History Recap / AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheWaterbendingMaster

* BaitAndSwitch: While having tea with Admiral Zhao, Iroh appears to be ready to accuse Zhao of trying to assassinate Zuko. Then he says that it was the pirates, which is MetaphoricallyTrue since they were directly responsible for the assassination attempt, and Zuko and Iroh ''had'' previously tangled with them. However near the end of the episode, Iroh reveals that he was playing along so that Zuko could sneak aboard Zhao's ship with some backup.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Pakku finally realizes what his demeaning view of women cost him.

** Zuko while Zhao gazes upon his broadswords-- the same broadswords he wielded as the Blue Spirit.

** The Northern Water Tribe's whole attitude. Katara's having none of it. And neither did her grandmother.

* YouGoGirl: Katara's plot follows this standard trajectory.

* KarmaHoudini: The Pirates get paid to kill Zuko, carry out the job, and even though they fail to achieve their mission since Zuko survives, neither he nor Iroh tracks them down for revenge. {{Justified}}, as with just the two of them, no ship or allies, and running on a time limitation with Zhao's invasion imminent, they had no time to go after them for pointless payback when both are aware Zhao was the one really behind the attack, although Iroh does imply that he would be going after them once the Invasion was over as a pretence to ally Zhao's suspicions against him accepting his offer.

* TookALevelInBadass: Katara's obviously been LevelGrinding over the course of the season, but in this episode we find out ''just'' how good she's gotten. [[OldMaster Master Pakku]] [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome still mops the floor with her, though, given his title as a master]].

* WhipItGood: Katara uses a water whip to strike Pakku and finally get him to fight her.

* OffModel: During the sequence when Aang and Katara are approaching Master Pakku, Katara's coat is colored grey instead of blue. It goes back to blue afterward.

* KarmaHoudini: The Pirates get paid to kill Zuko, carry out the job, and even though they fail to achieve their mission since Zuko survives, neither he nor Iroh tracks them down for revenge.

''[[caption-width-right:333:Pakku, the North's master waterbender, duels against Katara.]]''

-->--'''Pakku'''

--> '''Sokka:''' Okay, now I’m confused. Happy, but confused.

* KarmaHoudini: The Pirates get paid to kill Zuko, carry out the job, and even though they fail to achieve their mission since Zuko survives, neither he nor Iroh track them down for revenge.

* CurbStompCushion: Katara manages to hold her own and impresses Master Pakku with her waterbending and fighting abilities, but she still has no real chance of defeating a true Master of the craft.

* TookALevelInBadass: Katara's obviously been LevelGrinding over the course of the season, but in this episode we find out ''just'' how good she's gotten. [[OldMaster Master Pakku]] [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome ''still'' mops the floor with her, though, given his title as a master]].

* ArrangedMarriage: Why Yue is so distressed about feeling affection for Sokka. It is also the backstory between Pakku and Katara's grandmother Kanna, though she escaped it by fleeing to the Southern Water Tribe.

* TookALevelInBadass: Katara's obviously been LevelGrinding over the course of the season, but in this episode we find out ''just'' how good she's gotten. [[OldMaster Master Pakku]] ''still'' mops the floor with her, though, given his title as a master.

* FailedASpotCheck: Pakku somehow ''fails'' to notice that Katara looks almost identical to the love of his life, Kanna, until the plot requires him to.

* RealityEnsues: Katara may be pissed, and skilled enough to prevent it from being a CurbStompBattle, but she is still no match against Master Pakku, who's had many more years of experience and proper training.

After the journey to the Northern Air Temple, the group lurks around the waters surrounding the North Pole, seeking out the Northern Water Tribe. They are found by a group of waterbenders from the tribe, who show them the way. Upon arriving, the gang is welcomed warmly by the citizens of the Northern Water Tribe, and the chief of the tribe throws a huge party in celebration. Sokka meets Yue, an attractive princess whom he falls for. Aang and Katara seek to learn waterbending from a master named Pakku, but he refuses to teach Katara due to sexist customs. Katara proves herself worthy, both by demonstration of technique and by invoking the memory of Pakku's beloved ex-fiancée—Katara's own grandmother, who could not stand to live under the Northern Water Tribe's misogyny—and Pakku relents. Meanwhile, Admiral Zhao realizes that Zuko is the Blue Spirit and hires the pirates from "[[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheWaterbendingScroll The Waterbending Scroll]]" to assassinate the prince; hearing his nephew was killed, Iroh agrees to assist Zhao with an attack on the North Pole. But Zuko has survived, and, with Iroh's help, sneaks aboard Zhao's lead ship as his fleet departs.

* BaitAndSwitch: While having tea with Admiral Zhao, Iroh appears to be ready to accuse Zhao of trying to assassinate Zuko. Then he says it was the pirates, which is MetaphoricallyTrue since they were directly responsible for the assassination attempt and Zuko and Iroh ''had'' previously tangled with them. However near the end of the episode, Iroh reveals he was playing along so that Zuko could sneak aboard Zhao's ship with some backup.

* BigEater: Iroh briefly tears up when mentioning Zhao's taken the ship's cook as well.
* BlatantLies: Zhao stating he's "devastated" to learn of Zuko's demise.
* BluntNo: When Katara learned that Master Paku will not teach her in his class because she's a girl, she angrily tells him that she didn't traveled from the South to the North just for him to tell her "no." He does just that.

