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Context Recap / AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheBoilingRockPart2

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1[[quoteright:333:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/avatar_boiling_rock_part_2.png]]
2[[caption-width-right:333:Mai faces off against Azula after making the decision to help Zuko and the others escape.]]
3
4->''[[WhamLine "You miscalculated. I love Zuko more than I fear you."]]''
5
6Sokka, Zuko, Suki, and Chit Sang create a new plan for escaping the prison after the original plan failed. Mai appears and demands to know why Zuko left her. He says he's trying to save the Fire Nation, not destroy it. They take the warden hostage to escape on the gondola over the boiling water. The guards attempt to cut the line following the warden's orders, but Mai saves them by stopping the guards. Azula is furious over their betrayal, but Mai declares she loves Zuko more than she fears Azula. After Ty Lee stops Azula's attack on Mai with Chi-blocking and tries to aid her escape, Azula furiously has them both imprisoned.
7----
8!!Tropes:
9
10* TheAlcatraz: The eponymous Boiling Rock. The building is in middle of a lake on the crater of an inactive volcano. But it still produces enough heat for the lake to literally boil, making it impossible for anyone to escape.
11* AlwaysSaveTheGirl: Gender-inverted; Mai betrays Azula and the Fire Nation at large to save Zuko.
12* BackstabbingTheAlphaBitch: Mai and Ty Lee betray Azula.
13* BackToBackBadasses: Sokka and Zuko vs Azula. Zuko counters all of Azula's attacks while striking back to keep her off balance, giving Sokka the opportunity to get in close with his sword.
14* BadassBoast: Mai gets one after having the sheer gall to not only betray Azula, but ''challenge'' her.
15-->'''Mai:''' I love Zuko more than I fear you.
16* BavarianFireDrill: Sokka, dressed as a rookie prison guard, convinces an actual guard to release all of the prisoners into the yard… during a lockdown. Of course, he uses the Warden's "authority" as backup…
17* BrickJoke: In the previous episode, Sokka and Zuko claimed they were going fishing. At the very end, when they return, Toph incredulously asks about them not bringing back any food.
18* CainAndAbel: Azula doesn't mind leaving her brother to die.
19* CableCarActionSequence: The escape involves an epic fight over a steam-powered gondola lift.
20* ChekhovsGun:
21** Remember how the warden casually mentions to his men that he'll rather boil in the moat than see his record broken? Our heroes take him hostage to get safe passage across that same moat, only to learn just how much he means that. His own guards are well aware of this, and attempt to follow through before Mai intervenes.
22** Ty Lee uses the chi-blocking used on Katara on ''Azula herself''.
23* ColdBloodedTorture: The Warden doesn't mess around when it comes to interrogation, and Chit Sang became his next victim; the warden know Chit Sang isn't smart enough to come up with the failed escape plan, and his men torture him in very unpleasant ways to extract a confession out of him.
24* ContinuityNod: Zuko uses several of the original forms of firebending techniques he learned [[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheFirebendingMasters two episodes ago]] against Azula, which puts him on equal footing with her.
25* CruelMercy: Azula initially planned on killing Mai for her betrayal, but after Ty Lee chi blocks her she's content with letting them rot in prison.
26* CurbStompBattle: Mai deals an ''epic'' one to the guards when they try to stop her efforts to save Zuko.
27* CutTheSafetyRope: Inverted. The warden manages to free himself enough so that he can yell at the guards to cut the lines holding up the gondola, knowing full well that he'll be boiled alive along with the would-be escapees when it falls. The attempt is foiled, but the warden gets points for trying.
28* DeathGlare:
29** Azula deals an especially harsh one to Mai when questioning her on her decision to help Zuko escape. Mai however is most definitely ''not'' intimidated.
30** Mai and Ty Lee ''both'' deal one to Azula right before they are imprisoned for having betrayed her just moments earlier.
31* DefectingForLove: Mai's rebellion against Azula is motivated by her love for Zuko.
32* DidntThinkThisThrough: Sokka's new plan to take the warden hostage and escape on the gondola hits a problem. Sokka doesn't actually know how to get to the warden and take him hostage. When Zuko calls him out on this, saying he thought Sokka said he always thinks things through, Sokka says he thought Zuko said it was okay to ''not'' always think things through, with Zuko saying maybe not ''always'' but this is important. Luckily Suki handles it by taking the warden hostage herself.
