City of Walls and Secrets

"City of Walls and Secrets" is the 14th episode of season two of Avatar: The Last Airbender, and the 34th of the overall series. It debuted on September 22, 2006.

Overview
''Aang and the rest of the group arrive in Ba Sing Se to find Appa and inform the Earth King about the solar eclipse, but they are constantly hindered by their tour guide, Joo Dee. They soon learn that any mention of war is forbidden and enforced by the Dai Li, secret police of Ba Sing Se, and their corrupt leader, Long Feng, who appears to know something about Appa. Elsewhere, Jet repeatedly tries and fails to gather evidence that Zuko and Iroh are Firebenders. His last attempt, challenging Zuko to a sword fight, ends in his own arrest.''

Synopsis


As a reward for protecting Ba Sing Se from the Fire Nation attack, Aang, Katara, Sokka and Toph are allowed into the city and given a house in the Upper Ring. While the others are optimistic about having reached the city, Toph is none too thrilled: Apparently, she has been in Ba Sing Se before and did not find it to her liking. Soon after they arrive, Aang and his friends are met by Joo Dee, a woman assigned to guide them around the city. Attempts by Sokka to try to get their guide to talk about the war and a possible audience with the Earth King are invariably ignored. As they see the many sections of Ba Sing Se, Team Avatar soon find the segregation of rich and poor people is not to their liking. Aang recalls that this was the reason that he didn't visit the city in the years before his being trapped in the iceberg, as the Air Nomads teach equality for all. When a possible audience with the Earth King is finally mentioned, it is revealed that they will have to wait at least a month. It soon becomes apparent that within the walls of the city, no one wants to talk or even think about the war raging in the rest of the world. Even Aang's attempts to find Appa bear no fruit as no one seems willing to divulge any information to them, thanks to some meaningful glances from Joo Dee.

Meanwhile, Zuko and Iroh have found jobs in a tea house, where the former Fire Nation general soon becomes popular for his superior tea brews. Unknown to the two, Jet the freedom fighter is constantly watching them and waiting for either one to show signs of Firebending. In order to tempt Iroh into Firebending, the ex-Freedom Fighter had stolen Iroh's spark rocks, but unfortunately for Jet, Iroh just borrows the neighbor's spark rocks instead.

When a notice arrives of a party being held in the palace, Katara decides it's a good way to reach the Earth King. Toph says that since the gang are mostly commoners, they'd be spotted right away if they went to the event. In the end, Toph and Katara dress up in formal attire and head for the palace as Aang and Sokka wait. When the girls are finished getting dressed, Aang is seen looking at Katara, blushing and complimenting on how beautiful she is.

The girls are initially refused entry by a guard, who rejects even Toph's family seal. They eventually get inside by tagging along with an official named Long Feng.

Aang and Sokka arrive at the palace themselves and enter the side entrance as servants. All of the kids are soon discovered by Joo Dee, who appears very frightened that they have defied the orders and entered the palace. Aang is soon exposed as the Avatar, and a commotion erupts. Sokka, Katara, Toph and Momo are soon gathered gently but forcefully by the guards. Aang himself is confronted by Long Feng and taken to a room where the others are waiting.



Jet, getting impatient with waiting, finally charges into the tea restaurant where Iroh and Zuko are working. He accuses the two newcomers as Firebenders, but is met only by skepticism by the tea shop patrons. Angered, Jet draws his swords. Zuko draws his own double blades, and the two start a prolonged duel. Despite taunts from Jet, Zuko holds his own without using his firebending. Zuko finally disarms Jet at the cost of one of his blades. Guards arrive at the scene and take Jet into custody. Smellerbee and Longshot watch as their friend and leader is taken away. Later, in a darkened room, a captive Jet appears to be subjected to a form of brainwashing.



Inside Long Feng's chamber, Aang and the rest try to talk about the coming Solar Eclipse, but are abruptly cut off by Feng. To preserve the culture and Utopian life within the walls of Ba Sing Se, no mention of the war is permitted. It is also revealed that Feng, the Earth King's secretariat, is in charge of handling day-to-day affairs in the city, including all military matters. The King himself is no more than a figurehead, a beloved icon. When Aang threatens to talk and tell everyone about the war, Feng threatens them with expulsion from the city. He then goes on to say that if Aang persists, he may never see the missing Appa ever again.

As they are dismissed, Long Feng calls in Joo Dee to accompany them. Aang stares in disbelief as they all realize that a different woman has taken the place of Joo Dee.

Series Continuity

 * This is the fourth time an unhybiridized animal has been featured in the Avatar series: a bear.
 * While the gang and Joo Dee are passing through the lower ring of Ba Sing Se, they see many refugees, robbers and peasants. Among these is a robber that later attempts to mug Iroh in the episode, "Tales of Ba Sing Se."
 * In the beginning, Toph asks Sokka if "[he's] been hitting the cactus juice again", referencing the episode "The Desert" in which Sokka trips out on cactus juice.