* ChekhovsGun: The necklace Katara's been wearing this whole time is actually her grandmother's (would-be) betrothal necklace from Pakku.

* FlauntingYourFleets: At the very end of the episode, there is a pan-up from Zhao's ship to the fleet he has gathered for the invasion of the Northern Water Tribe.

--> '''Sokka:''' Okay now I’m confused. Happy, but confused.

* {{Leitmotif}}: The song Iroh sings on the ship's music night ("Four Seasons") becomes the love theme for Sokka and Yue.

** Zuko while Zhao gazes upon his broadswords; the same broadswords he wielded as the Blue Spirit.
** Pakku has this reaction when one of Katara's ice discs get a little too close to his face.

* PsychoticSmirk: Zhao does one when it appears he fooled Iroh into thinking that the pirates were the only party responsible for the attempt on Zuko's life.

* SpottingTheThread: Zhao, having invaded Zuko's cabin to inform him that his crew is being commandeered, notices Zuko's broadswords hanging on the wall. Despite Zuko's protests that they are just decorative antiques, Zhao recognizes them as the ones [[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheBlueSpirit the Blue Spirit]] used to free the Avatar from his capture, leading him to attempt to assassinate Zuko.

** The Northern Water Tribe's whole attitude. Katara's having none of it. And nor did her grandmother.

* TastyGold: TropeNamer, with the pirates Zhao hires to blow up Zuko's ship.

* TookALevelInBadass: Katara's obviously been LevelGrinding over the course of the season, but in this episode we find out ''just'' how good she's gotten. [[OldMaster Master Pakku]] ''still'' mops the floor with her though, given his title as a master.

* UptownGirl: Yue who is Princess of the powerful Northern Water Tribe and Sokka, from the poorer Southern Tribe. He initially thinks this is why she's rejecting him.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The crew of Zuko's ship disappears after this episode.

* SlipknotPonytail: Katara’s hair comes loose from her ponytail during her fight with Master Pakku.

* {{Foreshadow}}: Yagoda does this when she realizes that Katara is Kanna's granddaughter by looking at her face and her necklace.

* VillainRespect: Downplayed. Pakku's more of a jerk with sexist values, but he does admit that Katara is rather skilled.

->''"You want to learn to fight so bad, study closely."''

After the journey to the Northern Air Temple, the group lurks around the waters surrounding the North Pole, seeking out the Northern Water Tribe. They are found by a group of waterbenders from the tribe, who show them the way. Upon arriving, the gang is welcomed warmly by the citizens of the Northern Water Tribe, and the chief of the tribe throws a huge party in celebration. Sokka meets Yue, an attractive princess whom he falls for. Aang and Katara seek to learn waterbending from a master named Pakku, but he refuses to teach Katara due to sexist customs. Katara proves herself worthy, both by demonstration of technique and by invoking the memory of Pakku's beloved ex-fiancee—Katara's own grandmother, who could not stand to live under the Northern Water Tribe's misogyny—and Pakku relents. Meanwhile, Admiral Zhao hires the pirates from "The Waterbending Scroll" to assassinate Zuko; hearing his nephew was killed, Iroh agrees to assist Zhao with an attack on the North Pole. But Zuko has survived, and, with Iroh's help, sneaks aboard Zhao's lead ship as his fleet departs.

!!Tropes:

* CurbStompCushion: Katara manages to hold her own and impresses Master Pakku with her Water-bending and fighting abilities, but she still had no real chance of defeating a true Master of the craft.

* DistractedByTheSexy: Sokka falls into the water while talking to Yue. But according to him it was WorthIt.

* IdenticalGrandson: Yagoda says that Katara is ''”a spitting image of Kanna”''.
* KarmaHoudini: The Pirates get paid to kill Zuko, carry out the job, & even though they fail to achieve their mission since Zuko survives, neither he nor Iroh track them down for revenge.

* OhCrap: Zuko while Zhao gazes upon his broadswords; the same broadswords he wielded as the Blue Spirit.
** Pakku also has this reaction when one of Katara's ice discs get a little too close to his face.

* RealityEnsues: Katara may be pissed, and skilled enough to prevent it from being a CurbStompBattle, but she is still no match against Master Pakku who's had many more years of experience and proper training.

* StayInTheKitchen: The Northern Water Tribe's whole attitude. Katara's having none of it. And nor did her grandmother.
-->'''Katara''': Aren't you gonna fight!?
-->'''Pakku''': Go back to the healing huts with the other women where you belong.
** Possibly gender-inverted as well. While it's not explicitly stated, it's implied, by the fact that not a single male waterbender healer was seen until ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', that the ban went both ways, and men were not allowed to learn healing in the Northern Water Tribe either.

* TongueTied: When Sokka first talks to Yue, he asks if they could "do an activity together".

* RealityEnsues: Katara may be pissed, and skilled enough to prevent it from being a CurbStompBattle, but she is still no match against Master Pakku.

* UptownGirl: Yue who is Princess of the powerful Northern Water Tribe and Sokka, from the poorer Southern Tribe. He initially thinks this is why she's rejecting him, but it turns out she's has an ArrangedMarriage.