Overanalyzing Avatar: Sozin's Comet, Part 1 - The Phoenix King

Overanalyzing Avatar on the beginning of the end. The Phoenix King.
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[@overanalyzingavatar]

Like and comment on this video and you'll become immune to the heat of liquid tungsten. But only tungsten.

[@SkyKiller63]

I’m gonna cheat. I’m gonna leave two comments Edit: join the discord!

[@Kevin-jb2pv]

Fun fact: Tungsten's real name was Samuel Clemens!

[@Murcielag0scuro]

You could make some money off that...

[@deadlocked6581]

hmm, i guess its better then nothing

[@comeanomalocaris8267]

@Just Dope holy shit it works! kzbin.info/www/bejne/qoKwg6qhbbx3mpY

[@Silvershire]

Azula's not surprised that she's going to be firelord, she's surprised that she's going to be firelord while Ozai is alive and well. Hence her follow up question, "What about you?"

[@arsenicflask]

She was just surprised that she became Firelord before she has to assassinat Ozai

[@digitaltailsmon4096]

@@arsenicflask Dark but he did set the persistence didn't he especially for the second born

[@drakejohnson5386]

I always took Azula's shock at becoming fire Lord was because the fire nation still followed primogeniture. 80 years later there was a woman fire Lord, but that was after reformations. In the hall of fire lords, we don't see a woman one. I don't know, they didn't show a scene where it shows Ozai telling Azula that she will inherit the throne, although it would make sense. Ozai clearly liked and trained Azula to be better than Zuko, so why would he put in that effort into her for the throne to pass to his less deserving child.

[@Whazzupie]

@be good Screw off, bot. The people who's videos these advertise, piggybacking on the algorithm of much more deserving content should be ashamed.

[@DaggerGee]

Agreed!

[@CainGantt]

Sokka: "He left his staff. That's so strange..." OA: *pure unbridled rage*

[@panther-nk2hn]

just cut to Zuko screaming at the sky during Bitter Work

[@devin5201]

"They can endure anything as long as they have hope." "Then we kill their hope." Just unapologetically, one hundred percent evil, Ozai hates everything that isn't red, black, and gloom.

[@duck9770]

Azulas fire being hated by that logic: 👁👄👁

[@devin5201]

@@duck9770 why do you think he sent her on some dumb erand... I uh I mean important mission to retrieve Zuko?

[@jf_kein_k8590]

@@devin5201 Also gold.

[@devin5201]

@@jf_kein_k8590 oh yeah they do have a lot of gold trim in the fire nation.

[@KossolaxtheForesworn]

Gul Dukat has a great twist on it. a true victory is to make your enemy see they were wrong to oppose you in the first place, to force them to acknowledge your greatness.

[@Somennagashi]

The "second meal" that was in front of Aang before he goes off to the lion turtle was an offering. In buddhism, when you pray for someone, you have food and drink offerings. That food was likely for the air nomads or Roku or something

[@Zwijger]

A vegetarian still wouldn't offer up meat though.

[@yuvalne]

+

[@alakazamlover4908]

@@Zwijger i mean, just because HE doesn't eat meat, doesn't meat Roku wouldn't?

[@Zwijger]

@@alakazamlover4908 That's not the point. If someone won't kill other animals to eat, they won't kill an animal to offer to someone. Even if they themselves didn't in fact hunt and butcher the animal.

[@alakazamlover4908]

@@Zwijger who says ang killed the animal? You could have asked katara or toph to do it or even zuko or sakka

[@steveloge8119]

I love the way that the camera cuts away to Aang's face in horror when Sokka slices the melon head off the scarecrow, then doesn't show the beheaded scarecrow as if it was actual gore. It really makes you feel the weight of how Aang sees the situation, and really contrasts how everyone else doesn't put the same weight to taking Ozai's life

[@bedabene]

He didn't even behead him. He straight up sliced the head in half! (Edit: after thinking about it, it was necessary for the momo eating his brain joke)

[@twilightsparkle75]

well considering aang could barely eat in the fire nation because hes the only one that is vegetarian. which is due to seeing all life as equal and valuable.

[@sonorangaming4450]

That's actually a nickelodeon thing, couldn't show death. That's why alot of characters from nick shows have the "groan", after something seemingly should have killed them, because it shows they are still alive. Is also why explains the "did Jet die" scene.

[@twilightsparkle75]

@@sonorangaming4450 but its a melon.

[@RochRich.]

@@twilightsparkle75 ^ He’s right!

[@CommonCommiestudios]

Let's all agree that they had to kill the Melon Lord early in the finale, else he would have been too powerful and the finale would have lasted one episode

[@oskarjonsson9117]

Top comment and so true🤣

[@Xpwnxage]

"If you don't defeat Melon Lord in the first episode of the finale, not even the avatar will be able to restore balance to the world".

[@zephyr1331]

Profile pic is perfect for this comment lol

[@kingace6186]

Melon Lord Toph should have just took out the Firelord, herself! Everybody knows Melon Lord solos

[@cameronwebster573]

Toph sandbending a perfect life-sized replication of ba sign se is the most impressive feat of bending in the entire show. The precision that would require is uncanny. Jesus.

[@Xeroxias]

Yeah honestly I don't like this. She made that in an instant. How can one swift arm movement manipulate that many particles at once? Is Toph even capable of holding a mental image with that level of detail in her mind all at once? I think the scene is a weird choice.

[@cameronwebster573]

@@Xeroxias, respect to you. But I'm afraid I have to disagree with that take. Like about all of that. It’s all written into her character; you just have to look harder. The authors of this show didn’t miss a thing. Other than that moon stuff and all the other things the guy above us points out in this KZbin series. LOL Bending is about spirituality and mental fortitude, not the science of particle distribution of material. And they write an almost inhuman perception ability into her character. That’s how she overcame her blindness. Here’s just one example… think about the conversation she had with Aang in her parent's yard in the episode “the blind bandit.” She explains that she’s never had trouble seeing because of seismic sense. And in that scene, the authors exemplify that she can perceive better than aang by making her point out ants that make aang look around, unable to figure out what she’s talking about. She also says she never forgets the feeling of someone's footprints. That’s why she calls aang twinkle toes. I’m not saying that wasn’t a truly fantastic feat of bending. I unironically think it’s the most impressive feat of bending in the entire show, no cap. And I also believe Toph is the character who would pull it off. I guess if your point of aversion to the scene is just that Toph is overpowered, that’s fair. Like, I can understand a distaste for overpowered characters in stories generally. I love Toph’s character, but I can understand why people may prefer key plot members in any tale not to be overpowered. But if your point is that toph shouldn’t be able to manage overpowered feats of bending like that, I think that is just simply not true. Toph’s character is written to be overpowered; that was a conscious decision made by the writers.

