I LOVE how Iroh and Jeong's views in firebending reflect their students: *Uncle Iroh:* _Fire is alive. It is dangerous, but if you nurture it, it brings warmth and light. Just like Prince Zuko._ *Jeong Jeong:* _Fire is alive. It is dangerous, and if you fail to tame it, it brings destruction and death. Just like Admiral Zhao._
I feel so bad for Jeong Jeong, the fact that he hates himself for being born a firebender is so sad because of what his nation has done to the other nations. He is ashamed for being a fire-bender so much that he wished he had water bending like katara 😢
@@JoniEscar_07also if he learned from Katara’s later water bending teacher that water is equally capable of destruction and death, especially in the wrong hands.
Potential Spoilers: I didn't notice this until now, but Jeong Jeong's lessons on concentrating and breathing are essentially taking the Horse Stance position and the basic practice of Taiichi breathing exercises fused into one. Jeong Jeong was so reluctant on teaching firebender without learning water or earth that his lessons was trying to rush the core basics without the bending. Considering what he's apart of, this also makes sense how he'd understand the basics of the other elements too.
You can see just how powerful Jeong Jeong is when he made a wall of fire _on water._ I remember that after this episode the fandom hypothesized that Aang would likely end up learning firebending from Iroh, because they wouldn't have enough time to go off searching for Jeong Jeong again.
I liked how this episode touches on the philosophical aspect of bending, especially fire bending. Jeong Jeong of course sees it in a very negative light (fire only consumes and destroys), but also hints at some positive aspects of fire too (the sun is made of fire and brings life) something a future episode will touch on more in depth.
Remember what uncle Iroh said in the first/second episode? Firebending comes from the breath. Jeong Jeong is an incredible master who actually understands fire as an element and as a bending. He is also very wise since he *knew* Aang didn't master water an earth... And he knew that he needs to in order to be able to properly responsibly firebend. He needs to gain the psychological abilities and character development each bending gives him. Him saying how fire spreads after a bender bends compared to how a rock or water will just atay put... Amazingly put, it's not something you really think about until he reminds you of it
I like this episode in particular for the subtle way they show what a good bender Zuko really is without even having him in the episode. Zhao has power with no control, but Zuko has fought Aang in a small enclosed room and still avoided burning anything he didn't intend to burn
Imagine how badass it would've been if Katara kept the scars on her hand? But I get why they didn't. Such a small detail would've made her impossible to animate. And Roku possessing Aang to tell Jeong Jeong off is so badass too. Aang's glowing is specifically the Avatar State. It's not that all airbenders glow using a specific power. The reason Aang's tattoos glow is because the tattoos follow the chakra path from the base of the spice to the top of the head. To use D&D terms, Sokka is high intelligence but low wisdom.
nah the scars aren't necessary. unnecessary hate for aang and this was supposed to be a lesson for aang while upgrading his character development and introducing healing for water benders
I mean Roku had a point, Jeong Jeong needed to teach Aang, that he wasn't ready to learn fire bending. He inadvertently taught him respect for fire as well.
@@willowarkan2263 100% agree, This show did an amazing job at how each element could have really insidious and destructive aspects. Maybe if this were any other bender, sure - Jeong Jeong's words would have more weight but ultimately, he was speaking to the avatar. You can't say that to Aang without speaking to all of his past lives, he was literally born for this lol sometimes you have to adjust the plan.
In reply to your DnD analogy, I think you got it backwards. Multiple future episodes very much demonstrate that while Sokka is not conventionally intelligent, he has great instincts. However, to take it a step further, I personally think he's high wisdom AND high intellect, and is just uneducated. They gave him high roll base stats across the board to compensate for his lack of bending.
@@diamcoleNah it’s more than traditional, almost necessary to learn the elements in the order of water earth fire and air. There’s subtle things from each element you need to learn in order to master the next.
While there are dangers to all elements, Fire is most volatile, and Aang learned the hard way what happens when you take fire lightly. That being said, Jeong Jeong as good a firebender he was perhaps was not the best teacher for Aang, he was hateful towards fire for the damage it could cause and you cannot master something with disdain On the other hand, healing hands! Katara upgrades a new skillset to make her squad healer as well, plus we got to mess with Zhao a bit more.
@@matthewpopow6647 a novice water bender will give you hypothermia, or dehydrate you without knowing how or why. A novice earth bender may cause an avalanche or shoot a pebble through your head. Bending is a tool, just as much as a sword, hammer, or firearm. Respect, patience, and practice is what every tool requires from every wielder.
We see that some benders have signature moves that they use often in fights- Zuko’s breakdancing thing or Aang’s air scooter, for example. What’s interesting is that Zhao’s move (his parting the fire thing) directly counters Jeong Jeong’s fire wall! It’s likely that he came up with it in order to beat his old master. I love how we see Zhao using the move before we’re ever introduced to Jeong Jeong. It really gives off the feeling that the people in this world have existed before we see them here, and makes the world feel much more lived in.
Jeong Jeong having trained Zhao is something you forget about after awhile, but it really helps flesh out the setting. These later Book 1 episodes are some of my absolute favorites, but the show really does just get better and better.
