Watching Avatar as an ADULT: Book Two (TOPH HYPE!!!)

Added: 2026-05-24

[00:00:00]So book two to time to time to to time to time. What? Not yet. Okay, fine. As you know, I've forgotten most of the details between the beginning and the ending of this story. And I can appreciate that many of you are already smiling because you know exactly what's waiting for me this week with book two.

[00:00:16]And honestly, yeah, good. Sit back, enjoy it. You've earned it. But despite advertising my love of Tooff last week, outside the general feeling that I love her with all my heart, soul, and might, I quickly realized that I hadn't remembered much of anything else except for one moment, which made my reconnection with her character all the more interesting and awesome, and we'll soon get to that. But this is all to say that with book two, my training wheels are off. The episodic structure is giving way to a more enriching and serialized format. And as a direct result, my excitement is through the damn roof. I'm totally not Mark. I have absolutely zero chill left and this is my review up top. I mean Avatar the Last Airbender.

[00:00:57]So, as you all know from my last video, I take the introduction to new segments of the story quite seriously. Book one's introduction was exceptionally strong.

[00:01:04]And while book two uses the Avatar State to similarly set up the stakes for this season, it does so, I think, in a way that's much more interesting than go here, get this, and then go off to the next location. Instead, it explores something far more complicated. And I'm not going to lie, a lot of this flew right over my head as a kid because I remember feeling a lot less compassionate about Ang's situation than I do right now. Immediately, we're offered a rather transparent plan, convene with a specific general of the Earth Kingdom, who in turn will take them to Boommy for earthbending lessons.

[00:01:36]However, things, as you would imagine, don't go exactly according to plan, as once we discover General Fong, the human cost of each passing second within this war becomes unavoidably clear. And the thing is, this guy isn't wrong. I mean, he's kind of right. Okay, he's not exactly 100% right, but you know, the dude wants Ang to use the Avatar State to bring down the Fire Nation. And honestly, as a kid, I totally thought this was the move, but as an adult, I'm I'm significantly less sure. You see, if Ang does nothing, people die. If Ang does everything he can to master the elements, people still die. And if he surrenders himself to the Avatar State like Fong demands, he loses the last living artifact of his people's passive and joyful culture. That is [ __ ] And it immediately elevates what this season is doing beyond anything the first did in my view. Placing an ally inside the exact same moral framework the Fire Nation uses to justify everything it has already done.

[00:02:32]>> I'm in. I'll fight the fire lord.

[00:02:35]>> When I heard this, I was like, "What the [ __ ] We're like 10 minutes in and we're getting this heavy already." With Avatar being such a long and sprawling series, it helps to hone in on the themes as we go to make sure we or I am not getting lost in the incredible bending sauce here. The theme of control, or a lack of it, has been a component of that loss of innocence motif I spoke on all throughout my coverage of season 1. in this episode and indeed from now on. It becomes a central theme, one that defines a certain character I honestly had completely forgotten about. And I can't believe I did that until I heard her music.

[00:03:14]That musical motif sent shivers down my spine when she was first alluded to in season 1. My entire body tensed and my mind said, "Oh [ __ ] yeah, she's [ __ ] How did I forget about her?" Her intro into this season is staggeringly good.

[00:03:29]Where Zuko was defined by a specific desperation and emotional throughine, Azula's reveal here is defined by control. The way she speaks is deliberately flat. All of the interactions she shares with her subordinates concern their ability to follow exactly what she says. And we even get a brief glimpse into how she views her own lack of perfection when performing chillingly powerful techniques with [ __ ] lightning.

[00:03:52]Again, I completely forgot about that.

[00:03:54]Functionally, this episode serves to shift the antagonist's batten from Zuko and Xiao over to her, and the result is something a lot less loud, but infinitely more sinister. I mean, she literally finds Zuko and Iro minutes after outlining that to be her goal. She even does that evil person waiting quietly in the shadows thing, and it feels natural. Do you have any idea how [ __ ] up she has to be on a baseline level for that to come off as a borderline normal thing to do? The way this episode, and honestly this season, uses her is pitch perfect. She embodies the ruthless nature each and every person fighting the Fire Nation has endured. And the fact that we feel that first and foremost through Zuko and Iro themselves speaks to what the writers are doing here.

