Military Debut: Yu Yan Archers (edit) Character Debuts: Lieutenant Jee, The Herbalist, Miyuki (edit) This chapter is Avatar co-creator Michael DiMartino's second favorite episode of the first season due to the enigma behind the Blue Spirit, the intense action sequences, and the twist ending. (edit) This is the second episode in which a firebender helps Aang. (edit) We learn Aang was good friends with a Fire Nation boy named Kuzon. (edit) The ruby-eyed monkey statue and the Sunghi horn Iroh bought from the pirates on his shopping spree in The Waterbending Scroll are seen again. It is notable that they both appear in the exact same scene and that when Iroh plays the horn, the sound it produces turns out to be one of the backround music used on the show. (edit) This episode was originally titled The Red Spirit. (edit) This episode is in the Avatar: The Last Airbender Book 1: Water, Volume 4 DVD, along with The Fortuneteller, Bato of the Water Tribe, and The Deserter. (edit) Aang treats Zuko normally after he knows that he's the Blue Spirit, which means he's not afraid of Zuko. (edit) This is the first appearance of the Blue Spirit. (edit) Aang is able to use a regular staff for airbending rather than simply his glider. He use a broken spear as a helicopter blade to hover himself over a wall. (edit) We find out that the comet, and it's return, is common knowledge to the Fire Nation, and they've also named it Sozin's Comet, in honor of Zuko's great-grandfather, Fire Lord Sozin. (edit) If you look closely after Zuko has his Blue Spirit mask off, his hair is actually slicked back in a ponytail at the back of his head on his neck. (edit) We learn that Prince Zuko is skilled with broadswoards. (edit) This is the first time Aang saved Zuko (although Zuko didn't know it at the time). (edit) One reason for saving Aang was that if Zhao captured him, Zuko would never be allowed to return home. (edit) It's possible that Zuko received extensive training in normal martial arts, as he rarely uses any bending in this episode and still defeats many opponents. This may mean that not all members of the royal family are benders. (edit) Enemy Debut: Colonel Shinu and the Yu Yan Archers (Fire Nation) (edit) This is the first time in the series Aang and Zhao come face-to-face. In Avatar Roku (Winter Solstice, Part 2),Zhao only saw Aang as Roku's spirit. (edit) Apparently the source of Sokka's illness came from being out in the storm during the episode The Storm. (edit) Zhao is promoted to the rank of Admiral in this episode. (edit) This is the fourth time Zuko almost "captured" Aang. (edit)

Prince Zuko: My honor, my throne, my country. I'm about to lose them all... (edit) Zuko: I've got nothing to report to Zhao. Now get off my ship and let us pass.
Soldier: Admiral Zhao is not allowing ships in or out of this area.
Zuko: (angrily) Off my ship! (edit) Admiral Zhao (Speak through gritted teeth): Open the gate.
Colonel Shinu: Admiral, what are you doing?
Admiral Zhao: Let them out, now!
Colonel Shinu: How could you let them go?
Admiral Zhao: A situation like this requires precision. (edit) Katara: Ugh! No, Momo, water. Wa-ter! (edit) Aang (Yelling at the frozen frogs): Wait! Stop thawing! My friends have to suck on you! Please go back to being frozen! (edit) Admiral Zhao: Hold your fire, the Avatar must be captured alive. (edit) Uncle Iroh: Prince Zuko! Where have you been? You missed music night! Lieutenant Jee sang a stirring love song.
Zuko: I am going to bed. No disturbances.
(Iroh continues to play the Sungi Horn) (edit) Admiral Zhao: Don't worry, you won't be killed like they were. See if you die, you'll just be reborn and the Fire Nation will have to begin its search for the Avatar all over again. (edit) Aang (after saving Zuko): Before the war started, I used to always visit my friend Kuzon. The two of us, we'd get in and out of so much trouble. He was one of the best friends I ever had...And he was from the Fire Nation, just like you. If we knew each other back then, do you think we could've been friends too?
(Zuko blasts a fireball at Aang) (edit) Admiral Zhao: We are the sons and daughters of fire, the superior element. Until today only one thing stood in our path to victory: the Avatar. I am here to tell you that he is now my prisoner. This is the year that Sozin’s comet returns to grant us its power. This is the year the fire nation breaks through the walls of Ba-Seng-Se and burns the city to the ground. (edit) Fire Nation Lookout: Says here that the Avatar can create tornadoes and run faster than the wind. Pretty amazing.
Another Fire Nation Lookout: Ahh, that’s just a bunch of Fire Lord propaganda. There’s no way that’s true.
(Aang rushes by running faster than the wind) (edit) Prince Zuko: What do they want?!?
Uncle Iroh: Perhaps a sporting game of Pai Sho? (edit) Uncle Iroh: Zhao has been promoted? Well, good for him! (edit) Katara: This should bring your fever down. (edit) Aang: That's how Sokka started yesterday. Now look at him. He thinks he's an earthbender!
Sokka (waving his fists around): Take that, you rock! (edit) Aang: How's Sokka doing?
Katara: Not so good, being out in that storm really did a number on him. (edit) Sokka: Aang, how was your trip? Did you make any new friends?
Aang: No, I don't think I did. (edit) Aang: Who are you? What's going on? Are you here to rescue me?
(Zuko slashes Aang's shackles off)
Aang: I'll take that as a yes. (edit) Aang (after an arrow is fired at him by the Yuu-Yan Archers): Uhh... I think you dropped this. (holds arrow up) (edit) Aang: What am I suppose to do with frozen frogs?
Herbalist Lady: Why suck on them of course.
Aang: Suck on them?!
Herbalist Lady:The frogs skin excretes a substance that will cure your friends, but make sure you get plenty. Once those critters thaw out, they're useless!
Aang: You're insane aren't you?
Herbalist Lady: Thaaaat's right...Well, don't just stand there all day, get going! (throws some green goopy medicine at Aang's face covering his eyes) (edit) Uncle Iroh: Is everything okay? It's been almost an hour and you haven't given the men an order. (edit) Sokka: Katara? Please, water.
Katara: Listen carefully, Momo. I need you to take this to the river and fill it with water. (edit) Uncle Iroh (to his Pai Sho opponents): Excellent! I take the pot... But you're all improving. I'm certain you will win if we... play again. (edit) Admiral Zhao: I don't know how you've managed to elude the Fire Nation for a hundred years, but your little game of hide and seek is over.
Aang: I've never hidden from you! Untie me, and I'll fight you right now!
Admiral Zhao: Uh, no. (edit) (When the sickness is making Sokka delusional)
Katara: How many times do I have to tell you Momo, we need water. Wa-ter… Oh forget it. Aang, please hurry.
Sokka: Who’s this Aang kid you keep talking about, your highness?
(Katara smirks) (edit) Sokka: You know what I love about Appa the most? His sense of humor.
Katara: That's nice, I'll tell him.
(Appa growls)
Sokka (dazed and confused from his illness, laughs): Classic, Appa. (edit) Aang: I'm going to get some medicine!
Katara: Please... hurry. (edit)