Another episode that shows about why control in fire bending is really important is if you go back and watch episode 4 and focus on Zuko and his crew fight not once did any of them try and set anything on fire besides bending towards an opponent and yet the town still got set on fire
You know Aang got a master's degree at a young age? Aang was entrusted with becoming an Airbending teacher and got his arrow tattoo at the age of 12 which shows him as an Airbending Master
This episode was not only an important lesson for Aang, but it also remids us that there are things that even the Avatar can't do. He's not a master key to every problem, and thats great! Aang is powerful, but his utility also springs from the extraordinary people around him. (It does beg the question, does his influence make them extraordinary, or does his nature draw extraordinary people towards him?)
You have been introduced to healing, but you have already been introduced to other sub waterbending techniques. In episode 1 (or 2) you saw Katara manipulate ice. Ice is also a sub waterbending technique along with healing. Not everything is gunna be pointed out. You also saw Roku use Lava Bending destroy the fire sage temple, lava is a sub element of earth, it is even more rare than alot of other sub bendings abilities.
I'm watching along with them so I don't actually know about this but we saw Uncle Iroh deflect a lightning in an episode and I'm guessing that's due to fire bend
@@Anika-Buster SPOILERS It's both. Avatars do it by combining elements, whereas Lavabenders do it by moving rock so quickly that the friction causes it to melt. Ironically, the second one is a LOT harder to do, which is why only two non-Avatar characters in the entire franchise are able to do it.
@@robertpresley1503 That would mean that each avatar lived an average of 10 years. Remember that the new avatar isn't born until the last one dies, so you don't have 3-4 generations alive at the same time as you do with normal people. Let's assume that most avatars don't live to 75. If we drop the average lifespan to 50, that still only gives us 200 avatars.
I wouldn’t say fire only brings destruction. After all the sun is made of fire and without it I don’t think there would be any life on earth at all. The earth was born from its magma as well. I would say fire brings life in its special kind of way.
This is the first episode of Avatar I ever saw and holds a special place in my heart. I remember it was Thanksgiving evening, and I was sitting in my grandparents' bedroom with a cup of homemade hot chocolate.
It's ridiculous to think about, but congratulations on now passing the 25% mark for this show, dudes! I know it'll be roughly another year before you get to it, but I hope you follow up this with Legend of Korra!
Omg they’re already 1/4 through the show?! In my mind I thought it was so much longer, I guess it’s just been so long since I first watched it. Had you asked me I would have said like 10-15% as of this episode
Considering that Jeong Jeong and Iroh both served as generals around the same time, and both share the belief that fire is alive and must be respected, I bet you they were friends/rivals in military school. The sort who disagree and argue constantly, but always respect the others' opinion.
As far as we saw, water has properties for healing technique and can turn them into ice like what Katara has done previewsly. As for fire, its indeed a destructive element, but we did saw in the storm episode how Iro absorbed and re direct a lightning to protect the ship. Would lightning and fire shares some properties? could be but in a thin line of similarities. For now we havent seen different ways that Aang can use air bending or any earth bender using earth in a different way yet.
I wanted to say that you guys have such great reactions! I always LOVE watching the episodes because you guys are just SO interested in these characters and the lore and all the seriousness of the story, yet you guys also have enough levity to be able to have fun with the jokes and it creates such a beautiful balance in your reactions! I absolutely adore it!! I ALWAYS look forward to you guys reacting because you guys don’t take reacting TOO seriously to the point of criticizing the show and now taking the show seriously, but you guys also don’t take the show as too much of joke that you are constantly joking with it and not seeing the in-depth messages the show is conveying. I truly appreciate that, a lot, because I can just sit back and enjoy watching it with you and look forward to your reactions, and not have to worry about my favorite show being insulted OR worry about you guys not catching some of the more serious topics the show deals with! I truly appreciate and love it! Keep being great reactors!
Think of it this way, you throw a drop of water, or peddle or a gust of wind into a forest, nothing happens really. You throw a spark of fire into it, and the forest burns down.
9:38 depends on the water pressure tho the sharpest thing in the earth is literally water it can cut anything with enough pressure and since water benders are able to control the pressure water whip can be deadly as hell
I like this episode because it shows you can't just skip an element. You can't go from water to fire like that because they are too much of an opposite. You have to go through the whole cycle to learn everything properly Also minor spoilers just in case Even Roku stated that he had trouble with air and water...
The one thing I would have liked is after that whole situation Katara kept burn marks on her hands. Don't get me wrong she can still get the whole healing water ability but I would have liked it if the burn marks stayed on her hands. To really show that this mistake that Aang did just doesn't go away and shows that being reckless and impatience can have consequences not just towards you but the people around you as well.
Throughout the rest of the series Aang acts as if he's permanently scarred her so I think whether he actually does or not is irrelevant, but I get what you mean.
If that happened i fear Aang couldn't have opened the chakra later on. I mean even Katara fully healed made him so reluctant to even attempt fire bending late in the show. if she still carried the scars... Plus Sokka would have continuously disliked Aang whenever seeing the scar on his sister. And Katara would have kept a fear towards Aang. All in all a powerful message you suggest but their bond would never have truly be healed and that would have hurt the story. Also a bit too dark for the show. At the time of Legend of Korra such consequences were never an issue.
Interesting side note: the reason Aang picked up waterbending and firebending so easily is because they both contain oxygen. A gas that also is in air. So as an airbending master he can pick these elements up easier. Whenever he bends air he’s also bending the oxygen inside it as well as the other gases that make it.
