Avatar: The Last Airbender’s Halloween special
*Major Spoilers Ahead*
Nickelodeon’s standout show Avatar: The Last Airbender (ATLA), is beloved by many who did and did not grow up with the show. It has garnered a cult-like following that keeps the shows and its themes, plots, characters, and canon relevant to this day—fifteen years after its initial release. ATLA is my favorite show in Nickelodeon’s vast catalog, and I find myself returning to it repeatedly, finding something new to appreciate or take away from it with every watch. One episode in particular that seems to stir up debate among those who have watched the show casually or intensely is book (the show’s preferred word for a season) three’s eighth episode: “The Puppetmaster.”
This was created with its airdate in mind, Nov. 9, 2007, a day close to, though not exactly lining up with Halloween. This proximity allowed the show writers to cast a darker mood over the episode, creating an atmosphere vastly different from your average ATLA episode. What is impressive is that if you told most people watching the show that this episode was a Halloween episode, they would not have noticed or would not be surprised. This is because of a delicate balance between making an episode that follows along with the ongoing plot line of the show—still feels as though it is bite-sized enough for the passing cable television viewer—capturing horrific elements in a kid-friendly way, nodding to Halloween. This impressive juggling by Avatar’s staff makes this episode and show so memorable and deeply loved—every aspect is done with research and care!
Throughout this episode, Team Avatar—the name developed for Aang and his travel companions, Katara, Sokka, and Toph—is camping in the woods by a nearby Fire Nation village and exchanging spooky stories around the fire. Katara recites a story passed down to her from her mother, yet during this, Toph— a blind Earthbender—says that she senses people under the nearby mountain screaming. Assuming this is a joke, the rest of Team Avatar tells her to stop trying to scare them, but a noise is heard mid-debate from the woods around them. Emerging from the treeline is an older woman named Hama, who, though unsettling, offers the team a place to stay and food, so they take this generous offer.
Through fellow members of the town and Hama, Team Avatar discovers that community members have recently been missing in correlation with the full moon. As the world’s sworn protector, “the Avatar,” Aang keeps trying to find clues as to what might be happening and assumes there might be a spirit-world connection due to the full moon— a time when the veil between realms is the thinnest. Sokka, the skeptical brother of Katara, feels something is not quite right about Hama, and suggests that they should snoop through the home. While doing so, they find a locked box in the attic, but Hama appears on the scene as they try to open it. Here, she reveals her true motive for asking the team to stay at her home: she is from the same tribe as Sokka and Katara, making her and Katara the two last Waterbenders of the Southern Water Tribe.
After this revelation, Hama begins to teach Katara some tips she has picked from being “a Waterbender in a foreign land,” demonstrating to Katara how there is water in places you would never guess, such as flowers or the air they breathe. This culminates in a night lesson under the full moon; all the while, the rest of Team Avatar continues to investigate the mystery, soon concluding that Hama is the one causing village members to go missing.
During this full moon Waterbending lesson—the period at which Waterbending is at its strongest—Hama demonstrates to Katara how she escaped a Fire Nation prison after being captured for being a Waterbender and how she caused the villagers to go missing—using a forbidden technique called Bloodbending—where one manipulates the water contained within the blood of a living organism, something that Katara refuses to attempt.This ordeal climaxes after a forced fight between two Team Avatar members, forcing Katara to use Bloodbending on Hama to stop her. The episode ends with Hama being taken prisoner by the town, leaving Katara with an unsettling and guttural reality check: “Congratulations, Katara. You are a Bloodbender.”
The implications of this episode and the underlying ethical dilemma often leave people torn: many note that, though Katara cries at the end of the episode, she now has an ability that is more powerful than any other bender of this era is capable of, one that can be extremely helpful in the events to come, while, on the other hand, as a character, her foundations are engraved with a strong sense of right and wrong, leaving many feeling that this is fitting for her character thus far in the show. However, I am not here to pick sides: everyone is entitled to their own opinion on the matter.
There are many examples of the various reasons and ways ATLA is such a well-written and thought-out show, and this is just one of the many! The utilization of Bloodbending in future episodes and its sequel series, The Legend of Korra (2012), always stirs up moral discomfort in the sympathetic viewer while raising the scale of the power in the series. Everything about this episode is expertly crafted and executed, leaving us with one of the most polished and intense episodes of children’s entertainment available anywhere! If you have or haven’t done so already, I highly suggest you watch ATLA and enter into this powerful and engaging narrative that this show offers!