Well I don't know how much of a spoiler this post will be, but there was my warning.

The title is a very well-chosne one. Aang has finally awoken and Zuko has awoken from his dream and now realizes how bad it is. He might not realize it now, but he is coming to grips with it. His sister's cunningness and his father's lack of concern.

The wicked witches were, as always, creepy. Although there summary was a bit better than I would have expected.

Akailen, I am one of those people who was a little disappointed with the replacement that they got for Zhao. A fourteen year old? WTF! But this episode and many of those from the past prove that she is far worse. Zuko understands that she means no good for him and yet she is able to lure him down a dark alley with little effort.

I loved the scene when Katara confronted her father and spilled out her feelings, it really gave new light to "The Earth King" when it came to her letting Sokka go instead of herself.

The only scene I didn't like would have to be the one with Avatar Roku and Moonspirit Yue coming out and speaking with Aang, too much for me.

Well, that is my two cents. Can't wait to see the drama unfold.

This post is going to have spoilers, if you havent guessed.

I think it was a good starting episode, but there were several scenes that were just too much. The whole Yue thing, but I guess the creators needed someone to boost Aang's moral. If it wasn't a starting episode, I would have been disappointed with it overall. I liked how they did the explanation thing, going back to Chameleon bay and meeting Katara and Sokka's dad. Didn't like the scene between them, though. Katara had seemed so happy to hear from her father, that it seemed ooc for her. Sokka was good in this episode too. I understand this episode was to catch up with what had happened, but it mostly seemed like filler to me. Don't insult me too badly, alright?

Yeah.... Katara was just too damn whiney.... I mean, they wanted her to come off strong.... but they failed miserably. Seriously, if they wanted her to be all "ack, aang, i'll miss you" they shouldn't have had her crying over whatever the hell happened with her father.

Too weird, if you ask me. And the whole "You're talking about me" line, or whatever it was was very... out of place. They just kind of stuck it in there.

And that line of Mai's? About the life story? Was she trying to be funny? Cause if she was, it came off as mean to me. And the kiss was out of nowhere..... ^^;;

The episode was good, I enjoyed it. But yeah, I had logic issues with it.

No matter what I've heard other people on the internets say, I found Katara's abandonment issues with her father to be out of place with the narrative. First she's really angry with him, then when Aang takes off she gets weepy and teary eyed. Yeesh, it's like watching Spider-Man 3 all over again. When she was pissed at Hakoda and telling him to go away while she was talking to Aang I totally read it as, "Dad, you're messing up my macking on Aang. Come back later," not "I'm angry you abandoned me to go fight in the war."

The series up until now had Katara commenting on the death of her mother and its impact on her (in the second episode, Imprisoned, the Swamp, Crossroads of Destiny, probably many more I'm forgetting) far more than any sense of abandonment she had from her dad leaving. She was overjoyed to hear where he was in Bato of the Water Tribe, and decided to go with Sokka after Aang acted like a dope. When the next chance to see him comes up, she only passes up on it because someone has to stay in Ba Sing Se and knows that Sokka's feeling of 'manliness' is dependent of their father's approval. None of those instances felt like someone who had an issue with him leaving.

Now, I'm not saying it doesn't make sense to feel that way, but they really needed to build up to it first. But hey, since it's there, at least the scene is well acted and touching and Hakoda is a nice guy. It's good to see a father who isn't dumb and good natured, as it happens often in cartoons.

What I did like was seeing Zuko finally lie right back to Azula, even if he still sucks at it. At least now he seems aware that Azula is up to something, as opposed to the many other times he just believed her at face value (Avatar State, for instance). It ain't much, because she's still several moves ahead of him (covering her rear end for any eventuality, keeping Zuko around as a pawn, perhaps still being one of the only firebenders aware of the Day of the Black Sun), but Zuko's showing at least the tiniest bit of improvement.

As for me, I liked Mai's comeback. Seriously, she just asked if he was cold and Zuko launches into a Hamlet soliloquy about how much things have changed back in the Fire Nation and how much as he changed? The last time he went into a full on soliloquy I think was when he was talking to a out-to-the-Spirit-World Aang. I have to wonder if now Zuko is so introspective that he will launch into these things just by mentioning the weather, or what he's having for breakfast... I still love Zuko, and I love his awkwardness. It was just funny to see someone say what I was thinking at that moment. I think the smooching was Mai's way of getting Zuko to stop brooding for five seconds. Usually that kinda stuff works.

Might I say that I absolutely love Sokka and Toph, and when they're combined they form an unstoppable comedic duo that has Toph's Chuck Norris-style awesome? Sokka and his ironic timing, and Toph calling him on it. Fantastic. I love Sokka just being in love with his plans and that Aang is their secret weapon. Sokka's becoming a well rounded, tactician comedy relief guy, and it isn't often you get your comic relief with competence. I really hope he finds Suki alive. And Toph...she's just killer. Her metalbending is fantastic. Yay for metalbending!

Aang's all purpose solution to his problems? Fly out to sea. Worked fine when he was running away, and it worked just fine when he...ran away again to face Ozai or something. I don't know, I am unclear as to what Aang was really doing. He dives past a blockade, then takes up some windsurfing with debris and his glider, then wipes out and has his Obi-Wan--er, I mean Roku encouragement moment. How was any of this supposed to help defeat the Fire Lord on his own? I mean, I thought that's what he ran away for. He had to redeem himself and get his honor by making up for his failures and the people who all think he's dead. And yet he seemed fairly aimless with his windsurfing expedition...it confused me. I wasn't bothered by Yue showing up all that much. Sometimes the Moon Spirit's just gotta drop by for a little morale boosting (not to mention clearing up the storm and giving Aang a huge tidal wave to work with).

I guess the others found him at the end because of Appa's connection to Aang? Because I can't think of any other way they'd be able to guess where he'd wash ashore, if he washed ashore at all.

Ozai? I love you. You look so normal, so what I was expecting and yet not, that it is awesome (being voiced by Mark Hamill doesn't hurt either). You're saying all the things Zuko has wanted to hear, but I don't believe for a second that you really, reeeally mean them. All it takes is one slip up and Zuko's kicked to the curb yet again. It's nice to see that the "Big Bad" of the entire series still just looks like a normal person. He's not some personification of evil (as he had looked like for most of his 'appearances' up until now), an inhuman wizard king type throwing his fire around all willy nilly. He's still just a man, a Fire Lord man, and doesn't have a permanent generic evil scowl/sneer on his face.

Did anyone else get a really creepy vibe from that scene with Zuko barging in on Azula while she was asleep? The way Azula moved and talked, yeesh, she was really giving me the wiggins. That girls is psycho, and Zuko's family is a million ways of messed up.

I loved Li and Lo, those creepy old ladies. They're like the Greek chorus of the Fire Nation. Hearing them spin their version while showing the Dai Li tear down the wall, letting the troops storm the city (ack, poor Jin, and that family, where is your 'Hope' now? Oooh, I'm mean), that's some chilling stuff. It's horrible that so many people sacrificed so much to get to the safety of Ba Sing Se, only to have a ruthless, corrupted sect of earthbenders bring down the walls meant to protect them. Ouch.

So, yeah, it was good, not great. I'm still really looking forward to more, though. If it was next Friday already that would be great.