I don’t think that’s valid reasoning. Typical soil is filled with oxides, so by your logic he should have just as easy a time learning earth bending. The actual reasons simply have to do with Aang’s personality and the opposition of Earth and Air in classical Aristotelian/Eastern metaphysics, just like the show explains.
It’s more because of a combination of Aangs personality more closely matching the energy of the element and him already knowing very similar movements for air bending
The specialty of earth can also manipulate metal and water bending can also manipulate the blood in people, fire can manipulate lava or magma too if your wondering.
yeah, as long as fire has oxygen, you losing control is dangerous af. Fire is chemical reaction after all. That explains why firebending comes from the breath, not the muscles..
its important to note going forward that the wisdom we get from various masters is colored by their experiences. Jeong Jeong deserted the fire nation because all he and his bending were used for was destruction and conquest. It most definitely colored his perception and philosophy on bending. He's right that it requires discipline, but don't take the advice of any master as gospel on the nature of the world. One of the best things about this show is that it captures many different philosophies :)
13:36 yes it is, they do such a good job at taking risks and reach topics that are complicated and mature and deliver it to kids... Having him be so reckless that he burns Katara is such a bold move and it shows you just how amazing this show is. The best part? It gets so much more better.
In this first series, bending is still pretty primitive, so anything other than basic manipulation of the element is rare For example, earth bending only works with rocks or hard soil, water only works with actual water and not other more complex liquids, etc But all elements can be pushed to do way more than that, because everything is made out of one of the 4 elements Fire is not just fire, but the energy of things (since fire is a physical manifestation of energy) Wind is just gas Water is liquids Earth is solids The thing is that the more refined/changed the object is (and the more different it is from it's base form) the harder it is to bend.
I think it'd be monstrous to be as angry at Aang as Sokka gets but gotta love protective older brother mode. He didn't think twice, it was just immediately *on*, whether Katara blamed him or not.
Yea every bending art has some sort of bending speciality/ power that they can have. Water has healing and one other that you’ll see later on that’s never more powerful Fire has lightning bending and combustion both that you’ll see later Earth bending has lava which very few can do and one other that they discover in s2 Air is abit different from the others due to their life style. They desire to detach themselves from earthly things. If you can do so air benders can straight up fly. The other is astral projection being able to use their spirit self to few thing far away from their body. Although anyone is capable of doing this air benders spiritual lifestyle makes it more common. A fun fact about the air nomad is that they all used to be able to fly but then they discovered the sky bison which they devolved a close bond with. They ended up giving up their ability to fly for a lifelong companion. Each air bender and bison chose each other to be companions for life
This episode proves guns should exist in Avatar, since they have gunpowder for the fireworks. Unfortunately, no one ever uses a canon or a gun in the show, and we don't even see fireworks ever again.
The avatar role play game shows that guns are a thing, they are just the old Chinese bamboo ones which weren’t very effective especially in a world of precision long range punching
the glowing isn't a bending it's just healing abilities having a glow which obviously only waterbenders have. there is also a glow when people spirit bend but you'll get to that later
I love the lessons learned about fire bending throughout the show. Jeong Jeong is right about fire being alive and dangerous when it isn’t controlled, but he is wrong about Fire bending bringing only destruction and pain, as we see later on when Aang and Zuko meet the dragons and learn that fire brings life and beauty. There is a lot of prejudice toward fire benders because of what the fire nation did, but originally fire wasn’t meant to be used for evil. Iroh is one of the few people who understands this because of his relationship with the dragons, and I think Iroh is the most correct in his view of fire bending. This is partly what makes Iroh such a good bender, because he held the secret that most people didn’t know. I also feel that there is a connection between bending and wisdom. The people who truly understand where bending comes from and the principles that are associated with it are often the most powerful benders.
I think that Zuko is not as powerful of a bender as Zhao but is a much better fighter. Zhao relies on brute force and the sheer size and power of his bending attacks, but because Zuko can't rely on raw power he is quicker, smarter, and better tactically. We saw him as the blue spirit take on several guards at a top tier facility and win without using his bending. That's what allows Zuko to beat Zhao in the Agni Kai and hold his own against Ang who is at this point a master airbender. PS I love your reactions so far. I've watched ATLA several times since and its always so fun to see people enjoying it for the first time!
Love the different philosophies of the bending cultures. Earthbending hasn't really taken center-stage yet but you can still see the influence Jeong Jeong took from the other nations even though he's a firebender.
“Oh you’re tired of horse stance? Sounds like someone needs more horse stance.” The thing with Zhong Zhong (yes I know I probably butchered that spelling) is he has a pessimistic view on firebending due to his time in the army and how they used it. But fire is not just death and destruction, it can bring warmth and life just as easily as water can bring death and suffering. It’s all about it’s use
semi spoiler, but not really, if you are wondering about the "specialties" of each bending (and looking in the "extended" universe), it's like this: air: suffocation, and flight water: healing, and controlling the body of another (aka, blood bending) earth: metal bending, lava bending fire: lightning, and a less known ability, healing
Jeong Jeong is like the old gunslinger from westerns. He's fought a hundred battles. He's killed a hundred men. And, he's done with it. he and Iroh have had enough killing and destruction. Two great men stuck with the lineage of a dishonorable lecherous group of people. They both served their nations with loyalty and devotion until they could take no more. Katara is a very strong bender, but she has probably never seen another water-bender. Before getting the scrolls, she probably had no idea what she might be able to do or how. Likely, she has used healing on herself over the years without realizing she healed far, far faster than others. She thought everyone heals overnight. It makes sense that some water-benders can heal. You are basically skin balloons of mostly water with some bones, muscle, organs, etc thrown in. Now that she is really learning water bending she can heal faster and see it happening. Makes you wonder what other special bending skills exist for elite benders?