[00:04:38]>> Family sticks together, right?

[00:04:42]>> God damn it, this show. All I needed was that split second and immediately the waterworks got going. Uncle Ro is the best. The relationship is clearly going to play a more pivotal role in this unfolding story. And while we get some of that here thanks to Azula, I think what's more important is to appreciate how this complements the aplot with Ang because it all goes back to the theme of control here. While the choreography of Ang versus General Fong is groundbreaking, something else has happened here. The most underrated aspect of this episode being what it says concerning the nature of allies themselves. The Fire Nation is of course the enemy, but the person who came closest to destroying Ang in this episode is a general on his own side.

[00:05:28]And through that, the show demonstrates how things are far from black and white in this series. That power without ethics is dangerous regardless of whose uniform you're wearing. And in the case of Ang, who is controlling that power?

[00:05:40]Nothing that has defined Ang's life has been his choice. He never chose to be the Avatar. He never chose to initiate this war. And in a blind, childish gambit, ran as it was the only form of control he felt like he could exert. Now 100 years removed from that one decision, Ang himself is once again being positioned as the only obstacle standing in the way of everyone else's joy. Airbending as an art form relies on evasion, deflection, and redirection of violence and hate. But as the title suggests, he is the last airbender. This violent world has entirely snuffed his people out. Does that mean that Ang should just give up everything and adapt? It's an entirely [ __ ] situation that genuinely doesn't have a single obvious answer, particularly if you're General Fong, who has to deal with the lives lost on his watch every single day. It's an incredible first episode that positions the Avatar State as a profound philosophical problem we all have to sit with at home. The question being, can you be both fully yourself and fully what the world needs you to be? Or does one come at the cost of the other? Time to get clean with Cheeky Moisturizing Bar Soap. Now, we're not even getting paid for this upfront. It's not a sponsorship, but we are operating 100% of commissions with this bad boy.

[00:06:58]So, if you want to support this channel, listen up. Now, I don't know about you, but whenever I'm showering, I'm thinking, "Man, if only there was a way I could MAKE THIS MORE ANIME." WELL, CHEEKY, courtesy of Moist Critical, answered my prayers, smelling incredibly, providing a great lather, and with the added bonus of moisturizing my skin, which is prone to being drier than the average Earth Kingdom these days. After using this soap for a week, I'm like But seriously, I'm going to make it my regular rotation. know they go about making this soap the oldfashioned way with a cold press and the high quality ingredients blah blah blah but offering a result that's gentle on the skin which my body greatly appreciates. So if all that sounds appealing to you, go ahead to use cheeky.com/nutmark or code notmark for 10% off your first purchase and to support these videos we produce with love for you all as often as we can. That's code notmark at usecheky.com/notmark or click the link in the description to learn more. Get clean now.

[00:07:56]>> You got to focus less on the where and more on the going.

[00:08:01]>> Oh my shoe. The Cave of Two Lovers. I remembered hating this episode as a kid, but man, do I see how wrong I was now.

[00:08:12]More than simply being a solid and funny episode we can all use to decompress after the existential nightmare of the prior, the legend of Ma and Shu sits at the heart of Ang's relationship with Qatara. And most interestingly, the entire story this season is trying to explore. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is 14-year-old me was a [ __ ] idiot. Two people from waring villages, separated by a conflict they never chose, learned earthbending from the creatures around them simply to find each other in the dark and in the process led to the creation of Omashu, the city itself. In this way, it's easy to understand why this tale speaks to Ang specifically. Since his prior meeting with General Fong, he must have been asking himself whether he's even allowed to want things for himself.

