Bitter Work
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| "Bitter Work" | |
 Toph trains Aang for earthbending | |
| Book | Two: Earth |
| Chapter | Nine |
| Episode # | Twenty-nine |
| Prod. code | 209 |
| Airdate | June 2, 2006 |
| Screenwriter>Writer(s) | Aaron Ehasz |
| Animation director>Director | Ethan Spaulding |
| Guest star(s) | Mae Whitman (Young Lu Ten) |
| Previous episode "" | |
| Next episode "" | |
"Bitter Work" is an from the animated television series , which airs on Nickelodeon. It is the ninth episode of the second season of the series.
When Aang struggles with a block while trying to learn earthbending from Toph, he wonders if the problem is with him or his teacher. Meanwhile, Sokka gets himself in a jam.
Episode synopsis
Aang awakes from his sleep, excited that he will finally begin his earthbending training with Toph. He enthusiastically asks her what they will do first, and Toph replies that they will simply learn how to move a rock.
Toph teaches Aang that earthbending requires a firm, steady stance. She demonstrates the technique by sending a rock into a wall. Aang tries to emulate her, but he ends up hitting the rock with airbending and propels himself backwards.
Meanwhile, Iroh awakes to find his nephew Zuko watching over him. Zuko explains that Iroh was knocked unconscious after a surprise attack by Azula. They are in a partially destroyed home in the abandoned town presented the end of the last episode.
Zuko says that he has contemplated and realized that he will eventually encounter Azula again. He wants to learn more advanced firebending techniques so he can defeat her. To Zuko's surprise, Iroh agrees with him.
Meanwhile, Aang is trying to figure out why he could not move the rock, since he did the correct stance. He tries to find an alternate solution, but Toph explains that creative thinking is the problem. Earthbending requires a head-on approach. Aang then trains by doing several activities involving rocks. He starts to become successful with the many different training activities.
Meanwhile, Sokka (who is alone) is hiding in a tree. He spots a small, cute, but unidentifiable creature. Sokka comically states that even though it is cute, it is still made of meat. He then jumps down from the tree to attack it. However, he falls into a crack in the ground. Without his arms to use, he is stuck in the crack.
Meanwhile, Iroh explains how Firebenders can create lightning. Lightning requires peace of mind; it does not use aggression, unlike the other forms of firebending.
Iroh continues to explain how to create lightning. Positive energy and negative energy must be separated, creating an imbalance. (Possibly the positively and negatively charged electrons.) When the different energies recombine, tension is released, creating lightning. He successfully demonstrates how to make lightning. Then Zuko tries to create it. However, he just creates a fire blast and flies backwards.
Meanwhile, Toph decides that Aang will stop a rock. Toph puts a blindfold around Aang's eyes and rolls a boulder down a steep hill towards him. Aang then flinches and jumps over the rock. Toph yells at Aang and calls him a wimp. Katara tries to console Aang by teaching him some more waterbending.
Zuko is still unsuccessful with lightning, creating another explosion. Iroh determines that Zuko's turmoil inside him is preventing him from creating lightning. Zuko still has some pride, even though he has been humbled. Iroh decides to teach Zuko a move that he made up himself.
Meanwhile, Sokka is contemplating in the crack in the ground. He is then convinced that he will be a vegetarian if he can escape out of the crack.
In a marsh, Aang is moving a small mass of water with Katara. She tries to tell Aang to face the issue instead of avoiding it. Aang, however, is unable to do that. Katara explains that Aang is working with his opposite element, earth. Katara then surprises Aang by throwing a reed at him. Aang is able to use water to cut the reed into two pieces before it reaches him. Katara congratulates Aang and Aang replies to her as Sifu (teacher) Katara.
Iroh gives further detail about the four nations to Zuko. The Fire Nation symbolizes power and desire, the Earth Kingdom symbolizes endurance and diversity, the Air Nomads symbolize freedom from worldly concerns, and the Water Tribes symbolize love and community, especially in the face of change. He explains that people can gain wisdom by understanding each other. Iroh learned his special move by understanding the Waterbenders.
Meanwhile, Toph taunts Aang about his submissiveness by abusing his staff. She walks away, but Katara arrives, saying that Sokka has not been found yet. Aang and Katara split up to search for Sokka.
Sokka is ready to give up meat and sarcasm in order to escape from the crack in the ground. This is proven to be hypocrisy when Aang finds him, and Sokka immediately asks Aang if he has any meat, and responds to Aang's inability to free him with sarcasm. Aang tries, but is unable to use airbending to free him. Sokka requests that he should get Toph to help, but Aang feels too scared to ask her for help. Consequently, Sokka remains in the hole.
The critter returns, and Aang identifies it as a sabertooth moose-lion cub. Then the mother of the cub arrives, and she is furious.