you guys have seen a “special form” of firebending already actually lol but it will become more obvious later what i don’t understand is if healing is something only a few waterbenders can develop (sorta like the chosen ones of the chosen ones lol)
i'm watching the show at the same time y'all are but i was behind a few episodes, now i'm all caught up! watching jeong jeong and aang’s interaction kinda reminded me of master shifu and po from kung fu panda
No spoilers but certain elements have certain abilities but I don’t think everyone can do or master the certain abilities. Example healing. There are different types of bending within elements, if that makes since
I love this episode because no matter how much danger Jeong Jeong ascribes to firebending, at the end of the day he still uses it to protect people which shows that it’s not just destructive.
Everyone in the comments, please try not to spoil for these guys! If you do need to talk about ANYTHING in the future please put the words “spoiler alert” and then lots of spaces so they would need to click “read more” to actually read the spoiler.
Now that I think about it, I don’t think they ever refer to Zuko as a master in the show. Iroh’s line right before Zuko fights Zhao implies he isn’t one. I’m not sure what the requirements to be a master are. For airbenders, they just need to master a certain number of air bending forms, which Aang did by inventing a whole new form in the air scooter, but we don’t know if the requirements are the same for the other elements. It could be by some other metric.
Is the voice actor of Robin from Teen Titans Go in this episode? Is he the one doing the show, with the dragon, at the festival? This is literally the first time I’ve ever heard it sound like him, and I’ve watched this show many times. That’s him right?
Robin appears a lot actually, he’s the clean guy in the great divide that shows up first to get the earth bender for his tribe, and I think he’s also the guy that gives Aang the letter to Bato
Y’all thinking a little too in depth about the glowing it’s frl just special effects with certain abilities the avatar state is something completely different than any other glowing y’all will see
(slight) SPOILERS: it’s honestly crazy how firebending in this episode is seen as destructive, but is considered one of the weakest bending types out of the four. And how much later on in the series, they see how fire isn’t just destruction. It’s life, but it can do so much more.
To be fair Katara was terrified of the incoming flaming dragon and wimagine the juggler did lost control. Also why didn't Sokka jumped out? Even if the logical person inn him thinks it's all part of the show I would have imagined Katara being his sister he instinctively would try to get her out of harms way.
I LOVE how Iroh and Jeong's views in firebending reflect their students:
*Uncle Iroh:* _Fire is alive. It is dangerous, but if you nurture it, it brings warmth and light. Just like Prince Zuko._
*Jeong Jeong:* _Fire is alive. It is dangerous, and if you fail to tame it, it brings destruction and death. Just like Admiral Zhao._
I feel so bad for Jeong Jeong, the fact that he hates himself for being born a firebender is so sad because of what his nation has done to the other nations. He is ashamed for being a fire-bender so much that he wished he had water bending like katara 😢
If only he would've learned from the dragons that fire isn't only pain and destruction but life
he has an unhealthy view on what firebending is and thats why im glad he didnt end up being aangs teacher and someone with a better understanding did
@@JoniEscar_07also if he learned from Katara’s later water bending teacher that water is equally capable of destruction and death, especially in the wrong hands.
“ I don’t know why but I thought you’d be better than Zuko!” One of my fav lines 😂😂
*Lieutenant Zhao will remember that*
@@FrostyFyre 😂😂😂
Someone for got to tell aang that zuko beat zhao
Potential Spoilers:
I didn't notice this until now, but Jeong Jeong's lessons on concentrating and breathing are essentially taking the Horse Stance position and the basic practice of Taiichi breathing exercises fused into one. Jeong Jeong was so reluctant on teaching firebender without learning water or earth that his lessons was trying to rush the core basics without the bending. Considering what he's apart of, this also makes sense how he'd understand the basics of the other elements too.
he's a veteran si it makes sense his ability evolves through experience as well
@@humanoidfrog4645 and also white lotus member.
@@chernoalphaspunch Please delete! 🙁I really don’t want them to be spoiled
@@Jaguar470 The op says "potential spoilers" so they shouldn't read this thread anyway.
@@Jaguar470 That term wouldn't mean anything to someone who doesn't recognise it
This episode is so good at showing how aang still doesn't really understand what he's doing at this point
You can see just how powerful Jeong Jeong is when he made a wall of fire _on water._
I remember that after this episode the fandom hypothesized that Aang would likely end up learning firebending from Iroh, because they wouldn't have enough time to go off searching for Jeong Jeong again.
I liked how this episode touches on the philosophical aspect of bending, especially fire bending.
Jeong Jeong of course sees it in a very negative light (fire only consumes and destroys), but also hints at some positive aspects of fire too (the sun is made of fire and brings life) something a future episode will touch on more in depth.
Remember what uncle Iroh said in the first/second episode?
Firebending comes from the breath.
Jeong Jeong is an incredible master who actually understands fire as an element and as a bending. He is also very wise since he *knew* Aang didn't master water an earth... And he knew that he needs to in order to be able to properly responsibly firebend. He needs to gain the psychological abilities and character development each bending gives him.
