Lake Laogai (episode)

''This article is about the episode. For the article about the location, see: Lake Laogai.''

Writer: Tim Hedrick

Director: Lauren MacMullan

Guest Stars: Clancy Brown (Long Feng), Marc Donato (Longshot), Nika Futterman (Smellerbee), Lauren Tom (Joo Dee), George Kee Cheung (Pao), Kurt Fuller (Quon), Crawford Wilson (Jet)

Overview
''As they look for Appa, the gang meet Jet again. They find Smellerbee and Longshot, and realize Jet was brainwashed by the Dai Li. They travel to Lake Laogai in the hopes of finding Appa. Instead, they encounter Long Feng, who mortally wounds Jet. Elsewhere, Zuko finds Appa and discovers that Aang is in the city. However, with encouragement from his uncle, Zuko decides to free the Sky Bison. Aang and Appa are reunited.''

Synopsis
The episode begins at the kids' house in the upper ring of Ba Sing Se. Sokka is attempting to draw pictures of Appa for posters Aang would drop around the city. Aang and Katara burst in with a professionally-made poster, featuring a much better picture of Aang's pal than Sokka's crude drawings (to which Katara nearly burst out laughing). The group plans on spreading the flyers all over the city, hoping someone will have some information.

Meanwhile, Iroh's tea-making skills have earned him renown throughout the city. So much so, that a rich patron is willing to give him his own tea shop in the upper Ring of the city, much to the dismay of his present, now former, employer. While this is a dream come true for Iroh, Zuko, of course, is much less enthusiastic. He goes outside to sulk, and when one of Aang's flyers falls into his hand, he is now faced with a decision. He has one more opportunity to capture Aang.



Later, Aang returns home, impatient to see if the flyers have had any success. Katara tells him to be patient, when there is a knock on the door. Aang thinks it is someone with information on Appa; instead, it's Joo Dee. She was the first one who met them when they entered the city. She explains her mysterious disappearance at the Earth King's party as having taken a short vacation to Lake Laogai. She informs the group that dropping flyers without clearance is against the rules. Aang has had quite enough of the "rules", and tells Joo Dee off, saying that he intends to find Appa, and that she should stay out of his way. Toph is elated at the opportunity to break the rules, and expresses this joy by breaking a wall in their house. The group heads out, with two Dai Li agents watching their every move.

Elsewhere, Long Feng is disappointed in Joo Dee's second failure to control the Avatar and his friends. Joo Dee worries that the group no longer trusts her, and rightly so. Long Feng simply says, "The Earth King has invited you to Lake Laogai". Joo Dee's eyes go blank, and she all-too calmly accepts the invitation. Long Feng tells her to await further orders. As she leaves, Long Feng himself reveals that he too is worried that the Avatar may disrupt his control over the city and the king. A Dai Li agent asks if they should take care of him, but Long Feng says no, intending to deal with the "problem" quietly.

Back at their little apartment, Iroh is still excitedly mulling over names for his new tea shop. Zuko informs Iroh that the Avatar is in the city and searching for his bison. Iroh warns Zuko that further pursuing the Avatar in Ba Sing Se could jeopardize their attempts at rebuilding their lives. Zuko is still set upon reclaiming his believed destiny. Iroh tells him that he should take the time to think about what that means, and why.



Out in the city, the gang is setting up more posters when Katara is approached by Jet. He tells her that he wants to help, but Katara is understandably furious with him, and attacks. Jet deflects her attacks and tries to prove his honesty by dropping his hooked swords. The others arrive, drawn by the noise of her attack, to find Jet pinned to the wall. Toph, reading Jet's heartbeat and breathing patterns, pronounces that he's telling the truth. Katara is still distrustful, but agrees to let him go. Jet leads them to a large empty warehouse, where he says they may have been holding Appa. Toph confirms it by finding a tuft of Appa's fur. A old man who is sweeping comes in and says that he's glad that he doesn't have to clean up after the creature's droppings. The old cleaning man says that the creature was sent off to Whale Tail Island, which would take weeks, maybe months to get to. It is located down near the South Pole. He said it was bought by some wealthy noble for a zoo or something. Aang immediately wants to set off, and Jet offers to come along. But Katara forcefully says no.

On their way out, the group is sidetracked when Smellerbee and Longshot who happen to come across them. Katara once again turns on Jet, as he had claimed to have left his gang behind. Jet insists that he's been living a peaceful life in the city, but Smellerbee of course says that he was arrested by the Dai Li a few weeks beforehand. Toph says that they're both telling the truth, even though their stories don't match. Sokka quickly realizes that the reason Toph can tell that neither of them is lying is because they both think their telling the truth. Jet has been brainwashed to quickly and quietly get the Avatar and his friends out of Ba Sing Se without talking to the Earth King about the war, which was Long Feng's plan.

That night, a Dai Li agent is walking alone down a street when he's bumped aside by the Blue Spirit(Zuko). He chases the Spirit down an alley and attacks him, knocking the head off a decoy. Zuko quickly captures him, demanding that the agent tells him what he needs, and if he is denied, The Blue Spirit implies that he will cut off the agent's head.

Meanwhile, the group, Longshot, and Smellerbee, are holding Jet. Katara guesses that Jet and the old man were used to try to lead them away from the city on a false lead. Aang, realizing that Appa may be held in the same place they brainwashed Jet, tries to get him to remember where he was taken. When trying to remember the night his home was attacked proves too painful, Katara uses her healing to try to help him out. Jet remembers that he was taken to a secret facility under a water like a lake. Sokka remembers what Joo Dee had said about her "vacation", jogging more of Jet's memory. She said she went on vacation at Lake Laogai. The base is under Lake Laogai.



