2x17 Lake Laogai

[9.0/10] I’ll admit, this one drags a bit in the early going, but by the time the gang hits the sewers, things pick up and they never let down until the very end. But let’s start out with what doesn’t work for me in the beginning.

For one thing, I still just don’t care about Jet. His was too middling an episode to build such a character relationship around, and his personality was so thin and generic that it’s hard for me to be too invested and his and Katara’s sparks. So from the outset, the episode was already operating at a deficit.

I also was not terribly on board with the whole hypnotism thing. As I said when they unveiled it earlier in the season, there’s no reason that should be a bridge too far in a show with ample magic of all stripes, but for whatever reason it just comes off as a cheesy element to add to the show. So all the efforts to discern whether Jet is manipulating them and to un-hypnotize him in the early going just seemed like too much for me.

Nevermind the fact that something like “focus on a raw emotion to cut through the brainwashing” is a big cliché in and of itself. That, coupled with the fact that Jet’s plight already seemed hacky to me meant I didn’t really connect with that part. Not to mention the fact that apparently Katara’s water-healing powers apparently extend to psycho-trauma now, which, sure, I guess, but it also seems like a bit too much.

At the same time, the episode really seemed to drag out the “Appa is lost” story, and I continued to have a certain amount of “when are we going to get to the fireworks factory?” syndrome with him. Aang posting flyers around town and running afoul of his handlers in the process is fine enough, but that stretched out narrative, combined with the Jet stuff, left me wanting the episode to get on with it already.

So why am I rating this one so highly? Because once the show did get on with it, it was pretty damn breathtaking.

Let’s get the easy stuff out of the way – it’s damn fine action. The fight with the Dai Lee is some of the most thrilling earthbending we’ve seen on the show. Between their raised platform combat, Toph’s mastery and deflection of their moves, and their funky moving rock hands, taking on Ba Sing Se’s secret ninja police in their natural element – a cave, made for some exciting physical (elemental?) conflict.

But then they do it – they redeem Jet. I still don’t know if it was worth that middling episode in Season 1, or all the time we’ve spent on him this season, but he gets one hell of a going away party here. As much as I rag on the hypnotism story there, there is something really creepy about the horde of Ju Dees all talking in unison. And that creepiness extends to Jet, whose pupil-dilated, “can’t reason with him” mania after Feng says the magic words is terrifying in its own right. Fighting someone you don’t want to hurt, who isn’t in control of their actions, is a venerable bit of storytelling, and it works well here.
Feng himself isn’t the best baddie. Bringing in Clancy Brown to basically do Chinese Lex Luthor isn’t an unreasonable idea, but he just seems like an uber-evil antagonist here without any depth or personality beyond not wanting our heroes to mess with the chokehold he has over the city. Still, he at least has a role in the story by taking out Jet in cruel fashion, and it leads to the “foolish boy[‘s]” best moment.

Despite my general disdain for Jet, the scene of his (possibly mortal) injury is an affecting one. It pays of Longshot’s silence by making it a big deal when he says that they’ll take care of Jet, and Team Avatar should get going. The life flashing before his eyes bit is still a little cheesy, but it’s well edited and adds a bit of oomph to that final frame. And while I initially questioned Toph’s abilities as a human lie-detector, it too had a great payoff when Jet reassures them that he’ll be fine, and Toph notes ruefully that he’s lying. That alone would elevate the episode, and I haven’t even gotten to Zuko yet!

Zuko’s story is perhaps his most powerful yet, when Iroh’s teamaking offers the two of them the chance for a better, quiet, hopefully peaceful life in Ba Sing Se. Zuko is concerned with his destiny, donning the blue spirit garb once again and stalking into the night when he sees a lost bison flyer and realizes the Avatar is nearby. He can’t resist, despite Iroh’s warnings and admonitions to consider what he’s doing.

It culminates in Zuko being the one to find Appa chained up in Feng’s dungeon, only to be confronted by his uncle once more. Iroh’s words are impactful, dressing down his nephew for freelancing and improvising, coming up with impulsive plans in the moment with no larger scheme that leave him scrambling or near-death. But more importantly, he tells Zuko to stop living and working for something he was told to want in his life, and to instead dig down deep and uncover what it is that he wants. It seems like a watershed moment for Zuko, one that leads him to cast aside the Blue Spirit, and make a choice that drives the last sequence of the episode.

Even after escaping from the lake, Team Avatar can’t outrun the Dai Lee. They are surrounded, and seem poised to be captured or worse. Is this the end of their humble journey?

Of course not! Mono flies into the sun and comes down with a freed Appa! It’s one of the most triumphant and earned scenes in the series so far, with all this time with the flying bison separated paying off in a big way. It gives the fluffy ruffian a chance to save his companions, and creates the perfect finish to the episode’s amazing third act.

The group’s excitement to see Appa is infectious and warm and everything you could want it to be. The final image of them, all sharing an embrace on top of their friendly steed once more, is more than heartening. The family is back together, as they should be.

“Lake Laogai” isn’t a perfect episode of Avatar. It takes a while to get going, it spends a bit too much time on setup, and much of it is focused on a character I don’t particularly care for. But when it kicks into high gear, it produces a thrilling, engrossing conclusion to the story told within the episode, and many stories that have been running through the season, and the series. It shows our heroes, reunited with a lost friend, at peace at last.

So good. Everything comes together and we aren't even in the endgame of the season yet, as "Lake Laogai" could easily be a season finale in any other show. However, here, it's just another piece of the cog that is Avatar: The Last Airbender, and it's more important character work as the group goes after Appa. I especially love how Jet is used here - he's never been the most compelling character but he's probably at his best here, and his interactions with Katara are very funny. And when stuff does go down in the second half, Jet's eventual fate ends up hitting like a truck as you start to realize that the supporting cast isn't safe anymore, and that the stakes are really coming down on them now.

And what action! There is so much good here in how the show directs it's action scenes, and the Dai Lee are such great creations in terms of how they use their Earthbending. Zuko's story is also one of the biggest things this episode has going for it, as we see his first true step towards redemption and it feels earned. There is no better feeling then seeing a show actually putting it's development to good use, and this is a great example of that.