Him saying how fire spreads after a bender bends compared to how a rock or water will just atay put... Amazingly put, it's not something you really think about until he reminds you of it
I like this episode in particular for the subtle way they show what a good bender Zuko really is without even having him in the episode. Zhao has power with no control, but Zuko has fought Aang in a small enclosed room and still avoided burning anything he didn't intend to burn
Imagine how badass it would've been if Katara kept the scars on her hand? But I get why they didn't. Such a small detail would've made her impossible to animate. And Roku possessing Aang to tell Jeong Jeong off is so badass too. Aang's glowing is specifically the Avatar State. It's not that all airbenders glow using a specific power. The reason Aang's tattoos glow is because the tattoos follow the chakra path from the base of the spice to the top of the head. To use D&D terms, Sokka is high intelligence but low wisdom.
nah the scars aren't necessary. unnecessary hate for aang and this was supposed to be a lesson for aang while upgrading his character development and introducing healing for water benders
I mean Roku had a point, Jeong Jeong needed to teach Aang, that he wasn't ready to learn fire bending. He inadvertently taught him respect for fire as well.
@@willowarkan2263 100% agree, This show did an amazing job at how each element could have really insidious and destructive aspects. Maybe if this were any other bender, sure - Jeong Jeong's words would have more weight but ultimately, he was speaking to the avatar. You can't say that to Aang without speaking to all of his past lives, he was literally born for this lol sometimes you have to adjust the plan.
In reply to your DnD analogy, I think you got it backwards. Multiple future episodes very much demonstrate that while Sokka is not conventionally intelligent, he has great instincts.
However, to take it a step further, I personally think he's high wisdom AND high intellect, and is just uneducated. They gave him high roll base stats across the board to compensate for his lack of bending.
@@diamcoleNah it’s more than traditional, almost necessary to learn the elements in the order of water earth fire and air. There’s subtle things from each element you need to learn in order to master the next.
While there are dangers to all elements, Fire is most volatile, and Aang learned the hard way what happens when you take fire lightly. That being said, Jeong Jeong as good a firebender he was perhaps was not the best teacher for Aang, he was hateful towards fire for the damage it could cause and you cannot master something with disdain
On the other hand, healing hands! Katara upgrades a new skillset to make her squad healer as well, plus we got to mess with Zhao a bit more.
A novice water bender will splash you
A novice fire bender will burn down their own house
@@matthewpopow6647 a novice water bender will give you hypothermia, or dehydrate you without knowing how or why.
A novice earth bender may cause an avalanche or shoot a pebble through your head.
Bending is a tool, just as much as a sword, hammer, or firearm. Respect, patience, and practice is what every tool requires from every wielder.
I mean it was also good for Aangs character development. So maybe Jeong Jeong did what he was supposed to do, teaching the new avatar a lesson
Level Up:
Katara learned Healing Hands
Aang learned PTSD.
"i don't know why, but i thought you'd be better than zuko" is the greatest joke ever 😂😂
We see that some benders have signature moves that they use often in fights- Zuko’s breakdancing thing or Aang’s air scooter, for example. What’s interesting is that Zhao’s move (his parting the fire thing) directly counters Jeong Jeong’s fire wall! It’s likely that he came up with it in order to beat his old master.
I love how we see Zhao using the move before we’re ever introduced to Jeong Jeong. It really gives off the feeling that the people in this world have existed before we see them here, and makes the world feel much more lived in.
Jeong Jeong having trained Zhao is something you forget about after awhile, but it really helps flesh out the setting. These later Book 1 episodes are some of my absolute favorites, but the show really does just get better and better.
Jeong Jeong’s firebending is unlike anything else in the show, one of my favorite characters honestly.
That guy that helped them escape also had a wanted poster. It mentions he was an explosives expert
Another episode that shows about why control in fire bending is really important is if you go back and watch episode 4 and focus on Zuko and his crew fight not once did any of them try and set anything on fire besides bending towards an opponent and yet the town still got set on fire
You know Aang got a master's degree at a young age? Aang was entrusted with becoming an Airbending teacher and got his arrow tattoo at the age of 12 which shows him as an Airbending Master
This episode was not only an important lesson for Aang, but it also remids us that there are things that even the Avatar can't do. He's not a master key to every problem, and thats great! Aang is powerful, but his utility also springs from the extraordinary people around him. (It does beg the question, does his influence make them extraordinary, or does his nature draw extraordinary people towards him?)
You have been introduced to healing, but you have already been introduced to other sub waterbending techniques. In episode 1 (or 2) you saw Katara manipulate ice. Ice is also a sub waterbending technique along with healing. Not everything is gunna be pointed out. You also saw Roku use Lava Bending destroy the fire sage temple, lava is a sub element of earth, it is even more rare than alot of other sub bendings abilities.
In the avatar extras it was said lava bending was a mix of earth and fire bending that was later retconned to be a sub set of earth bending.
I'm watching along with them so I don't actually know about this but we saw Uncle Iroh deflect a lightning in an episode and I'm guessing that's due to fire bend
@@hasty3132 Correct. Lighting is a sub set of fire bending but it's very difficult. You'll learn more about it later.
Ice isn’t a sub element it’s just water
@@Anika-Buster SPOILERS
It's both. Avatars do it by combining elements, whereas Lavabenders do it by moving rock so quickly that the friction causes it to melt. Ironically, the second one is a LOT harder to do, which is why only two non-Avatar characters in the entire franchise are able to do it.