[@Xeroxias]

​@@cameronwebster573 I'm all for a good dialogue, so sure, let's get into this! You make great points about Toph's inhuman perception and the non-technicality of bending, and I can't argue with either of those, but I don't think those ideas alone support what she did in that moment. Yes, bending shouldn't be analyzed in the context of the feasibility of generating forces on matter, I completely agree. However, the way the earth moves is undeniably subject to nothing but Toph's will. She's choosing where the sand goes, not allowing the essence of Ba Sing Se to possess her and guide the brush she's painting with. That means she's deliberately producing thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of almost independent, highly precise tugs. We've never seen any bender pull something like this off before or since. They usually just grab a huge mass of stuff and move it in one direction, or split it into no more than a dozen independent streams at once if they're incredibly talented. That kind of bulk motion is wildly different than what Toph just demonstrated. You may argue that there should be no limit on the control Toph has over her element, insisting that bending is a conduit directly from mind to matter that perfectly imparts the bender's will to the element; even so, there's no avoiding the impossible level of detail in her model. Because it was created in an instant, she had to have been holding every last one of those details in her head at the same time. Humans just don't work like that! All artists start with sweeping, broad strokes, and return later for ever finer detail, because they just can't hold everything in their short-term memory at the same time. Even though Toph had the unique ability to perceive all of Ba Sing Se at once due to her incredible senses, that doesn't mean she can actively be aware of every last detail at once. You can stare at a painting long enough that you've committed the entire thing to memory, but when it comes to accessing that memory, you still have to meander around the canvas, recalling each detail piece by piece. My problem isn't that Toph is overpowered. I don't really care what this implies about her as a character. My issue is what this implies about bending, and benders, as a whole. It just doesn't seem to be the same thing that Katara did when she gathered the rain into ice spears, or that the firebending performer who created and manipulated a fire dragon did in the episode introducing Jeong-Jeong. It feels like it doesn't belong in this world. Finally, I recognize that in the end, this is a story. It wouldn't have been appropriate for the writers to depict a montage of Toph diligently sculpting the city over; that would have interfered with the flow of the story! Plot conveniences can be overlooked … but this didn't advance the plot at all, so I'm less willing to look the other way.

[@knotationmusic]

I mean, it wasn’t really life sized. It was scaled down. If it was life sized, she would’ve literally bended Ba Sing Se. And that would’ve required even more precision, let alone space.

[@jeremyjohnson5970]

@@Xeroxias Every step Toph ever took in Ba Sing Se felt like that

[@riverbrewster239]

Gunna pause so I can comment on the "meat on Aang's plate" thing. I love that they added that in. It makes his emotional blow up so much deeper. His friends DON'T understand. They still absentmindedly give him meat on his plates. They talk about killing like they've done it themselves, because their cultures taught them to destroy enemies, not makes friends/peace like the monks. In that moment, when Katara says "We do understand" She absolutely does not, because she was raised in a culture that glorified the death of the opposed; in her mind Aang is a hero BECAUSE he is going to kill Ozai. But to Aang, to take a life, is not his place. A great Uncle Ben moment for Aang, showing responsibility with immense power.

[@shadowofdimentio4618]

I agree with all of that besides the meat thing. Fuck culture, if you're best friend of almost a year who you have been feeding and traveling with makes it a point that they don't eat meat, you don't give them meat this far in. Best case scenario, he doesn't eat it and goes hungry. Worst case scenario, he blows up at you and gets very angry. No good friend would do this and no one there looks good for it. It is potentially catastrophic for their characters and friendships. Not understanding someone's morals is one thing. It wouldn't come up super often and it's a big talking point Aang has clearly avoided, so it makes sense that the others would keep pushing. Aang has never pushed back against it as much as he has suggested avoiding it. But eating has to be daily at the minumum. Unless Zuko decided to cook the food, wasn't told about Aang's vegetarian diet and has at most cooked for the group one other time, this is very bad. I'm all for symbolism but this is more bad than good. Like making Anakin killing children works as symbolism in that he's crossed the final line but makes no sense for his character and assassinates it. Any value it adds it also takes away.

[@arrowheadstudio]

Yep that’s something that’s not really talked about. I mean the first time we see Katara she’s trying to kill a fish. We even see how killing is celebrated in the form of using animal pelts as decorum in bato of the water tribe. Katara, sokka and zuko were all raised in societies that cling to the idea that “might is right.” They can’t fully understand Aang’s point of view because not only have that not lived it but it has also been erased from history, As fire nation propaganda has painted the air nomads as having a military. And The water tribe has little to no information of the air nomads.

[@skilynnclari]

@@shadowofdimentio4618 i imagine it was probably just a mistake, and one that has happened before. they probably don't worry too much about it, because aang can just not eat that part of the meal, which then reinforces that they don't understand. to aang, being a vegetarian is a deeply held conviction and is important to him. they probably just see it as a little quirk of his, especially considering that it's the air nomads who practiced vegetarianism before this. they may have never even heard of it before they met aang.

[@lazerax9]

Or it's an animation mistake, like the many others throughout the series

[@anope9053]

@@skilynnclari and even with the southern raiders episode, zuko treats the entire philosophy and way of life of a genocided culture as "airbender preschool", aka foolish and naive, instead of giving it the respect and dignity of an actual way of living and looking at humans.

[@pastorjerrykliner3162]

You missed how when Zuko spoke about the Earth Kingdom being proud and strong so long as they have hope, he sounded EXACTLY like Iroh... Iroh had rubbed off on Zuko!

