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oneatlatime · 6 months

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City of Walls and Secrets

I am also once again saving the commentary for a rewatch.

I still think rock trains are neat but their inefficiencies hurt my brain. The friction! They should at least install dynamic braking.

That's big. This show has really confined itself to the hinterlands so far, so this is really novel. I had no clue anything this big existed in the Avatar universe.

Complete nitpick time! Given that earthbending is a thing that exists, why bother making things out of stone with individual tiles like this?

Single most threatening musical sting of the whole show so far goes to an overly smiley tour guide.

Wow! I hate this lady already!

"Oh, Ba Sing Se has many walls! There are the ones outside, protecting us, and the ones inside, protecting us from smelly poors!"

"In case someone brings home a lady friend!" Do you know your nephew AT ALL?

Both Iroh and Zuko are right. Life does happen everywhere and without your permission. But, the city is also remarkably prison-like.

He got them jobs in an afternoon. AN AFTERNOON. Stop it Iroh, you're making me feel inadequate.

Once a fuckboy, always a fuckboy. This particular leopard can't change his spots, no matter how he tries to dress up his actions in a new law-abiding veneer. I feel sorry for Smellerbee. Her faith in her leader isn't exactly being rewarded.

So... is there a law on the books that makes being a firebender illegal in Ba Sing Se? Because the head-in-the-sand vibe I'm getting from Judy makes me think that the average citizen doesn't even know there's a reason to dislike the Fire Nation. Iroh and Zuko could probably bend as openly as a waterbender or an earthbender could here.

This whole being handled thing must be dredging up some pretty nasty feelings for Toph. This is specifically what she left behind.

Speaking of precisely targeted torture, Judy is engineered to be as irritating to Sokka as possible. Man of action versus Lady of script.

What a productive use of time! What an exemplary case of turning over a new leaf!

Iroh buddy I have news for you regarding the ingredients of tea.

That's like the nicest thing a member of the Fire Nation royal family has said all year.

How to get Iroh's ass in gear: Step 1: Make insulting tea. Step 2: There is no step 2.

I thought that little thingy in the background was one of those electricity things.

The attention to detail in this show is stupid. There's a moving reflection of the carriage in the water as it goes past.

Hi forbidden city!

Ba Sing Se has a morality police?

I've already run out of patience with the city and I'm 7 minutes in. I haven't even made it to a commercial break yet!

Their house is cute but the veranda is so substantial that it's probably really dark inside. Also there's a pumpkin hood ornament on the roof.

I don't think you can stop there for a month. Have you guys forgotten the now-doubled ticking clock? Eclipse and comet?

Oh ok we're doing 1984 now. Damn. This show goes places.

I stand corrected. Everyone knows about the war and would be appropriately non-welcoming to firebending. But not openly. This could be like one of those Bugs Bunny bits where he traps someone in societal rules. If someone told a firebender not to bend, all they would have to do to get the guy off their case would be to ask why they aren't supposed to be firebending. What's the guy going to say, because there's a war on?

Shout out to Pong for doing the Gaang a solid and providing the only useful info since they've arrived.

There is something very Gollum-like about Jet, crouched in laundry on a roof in the dark, talking to his stolen spark rocks.

Sokka. Feet off the artwork.

Time for Toph to weaponise her oppressive upbringing and out-fancy the fancies in the name of ending the war.

Aang can master an element in a couple of months but a qualified expert declared manners to be beyond him.

I just realised that Sokka and Katara don't have a last name.

Sneaking into a Bear's (JUST Bear's) birthday party may be the single least violent infiltration attempt in the show so far.

Smellerbee is very articulate, and it's rare that this show spells out its themes so obviously. No metaphors, just "you're obsessed. It's not healthy." And Jet still doesn't get it. Maybe Smellerbee should have tried metaphors.

Normally glowy green stuff is bad news, but all of Ba Sing Se's green lighting is surprisingly cozy.

