Katara sits next to Hahn, putting up with his perversion and rudeness until the meat, when she plans to take the opportunity to launch into her speech. She never gets the chance, though, as Yugoda comes in late, having dealt with the Joo Dees. Han makes a few incredibly tasteless jokes about them, resulting in Katara hitting him in the snack tray, an act that while cathartic, costs her the prime position.
Then Arnook takes the opportunity to congratulate Aang for destroying the Fire Nation's invasion fleet and leaving Ozai alive to destablize the Fire Nation, something that he apparently wholeheartedly believes in spite of Aang's denials, including making sure that Aang knows how much .
Chief Arnook's stock seems to fall with every passing scene- first he turns his back on the Southern Water Tribe and marries off his daughter to a Jerkass, and now, he's gloating over the Fire Nation's misfortunes. Granted, they just finished a war, and international relations involves a certain element of rivalry, even between allies, but when the nation you're at war against suffers massive casualties, the proper attitude is solemn acknowledgment of it as a good fortune while mourning the loss of life, not sadistic glee.
Katara appropriately owns up to her mistake in keeping Aang in the dark, and goes out to find him. He's understandably angry about not being told, and asks if she's trying to protect him from the truth, a question to which Katara answers yes. Aang recalls how Monk Gyatso didn't want him to be taught too harshly, or too evil teachings (such as lungbending, which you may remember as the method Zaheer uses to kill Hou Ting).
Aang comes to a decision and realizes that the Northern Water Tribe wants vengeance more than peace, and sets out to stop them. He gives a good speech crediting the various people from other nations who helped stop the war, and now, it's up to the Water Tribes to do their part as well. Unfortunately, it falls on deaf ears, as Arnook refuses to reason with the Fire Nation after losing his daughter to them. That strikes a nerve with Sokka, who points out that Yue did a Heroic Sacrifice for the sake of peace, but [[Shut Up, Kirk! Arnook tells her to not. Hakoda steps in while defending Sokka and even Zuko, while Arnook has the temerity to call Hakoda incompetent because his tribe's on hard times, conveniently ignoring the fact that it's because they suffered the brunt of the Fire Nation attacks while the North did nothing.
Yugoda intervenes, cleverly separating both tribes to the balconies by strategically placing the desserts each ones wants. She takes the opportunity to speak with Katara, and notes that she's used to the misogyny of the tribe, causing Katara to wonder if she's embraced it (there's little more depressing than a member of an oppressed group who tells other members to know their place). Yugoda, however, says that is not the case, and she's tired of her own husband treating her like a fool in spite of her expertise as a healer. They also mention Yugoda's correspondence with Dr. Yang, and Katara's newer interest in healing.
Katara meets up with the Joo Dees, who aren't just being brainwashed into guides and spies, but some of them are used as sex slaves. While the latter may be a natural result of brainwashed women, it's subject matter that's far too dark for a children's show, and even Legend of Korra, while Darker and Edgier in many ways, would likely shy away from including it. Unsurprisingly, Katara loses her lunch over this, and I don't blame her- the "sex slave" part was a bit over-the-top.
Katara and Yugoda work on the Joo Dees, but there's a problem. Since they're classified as prisoners of war (when, in fact, they're brainwashed refugees), they can't get them to an actual hospital. Of course, releasing them all isn't an option, since some of the Dai Li's prisoners are actual criminals, but Aang and Katara are confident that they can talk Kuei into looking into this.
Katara gets a letter from Suki to Sokka about their group's traveling. After a great deal of lovey-dovey stuff and some about Iroh's shenanigans with the women, Suki reveals that Toph and Zuko are bickering, since Toph wants Zuko to break up with Mai. While Toph is apparently a bit of a jerk about it, to put it mildly, Mai has never been much better. To make matters even worse, Zuko wants to stick with Mai to prove Toph wrong- Zuko has never been this obsessed with honor not even before his Character Development and Heel–Face Turn took place. As a result of all these problems, and the group accidentally forgetting Mai, Zuko's group is at least five hours behind schedule.
Aang and Katara meet with Kuei and the Dowager. Aang's proposals regarding the peace process are well-received, but Katara runs into some trouble with the Dowager, who sees the Dai Li as an unpleasant necessity (which may explain why her granddaughter has them around in Legend of Korra), until she actually shows them the prisoners, and Kuei insists on going. Later, over tea, the Dowager reveals that she's shocked to learn all this went on under her nose, and starts becoming willing to learn from others.
The prisoners are released, and Jet is apparently among them. This would have been good Foreshadowing for his survival if not for the fact that the author had spoiled it multiple times in her author's notes leading up to this.
Aang then ends up confessing his love to Katara, much to her dismay, as she'd assumed that he'd gotten over this (as had I), and she's even more dismayed that he doesn't read her mind and notice how much this displeases her. Luckily for Katara, she doesn't need to answer immediately, but he'd like to hear her reply by the East Wind Festival.
Zuko's group gets to Ba Sing Se with all heads present in spite of all the trouble.
What I liked
- Aang FINALLY gets to make a good point, albeit one that gets ignored by his intended target.
- The Dowager gets some interesting Character Development here.
What I didn't like
- Returning to the subject of Aang's feelings.
- The part about the Joo Dees being sex slaves seemed a bit over the top.
- Zuko seems a bit too stubborn about staying with Mai.
