In today's climate, this episode is teaching us that we shouldn't destroy the environment
Aang may have caught a glimpse of true enlightenment at the north pole, but it wasn't until this episode that he could put words and intellectual understanding to that raw principality of detachment and homogony that is a principle of both the Avatar and Air Nomads with whom he was raised.
"See this whole swamp is actually just one tree. Branches spread and take root and spread some more. One big living organism.
"I get how the tree is different, but, the whole world?" Aang replies.
"Sure. You think you are any different from me, or your friends, or this tree. If you listen hard enough you can hear everything living together."
"Time is an illusion, and so is death." Important because Toph, who Aang sees in the swamp lives and dies in old age in the swamp, meditating on the sounds of the earth through the vines just like the hippie under the tree described.
Back to the hallucinations! The Swamp is calling to the Avatar! "Bumi(the earthbending master) said to learn earthbending I would have to wait and listen, and now I'm actually hearing the earth." The swamp is a very visual modem for divining the main characters baggage. For Katara hat is her mother, for Sokka that is his failure to protect Yue.
Probably least favorite episode in the series. Spent way too much time trying to figure out the swap only for no answer to be found and Sokka was so annoying for the entirety of it. I get that he's supposed to be the one that questions everything, but did he need to do it at every turn here? At this point in the series and being around Aang he should know better.
Swampbenders was such a weird but honestly kinda fun thing to include in the city. Its cool to see such an alternative version of waterbending around. I also love that Momo and Appa's misadventures were the b-plot of the story. Love it when we get to see bits of their personalities.
This episode reads most like a Studio Ghibli film (mysticism, loss, visions, environment, the vine "monster" taking the shape of Spirited Away's Faceless, etc) — with the signature Avatar charm and kids' humor added in. I love the Swamp People, and the underlying lesson that everything is connected — "We're all living together, even if most folks don't act like it. We all have the same roots and we are all branches of the same tree." People could do well to remember this crucial lesson being taught in a "children's" show.
This show wears it's Star Wars influence proudly on it's sleeve, and probably no better example of that then "The Swamp". One of the most iconic scenes from The Empire Strikes Back is the Dark Side cave scene - a look into the psych of Luke and what he fears the most. This episode is basically a 23 minute expansion of that idea and used in a unique, captivating way. The entire gang is confronted with their inner most fears and losses, except for Aang, who is given a glimpse into his own future. It's a fascinating difference from that film as the protagonist is the one who isn't tested, but his companions whose losses in the war still haunt them.
There is also a ton of stuff to do, oddly enough, for Momo and Appa, and their stuff is peak physical comedy and continues the trend of having smart comedic sensibilities with it's cast. The swamp dwellers are very funny and lighten up the otherwise surprisingly bittersweet episode - one that delivers a mature message about the connectivity of the universe, our place in it, and illusion of human constructs like death and time. It's really great stuff.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2017-01-26T06:20:37Z
8.1/10. So you're watching AtLA, and it feels like a pretty standard episode. Everything's humming along; Team Avatar gets stranded in the latest locale of the week. Momo and Appa are off on their own little adventure with some oddly Deliverance-esque hillbilly waterbenders. And everything is pretty typical for Avatar, despite a certain horror movie vibe with those vine-ridden POV shots watching our heroes.
Then Katara sees a vision of her mother who disappears when she gets close, Sokka sees a vision of Yuweh who tells him that he failed to protect her, and Aang sees the ghostly apparition of some girl he can't identify. Holy hell, that is all very intense in a big hurry. But it's also cool. As I've discussed in the context of Avatar contributor Dave Filoni's next show, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, I tend to enjoy episodes where things get a little more impressionistic and mystical, and putting that side of the show on display with a dark edge definitely got my attention.
It led to a pretty cool fight with Hue, the vine-master, who battled our heroes in the guise of a swamp creature who felt like a cousin of Faceless from Spirited Away. The reveal that he is an enlightened master, with Buddhist-ish believes that everyone and everything is connected, and there is no time or death, is heady stuff for a kids show, and gets appropriately deep and spiritual beneath all the action and mystery. The hints at what's to come, and Aang's spiritual growth through the metaphor of the entire swamp being one big tree with interconnected roots that expand to form a whole ecosystem is impressive and poignant.
I have to admit, the B-story with Momo and Appa vs. the swamp guys didn't do too much for me, but even there, the reveal that they're waterbenders and thus "kin" to Katara and Sokka fits nicely with the "everything and everyone's connected" theme of the episode. And while at the beginning of the show, Sokka kind of annoyed me, he's slowly but surely becoming my favorite character, where his skepticism for magical things happening and desire to come up with logical explanations is especially amusing in the face of all the straight up sorcery he's seen. His delivery of "Avatar stuff. Doesn't count" was a winner.
Overall, an episode that's a little slow in the first half, but which picks up and doesn't let go in the second and third.