Avatar: The Last Airbender/Recap/Book 3/15 The Boiling Rock Part 2

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

"You miscalculated. I love Zuko more than I fear you."

Having seen that Hakoda is one of the new prisoners to arrive at the Boiling Rock, Sokka goes to talk to him in hopes of figuring out a new escape plan. While Sokka and Hakoda talk, the warden questions the recaptured Chit Sang about who else was involved in the escape attempt.

Having come up with a new plan for escaping, Sokka tells Zuko to be alert right before a pair of guards comes to take Zuko to a room where an angry Mai is waiting to talk to him. The warden finally convinces Chit Sang to talk and he admits that someone posing as a guard was the mastermind behind the escape plan. In the meantime, Zuko tries to explain his actions in leaving to Mai.

Sokka goes and informs Suki of the new plan and tells her to be ready. When he leaves her cell, he is intercepted by some guards who have been ordered to bring him to the warden so that Chit Sang can point out the impostor. However, instead of exposing Sokka, Chit Sang places the blame on a guard who was bullying him earlier.

Sokka proceeds to implement the new plan, getting all of the prisoners released into the prison yard and starting a riot with the help of Chit Sang. Acting under orders from the warden to protect Mai, a guard comes to the room where Mai and Zuko are talking but only ends up providing Zuko with a chance to join the others after regretfully locking Mai and the guard into the room. Upon joining Sokka, Suki, Hakoda, and Chit Sang, Zuko discovers that Sokka has failed to think out a critical part of the plan, but Suki salvages the situation while the boys argue.

With the warden as a hostage, the escapees make it safely onto the gondola, but Azula and Ty Lee, who are paying a surprise visit to the prison, manage to reach the gondola and Zuko, Sokka, and Suki are forced to fight them on the gondola's roof. During the fight, the warden manages to free himself of his bindings and orders the guards to cut the line. Seeing what the guards are doing, Azula and Ty Lee escape to the other gondola but the escapees are saved by Mai, who disables the guards and sets the gondola back in motion.

Azula confronts Mai, who admits that she still loves Zuko, more so than she fears Azula. Azula is livid.

Before the former friends duel, Ty Lee paralyzes Azula. The two "traitors" are forced into the Boiling Rock. Zuko, Sokka, Suki, Hakoda, and Chit Sang escape on Azula's war blimp and finally make it back to the Western Air Temple where, finally, the Water Tribe family reunites.

Tropes:

  • The Alcatraz: The eponymous Boiling Rock.
  • Backstabbing the Alpha Bitch: Mai and Ty Lee betray Azula.
  • Cable Car Action Sequence
  • Cut the Safety Rope: Inverted. The warden manages to free himself enough so that he can yell at the guards to cut the lines holding up the gondola, knowing full well that he'll be boiled alive along with the would-be escapees when it falls. The attempt is foiled, but the warden gets points for trying.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: Between Sokka and Zuko. Sokka puts his past animosity towards Zuko to rest in this episode.
  • Great Escape: Making one of these is the point of the two-part episode.
  • Heel Face Turn: Mai in order to save Zuko's life, and Ty Lee to save Mai's. They look almost as surprised at the outcome of events as Azula.
  • He's a Friend: Sokka has to tell Hakoda this regarding Zuko.
  • Held Gaze: Between Mai and Zuko after he locks her in the cell.
  • Kill Us Both: The warden demonstrates his dedication to his job. Bonus points for having boasted about being willing to do it during Part 1.
  • Duty First, Love Second: Zuko with Mai.
  • Machiavelli Was Wrong
  • No, You: Azula to Mai in a rare frightening example.

"No, you miscalculated."

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