Nightmares and Daydreams (Avatar: The Last Airbender)
Template:Infobox Avatar: The Last Airbender episode Nightmares and Daydreams is an episode from the animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender, which airs on Nickelodeon. It is the ninth episode of the third season of the series.
Episode synopsis
The gang arrive on an island, which is where the invasion force will meet up. Aang is stressed about the invasion being only four days away and that night he has a nightmare, in which he comes face to face with the Fire Lord, only to be told by him that he forgot to bring his pants. Meanwhile Zuko is enjoying his life of royalty and making the most of it while his relationship with Mai goes well.
After staying awake training for the past twenty-four hours, Aang tries to get some sleep, only to have another nightmare, this time he forgets to review for a non-existent math test administered by Ozai. He wakes up and starts walking around some sheep, Katara also gets up and asks him to try and get some sleep. As this happens, Mai tells Zuko that there is war meeting coming up, and he says that he was not invited, leading him to think that his father doesn't want him there.
Aang has another nightmare in which Ozai tells him that he overslept and missed the invasion, riding atop a flying, fire-breathing cow no less. As he wakes up, he starts going crazy from the lack of sleep, and says that he’s unraveling. Katara, Toph and Sokka all try and help Aang using different methods. Katara tries yoga in an artificial hot spring, and when she asks how he feels, he says that he feels hot, like he's in the Fire Lord's palace and he's shooting fireballs at him, making him panic. Katara says that maybe he should talk his problems out. Sokka dons his beard and mustache from The Headband and tries to be a psychiatrist, talking to Aang about his feelings on confronting Ozai. When Aang simply asks how to calm himself, Sokka suggests he screams into a pillow (a sheep), but this does not work. Meanwhile Zuko confronts Azula about the war meeting, asking why she got invited and he didn’t. She says that he didn’t get an invitation because it’s obvious he’s supposed to be there, and goes on to tell him to stop acting like a child and go to the meeting. He says he won’t go.
Next, Toph tries her method on Aang, giving him a brutal massage using log shaped pieces of earth, and Earthbending to create hard vibrations. When this fails, she offers acupuncture with a boarcupine (pig-porcupine hybrid). Aang, terrified of the idea, runs away screaming.
That night the gang asks Aang if he’s ok. Aang says that maybe he feels a bit better. They all go to sleep, but Aang has another, more frightening nightmare, this time a jumbled montage, consisting of snap images, expressing Aang's fear and stress over the upcoming battle. He wakes up and because of the stress, he states that he won’t sleep until the invasion. The next day, Aang, now very tired from lack of sleep, daydreams about professing his love for Katara, and passionately kissing her, calling her his "forever girl". He lies to her about it after.
Meanwhile, Zuko is told by a servant, that everyone is waiting for him at the meeting, and he realizes that his father does want him there. Aang, on the other hand, is not doing so great, and as he tries to train, he starts hearing Momo talk, and then Appa . He then starts seeing them fight samurai style, as sheep cheer them on. This scene may refer to the Japanese animated movie Pom Poko when the tanuki are fighting each other in the raccoon war. After the meeting, Zuko tells Mai that his father treated him like his right-hand man. But he confesses that although he acted like the perfect son, he was not being himself.
Aang (now completely exhausted) wanders around the campsite and stumbles across a bed of wool. He immediately dismisses it as another hallucination. His friends inform him that it is indeed real and they spent hours working on it, so he could sleep. Aang continues to insist he is not ready, but Katara and the rest of the gang encourage him, with Katara saying that he has been training for this since the day they met, and that he is ready. Aang finally calms down and falls asleep. He has one last dream in which he appears before the Fire Lord. Ozai says that he forgot his pants but Aang merely smiles and says that it is in fact the Fire Lord who has forgotten his pants. Ozai covers himself, embarrassed that “his royal parts are showing”. Aang, with his nerves gone, can now rest for the invasion.
Production Notes
Series continuity
- The picture of Firelord Ozai that Aang made from noodles in "The Headband" makes its return in this episode. Aang places it against a tree and uses it as a target during his preparation for the conflict with Fire Lord Ozai.
- Guru Pathik, previously appearing in "Appa's Lost Days" and "The Guru," appears during Appa and Momo's samurai-esque fight; appearing with multiple arms, he sings about chakras, which were the focus of his teachings to Aang.
- When Sokka attempts to act as Aangs psychological counselor, he wears the beard and moustache previously seen in "The Headband."
References
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