Nightmares and Daydreams

Writer: John O'Bryan

Director: Ethan Spaulding

Guest Stars: Grey DeLesile (Azula), Cricket Leigh (Mai), Brian George (Guru Pathik), Mark Hamill (Nightmare Ozai)

Overview
''The invasion is four days away, and Aang begins to feel nervous about confronting the Fire Lord. Feeling that he is unprepared, he trains constantly and loses sleep, causing him to hallucinate and have nightmares. After three straight days, it takes the collaboration of Sokka, Toph, and Katara to get him to finally sleep and feel confident about facing the Fire Lord.''

Synopsis
The gang arrives on the Black Cliffs, which is where the invasion force will meet up. Aang is stressed about the invasion being only four days away and that night he has a nightmare, in which he comes face to face with the Fire Lord, only to be told by him that he forgot to bring his pants. Meanwhile, Zuko is enjoying his life of royalty and making the most of it while his relationship with Mai goes well.



After staying awake training for the past twenty-four hours, Aang tries to get some sleep, only to have another nightmare; this time he forgets to study for a math test administered by Ozai. He wakes up and starts walking around some koala-sheep, Katara also gets up and asks him to try to get some sleep. As this happens, Mai tells Zuko that there is a war meeting coming up, and he says that he was not invited, leading him to think that his father doesn't want him there.

Aang has another nightmare in which Ozai tells him that he has overslept and missed the invasion, riding atop a flying, fire-breathing hippo-cow no less. As he wakes up, he starts going crazy from the lack of sleep, and says that he’s unraveling. Katara, Toph and Sokka all try to help Aang using different methods. Katara tries yoga in an artificial hot spring, and when she asks how he feels, he says that he feels hot, as if he's in the Fire Lord's palace and he's shooting fireballs at him, making him panic. Katara says that maybe he should talk his problems out. Sokka dons his beard and mustache from "The Headband" and tries to be a psychiatrist, talking to Aang about his feelings on confronting Ozai. When Aang simply asks how to calm himself, Sokka suggests he screams into a koala-sheep which he says is a pillow with the koala-sheep's response being "baah!" This does not make Aang feel better. Meanwhile Zuko confronts Azula about the war meeting, asking why she got invited and he didn’t. She says that he didn’t get an invitation because it’s obvious he’s supposed to be there, and goes on to tell him to stop acting like a child and go to the meeting. He says he won’t go.

Next, Toph tries her method on Aang, giving him a brutal massage using log-shaped pieces of earth and Earthbending to create hard vibrations. When this fails, she offers acupuncture with a Boarcupine. Aang, terrified of the idea, runs away screaming.



That night the gang asks Aang if he’s okay. Aang says that maybe he feels a bit better. They all go to sleep, but Aang has another, more frightening nightmare, this time a jumbled montage, consisting of snap images, expressing Aang's fear and stress over the upcoming battle. He wakes up and because of the stress, he states that he won’t sleep until the invasion. The next day, Aang, now very tired from lack of sleep, daydreams about professing his love for Katara, and passionately kissing her, calling her his "forever girl." He lies to her about it afterward, saying that he was daydreaming of what it is like living underwater. He spars against the noodle Ozai he made in "The Headband" and begins to hallucinate.

Meanwhile, Zuko is told by a servant that everyone is waiting for him at the meeting, and he realizes that his father does want him there. Aang, on the other hand, is not doing so great, and as he tries to train, he starts hearing Momo talk, and then Appa. He then starts seeing them fight samurai-style, as Koala Sheep cheer them on. As well, he sees Guru Pathik with six arms floating on a cloud with two bowls of onion and banana juice singing about chakras. He also sees many more illusions.

After the meeting, Zuko tells Mai that his father treated him like his right-hand man. But he confesses that although he acted like the perfect prince, he was not being himself.

Aang (now completely exhausted) wanders around the campsite and stumbles across what he takes to be a bed of clouds. He immediately dismisses it as another hallucination. His friends inform him that the bed of wool is indeed real and they spent hours working on it, so he could sleep.



