The Drill

This article is about the episode, for the object see Fire Nation Drill

Writer: Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko

Director: Giancarlo Volpe

Guest Stars: Kristoffer Tabori (War Minister Qin), Barry Dennen (General Sung), Karen Maruyama (Bureaucrat), Brian Tochi (Than), Kim Mai Guest (Ying), Nika Futterman (Smellerbee), Crawford Wilson (Jet), Cricket Leigh (Mai), Olivia Hack (Ty Lee)

Overview
''Having successfully crossed the Serpent's Pass, Aang is intent on going to Ba Sing Se where he hopes to find his lost bison, Appa. However, he discovers a Fire Nation drill heading straight for Ba Sing Se, intent on destroying the wall. Aang and the group succeed in stopping and destroying the drill from the inside. Meanwhile, Jet wishes to recruit Zuko for his Freedom Fighters, but learns that Zuko and Iroh are Firebenders.''

Synopsis
The episode begins with Fire Nation tanks moving towards the wall with the drill close behind. Several segments of the drill then extend out making the drill even larger. Steam comes out of pipes and spikes lodge into the ground around it.

The command module then rises up into the sky attached to the drill like an antenna. Inside the command module are Mai, Ty Lee, Azula, War Minister Qin, and several Fire Nation soldiers operating the drill. War Minister Qin is bragging about the drill and how it will defeat Ba Sing Se, stating that nothing can stop them. Ty Lee then questions whether the earthbenders in the drill's way will stop it, to which Qin then points to the drill's metal shell being impervious to any Earthbending attack. To prove the point, he hits the periscope Ty Lee was looking through. Azula doubts Qin and sends Mai, who is bored out of her mind, and Ty Lee to take out the Earthbenders.

The gang is approaching Ba Sing Se with Than, Ying, and their newborn baby Hope. Aang flies down on his glider with Momo and lands in front of them. Katara asks what he's doing there. Aang answers Katara saying that there was something big heading that way. Toph and Aang earthbend everyone up the wall. Sokka asks, "Now, what's so big that Appa has to wait?"

When everyone is on top of the wall, Aang shows everyone the drill. Ying says that the Fire Nation is finally approaching Ba Sing Se and that no one is safe. Earthbender soldiers then ask what they are doing there. Aang says that he is the Avatar and asks them to take him to their leader. General Sung says that their help is not needed and goes on about how the wall is impenetrable. But Toph points out that the Dragon of the West (Iroh) got in and the general responds by saying that he was quickly removed. He makes a joke about the meaning of the word Ba Sing Se, stating that it meant "impenetrable city". Toph says that there is still the drill, to which Sung says he has sent out a team of Earthbenders called the Terra Team. Sokka comments on the name being catchy and begins suggesting names for their own group.

The Terra Team knocks one of the Fire Nation tanks into the air and out of their way. They bend earth spike-like columns to the drill from the ground. The drill extends again and the columns crumble. Just then, Mai and Ty Lee exit the drill, with Mai hurling daggers at the Terra Team, causing them to create earth shields for protection. Ty Lee swings off a rope onto the ground. She deftly takes out all the earthbenders in seconds by hitting their pressure points and blocking their chi, and stands triumphantly over all the defeated benders.



The general sees their defeat and exclaims, "We're doomed!" Sokka slaps him and tells him to get a hold of himself. The general apologizes. Toph asks him if he wants their help again, to which Sung turns to Aang and agrees. Katara, Toph, and Aang all look at Sokka for a plan.

Iroh and Zuko are at the underground ferries. The ticket lady says their names incorrectly and looks at them suspiciously. Iroh corrects her on the pronunciation of their names, angering her for telling her how to do her job. Iroh then compliments her saying she's as pretty as a flower in full bloom. She is flattered by this and compliments him back, stamping stamps their tickets and welcomes them to Ba Sing Se. Zuko snatches his ticket out of Iroh's hand and says, "I'm gonna forget I saw that."

Jet and Smellerbee talk about Lee (Zuko) joining the new Freedom Fighters. Smellerbee doesn't like the idea protesting that they hardly knew Lee (Zuko), but Jet insists saying he was one of them.

Katara uses her healing powers on one of the Earthbenders that was attacked by Mai and Ty Lee. The general asks her what's wrong with him saying he didn't look sick. She tells him that the earthbender's chi is blocked. Katara asks the earthbender who injured him, and from the description Katara knows that it's Ty Lee. She says, "It's like she takes you down from the inside." Sokka face lights up and he waves his arms in excitement, explaining that it would be a perfect way to take down the drill.

Toph chimes in by saying, "By hitting its pressure points!" Aang agrees and they proceed to carry out their plan. Toph earthbends an enormous dust cloud for them to use as cover, telling them to stay close as they all run into the cloud.

Ty Lee sees the dust cloud through the periscope and says that it's poofy. Azula looks at War Minister Qin suspiciously, and he reassures her that it's nothing.