[00:08:54]things like love, friendship, joy, you know, the things that make him who he is rather than just a weapon for one side to employ. In that light, the legend of Oman Shu offers an answer to that question he's asking himself. Far from being a distraction, it suggests that love specifically is how one finds their way through the darkness and in some cases can lead to lasting positivity. In their case, it was the creation of Omashu's city. But this fable is far from an overly simplistic fairy tale. In fact, when Ma believes that Shu has died, her grief unleashes enormous devastation, a consequence which would map exactly onto Ang's response to death with the Avatar state had it not been for one simple thing. Ma controlled what she did with her power and by virtue of who she was didn't allow that grief to manifest in more death and destruction for others. Ultimately, this legend or love story can also be seen as a cautionary tale, one that warns of what grief can do to power. positioning Qatara both as a source of tremendous strength and love for Ang as well as his single greatest vulnerability. Also, Saka is just so [ __ ] funny in this episode. His increasingly over-the-top reactions to the nonsense those musical nomads kept coming out with remain some of the funniest parts of this series to date and got several laughs out of me.

[00:10:10]>> I think that kid might be the Avatar.

[00:10:15]What made The Cave of Two Lovers work, however, within this newly more serialized format is what it stood to offer the next episode. You see, having just spent 22 minutes exploring how the power of love led to something truly lasting in the form of Amashu's city when Ang and his friends crest that hill at the beginning of episode 3 and it's already fallen. I mean, my head exploded. I was like, "Bravo, man.

[00:10:37]Bravo." I mean, like, what an incredible way to once again force Ang to question how he should approach this looming conflict with the Fire Lord Ozai. And to make matters even better, this episode too ties again into the theme of control and how one chooses to engage with conflict. The key word here being choose. Ma chose love. And in this episode, when faced with the fall of his entire kingdom, Boommy chose to >> nothing.

[00:11:04]What makes this such an interesting and brilliant idea for an episode extends far beyond the calculated decisions Boommy made to do nothing when his kingdom faced a Fire Nation attack. Like the prior installment, it's another example of how attack and running away are far from the only options available to Ang in his present circumstances. And most brilliantly, Boommy connects this philosophy he's employing to a foundational lesson Ang must learn about earthbending itself, serving as a perfect outline for what Ang should expect from his eventual earthbending teacher. Someone who waits and listens before striking. In other words, someone who's mastered neutral jing. Also, we get Ty. Need I say more? 10 out of 10.

[00:11:43]>> Saka, you've got an elbow leech.

[00:11:45]>> WHERE? WHERE?

[00:11:46]>> WHERE DO YOU THINK? Using visions as a narrative device after three episodes defined by external conflict, The Swamp pulls us inward, pun intended, withQatara and Saka forced to sit with and explore their grief, The Swamp shows Ang his future, speaking, I guess, directly to his role as the Avatar. Now, there's a moment where the gang sits down with this guy called Hugh, and I didn't expect to cry during this moment because this episode never really left an impression on me as a child. But upon hearing Hugh describe the human condition, how Ang's past and future loved ones are with him, it became apparent why my experience has been so different since I began this rewatch. As an adult, with full awareness of the world's suffering, it's hard not to shed a tear as Hugh waxes poetically about our place in and the interconnectedness of this world. For Ang, the air nomads are gone. Boomie's city has fallen, and the world he knew has vanished before his eyes. Without Hugh's philosophical outlook, it's easy to see how someone like Ang could feel isolated or severed from everything else around him.

[00:12:49]>> We used to be a great society before you KILLED OUR LEADER. NOW look at us.

[00:12:54]>> Avatar Day is aggressively mid. Having just seen an episode about how time is an illusion and that we are all connected, this episode saddling Ang with the responsibility for a past Avatar's action should have been a layup. But no. What's the next episode?

[00:13:10]champion, the Blind Bandit.

[00:13:14]>> Oh my god, it's Blind Bandit. She's here. She's finally here. Everyone, calm down. Calm down. Be cool. Oh my god.

[00:13:19]Okay, this episode was way funnier as an adult than it was as a kid for me. I had never seen wrestling as a kid. So, seeing the Boulder parody The Rock or Fire Nation Man parody The Iron Chic was truly a special experience for me. I was crying, laughing. With that said, Tooff's introduction to the story is even more cool than I remembered it to be. The way she calculates the tiniest of details using only her hearing is immediately awesome and compliments her cheeky, brash personality perfectly. Her introduction also contends with the duality of how people with disabilities are treated as if they're helpless even when they don't require that special treatment. The fact that Tooff as a character isn't defined by that story of her struggle despite her lack of vision is, I think, the greatest success any character with a disability could achieve. I adore everything about her.