[@haydenberends3905]

I noticed that too. He almost quoted his uncle word-for-word.

[@theapexsurvivor9538]

And Ozai's response was so Azula that even without the flashbacks you can tell who her favourite parent was.

[@funwithcoding2818]

Yeah! From bitter work!

[@shahnxaoc7749]

Sounds like my uncle...not a good time.

[@Jw_-zq1ni]

Something pretty cool in the final four episodes is that, in the music, the sounds of the bowed string instruments were played and recorded by actual musicians instead of being generated by a computer. You can definitely hear the difference, it’s much more natural and fluid sounding and I think it really adds to the sense of finality

[@jeltje50]

The music in the finale is insane. If people haven't really paid attention to it. Please do next time you watch it. It's absolutely insane. They use music they have never used before. Azula vs zuko is the best example. That whole battle is tragic. The music perfectly illustrates the tragedy if the whole thing. The sound affects in general are insane as well.

[@PeterGriffin-kb2hf]

As a musician its hard to believe they couldn't do this every episode, with the way we are paid.

[@thedudecalledalan9095]

Wait computers can make music I've always thought every show used musicians

[@justalpha9138]

@@jeltje50 The music of the Final Agni Kai is unbelievable

[@justalpha9138]

@@thedudecalledalan9095 Ummm, is that a joke or?

[@robmckennie4203]

The part where zuko is climbing up the wall "with his knuckles", he's actually using a rock climbing technique called a crimp

[@nickc3197]

well thanks for spraying beta everywhere man. Doesn't matter tho, at my gym that would be a v2 so not even worth it

[@theenderdestruction2362]

@@nickc3197 who are you?

[@nickc3197]

@@theenderdestruction2362 wow man, thats a really heavy question...I'm not really sure sometimes

[@alexandrebouchard1018]

​@@nickc3197found the beta

[@sashimi879]

​@@nickc3197Who tf are you?

[@wargrizzero5158]

Azula wasn’t surprised she was going to be Firelord, she was surprised it was happening then. 100% believe Azula thought and had come to terms with the idea she was going to have to assassinate her father in the middle of the night when he was old to take the throne.

[@matityaloran9157]

2:29, I think an underrated aspect of this is that no one assumed Zuko had reverted back to the old ways and was trying to betray them

[@kabsageigj8941]

Definitely. I think it does well to show how much trust he's built up in his short time with them. And given his escapades with each, it feels earned

[@KairuHakubi]

Funny, to me their reaction seemed like it halfway WAS that.

[@margarethmichelina5146]

"They had us in the first half, not gonna lie."

[@annamae3946]

@@llamawalrushybrid Especially for Katara, she was the one that confronted Zuko and said she would end him if he ever gave her reason to believe he was going to hurt Aang, and after Zuko was just attacking him she was just like "you could've really hurt Aang". So much development right there.

[@justineo5529]

I've been thinking that since getting the meteor bracelet, Toph's been playing around with turning it into different shapes and that's what she's been doing in the background while everyone has zuko adventures, thereby turning into a master artisan

[@maddie9602]

Head canon accepted. It is funny to think of Toph being, just, incredibly bored sitting back at camp while everyone's off sorting their personal issues with Zuko.

[@KairuHakubi]

@@maddie9602 a blind brick turning to art out of boredom might just be one of the most beautiful things the show ever gave us. Everyone points out how her studying sandbending is because that was the last time she felt really helpless, and helplessness is not Toph's favorite part of this complete breakfast... but we also get little hints she wants to be more than just a tough guy too. and keep in mind, unless her senses have expanded tremendously, she can't even see her sand sculptures. she has to do it from memory and then sit back and let others enjoy it.

[@brutusthebear9050]

@@KairuHakubi I think she's specifically making highly detailed sand art so that she can "see" better in the sand. Hell, this is a lot like something that the sighted can do as well. By focusing vision, it can be slightly improved.

[@KairuHakubi]

@@brutusthebear9050 Hmm. Squinting via bending. Maybe! I mean, whatever energy forces allow her to bend the sand would logically also allow her to feel vibrations and shapes through it.. or at least, give her SOME information through it, maybe not quite the same. Yeah I suppose that makes sense.

[@blackfalconotaku4392]

I recently noticed on my last rewatch of the show that Ozai looked confused and angry when Zuko told him that Azula lied about the avatar. I think that is one reason he left Azula in this episode. She was no longer a predictable and loyal pawn. She was a dangerous individual and a threat. So he threw her away.

[@STADATS]

I’ve always taken Toph’s “I bet he ran away again” at 8:39 to be a reference to Aang running away from the monks before the series started. In both cases, he was given a large amount of responsibility to do something he didn’t want to do, and ran away (or at least that’s what Toph thinks). That said, Toph does seem way too chill about him running away, when the last time he did that he was gone for 100 years

[@Okada_Caelun]

I think Azula's surprise was more because the position was out of nowhere. It was what she always wanted but she thought she would replace Oozai after his death... not when he promotes himself to a bigger throne. This might help explain Azula's breakdown a bit as well. She didn't inherit the throne, she was given a hand-me-down. Imagine getting the position you always wanted literally just because it was made obsolete.

[@midorimatsuda7241]

Finally someone said it! Also consider all that has happened to her in a remarkably short time: she was cornered an attacked by her brother, uncle and team Avatar, after years of effectively being the only child she was usurped when Zuko was allowed to return, her father found out that she lied about killing the avatar (I can't imagine that went over well,) her brother abandoned her to join the homeless enemy leaving her alone again with her abusive father, her friends turned their backs and physically attacked her leaving her powerless (her greatest fear), Zuko proved that he can in fact redirect lightning leaving her to doubt her superiority, and there were two prison breakouts. I really wish we got more time with Azula to see her struggles because I really believe her breakdown was warranted. Even just a cut-screen of Ozai screaming her name after Zuko left at the end of the Day of Black Sun or her realizing he was gone and looking worried or a bit sad would have gone a really long way. A flashback of her seeing her mother's empty chambers and then Zuko's would have been particularly poignant. She left to protect him and then he left too so maybe in her mind she didn't really need to leave, after all her brother was gone either way.

