Sozin's Comet, Part 2: The Old Masters


 * This article is about the episode. For the comet, see Sozin's Comet.

Writer: Aaron Ehasz

Director: Giancarlo Volpe

Guest Stars: Mark Hamill (Ozai), Grey DeLisle (Azula), Jennie Kwan (Suki), André Sogliuzzo (Bumi), James Garrett (Avatar Roku), Jennifer Hale (June, Avatar Kyoshi), Greg Baldwin (Iroh), Kevin Michael Richarson (Lion Turtle), Victor Brandt (Pakku), Robert Patrick (Piandao), Keone Young (Jeong Jeong), Jim Meskimen (Avatar Kuruk), Tress MacNeille (Avatar Yangchen, uncredited)

Overview
''On the island, Aang seeks guidance from his past lives, but they too insist he must kill the Fire Lord. The island turns out to be a giant lion turtle, which gives Aang the guidance he has been seeking. After June is unable to find Aang, Zuko decides to find his uncle instead. They meet the Order of the White Lotus, its leader being Iroh. After reuniting with Iroh, the team decides to split up and go in different directions to help stop the Fire Nation. Sozin's Comet arrives and the Phoenix King prepares to destroy the Earth Kingdom.''

Synopsis
Zuko convinces the bounty hunter June to use her Shirshu, Nyla, to track the missing Aang using the scent of his staff. Unfortunately, the Shirshu can't track him. June reasons it means Aang is "gone" or in other words, he doesn't exist anymore.

Newly woken on a strange island in the middle of the sea, Aang and Momo find themselves wondering where they are. Aang knows he’s not in the Spirit World because he can still bend. He decides to climb to the top of the island to see if they can discover anything.

Zuko has another idea, and brings back Iroh's rancid sandals as a smell sample for Nyla to track. Nyla runs off to find the source and the gang follow on Appa, which eventually leads them to the breached outer walls of Ba Sing Se after a day-long journey. They decide to camp out for the night. The group is later is woken up by fire surrounding their encampment. Jeong Jeong, Piandao, Pakku and Bumi show themselves and greet them.



Wandering around the island, Aang soon finds a large hexagon symbol on the ground and feels that it's not made of rock or normal earth. Lost for thoughts, Aang decides to contact Roku, hoping he will know where this place is. After being summoned Roku doesn't know where they are, but sees Aang is frustrated that he has to kill the Fire Lord to end the war. Roku confesses his own disciplined outlook on being the Avatar was ultimately what caused the war to happen, as sparing Fire Lord Sozin cost Roku his life. Roku tells Aang he must be decisive, and disappears.

Toph wonders why they are surrounded by old people, and they reveal they are members of the Order of the White Lotus. When they reveal they were summoned by Iroh, the Grand Lotus, the gang exclaims he is who they are looking for. Bumi sees that someone in their group is missing, but only asks where Momo is. Sokka answers he is with Aang and they are missing. Bumi says, without a single worry, that Aang will be alright if he is with Momo. They start out to lead the gang back to the White Lotus camp to find Iroh.

Back on the island, Aang summons Avatar Kyoshi for wisdom. She recalls her encounter with Chin the Conquerer, severing Kyoshi island from the main land to stop Chin, inadvertently causing his death. Aang reasons she technically didn't kill Chin, but Kyoshi tells Aang she sees no difference and would have killed him herself to keep the world in balance. She tells Aang only justice will bring peace and disappears. Agitated by her response, Aang wishes he never asked Kyoshi for wisdom at all.



Along the way back to camp, Bumi revealed that he single-handedly liberated the city of Omashu during the Day of Black Sun. With an amazing display of Earthbending he freed himself from his cage and cast out Fire Nation buildings, laughing as he launched Ozai's gigantic statue out of the city. The Fire Nation soldiers were powerless due to the eclipse, and helplessly fled. Bumi asks the others if they did anything interesting on the day of the eclipse, Zuko and Sokka look awkwardly at each other and say they didn't.

Aang looks deep within himself and summons Avatar Kuruk for wisdom. Kuruk explains that during his time as the Avatar he was laid back and let the four nations work their own problems out. However, Koh the Face-stealer punished Kuruk for his laziness by dragging his love Ummi into the spirit world. Kuruk blames himself for what happened to her, and tells Aang he must actively shape his own destiny, as well as the destiny of the world. When Kuruk disappears, Aang despairs that three of his past lives are telling him to do what he doesn't want to do.

The gang arrive at the White Lotus encampment, and Zuko is shown to Iroh's tent. He sits in front the tent, ashamed and worried that Iroh hates him for his betrayal. Katara sits and comforts him, believing if Zuko is truly sorry then Iroh will surely forgive him. Zuko enters the tent and finds his uncle asleep. He sits down to wait for Iroh to wake.



Aang figures that since the three past lives he asked weren't Air Nomads, they can't possibly understand his position correctly. He summons Avatar Yangchen who was also an Air Nomad to ask her for wisdom on what he should do. Though they both agree all life is sacred, Yangchen insists that as the Avatar he has a duty to protect the world. Aang argues that the Air monks taught him he needs to detach himself from the world so his spirit can be free to achieve spiritual enlightenment. Yangchen says the Avatar is incapable of detaching from the world, as the world is the Avatar's sole duty, and insists Aang must do whatever it takes to protect it. After she disappears, Aang laments to Momo that he has no other choice but to kill Ozai.

