The city of Omashu.
Team Avatar reach the city of Omashu, one of the last free cities in the Earth Kingdoms, only to discover there are renegades at work, while in the Fire Nation tension grows inside the royal palace.
Episodes adapted from the original series:
Tropes:
- Adaptational Context Change:
- The circumstances leading to Iroh's arrest are much different here: in the original, he is captured by the Earth Kingdom soldiers after they recognize him as the infamous Dragon of the West. In this version, he takes the blame for Zuko after his reckless firebending puts him on the soldiers' radar.
- The original show Aang leads the group to Omashu because his friend Bumi lived there 100 years ago. Here he catches Teo flying in the distance and believes it might be another airbender, following them leads them to Omashu and eventually meeting the Mechanist. Aang also excitedly explains specific details of Omashu to Sokka and Katara like he did in the original series, but they don't learn of the two being old friends until the end of the following episode, and even then, that's by implication.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Very downplayed with Ozai. The original Ozai wanted nothing to do with Zuko, while the live-action version actively praises Zuko for doing the impossible and finding the Avatar. But then again, he also does this to shame Azula into doing better.
- Adaptational Early Appearance:
- Both Mai and Ty Lee are introduced in this episode, while the cartoon didn't introduce them until Book 2. They also accompany Azula from the start, while in the original, she had to seek them both out first.
- Jet, the Freedom Fighters, the Mechanist, and Teo originally appeared after the Gaang's trip to Omashu. Here, the storylines for each of their respective episodes happen concurrently within Omashu.
- In a triple-combo, the hippie minstrels, Badgermoles, and the fabled origin of Omashu and of Earthbending itself is introduced sooner, with the memetic Secret Tunnels being under Omashu itself and used by the Water Siblings to get inside Bumi's palace.
- Adaptation Distillation: Mixes together the events of "The King of Omashu", "Jet", and "The Northern Air Temple" all in one go.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: As in the original show, averted hard with Jet. Katara is initially attracted to him, but that's because he helps Team Avatar get into Omashu and helps her with her waterbending. His tendency to go scorched earth on anyone he thinks is the enemy turns her off him something fierce.
- Badass Bystander: In the midst of Zuko and Aang's fight, a random seller suddenly starts laying about Zuko for messing with "that young boy!".
- Bait-and-Switch: Throughout the episode, the cabbage merchant appears, but gets interrupted every time he is about to say his usual phrase (albeit in a more casual situation). It's not until the end that he finally gets to say it, and in the manner that fans of the cartoon have been dying to hear (see Skyward Scream below).
- Canon Character All Along:
- The young girl who supposedly helps the rebels get into Ozai's palace. It's not until Ozai acknowledges her that you realize she's Princess Azula.
- Team Avatar is able to sneak into Omashu with the help of a friendly young man in a cart. The next time Katara meets him, he introduces himself as Jet.
- Catchphrase Interruptus: The first two times he appears in the episode, the cabbage merchant nearly says his catchphrase as part of a full sentence, albeit in a casual way as he's offering to sell his cabbages, but is cut off both times by either Sokka or Katara. The third time, though, he is able to do it. See Skyward Scream.
- Chekhov's Gun: The air balloon Sai is working on.
- Coconut Superpowers: To avoid unwanted attention in an Earth Kingdom city Zuko tries to take on Aang with regular martial arts and no Firebending.
- Crapsaccharine World: Omashu is positively gorgeous to look at... but it's also got a problem with moles (non-badger-y), corruption, and terrorists.
- Cliffhanger: The episode closes on Aang being captured by Omashu's guards.
- Didn't Think This Through:
- As Ozai points out to the assassins, assuming they'd managed to successfully get to him — already a dubious prospect what with him being a trained firebender — they didn't plan for the guards, who would probably not take the death of their ruler lying down. Never mind the prospect of certain family members they seem to have overlooked.
- Zuko's "act before reason" attitude shows up once more when he decides to attack Aang in broad daylight, stupid enough in of itself, but once he catches up to Aang, he decides to firebend, something Iroh told him not to do. Even if he wasn't identified as the Prince of the Fire Nation, he's still a firebender in a place crawling with Earth Kingdom guards.
- Dramatic Irony: Zuko insists that his father Ozai would never allow Fire Nation agents to carry out terrorist bombings in a civilian place since it's a dishonorable and horrible thing to do. Earlier in the episode, Ozai is introduced burning Fire Nation citizens alive after his agents rooted them out from the city. While it's not exactly the same as Jet's False Flag Operation, it's not above the imagination that Ozai would eventually approve of terrorist bombings to bring the final victory that has eluded the Fire Nation for so long.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Bumi has a small cameo during the climax, nearly getting assassinated by Longshot before Katara intervenes.
- Establishing Character Moment:
- Fire Lord Ozai immediately establishes what kind of ruler he is. At the start of the episode, he thwarts another assassination attempt on his life and treats it like a normal day as Fire Lord, signifying how unpopular and hated he is within the Fire Nation itself. He speaks about peace and unity of the Fire Nation, only to flare his temper when his would-be assassins accuse him of being a tyrant who lost nothing. He then uses his firebending to burn them alive painfully without expressing any emotions. Afterwards, he tells Azula of how Zuko did the impossible by finding the Avatar, not-so subtly reminding her that his favoritism of her is conditional and will disappear if she allows Zuko to succeed.
