The Desert

Writer: Tim Hedrick

Director: Lauren MacMullan

Guest Stars: Sab Shimono (Master Yu), Malachi Throne (Colonel Mongke), Marc Graue (Xin Fu), Bill Bolender (Sha-Mo), Peter Jessop (Fung), Paul McKinney (Ghashiun)

Overview
''The gang is stranded in the desert, helpless without Appa. A secret society helps protect Iroh and Zuko from the Fire Nation. While there, they are recognized by the men hired by Toph's father, who plan to capture them for the reward. Aang tracks down the Sandbenders who stole Appa, and learns that Appa was traded to a merchant in Ba Sing Se.''

Synopsis
The scene opens with the gang stuck in the desert right after Aang, Sokka, Katara and Momo exited the Library before it sank. All but Toph are looking in different directions for signs of Appa. A distraught Aang verbally goes after Toph for letting the sandbenders get away with Appa – accusing her of intentionally letting Appa be captured. Katara attempts to calm Aang down and points out that Toph saved them. Sokka doesn’t help the situation by pointing out they are still in need of rescuing - as they are in the middle of the desert. Aang then lashes out at everyone by calling them selfish. Despite Katara’s efforts to calm Aang, he heads out on his glider to look for Appa leaving the others behind. Katara then decides the rest of them need to start walking if they hope to get to Ba Sing Se and get the solar eclipse information to others.

While riding on the ostrich-horse, Iroh makes many sounds, appearing to be pretending to be in pain in order to get Zuko to stop for a break. As soon as the duo stops, they are surrounded by five adversaries on rhinos – the same ones from Avatar Day. Iroh identifies the group as Colonel Mongke and the Rough Rhinos. Iroh greets them in a friendly manner but takes note of where they all are, as the Colonel has stated they are there to capture some fugitives (Zuko and Iroh). As the group attacks, Iroh and Zuko effectively maneuver an escape. Zuko asks Iroh if he has any old friends that don’t want to attack them, giving Iroh an idea.



Katara, Sokka, Toph, and Momo are tiredly walking through the desert. Sokka slows a bit and Toph runs into him, prompting an irritable Sokka to begin to say, “Can’t you watch where you’re…?” (momentarily forgetting that Toph is blind). Katara shares some of her bending water to help keep them hydrated. But this is met with some criticism as Sokka realizes it’s been used in the swamp. Sokka spots a cactus and slices part of it open to reveal a water-type drink inside. Momo also drinks some. Katara warns against eating strange plants whose effects they do not know, when suddenly Sokka’s pupils dilate and both he and Momo begin to hallucinate. Katara decides it’s best if they do not have any more and continue looking for Aang.

Aang glides along looking for Appa – blowing his bison whistle and yelling. He then lands, and in his anger, he Airbends a huge sand mushroom cloud. The others (seemingly a long distance away) not only see the cloud but also feel the air. Unknowingly, they decide to keep walking - away from Aang. Sokka and Momo continue to hallucinate.

Back at the Misty Palms Oasis, Xin Fu and Master Yu get information that Aang and Toph have been there recently, but headed into the desert and may never come back. Just then, Xin Fu notices Fire Nation wanted posters as well as Iroh and Zuko arriving into the Oasis.

Nearing sunset and Aang rejoins the group – without Appa. Aang is very discouraged and seems willing to give up, but Katara pulls the group together again and they continue on even as vulture-wasp-like creatures buzz overhead.

As Katara declares, "I think we should stop for the night," the others gladly fall to the ground exhausted. Toph asks for water and Katara begins to ration out the last of what she has when Momo runs into the water, causing it to sink into the ground. Katara manages to get most back using her waterbending. She asks Sokka for a look at some of the information from the library and Sokka (still under the effects of the cactus) accuses Momo of ratting him out by telling Katara about the information he had – forgetting Katara was with him in the library. Still in his defeatist mode, Aang says the maps won’t help them find Appa, but Katara points out they will help them head to Ba Sing Se by following the stars. Katara says they should start up again in a few hours to take advantage of the cool nights.



Iroh and Zuko are inside the same establishment where Aang's crew met the Professor in the previous episode. Iroh spots someone at the Pai Sho table and believes this may be the friend they are looking for. As they head over, Xin Fu wants to go after them, but Master Yu points out they may be in over their heads given where they are and they should show patience and wait for the right moment to go after Zuko and Iroh. Iroh approaches the Pai Sho table and asks to play. After beginning with the Lotus tile, the friend and Iroh begin what appears to be a ritualistic game understood by the two of them. Xin Fu loses his patience and goes for Iroh and Zuko, but their new friend creates a diversion, causing the rest of the people in the establishment to fight with two would-be captors while Iroh and Zuko escape.

Meanwhile, Katara is rousing everyone awake to take advantage of the night. Aang mistakes a cloud for Appa. When Katara asks him to waterbend the cloud into her water-skin, Aang angrily does so. After Katara comments on how little water there was from the cloud, Aang blows up at her asking her what she's doing... to which she quietly states "trying to keep everyone together." As they head out, Toph bangs her foot against what she calls a boat, and Aang uncovers a glider-like the Sandbenders used. There’s a compass aboard and the group decides to use the glider to try to get out of the desert. Sokka and Momo are still under the effects of the cactus, and they continue to trip.

Iroh and Zuko are led into a flower shop by their friend who tells Iroh what an honor it is to have such a high ranking member of the Order of the White Lotus. Zuko, still unconvinced as to how playing Pai Sho will help them, makes a derisive statement about flower arranging. Iroh apologizes to their new friend about Zuko's lack of appreciation for their group. After a cryptic exchange through a speakeasy-type opening, Iroh and the new friend are let into a back room, but Zuko is shut out and made to wait in the flower shop as it is "members only".

