This episode does not contribute much to Aang's growth in strength and power, but is in no way a bad episode.
The Avatar has long been hinted to "bring balance to the world", and we've seen times-a-plenty that Aang does it by taking part in the war - This is the most intuitive solution you'd expect of a cartoon. However, this episode shows that there is more to the character of Avatar other than pure power - it's spontaneous wits and problem-solving abilities - aspects of the character that weren't highlighted until this very episode.
The conflict between the two tribes, depicted humorously and light-heartedly, is a direct reflection of how ridiculous tribal prejudices and rivalries are - ones that even modern humans are guilty of committing. Partial judgement is internalized within a community, and as the boundary thickens, they become more polarized, and this just feeds to the perpetual vicious cycle.
An interesting allegory is that the ancestors of the Zhang and the Gan Jin have nigh-identical names - they are birds of a feather, separated by misunderstanding and polarized in tribes. Sounds familiar? That's because it's homo sapiens.
Skip it if you will. But this is a solid and entertaining episode that I am glad I didn't skip over.
The Avatar has long been hinted to "bring balance to the world", and we've seen times-a-plenty that Aang does it by taking part in the war - This is the most intuitive solution you'd expect of a cartoon. However, this episode shows that there is more to the character of Avatar other than pure power - it's spontaneous wits and problem-solving abilities - aspects of the character that weren't highlighted until this very episode.
The conflict between the two tribes, depicted humorously and light-heartedly, is a direct reflection of how ridiculous tribal prejudices and rivalries are - ones that even modern humans are guilty of committing. Partial judgement is internalized within a community, and as the boundary thickens, they become more polarized, and this just feeds to the perpetual vicious cycle.
An interesting allegory is that the ancestors of the Zhang and the Gan Jin have nigh-identical names - they are birds of a feather, separated by misunderstanding and polarized in tribes. Sounds familiar? That's because it's homo sapiens.
Skip it if you will. But this is a solid and entertaining episode that I am glad I didn't skip over.