- Azula revealing she's the mole inside the assassination attempt on Ozai, then watching dispassionately (aside from a hint of a smile) as he burns the assassins to death. Hello, Daddy's Little Villain.
- Mai and Ty Lee get their own later, the latter being bubbly and enthusiastic in her support for Azula, and the former speaking in near-monotone about how bored she is with the capitol, and mentioning that while Zuko's exiled he at least gets to see the world.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Zuko may be ruthlessly pursuing the Avatar, but he is disgusted by the idea of Fire Nation agents carrying out terrorist bombings in the city. He also believes Ozai would never allow such things. Iroh, meanwhile, suspects (and as viewers have already seen, correctly) his brother has a more "flexible" view of what's right and wrong.
- False Flag Operation: Jet engineers fake Fire Nation terrorist bombings using jelly blasts to make Omashu's government look weak and drive the locals to root out Fire Nation spies within the city. His ultimate plan is to blow up the Mechanist, who is unwittingly carrying a briefcase full of blast jelly, when he's at a meeting with the king, hoping that such an explosion will kill the king and to provoke Omashu to go on the offense against the Fire Nation army. Jet's justification of killing the Mechanist is that he's actually a collaborator of the Fire Nation and thus his life is forfeit, never mind his son.
- Foreshadowing: While perusing the market, Iroh takes interest in some Pai Sho pieces; specifically, White Lotus tiles. Fans of the franchise should already know exactly what this is hinting at.
- Fruit Cart: Well, not fruit, but vegetables. Green, leafy vegetables, which become a casualty of Aang and Zuko's fight.
- Gossipy Hens: Lieutenant Jee, who takes the wrong conclusion after hearing Zuko talk about Zhao, mentions some old gossip about him, much to Zuko's anger. Later on, it turns out he is the one who gabbed to Zhao's troops about Aang.
- Heroic Sacrifice: In order to prevent Zuko being caught, Iroh shoos him away and starts doing some firebending of his own, drawing attention away from his nephew.
- Hidden Depths: Sokka's intellectual side and talent for engineering, which haven't been seen in the first two episodes, come to light in this one.
- Hypocrite: As Iroh even points out, Zuko snaps at Jee for speaking out of turn about Zhao when Zuko himself was saying how much he disliked him.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: The would-be assassin gets cut off mid-speech when Ozai gets bored and deal with him and his accomplices.
- Lame Comeback: As Katara and Sokka argue, she storms out, declaring she'll show Sokka's he's being a jerk. Sokka retorts that he doesn't need help with that, his face falling as he realizes he just said that.
- La Résistance: This episode shows an active section of the Fire Nation populace that wants to end the war by assassinating Fire Lord Ozai. Sadly, it doesn't end well for them.
- Metaphorically True: The "servant girl" who approaches the resistance says the war has lost her both her mother and her brother. The bit about her brother dying at Ba Sing Se is a total lie, but the rest... not so much.
- The Mole:
- Azula is introduced filling this role for her father among the resistance within the Fire Nation.
- The Mechanist turns out to be helping Fire Nation spies, selling them information and his inventions.
- Azula enlists Zhao to fill this role for her, promising him her favor if he keeps her informed on Zuko's mission.
- Mythology Gag: She doesn't actually use it, but Mai spends her first scene idly playing with a knife. And she envies Zuko.
- Named In The Adaptation: While the Mechanist is only ever known by that moniker in the cartoon, here he has an actual name given: Sai.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Jet may be carrying out a vigilante terrorist campaign, but he also helps Katara get over her mental block that's affecting her waterbending. She then uses this to foil his assassination attempt on the king.
- Parental Favoritism: Surprisingly Played With. It's made clear from the start of the episode that Azula is Ozai's favorite child, being the one to root out the rebels and protect her father from assassins. But the moment Ozai gets news that Zuko has found the Avatar, he passes this news to Azula and uncharacteristically praises Zuko as doing exactly what he wanted. This tells Azula (and the audience) that Ozai's favoritism is conditional and she would have to undermine Zuko's efforts to maintain said favoritism.
- Pet the Dog: As they're walking about Omashu incognito, Iroh stops to give a random homeless person some money.
- Skyward Scream: The Cabbage Merchant shrieks his iconic catchphrase to the heavens after his cart is destroyed during Aang and Zuko's fight.
- Splitting the Arrow: Practicing archery, Azula manages to shoot an arrow through the one she'd already shot into the target.
- Undercover as Lovers: Jet passes himself and Katara as a married couple in order to gain access to the city, to her embarassment.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Jet sees killing innocent people as "the price of freedom," driving Katara to stop his plans.
- Wham Shot: When Katara goes to look for Jet in Omashu, she brushes by someone who turns out to be Zuko in disguise and he immediately realizes that Aang is somewhere in the city.