[00:14:09]She is just the best.

[00:14:12]>> Um, I'll take the belt back.

[00:14:17]>> Now, Zuko Alone is one of those episodes I've been scared to attempt a breakdown for because I remembered it. It's been examined under a microscope countless times I've seen across the internet, which, you know, it's understandable.

[00:14:29]It's a massive turning point for his character. But, strangely, what stood out to me the most was how Azula was presented during this. Her mother dotes over Zuko, hands her toys that anyone who knew her would know she'd have no interest in. And there's even a moment where her mother audibly says, "What is wrong with that girl?" I mean, she's just a kid. I used to look at this episode as one that focused on Zuko's relationship with his abusive father.

[00:14:55]But as an adult, I now see it less as a Zuko character study, per se, and more so a broad exploration on the theme of generational trauma. It's clear Zuko's grandfather was a violent presence in Ozai's life. And it's from there we gain the context needed to understand why Ozai became the scar-giving father to Zuko in the first place. No one is who they are, no matter how evil without reason. A monster always has its maker.

[00:15:28]You know what? It's fitting I experienced Zuku alone the way I did because Azula is honestly a monster in this episode. Less of a chase, more of a hunch, she doesn't even sleep really.

[00:15:38]It's like she's inhuman, which is kind of a nice touch when you consider this episode contends with how relationships fracture under pressure and we get to explore that surprisingly through Tooff and Iro's interaction where we see some nice development from Tooff as well as an exploration into what Iro's son meant to him. making the ending, despite its creative and exciting choreography, all the more heartbreaking.

[00:16:00]>> Zuko, I can help.

[00:16:06]>> Okay, so this next episode entitled Bitter Work is kind of special to me.

[00:16:11]It's all about Zuko and Ang trying to master a new skill that's entirely antithetical to their nature or how they presently are. And unlike the vast majority of episodes in this series, this one has stayed with me vividly. All because of one line Iro shares with Zuko.

[00:16:26]>> Pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source. True humility is the only antidote to shame.

[00:16:32]>> Anyone that's seen my Evangelian video will know that I'm someone who deeply struggles with personal shame. Shame over what I look like, how I speak, and even who I am. But this quote, nestled within what is already a very engaging episode exploring how one overcomes what doesn't come naturally to them became a core memory I would return to in times of uncertainty. Recording my voice, sharing what I look like and how I think were all things I struggled with before starting this channel. But thanks in part to this one lesson, this one line from Iro, I managed to push through it and work on myself. The work continues to this day. I still doubt myself. I never had adults in my life that understood how I felt. So this episode and really this series helped bridge that gap for me when I was growing up.

[00:17:20]>> No, >> I'm not sure if I'm wrong for feeling this way, but I look at the library and the creepy owl man all the way to bossing say as the emotional slam dunk of this season. Again, I never fully came to grips with the meat of this as a child. But the owl's condition that the knowledge found within this library cannot be weaponized. Felt, I don't know, potentially overly simplistic.

[00:17:45]Saka breaks that condition almost immediately. And the show, you know, I think rightfully doesn't condemn him for it. I mean, how could it? His mother died due to the horrors of the Fire Nation. So, should my takeaway be that idealism is a luxury for those not saddled with ongoing war and grief? I'm not so sure. There are consequences to these actions. While they were off searching for knowledge to weaponize against Ang's enemies, Ang loses the last living connection he has to the world he left behind, Apa. Consequently, the subsequent desert episode becomes the most emotionally raw of the entire season. The way it leverages the Avatar State as this precipice Ang is on the verge of falling into at all times is nerve-wracking, but the way it presents Qatara, the opening to embody everything missing in Ang's life, is staggeringly effective. And as the episodes proceed with adventures like Serpent's Path, Ang confronts the concept of hope as something more than a belief that can hurt him again. Terrified to believe Apa could be on the other side and be disappointed, he stands in direct contrast with the family he helps to cross this path. But it's the 13th episode, The Drill, where I saw something I know I didn't pick up on as a kid. There's absolutely insanely cool airbending and choreography on display and of course a big ass drill. But it's the solution that Ang arrives at to vanquish this threat that I picked up on this time around. He stops it from the inside, which might not seem like a meaningful detail, but in the context of this season, it's the culmination of Ang's lessons in a sense. To answer this overwhelming force, he chose not to match its strength, but to wait, assess, and find its weakness by applying precision and pressure. It's brilliant, and it all leads to an episode I couldn't forget and had been waiting for within the great city of Ba Sings.

