The Storm

Writer: Aaron Ehasz

Director: Lauren MacMullan

Guest Stars: Jim Meskimen (Lieutenant Jee), Sab Shimono (Monk Gyatso), Mark Hamill (Fire Lord Ozai), James Hong (Tashi), Robert Pine (Old Man), Susan Silo (Old Man's Wife), Clyde Kusatsu (Monk Pasang)

Overview
''A large storm causes Aang to remember his dark past. After being told he was the Avatar, Aang is ordered to be separated from his friend Monk Gyatso. Upset, Aang runs away from his home, where he encounters a deadly storm which activates the Avatar State, trapping him within an iceberg. Meanwhile, Iroh enlightens the crew on how Zuko received his scar and was banished from the Fire Nation by his own father.''

Synopsis


Aang has a strange dream about his past that clearly troubles him, but does not tell the others. It started happily with Aang, Katara and Sokka unrealistically flying through the skies. Sokka was using Aang's glider, Aang was riding Appa and Katara was riding Momo, but suddenly Aang becomes alone and is trapped in a storm and plunges into the sea. By the time Aang wakes up, Katara informs him there is no food left, meaning they have to stop by the closest market.

Meanwhile, in the sea, Iroh predicts that there will be a terrible storm, but Prince Zuko informs him that capturing the Avatar is more important than the crew's safety. When Lieutenant Jee hears this, he tells Zuko that he knows nothing about respect and calls him nothing but a "spoiled prince".

At a nearby harbor town Aang, Katara and Sokka stop by a market, but then realize they are out of money as well. They run into an old fisherman who hires Sokka, but when he finds out that Aang is the Avatar, he scolds him, accusing him of turning "his back on the world". Aang becomes upset, and flies away into a cave. Katara reprimands the fisherman for his harsh words and goes after him, as a horrible storm begins brewing.

The argument between Zuko and Jee continues, to the point where Zuko and the lieutenant are about to fight but are stopped by Iroh. Iroh suggests that everyone is tired, and they should go inside to have a bowl of noodles, but Zuko refuses the offer, claiming he doesn't require anyone's help in maintaining discipline on his ship.

Katara finds Aang in a small cave. Aang starts telling the story of his childhood, beginning with the day the monks told him he was the Avatar. The scene shifts to flashback sequence from a century back, in the Southern Air Temple where Aang is showing his friends how to use the Air Scooter technique that he developed himself. Just then, Gyatso and the other elder monks show up, bringing Aang to their meeting room where they reveal to Aang that he is the Avatar. They show him the four toys he picked when he was younger, which are identical to the four toys picked by previous Avatars. Gyatso ends the meeting with the comment that "storm clouds are gathering."



Back to the current time, Jee is badmouthing Zuko before the crew. Iroh comes in and explains why Zuko is as he is. The story starts with another flashback, this time in the Fire Nation. A handsome, younger Zuko, with more soulful eyes (as opposed to his usual glaring expression in the show's present time), a full head of hair, and no scar yet complains to his uncle that he wants to get into his father's war chamber, and, although he initially refuses, Iroh allows him to join, on the condition that he remains silent. When one of the generals suggests sacrificing the 41st division as "bait", Prince Zuko speaks up against it. Zuko's father, Fire Lord Ozai grows angry, and demands a fire duel, or Agni Kai, to solve the matter.

Inside the cave, Aang tells Katara about the aftermath of the announcement. After being revealed that he is the Avatar, Aang is ostracized by all his friends, claiming his powers give him an unfair advantage in any game they play. Likewise, with a war looming on the horizon, the monks train Aang extra hard, putting more pressure on Aang than ever before. Aang only manages to find comfort with Gyatso, playing Pai Sho with him and keeping him company, much to the chagrin of the other monks, who believe Aang should be training even harder.

Iroh continues his story to the crew, with Zuko believing that he is going to fight the general. But in the actual Agni Kai, it is revealed that his opponent is the Fire Lord himself. In the duel, Zuko cries, "Please father, I only had the Fire Nation's best interests at heart! I'm sorry I spoke out of turn!" Ozai states, "You will fight for your honor." Zuko falls to his hands and knees, and begs, "I meant you no disrespect! I am your loyal son!" Ozai says, "Rise and fight, Prince Zuko!" Then Zuko falls all the way to the ground and declares, "I won't fight you." As Zuko rises to look at his father while crying, the Fire Lord demands, "You will learn respect, and suffering will be your teacher." The screen lights up as Zuko screams; Ozai has burned his son's face, causing Zuko's distinctive scar.