Aang uses his Airbending to move the glider over the sand. Katara mentions that she doesn’t think the compass is pointing north, and suddenly they see a huge rock formation ahead. Toph is excited to get to the rock while Aang appears to be maliciously hoping there are sandbenders there.

When they reach the top of the huge rock, Toph falls back to make a rock angel to show her joy at being back on solid ground. The crew goes into some caves, and Sokka says he thinks his head is starting to clear up but then proceeds to eat a gooey substance from the walls which tastes terrible. Suddenly, Toph realizes these aren’t natural caves and there is something buzzing that is coming toward them.



Huge buzzard-wasp-like animals swarm out. Toph's aim is hampered by the fact the creatures are flying, and Katara is out of water for bending. Momo is snatched by one of the buzzing creatures, and Aang goes after them. He successfully frees Momo, while the others work their way down the rock. It appears Aang used his Airbending to kill the creature after Momo was freed, showing a sinister side to Aang, although the act seemed atypical of him because at the time he was severely stressed and neither before this or since has he acted that way (indeed he displays an intense aversion to the idea of killing later in the series). The rest of the group are fighting off the swarm when suddenly, huge sandblasts shoo them back to the top. When the sand clears there are several Sandbenders, Aang returns and lands in between his group and the Sandbenders.

Iroh finally emerges from the back room and awakens Zuko, as he's sleeping standing up. He tells Zuko they will be heading to Ba Sing Se and hiding in plain sight. Unfortunately, Xin Fu and Master Yu are still looking for them.

The Sandbenders ask why they have one of their vessels, and Katara explains they found it and that their Bison was stolen. Toph recognizes one of the voices as one who took Appa. Suddenly Aang demands to know where his bison is, and when his accusation is challenged, he destroys one of the gliders and makes his demand again.

Xin Fu and Master Yu head into the flower shop looking for Zuko and Iroh, but they are not to be found – even after Xin Fu knocks down the door to the back room. A cart with two potted plants is being taken out of the Oasis and suddenly we see Iroh and Zuko are hiding in the pots.



Aang again demands to know where Appa is and destroys a sand sailer. The leader turns to his son and asks what he did. The son denies any wrongdoing, but Toph she heard the son say to put a muzzle on Appa, Hearing this, Aang gets angry, goes instantly into the Avatar State and destroys another sand sailer. The son confesses he took the Bison but didn’t know it was the Avatar's. Aang (in a menacing Avatar voice on top of his own) demands to know Appa's location, and the son says he traded Appa to a merchant and that he's probably in Ba Sing Se by now. Avatar Aang begins to form an air ball around him similar to when he was in the Southern Air Temple and had found Gyatso. Sokka takes Toph by the shoulders and says to run. As Avatar Aang begins rising into the air, Katara approaches him, grabs his wrist, pulls Aang down, and embraces him – eventually bringing Aang out of the Avatar State and it is revealed that tears are streaming down his face.

Series Continuity

 * The mysteriously buried Sandbender's ship that Aang and Katara dig out of the sand is shown in a flashback in "Appa's Lost Days".

Translations

 * For a translation of Iroh and Zuko's wanted poster, see The Avatar State translation section in Writing in the World of Avatar.
 * For a translation of the four other posters (Chey, Jeong Jeong, the Blue Spirit, and Aang) please refer to The Deserter section in Writing in the World of Avatar.

Connections

 * Although there is a popular myth that cacti store water which can be extracted to the benefit of the thirsty desert traveler, in reality many cacti are poisonous or contain hallucinogens such as mescaline—as Sokka and Momo discovered. Mescaline has properties which induce a psychedelic experience very similar to LSD. Sokka's exclamation at seeing the large mushroom cloud caused by Aang could also be interpreted as an allusion to psychedelic mushrooms, which makes sense given Sokka's state of mind at that time.
 * The mushroom cloud created by the furious Aang are also present in the real world, usually when a nuclear weapon is detonated. An example would be the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II.

Trivia

 * This episode aired along with "The Library" as part of the one-hour special, Avatar: The Fury of Aang.
 * Sokka's voice actor, Jack DeSena, once stated that this was his favorite episode due to Sokka being "stoned" on cactus juice. The scene has become famous in the fanbase.
 * Although Toph claims to have heard the son say 'Put a muzzle on him' (him being Appa), we do not actually hear this during the time Appa is being taken in the episode "The Library" instead we hear it in the episode "Appa's Lost Days".
 * This is the first time "The Order of the White Lotus" was mentioned in the Avatar Series.
 * When Katara gave Sokka and Toph some water, Sokka tells her that it's swamp water, and Toph agrees, but Toph wasn't with the group in "The Swamp" to even know what the taste of swamp water is. Although, it's possible that Toph is simply familiar with swamps or, given how terrible the water tastes, she simply agreed to it tasting "swampy".
 * This is the second time Aang tries to find Appa, the first one was in "The Swamp".
 * Jeong Jeong and Chey are referenced in the Fire Nation wanted posters being looked at by Yu and Xin Fu.
 * This is the middle episode of the series, as there are 30 episodes before and 30 after it.
 * While there are five wanted posters in this episode, all have been seen earlier.

Goofs

 * When Sokka is denying stealing anything from the library, his boomerang is missing in a few frames.
 * After Momo falls to the ground from drinking the cactus juice, Katara picks him up and exits the frame with Toph. When she runs back to get Sokka, Momo isn't in her arms.
 * When Katara wakes Sokka up, there is sand all over his chest. When he sits up, the sand should have fallen into his lap, but it just disappeared.
 * After Aang enters the Avatar State and begins rising into the air, Katara grabs his arm. In the first frame she uses her right hand, but in the next she's using her left.
 * Right when Aang is in the Avatar State the the arrows on his hands are not glowing.