Sometimes, rarely but sometimes, Zuko has to put up with a lot of nonsense.

A raise? Did I miss a timeskip?

Busting in to a local business, yelling about the enemy, pulling out a lethal weapon: How to Look Sane, A Guide by Jet.

Customers, amirite?

I guess the Bei Fongs are too minor as nobles?

"You don't know what I had to do to get seats this near the bear!" but I want to.

I know this guy's voice from something.

Momo ghost plan. I want it.

Pretty funny that the busboys plan works better than the fancy ladies plan. Goes to show you should always play to your strengths.

Get de-wheated punk.

I'm not sure I've rooted for Zuko this wholeheartedly since The Storm.

Jet be like.

Judy is not good at her job. Like really not good. Her insistence on getting out of there before they cause a scene caused the scene. Nice going!

The music slowing down when Judy's face falls is really effective.

You ever get the feeling that it should be Aang who ran away to the circus rather than Ty Lee?

Actually a travelling circus would be a great way to be, and remain, an incognito airbender. Aang should have done that rather than frozen himself. Ok I'm not sure how much say he had in that, but you know what I mean.

For the first time in his life, Zuko has people take his side. It's too bad that it's based on a lie, but it must feel nice.

I would have preferred if Zuko had a clean win against Jet - they're both great with swords, but I thought Zuko was better - but an assist from the funky hat police works too.

I'm getting some funky vibes from the funky hat police.

Bye! I won't miss you!

The face on the guy on the left is the funniest part of this episode.

Now these are some funky hats.

I know this scene is supposed to be scary and tense and action-packed, but I can't get over the fact that the king just did a drive by. They carried him in one side and out the other. This concludes the King's presence at his Bear's birthday party. He's a very busy man, you see.

Long Fang's title keeps getting fancier.

Brain washing crops up quite a lot in kids' cartoons. This is not the first time I've seen this plot beat.

Forget the Fire Lord. Forget the Fire Nation. Long Fang just threatened Appa. Long Fang has to die now.

The Judys are replaceable. Given everything else this city seems ok with, they're probably disposable too. Yikes!

Final Thoughts

This episode was probably the most expository I've seen this season. Maybe even the whole show. It was a big infodump with barely any humour. Actually that's wrong; there was humour, but not to my taste.

Jet is infuriating as usual. I think the writers are going for the villainous decay trope, because smooth-talking season one Jet hasn't reappeared once.

I feel really sorry for Smellerbee and the archer guy. I wonder if they even wanted to go to Ba Sing Se in the first place.

Once again, for the third episode in a row, Zuko is one of, if not the, most reasonable character. Season one shouty Zuko is gone. Is this what I think it is? Has Zuko really turned a corner? If so, I'm liking (rather, disliking less) this new Zuko. This is good. I'm also surprised, because in my experience, if you want to domesticate someone, you don't put them in a customer-facing role. That will have the opposite effect and make them turn feral.

Iroh is having too much fun. It's good for him to have something of his own going on. I think he's been in Zuko wrangling mode 24/7 for the last two? three? years, so he definitely deserves to pursue his own interests for a bit. But I can't see Zuko being a tea boy for long before he's back to needing wrangling.

What's the long term plan though? Are Zuko and Iroh going to live the rest of their lives in Ba Sing Se? Are they waiting for something? Are Iroh and Zuko functionally dead, with Lee and Mushi taking their place?

I will give the show credit for finally coming up with and antagonistic force that Aang & company can't just bend or talk into submission. Bureaucratic tomfoolery covering for authoritarian censorship and information suppression and re-education was not something I'd ever have expected in this show, because it's a little too much like the real world, if you know what I mean.

I don't like seeing our heroes unable to triumph, so this episode was kind of uncomfortable to watch. It felt off the whole way through, which I credit to that creepy music box tune that played throughout. The soundtrack of this episode was a cut above what I usually hear in this show. I noticed it more than I usually do, and I mean that in a good way.

