We left off with Azula and Zuko pretty much taking over Ba Sing Se, and Aang killed, then brought back to life by Katara.  Sorta.

Aang wakes up in a Fire Nation ship after a two-week lightning-induced coma.  However, it’s not quite what he thinks; a crew of allies took it over as cover while they head toward the Fire Nation for a scaled-down version of the original invasion plan.

Notably, the Earth King decided to disguise himself and travel the world, thus killing some of the hype I was looking forward to.

Meanwhile, we see how the Dai Li helped Azula conquer the Earth Kingdom from the inside.  Because it makes perfect sense for a shadowy organization dedicated to protecting their cultural heritage to help a nation hell-bent on destroying their cultural heritage.  Also, I think Bumi missed his chance.

Also, it seems Zuko and Mai got together, answering all my questions about whether or not this love was one-sided, but posing all-new questions like what they see in each other and how long this was a mutual thing.

The whole sailing to Fire Nation ploy kinda fails when a passing ship boards and their cover story fails to match up, so they’re forced to fight.

In the end, the Serpent’s Path serpent pops up out of flippin’ nowhere and takes down the enemy ship.

Aang was told not to reveal himself during the entire fight because the Squad plans to save him for a surprise tactic.  You see, the Fire Nation thinks Aang was killed by Zuko (thanks to Azula giving him the credit for no reason except to give Zuko more anxiety), which means they won’t be looking for the Avatar anymore.  Aang doesn’t take this very well and blames himself for failing Ba Sing Se, and he thinks he needs to end the war himself to regain his honor.

To that end, Aang sneaks off the ship and sails by himself to the Fire Nation.

Meanwhile, Zuko is finally welcomed back by his father, Firelord Ozai.

Zuko finds out about Azula lying about Zuko’s involvement and doesn’t buy that she did it just to be nice.  She makes it clear that she suspects the Zuko knows a way the Avatar could have survived her attack.  And it’s irrelevant, but she’s also dead sexy when she just gets out of bed.

Aang kinda gets wrecked in a storm, but he sees visions of Roku and Yue, who urge him to continue and remember that he does not fight alone.  He eventually somehow makes it to the Fire Nation, where his friends await him.  But his glider is busted.

In the next episode, the Squad do horrendous things in their mission to invade a nation at peace.

Not sure if that’s supposed to be dirt or a birthmark.

Everyone starts trying to blend in now that they have actual Fire Nation clothing, but Aang gets captured almost immediately and thrown into a prison.  Or a school.  They’re quite similar.

Aang gives himself the same name as his friend from 100 years ago, “Kuzan.”  Which either confirms Kuzon is dead or lived a life of complete and utter irrelevance.

“Kuzan” passes himself off as a transfer from the Earth Kingdom colonies, and the combination of Aang’s natural eccentricity and his outdated understanding of Fire Nation culture makes him a hit with most of the other students, which includes Angie On Ji, another girl destined to be friendzoned by Aang.

Despite the fact that Aang is utterly uninterested in her, the sheer fact that he’s friendly with her gets him on the bad side of douchebag-for-no-reason and (person who claims to be) On Ji’s boyfriend, uh… Flash Thompson?

Meanwhile, Zuko pays a visit to Iroh, who has been thrown in jail for treason.  Not sure if it’s due to his stalling of Azula at Ba Sing Se or they’re still considering his failure at the Northern Water Tribe treason.

Iroh refuses to speak, and I’m not sure just how much that has to do with Mako’s death.

Back at school, Aang engages in this strange exotic movement he calls “dancing.”  Oh, and Flash tries unsuccessfully to beat him up, and Aang is the one who gets in trouble.  He’s also told to bring his parents in for a meeting.  Seeing as his parents are long dead, he brings in Sokka and Katara in disguise… as “Wang Fire” and “Sapphire Fire.”  Which I guess makes him “Kuzan Fire.”

After doublechecking the closed captioning, Sapphire is indeed spelled as “Sapphire,” and not some weird faux Asian rework.