[@leandrolhez5142]

tl:dr He didn't give her a throne. He gave her a consolation price.

[@evankraabel5415]

I disagree it was made obsolete, its more like she did the same thing that Ned Stark did when he became the Warden of the North for Robert Baratheon. He used to be the king in the north, but then the 7 kingdoms (mostly) united under Robert, and now hes just the regional lord, rather than being a king.

[@midorimatsuda7241]

@@evankraabel5415 I think it would have been much less regional lord under a king and much more figurehead under a total dictatorship; as we later saw with Kuvira's "unification".

[@MarioMonte13]

@@evankraabel5415 It'd likely be a puppet role, given Ozai's personality.

[@willhammond1974]

"Ozai got beat by aang because he was wanting food" this line absolutely killed me.

[@robertkovarna8294]

The real power of the Avatar state isn't from mastering the whatevers Aang had to. It's when you're really hungry because you hadn't eaten in days. Or have severe constipation as the Avatar.

[@tetravega567]

Hunger is the key to entering the Avatar state. "You're not you when you're hungry."

[@acat6145]

He was very hangry

[@sinancothebest]

@@robertkovarna8294 now if they just knew that info back in the earth fortress episode where they planned to send avatar state aang directly to the fire nation capital

[@erin1499]

@@acat6145 surely you meant hAangry

[@johnnytsunami420]

It does make a lot of in-universe sense for Aang to maintain his purity about the value of life compared to everyone else. He was frozen in ice and sheltered from the horrors of war. Everyone else is almost entirely desensitized

[@KairuHakubi]

that and being raised in a monastery while everyone else was hunting and killing to stay alive. it... kind of makes you wonder where the air nomads get their food from. They don't really strike me as farmers, and obviously those living in the temples wouldn't have any access to land. Nomads who don't eat meat is kind of an incredulous combination, you'd have to really stay near a lot of highly productive wild plants and know where to pick and dig... were there air non-nomads who lived down on the ground and did all the agricultural work (which, as anyone knows, involves killing tons of animals even if you only raise plants), and then tithed their produce to the temples where benders are trained? that sounds kinda terrible.

[@skilynnclari]

@@KairuHakubi according to the wiki, they cultivated specialized fruits and vegetables that could grow at high altitudes, but they went extinct along with the air nomads.

[@KairuHakubi]

@@skilynnclari alright that's a cop-out but i'll take it.

[@kingace6186]

More importantly, Aang is an air bender. The Last Air Bender. Any other Air Bender would have told him to put culture & philosophy aside to execute the duties of the Avatar. But Aang knows that if he ever does that, that means the permanent death of the Air Nomads. Because if Aang compromises what the monks taught him, he could no longer rebuild the Air Temples. No Tenzin.

[@dumpllin9742]

10:50 I always imagined that the reason Azula is so surprised is because she never had any future goals beyond pleasing Ozai. And that's why she was taken aback and said the "Firelord Azula" sounds good even though she's named after her grandfather Azulan.

[@jupiter75100]

Isn't it amazing that scream after "he never leaves without his staff" left me wheezing

[@bendystrawz2832]

A perfect end to a long term joke. I was also dying of laughter xD

[@quirda77]

I love we all were expecting some witty commentary to bring it all to a close but we just get faded screaming in the distance which does the situation more justice

[@octodaddy877]

I started watching this guy's series before finishing ATLA, and when I got to that part in the finale I immediately thought about this channel.

[@matityaloran9157]

5:10, Sokka. Sokka’s the guy who saw through Jet. Sokka’s the guy who realized they needed a plan of action. Sokka’s the guy who brought them to the Library and found the scroll predicting the eclipse. Sokka’s the guy who came up with the plan to invade the Fire Nation on the day of Black Sun. Sokka’s the guy whose goal since entering Ba Sing Se was to meet the Earth King and enlist his armies. Sokka seems to have been the driving force in finding the characters from across the series for the invasion. Sokka’s the only one who saw through Azula’s trickery (though she still got the better of him.) Sokka’s the guy who came up with the new plan “the new plan is the old plan”. Sokka’s the de facto leader. So it’s Sokka’s failure

[@haydenberends3905]

Amen

[@halogeek6]

I mean atbthe same time sokka is questioned by everyone at every turn and constantly belittled. So maybe it wasn't failure so much as sokka just deciding to be petty fora change.

[@Jotari]

@@halogeek6 Nah, it's cause he's finally getting laid. His thoughts are elsewhere.

[@haydenberends3905]

@@Jotari Fair enough

[@KairuHakubi]

@@Jotari Portuguese waitress

[@laurendrake215]

One of my favorite details of the war meeting scene is while Zuko is sitting at his father’s right hand, implying that he’s back in the Firelord’s good graces, his scar faces his father. Not only symbolic of the pain and rift between them, but it means every time Ozai looks at Zuko he is reminded of his own power over him to boost his ego.

[@jordancampbell8597]

I'm still bummed that Toph didn't get a real life-changing field trip with Zuko.

[@JohnZ117]

In "The Chase" she did have a life-changing chat with Iroh.

[@psicopato2460]

I don't think it was necessary, she trusted him and wanted him in the team the whole time, no reason to change her views of him

[@jcorrell8590]

I just realized something. Toph made the earth king and Basco accurately plus the fire nation soldiers to a extent. But in the Tales of Ba Sing See episode she explicitly told Katara that she did not know what Katara looked like. I thought that was interesting :)

[@haydenberends3905]

. . . . Wait

[@JalapenoFlower]

But she knows what she's shaped like lol

[@haydenberends3905]

@@JalapenoFlower How?

[@JalapenoFlower]

@@haydenberends3905 Earthbending magic

[@KairuHakubi]

I'm not sure Toph really knows what sight is. It would be flat-out impossible to explain. If they had a long conversation about it and she was like "wait so you don't know how big my facial features are or how they're arranged" and Toph was like "Oh, no. No I know that." and Katara's like "Well then you DO know what I look like" and Toph's like "but I don't know what color is. I don't know what color your nose is or whatever" and Katara has to explain nobody has a separate nose color, and then.. it would all be cleared up. But otherwise, she's left 'able to see' but not knowing that what she has is exactly the same as sight, and slightly better in some areas.

