#but the painted lady feels like a Slog on rewatched

[adriancatrin]

the difference between The Painted Lady and Sokka’s Master—what makes one so much more iconic than the other—is that The Painted Lady may as well be Imprisoned (season one), just done-up in Fire Nation attire. we learn nothing new about katara in that ep that we didn’t know from season one. and The Desert in season two CEMENTED katara as the heart of the group in a way that wasn’t even necessary to try to do again in season three.

Sokka’s Master, on the other hand, gives us a whole new look at sokka. Imprisoned and The Warriors of Kyoshi (in season one) are katara and sokka eps respectively, meant to give us a look into their characters and acquaint ourselves with them. season two is incredible because it assumes we already know the characters, and it lets us sit in them and enjoy the ride for amazing arcs through Story, above all else. but early season three brings back the Character episodes. the Headband, Painted Lady, Sokka’s Master, the Runaway (and as a bonus, unlike season one, we also get The Beach for the FN team). each main character gets their own re-establishing ep. great, cool, whatever—what about Sokka’s Master tho?

shhh patience lol i’m getting there. Painted Lady shows that katara is the same, she still cares about the lil guy(s), despite all else, just like she did in Imprisoned. she can’t leave desperate people behind.

but in The Warriors of Kyoshi, sokka thought he was the Shit, and had to have it proved to him that that wasn’t the case (god bless u suki). in Sokka’s Master, however, it’s the exact opposite. his arc at that point brought him to having nearly no faith in himself. Warriors of Kyoshi was about bringing sokka down to earth (being A MAN💪🏽 isn’t the end all be all), and Sokka’s Master is about bringing him back up (what does it mean to be a man? 🌈). it’s obviously a huge shame that the invasion ended up sitting him right back down again in his insecurities. but i imagine if Sokka’s Master had never happened, he wouldn’t have been able to bounce back post-Boiling-Rock, regardless of whether or not he’d successfully broken his dad (and suki) out. he needed the foundation of self-confidence to beat away the doubts later.

anyways, point is.. at least personally the Painted Lady ep has never stuck out to me as special, whereas Sokka’s Master is one of my fave eps of the show. and that’s not because i have it out for katara or anything and held sokka in especially high regard (Sokka’s Master is largely WHY i now hold sokka in high regard—but The Desert ep put katara in just as high a regard in my book, along w probs a dozen other eps that showcase her unique character). Sokka’s Master stands out because it shows us a new part of sokka, but the Painted Lady doesn’t show us anything new about katara. in a show that’s ultimately rather short, episodes that seem like clones the way Painted Lady & Imprisoned do end up feeling lackluster. idk. this isn’t to say i dislike the Painted Lady, i just wanted to get my thoughts out