Wow. That's all I can say about this episode. Wow.
Utterly the best one of the season, and my new favorite episode.
Massive Spoilers Ahead, and I mean massive. I basically write out the whole episode, minus some diolauge. 80
It begins with a bang. Literally! Azula launches an attack on the temple. Zuko saves Katara from crushing rocks, but she doesn't thank him, and runs off. The gang try to escape, but Zuko stays behind to fight her off.
Zuko confronts Azula, asking her what she is doing her. She yells "Its not obvious yet? Im celebrating that Im about to become an only child. She blasts him, he tries to run to the baloon, but can't hold on and falls.
Appa refuses to go into the tunnel, so The gang say goodbye to some of its members, telling them to escape to the war ballon. Toph, Suki, Sokka, Katara, and Aang fly off on Appa. Azula fires fire at them, but they get passed, and we see Zuko survives the fall, now on top of a ballon. Zuko and Azula fight with some amazing firebending, encluding them punching their fists with a huge fire explosion. After the blast, they both fall down. Zuko was saved by Appa and the gang, and Azula was able to fire fly to a rock and hang on.
Later on they are around a campfire, laughing at a joke by Zuko. Katara is the only one not happy. They all toast Zuko, he says he doesn't deserve it, and Katara says he doesn't and runs off. He follows her.
He tries to ask why she hasn't trusted him yet, or forgiven him yet. She yells at him about trust, about his betrayel at Ba Sin Se, and that she'd only forgive him if he either re congured Ba Sin Se, or brought back her mother from the dead.
Confused, looking for answers he goes to Sokka. He bumbs momentarily with Suki is heading to Sokka's tent. She nervously runs back, and Zuko goes into Sokka's tent, only to shutter at what he sees. Sokka has candels lit, a romantic evening, in almost underwear, a rose in his motuh, tunr around expecting Suki, then freaks out, almost swolloing the flower, when he sees Zuko.
Zuko asks him about the riad, about the death of his Mom. He tells it to best his memory, but says its painful to remember. Zuko asked sokka what the ships looked like, and then Sokka siad it was a sea raven. Zuko said it was the southern raiders, then left. Sokka tried to call for Suki, but Ziko was still out there so he nonchalantly whistled then when back into his tent.
The next morning Katara emerges from her tent, and sees Zuko, who had been waiting up all night. Katara brushes her hair, and Zuko tells her that he knows who killed her mom and that he wants to help her find him.
-comercial break-
Katara walks up to Aang, and asks to borrow Appa. Aang jokes asking if its her turn to have a trip with Zuko, she says yes, seriously, and Zuko tells him what he knows, and that they are going to find the raiders. Katara says he won't understand, and Aang tried to say that he does. Zuko says she needs this, Aang said its not. Aang says that she's sounding like Jet. Katara yells at Aang and Sokka, even saying that he didn't love her mom like she did. Aang try to tell her that forgiveness is the path she needs to take. He says, "Doing nothing is easy, but forgiving is hard." She says she will never forgive him.
Getting ready to leave, Aang says that he's not going to stop her. She needs this. But he asks that when they find them man responsible, not to take revenge. To forgive him. Katara thanks Aang, and they then leave. Sokka says Aang is wise, and he wants to borrow Momo. Zuko says to find where the raiders are, they have to find a Fire Nation navy communication tower. They are stealthy, and sneak onto the tower. A gaurd is doing ink painting on a desk. To get the gaurd away from her post, katara bends ink, causing the gaurd to get ink on her and walk off to clean herself up. Zuko obtains the document and they find the post marked for the southern raiders. They are stationed at Whale Tail Island.
Morning comes, Katara is flyign Appa, she hasn't gotten any sleep. Zuko tells her to get some rest, to keep up her stregth. She says she doesn't need any, she's as strong as ever. A lot stronger than she was the day the raid happened. She has a flashback. In hers, she tels Sokka she's going to get their mom, and she runs off. She enters the tent, and sees a Fire Nation soider standing in front of her Mom. Her Mom is on the ground, and pleads for him to let her daughter leave, in exchange she will tell him what information he needs. He yells at Katara to leave, Katara says she's scared, and her Mom tells her it'll be okay and to go get her dad. Katara runs off to get her Dad, and her father, plus some other med run to the tent. But they were to late. Katara's falshback ends, and she almost starts to cry. Zuko says her mother was a brave woman, Katara says "I know", and then cries.
Its dark, and Zuko spots the Southern Raiders ship. Katara wakes up and he tosses her the telescope. She looks through it, and as the fly closer she says "Lets Do it!." The submerge Appa into the water, Katara waterbending around his head and saddle for them to have air.
Meanwhile, on the ship the soilders are talking and eating. We see a water whip come up and snatch a soldier and fling him into open waters. Appa surfaces, with Katara and Zuko, and Katara makes a huge wave and crashes it into the ship. The men fall off the ship. Appa lands on the deck, and Katara blasts the remaing soilder off the deck into the water.
