Writer:	Elizabeth Welch Ehasz, Tim Hedrick, Aaron Ehasz, John O'Bryan
Director:	Giancarlo Volpe
Star:	Zach Tyler Eisen (Aang),  Makoto Iwamatsu (Uncle Iroh),  Grey DeLisle (Princess Azula (Season 2- )),  Mae Whitman (Katara),  Dee Bradley Baker (Appa/Momo/Various Others),  Dante Basco (Prince Zuko),  Jack DeSena (Sokka)
Recurring Role:	James Garrett (Avatar Roku)
Guest Star:	Robin Atkin Downes (Captain),  Victor Brandt (Master Pakku),  Daniel Dae Kim (General Fong)

Villian Debut: Princess Azula, Lo, Li (edit) Character Debuts: General Fong (edit) Along with her lightning generation prowess, Azula also briefly exhibits the ability to produce blue flames when firebending. Such fire would be significantly hotter than that normally seen manipulated by others. (edit) This episode is in the Avatar: The Last Airbender Book 2: Earth, Volume 1 DVD, along with The Cave of Two Lovers, Return to Omashu, The Swamp, and Avatar Day. (edit) When abruptly asked for name of the female Airbender Avatar at the Pacific Media Expo, Bryan Konietzko (jokingly) replied that it was "Avatar Susan", indicating that they didn't plan on developing the previous Avatars aside from the two already introduced. According to the "Escape from the Spirit World" animated comics the Airbender Avatar's name is Yangchen. (edit)

Iroh: Who knew floating on a piece of driftwood for three weeks with no food or water and sea vultures waiting to pluck out your liver could make you so tense! (edit) Katara: Aang? (goes up to the top of the ship with him) Are you okay?
Aang: It was just a nightmare. I was in the Avatar State, but I was outside my body watching myself. It was scary. I was scary. (edit) Sokka: Maybe I can shock you into the Avatar state.
Aang: I love surprises. (edit) Zuko (o.c., happily): We're going home. After three long years. It's unbelievable. (Zuko walks behind a thoughtful Iroh, carrying some folded clothing. He walks off to the right of the screen.)
Iroh (skeptically): It is unbelievable. I have never known my brother to regret anything. (edit) Avatar Roku: The Avatar State is a defense mechanism, designed to empower you the skills and knowledge of all the past Avatars. The Glow is the combination of all your past lives, focusing their energy into your body. In the Avatar State you are at your most powerful, but you are also at your most vulnerable.
Aang: What does that mean?
Avatar Roku: If you are killed in the Avatar State, the reincarnation cycle will be broken, and The Avatar will cease to exist. (edit)

Zuko's knife must have been really sharp as to cut right through his hair with no effort. Warriors from the knight times used to test the sharpness of their blades by doing something like that, also by licking the blade. (edit) This is the first episode to have blood. (When Azula scratched Zuko.) (edit) When Zuko and Iroh look at Azula's ship from the cliff pathway, her ship's stern is pointing to the right, but later on, her ship's stern is pointing to the left. (edit) From afar before Azula begins to bend lightning, her litter is visible between Lo and Li, but later on, the litter vanishes. (edit) As Sokka sways back and forth with Momo in his shirt replacing his head, Katara's grey pants become light blue like her outfit. (edit)

The name of Yangchen, the female Air Nomad Avatar, is similar in pronunciation with yang qi, which is Mandarin for 'oxygen.' Quite befitting given her expressed airbending abilities. (edit) General Fong's name is most likely a variant of the word feng, which translates to 'insane'. Aang even alludes to this notion at the end of the episode when he tells Fong that he's out of his mind. (edit) The tower in General Fong's base is similar to the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, China. (edit) The statues that Avatar Kyoshi was bending while in the Avatar State are also seen at a glance in a deserted Earth Kingdom city (the place where Sokka and Katara were sick) in The Blue Spirit. (edit) At the end of this episode where Prince Zuko and Iroh cut off the knots in their hair is an allusion to a display of an ancient Japanese ritual symbolizing that they no longer have a place in their tribe (in this case, the Fire Nation). This is also similar to a Chinese tradition extending into the early 20th century, in which men would grow their hair in long braids called "queues," which symbolize their honor; if the braid is ever cut, then they are no longer allowed to return. (edit)