[@milward4563]

I love how the tiger-dillo stance is used every now and then to measure the skill level of Aang and Ozai throughout the finale.

[@utkarshgaur1942]

Yes! It comes back with Ozai and then it comes back HARD with the Avatar State! Showing Aang's version at the start does set a nice baseline for reference.

[@jcoolnessgaming6890]

I feel like the slicing noise from Sokka Vs. the Melon-Lord seemed much more violent than I remember as a kid, and Aang's face is in utter horror like Sokka just actually beheaded a person

[@curtiswfranks]

Actually, Toph's sandbending practice might help her see better on sand. She laughs at the Suki sculpture. Maybe it is just at Aang's question in light of the answer (which amounts to a joke), but it really seems to me that she can see it for what it is, rather than simply rely on Aang's misidentification. Also, she generally seems to be aware of the others while on the sand in this episode.

[@johnwalker1058]

I suppose. Perhaps she figured out some sort of technique for how to "see" better on sand. She did invent metalbending after all, and that was previously thought to be impossible, so I guess the invention of new use for sandbending is within reach as well.

[@timtsai9285]

If I were a militaristic dictator looking to ravage the earth kingdom and I heard Zuko's line about their hope, I'd totally assume he meant that we need to shatter their hope

[@crispy1519]

I like how he pointed out that this is like the first act in a movie. It serves its purpose as a start to a finale rather than its own episode.

[@santosic]

This is why I always insist the finale be watched as a whole in the same sitting; I think it flows better if you watch the final four episodes as if it was a movie. I wonder if anyone's done any edits combining all four and removing the intro and outro of the middle three.

[@zappodude7591]

@@santosic I think that's how it originally aired.

[@theblindspot985]

8:23 literally had me in tears. So many episodes of setup just for this moment 😂 Fun fact: first rant was the Water Bending Scroll.

[@thispersonwriting1889]

Thank you for the time stamp. I can’t stop replaying that bit.

[@coreydabrowski2249]

Imagine if the writers kept the same level continuity they use with Aang's scars as with the moon cycles

[@AutumnReel4444]

Zuko used actual wall climbing finger posture when climbing the wall, and there were cracks for handholds.

[@fearedjames]

Also, Zuko has already been shown pulling repeated incredible feets of acrobatics so I got no idea what he's on about.

[@elderliddle2733]

For why Ozai decides to leave Azula behind: She lied to him. No seriously. Ozai is a man who prides his abilities of complete control. He always viewed Azula as a tool for his own advancement. The fact she was able to deceive him frightened him. Because now she has the ability to potentially betray him. Technically she already did by hiding the fact the avatar was alive, and lied about Zuko killing Aang. That was a huge betrayal. He doesn’t want her there to betray him in his moment of glory. Also putting her on the throne actually makes her easier to control. Anything she does will be reported to him one way or another. He can always come back, kill her, take back over the throne, and have new heirs.

[@papersonic9941]

She didn't lie about the Avatar being alive, she legitimately thought Aang was dead, just made sure to cover her ass in case he survived.

[@3eve0n]

@@papersonic9941 but does ozai know that?

[@RochRich.]

I always thought she told Ozai that Zuko killed the avatar so that she wouldn’t be blamed if it turned out he was alive

[@craigpeoples9883]

@@RochRich.That's exactly what happened

[@santosic]

@@3eve0n I don't believe he does. His question to Zuko was "why would she lie to me about that?" when he told Ozai she'd lied about who killed the Avatar, and the way Zuko phrased his answer made it seem like she lied BECAUSE the Avatar was actually alive. Regardless of her reasons though, Azula still dared to lie to him, something I doubt he took very well at all. I think it was at that point where he became distant of her, like how we saw him in this episode, his expression even falling when be saw her, like he was internally groaning that she was there.

[@user-rw3kw7wx7e]

9:27 You can't find an earthbending master in the sky, you have to look underground!

[@EverythingFan02]

I’m impressed! By your noticing of the background characters and immense courage getting to know all of your daunting patrons.

[@matityaloran9157]

2:50, also in the episode The Western Air Temple, Sokka said “the new plan is the old plan. You just have to master all four elements before the comet arrives” which makes me wonder when was this reassessment. It would have to be after Zuko joined but that raises the question why was Zuko not told about it then?

[@jordancampbell8597]

It might have been *before* Zuko joined. There's nearly half a day between them telling Zuko to take a hike and them being ambushed by Combustion Man--plenty of time for Aang, Sokka and Katara to talk amongst themselves. Toph and Suki being read in on the new development is noteworthy, if only because Toph has been consistently left out of the loop.

[@SnakeMan448]

I put it down to them discussing it while Zuko was still earning their trust - a private meeting that he wasn't part of - and they simply forgot to fill him in.

[@emraup]

But the plan still makes no sense. For the last two and a half seasons, it's been "Fight the Firelord before the comet comes". It makes no sense that we would literally see Sokka say that they're still going with the old plan and then suddenly just a few episodes later they discussed off screen to make such a drastic change to their plans?

[@matityaloran9157]

@@emraup True

[@matityaloran9157]

@@bluemoss9831 Yes but that still presupposes that the fight is before the Comet arrives. In this episode, they changed their plan to after it arrives without Zuko knowing even though given it was their deadline when he joined it doesn’t make sense that he wouldn’t have been told about the change

[@raylder6339]

Let’s goooo, I’m pumped for the ‘List of people Aang definitely killed’ coming up.

[@grammeland1]

Sadly it dosen't happen in this episode but after this episode, then we can see that Aang is the real monster of ATLA

[@devilsadvocate.]

3:02 I actually cheered at this moment. I absolutely love when we come back to a character and they'e doing way better then when we left them. It feels nice.

[@karisschoon7066]

3:15 just realized that the speech Zuko says about the earth kingdom is identical to what Iroh teaches him in Bitter Work when they are learning to redirect lightning

[@DangStank]

I’d assume that Azula is surprised to become Firelord at THIS time, instead of after Ozai dies.

[@matityaloran9157]

5:01, since in the Western Air Temple, Sokka was still talking about Aang mastering the elements before the Comet’s arrival Zuko would have been a part of the group when the decision was made. So he really should have been told.