"I have mastered the elements a thousand times in a thousand lifetimes"
Right, but it was more like 130 lifetimes really, wasn't it?
Was it? The first avatar was 10k years ago. Makes sense that there would be around 1k avatars.
@@robertpresley1503 That would mean that each avatar lived an average of 10 years. Remember that the new avatar isn't born until the last one dies, so you don't have 3-4 generations alive at the same time as you do with normal people.
Let's assume that most avatars don't live to 75. If we drop the average lifespan to 50, that still only gives us 200 avatars.
These recent reactions are like switching on TV when I was 13 and watching with some of my older cousins
I wouldn’t say fire only brings destruction. After all the sun is made of fire and without it I don’t think there would be any life on earth at all. The earth was born from its magma as well. I would say fire brings life in its special kind of way.
I think that Roku was also trying to prove a point to Aang. That he agreed with Jong Jong.
All the Bending Elements have Advanced Techniques and Rare Subsets. Learning about each one is part of the trip.
This is the first episode of Avatar I ever saw and holds a special place in my heart. I remember it was Thanksgiving evening, and I was sitting in my grandparents' bedroom with a cup of homemade hot chocolate.
It's ridiculous to think about, but congratulations on now passing the 25% mark for this show, dudes! I know it'll be roughly another year before you get to it, but I hope you follow up this with Legend of Korra!
Omg they’re already 1/4 through the show?! In my mind I thought it was so much longer, I guess it’s just been so long since I first watched it. Had you asked me I would have said like 10-15% as of this episode
@Frosty Fyre at a total length of 61 eps, watching ep 16 makes them at 26.23% through; but yes the show feels so much longer than it is
@@TheBlackEternalWings That's crazy man O_O
Considering that Jeong Jeong and Iroh both served as generals around the same time, and both share the belief that fire is alive and must be respected, I bet you they were friends/rivals in military school. The sort who disagree and argue constantly, but always respect the others' opinion.
Jeong Jeong admiral
Iroh general
Iroh and Jeong Jeong in the past weren’t good so they wouldn’t disagree about anything with the FN
That's a lot of assumptions. 😅
Aren’t they both in the white lotus? So they obviously know each other.
As far as we saw, water has properties for healing technique and can turn them into ice like what Katara has done previewsly.
As for fire, its indeed a destructive element, but we did saw in the storm episode how Iro absorbed and re direct a lightning to protect the ship. Would lightning and fire shares some properties? could be but in a thin line of similarities.
For now we havent seen different ways that Aang can use air bending or any earth bender using earth in a different way yet.
I wanted to say that you guys have such great reactions! I always LOVE watching the episodes because you guys are just SO interested in these characters and the lore and all the seriousness of the story, yet you guys also have enough levity to be able to have fun with the jokes and it creates such a beautiful balance in your reactions! I absolutely adore it!! I ALWAYS look forward to you guys reacting because you guys don’t take reacting TOO seriously to the point of criticizing the show and now taking the show seriously, but you guys also don’t take the show as too much of joke that you are constantly joking with it and not seeing the in-depth messages the show is conveying. I truly appreciate that, a lot, because I can just sit back and enjoy watching it with you and look forward to your reactions, and not have to worry about my favorite show being insulted OR worry about you guys not catching some of the more serious topics the show deals with! I truly appreciate and love it! Keep being great reactors!
Think of it this way, you throw a drop of water, or peddle or a gust of wind into a forest, nothing happens really. You throw a spark of fire into it, and the forest burns down.
9:38 depends on the water pressure tho the sharpest thing in the earth is literally water it can cut anything with enough pressure and since water benders are able to control the pressure water whip can be deadly as hell
I love how Appa just always knows when to swoop in, almost like he's always following them from above
I like this episode because it shows you can't just skip an element. You can't go from water to fire like that because they are too much of an opposite. You have to go through the whole cycle to learn everything properly
Also minor spoilers just in case
Even Roku stated that he had trouble with air and water...
At 6:15,
"Don't."
...
"Fair enough"
"Okay"
made me laugh way harder than it should've
The one thing I would have liked is after that whole situation Katara kept burn marks on her hands. Don't get me wrong she can still get the whole healing water ability but I would have liked it if the burn marks stayed on her hands. To really show that this mistake that Aang did just doesn't go away and shows that being reckless and impatience can have consequences not just towards you but the people around you as well.
Throughout the rest of the series Aang acts as if he's permanently scarred her so I think whether he actually does or not is irrelevant, but I get what you mean.
If that happened i fear Aang couldn't have opened the chakra later on. I mean even Katara fully healed made him so reluctant to even attempt fire bending late in the show. if she still carried the scars... Plus Sokka would have continuously disliked Aang whenever seeing the scar on his sister. And Katara would have kept a fear towards Aang.
All in all a powerful message you suggest but their bond would never have truly be healed and that would have hurt the story. Also a bit too dark for the show. At the time of Legend of Korra such consequences were never an issue.
I’ll go ahead and say this while being vague enough to not spoil- you’ve already seen the “secondary” bending for fire, you just don’t know it yet 😊
Interesting side note: the reason Aang picked up waterbending and firebending so easily is because they both contain oxygen. A gas that also is in air. So as an airbending master he can pick these elements up easier. Whenever he bends air he’s also bending the oxygen inside it as well as the other gases that make it.