When Aang is escaping with Zuko (as the Blue Spirit), he stops to grab the frogs that are slowly pulling away from him. If you look closely you'll see that the frogs are in constant motion even when they're not pulling themselves along, almost as if they are on a conveyor belt. (edit) The concept of frogs being frozen is actually a scientific fact. Frogs really do freeze if exposed to lower temperatures. Also they can dethaw without any ill effects. (edit) The tapestry that Zuko looks at in the end of the episode can also be seen in the second episode, but then it did not have that triangular border. (edit) After Momo brings Katara a mouse, it disappears. (edit) Zhao tells Aang that he doesn't plan to kill him because the avatar would just be reborn into the next nation in the cycle and the Fire Nation would have to search all over again. This shouldn't be a problem since the comet will arrive in less than a year giving the Fire Nation enough power to end the war once and for all before the next avatar would be able to talk, let alone bend anything. Also if Zhao kills Aang- the last airbender- then the next avatar would never become a fully realized avatar since he/she wouldn't have anyone to learn airbending from. (edit) When the Blue Spirit was fighting one of the fire nation guards, he doused a fire blast with a bucket of water. But because of his constant movements, there was no way he could have brought that bucket with him and not spill a drop of water along the way. In fact, the bucket would have been empty. (edit) Notice when Zuko was down on the ground, (knocked by that mysterious disappearing arrow shot by the Yuu Yan archers), unconscious, his head position keeps changing. (edit) When Zuko's ship comes near the harbor, they are told that no ships are being allowed in the area. If his ship had just gotten to that area, and no ships had been allowed into the area, how could Zuko have been on the roof of the place when Zhao was promoted? (edit) When Katara asks Momo for water, all the lemur hears is a bunch of babble. He constantly returns with everything BUT water. However, when Aang asked for marbles in The Warriors of Kyoshi, he was perfectly capable of understanding him. (edit)

According to the co-creators, the Blue Spirit Mask is a recolored Chinese Opera Wizard mask. (edit) The basis of the sounds produced by the horn is the Duduk, a traditional woodwind instrument of ancient Armenian origins. Said to be one of the oldest double reed instruments in the world. (edit) The YuuYan archer's have a triangle rather than a Fire Nation flame emblem on their headpiece and quiver. This symbol shows up again in season two hinting at the possibility of a significant meaning such as the archers may be part of a specific order or group beyond archery. Perhaps the Fire Nation flame is a newer emblem and the triangle represents an older tradition. (edit) Sokka and Katara having to suck on frogs to become well may have some basis on fact. Several modern-day antibiotics contain chemicals from the skins of amphibians-such as frogs. (edit) Zhao’s speech to the solders of the Fire Nation about being the “Superior element” is very reminiscent of the speeches by Adolf Hitler and his speeches stating that the Germans were the "superior race." (edit) When one of the Fire Nation troops blows his horn the sound that it makes is the same horn sound that is used in the beginning of reality show Survivor's title sequence. (edit) The mask worn by Zuko is somewhat similar to the mask "Hannya," worn in No theatre productions. No is a form of Japanese theatre back to the 14th century.

It also bears a resemblence to the mask worn by the Ruroni Kenshin character Hen'ya, a member of a society of ninjas known as the Oniwabon-shu. (edit)