[@Noobmaster-rb1ey]

But they didn't trust him when they decided that.

[@mageferago]

One of the things I thought about in this episode was that the way Ozai crowns Azule as Fire Lord feels really similar to the way Sokka was given leadership of the southern water tribe all the way back in the first season. Maybe it's a bit of a reach, but being left home while the figure you look up to leaves the nation and goes out to fight the unknown feels like a common theme here.

[@nicklanders5178]

I think my favorite part of this is you noticing zuko having 6 fingers

[@InTeNat]

Anyone notice the dude dancing behind Roku at 2:37? I was dying 😂

[@rh8884]

Lmao! I didn't, I need to go back to notice the other ones. I caught the one in the "Firebending Masters" and it killed me

[@InTeNat]

@@rh8884 I didn't see that one before lol! Guess I need to go back and review the other episodes too.

[@sinancothebest]

@@rh8884 I saw this one but not that one, better rewatch some episodes xD

[@iamfrxstyy]

There’s one in the souther raiders on a background mountain

[@blankswithcrash7247]

Lol😂

[@Hello-qv2fx]

10:10 though they were also there for ozai to be crowned as the phoenix king, the main reason was to get on a ship to go to the island where the war balloons are. that's why they were there

[@haydenberends3905]

Good point.

[@DBE_TheZek]

6:57 I was drinking something, and now I’m choking

[@7of475]

Fun fact, they actually had to do two different shoots of that first scene with Zuko and Aang getting in some training. They didn't actually shoot that scene on an island, but rather a fairly mountainous region. They had to cut the first set of takes early due to strong winds, but they were able to come back to the set about a week later after the set was repaired. Toph's outfit change was a small blunder they missed when trying to piece the footage back together with merged takes.

[@matityaloran9157]

7:26, “this goes against everything I learned from the monks” according to Uncle Iroh what makes the Avatar so powerful is the union of all four elements within one person because “it is important that you derive wisdom from more than one source otherwise it becomes rigid and stale”.

[@jordanread5829]

Probably why Yangchen was all for killing Ozai. Sometimes the Avatar has to do something that goes against their personal morals because it is their job to restore and maintain balance in the world.

[@ProfessorPotatoPhD]

@@jordanread5829 That sounds reasonable. It makes Aang's compromise in the end all the more interesting.

[@Hendrik_F]

It's also interesting to note that it makes perfect sense for Aang to hold on to his beliefs this tightly, since they are the beliefs of his people. He's the last airbender. If he doesn't hold up the values and traditions of his culture, no one does.

[@craigpeoples9883]

@@Hendrik_FAnd he's twelve

[@skilynnclari]

@@Hendrik_F exactly. yangchen could put aside that aspect of her culture because her culture was still there. but if aang kills ozai, it would almost corrupt what his culture is meant to be. it would never be the same, because he's the one that has to rebuild it.

[@SkyKiller63]

I love your point at the end of the show about people hating this episode. You’re totally right, if you’re looking at this as a single episode you MIGHT be able to find a point, but when you’re talking about it as a MOVIE it’s just the start baby. I’m kinda upset that I watched this tonight, because now I have to wait a week for part 2!! Curses!!

[@dragonzrule55]

Wait how did you comment thirteen days ago?

[@lucasbeck1391]

@@dragonzrule55 patreon probably

[@stiffalmonds3475]

Sokka in a cool hat forgets 9:36 when mentioning the most overtly anime expression in the entire show

[@cruzdesangre2850]

Imagine a world where we didn't got the Great Divide but we got Toph's life-changing field trip with Zuko

[@dubstepdishwasher977]

Your point about these last four episodes being a movie is great. Glad I watched it when it released and all four came out on the same day.

[@DapperDan-zx9fu]

@UCfEtN2_yZHc_6_qJooiR7PQ not a clue

[@DapperDan-zx9fu]

Maybe hes a patreon so he sees these two weeks earlier

[@PlanetSadala]

2:18 holy shit zuko did the lightning bending form but with fire. Never noticed that. Also kinda looks like water bending. Low key I wished zuko learned Lightning and taught it to ang

[@haydenberends3905]

Whoa, you're right. Good eye!

[@MoonstarWStarmoon]

Amazing catch!!

[@BioJero]

Please, when you're done with the serie, can you make a video counting the number of kills made by the avatar team? I mean, even if they say that killing is wrong, the truth is that they don't mind throwing their opponents from 20 meters high, or throw people who can't swim into the sea. It would be interesting to know how many people they might have killed.

[@sebastiengendron6427]

Don't forget about aangs avatar state kill count😂

[@anatoldenevers237]

@@sebastiengendron6427 If you mean the Siege Of The North, I don't think that really counts. The Ocean Spirit seemed to take control of his body for that bit, so I don't think it was really him.

[@phosphoros60]

Also, Zuko, in the throne room is sitting to his father's literal right, meaning his place as heir to the throne has been restored, everything he ever wanted, etc. But that also means, his scarred side is turned toward his father, so that, what Ozai did to his son literally stands between them. Wait, am I overanalyzing Overanalyzing Avatar?

[@guythasawesome]

Wow I cant believe we're here already! I loved watching this show and I remember discovering it at about episode 5ish and immediately getting hooked!

[@haydenberends3905]

I didn't discover until he was at The Avatar and the Fire Lord episode. Wish I'd noticed at the beginning.

[@ViridianVictoria]

The thing I find interesting is they present the idea of defeating Ozai by making him unable to bend right here, though it's presented as a joke, maybe to start to give the audience the idea?

[@supercereal1]

They mentioned the spirit water thing because at least for me it wasn’t very clear that the spirit water katara carried around was special like that. She used that water for literally everything so my assumption at the time is she could heal aang with any body of water. The conversation was specifically there to remove any doubt and increase the stakes. Aang is either going to kill the fire lord or the fire lord is going to kill Aang. No do over.

[@RochRich.]

She used the water in her pouch thing for everything, but the vial with the spirit water was only opened for Aang. She can heal with any water, but it has some kind of limit (Katara tells Zuko she can heal his scar with spirit water, implying normal water isn’t enough). Aang was actually dead and I guess spirit water was enough to revive him.