In the halls and soilder tries to fight them off, but Zuko fights back, and throws him into a room, and locks to the door to the room with his sword. They come to the captian's room, and Zuko says "This is it, are you ready to face him?" and Katara waterbends at the door and blasts it open.
-comercial break-
The door to the captian's room bursts open and then run in. The captian firebends at them and demands to know who they are. Zuko yells "You don't remember her? Trust me..." and they firebend more. But the captian suddenly stops moving, straining, and we see Katara has started to bloodbend him. She forces him to bow at her. Zuko stares at her in shock then back angerly at him. Zuko says, "Think back, to the last time you raided the southern water tribe". The captian says he doesn't know what he's talking about. Zuko says to stop lying and look her in the eye. She bloodbends him up and looks him in the eye. A few seconds pass, and she gasps and says "Its not him." She lets him go of her grib, and walks off. Zuko grabs him and pins him to the wall and asks him who they are looking for. He says the retired captian Yan Ra.
Cut to a village where a man is working in a garden. An Elderly woman yells at him. "Yan Ra, you lazy peice of work. I need something". Yan Ra turns to the woman and identifies her as his mother. She says go into the market to get some edible food, for the food he grows in his garden is to hard for her. He sighs and walks off. He notices its about to storm.
In the market he gets the feeling that someone is following him, but he nor the merchant saw anything. He walks home, and as he's walking down some large steps, he gets the feeling again, and turns around, trying to see if anyone is watching him. No one is there. He walks off. But back where he looked, Katara and Zuko emerge. With a face of pure hatred and anger, Katara says "That was him. That's the moinster!" It then begins to rain. Walking down a path, Yan Ra again thinks someone is there, and firebends at a bush behind him. Nothing happens. He then starts walking, and trips on a wire and falls to the mud. Someone firebends at him and he jumps up in defense. Zuko appears, fighting stance, "We weren't behind the bush." He warns him not to firebend again. Yan Ra thinks they are burglars, and offers his money and food. Katara walks up tp him and says "Do I know who I am?" He looks at her face, and says no. Katara then yells, "Oh you better remeber me like your life depends on it!" Still he doesn't remember her, but then it all comes back to him. In a crack of lightning, we see his flashback. Katara has entered the tent, she sees him and her Mom. He yells for her to leave, she says she's scared, and her Mom says to go get her dad. She leaves, and Yan Ra looks back at the mother. "Now tell me, who is it... Who is the waterbender!" The Mom says there are no waterbenders here. That the fire nation took them all away along time ago. But he is not convinced and asks her again. She asks if she tells him, that he will leave the rest of the village alone. He agrees. She says its her, and to take her as his prisoner. But he smirks and says, "Im afraid, Im not taking prisoners today!" The flashback ends and the old Yan Ra looks at Katara.
Katara yells at him, "She lied to you. She was protecting the last waterbender."
Yan Ra gasps and says, "What, Who?"
Katara glares, then screams, "Me!" and then in a graceful move, waterbends the rain and stops in in mid-air. A water forcefield appears as a dome above them, and she stares at the man, some of the water droplets still in mid air. She then screams, and waterbends the dome and the droplets into ice daggers and send them straight at Yan Ra. He sheilds his face and screams in terror, but everything stops. He looks up and sees some of the daggers hit the ground around him, and some were still floating in mid air near his face.
She then closes her eyes and stops bending, and all the daggers melt and the water falls onto him. Yan Ra says he did a bad thing, and that she deserves revenge. He says to take his mother, that it would be fair. She looks at him and says "I always wondered what kind of person could do such a thing. But now that I see you, I think I understand. There's just nothing inside you. Nothing at all. Your pathetic and sad and empty." He asks her to spare him. She looks at him ans says that as much as she hates him, she can't hurt him. She walks off, Zuko looks at Yan Ra, then walks off. Yan ra is now crying, on the ground, shaken to the core.
The storm is now over, the sun is setting, and Katara is sitting at the end of a dock. It is unclear if its at the same town Yan Ra is. She is splashing her feet in the water. Appa flies overhead, and lands. Zuko had gotten Aang. He runs up to her, and says that he know what she did, or rather what she didn't do, and that he was proud of her. She says she wanted to do it, but couldn't. She wasn't sure wether to weak, or to strong not to. He said, "You did the right thing. Forgiveness is the first step if you want to begin healing." She gets up and says she'll never forgive Yan Ra, but she turns to Zuko, and says, "But I am ready to forgive you." She then smiles and gives him a big hug.
Zuko turns to Aang and says he was right that she needed this. "Violence wasn't the answer." Aang says it never is. Zuko then gets more serious and says, "Then I have a question for you. What are you going to do when you face my father?" Dramatic music plays, and Aang looks scared and speachless.
-fade to white.-
Credits
Well for those who want to comment, don't spoil to people reading who haven't seen it yet. Just say you liked or dislike the episode.
If you want to talk to me about it, PM me. ^^