[00:19:37]Stratified, surveiled, and smiling, the creepiest green imaginable, by the way.

[00:19:42]The arrival of Jud to this day sends shivers down my widow's spine and for me marks the arrival of Avatar's single most terrifying episode.

[00:19:53]Are you sure about that?

[00:19:55]>> Yeah, this was the episode that exposed my young self to the concept of brainwashing and the nature of cultist control where Judy narrates the city's wonders with an empty grin. The DY operate in the shadows unseen offering up only fleeting glimpses until the very end with jet. And broadly speaking, this episode and bossing say is the fully realized manifestation of what General Fong teased in this season's first episode. The darkness wolffully concealed by a supposed ally. Now, as you might have noticed, I've tried not to speak at length on every episode, but [ __ ] it. This is bossing say so. Let's ball. Boasting two of the most effective and harmonious A and B plots this series has. We follow the repurposed jet and his companions as they too seek to uncover and expose a truth of their own alongside Jud's vacuous positivity that guides Ang and the group with a measured tone, concealing the city's darkest secret. But the single most quietly chilling moment of the entire episode stands as a monument, I think, to how and why this episode's horror works. And it is so easily missed. I think found in the moment Ang outs himself at the fancy function. We witness Judy's hollow smile crumble and without words it communicates exactly what awaits her following this failure. That's it. It's just 1 second her face drops. It's such an incredible detail and it's made even more effective thanks to her sudden replacement showing up at the very end unceremoniously without advertising it.

[00:21:19]She just it's new girl. Hi Judy.

[00:21:22]Everything about what makes bossing say scary to me is what goes unsaid or is left to the imagination. It's the jaws of the Avatar world. You don't need to see the shark to understand that that girl is scary as [ __ ] making it the cornerstone of this season's central theme, control. We've seen what a loss of control over one's life can do to someone like Jet or how control becomes an obsession for someone like Azula. But Bosing Se offers a view of a society that has made control its central focus over information, movement, and thought.

[00:21:50]Its will is absolute and this control which while Orwellian grants six individual characters the space they need to express themselves and unwind despite endless war that's defined each of their lives. This is the episode entitled Tales of Bossing. And unlike the prior, I had completely forgotten what this was or even that it existed really. It's a series of vignettes that offer personal and sometimes comedic insight into the contents of characters personalities whose lives have been defined by the war around them. And I was not ready for what they did with Uncle Iro here. What's going on?

[00:22:24]Venturing through Bossing Say, helping strangers, each one older than the last, each one embodying a version of the son he lost trying to siege this very city.

[00:22:32]By the time he sits alone on the hill, it drives home again the root of why he wishes to save Zuko. He's Lieuten.

[00:22:39]That's who he's really trying to save.

[00:22:41]And that's the story of this short. over and over with each and every single person he meets. It's a small version of Lieuten hopes to help in whatever way he can. My only gripe with this is that the Iro section is immediately followed by Ang building a zoo when in reality Iro really should have been the send home note for this episode.

[00:23:02]>> I guess this means we'll always be together.

[00:23:06]>> I vaguely recalled this when it began.

[00:23:08]Uh, but the weight of what it was went entirely over my head as a kid. I mean, clearly I've always been an animal person, and obviously I didn't want the mean men to hurt the giant gentle beaver thing. But now, having thoroughly explored what control from the outside looks like with Jet, General Fong, and bossing say at large, I understand the inner workings of this episode all the more. How through Apa, as he's wordlessly sold, caged, and eventually broken to reveal a new fear of fire.

[00:23:35]What I had once seen as a detour episode, today rendered me little more than a wreck. In short, blah blah blah.

[00:23:42]Tears, tears, tears. You get it. I like the giant furry flying beaver episode.

