The Swamp

Writer: Tim Hedrick

Director: Giancarlo Volpe

Guest Stars: Johanna Brady (Princess Yue), William Bassett (Huu), Joe Alaskey (Broadswordsman), Carlos Alazraqui (Due/Tho)

Overview
''While flying, Aang and friends are attracted to a mysterious swamp and get separated from one another. They begin to see unique illusions in the swamp: Sokka sees Princess Yue; Katara sees her dead mother; Aang sees an mysterious girl. They are reunited and attacked by a monster, who turns out to be a wise man from a tribe of Swamp Waterbenders. He explains the nature of the swamp and their visions.''

Synopsis
The episode opens up with Zuko and Iroh in a village street begging for money. Zuko refuses to grovel, trying to keep what dignity he has left, while Iroh has more willingly accepted their new lot in life. A swordsman approaches Iroh and has him sing for a gold coin. As Iroh sings, the swordsman swings his blades at Iroh's feet to have him "dance." As the swordsman leaves, Zuko is angered and humiliated by his uncle's degradation.



Meanwhile, Aang, Katara, and Sokka are seeking an earthbending teacher for Aang as they fly over a swamp. Aang thinks the swamp is calling to him but, due to the reluctance of his friends, agrees to leave. Suddenly a tornado appears, swallowing everyone. Aang uses airbending to make a sphere of air as a shield around Appa. Unfortunately, the tornado overwhelms the sphere and dispells it, pulling everyone into the windstorm. This separates humans and animals into two separate groups.

The human group begins looking for Momo and Appa. Aang and Katara are weary of the environment, sensing something ominous about it. Sokka uses his machete to hack through the swamp, clearing a path. He gets annoyed at his sister and friend's warnings. Sokka states there is nothing out of the ordinary about the place.

Momo and Appa, the two animals, are also looking for the other members of their group. Unknown to the flying bison and winged lemur, natives of the swamp are hunting them for dinner.



Aang, Katara, and Sokka make camp for the night. While they are asleep, a swamp monster attacks them, which ends in a further separation of the group. Alone in the swamp, each person experiences a vision of another person. Katara sees her mother, and momentarily believes she has returned. Sokka envisions Yue in spirit form, who says hauntingly to him, "You didn't protect me." Sokka refuses to believe what he witnesses, clinging to the belief there's a logical explanation. Aang spots a laughing young girl and a flying pig in the swamp. It's no one he recognizes. He calls out to her, but she runs away. Aang begins to chase after her.

Returning to Momo and Appa, the two animals are confronted by the swamp-dwelling hunters Tho, Due, and their brethren in canoes. Tho attempts coaxing the animals to him but is unaware they understand his human speech, which mentions eating them. Appa and Momo flee. Due shouts angrily at Tho for his ignorance; Tho defends himself by saying how was he to know? To catch up with Appa and Momo, Tho begins bending the water around his canoe, causing it to speed forward rapidly after the animals.



Aang is seen still chasing the girl. Eventually when he thinks he corners her, it turns out to be Katara. Sokka drops in (literally). They all confess their encounters. Aang and Katara wonder how the swamp is doing everything, but Sokka continues to insist nothing is out of the ordinary until a giant swamp monster attacks them. It manages to grab Sokka and swing and slam him against the river. Aang frees Sokka by making an air blade, but the monster attacks Aang. The swamp monster then grabs Sokka again and tries to surf away, but then the swamp monster's arm is damaged by Katara's waterbending. It still holds on to Sokka, even after Katara forcibly pushes it away with a large wave. Katara is then pushed back along with Aang, who had come back. From twisting and tangling its body with a tornado or by Katara making a big hole in it with a water drill, it doesn't seem affected. Finally Katara slings an array of water blades, but the swamp monster regrows after every hit. Yet with each cut, they see a man inside the monster, and one cutting wind from Aang through the "head" forces the man to give up.



They demand to know who the waterbender is. Sokka reveals that Aang is the Avatar, and stuff like this happens "a lot". The Waterbender says his name his is Huu. He reveals the reason he attacked them was that he was protecting the swamp which Sokka was harming. He takes the three friends to the roots of an enormous tree, the heart of the swamp. Hue's story is that he achieved enlightenment under this tree, and how the swamp is the roots of the tree spreading for miles. He says that everything is connected, how time and death are only illusions, and that the swamp shows us our dead loved ones are not as gone as we think they are. Aang asks about the girl he saw, stating it was no one he knew, but eventually he figures out the girl is someone he will meet. Aang touches the tree, connecting to the swamp. Far away, he sees Appa and Momo being chased. Aang, Katara, and Sokka then rush to the animals' aid. When they finally arrive, Aang and Katara use Waterbending against Due and Tho, but the swamp-dwellers use waterbending themselves. Upon this discovery the fighting stops. Tho and Due unite with Huu, who had followed the gang, showing the Waterbenders know each other.

The scene switches to Aang, Katara, and Sokka sitting around a fire in the swamp-dwellers' camp. Aang and Katara continue to wonder about the swamp, but Sokka is steadfast that there is nothing out of the ordinary. The next moment shows a bird perched on a root; a vine rises from the ground then lashes out at the bird making it to take off. Sokka doesn't seem to be as right as he thinks he is.

The last scene shows the swordsman who mistreated Iroh and Zuko in a dark alley way. He senses someone there. The man pulls out his blades and demands that the person show themselves. Hands grab his wrist making him release the blades. He's thrown into a stack of crates. The culprit is the Blue Spirit.

Series Continuity

 * Back in season one's episode "The Blue Spirit", Momo found a bunch of treasures and other stuff for the ill Katara and Sokka, including an old crown for Katara. That crown makes a comeback in this episode when Momo throws it along with some other things at the waterbenders chasing them, while he and Appa tried to escape them.
 * When Sokka yelled out, "Why do things keep attaching to me?" while pulling off the elbow leech stuck to his arm, "things" also refers to the purple Pentapox that stuck to his face in the previous episode, "Return to Omashu".
 * When Sokka asks Huu about the tornado, Huu responds saying "I can't do anything like that, I just bend the water in the plants". This foreshadows the concept of Bloodbending.

Trivia

 * The mask cart that passes Iroh and Zuko in the opening scene has the same mask that Zuko uses for his Blue Spirit alter ego.
 * Zuko gets himself new broadswords in this episode, from "Broadsword Man", the man who made Iroh blade-dance for a gold piece. The Blue Spirit mask he presumably bought from the above mentioned mask cart.
 * Huu gaining enlightenment under the tree is similar to the Buddha's enlightenment.
 * The Big tree in the swamp is oddly similar to Hometree from the movie AVATAR.

Goofs

 * When Sokka sees Yue, her hair is down. But when he turns back and sees her in front of himself, Yue's hair is not down just like before she becomes a spirit.