The group makes their way to the lake the next day, and Toph quickly finds and uncovers an underwater tunnel. They go inside, quietly making their way through the dark corridors. In one room, a group of women is being "conditioned" to be Joo Dees. Jet leads the group to a cell he thinks will be big enough to hold Appa, which he opens. Inside his cell, Appa gets up as his cell door is opened. But it's not Jet who opened this door, but The Blue Spirit.

Meanwhile, the gang find themselves confronted by Long Feng and several Dai Li agents. A battle quickly breaks out. Long Feng starts to leave the room, with Aang and Jet in hot pursuit. Long Feng tries to make one last bargain with Aang, but he and Jet refuse. Instead, he extends the same invitation to Jet that he did to Joo Dee. Jet's eyes go blank, and he attacks Aang.

In Appa's Cell, The Blue Spirit (Zuko) is suddenly confronted by Iroh, who asks who could be behind that mask. Then Iroh scolds Zuko for not planning ahead, particularly over the time when they were at the North Pole, in which he would have died had the Avatar's friends not come along. He pleads with Zuko to look inside himself for once and find his own destiny, not the one forced on him by his father. Zuko throws his mask and swords to the ground in anger.



Elsewhere, Aang is trying to get Jet to snap out of his trance, while avoiding his attacks. He finally gets through to him by reminding him of his past as a Freedom Fighter. Jet recovers, and Long Feng asks what he is doing and tells him to finish Aang. Jet quickly hurls one of his hooked swords at Long Feng's head, who dodges and retaliates with a crushing blow. Long Feng escapes as the others enter the chamber. Katara tries to heal Jet and realizes just how badly he was injured. Smellerbee asks them to go on ahead, saying they'll be fine. Katara tells them that they can't just leave them there, but Longshot speaks for the first time and tells Aang and his group that they should go and find Appa, and leave Jet to Smellerbee and himself. Jet tries to assure Katara that he'll be all right, but as they leave, Toph sorrowfully tells Sokka that Jet was lying. Longshot is shown notching an arrow, preparing to shoot at the first sign of enemies. (This caused people to believe he shot Jet to put him out of his misery. Later on, it was confirmed Jet had died).

They finally reach Appa's cell, only to find the chains broken and Appa gone. Thinking that the Dai Li have taken him, they rush back to the surface, only to find themselves surrounded by Long Feng and Dai Li agents. Momo suddenly takes off into the sky, only to have Appa come down and break through two of the walls the Dai Li made and Appa taking out Long Feng by biting him. Toph and Aang take this opportunity to take out the remaining Dai Li on the middle wall and fling them into the lake. Long Feng tries to attack Appa, only to have his foot caught in Appa's mouth, and gets tossed into the lake, skipping across the surface. Aang and the others joyfully reunite with their flying friend.

Meanwhile, Zuko and Iroh leave the base, barely missing the fighting. Zuko acknowledges his uncle's words, dropping the Blue Spirit mask into the water. He stands looking at it, as it sinks into the darkness.

Series Continuity

 * Jet's death is depicted in the play in "The Ember Island Players" by having a hollow boulder prop land on top of him. When Zuko asks if Jet died, Sokka replies that it was "unclear"—a reference to Internet fan discussions of the unclear nature of Jet's fate in this episode, but later confirmed during the SDCC.
 * When Team Avatar discovers Jet, everyone's mouths drop in surprise, including Toph's. Yet, it's evident Toph doesn't know who Jet is. Toph joined the group long after their encounter with Jet, and even asked Katara who he was along their search for Appa.
 * When Jet is brainwashed and ordered to fight Aang by Long Feng, this is the second time they have fought. The first occurred in "Jet" when Aang fought Jet to get his glider back.
 * This is the episode where Appa bites Long Feng, which they later use as proof to Earth King Kuei in the episode The Earth King that Long Feng lied about never seeing Appa before.

Awards

 * "Lake Laogai" won the Primetime Emmy Award for Individual Achievement Award.

Goofs

 * When Iroh serves the nobel tea, there is only one other man with him. Then when he stands to compliment him on the brew, there are two men with him.
 * When Toph says, "Why, because you think I can't put up posters on my own?" she takes Sokka's brush and wipes a long streak of glue across the wall, but when she says, "It's upside down, isn't it?" the streak is gone.
 * When Jet says, "Katara, I've changed," his swords are missing.
 * Jet throws his swords on the ground to show Katara he doesn't want to fight, but after she pins him to the wall and the rest of Team Avatar shows up, his swords are missing.
 * When Old Sweepy is complaining about his lack of vacations, Aang's staff can't be seen, but when Sokka says, "Let's get moving," Aang's staff is perpendicular to the ground.
 * When Jet is dealt his fatal blow his swords fall to his sides, but after the rest of the group finds him, his swords are gone.
 * While Jet saved Toph from an rock glove of one of the Dai Li, Toph was behind; Longshot shoots an arrow at it and Toph was behind Jet, when he attacks with his swords for upcoming earthbending attacks Toph wasn't there and then, when Aang and Jet go after Long Feng, Toph was back where she was.

Trivia

 * This is the only episode in which Longshot speaks.
 * The two questions uncle Iroh asks Zuko to ask himself, "Who are you" and "What do you want" are prominent philosophical questions from the sci-fi series "Babylon 5" designed to represent order and chaos respectively.
 * The basic plot of this episode seems to have been inspired by "X-Men 2". There was a government conspiracy (the Dai Li's leader is secretly controlling the Earth Kingdom), that both the "good guys" (Team Avatar) and "bad guys" (Freedom Fighters) agreed was bad, and thus teamed up to infiltrate a secret government base hidden under a lake (Lake Laogai), which they found the location of by probing a brainwashed friend's mind. One of the characters dies (Jet), and the bad guys (Iroh and Zuko) escape.