Goofs

 * When Zuko and Iroh first arrive at the tea shop, Iroh asks for a larger apron because he can't tie the strings, so the owner leaves to get extra string. When Iroh throws out the bad tea before the owner returns, however, his apron is already tied.
 * Zuko doesn't drink the tea given to him, however when he lowers his cup while Iroh is lecturing him his cup is empty.
 * When Sokka asks Joo Dee if they could see the King any sooner, there's a flower pot on the table to the right of Aang, but when Aang says they should spend their time looking for Appa, Momo is on the table. (It isn't visible if Momo is sitting next to the flower pot.)
 * At the end of the first fight scene between Zuko and Jet, Zuko's sword blades land on Jets hands. This should have injured him, but it didn't.
 * In the second scene of Zuko and Jet's sword fight, Zuko is seen wearing an apron. In the third (and final) sword fight scene, Zuko is wearing just his robe.
 * When the university student is scrambling away, Joo Dee waves. Her mouth moves as if she's saying something, but no sound comes out.
 * When the guards at the tea shop told the Dai Li about the fight between Zuko and Jet, Jet's sword was in his left hand, but when the Dai Li arrested him, his sword was in his right hand instead.
 * As the Earth King is arriving at the party, Aang concludes a brief show of Waterbending using colored liquids. When he stops bending, rather than moving into containers or dropping, the spheres of colored liquid simply shrink and disappear. It could be possible that Aang evaporated them.
 * Avatar Extras states that Toph can detect earth even when it's not in contact with the ground. If this was the case, she would have been able to detect the rock gloves the Dai Li fired at her during the party and blocked them before they hit her. However, she was completely unaware of the fact that they were heading toward her. Although, it is possible that she doesn't see earth when it isn't in contact with the ground when she is concentrating on something else (unlike objects which are on the ground), as a similar incident happens later in the battle under Lake Laogai.
 * When Joo Dee is first shown at the train station, she is shown on the platform opposite Team Avatar's, divided by train tracks with no possible way to get across. When she greets Team Avatar, she appears on the platform Team Avatar is standing on without having crossed the tracks in the first place.

Trivia

 * When the gang finds a notice for the King's pet bear's party, they ask Katara if she means platypus bear, skunk bear, armadillo bear or gopher bear. When Katara says "Just bear.", Toph replies "This place is weird." This exchange highlights the fact that most animals in the Avatar world are chimeras, or hybrids of two or more real-world animals, and non-hybridized animals are uncommon. However, in The Waterbending Master, Sokka gives princess Yue a carved fish which she mistakes for a bear. The fact that she mistook it for a bear and there was no dialogue to suggest that a bear might be something unheard of or out of the ordinary in the avatar world is at odds with the group's reaction in Ba Sing Se.
 * While Katara and Toph were getting dressed for the party, Aang and Sokka were playing a game similar to jan-ken-pon (or rock-paper-scissors).
 * At the Earth King's party, Katara calls herself "Kwa-Mai" and calls Toph "Dung" at which Toph angrily pulls on Katara's headdress. This may be because "Dung" translates into 炖锅 which means "stew pot," however the more likely reason is because dung is another word for animal feces.
 * At the Earth King's party, the background music is the famous Chinese song, Mo Li Hua (The Jasmine Flower). It is also heard faintly in the background at the Bei Fong Estate in The Blind Bandit and serves as a sort of theme for the Bei Fong family.
 * In Long Feng's office, the fire behind him is a bright green, instead of the usual red. This is most likely due to the crystals burning as fuel.
 * When Jet and Zuko begin their fight in the tea shop, Zuko grabbed one of the guards' (from the ferry station) dual swords instead of his own. This could be because he left his back at the apartment where he and Iroh live.
 * Some satellite and services (such as DirecTV and Time Warner Cable) will list this episode as "Secrets of Ba Sing Se".
 * When Team Avatar and Joo Dee were at Ba Sing Se University, the student told him to go see Professor Zei, who happened to be trapped in Wan Shi Tong's Library.
 * The episode's plot is slightly similar to the movie "Robots" and contains elements from George Orwell's "1984".
 * Aang’s apparent dislike of the social segregation of Ba Sing Se hints to an idea that the monks either do not segregate themselves due to riches or treat each other as equals.
 * When Long Feng goes into details as to the Earth King’s role in Ba Sing Se, Toph reacts with anger believing the Earth King to be a mere puppet. Her angry outburst is likely due to her being constantly controlled by her parents and thus having a dislike for those who manipulate and bend others to their will.

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