There, now that’s a bad ass episode name. Anyway the team arrives into a fire nation village, and decide to check it out so Aang can get some fire experience. (So smart) And of course, they run into trouble, and have to get out. But they met a strange little man that takes them to a fire bending master. And this is the wise old man who is so smart he’s above fighting character. He refuses to help Aang, knowing he isn’t ready for fire bending, but Roku shows up for a moment to be like, "Nah, this little boy is my homie, you’re gonna hook him up with some straight teachings.” So the dude teaches him, and his way of doing that is sitting for hours breathing, and spending a lot of time trying to make a leaf not burn. But Aang is a little out of character in this one. He jumps for getting it down soon, which seems a little unlike him. If there was a threat like he needed to save someone who got captured in the earlier point in the episode, then yeah he could have been rushing it there. Then he starts showing off, which is also a little out of character, and while doing so burns Katara. Like he literally burns her. So the deserter master is ashamed of him, and everybody is mad at Aang, and I’m glad there is consequence, and I guess this is how you have to give that message, but it should have been handled better. Then Katara soon learns she can heal using water, as she gets rid of her burns by placing them in the water. The deserter notices her, and tells her how fire is a burden. How fire consumes and destroys, while water heals and brings life. Now, there are two different takes on the fire nation, and fire in general. This is one, and there is another later introduced in the series. But both of these take a good look on the lore of the series. And you can see why fire would want to conquer the other’s, and it makes the most sense to be the one to want the whole world. But later, it changes this, but doesn’t make this obsolete. Anyway, Zhao shows up with his sideburns of glory. And yes, he was the former apprentice of the deserter, until he got bored. And Aang who was renouncing fire enters battle with Zhao. And he tricks him in a way I really like. He jumps onto his ships, taunting him, and Zhao just flips shit and destroys his ships. Aang tells him what he does wrong, and without even making a punch, won the fight. The episode burns with the typical Appa flying away shot, and it gets resolved pretty well. By now I do wish there was a little more building up for a season finale, but we still got time, and this is still a great episode, and really teaches you about fire in this world.
Avatar: The Last Airbender Episode 16 gets THE CHARACTER BADGE
Avatar: The Last Airbender Episode 16 gets the "The Creativity badge"
Episode 16 Review (The Deserter)
