
Cut to the ferry with Zuko on board. Jet approaches him, insisting that fellow outcasts should stick together.
EIGHT
Back to the delivery. The woman gives birth to a girl. Katara calls Aang in to see the baby, and he tears up at the sight. He tells Katara that this happy family has reminded him how he feels about Appa . . . and about Katara. They hug. He needs to find Appa now; off he goes on his glider.
Suki also says goodbye, returning to her fellow warriors. Sokka kisses her farewell.
NINE
Flying up and up and up, Aang crests the top of the wall and lands. From that height, he can see something disastrous: the Fire Nation drives toward the wall’s base in a giant drill. Appa will have to wait.
CRITICAL NOTES
It turns out this episode does have its own Enneagram. Well done. We need the pregnant woman at the Two and her delivery at the Eight to break Aang out of his depression and give him hope. The battle through the Serpent’s Pass is a tidy, self-contained conflict.
However, the cliffhanger ending does indicate that the two-parter will also have an Enneagram. And, even though our gang’s arc has an Enneagram here, Zuko’s story doesn’t. His and Iroh’s arc will span the entire “The Secret of the Fire Nation”.
You know what that means! The next post will need to examine the second individual episode, “The Drill”, and the entire two-parter. It’s as if Airbender is challenging me after ignoring it for so long. Let the games begin.