33* TheDogBitesBack: When the warden has Chit Sang point out which "guard" came up with the escape attempt, rather than pointing out Sokka, Chit Sang lies and points at the guard that was bullying him in the previous episode as payback.
34* EtTuBrute: Betrayal by her friends is apparently one thing Azula cannot bear.
35* EveryManHasHisPrice: Chit Sang saves Sokka, but demands he cut him in on the escape plan in exchange.
36* EveryoneHasStandards:
37** Unlike Azula, Ty Lee actually looks upset when she retreats to leave Sokka, Zuko, Suki and Hakoda to apparently die.
38** Mai promptly betrays her uncle and his establishment if it meant Zuko escapes safely.
39* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Why Azula is so shocked by Mai's HeelFaceTurn.
40-->'''Azula:''' The thing I don't understand is ''why''. Why would you do it? You know the consequences.
41-->'''Mai:''' I guess you just don't know people as well as you think you do.
42* ExplosionPropulsion: Azula uses her firebending for this purpose to jump up to the cable cars and around them.
43* FacePalm:
44** Zuko does this when Mai mentioned the Warden is her uncle, despite he already found out previously.
45** He does this again when Sokka admits he hadn't really thought out how they were going to reach and capture the Warden for the second escape attempt.
46* FireForgedFriends: Between Sokka and Zuko. Sokka puts his past animosity towards Zuko to rest in this episode.
47* FreezeFrameBonus: Looking closely at Azula's hands when she and Mai are about to fight shows her leading with two fingers, meaning she was fully ready to shoot ''lightning'' at her once best friend.
48* AFriendInNeed: Ty Lee rebels against Azula when she seems to be about to kill Mai for her betrayal.
49* GentleGiant: Hakoda tries to incite a riot by shoving a tattooed, burly-looking thug. He happened to pick the one prisoner who is working on his anger-management skills. The thug eagerly participates when a riot does break out however.
50* GreatEscape: Making one of these is the point of the two-part episode.
51* HandBehindHead: Sokka does this pose when his father tells him he should be more careful with his prison guard outfit.
52* HeelFaceTurn: Mai in order to [[DefectingForLove save Zuko's life]], and Ty Lee to save Mai's. They look almost as surprised at the outcome of events as Azula.
53* HeldGaze: Between Mai and Zuko after he locks her in the cell.
54* HesAFriend: Sokka has to tell Hakoda this regarding Zuko.
55* IdiotBall: The warden takes away the guard that Chit Sang singles out as an imposter, but somehow misses Sokka, who is not only much younger and shorter than the rest of the guards but is visibly frightened out of his mind while the rest of them were not. This was, however, the same guard who had thrown Chit Sang into the cooler previously, which made it seem believable that he was in on it.
56* ImprovisedZipline: Azula rides up the gondola cable on metal handcuffs.
57* IronicEcho: When the Warden wonders how Azula was able to deduce that the guard wasn't the mastermind behind Chit Sang's failed escape, she merely answers "Because I'm a [[SherlockScan people person]]..." Later, when confronting Mai on why she helped Zuko and his friends escape, she points out "I guess you don't know people as well as you think you do."
58* KickTheDog:
59** The Warden knows just how valuable a prisoner Zuko is, and he could easily turn him over to his father and collect the reward... but knowing how heartbroken his niece Mai is, the Warden decides to instead place Zuko in a cell ''with'' Mai before he turns him in.
60** When the guards begin cutting the line, [[CainAndAbel Azula is perfectly happy with leaving Zuko to die]], offering an insincere, smirking goodbye as she blasts herself off the gondola.
61* KillUsBoth: The warden demonstrates his dedication to his job. Bonus points for having boasted about being willing to do it during Part 1.
62* LameComeback: When her "friend" Mai betrays her and tells her she "miscalculated", Azula responds with a NoYou. While this is one of the rare occasions when the No, You can be legitimately frightening (as she intended to follow it with a killing strike), the fact that the normally composed DeadpanSnarker Azula shouted this retort (thus showing the first cracks that ultimately lead to a spectacular VillainousBreakdown), means it can qualify as this trope.
63* LaserGuidedKarma: The guard who took such pleasure in abusing Chit Sang is the one outed as a traitor when the former is ordered to identify his accomplice. The reason it's so convincing is because this guard locked Chit Sang up and gave him a reason to be in the cooler. Azula quickly deduces he's not the man they want, though not before he's already been subjected to interrogation by the Warden.
