The Beach

Writer: Katie Mattila

Director: Joaquim Dos Santos

Guest Stars: Erik Von Detten (Chan), Ross Thomas (Ruon-Jian)

Synopsis
Zuko, Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee (unwillingly) go on vacation to Ember Island at Lo and Li's beach house, due to the fact Fire Lord Ozai is holding a restricted meeting with his confidants. Meanwhile, Aang and the gang rest up on an isolated crater, playing with water, when Aang accidentally ventures too far out and is spotted by two bored Fire Nation soldiers, who send a message via a Messenger Hawk to Fire Lord Ozai saying that the Avatar is still alive. However, the message is later intercepted by a Raven Eagle, owned by 'The Combustion Man', the firebending assassin hired by Zuko to eliminate the Avatar at the end of the second episode in this season.

Zuko, Azula, Mai and Ty Lee go to the beach to have some fun. Azula nastily crushes some kid's sand castle, while Ty Lee soon finds herself being approached by several admirers. Zuko makes several unsuccessful attempts to impress Mai with pretty shells and ice cream; the former fails to appeal to her, and the latter falls on Mai's leg in the unlucky fashion Zuko is famous for. Azula then pulls the group into a game of Kuai Ball with some other teens. Using their various skills, they easily overwhelm their opponents, with Azula gloating afterwards as if she had just crushed an enemy army. Their game arouses the attentions of two boys named Chan and Ruon-Jian, who invite Ty Lee and Mai to a party; and after some persuasion, they reluctantly invite Zuko and Azula as well. Azula makes a point of not revealing her identity or that of her brother; she explains that she wants to see what it is like being a normal person.

During the party, Ty Lee is surrounded by boys and is forced to render them unconscious to escape the crowd. Seeing this, Azula calls Ty Lee a tease and says that none of the boys really care about her. When Ty Lee starts crying, Azula hurriedly apologizes and confides that she said those things only because she was a little jealous of Ty Lee's popularity. Azula asks Ty Lee how to make boys like her. Ty Lee says boys feel intimidated by Azula, and tells her to just laugh and smile at anything a boy tells her. Azula tries this technique with Ty Lee and starts out by making a loud and unsure laugh, so that the entire room of people stares at her. Fully confident, Azula asks Chan for a tour of the house, after which they go to the veranda. After the two share a kiss, Azula loses control of the situation and proclaims that they could be the world's strongest couple (while making a maniacal laugh and scary handfuls of fire). Chan gets nervous and leaves in a hurry, leaving Azula disappointed. Meanwhile, after fetching her some food, Zuko finds Ruon-Jian talking to Mai. Zuko loses his temper and violently throws Ruon-Jian into a large pot across the room. Disgusted, Mai angrily tells Zuko that his temper is out of control; he takes his anger out on her then, saying that she doesn't feel anything and is a 'big blah'. Hurt and confused by this accusation, Mai tells Zuko that their relationship is over. Chan returns and ejects Zuko from the party. Zuko heads off and goes to his family's abandoned vacation house where he reminisces about memories of himself as a child with his Mother, Father, and Uncle. He spots a stone imprinted with his own baby hand print, only for his eyes to be drawn to an old family portrait hanging on the wall.

Meanwhile, the Combustion Man finally arrives near the campsite of Aang and his friends. Toph hears the enemy's approach, commenting that a man made of metal is coming. The Combustion Man attacks, projecting rays of energy from his forehead tattoo that ignite or explode anything they touch. His bolts counter anything the gang throws at him, forcing the kids to take cover. Aang tells his friends to get on Appa and get ready to escape as he himself tries to lead the enemy away. What follows is a running battle as Aang uses both airbending and earthbending to fend off the Combustion Man's attacks. The Avatar eventually escapes and rejoins the rest on Appa. Though Toph comments on the randomness of the encounter, Katara says that she feels that this new enemy seems to know exactly who they are.

Azula finds Zuko and tells him to leave the house. Saying, "This place is depressing," they all go down to the beach again. Zuko tries to reconcile with Mai, but she is still cold toward him. To Ty Lee's dismay, Zuko burns his family's painting to help kindle a fire he has made. In retaliation to her surprise, Zuko calls Ty Lee a circus freak. Ty Lee reveals tearfully that she has six sisters exactly like her and that she went to the circus to be different, so being a freak is something she regards as a compliment. Mai says that this is the reason Ty Lee wants so much attention; she received so little as a child. Ty Lee decides to turn the conversation to Mai, accusing her of having a "dingy" and "gray" aura. Dismissing the concept of auras and the fact that she can't be "as high-strung and crazy" as the others, Mai goes into her own past, telling about her mother, who gave her everything she wanted so long as Mai behaved exactly as she was told. Her father's political career meant that Mai would always be under a spotlight, and thus could not live as freely as she would like. Azula deduces that that is the reason Mai stifles her true feelings so much and why she can't express herself, finally eliciting a sharp and emotional outburst from the normally indifferent Mai. When Zuko says that he likes it when she expresses herself, Mai refuses to let him touch her, saying that she's still angry. This pushes Zuko into a rant about his own life, where he admits that he's angry but unsure why. The girls all pressure him into giving an answer, and he finally screams that he is angry at himself because he doesn't know the difference between right and wrong anymore. Finally understanding what bothers Zuko so much, Mai returns to his side and says that the one thing she cares about is Zuko and kisses him once again. They then turn to the last member of the group; reluctantly, Azula delves into her own past and says that her mother thought she was a monster. Azula admits that this was indeed true, but that it still hurt to hear her own mother say so. With all their secrets out in the open, the heaviness between the four seems to vanish. Ty Lee says she will remember this night forever and that Lo and Li were right about the beach's ability to reveal people's true selves. To celebrate their revelations, Azula decides on a fitting end to their night - the four then head back to Chan's party, trashing the house and leaving it a ransacked mess. Together, the four of them forge their own memory of the place, uniting as friends for the first time in years.

Trivia

 * In the beginning of the episode, when Aang is half-naked, Toph tells Aang to cover up, but he says its okay because he is wearing trunks. Toph, however, is talking about him being careful so that the Fire Nation doesn't recognize him by his tattoos. This is a strange thing for Toph to point out, since she is blind.