Iroh begins to teach Zuko how to redirect lightning. Lightning goes through one arm, into the stomach, and out the other arm. They practice the hand motion to feel the pathway. When Zuko thinks he has mastered it, he demands that Uncle Iroh strike him with lightning. However, Iroh refuses because of the possibility of hurting his nephew. Zuko then leaves to "find his own lightning", as a storm is approaching.
The mother sabertooth moose-lion starts to attack Aang and Sokka. Aang tries to initially avoid it, but he eventually faces the mother head-on and sends her away. Toph, who was silently observing the conflict, congratulates Aang, but Aang demands that she give his staff back. Toph then says that Aang is thinking like an Earthbender. Aang successfully earthbends a rock. Toph then drags Sokka out of the hole.
Aang, Toph, and Sokka find Katara, who is relieved that Sokka has been found.
At the end of the episode, Zuko stands atop a mountain, yelling into the storm as the lightning crackles overhead. He dares the storm to strike him, in the hope of being able to practice what his uncle just taught him and, in some way, seek an end to his misery. But the storm, seeming to mock him, does not oblige. Zuko, who suddenly sheds a tear, falls to his knees, crying out in anguish.
Notes
- Iroh's son, Lu Ten, is seen for the first time. He is seen in a dream of Iroh's, and is seen as a young boy alongside a younger Iroh. So his actual appearance is still unknown.
- Aang's struggles with earthbending closely parallel Zuko's struggles with creating lightning. Both characters have trouble letting go of past emotions that inhibit their learning.
- It is confirmed that Iroh is able to create lightning. Iroh's explanation of how firebending creates lightning -- that is, by separation of positive and negative energy -- closely matches the scientific explanation for how lightning is actually formed, through separation of positive and negative charges.
- Aang earthbends for the first time (only previously having done this in the Avatar State). This means that Aang has done all four types of bending. He has done airbending in every episode except "Zuko Alone," waterbending in some episodes, and firebending in episode 16.
- This episode begins with a Previously on Avatar opening, making it the sixth in the series and the fourth in Season Two. The first episodes were "Avatar Roku (Winter Solstice, Part 2)," "Siege of the North, Part II," "The Blind Bandit," "Zuko Alone," and "."
- Katara states that Aang has the reflexes of a waterbending master, the first time she has related Aang to a master Waterbender.
- Iroh mentions that in order to redirect lightning, it must be channeled from one arm through the stomach to the other arm. Having it flow through the heart can be very dangerous, even fatal. This is scientifically true, where electricity can be used to start or stop the heart during cardiac arrest.
- Iroh invented his redirection of lighting technique through his studies of the Waterbenders and their ability to deal with the flow of energy.
- Iroh's description of the "sea of chi" during his explanation of how to redirect lightning is drawn directly from the Taoist practices of Chi Kung and Tai Chi, of which waterbending is based.
- When Zuko weeps at the end of the episode, his scarred eye does not shed any tears. It is interesting to note that when his healthy eye opens all the way, the scarred one remains still. But when Zuko closes his right eye, the left shuts evenly with it. This suggests that the scar is deeper than it looks, which could injure the tear duct and eyelid muscles, and which could also suggest that Zuko is blind in his scarred eye. However in the ninth episode, "The Waterbending Scroll", Zuko catches the pirate captain's sneak attack out of the corner of his left eye so we know he is not blind.
- Toph's taunting confirms that Aang's staff is his most precious possession, as he had also gone back into a fight to retrieve it in the episode "Avatar Day."
- The redirecting of lightning is shown by Iroh in the episode "" (when he redirects lightning into the sea to save the ship) and also in the episode "The Avatar State" (when he absorbs Azula's lightning and redirects it toward the cliff).
- The diagram that Uncle Iroh draws into the ground has a good deal of symbolic importance. The diagram presents each of the elements and arranges them in opposing forces. Water is the opposite of Fire and Air is the opposite of Earth. It is important to recognize that the bottom two elements, Air and Fire, are mainly identified with emotions. The top two elements, Earth and Water, represent worldly attributes of intrepidity and community, respectively.
- Katara's and Toph's teaching styles are both defined in this episode as two of the four consequences of operant conditioning. Katara suggests to Toph that her use of positive reinforcement has helped Aang. Toph, however, uses negative punishment in order to change Aang's attitude.
- At one point while he is trapped in the crevice, Sokka pleads to "Karma person or thing or whoever's in charge of this stuff" to help him out. Later, Zuko stands on top of a mountain during a thunderstorm challenging something which he deems responsible for all the things he suffered through in life, to strike him. Instead of the Eastern-religion styled elemental spirits seen in previous episodes, these scenes would imply the presence of a Western-styled single spirit, or several spirits with one central being.
- Aang addressed Toph as "Sifu," which means "teacher" in Cantonese. It is most commonly used in martial arts schools.
- Toph's opening line, "Good Morning Earthbending Student!" is delivered in a similar way to Robin William's "Good Morning Vietnam!"
References
- Screencaps for [Bitter Work] courtesy of [Avatar Spirit.net]
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