Avatar: The Last Airbender/Recap/Book 1/15 Bato of the Water Tribe

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  • Book 1
    • 01 The Boy in the Iceberg
    • 02 The Avatar Returns
    • 03 The Southern Air Temple
    • 04 The Warriors of Kyoshi
    • 05 The King of Omashu
    • 06 Imprisoned
    • 07 The Winter Solstice Part 1
    • 08 The Winter Solstice Part 2
    • 09 The Waterbending Scroll
    • 10 Jet
    • 11 The Great Divide
    • 12 The Storm
    • 13 The Blue Spirit
    • 14 The Fortuneteller
    • 15 Bato of the Water Tribe
    • 16 The Deserter
    • 17 The Northern Air Temple
    • 18 The Water Bending Master
    • 19 The Siege of the North Part 1
    • 20 The Siege of the North Part 2
  • Book 2
    • 01 The Avatar State
    • 02 The Cave of Two Lovers
    • 03 Return to Omashu
    • 04 The Swamp
    • 05 Avatar Day
    • 06 The Blind Bandit
    • 07 Zuko Alone
    • 08 The Chase
    • 09 Bitter Work
    • 10 The Library
    • 11 The Desert
    • 12 The Serpents Pass
    • 13 The Drill
    • 14 City of Walls and Secrets
    • 15 The Tales of Ba Sing Se
    • 16 Appas Lost Days
    • 17 Lake Laogai
    • 18 The Earth King
    • 19 The Guru
    • 20 The Crossroads of Destiny
  • Book 3
    • 01 The Awakening
    • 02 The Headband
    • 03 The Painted Lady
    • 04 Sokka's Master
    • 05 The Beach
    • 06 The Avatar and the Fire Lord
    • 07 The Runaway
    • 08 The Puppet Master
    • 09 Nightmares and Daydreams
    • 10 The Day of Black Sun Part 1
    • 11 The Day of Black Sun Part 2
    • 12 The Western Air Temple
    • 13 The Firebending Masters
    • 14 The Boiling Rock Part 1
    • 15 The Boiling Rock Part 2
    • 16 The Southern Raiders
    • 17 The Ember Island Players
      • Laconic
    • 18 Sozin's Comet Part 1: The Phoenix King
    • 19 Sozin's Comet Part 2: The Old Masters
    • 20 Sozin's Comet Part 3: Into the Inferno
    • 21 Sozin's Comet Part 4: Avatar Aang
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"Being a man is knowing where you're needed the most, and for you right now that's here protecting your sister."

While our heroes continue on their journey, they happen by an old friend of Katara and Sokka's; Bato, a Southern Water Tribe Warrior, who has been separated from the rest of the fighters. However, he should be receiving word of Chief Hakoda, the water-tribe siblings' father, any day now, and Bato promises to take them with him. However, as the reunion continues, Aang finds himself feeling ignored and forgotten, fearing that he's losing his new found family. Meanwhile, Zuko recruits a bounty-hunter named June whose Shirshu can track by smell, and using Katara's necklace he begins to narrow in on his prey.

Tropes:

• Bits of Me Keep Passing Out: Just when Sokka is regaining movement after the shirshu stings him, some debris from a building damaged in the fight falls on him.
• Call Back: June, Zuko, and Iroh meet the Herbalist and the Fortuneteller while traveling on Nyla.
• Chekhov's Gun: Katara's necklace that Zuko recovered back in episode 6.
  • Also the perfume at the abbey.
• Chekhov's Gunman: June
• Editorial Synaesthesia: Shots from the point of view of the scent-oriented shirshu overlay scent trails, colour coded per person, over a grey and blurred-around-the-edges image of what a human would see.
• Funny Aneurysm Moment: When June, Zuko, and Iroh meet the Fortuneteller, Iroh's response to being offered his fortune is this: "At my age there is really only one big surprise left, and I'd just as soon leave it a mystery." This becomes a bit sobering when you realize Iroh's original voice actor, Mako, died before the series was over.
• Hypocritical Humor: June saying she's short on cash, while gathering in winnings, immediately followed by shouting "drinks on me!"
• Impairment Shot: After being doused in perfume, the shirshu's "vision" turns into nothing but ribbons of colours.
• Oblivious Guilt Slinging
• The Paralyzer: The shirshu.
• Rite of Passage: Bato gives the three kids a challenge to sail a ship through a field of rocks without his help, the closest they can get to the Water Tribe's traditional "ice-doging" in the warm climate.
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: While not a prophecy per se, Aang's fear that Katara and Sokka will leave him if they are given their father's map becomes this. It drives him to hide it from them, and their reaction to his treachery once he admits to it is to leave him.
• Ship Tease: Katara kisses Aang on the cheek for the first time (and not the last, obviously) for getting her necklace back
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Aang's decision to hide the trail to Sokka and Katara's father did not go over well with them.
  • Neither did what happens next. Three guesses at that.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Sokka gives a rather harsh one to Aang. Though, to some, it's really harsh, there is some truth in there: Aang had hidden the map from them. However, Sokka overcomes this later and decides that Aang is a part of their family, so he and Katara go back to find Aang and apologize.
• Whip It Good: June and the shirshu.