Consequently, after Aang learns that the monks are planning to separate him from his guardian Gyatso, he decides to run away along with his sky bison, Appa. Aang is caught in a horrible storm and plummets beneath the ocean with Appa, but as he is about to drown he goes into the Avatar State and traps the two of them in an air pocket, which then freezes. Aang and Appa become trapped inside for the next 100 years. Today, Aang suffers terrible guilt over abandoning the world, but Katara convinces him that "it was meant to be", and that he "gives people hope." It is then that the fisherman's wife approaches them, claiming that her husband and Sokka are still missing. Determined not to let anyone down again, Aang volunteers himself to the rescue, with Katara following closely behind.

Iroh explains that Prince Zuko was banished because his refusal to fight was seen as "shameful weakness", and the only way to redeem himself is by capturing the Avatar. Iroh adds that life will never return to normal, but that the Avatar gives Zuko hope. Just then, lightning strikes the ship. In a move of true selflessness, Zuko saves the helmsman, with the help of the lieutenant. While Zuko and Lieutenant Jee are attempting to save the helmsman, Iroh is shown redirecting lightning away from the ship.

Meanwhile, Aang and Katara find the fisherman and Sokka, pulling them out just before the boat sinks. They try to take off on Appa, but are engulfed by the waves. In the same way as in his flashback, Aang goes into the Avatar State and forms an air pocket with Airbending to save the group, only this time, they fly to safety. When the trio and the fisherman pop out of the water, they are in the eye of the storm. They appear close to Zuko's ship, which happens to be navigating through the eye of the storm as well. Zuko allows them to fly away, deciding that it is more important to help his crew get to safety. He also apologizes to his uncle.

Back at the cave, the fisherman is united with his wife, and thanks Aang for saving him. Aang also declares that he's done dwelling on the past and accepts that the events that have happened to him were "meant to be". The storm then clears.

Production Notes

 * It is greatly stressed in this episode how the Avatar is a symbol of hope for all peoples alike. In an attempt to cheer Aang up, Katara notes how he "gives people hope" in ending the century-long war. With those same words, Iroh states that the Avatar gives Zuko hope of regaining his honor, although they are apparent enemies. These two scenes were explicitly juxtaposed to stress this point.
 * This is the favorite episode of Zuko's voice actor, Dante Basco. During the scene where Zuko faces against his father in the Agni Kai, Basco worked with Mark Hamill and relates the scene to those in Star Wars in which Luke Skywalker (Hamill) faces off with Darth Vader.
 * This is Michael Dante DiMartino's third favorite episode because of how the story goes deep into both Aang's and Zuko's pasts.
 * It was shown that the four toys Aang chose that determined his destiny are a clay turtle (Water), a string-powered propeller (Air), a wooden Hog-Monkey (Earth) and a wooden hand drum (Fire). This method is akin to the one used in determining the next incarnation of a Tulku Lama in Tibetan Buddhism.

Series Continuity

 * For a split second at the end of Aang's dream, there is a very brief silhouette of Fire Lord Ozai. This nightmarish image of Ozai is first seen in "Winter Solstice Part 2: Avatar Roku" when Aang learns about Sozin's Comet, and again in "The Guru" when Aang must confront and overcome his greatest fear: fighting the Fire Lord.
 * This is the episode that revealed how Aang was trapped in the iceberg, where he was found in "The Boy in the Iceberg".
 * This is the episode that revealed how Zuko got his scar.
 * This is the first of three times in the series where Aang has continuous nightmares. The second time is in "The Avatar State" and the third time is in "Nightmares and Daydreams".
 * This is the first episode in which Azula, Zuko's sister, appears, though she is only briefly seen smirking with a fist up in excitement, in the crowd during a flashback of Zuko's Agni Kai with his father. Zhao is also seen smirking just Iroh turns away.
 * Iroh is seen redirecting lightning for the first time. Though he sees surprised that it worked, suggesting it was the first time he tried it as well.
 * During one of Aang's flashbacks to his life before being trapped in the iceberg, two Airbenders are seen playing the Avatar World's own version of "Rock, Paper, Scissors", the difference being that the four elements are used instead of the familiar stationery. In the three rounds seen playing, two hand forms were shown: a pound fist later revealed to represent earth, and what looked like a "stop" hand or a "eight trigram palm" from Baguazhang. This game is seen again in "City of Walls and Secrets", when it is played by Aang and Sokka. As revealed in the later episode, earth appears to beat fire, which had the hand emulating flames or what looked like a dragon grasp from Northern Shaolin style.
 * This is the second time Monk Gyatso is seen talking in a flashback. The first was in "The Southern Air Temple".

