Tbh, I'm not that annoyed that Aang is put in is place from time to time. He is important, but sometimes it goes to his head like boy you didn't even hear the whole story and at the end, he's their dad. I'm starting to like more and more Sokka; he is more relatable and funnier than I would have thought.
I wasn't much surprised about how Sokka and Katara reacted tho because same. Aang, you are not the center of the universe. But I'm still glad he stayed and got the necklace. That was cute. Also the beast fight was cool.
All of the story beats here could be seen as cliche or expected, but Avatar does them so well that it's nearly impossible to complain. "Bato of the Water Tribe" is pulling triple duty at points - being both development stories for Sokka and Aang while also being worldbuilding for the Water Tribe in general, as well as having the extra weight of giving more to do for Zuko and Iroh thanks to a new character named Jun. And it all executes it wonderfully with fantastic visual storytelling and setup.
I also like the continued maturity in how the show handles it's themes and ideas. Aang's jealousy and fear and abandonment actually works in light of his backstory, as you realize how alone he actually is now that his entire nation of people is gone. In a lot of ways, losing Sokka and Katara would be paramount to almost dying himself - losing the one connection he has to this otherwise scary, new world. It's with that the show really shines. It's all in the subtext.
Sokka abandoning Aang for 1 small mistake is the most childish thing ever... I know they are only teens but in a show with this scale it's disappointing to see them use drama like this for a "lesson".
Bato of the Water Tribe is such a solid episode. We get to see Sokka reconcile hs lost coming of age, there's a lovely arc that affirms Aang and Sokka and Katara's family, and the final confrontation between the Gaang and Zuko and June was just cool as hell. A lot of excellent character character work and fun fight.
It's hard to pick one best moment for this ep. from Sokka absolutely killing it at his initiation, to to Katara and Sokka choosing to help Aang instead of seeing their dad, to the beautifully choreographed fight between Zuko and Aang just 10s across the board.
My only gripe is how creepy Irph is in this episode to June. Just weirdly ooc for him.
This episode's final battle scene has always been one of my absolute favorites. So many incredible elements working perfectly together! Zuko vs. Aang will never not be epic, and I always love Appa tearing up his enemies.
Zuko: "Step aside, filth!"
Iroh: "He means no offence. I'm sure you bathe regularly."
I can't believe I used to not like this episode.
7/10
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2016-12-04T06:11:56Z
7.8/10. I wasn't on board with this one for a solid chunk of the first part of it. To be frank, any story that depends on a character only hearing half of a conversation pretty instantly roll my eyes, so Aang hearing Sokka and Katara say they'd love to go see their dad, only to miss the part where they say they couldn't because going to the North Pole with Aang is too important made me roll my eyes hard. And I didn't respond to Aang's guilty conscience routine either.
But the parts of the episode that didn't depend on that worked really well for me. I liked both of the big set pieces of the episode. Sokka getting to earn his stripes by doing an old Water Tribe rite of passage with Bato was a nice touch, and a way to show a little bit of what he's lost in terms of a normal life thanks to the able-bodied men of his tribe having to go fight the Fire Nation. On top of that, his asking Aang and Katara to use their bending skills to overcome an otherwise insurmountable obstacle shows some creative thinking on his part, and it's a nice illustration of the ways in which he's not just become a skilled Water Tribe warrior since leaving home, but has evolved and is able to think outside the box.
By the same token, I enjoyed the final fight as well. Seeing Appa get into the action against the sniffing beast was an absolute thrill, especially seeing the normally lethargic bison leap into action. By the same token, Aang vs. Zuko was one of the best choreographed fights the show has had so far, particularly their tet-a-tet on the well. And the solution to the conflict -- that the sniffing beast gets by on smell and so they'll overwhelm it with the convent's homemade perfumes -- was nicely set up.
But apart from the cool action scenes and the setup for the emotional conflict between Aang on the one hand and Sokka and Katara on the other, I really appreciated how well the show depicted Sokka and Katara's excitement to have a little piece of home back with them by running Bota, how Aang felt estranged and apart from the secondhand that his two pals had with their surrogate uncle, and again, the way in which this brief respite shows how much these two young kids have been ripped from what should be a normal life. That's a theme that's been with the show from the beginning -- how young people are pressed into things far more dangerous and mature than they should have to face because of the state the world's in, and I appreciate that subtext here.
And hey, despite how much the Three's Company-esque setup to Aang's story annoyed me, I did enjoy the resolution. Tying Bota's empathy for Aang after being separated from the rest of Sokka and Katara's dad's clan, to Sokka's own feelings of being on his own after his father left, in a way that makes him understand and forgive Aang's lashing out after worrying that he himself was going to have to be on his own is deft narrative choice. It's not especially subtle, but it still works.
Overall, the episode takes a little while to get going, and has a fairly cheesy premise, but as it goes on, it makes the most of that premise and sticks the landing in an exciting fashion.