Sokka is ultimately convincing enough to please the headmaster, but Aang just can’t stop getting into trouble, as he invites most of his classmates to a secret dance party at his house.  And by house, I mean beach cave.  Which no one finds suspicious at all.

Apparently, kids in the Fire Nation have no clue how to dance, so Aang shows them his moves.  And then he goes and does something weird like dance with his hot mom.

But then the jealous Flash tattles on the headmaster, because that’s what the cool kids do.

The other kids help Aang escape, and the Squad feels good about exposing a bunch of kids to dance.  Um, yeah, good job.

Meanwhile, Zuko can’t afford to lose his honor by having word let out that the Avatar is alive, so he hires an assassin to hunt down and kill Aang.

In the next episode, the Squad is hungry and wants to make a stop, and they do so despite Sokka’s adherence to his schedule.  Because that’s the kind of guy Sokka is today.

The village they stop at is poor, filthy, and floating(ish) on a river polluted by a nearby factory that produces… I dunno, polluty stuff.

Katara wants to stay and help the villagers, but there’s that pesky schedule they have to stick to if they want to make it to the capital in time for the eclipse.  But then Appa seems to get sick from the pollution, and the Squad is forced to stay until he gets better.

In the meantime, the village is abuzz with rumors about their local deity spirit, the Painted Lady, coming to help feed and heal them.  It should come as no surprise what the Painted Lady’s real identity is.

Aang spots the Painted Lady and tries to chat her up since he’s the bridge between the living and spirit worlds, but his hopes are somewhat dashed when he finds out it’s really just Katara doing random acts of kindness at night.

Aang is kinda pissed, especially after Katara reveals she’s been coloring Appa’s tongue with berries and he’s not really sick.  She knows what she’s doing in the village won’t matter as long as the factory is around, so Aang suggests destroying the factory.  She obliges.

Naturally, this results in the Firebenders at the factory blaming the village, which conveniently interrupts Sokka and Toph’s shaming of Katara after they find out what she’s been doing.

The Squad agrees that the Painted Lady needs to make one more appearance to keep the army away from the village “for good.”

The army goes running off, but the villagers find out the Painted Lady is really Katara and figure she’s a Waterbender.  They’re about to be ingrates and chew her out, but the Squad talks them out of it and convinces them to improve their own lives, starting with cleaning up the river.

And before they leave the village for good, Katara is paid a visit by the REAL Painted Lady.  Turns out, she really does exist.

In the next episode, the Squad witnesses a falling star land nearby.  No, it’s not Sozin’s Comet come early.

The benders help put out the fire, but Sokka can’t do anything to help.  This depresses him and drives the rest of the episode’s story.  Since I wanna focus on that, it’s time to wrap up the B-story ASAP.

Poor Uncle Iroh is rotting in jail and fumbling for scraps like a pathetic wretch.

But turns out, he’s just pretending.  While the guards are away, he’s busy training like a motherfucker, without even needing the assistance of “Hearts on Fire” on a loop.

Katara tries to cheer Sokka up by taking him out shopping.  It works.

A sword catches Sokka’s eye, and he learns it was crafted by a true master swordsman and blacksmith, and Sokka seeks him out because a master could be the best way for him to improve his skills.

His name is Piandao, and he usually turns everyone who wants to be taught by him away, but he accepts Sokka as his pupil when Sokka says he isn’t sure he’s worthy.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Squad is bored without Sokka to lighten the mood.

Sprinkled in between sparring sessions, Piandao gives Miyagi-esque lessons that promise to teach Sokka to be more battlefield-aware.  Like painting a perfect landscape from one glance.

Sokka’s swordfighting skill levels up, and it’s time for him to forge his own sword.  He has an idea and returns to his friends to help him with the material.

And so, Sokka gains a black sword suitable for any aspiring villain.

But then he reveals he’s from a Water Tribe, and Piandao attacks him.  Throughout the entire battle, it’s obvious that this is really Piandao’s final test and he’s not really serious about killing Sokka.  In the end, Sokka is at Piandao’s mercy, but Piandao puts his sword down and congratulates Sokka for his improvement and also reveals he always knew Sokka was Water Tribe and that his companion is the Avatar.

