The Warriors of Kyoshi interrogate the Gaang.
"I am a warrior. But I'm a girl, too."
— Suki
On their quest to the Northern Water Tribe, Aang decides it's of vital importance that he ride Giant Koi Fish, a distraction which results in the gang being captured. Much to Sokka's surprise, however, the group who captured them is a troop of warrior women. His sexism doesn't exactly make them sympathetic to letting the group go free, but it turns out that these are the Warriors of Kyoshi, named after the previous Earth Avatar, and thus they are eager to help the Avatar. Aang's fame goes to his head as he attempts to impress Katara, while Sokka learns a lesson or two about gender equality from the Kyoshi Warriors—in particular, their pretty leader Suki. However, news that the Avatar is at Kyoshi Island spreads, enticing Zuko to pay a visit...
Tropes in this episode include:
- Amazon Brigade: The Kyoshi Warriors are an all-female group, keeping in the tradition of their founder, Avatar Kyoshi. They also wear her warrior paint and dress to signify their heritage.
- Answer Cut: When Aang says there is something about Kyoshi Island that makes him not want to leave, the camera pans to the right to reveal his giggling Groupie Brigade.
- Audience Murmurs: When Aang airbends in the village for the first time, proving himself to be the Avatar.
- Bilingual Bonus: Unagi means eel in Japanese.
- Breath Weapon: The unagi can blast firehose-like jets of water from its mouth.
- Bullying a Dragon: Sokka decides to taunt the Kyoshi warriors when they have him tied to a pole and surrounded.Sokka: There's no way a bunch of girls took us down.
Suki: "A bunch of girls," huh? The unagi's going to eat well tonight. - Character Development: Sokka learns a lot about humility, and not to be sexist. This is probably also the first episode he realizes he's the Non-Action Guy.
- Chekhov's Gun: Aang uses the unagi, with its ability to spout water, to extinguish the flames of the burning village.
- Combat Hand Fan:
- The Kyoshi Warriors' main weapon. Based on real-life Japanese weapons, as well. They use their fans in honor of Kyoshi who used a pair of fans when she was alive.
- When Aang and Zuko are fighting, Aang grabs a pair of fans dropped by one of the Warriors and uses them to send a powerful air blast at Zuko, knocking him into a nearby house.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Sokka accepting his defeat gracefully and respecting the Kyoshi Warriors, as well as women generally. Psychologically, we would rather expect massive resentment from a young Proud Warrior Race Guy beaten by a bunch of girls; it would be more likely if he became a misogynist after this, if he weren't one already. Of course, it may just be that Sokka is unusually philosophical and intellectually mature...
- Description Cut: Prince Zuko is trying to track down the Avatar.Prince Zuko: How am I going to find the Avatar? He is clearly a master of evasive maneuvering.
[cut to the Gaang on Appa]
Sokka: You have no idea where you're going, do you? - Easily Forgiven: Aang is surprisingly forgiving towards the Kyoshi Islanders for just moments ago threatening to feed him and his friends to the unagi for trespassing on their island. Granted, he apologized for not realizing the rules had changed over the past hundred years.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: Aang rides the giant koi fish as he did a hundred years ago. It didn't occur to him that, during that timespan, a village would emerge, and they would be wary of outsiders barging onto the beach. He apologizes to the Kyoshi Warriors for this, saying that he hadn't realized the island was inhabited.
- Gilligan Cut: At the start, after receiving news that the Avatar has been spotted in multiple locations but has been impossible to track, Zuko states that he must be a master of evasive maneuvers. The scene then cuts to Sokka commenting on how Aang clearly has no idea where they're going.
- Green-Eyed Monster: A somewhat downplayed example, but Katara gets rather jealous of the local girls that seem infatuated with Aang. She does tease him about her being jealous though, and they have a laugh towards the end of the episode about it because Aang admits he was really trying to impress her.
- Groupie Brigade: Aang's fame as the Avatar nets him a group of girls who follow him around everywhere and fawn over his every action.
- Humble Pie: Sokka gets handed a big mouthful when he goes to confront the Warriors of Kyoshi, and learns that he's not the great Water Tribe warrior he thought he was. Later, after Suki throws him on his ass, he bows before her, apologizing for his behavior. Sokka then asks for Suki to teach him how to fight properly, so he can protect Katara and Aang. He even wears the uniform to show how serious he is when Suki requests it.
- Laugh of Love: Aang's fangirls tend to giggle and squeal when they're with him, much to Katara's jealousy.
- Mouth Cam: This is present to show Aang swinging across the unagi's mouth.
- Properly Paranoid: Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors seem to go into overkill by capturing three benders on their beach and planning to execute them for trespassing. Later, however, they explain why they are extremely cautious; the world hasn't been kind to their little peninsula with how the Avatar went missing for a hundred years, and no one is a bender on the island. In a fight with beings that have actual powers, they would be curbstomped. Sure enough, they can't put up a fight when Zuko invades the village, though they sure try their best and buy time for the tiny Gaang to escape.
- Riding into the Sunset: Team Avatar, joined by the unagi, ends the episode by flying off into the setting sun.
- Sea Serpents: The unagi
is a huge, long-bodied fish that hunts in the waters around Kyoshi Island, preying on anything it finds in the water and attacking prey with high-pressure blasts of water from its mouth. - Ship Tease: Suki reveals that Sokka won her over with his humility and dedication to warrior training. Before the Gaang has to leave, she gives him a peck on the cheek and hints she can't wait to see him again.
- Shout-Out:
- "Where we're going, you won't need any pants."
- At one point, Aang goes from two-handed push-ups to one-handed to handless push-ups using his breath. We'll have some of whatever he's smoking!
-
Avatar Extras confirmed that the montage of Aang getting chased by the fangirls was an homage to A Hard Day's Night by The Beatles.
- Soft Water: Towards the end, Aang jumps from Appa's back and directly into the sea hundreds of feet below, without receiving any harm from the collision.
- Squee: One guy starts fanboying over Aang so hard he collapses while foaming at the mouth.
- Straw Misogynist: Sokka is a downplayed example for being condescending to Katara, and written this way so the story can spell out that he is wrong and make him see the light.
- Wake-Up Call: Aang gets comfortable on Kyoshi Island due to his fanbase, forgetting about the war that he as the Avatar is supposed to stop. And then Zuko attacks, giving Aang the reminder of the responsibilities he needs.
- Writers Cannot Do Math: The writers backed themselves into a corner when they said that Kyoshi was born on the island four hundred years ago. Roku died at seventy and Aang was in the iceberg for a century, implying that she lived to be roughly 230 (it's not clear if she was born precisely 400 years ago or if it was an approximation). People, and especially the Avatar, live longer in this universe than they do in real life, but the next most Long-Lived character is Aang himself and he died at chronologically 166 and biologically 66.