As someone who'd be lucky to pass as a busboy, upper class intrigue and social games stuff doesn't do it for me, so this wasn't an episode I was going to enjoy anyway. I preferred the B plot with Zuko and Iroh, for the sheer absurdity of the concept. Imagine you're in 1950s London, having barely survived the Blitz, and you come across Himmler working in a pub. It's so odd that it almost wraps back around to normal again.

I didn't find this episode very enjoyable. I don't like the forced inactivity that's been imposed on the Gaang. The humour was not to my taste. The worldbuilding was substantial, but - probably thanks to Joo Dee, whose name I've definitely been misspelling - it felt inorganic, like a lecture. Which the writers do lampshade by making Joo Dee sound like one of those audio guide things you rent from tourist attractions. But lampshading a fault does not make a fault go away.

Thanks to what happens to Jet, I know that the people of Ba Sing Se don't dare even think about the war, for their own safety. But after spending more than half a season being shown every type of refugee and victim of war in other parts of the Earth Kingdom, I could not bring myself to give a flying fuck over Pong's concern for keeping his house. The city is frustrating, the officials are frustrating, their priorities are beyond frustrating. Zuko was right when he said he didn't want to make a life there, although I did find the lower ring where Zuko and Iroh are to be far more comfortable than the high ring where the gaang is.

This episode makes me want to bite something.

And still no Appa.

#atla #avatar: the last airbender #avatar the last airbender #city of walls and secrets

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nco05 · 1 month

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Jet was the instigator of his own doom

Not once: Katara freezing him from the neck down to a tree after he betrayed her, Sokka & Aang's goodwill;

Not twice: Abandoning Smellerbee & Longshot in Ba Sing Se only about a day & a half into their refuge;

Not thrice: Attacking Iroh without clear cut evidence (he saw him & his tea, nothing is stated on paper);

Not four times: Attacking Zuko & trying to get him to firebend. Which Zuko was never going to do in his presence, grasschewer ain't his sister. As well as Jet never having seen Zuko firebend in his life. For all he knew, Zuko could've just been a swordsman;

But five times: Trying to attack the Dai Li. Resulting in him getting handcuffed WITH ROCKS, arrested, eventually brainwashed & ultimately killed (or as Sokka said: it was unclear). Smellerbee & Longshot can only sadly watch on to their friend's fate

He should have thought things through in his plans. He could've been a real threat to Zuko & Iroh, much like Azula & made them sweat a little. But alas, he is too hotheated to be anything like her calculated self

#jet atla #katara #sokka #aang #smellerbee #longshot #uncle iroh #zuko #dai li #legend of aang #book 2: earth #city of walls and secrets #lb #ATLA rewatch

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forgotn1 · 1 year

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I think one of the best examples of "spoilers don't matter if the story is written well enough" is rewatching "City of Walls and Secrets" from ATLA. It's the episode where the Gaang arrive in Ba Sing Se to tell the King about the eclipse and get the run around from Joo Dee. The B-story is Iroh and Zuko settling into life in Ba Sing Se and working at the tea shop while Jet tails them to find evidence of their bending abilities.

Both of which are some of the best single stories in ATLA. And they play off each other so well, with the chaos of the Gaang contrasted by the calmer and more settled lives of Iroh & Zuko. Of particular note is how this gets inverted with the party and the fight. After all the chaos, it finally seems like things are going right for the Gaang while Jet's accusations threaten to uproot everything Zuko and his uncle have built.

Then it all comes to a head, with Zuko winning and Jet getting hauled off by the Dai Lee while the Gaang are corralled by Long Feng and kept from seeing the King. Which is when the other shoe drops: There is No War In Ba Sing Se. It's done in such a striking way too, with Long Feng's explanation interplayed over Jet's brainwashing. It's an absolutely incredible twist that was delivered masterfully.

