Soldiers of the Earth Queen get the finest accommodations.
Lord Zuko, Tonraq, Desna, and Eska try to prevent Zaheer from freeing the last prisoner, P'Li, while Korra discovers that the Earth Queen is forcing all the airbenders in Ba Sing Se to join her army. Team Avatar thus devises a plan to free them from the monarch's captivity.
Before they can execute the plan though, Lin shows up to take Korra back to Republic City, Zuko having told her about the escapes of Zaheer and his cronies. After bringing Tenzin up to speed, the two of them reveal to Korra that following her identification as the Avatar, Zaheer and the other escapees attempted to kidnap her for an unknown reason.
Tropes:
- Action Prologue: The episode opens with the Red Lotus freeing P'Li, an action-heavy sequence that only becomes relevant later in the episode.
- Astral Projection: Jinora reveals that she still has the ability to do this, albeit not as powerful as it was during Harmonic Convergence, and uses it to search for the airbenders.
- Call-Back:
- Jinora reveals that she can still use Astral Projection, but not at quite the same power level she displayed during Harmonic Convergence. It proves sufficient to locate Kai, though.
- The airbenders are under the temple seen being built in "The Earth Queen".
- Character Development: Kai seems to have become a nicer person as a result of the Training from Hell he underwent.
- Child Soldiers: Kai's the only one we see, but the Dai Li clearly don't differentiate between him and the other teenage or adult airbenders.
- Complexity Addiction: When Ming-Hua carries P'Li up the glacier wall, P'li says they could have used the elevator and accuses Ming-Hua of showing off.
- Continuity Nod:
- The Dai Li prison/hideout under Lake Laogai is brought up as a possible location for the captive airbenders. The Dai Li have long since abandoned it, however. The catacombs and other locations are also mentioned as possible sites.
- The Earth Queen hating animals is again mentioned, and it's revealed to be the result of allergies.
- Death Glare: P'Li gives a rather scary one just as soon as the episode begins.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Having P'Li shoot down a dragon is a good way to establish how badass she is.
- The Dog Bites Back: The new airbenders show that they learned a lot from their Training from Hell... by turning on the Dai Li.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: The Dai Li airbender trainer, who trains the airbenders by having them attack each other without mercy and shows none himself.
- Dumbass Has a Point: As Bumi points out, the Earth Queen does have the (legal) right to conscript her citizens.
- Easily Forgiven: Sort of. When Bolin and Mako bust Kai out of his cell, Kai apologizes for his earlier behavior and Bolin says they can't stay mad at him. Mako, however, is still pretty mad. He had a lot of money in that wallet!
- Everyone Has Standards: For all his selfishness in past episodes, Kai shows that he can't look the other way to seeing other people being physically abused.
- Faking Engine Trouble: After the Earth Queen dismisses Team Avatar, Asami says they can't leave just yet since the airship had a malfunction in one of its engines, and won't be flight worthy until the morning. This gives them the night to search for Kai, who had been forcibly recruited for the Earth Queen's army.
- Feeling Their Age: Zuko gets knocked out by one direct shot from Ghazan, showing that badass though he may be, he's still a man approaching his 90s.
- Get a Room!: When the four of them make an escape after springing P'li in a cabbed snowmobile, P'li and Zaheer start kissing passionately upon their reunion. Ghazan's reaction, as they're making out next to him, cinches the scene:Ghazan: Really? Right now?
- Gone Horribly Right: The Earth Queen wanted the new airbenders to become elite fighters. They did.
- Great Escape: P'Li's escape marks the final jailbreak for Zaheer's crew.
- Hidden Agenda Villain: Despite having Zaheer and his group in custody for 13 years, the White Lotus was never able to find out their true motivations or why they tried to kidnap Korra.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: The airbender training area was right underneath the temple seen being built in "The Earth Queen".
- Laser-Guided Karma: The cruel Drill Sergeant Nasty gets his comeuppance when the Krew breaks Kai and the other Airbenders out. Especially since he is defeated by Kai himself who smugly notes afterwards that he is as good as he thinks he is.
- Made of Iron: It's true Zuko may be Feeling His Age as described above, but this 90-year-old still takes a boulder to the face like a champ. When he gets back up, he's hardly even winded.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Druk, Zuko's dragon, breathes fire on P'Li, which she easily blocks. It warms her up enough to restore her Firebending, and she promptly blasts Druk out of the sky.
- Not Now, Kiddo: Korra still gets this from the adults, when Tenzin and Lin were discussing the new threat that Zaheer's gang poses.
- Oh, Crap!: Tenzin's reaction to finding out that Zaheer is both free and an airbender now.
- Plot Hole: In the previous episode, Mako and Bolin learned from their relatives that airbenders in Ba Sing Se have been disappearing, and they speculated the Dai Li may be performing experiments on them. In this episode, Mako and Bolin tell Team Avatar that the Earth Queen is kidnapping the airbenders for her secret army, which turns out to be true, but there's not explanation how the brothers came to know this between the episodes.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: P'li's lets out an eager one when Druk breathes fire at her.P'Li: I've waited thirteen years to feel this warm.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: Subverted. Desna, Eska, Zuko, and Tonraq all put valiant efforts to preventing P'Li's escape, but none of them are a match for Zaheer's cabal.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: The Queen may be in the legal right, drafting her airbender citizens into serving in her army against their will. Korra doesn't care.
- Smug Snake: The Earth Queen thought her Dai Li could beat the Avatar, as well as an airbender army in training. She is wrong.
- Tears of Joy: Tenzin has these when all of the rescued airbenders agree to come with him to the Northern Air Temple.
- This Is a Drill: Ming-Hua turns her arms into an ice drill to get into P'Li's prison.
- To Be Lawful or Good: As Bumi points out, nothing the Earth Queen's done is actually illegal, and by freeing the airbenders, they are committing a crime against the Earth Kingdom. Nobody else in the room cares, choosing Good over Lawful.
- Training from Hell: The airbenders are subjected to this by the Dai Li Drill Sergeant Nasty, who forces them to attack each other without any mercy.
- Villain Has a Point: The Krew is appalled that the Earth Queen would draft the airbenders in Ba Sing Se for her army, but Bumi points out she does have the right to conscript her citizens if she wants. Though there's a difference between conscription and enslavement, and she was really doing the latter.
- Violently Protective Girlfriend: Tonraq nearly gets himself blown up by P'Li when he's fighting Zaheer.
- What You Are in the Dark: Despite coming off as a selfish thief only out for himself in previous episodes, Kai shows that when people are being hurt right in front of him that he can't look the other way to it.
- Would Hurt a Child:
- It's revealed that Zaheer and his group tried to kidnap Korra shortly after she was revealed to be the Avatar. This lead to both Tenzin and Tonraq deciding to make the compound to protect her.
- The Dai Li trainer also gives absolutely no quarter to Kai, even though he is much younger than most others there.