[@Delta_Aves]

@@RochRich. I figured the spirit water basically kept Aangs soul, and the avatar spirit itself, from leaving his body completely. However, he still needed to reconnect with his past lives in order to fully heal it, according to Escape from the Spirit World.

[@wargrizzero5158]

I want to bring up Aang fought Ozai at literally several times his normal strength. Which means in my mind he could have taken him before the comet

[@Dachusblot]

Aang also got a firebending boost from the comet though

[@rh8884]

Congrats on catching the 6 fingers. And I was always like ?? What in the world did Aang and Co. (minus Zuko) think Ozai was going to do on the day of the comet? Sick firebending tricks lol? I thought it was pretty clear he would do some serious, irreversible damage.

[@haydenberends3905]

Like they said: the Earth Kingdom was conquered and the war was (in their eyes) already over. To the Gaang's knowledge, there wasn't really anything else that was a threat to the Fire Nation at this point.

[@admiralthrawn7754]

I'm pretty sure the 6th finger is actually an exposed part of his palm.

[@Tree_-wp5zn]

That's what I would have done... But I'm not a lord ...

[@Mech299]

You know what I love? Zuko's slow and careful wording when he mentions that the earth kingdom people can endure anything as long as they have hope makes me think that he's thinking back to Uncle Iroh's explanation of the 4 nations and what makes them special. Which also means that when in doubt, he thinks back to Uncle Iroh. And I think that that's really sweet, but also very sad, because in the moment of the most lost that he's ever felt, he thinks back to his uncle.

[@skrilllfury2120]

Shainu's glow-up is one of my favorite "holy shit look at that continuity!" moments of the series.

[@Finx070]

That cut to the baby named hope and that "uh oh" killed me out of the blue

[@patrickmatthei3652]

I'm impressed every time you recognize another one of these Fire Nation generals.

[@Holden.Tudiks]

Firelord "yes we need to destroy their hope" *Cut to hope the baby* Overanalyzing "uh oh" Favorite joke of your whole analysis series

[@UltaFlame]

That "weird humming you hear when there's no sound around you" is actually the sound of your own blood coursing through your body, audible as your ears adjust to the quietude

[@rebeccamichael626]

Ozai - "We need to destroy their Hope." Baby Hope - (sleeping) Him - "Uh oh." Me - 🥺

[@thegreatauthoress4570]

THE BABY MUST NOT BE HARMED

[@funwithcoding2818]

I’m sure he eventually does, but I’m sad we dont get a scene of zuko telling the gaang what happened to his eye(i also assume they don’t know during the series, considering his own crew-who were fire nation- didn’t know)

[@KairuHakubi]

naw I'm sure he told them offscreen. that said, this would have been a fantastic time since he's trying to explain how bad his dad is. Like seriously it's weird how difficult this was to get across to aang, even all of his past lives agreed.. you don't just stick the murderer in a cage. now you have a caged murderer, that's not really different from a dead murderer. he's not going to reform or something later on.

[@brutusthebear9050]

@@KairuHakubi Why not? Murder and most crime comes from the false premise that crime is beneficial. Except for the small fraction which exhibit psychopathy or other anti social or extra social behavior, most criminals are criminals because of this false premise.

[@funwithcoding2818]

@@KairuHakubi but if the creators wanted the gaang to know before the end of the series, why wouldn’t they show it. It has the potential to be one of the more powerful/emotional scenes in the show, and probably the most for direct zuko/gaang bonding

[@KairuHakubi]

@@funwithcoding2818 I can only think they were low on time. the ending seemed very tightly paced. not exactly rushed, but little time to chitchat.

[@KairuHakubi]

@@brutusthebear9050 i mean... sort of? But which kind do you think Ozai is? because I'm going with irredeemable psychopath. I could see a mob boss reforming a lot easier than the guy who declared himself a god and started nuking entire countries from a zeppelin. He really had nothing to benefit from that, it was just about cruelty and single-minded destruction by that point. Hell, I'd even buy that _Sozin_ might be reformable if you took his bending away and put him in prison and had someone chat with him, and Azula, sure.. she needs a lot of work but she's young, maybe it's salvageable. But putting Ozai in prison is a waste of a room you could use for storing rakes and footstools and old ink pots.

[@gideonjones5712]

I always thought Azula expected to have to kill Ozai and take the position of Firelord someday, like he did with his father, so she was just taken aback to find out it was coming so soon, and being freely given to her

[@MaxWelton]

10:14 he’s a drama lord who likes doing dramatic coronations for no reason and also is cruel and wanted to walk Azula all the way to the airship before telling her “actually you gotta stay in the capital”

[@pitstab]

I love this series may it never end. Love your channel and content. I will rewatch it many times in my life because its one of the best contents on YT.

[@jtgd]

Joke symbolism: zuko climbing the cliff is symbolic of the fire nation reaching the air temples to wipe out the air nomads

[@JWIZ92698]

9:43 I’d like to add a point to this. Every time we see Zuko go on a “life changing adventure” with one of the Gaang, it’s for a personal reason connected to that character, Katara’s was to avenge her mother, Sokka’s was to find and rescue his father and girlfriend and Aang’s was to find the secret of true Firebending to understand that it isn’t destruction. Toph’s “adventure” with Zuko isn’t connected to her at all thus why it feels so awkward.

[@azylisemiku6117]

Just wanted to say that I just discovered this series and have been binge watching it 😊 and I absolutely love the humor and editing. Thank you for making this.

[@elzar5987]

I'm assuming they had aang float the idea of beating the firelord after the comet so its known to the viewer that it is NOT an option

[@santosic]

Yeah this is likely why they did it, AND why they reminded us of the lack of spirit water too, same reason. We know the stakes and why they can't wait, and also know that if Aang dies, he really dies, no undoing that.

[@justalpha9138]

The whole ending to this series is so fantastic and I'll have so much to talk about in terms of what stood out the most to me personally.

[@llamawalrushybrid]

8:40 I love the idea behind this line being that every time she thinks he 'ran away' he was standing right next to her but he's so light she never noticed. He just vanishes every time he stands still.