But the true beauty of it is that the episode is so well written overall, that even with multiple rewatches the reveal still manages to have a serious impact. It's not quite the same huge shock, but you can still feel the weight of the moment. It's like you get caught up in how good the fight is that you temporarily forget what comes next, then it happens and you're like "Oh shit, right!"

#atla #avatar the last airbender #city of walls and secrets #there is no war in ba sing se #marvel could never #I'm a little high and I lost the thread there a bit #and ended up doing a full recap for some reason #but I think I managed to pull it all together in the end

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zukosdualdao · 1 month

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anyway, the scenes of jet being brainwashed being interspersed with long feng threatening the gaang for disrupting the ba sing se conspiracy to “keep the war outside the walls”, and the ending scene with ju dee being replaced are genuinely chilling, and probably some of the best writing/execution in the whole show.

#atla rewatch ‘24 #city of walls and secrets

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theowritesfiction · 1 year

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'City of Walls and Secrets'

I remember my first viewing of ATLA and getting a look at proper Ba Sing Se inside the inner wall and going... oh fuck that is astonishing. BSS isn't the beating heart of Earth Kingdom. It literally IS the Earth Kingdom. Everything else just feels like backwater - and I suspect that is the attitude in Upper and Middle Rings of the capital.

Joo Dee's faraway smile remains the stuff of nightmares. There's no war in Ba Sing Se, indeed. It was interesting to see Aang and the Water Tribe kids getting their first good look at what inequality truly means. Giving the Avatar and his friends a posh Upper Ring mansion to butter them up makes so much sense. Honestly, the political situation in Ba Sing Se is set up so fascinatingly, and also realistically. There's something very chilling about the Dai Li stranglehold on information.

Jet's obsession with Zuko just fascinates me. Smellerbee and Longshot: dude, we were supposed to be starting over here. Jet: shut up, I have entered stalker mode. <3 And boy, does Jet become obsessed with Zuko and Iroh. I just love how earlier I praised Jet for his plans both to destroy the village (obviously horrible, but it was an efficient plan!) and stealing the food for refugees. Here he's just... I'm done being clever! It's gay sword fight time! But watching Jet get dragged away was more depressing than I thought it would be...

I enjoyed the plan of sneaking in on the king during a party. I had to laugh at Toph writing Aang and Sokka off as nothing more than busboys. Katara and Toph made for very fetching young ladies, though. After the rocky start to their relationship, we're seeing more instances of Katara and Toph working together very well... even if they ended up soliciting the help of someone they really shouldn't have asked. Long Feng is the kind of opponent that the group have never faced before. The Gaang don't think like Azula and don't have the tools to beat Long Feng at his own game.

I know that the party for the bear is supposed to be cute and funny, but to me it's illustrative of the neglect that Kuei is showing for his subjects, living in a bubble and indulging in excesses. This reminds me so much of the apocryphal story of Caligula making his favorite horse a consul for the year. Kuei gets 50 Jerk Points before we've even seen him.

Sokka's plan of sneaking into the party is so dumb that even Aang shuts it down right away. Sokka is now 1 from 2 for plans this season.

Lastly, Long Feng telling the Gaang how things work in Ba Sing Se while in the meantime, Jet is being brainwashed by the Dai Li... that was very chilling. Also, using Appa to threaten Aang and keep him in line is a major dick move. Welcome to the Jerk Points contest, Long Feng, you have been awarded 60 points.

Jerk Points for Book 2:

Iroh - 550 Azulon - 300 Ursa, General Fong - 200 Aang - 160 Zuko - 120 Ozai, Toph Beifong - 100 Sokka - 70 Long Feng - 60 Bumi, Lao Beifong, King Kuei - 50 Pakku - 30

#my atla rewatch #atla book 2 #city of walls and secrets

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juniperhillpatient · 1 year

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City of Walls & Secrets Re-Watch

Oh wow, this episode, ok. I was mainly focused on Jet & Zuko (again oops) during this episode. But, that's not to say the rest of the episode wasn't interesting, because it absolutely was. I loved the opening scene with the Gaang seeing the city, & Sokka & Katara's excitement was cute. I can't imagine what it would be like to live in a tiny village where everyone knows each other & then see a big bustling city like that.