64* LeParkour: Suki's sequence when she captures the warden, and Ty Lee's when she runs on the gondola cable.
65* LetsGetOutOfHere: Ty Lee tries this once she betrays Azula too, but Mai won't budge and they're quickly surrounded.
66%%* LovedINotHonorMore: Zuko with Mai. %%(Zero-Context Example)%%
67%%* MachiavelliWasWrong: "You miscalculated. I love Zuko more than I fear you." %%(Zero-Context Example)%%
68* ManlyTears: Hakoda sheds a few when he's reunited with Sokka.
69* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: Mai and Ty Lee betray [[BadBoss Azula]].
70* MyCountryRightOrWrong: Doubles with EvilCannotComprehendGood, Mai doesn't understand Zuko's assertion that he trying to take down Fire Lord Ozai for the good of his nation because from her point of view he's betraying their nation. Subverted in the end when she decides her love for Zuko is more important than any loyalty she had to the fire nation.
71* NearVillainVictory: Azula and Ty Lee leave Zuko and the rest of their friends to die on the gondola when the guards prepare to cut the lines. [[BigDamnHeroes And then Mai arrives on the scene...]]
72* NiceJobFixingItVillain: The standoff between Mai and Zuko is resolved when a guard comes and finds them, saying [[BodyguardingABadass he's been assigned to protect her because there's a riot]]. Zuko fires a warning blast, and the guard throws himself in front of Mai to protect her. In the seconds it takes her to get him out of her way, Zuko bolts and locks her in, letting him rejoin the other heroes.
73* NotAfraidOfYouAnymore: Mai and Ty Lee to Azula. Granted, Mai was never one to openly display any real fear of her, but also would not challenge Azula directly for she knew she was outmatched. She drops all pretense however when Azula leaves Zuko to perish in the lake, and upon saving him declares that she is done doing her bidding. Ty Lee, the more openly fearful of the two momentarily abandons her fear of Azula to protect Mai, and is just as defiant when Azula orders them both imprisoned.
74* NotHelpingYourCase: After the bully guard is falsely accused of orchestrating the failed escape attempt, the Warden notes that he had previously locked Chit Sang in the same cooler that was unbolted to use as a boat. Since he had no real reason for putting him in the cooler in the first place, the guard can only feebly deny his involvement.
75* NoYou: Azula to Mai in a rare frightening example. Mai has shown full defiance and the first time Azula's own beliefs about using fear to control people and how to calculate and control other people were both not all-encompassing and fallible. Weirdly, it's a case of words that fall flat; yet show brilliantly good writing: As the calculated, snarky Azula had absolutely no words against Mai; prompting the line below; and showing the first hints of a VillainousBreakdown.
76-->"No, ''you'' miscalculated! You should have feared me more!"
77* OhCrap: The Warden after snapping at the person who just interrupted his interrogation of one of the guards; that person being ''Azula'', who came in for a surprise inspection.
78** Everyone on the gondola (including Azula) when Ty Lee yells that the guards are planning on cutting the cable.
79* OOCIsSeriousBusiness:
80** Azula's already cold and lethal nature takes a far darker turn when her usual calm is replaced by frustration and rage the moment Mai tells her off. [[FromBadToWorse It all goes downhill from there...]]
81** The easily intimidated and blindly loyal Ty Lee ''finally'' strikes down Azula the moment she is prepared to attack Mai. Doubly so for Mai herself, who is at a complete loss for words when this happens.
82* PayEvilUntoEvil: Chit Sang is tortured into telling the Warden which guard helped him try to escape. Instead of Sokka, though, he fingers the guard that was abusing him in the previous episode. This little bit of payback works to the others' advantage. The guard had arbitrarily sent Chit Sang to the cooler, which is how he attempted to make his escape, which in turn is why the Warden thinks the accusation is true.
83%%* PoseOfSupplication: Prison staff assumes this pose when Azula shows up in the doorway. %%(Zero-Context Example)%%
84%%* PowderKegCrowd: Chit Sang ignites one. %%(Zero-Context Example)%%
85* ThePowerOfLove: Mai values this more than her fear of Azula.