[00:23:46]Moving on. How damn long were we chilling in bossing say for in this series? How many episodes has it been?

[00:23:52]This is like the what, fourth, and we've got one more. Where are we? Oh, yeah.

[00:23:56]Lake Laoy. I think that's how you pronounce it. What I think makes bossing say a particularly interesting segment of the show, a large segment, is that it serves as a comprehensive exploration on the theme of control without dismissing it at face value as this evil thing.

[00:24:10]After that unnerving as hell first episode, it would have been super easy to just say control at the expense of agency is bad and move on. But realistically, that would be ignoring the thousands of people living in this city, some of whom are happy or entirely complicit in this delusion. Some of them chose this. So the fact that we got the tales of bossing say which serve to demonstrate that a normal life is possible within these walls was remarkably honest. With each episode we explore the scary, the calm, the mundane and the craziness of this enormous Earth Kingdom city. And this episode puts the cherry on top of it all for me with it serving as the clearest condemnation of what absolute control ultimately costs.

[00:24:51]And that hits hard because we've seen why it does work. That's an important balance. And the fact that Jet is the conduit for this message would be fitting if it wasn't so earthshatteringly tragic. There is a counterbalance, however, with Jet lost forever. Apa is finally found. And by Zuko of all people, like I said, I didn't really understand bossing say really at all as a kid. I mean, the nuance of Iro's history with his son, Jet's death, which I honestly don't even remember happening if I'm honest. And most interestingly, how they effectively turned our strongest allies, the Earth Kingdom, into the central antagonist of this arc through the Dale. And not because they are bad people necessarily.

[00:25:30]Not because the Earth Kingdom is bad.

[00:25:32]What's that? A nuance take on good versus evil that doesn't present a clear evildoer, but rather points the finger to a system of human nature. Who said that? But it's not until we get to that conversation, that heart-to-heart, that real intense exchange between Iro and Zuko that I really zoned in as a kid.

[00:25:49]And again, this is one of those few moments from the series that I really do remember vividly. The way Iro forces Zuko to confront whether he's doing something for himself or for others resonated with me so strongly that I think about it to this day and have done again as frequently as other moments from Iro that I've mentioned. And yes, add it to the counter, it got me crying like a widow baby, too. At the conclusion of episode 18, with the king finally discovering the truth of the war, I've concluded that this second season, when looked at in its totality, is one of the very best second acts I've ever come across. Second acts are hard to write. They can't rely on the newness or the energy of a strong opening act or the drama of an action-packed third.

[00:26:30]Instead, it leans on the mystery, the nuance, and the adult motifs that effectively gave the story the weight and the legacy it now operates with. The final stretch of this season culminates with two episodes that effectively knocked me on my ass with how [ __ ] incredible they are as an end point to this season specifically leading into the third. The episodes Guru and the crossroads of destiny basically tackle the central question of the entire season by tackling the themes of grief, shame, love, fear, and finally the loss of control. as Ang passes through various chakras until he's asked to surrender control and let go of Qatara entirely. And I got to say, [ __ ] that noise. Ang did the right thing. The consequences being the fall of bossing say is okay. It's it that sucks to say the least. But with the crossroads of destiny only serving to rub salt in the wound by nuking the Avatar State, almost killing Angula winning, Zuko betraying himself and his uncle, bossing say falling, the Earth Kingdom is Oh my god.

[00:27:30]Okay, it's all gone to [ __ ] is what I'm trying to say. And really, you couldn't ask for anything more than that for the climax of a penultimate season. It is 10 out of 10. For me, I'd give it more if I could. It's such an unapologetically powerful segment that it has convinced me I do not know how this next and final part will hit me. I mean, all the way through this, I've had it in my head that do I recall not enjoying the ending of the series? Yeah, I I think I remember not liking that. I remember feeling it was hollow or empty or I think I might have used the words DSX Machina. But something tells me that this experience might lead me to arrive at a very different conclusion. But I guess we'll see next week when I cover the final season of Avatar the Last Airbender.

[00:28:16]Make sure to click the link in the description if you want to support our channel. And thank you all so much for watching.

[00:28:27]Shake up. Shake up. Shake up. Shake up.

[00:28:32]Shake.