I don’t think that’s valid reasoning. Typical soil is filled with oxides, so by your logic he should have just as easy a time learning earth bending. The actual reasons simply have to do with Aang’s personality and the opposition of Earth and Air in classical Aristotelian/Eastern metaphysics, just like the show explains.
It’s more because of a combination of Aangs personality more closely matching the energy of the element and him already knowing very similar movements for air bending
This episode alone shows how easiler underestimated waterbending is and how much control firebending requires.
The specialty of earth can also manipulate metal and water bending can also manipulate the blood in people, fire can manipulate lava or magma too if your wondering.
yeah, as long as fire has oxygen, you losing control is dangerous af. Fire is chemical reaction after all.
That explains why firebending comes from the breath, not the muscles..
its important to note going forward that the wisdom we get from various masters is colored by their experiences. Jeong Jeong deserted the fire nation because all he and his bending were used for was destruction and conquest. It most definitely colored his perception and philosophy on bending. He's right that it requires discipline, but don't take the advice of any master as gospel on the nature of the world.
One of the best things about this show is that it captures many different philosophies :)
Sokka has bad idea, but also the best and more common sense usually
Iroh can lightning bend and he lit up
Water is life, fire is death, earth is change and air is freedom.
13:36 yes it is, they do such a good job at taking risks and reach topics that are complicated and mature and deliver it to kids...
Having him be so reckless that he burns Katara is such a bold move and it shows you just how amazing this show is.
The best part? It gets so much more better.
In this first series, bending is still pretty primitive, so anything other than basic manipulation of the element is rare
For example, earth bending only works with rocks or hard soil, water only works with actual water and not other more complex liquids, etc
But all elements can be pushed to do way more than that, because everything is made out of one of the 4 elements
Fire is not just fire, but the energy of things (since fire is a physical manifestation of energy)
Wind is just gas
Water is liquids
Earth is solids
The thing is that the more refined/changed the object is (and the more different it is from it's base form) the harder it is to bend.
10:31 Angie head lines up perfectly with your background lol😂
I think it'd be monstrous to be as angry at Aang as Sokka gets but gotta love protective older brother mode. He didn't think twice, it was just immediately *on*, whether Katara blamed him or not.
17:58 Way to give a firebender a burn with just words.
Y’all talkin bout zuko is better right before aang made that an insult was INCREDIBLE TIMING 😂✨
Yea every bending art has some sort of bending speciality/ power that they can have.
Water has healing and one other that you’ll see later on that’s never more powerful
Fire has lightning bending and combustion both that you’ll see later
Earth bending has lava which very few can do and one other that they discover in s2
Air is abit different from the others due to their life style. They desire to detach themselves from earthly things. If you can do so air benders can straight up fly. The other is astral projection being able to use their spirit self to few thing far away from their body. Although anyone is capable of doing this air benders spiritual lifestyle makes it more common.
A fun fact about the air nomad is that they all used to be able to fly but then they discovered the sky bison which they devolved a close bond with. They ended up giving up their ability to fly for a lifelong companion. Each air bender and bison chose each other to be companions for life
This episode proves guns should exist in Avatar, since they have gunpowder for the fireworks.
Unfortunately, no one ever uses a canon or a gun in the show, and we don't even see fireworks ever again.
The avatar role play game shows that guns are a thing, they are just the old Chinese bamboo ones which weren’t very effective especially in a world of precision long range punching
the glowing isn't a bending it's just healing abilities having a glow which obviously only waterbenders have. there is also a glow when people spirit bend but you'll get to that later
I love the lessons learned about fire bending throughout the show. Jeong Jeong is right about fire being alive and dangerous when it isn’t controlled, but he is wrong about Fire bending bringing only destruction and pain, as we see later on when Aang and Zuko meet the dragons and learn that fire brings life and beauty. There is a lot of prejudice toward fire benders because of what the fire nation did, but originally fire wasn’t meant to be used for evil. Iroh is one of the few people who understands this because of his relationship with the dragons, and I think Iroh is the most correct in his view of fire bending. This is partly what makes Iroh such a good bender, because he held the secret that most people didn’t know. I also feel that there is a connection between bending and wisdom. The people who truly understand where bending comes from and the principles that are associated with it are often the most powerful benders.
I think that Zuko is not as powerful of a bender as Zhao but is a much better fighter. Zhao relies on brute force and the sheer size and power of his bending attacks, but because Zuko can't rely on raw power he is quicker, smarter, and better tactically. We saw him as the blue spirit take on several guards at a top tier facility and win without using his bending. That's what allows Zuko to beat Zhao in the Agni Kai and hold his own against Ang who is at this point a master airbender.
PS I love your reactions so far. I've watched ATLA several times since and its always so fun to see people enjoying it for the first time!
Love the different philosophies of the bending cultures. Earthbending hasn't really taken center-stage yet but you can still see the influence Jeong Jeong took from the other nations even though he's a firebender.
“Oh you’re tired of horse stance? Sounds like someone needs more horse stance.”
