Oh Jet, you grass blade-chewing psycho. This is an episode that could have been interesting, introducing a host of cool and driven characters with their vigilante ways of dispensing justice, but squanders its potential and is mostly useless. Characters suddenly act differently, nothing feels natural, and it begins the worst 45 minute run of Avatar as one of its only two bad episodes.
While journeying through the woods, the crew are ambushed by Fire Nation troops. These troops are in turn ambushed by some renegade tree-dwelling warriors, led by the charismatic Jet. The interesting bunch have all been wronged by the Fire Nation and seek to make them pay. After charming Aang and Katara, Jet's true personality is revealed when he brutally attacks an old man purely for being part of the Fire Nation. Sokka's the only one who sees, and thus Aang and Katara don't believe him and are happy to help Jet by unknowingly using their Waterbending powers to play a key role in drowning a whole town, some of whom are Fire Nation but mostly innocents. Surprise, surprise, they find out the truth, defeat Jet, and Sokka saves the town with help from the old man.
I hate this episode. I hate, hate, HATE this episode. I usually don't talk cultural issues in reviews so bear with me. Katara instantly falls for the dashing Jet and immediately refuses to hear any criticism of him, and mocks Sokka when he tries to tell the truth. For a show so progressive in many of its episodes, this yanks Katara into the old "women let emotions get in the way of their logic" trope. Aang, a kid, is likewise gullible (another reason why the romance they're setting up between Aang and Katara is stupid: HE IS A CHILD) beyond all reason. These characters have been mistrustful of everyone else they've met. Why do they just immediately trust this tool? Who knows. Some subplot involving Sokka's "instincts" is here and it's terrible too. I give it three stars for the great animation and interesting supporting characters, but make no mistake: this is a rare slip-up for the Avatar franchise and arguably the worst episode of the whole show. To make matters even worse, the next episode doesn't help.
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