The next morning, Iroh wakes up to find Zuko waiting for him. Zuko apologizes for all he has done, but before he can ask how to redeem himself, Iroh grabs and hugs him, surprising Zuko. Iroh states he was never angry at his nephew, but was afraid he had lost his way. Iroh assures him he found his way again, and did so all by himself.

As a new day begins, Aang wakes and sees mountains in the distance moving closer, realizing that the island itself is moving. He swims underneath the water and sees a giant arm paddling, and understands the island is a gigantic sea animal and starts swimming towards its face.



Zuko asks for Iroh to stop the Fire Lord since Aang is missing, but Iroh says he isn't sure he could defeat Ozai. He also believes it would not be the right way for the war to end, brother killing brother, and that only the Avatar should defeat the Fire Lord. Iroh rejects his claim to the throne and tells Zuko he instead must take Ozai's place as Fire Lord to stop the war. Iroh believes Zuko has at last restored his own honor, and that his destiny is to restore the honor of the Fire Nation. But Zuko must face his sister Azula before claiming the throne, and Iroh insists he can't do it alone. Zuko asks Katara to come to the Fire Nation with him and she gladly accepts. Sokka, Suki and Toph plan to intercept the Fire Nation air fleets and help Aang if he needs it. Iroh and the rest of the White Lotus members bid the two groups farewell; Zuko and Katara on Appa, and Sokka, Suki and Toph on an Eel Hound. Iroh says that after they reconquer Ba Sing Se, Iroh will reopen his tea shop, the Jasmine Dragon and play Pai Sho everyday.

Aang finds that the swimming island is a Lion Turtle, which stops swimming and lifts Aang onto its paw. Aang asks it for wisdom on how to stop the Fire Lord without taking his life. The Lion-Turtle answers, "The true mind can weather all lies and illusions without being lost. The true heart can touch the poison of hatred without being harmed. Since beginningless time, darkness thrives in the void, but always yields to purifying light". The Lion-Turtle brings up a paw, his two claws touching Aang's chest and forehead, causing a green light to illuminate. Aang doesn’t understand the turtle's words, but is comforted by this wisdom. He is let on land and waits for the arrival of Fire Lord Ozai.

As night falls, the air fleets of the Fire Nation led by Ozai prepare to depart and watch as Sozin's Comet enters the Earth's atmosphere. Aang watches in anticipation as the sky turns red.

Series Continuity
* This is the first episode in which we've seen tears flowing out of Zuko's scarred left eye.
 * June refers to Katara as Zuko's girlfriend in "Bato of the Water Tribe" as well.
 * This is the first episode in which we've seen Iroh's topknot since "The Avatar State".
 * The reason why Avatar Kuruk and Avatar Yangchen introduced themselves to Aang was because of at the end of Aang's journey in the Spirit World, Yangchen told him that it would be a forgotten dream.
 * This is the second episode Avatar Kuruk and Avatar Yangchen appear in the animated series and the first time that Yangchen's voice is heard. The first time they appeared as miscellaneous Avatars in The Avatar State. They were properly introduced in the online game "Escape from the Spirit World".
 * Avatar Kuruk's advice to Aang recapitulates his story from "Escape from the Spirit World".
 * The four "Old Masters" were each referred in the title of the episode they were introduced: "The King of Omashu" (Bumi), "The Deserter" (Jeong Jeong), "The Waterbending Master" (Pakku) and "Sokka's Master" (Piandao).
 * The Old Masters might also be a reference to the four Avatars who advised Aang.

Goofs

 * While Aang is on the Lion Turtle, in various scenes he is wearing boots, and in other scenes he is barefoot.
 * As Iroh yawns when he wakes up before Zuko apologizes to him, Zuko, in the background, is seen looking down at the ground near his uncle. But when the camera zooms in on him, he is looking directly at Iroh.

Trivia

 * The scenes featuring Aang are very similar to the classic Hindu text Bhagavad Gita. In that epic poem, the prince Arjuna is on his way to a major battle when he realizes that the opposing army is populated by many of his friends and relatives, and thus becomes conflicted about fighting. In order to convince Arjuna of the importance of taking part in battle, the god Krishna appears in the form of his charioteer and counsels him about his duties as a member of the warrior caste. The arguments that Krishna gives in favor of participating in the battle are very similar to the arguments that the Avatars give to Aang, like Kuruk's advice on the consequences of inaction, Kyoshi's alluding to a greater good that would outweigh the evil of taking life, and Yangchen's explanation to Aang that the duties entailed by his role as the Avatar will inevitably preclude him from achieving enlightenment as understood by the Airbenders.
 * When Zuko and the gang are conferring with the Order of the White Lotus at the campsite, he refers to his father as "Father Lord" instead of "Fire Lord." Toph even points out his mistake but he doesn't acknowledge it. This verbal mistake is an actual psychological phenomenon called "Freudian slip," which is thought to reveal unconscious conflicts or issues of varied natures.
 * Zuko and Iroh's reunion is very similar to the Prodigal Son. A young man leaves his father and brother to pursue friendships with sinful people (similar to how Zuko betrays Iroh for Ozai and Azula, ironically, Zuko's immediate family). After all he goes through, he soon learns he can go back to his father. When he returns, he's expecting his father to severely reprimand him, only for the father to instantly welcome him back in open arms. The moral of the Prodigal Son is when you realize leaving God is not good, God will welcome you home.