The thing with Zhong Zhong (yes I know I probably butchered that spelling) is he has a pessimistic view on firebending due to his time in the army and how they used it. But fire is not just death and destruction, it can bring warmth and life just as easily as water can bring death and suffering. It’s all about it’s use
Seeing Aang take L’s back-to-back is always painful no matter how many times I rewatch this series 🥲
*Roku after this episode*
Roku: I looked like a fool last night!
semi spoiler, but not really, if you are wondering about the "specialties" of each bending (and looking in the "extended" universe), it's like this:
air: suffocation, and flight
water: healing, and controlling the body of another (aka, blood bending)
earth: metal bending, lava bending
fire: lightning, and a less known ability, healing
4:39 I really thought he said that
Jeong Jeong is like the old gunslinger from westerns. He's fought a hundred battles. He's killed a hundred men. And, he's done with it. he and Iroh have had enough killing and destruction. Two great men stuck with the lineage of a dishonorable lecherous group of people. They both served their nations with loyalty and devotion until they could take no more.
Katara is a very strong bender, but she has probably never seen another water-bender. Before getting the scrolls, she probably had no idea what she might be able to do or how. Likely, she has used healing on herself over the years without realizing she healed far, far faster than others. She thought everyone heals overnight. It makes sense that some water-benders can heal. You are basically skin balloons of mostly water with some bones, muscle, organs, etc thrown in. Now that she is really learning water bending she can heal faster and see it happening.
Makes you wonder what other special bending skills exist for elite benders?
Make sure y’all remember ur elders in this show just for future reference 😉😏
you guys have seen a “special form” of firebending already actually lol but it will become more obvious later
what i don’t understand is if healing is something only a few waterbenders can develop (sorta like the chosen ones of the chosen ones lol)
8:29 this will happen again in season 2; its a nice little power that the avatar gets
i'm watching the show at the same time y'all are but i was behind a few episodes, now i'm all caught up! watching jeong jeong and aang’s interaction kinda reminded me of master shifu and po from kung fu panda
I love Roku, but he was in the wrong here, Jeong Jeong was very much right
I thought u guys were about to talk about something cold refreshed ice cream talk at start coz we about to hit the Fire Bending!
All elements have special abilities
This is why Ninja Storm doesn’t have fire 🔥 ranger
No spoilers but certain elements have certain abilities but I don’t think everyone can do or master the certain abilities. Example healing. There are different types of bending within elements, if that makes since
Just wait for it guys, you'll get there
Wow I'm excited for them to watch the episode titled "sokkas master"
Reaction suggestion: The Rhino and The Redbill by Alex Henderson Animation
I love this episode because no matter how much danger Jeong Jeong ascribes to firebending, at the end of the day he still uses it to protect people which shows that it’s not just destructive.
Everyone in the comments, please try not to spoil for these guys! If you do need to talk about ANYTHING in the future please put the words “spoiler alert” and then lots of spaces so they would need to click “read more” to actually read the spoiler.
In one episode in season 2 Sokka will peak in comedy.
You're asking interesting questions about the elements. Who knows, maybe they'll be answered.
Now that I think about it, I don’t think they ever refer to Zuko as a master in the show. Iroh’s line right before Zuko fights Zhao implies he isn’t one. I’m not sure what the requirements to be a master are. For airbenders, they just need to master a certain number of air bending forms, which Aang did by inventing a whole new form in the air scooter, but we don’t know if the requirements are the same for the other elements. It could be by some other metric.
This is mentioned now, but Aang is incredible at fire bending. Hopefully this doesn’t effect him learning it in the future
Oh we're getting there 😂
Will be in book 2 soon lezzgo
They are already in book 2
@@bemoistakenyt4520 I know but in YT side of things they are still not
I'm so excited for your reactions to avatar, and then to the legend of korra:)
Is the voice actor of Robin from Teen Titans Go in this episode? Is he the one doing the show, with the dragon, at the festival? This is literally the first time I’ve ever heard it sound like him, and I’ve watched this show many times. That’s him right?
Robin appears a lot actually, he’s the clean guy in the great divide that shows up first to get the earth bender for his tribe, and I think he’s also the guy that gives Aang the letter to Bato
Very cool, thanks!
Ahh fire flakes. The spicy corn flakes of the avatar world.
When you guys are done with avatar you should watch the dragon prince, it basically has the reincarnation of sokka
the 4 elements have sub elements, i can't way what they are because that would be spoilers
Fire on a surface level looks like the most dangerous one, but eventually they will learn which one is the most dangerous. 😅
I'd love it if you guys watched phineas and ferb and kim possible, disney channel's most goated shows!
Y’all thinking a little too in depth about the glowing it’s frl just special effects with certain abilities the avatar state is something completely different than any other glowing y’all will see
I love your vids keep up the good work
(slight) SPOILERS:
it’s honestly crazy how firebending in this episode is seen as destructive, but is considered one of the weakest bending types out of the four. And how much later on in the series, they see how fire isn’t just destruction. It’s life, but it can do so much more.
Aang's glowing is specifically for his Avatar state
I know you guys are A lot farther ahead but Aang has to learn water earth then fire
Day 9 of asking Nani no anime to watch the TV show "Lucifer".
Its 6 seasons but i assure you it won't disappoint.
Aang never glowed when roku showed up
Im pretty sure JJ was tripping balls in his tent and imagined roku
Aang stocks were down 2 episodes 😭 he’s still my dawg though
Day29 of asking nani no anime to watch murder drones
22:06 Spoiler alert
Spoiler alert
Boomerang > Combustion
To be fair Katara was terrified of the incoming flaming dragon and wimagine the juggler did lost control. Also why didn't Sokka jumped out? Even if the logical person inn him thinks it's all part of the show I would have imagined Katara being his sister he instinctively would try to get her out of harms way.