Everyone runs in the dust; Toph creates a tunnel and tells everyone to get in. Sokka says how it's dark, and Toph sarcastically says, "Oh no, what a nightmare." Sokka apologizes for being so thoughtless. They all come out of the tunnel and are under the drill. Sokka sees an open hatch, and Aang helps them all get into the drill. He tells Toph to get on, but she refuses and she explains that she wouldn't be able to see inside the drill. She decides help from the outside by wedging a huge rock against the drill to slow it down.



Sokka says that he needs some schematics of the drill, and Aang asks where they're going to get it. Sokka swings his machete, taking off a wheel of a pipe. Steam starts to rush out of it. At first Aang and Katara don't get why he broke it, but Sokka explains that a large machine is bound to have engineers to maintain its function and someone will come to fix the problem thus allowing them to steal the schematics they need. A firebender engineer walks out of the mist and turns around. Katara freezes the steam and the engineer, too. Sokka takes a schematic from the engineer, and the gang run up the stairs. Sokka examines the schematic and explains that they need to cut through the braces that hold together the inner mechanism and the outer shell together.

Meanwhile, Iroh and Zuko are sitting on a bench. Jet comes over and sits next to Zuko, asking him if he has any plans once in the city. While they are taking, a man with a tea cart comes by yelling, "The hottest tea in Ba Sing Se!". Iroh asks for some tea, but soon spits it out in disgust, and complains that "it's more like the coldest tea in Ba Sing Se". Pulling Zuko aside, Jet tries to convince Zuko to join the Freedom Fighters, but Zuko declines. Jet suspiciously eyes Iroh drinking hot tea, and realizes they are firebenders. Zuko knocks the tea out of Iroh's hand and scolds Iroh for firebending his tea in public. Iroh says, "I know I'm not supposed to cry over spilled tea, but it's just so sad".

Sokka, Katara, and Aang arrive at the braces. Aang and Katara slowly slice away at the brace using waterbending. Halfway through one brace, however, both Aang and Katara are exhausted. Sokka tries to cheer them on and almost gets water-whipped by Katara. They cut through one brace, but at that point, they are both beat. Aang and Katara both don't know if they can make it in time. Suddenly, there is a loud rumbling and the entire drill shakes. They think that they finished the drill, but then War Minister Qin comes over the announcement system and explains that they have made contact with the wall.

Sokka uselessly pushes against the brace with all his might, but fails to even budge it. Even though they're putting everything they have into cutting down the braces, the damage is still minimal. Aang then realizes that they don't need to cut all the way through the braces, but just enough so he can give the final blow. The gang realizes it's the perfect way to take down the drill. Aang reminds them that everyone in Ba Sing Se is depending on them. Immediately, Aang and Katara are cut away at the braces, while Toph continues to slow the drill from the outside.

Meanwhile, earthbenders on the wall are throwing tons of boulders at the drill but to no avail.

A soldier informs the war minister that the engineer was ambushed, and another tells him that a brace was cut clean through. Sensing a sabotage, Azula beckons Ty Lee and Mai to investigate with her.

Aang and Katara are still cutting through the braces. Sokka is in the middle of cheering them on when a blue fire ball comes hurdling down. He dodges and screams. Ty Lee was excited to see the Avatar "and friends" while shooting Sokka a flirtatious look. Sokka responds with a wave and a drawled "Hey" while Katara pulls him away.

Ty Lee dives towards Aang, and he airbends her away. They split up, and Katara gives her water skin to Aang. Mai and Ty Lee follow Katara and Sokka while Azula follows Aang. Sokka and Katara come to a hatch that reads: "slurry pipeline." Katara asks what it means, and Sokka says that it's their way out. They jump down into the muddy water and get carried away. Ty Lee and Mai look down into the pipe. Ty Lee tries to get Mai to go with her, but Mai persistently refuses; stating "Azula can shoot all the lightning she wants at me, I'm not going in that wall sludge juice." Ty Lee shrugs and jumps in. Mai closes the hatch after her.

Aang speeds past numerous engineers and control rooms with Momo on his back. He goes up a ladder to deliver the final blow.

Katara and Sokka end up outside of the drill covered in wall sludge with Ty Lee close behind. Katara bends the water in the mud creating a plug, which happens to have Ty Lee in it. Sokka tells her to keep it up so that when Aang delivers the final blow, the pipes will be ready to pop from the built-up pressure.

Aang picks a spot on the top of the drill to deliver the final blow. Suddenly, several boulders fall from the sky. One of the boulders nearly hits Aang. Aang tries to tell the general to stop shooting rocks, but Sung says, "Soldiers, whatever you do, don't stop shooting rocks down there!" Aang uses Waterbending to weaken the spot where he is going to deliver the final blow.

Meanwhile, Katara is still holding back the slurry to build up pressure. Sokka is cheering her on, and she finally gets fed up with his constant chattering "like a hog monkey" and knocks him down with slurry. Toph asks if they need any help, and Katara asks her to help plug up the drain. Toph earthbends the slurry, placing more pressure on the pipes.