[@1xlaz2]

I'm pretty sure the full call at 7:50 is as follows: " defense #5, Facemask, penalty is declined, Touchdown Patriots."

[@matityaloran9157]

7:17, that basically is what Aang does in the final confrontation only without the glue

[@haydenberends3905]

Foreshadowing

[@jorenbosmans8065]

I love Toph's ba singh seh bending. It shows her attention to detail which makes her a great fighter

[@SnakeMan448]

You'd think that Zuko suddenly attacking Aang would be everyone's worst fears confirmed, especially Katara's, that Zuko was back to hunting the Avatar on behalf of the Fire Nation. Nope, he's fully redeemed himself to them that they just think that he's being a jerk out of nowhere.

[@iantaakalla8180]

It is strangely sudden. I guess him going on the adventures really must have been such effective bonding plus they have to work together to defeat Ozai.

[@0711juliocesar]

i dont think i can really stress how much i enjoy every single upload of yours, ive been keeping up with it every single week, one hell of a journey so far. its been like keeping up with a weekly netflix show but a lot better. thanks for this ❤️

[@matityaloran9157]

8:53, though Aang ran away when he first found out he had to be The Avatar. Aang has just been asked to put being The Avatar into practise, so it’s not that bad an assumption

[@sofig1237]

They had to put Toph on the glider with Sokka and Suki because they knew that, if she had been with Aang, she could've killed him instead. Like seriously, idk why Toph didn't go "if you don't want to kill him, I can do it for you"

[@kidkangaroo5213]

Did you miss the part where Ozai is flying

[@SarajevoKyoto]

Phoenix King versus Melon Lord, a battle for the ages! The world was never the same after their titanic clash

[@sofig1237]

@@kidkangaroo5213 you think that would stop her?

[@malikpierre-louis3343]

​@@sofig1237Yeah pretty much.

[@gfreem1090]

I find it so difficult to get through these videos in one go. I tend to stop halfway through and go to watch the episode, then come back and finish it.

[@TheWiseMountainGoat]

I only learned of your channel and content when Ember Island Players showed up in my feed, and I just binged every video! I feel blessed

[@PUDRETE919]

I have never understood why the go from fire lord to phoenix king, I always felt that phoenix emperor or dragon emperor would have made more sense, emperor being the highest titel humans have ever come up with, ruler of kings and lords

[@fruity4820]

Maybe because 'king' is one step above 'lord'?(well if we go by British hierarchy terminology that's not entirely accurate, but my point is that lord-to-king is not as much of a jump as lord-to-emperor...). but now that you pointed that out phoenix emperor/'something-else' emperor does sound way better

[@PUDRETE919]

@@fruity4820 But why would he care about the jump? The whole point of his new titel is that he is the ruler of the world instead of just lord of a nation. Wouldn't you choose the most grandios titel to represent that? I always wondered, if Nickelodeon feared being compared to Star Wars and the big bad being an emperor

[@fruity4820]

@@PUDRETE919 the explanation I suggested was the only one that pop into my head, I know it's pretty weak... Your Star Wars theory does makes sense, but in that point they were so close to the end that would it even be a concern? Nobody remember Fire lord Ozi as 'phoenix king Ozi', he just never possessed the title long enough to be recognized with it, so even if they used 'emperor' for the last few chapters I don't think it would have been enough to get compered to Star Wars

[@PUDRETE919]

@@fruity4820 Maybe no one remembers him that way because "he" used king instead of emperor haha I thought of it more as a concern for the creaters to be panned for "badly ripping off" the SW story line at the end instead of creating a totally unique experience, which I think is given just by how Aang defeats Ozai in the end, but it's hard to see what creative decisions were made when from an outside perspective and in retrospect We don't know if they decided for the king titel before or after figuring out how he will be ultimately defeated

[@lintonfor4035]

Snail sloths are pretty similar, they're both renowned as being very slow

[@haydenberends3905]

Yeah, but they're not even close in the animal kingdom.

[@iantaakalla8180]

Maybe snailsloths was just a figure of speech and not an actual animal? The person who made this video pointed out that the animal combos tend to be within the same order, so a snail sloth could just be a figure of speech .

[@indigo_jungle]

I love it everytime you hide the dancing guy in certain scenes!

[@nafspark]

I know you caught the Toph outfit changing in the background at the beginning of the episode, but the more jarring one for me was that she was in red during her adventure with Zuko but in green immediately before AND after. Feels like a pretty big whiff.

[@jacobkriska7171]

Thank you so much for gifting the world with this series! I think it works so well to pick at the details precisely because the show is so good - it never sours your love for it.. Excited to see whatever you do next!

[@bwan2012]

I like that you continue your little easteregg in the background of a someone dancing/bending in the background at 2:36. I remember seeing the same thing in another episode, I believe it was Katara's revenge on the guy that killed her mother episode. I bet there is more that I'm missing ?!?!?! lol

[@DavidGonzalez-du3dj]

It’s the dancing kid from the episode “the headband”. 😂

[@madman19931612]

Yep, just before the lightning bolt and the "Icould have redirected that" joke Do you know who it is?

[@ragnarrocksoft9096]

I can't believe it took me this long and a lot of watch throughs of this seriea to notice that at 2:37 you edited the kid with the crazy dance moves from the headband into the background and I love it

[@Crappy9922]

"We need to destroy their hope." _zooms in on Hope, the baby_

[@Firemarth]

I thought that in the scene of Zuko attacking Aang, you would bring back Katara monologue warning Zuko about "ending his destiny right there if he does anything to harm Aang" xD

[@aidanchol7482]

Toph's comment about Aang leaving could be due to Aang leaving after the desert too, but he came back after that. And I love all of your content, May it never end

[@spaceisspace1771]

I love how Netflix combines the multi parts into one episode makes it feel like how it should

[@noelaguirrechavez4462]

Really? When i rewatched it on Netflix like 3 years ago, they were separate episodes. Then again, I'm pretty sure Latin America never got the version of the finale that stitches up the four parts, even when it premiered, I remember that I watched it as for separate episodes

[@megatamerernie513]

I love how creative your outro comments are. Part of the reason i sub