Welcome back for another weekly review of Avatar! This week, Aang takes a trip to the Eastern Air Temple to visit Guru Pathik and unlock his chakras. Read on to see how the episode holds up!
1. Chakras!
Guru Pathik is back, and he’s brought more distinctly Indian goodness with him: Chakras!
By far, this is the most spiritual episode of the show. Every time I rewatch it as an adult, I have a sort of tiny spiritual awakening as I think about what each chakra means and how they get blocked. It amazes me how simply they’re described, such that any child could understand, yet how deeply they can resonate with any adult. They work on a spiritual level, yeah, but from a different perspective they’re also a useful guide to understanding your own psychology. Here’s a handy chart, based on what the guru teaches Aang:
| Chakra | Location | Represents | Blocked by |
| Earth | Base of spine | Survival | Fear |
| Water | Below belly button* | Pleasure | Guilt |
| Fire | Stomach | Willpower | Shame |
| Air | Heart | Love | Grief |
| Sound | Throat | Truth | Lies |
| Light | Forehead | Insight | Illusion |
| Thought | Crown of head | Pure cosmic energy | Earthly attachments |
*note: The guru never says where this one is, but the water chakra is generally placed below the belly button, near the genitals. Naturally, the show glosses over the chakra’s association with sex.
Each little scene is accompanied by a new location in the air temple representing each chakra, like how the sun was peering through the clouds on the mountainside during the Light chakra, or how the Sound chakra is opened in a large, reverb-heavy room. Each one is also opened by going through small visions of Aang’s life in his mind. When I was younger, I thought this was just the show’s way of doing a clip show. Now, though, I can see how each of Aang’s past actions gains a new meaning, how those moments that were flashed back to led to a subconscious negative reaction that prevented him from being fulfilled.
Thanks, Avatar, for always keeping me a step closer to spiritual enlightenment.
2. “You’re definitely your father’s son.”
After teasing us with basically every other waterbender in the show (the Southern tribe, the Northern tribe, and even Bato from Hakoda’s fleet), we finally meet Katara and Sokka’s dad! From almost the moment we meet him, we can see where Sokka gets all of his traits. The tactical mind, the goofy sense of humor — it’s all in Hakoda. Sokka even gets to help his fellow warriors prepare for a battle. While he’s been off fighting Dai Li agents and helping Aang on his journey, Sokka has only grown as a warrior, and his father sees that. It’s an emotional reunion all around.
3. Metalbending!!
As she is wont to do, Toph invents a completely new use for earthbending in this episode: metalbending!
That’s… so cool and logical? The scene is synced up with Aang unlocking his Light chakra, as the Guru talks about how the separation of metal and earth is an illusion preventing us from insight. We get some Toph-vision as an additional demonstration, and WHOOM! It happens. The scene comes together so naturally that it ends up being one of those “aha!” moments that we consume fiction for.
The best part about this scene, to me, is how Toph only tried to bend the metal because her captors said she couldn’t. For one, it’s so like Toph to do something just to prove someone wrong. In addition, it goes back to the idea of “necessity is the mother of invention.” Stick Toph in a metal box and you bet she’ll invent a way out of there.
4. “The Jasmine Dragon will be the best tea shop in the city.”
Continued below
Zuko’s almost uncharacteristically at peace in this episode. He speaks and carries himself like a completely new person. It seems his mind warring with itself last episode brought him to a place of contentment. And just in time, as Iroh finally achieves his dream of owning his own tea shop in the city’s upper rings. The two truly feel in control of their lives, as if nothing can take them down from here. Too bad Azula’s back in town…
5. Invading from the inside.
Having infiltrated the city posing as Kyoshi warriors, Azula and her crew waste no time in systematically taking apart Ba Sing Se from the inside. Within minutes of their arrival, we get one of the biggest, most frustrating moments of the show: the Earth King informs Azula of the Day of Black Sun. The one piece of information the Avatar gang had against the Fire Nation, given away in seconds. I still scream at the TV every time that happens.
That’s not all, though. Azula quickly finds out that Long Feng controls the Dai Li and makes moves to wrest control from him. And soon after, Katara, thinking Azula’s crew are Kyoshi warriors, runs in screaming that Zuko and Iroh are in the city, which, combined with that last point, can’t spell anything good for anybody.
This sort of backhanded manipulation from the inside is exactly the sort of thing Azula excels at, and these scenes are the most tense in the episode. I’m even misled sometimes when rewatching this episode during the scene where Ty Lee and Mai are talking about their Fire Nation connections while out in the open. I always think, “Why are they speaking out in the open? This dialogue is so on the nose compared to what I’m used to…” Yet it’s just another ruse for Azula to get the upper hand on the Dai Li by making them think they have the upper hand on her. Because of course it is.
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Next week: The season finale! Everything explodes!
In the meantime, leave a comment if you’ve been enjoying these reviews!
