TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Avatar: The Last Airbender "The Boiling Rock, Part 2"

Go To

  • Accidental Innuendo: When the riot breaks out in the Boiling Rock, one of the prison guards informs Mai stating he's here to protect her. Mai replies she doesn't need any protection while Zuko chuckles and jokingly says his ex-girlfriend really doesn't. In context, Mai is saying she can handle on her own with her skills in throwing knives something Zuko acknowledges. Out of context, it sounds like Mai doesn't need to have protection, like a condom, while having sex.
    Mai: I don't need any protection.
    Zuko: (chuckles) Believe me, she doesn't.
  • Alternative Character Interpretation:
    • Why did the warden order his men to cut the line holding up the gondola with himself in it? Was he just that dedicated to maintaining his perfect record? Did his loyalty to the Fire Nation trump his sense of self-preservation? Or did he believe that he'd be punished with execution or worse if he let such high-profile prisoners escape, leading him to decide he had nothing to lose? Similarly, it's possible that he imagined they'd kill him once they no longer needed him alive as a hostage, so he might as well take them with him if he was going to die either way.
    • While initially Azula seemed set to outright kill Mai for her betrayal, she's surprisingly satisfied with sentencing Mai and Ty Lee to prison after being stunned by the latter. Was this simply an act of Cruel Mercy, or did she realize after the initial shock that she didn't really have it in her to kill her former friends? Or was it a sign of her breakdown by refusing the pragmatic approach in favor of the more emotional response of wanting to know they're suffering?
  • Harsher in Hindsight: Yes, it was quite a Badass Boast; but once you remember Azula's Mommy Issues, the last thing Azula probably ever wanted to see or hear was that somebody "loved Zuko more than [she] feared her".
  • Heartwarming in Hindsight: In this episode, Suki and Ty Lee are again pitted against each other as the former attempts to escape from prison with the rest of her friends. By the end of the series Ty Lee, who by then had abandoned Azula not only makes up with the other Kyoshi Warriors while in prison, but also befriends Suki and is accepted as a legitimate member of the group.

Top