Joo Dee is right away so terrifying. Sorry Ozai, but you've got nothing on this chick. She is the stuff of nightmares to me.

It's the subtle, consistent creepiness for me. The feeling that something is not quite right. The way she shakes her head, smiling, at everyone that the Gaang tries to talk to & they shut their mouths. I love the underlying creepiness of Ba Sing Se. "Why do you keep all the poor people hidden & separate?" The dawning realization that there's something very wrong here. Also, Aang's continued lack of luck finding Appa is so depressing & I remember not being able to focus on much else because I was so worried about Appa the first time I watched.

I love Sokka & Aang pretending to be fancy rich people & goofing around. Sokka & Aang's bestie-ism moments where they're just being dorks are so precious. +100 iconic behavior points each. Another A+ comedy moment that gets me every time is everyone's confusion at the notion of just a regular old bear. Katara & Toph dressed all fancy was so cute, & I love Toph shutting down Katara responding to Aang's compliment like "don't speak to the commoners!" That moment just cracks me up. Katara gets +300 iconic behavior points for getting them into the party & +100 for making Toph's fake name "dung." And some people think Katara isn't funny!

Jet becoming increasingly obsessed with Zuko & Iroh is just so sad. What's important to note is that Jet was actually obsessed with Zuko before he found out that Zuko & Iroh are fire-benders. He wanted Zuko to join the Freedom Fighters because he felt a connection with him after they stole the food for the refugees together. He was following Zuko around & trying to convince Smellerbee & Longshot to give Zuko a chance & that's the only reason he was paying enough attention to see Iroh fire-bend. It's the betrayal & tragedy for me <3 Wow, I love a good ol' tragic fucked-up whirlwind love-hate romance dynamic.

And like - the thing is that Jet is right! He's more right than he even knows! Zuko & Iroh ARE fire-benders but not only that, they're Fire Nation royalty. Like not even just "yeah, they are fire-benders," no, they are literally both personally directly responsible for harm caused by the Fire Nation. Yet everyone around him treats him like he's crazy. Even his closest friends think he's becoming too obsessed. And it's understandable. Smellerbee & Longshot both want Jet to move on for his own good. They want to move on with their lives & stop obsessing over vengeance, & the Fire Nation. They want a new life, but Jet is still stuck in his obsessive hate. And like.....the thing is, the thing that gets me, Jet is not wrong to be stuck? The more I think about it, the more right he is. As we know, Zuko eventually personally helps the Fire Nation conquer Ba Sing Se. Like??? Hello??? Jet was literally 100% right to be obsessed & concerned.

Anyway. Jet & Zuko obviously both get +1000 iconic behavior points for having a dramatic gay sword fight in a teashop. I'm losing track of who's winning, but they might be at this point. Katara's also doing pretty good. Anyway, I will never get over Jet attacking Zuko to try & force him to fire-bend. It's dramatic, it's hilarious, it's tragic, & it's a great fight scene. They really do have the range. I absolutely love Zuko popping out with his dual swords like - "I'll give you a show!" Dramatic fucking king, I love you so much Zuzu. Also, can we just like, acknowledge that Zuko apparently had his swords on him while waiting tables? Good for him.

The end of this episode is pretty chilling. Jet getting arrested is just a rough scene. And the introduction to the creepy brainwashing that happens? Terrifying.

When the new Joo Dee shows up & she smiles creepily & says "I am Joo Dee"? Eugh. Chills, every time.

This is a great episode. Very creepy & foreboding. I love the introduction to Ba Sing Se. I just love a setting where Something is Wrong.

#city of walls and secrets #atla book 2 #atla re watch

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