Hey, just a little bit of something... Maybe you should include a spoiler alert? I mean, If I hadn't already watched it on Veoh, I'd be extremely furious that you just spoiled it for me. Just saying.

If you want another link, search in Veoh Avatar 308. Veoh has the whole thing, along with 307, and 309.

But yeah, put a spoiler alert please for the people who don't know.

Now, onto my opinions on this... I think, for a work on Nick, this is extremely... wicked. I mean, controlling someone by the BLOOD in their body... is amazing. However truely awesome it is, it still holds much of an eerie tone... hopefully we won't see it again.

Yes! Somewhere to talk about this before the episode actually airs...

Byakko, you make it sound like Katara is weak when you say "But then she cries." The only reason she did it was to save someone's life who I'm not going to mention. She was strong for crying purely because she realized what a horrible thing it was, and then throughout the entire dual she was draining the life water from all those plants. Can you imagine how hard that must be? I think she's amazingly strong, because you can tell it hurts her.

And as for Nick showing such a thing, yes, it's a bit SHOCKING for little kids MAYBE, but personally I'm glad they added more to the show. As much as I love the humor, I think they've put more jokes and attempts at humor into the the 3rd book almost as much as the 1st, and you'd think that after so much growing up and being the FINAL SEASON and everything, it would be more serious. *shrugs* I just love the episodes more when they have more emotional depth to them, you know?

And in some of the other topics within the Bending Arts I know the idea of controlling a person by the water within them has been long debated. I really like the name they give it: Blood Bending. Looks like water has 2 sub-bending areas: ice and blood. Creepy.

Achiro, I agree. The depth of it is what shocked me, because I wasn't used to such seriousness in this show... Okay, that's a lie. Avatar isn't a total kids show, it has it's times, but simply put they are rare.

To tell the truth, this episode was one of my favorites because of the blood bending. The scary thing is, now that Katara knows how to do it, we know that she can and possibly will use it again. I'm guessing against Zuko, or the Fire Lord. And... which I doubt this will happen, but possibly... She might teach it to Aang. I don't think she will mostly for the reason that she didn't do it because she felt comfortable about it, but she did it because she had to save her friends. So I don't think she'll teach Aang, but there's always that possibility.

Oh, and on a side note, don't forget plant bending. Ice, Blood, and Plants.

First off, Mod duties:

Bayakko, your last paragraph was extremely rude and distasteful towards Karena. It has been logged and marked. There is no need to be that rude towards a staff member on this site. Your argument and opinions concerning the rulings of the staff should be kept to PM, since they have no business being displayed out to the public.

Also, it has been said many times by Katara herself that she was the only bender in the South Pole since most of the men and benders went off to war, hence why she wasn’t able to train until she met Aang came along. Since this episode came out after the problems concerning your Profile, the point is mute, you can not apply new law or information to past and settled incidences its called Ex Post Facto Law... and that is one of the basis of our societal structure.

And another point, just because it has now been shown in the series, doesn’t mean we will allow it on this site. Such a power is not feasible or possible for anyone other than a master or Canon. And since im assuming that Blood bending is esoteric, it is hardly unlikely that anyone would even know about it, unless they saw it firsthand...

Now that mod duties have been taken care of, now I can respond to this ^_^

Personally… I think is a load of crap. It is clearly obvious that the entire third season is just going to be a series of Fan service episodes. The concept of blood bending seriously throws off the supposed balance between the four elements. Keep in mind that it is against ALL Asian religions and ALL forms of martial arts that you remove a person’s free will. You can force someone to do something, but you can never control their bodies like puppets. That’s a Really big no no is many (if all) Asian beliefs.

Like I said earlier, this episode caught me as pure Fan Service… If enough people peter you about something, you might as well give it to them. What strikes me is that Nick would have the nerve to show this to children like Achiro said… Even though the creators had to realize that they had attracted a much older fan base then they originally wanted, it is really out of place for Nick to air something like this…

Again.. which further makes me believe that this was a fan service episode… This script was planned out since Day 1. These little gimmes for the fans is not going to have a real effect on the story line… which would possibly explain why we haven’t seen much metal bending since it was first introduced.

Overall, while I don’t agree with what this episode is saying, and doing to harm the actual story line.. I found it rather enjoyable ^_^.. even though it was a little disturbing…. But that always adds fun to a series. It’s a shame that they would give into all this fan service for the final season..

oh well. Que Sera Sera

Sorry Yi but I'm gonna have to disagree about what you said on this disrupting the supposed balance between four elements: First off you have to remember that as far as we know, only two water benders in the whole avatar world can do it, secondly one had to teach the other and it took the first one years of imprisonment to master it and finally, they can only do it under the full moon. So whilst I agree it gives the competitive edge if you have all three of those factors, I don't really think it can be considered frequently occuring enough to give water benders any bigger an advantage.

Now, onto episode discussion!
Personally I found this episode to be quite enjoyable, even if it was a little confusing. It's good that we finally met another bender that isn't a fire bender, and it was always nice to have a bit of old school training whilst you're at it. However, I still enjoyed how they managed to make this episode very creepy and downright frightening, and by having a huge red herring almost right from the start. And of course you have to enjoy the emotion that was spun into this episode's fight sequence, and how it developed Katara in both bending and her knowledge of her own past.

So overall, I found this episode to be pretty enjoyable, though I'm still wondering what the puppets in the hall were for

I know how it works, she is like a Dark Puppet master and can control people, but she can only do it durring a full moon night, not enough time too hold a mastery of puppetry, so she naturaly needs practice, thats where those puppets come in I'll wager.

Pull a string and move an arm, the principle bending is probably similer minus the string.

(I'd say more but I am out of time, hope I hit my 300 character limit.)
(Just in case I didn't.) (...................................................................................................................................... Congradulations, your a Bloodbender, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! ........ *Sob*)

Sorry, since I haven't seen the episode, and like to wait for them to be shown on air, I am saving my judgment until I see it, but I wanted to post to thank Yi for addressing that part in Byakko's post, and that part of the post has been edited out. You may all now return to your discussion. Thank you.

Hmm, I think I agree with Sanro. No other waterbender in the entire avatar world would probably be able to do this, so that makes 2. One is behind bars for the rest of her pitiable life, and the other is ashamed of the fact that she can even do it. So no, I don't think this gives waterbending a one up. Definately it extends the reach and possibilities of waterbending, but in the actual avatar world if no one can use it, then it doesn't really matter. It's just there.

And as for the puppets hidden in the closet, personally my guess is that it's just a connection device. The only reason Sokka realizes Hanna is the 'spirit' when underground is because the victims described themselves as puppets, and that visual probably helped Sokka and the viewers link back to her. *shrugs*

And I've been wondering if Katara might end up using bloodbending in the battle against the Fire Lord too. I don't think she'll teach it to Aang, but she'll probably explain it. And well...it seems a close call to me. But I think it's a possibility that we might see both metalbending and bloodbending again. After all, Metal bending has been mentioned in "The Runaway" and would have been put to use if not for the presence of wood. *glowers* So yeah. I think so.