Aang continues to insist he is not ready, but Katara and the rest of the gang encourage him, with Katara saying that he has been training for this since the day they met, and that he is ready. Aang finally calms down and falls asleep. He has one last dream in which he appears before the Fire Lord. Ozai says that he forgot his pants but Aang merely smiles and says that it is in fact the Fire Lord who has forgotten his pants. Ozai covers himself, embarrassed that his "royal parts are showing.” Aang, with his nerves gone, can now rest for the invasion.

Series Continuity

 * The Ozai portrait Aang uses for target practice is the one he made out of noodles in "The Headband".
 * When Mai asked Zuko why would he want to even go to the war meeting, telling him to remember how the last one ended, she was referring to Zuko's banishment, the details of which were revealed in "The Storm".
 * The purpose of the war meeting Zuko attends is revealed in "Sozin's Comet, Part 1: The Phoenix King", in which Ozai reveals his plan to destroy the Earth Kingdom with the power of Sozin's Comet, leading Zuko to defy his father and help the Avatar.

Trivia

 * The animal that Toph tries to use on Aang for acupuncture is actually a baby Boarcupine. This is the same animal that Appa fought in "Appa's Lost Days".
 * In Aang's first dream, he is seen dressed similar to Goku from the Dragonball series, in orange clothes with a belt, and large, spiky dark hair. Also, the rug Aang uses to cover himself has the Air Nomad's insignia on it.
 * In his second dream, Aang appears as fashioned similar to Vash the Stampede. This is characterized by the ear piercings, hair style, high collar coat, and chain-belt contraption that holds up his pants.
 * In Aang's final dream, his appearance strangely mirrors that of Ozai, most noticeably in his hair style.
 * In Aang's hallucination where Momo and Appa have a sword battle, Momo is dressed like the comic book character Usagi Yojimbo.
 * Guru Pathik's six-armed appearance is a reference to Hindu deities such as Ganesha or Kali, who are usually depicted as having six arms. (Guru Pathik's accent and manner of dress are typical of Indian Hindu holy men. India is also the origin of Hinduism).
 * When Zuko passed the gate to go to Mai's house, one of the fans behind him was wearing an outfit like Toph's.
 * At the beginning of the episode Aang has a flower in his mouth which is similar to what Jet does.
 * In Aang's daydream when Momo and Appa are having a showdown, Momo looks similar to Jinno from Afro Samurai (the katana positions and the kimono design).
 * Like many of the fights in Avatar, the fights in this episode (notably with Appa and Momo), are influenced heavily from multiple anime and video games. Ozai's Bowser-like appearence, and Momo and Appa's fight reflect the anime Samurai Champloo, with Cowboy Bebop and FLCL heavily influencing the show. Examples include some of the motions and actions of Aang, which are reflective of Naota from FLCL.
 * That being said, this episode also gives homages to several movies such as The Lord of the Rings, The Ring, The Grudge, A Nightmare on Elm Street and several other fantasy and dream-related movies.
 * Likewise, the "Forever Girl" line Aang speaks is referring to the generic endings of most romantic comedies in theatres.
 * This is the third episode in which Aang is afflicted with nightmares, the other two being The Storm and The Avatar State.
 * When Toph told Aang to go to sleep, her Chibi head is from the Avatar "Bending Battle".
 * The suit that Zuko wears when he goes to visit Mai is called a qipao.

Goofs

 * During Aang's therapy session with Sokka, Sokka's eyebrows are quite noticeably thicker, as if a part of the Wang Fire costume, yet they remain the same color as his normal eyebrows.
 * During Aang's first "romantic" daydream of Katara, she is wearing shoes. However, when Aang dips her, she's barefoot. Then when Aang snaps back into reality, Katara isn't wearing any shoes.


 * While Sokka is making the armor for Appa, the arrow over the head can first be seen to show 3 circles on it, possibly for the Air Nomad symbols, but during the invasion the circles are not seen.
 * When Aang's bed was first introduced, it was composed of one circle. Later, when Aang was checking the bed, it was two circles. After his dream, while he was lying on the bed, the bed was reduced to one circle again.

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