86* PreAsskickingOneLiner:
87-->'''Guard:''' What are you doing?\
88'''Mai:''' Saving the jerk who dumped me.
89* PrisonRiot: Sokka, Suki, Zuko, and Hakoda plan one as part of their escape plan. Hakoda's attempt to start one falls flat when the inmate he picks to shove turns out to be working to control his anger issues. Then Chit Sang starts one by simply grabbing another inmate, hoisting him overhead and yelling, "Hey! RIOT!"
90* PutOnTheBus: Azula orders Mai and Ty Lee rot in prison for betraying her. This is the last time we see them until the GrandFinale.
91* RabbleRouser: PlayedWith; first, Hakoda tries by shoving the biggest, meanest looking guy he can find, and actually asking "Aren't you gonna hit me?", but the guy claims he's been learning to control his anger. Then Chit Sang starts the riot by grabbing a smaller man, lifting him over his head and yelling "Hey, RIOT!"
92* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: The guard who accidentally let all of the prisoners out wisely backpedals in a panic when [[BadBoss the Warden]] furiously demands to know who did this.
93* TheSocialExpert: Azula. However, even she didn't see Mai and Ty Lee's HeelFaceTurn coming.
94* TakeMyHand: Zuko pulls Sokka up by the hand when the latter is about to fall from the gondola roof.
95* TakingYouWithMe: The warden would rather die along with the escaping prisoners, than tarnish his prison's record of zero escapes.
96-->'''Guard 1:''' [The Warden] wants us to cut the line. \
97'''Guard 2:''' But if we cut the line, there's no way he'll survive! \
98'''Guard 1:''' He knows that.
99* TemptingFate:
100** Shortly after arriving, Azula boasts about being a "people person". By the end of the episode, the limits of her ability to understand and handle people leads to Mai and then Ty Lee turning on her.
101** Also, the warden bragging about his record of having had no escape from his prison.
102* TookALevelInBadass: Thanks to his visit with the dragons, Zuko is now able to fight Azula on even footing, whereas before she easily outmatched him.
103* TranquilFury: Azula when she confronts Mai on her actions in saving Zuko and with him the other prisoners. Things quickly boil over when Mai tells her off...
104* UndyingLoyalty:
105** Instead of leaving the Fire Nation to rot, Zuko hopes to bring salvation to it by ending the war.
106** Azula learns first-hand that this is not true of Mai and Ty Lee.
107* UnwantedAssistance: The guard who comes to keep Mai safe in response to the riot is neither needed nor wanted. The only thing he accomplishes is getting in her way long enough for Zuko to escape.
108* VillainousBreakdown: The first cracks in Azula's demeanor begin to show...
109* VillainousValor: It turns out the Warden wasn't exaggerating ''at all'' when he said he'd rather jump in the boiling lake than allow prisoners to escape.
110* ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend: Mai is still pissed about Zuko breaking things off with her, but it doesn't stop her from saving him and his friends.
111* WardensAreEvil: The warden doesn't hesitate in torturing Chit Sang in revealing how the previous episode's escape plan was orchestrated... and the guard he pointed out.
112* WhamEpisode: Hakoda and Suki break out of the Boiling Rock, Sokka fully trusts Zuko now, Mai and Ty Lee betray Azula as she threatens both Zuko ''and'' Mai respectively, and the previously unflappable Azula begins to break down with this massive betrayal.
113* WhamShot: Ty Lee attacking Azula just as she's about to strike Mai, a moment that leaves all three girls just as shocked as the audience is.
114* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The previous episode, Chit Sang made a point of bringing his best friend and girlfriend along for the escape attempt. This time he doesn't even mention them. Also, at the end of the episode he awkwardly introduces himself to the rest of the Gaang...but is never seen again for the rest of the season.
115* WithFriendsLikeThese: Well, from Azula's perspective. The closest thing she has to friends and those she thought she had under her thumb turned on her without hesitation because she went too far. Even though Azula doesn't actually understand true friendship (to the point where Mai points out they put up with her out of fear), the whole thing still feels like a massive betrayal.
116* WomanScorned: Also Mai, though not enough that she'll let Zuko die.
117* YouOweMe: Chit Sang is forced to reveal who set up the prison escape that led to the lockdown. Instead of Sokka, he points to a prison guard that he has a grudge with. He gets Sokka to bring him along for another escape attempt. Sokka agrees after getting him to start a riot.

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