Water Tribe nostalgia, perfume-based bending, and betrayal from our beloved airbender?! This one has it all.

In this episode of Avatar State Radio, Kev and Mike are diving deep into Bato of the Water Tribe—a turning point in Season 1 that blends emotional tension, backstory, and some of the coolest bending tricks we’ve seen so far.

We start with Sokka showing off some serious tracking skills as the group stumbles upon a Water Tribe boat and reconnects with Bato. For Katara and Sokka, it’s a moment of belonging—but for Aang? It’s a pang of alienation that quickly spirals into a full-blown “FOR SHAME” moment when he crumples up a message from their dad. Yes, really.

Cue ice-dodging flashbacks, spiritual guilt, and the arrival of one of the most chaotic bounty hunter duos in the series: June and her shirshu. Between its wild scent-based tracking powers and the psychedelic vision effects, this creature steals the spotlight—until the actual spotlight lands on that final showdown.

We’ve got perfume being used as a weapon, Sokka making a powerful emotional decision about his “tribe,” and Zuko getting bodied by smell. And yes—Uncle Iroh has a very special kind of crush on June that deserves its own subplot.

Also: Aang earns a mark of trust (sort of?), Mike breaks out more trivia, and Kev has flashbacks to Street Fighter thanks to June’s arm wrestling opponent.

One of the best-paced, best-balanced episodes of Book One. You will believe in perfume-bending.

Find Mike

Tellest.com | Twitter @tellest | Facebook @tellestbooks | Twitch @ThatTellestGuy | Etsy | Patreon

Find Kev

ThatNerdyKev.com | Starbird Media, LLC | Everything is Awesome | Get 'Em Next Year | @ThatNerdyKev on TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, Threads, Twitch

Find Avatar State Radio

AvatarStateRadio.com | Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Amazon

Our intro music is The Voyage by Audionautix, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Artist: http://audionautix.com/