Goofs

 * When Zuko and Iroh are arguing about the storm, right before the picture cuts to the close-up of Iroh's face, Zuko's ponytail disappears.
 * When Aang is hiding in the cave, Katara's shadow should have blocked the shadows of the rain on Aang, but it didn't.
 * In various camera angle switches, we see both Aang and Katara (separate scenes) nearly pressed up against the rock wall, only to have the camera change and suddenly they're sitting a good distance from it.
 * In a few scenes (in particular, when Aang briefly enters the Avatar State through his anger), Katara's lower kimono no longer has slits that begin at her hips. Instead, it resembles a complete dress with no separation.
 * When the old fisherman's wife is telling the fisherman to give Aang an apology, her hair-clip is in her bun, but usually it is in the rest of her hair.
 * When Iroh tells the soldiers about Zuko's scar, the soldiers believe it was a training accident and seem to be unaware of the events that occurred during the Agni Kai, but the whole arena was crowded with people. Furthermore even some people in the Earth Kingdom seemingly know how Zuko was banished and how his own father burned him, it is strange that the soldiers wouldn't know about it.
 * When a soaked Appa walks into the cave where Aang is hiding, his muzzle is white instead of the usual gray.
 * While Aang and Appa are in the ocean, Aang is on top of Appa and got into the Avatar State, a moment later Appa is above him instead. The same thing happened in "The Boy in the Iceberg".
 * In the scene where Zuko is begging for his father's mercy, it is shown that many of the Agni Kai's spectators are wearing green, blue, and yellow. This is odd as they are Fire Nation, and the episode's close up of the audience shows them wearing red and gray.
 * When Monk Tashi interrupts Aang and Monk Gyatso's game of Pai Sho, his necklace is seen with no decoration. Later, when he and Monk Gyatso are speaking with Monk Pasang, his necklace has three reddish feathers.
 * All the times that people get wet in this episode no one is seen drying off or even having wet clothing.
 * It is humorous to note that Sokka and the tribes were claiming it was the dry season, only to leave the canyon and end up in a massive storm.

Trivia

 * Zuko cries for the first time during this episode.
 * When the gang and the fisherman are struggling in the storm, a strange white blob flashes onto the background.
 * When Aang asks Gyatso if the Council might have made a mistake when they said he was the Avatar, Gyatso says that, "The only mistake they made was telling you before you turned sixteen," meaning that Avatars aren't made aware of their status until their sixteenth birthday. This is further proven in the episode "The Avatar and the Fire Lord", when the Fire Sages told Roku he is the Avatar on his sixteenth birthday.
 * This is the first time Aang goes into the Avatar State twice in the same episode. Once in the cave, when he goes into the Avatar State for a split second, and another when he forms an air pocket around Appa.
 * According to Avatar Extras, the note left by Aang reads, "Dear Gyatso, I've stolen a sky bison and ran away."
 * The title of this episode, "The Storm", is one of many titles that has multiple meanings. This one has at least three. 1. It refers to the actual storm in which the characters get caught. 2. The "stormy" feelings of guilt and shame inside Aang are explained, in greater depth than before. 3. Zuko's "stormy" history of how and why he was banished is first explained, in depth.
 * This episode explores the emotional stress that is placed on the Avatar, serving as the first of many episodes that has Aang reluctantly confront his duty as the Avatar.
 * The fact that Momo could talk (and say unkind things) in one of Aang's daydreams, in the episode "Nightmares and Daydreams", may have been inspired by what Sokka said about his dream, early in this episode: "Momo could talk. You said some very unkind things."

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