Piandao gives Sokka a parting gift: a Pai Sho piece that implies he’s part of the White Lotus, the same secret organization Iroh is part of.  But without Zuko around to make the connection, no one connects the dots.

Also, Sokka gives Toph some leftover meteorite to play with.

The last episode of the disc is probably purposefully the most anime episode in the entire series.  “The Beach.”

Zuko and Azula’s Angels are sent away to Ember Island while the Firelord has an important meeting.  And we all thank Ozai for this wonderful opportunity.  All hail Firelord Ozai!

The group doesn’t really want to be there, but they are given advice that the beach has a magical effect on people, smoothing out all their rough edges.

The group engages in regular beach activities, and Zuko awkwardly tries to do boyfriend stuff with Mai, which backfires since Mai isn’t the typical girl.  Zuko overreacts and loses his shit because he’s Zuko.

Then things turn up even more when Azula suggests they play a game of volleyball and go all out.

For once, Azula’s over-the-top hammy evilness works in the favor of comedy, as it’s apparent Azula’s lack of an “off” switch has no place in regular society.

Impressed by their game, two pretty boys show up to try to hit on Ty Lee and Mai, and Azula decides to accept their offer to attend their party.

It’s at this point I realize all Azula really wanted was to get laid.

Meanwhile, soldiers spot Aang and send a messenger hawk to warn the Firelord that he’s still alive.  The hawk gets shut down by a buzzard sent by that assassin Zuko sent.

The beach party is downright hilarious with Ty Lee getting mobbed by horny teenagers, Zuko getting irrationally overprotective of Mai, and Azula attempting to fit in.

In fact, Azula has one of the funniest scenes ever when she suggests to a guy that they would make the ultimate couple… AND CONQUER THE WORLD.

Mai has had enough of Zuko acting like a dipshit and pseudo-breaks up with him.

Meanwhile, the Squad is attacked by the assassin.

He can kill a yak from 200 yards away… WITH MIND BULLETS!

After the beach party, the Fire Nation group hangs around a terribly-animated campfire and talks about their feelings and backstories.  Like how Zuko is angry at himself for his inner struggles, Ty Lee wanted to be more unique since she was raised with six identical sisters (which means there are six other bombshells out there?), Mai had everything she ever wanted as long as she kept quiet, so she couldn’t express herself, and Azula may or may not have issues with her mom thinking she’s a monster (which she is).

I honestly wish more about this scene felt more “magical” like it was the island getting them to reveal everything, but instead it feels out-of-place and awkward.  But if that’s the sacrifice we have to make for the rest of the episode to be hilarious and sexy… sacrifice accepted.

The group decides to return to the party and wreck shit up.

As much as I loved The Beach, it was a pretty awkward character development story, and highlights one of the flaws I think is starting to show itself in Book 3.  With all the main characters established, the series has gotten complacent.  Characters and character development, which used to be the strongest aspect of the series, are starting to take a hit.  It’s still good, but not as much effort seems to be put in, and the awkward chemistry is where it shows the most.  The best example so far is the Zuko and Mai relationship, which actually got some time in “The Beach,” but still remains a total mystery.  I like both characters, but the fact that they’re just thrown together and offscreen established as being in a mutual, allegedly loving relationship is lazy lazy lazy.  The entire campfire scene could have come together more organically and implemented better, but it just comes off as awkward.

Even the world-building takes a hit in the filler episodes.  We never elaborate on why children aren’t taught about Fire Nation cultural dances, and we have no clue what is being made in the factory by the river, but we know they’re bad things that exist because evil.  Hell, it bothers me that there’s not even one moment where the Squad looks at how nice all the regular citizens of the Fire Nation are and think “wow, they’re not all that different.”  There’s no sense of any good side to Ozai’s rule, any hint that defeating Ozai would be seen as the slaying of a national hero, any spark of a moral dilemma that Aang killing the ruler of an entire nation would ever be seen as anything bad.  The series is still incredibly entertaining, even more so than before, but I’m disappointed at the fact that it could have been even better than it is, but isn’t.