Aang is still working on weakening the spot and stops to say, "What I'd give to be a metalbender." Momo shrieks, and they turn around to see a blue fire blast coming towards them. Aang manages to dodge it and sends Momo away preparing for his fight with Azula. Azula shoots several fireballs at him. Aang dodges them and shoots an air blast back. He uses his water whip to knock Azula's blasts off target. She kicks two fierce blasts and Aang tries to block them with water, but it evaporates while he is knocked back. Several boulders start falling again and Aang takes the opportunity to shoot one at Azula. She ducks in time and shoots another fire ball. Aang creates a wall of rubble and shoots rocks from the wall at Azula. She kicks them away and almost gets Aang's head with a kick of flames. Azula somersaults in the air and delivers a powerful fire blast destroying the makeshift wall. Aang hurtles into the wall of Ba Sing Se and falls, unconscious, onto the surface of the drill.



The drill extends again, and Azula walks over to Aang with every intention of killing him. She picks Aang up and holds him against the wall before he can slide between the wall and the drill. She readies a blue flame in her hand, but Aang slowly wakes up and sees the uncoming attack. He quickly makes an earth glove and blocks her attack, and then pushes her several feet back. Slurry spews from the wall, coating the drill with a slick layer of liquid and dirt. Azula, however, recovers, and rockets torward him using her Firebending. She has the misfortune of poor timing, and slips instead. Her momentum flings her into Aang while windmilling to regain her control. The two of them smack into the wall, Aang sandwiched between Azula and the wall, and both begin sliding off opposite sides of the cylindrical drill. Azula manages to turn over and stop herself using her hands and the soles of her shoes, while Momo latches onto Aang's back, and helps him up while Aang uses airbending so that he can climb back onto the top of the drill.

Aang thanks Momo and runs to the weakened spot. A rock conveniently falls right next to him. Aang shapes it into a wedge that fits in the "X" he carved into the shell of the drill, and rides an air scooter high up on the wall. At the apex of his ascension, he turns back down and races down the wall, successfully delivering the final blow to the wedge, while narrowly dodging Azula's fire blast. The Drill's internal braces all collapse and the machine is left jammed, partially in the Outer Wall. Azula is knocked back by the blast created by Aang's blow, and rejoins Ty Lee, who has been freed from the slurry ball. Mai emerges from one of the pipes completely dry and casually announces to the two, "We lost". Later, Sokka makes other suggestions as to the group's nickname. Meanwhile, Zuko and Iroh travel by monorail to the city, with Jet following them, ready to take out them out.

Series Continuity

 * In the second to last episode of the season, Toph develops Metalbending, a technique Aang wishes he had when making a dent on the Fire Nation Drill.
 * The Drill became great proof later in the 2nd season to the Earth King of Ba Sing Se to prove that the war is real.
 * This is the second time Toph has tried to slow something down that Aang, Katara, and Sokka were in. The first time was in The Library, when the library was sinking.
 * This is the first time the name Team Avatar is used.
 * This is the second time in the series they use waterbending to break metal, the first being when Aang/La attacked the Fire Navy ships in the Season One finale.
 * When Jet states that Zuko "didn't get that scar from a Waterbender", this could be refering to his battle with Aang, which lead near Aang's defeat, until Katara blasted and froze Jet to a tree.

Goofs

 * When Aang and Toph are moving the group up the Outer Wall, Aang's Staff is missing.
 * When Katara stands up and says "yes?" to Sokka, when he came up with the idea to take down the drill from the inside, her necklace disappears in mid frame.
 * At the end of the episode, the sun is pointing the wrong way, based on the shadows of the characters.
 * After Aang is slammed into the wall of Ba Sing Se and falls down unconscious, his left hand is under his head; in the next frame, however, his right hand is under his head.
 * When Katara and Toph were bending the slurry Ty Lee was in, Ty Lee wouldn't have survived. On top of that, the engineers wouldn't have lived either when the slurry flooded the inside of the drill they were in.
 * When War Minister Qin told Azula, and Ty Lee told about the Drill's metal shell was impervious to any earthbending attack, he didn't mention any waterbending, for it cut the braces of the drill.

Trivia

 * This episode shows that, while Katara can heal wounds, she can't heal someone who's chi has been blocked. This happens when she tries to heal the earthbender, and General Sung says, "He doesn't look injured," and the Earthbender tells them of what Ty Lee did to him.
 * This episode marks the first time Ty Lee has been defeated by someone other than Appa, because Appa is missing at the time.
 * This episode and "The Serpent's Pass" aired together as the one-hour special, Avatar: Secret of the Fire Nation. With 4.4 million viewers, this special is the second-highest rated among viewers.
 * One of writers was JJ Abrams, the creator of Lost, Alias and Fringe. For whatever reason, he was uncredited along with several others.
 * The events pertaining to this episode would be referenced in "The Ember Island Players". When the scene cuts to the audience, many people are either nodding off or asleep, alluding to the lukewarm reception this episode had with the fan base.
 * This is the second episode Iroh has gotten into trouble due to tea. The first time being the time he accidentally poisoned himself in the "The Cave of Two Lovers".

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