AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER EPISODE 16 REACTION!!!

The irony is that the move that Aang did to hurt Katara? Wasn't even that advanced. The show dives deeper into this idea later on in the series; but Aangs biggest problem in this episode, is that he's still using Air-Bending mentality. You pointed it out in the last episode, but Aang is kind of goofy when he fights. Thats because the key to fighting with Air-Bending is the ability to be fast, unpredictable, and all encompassing; aiming to outlast the opponent by avoiding damage while slowly wearing them down with small hit after small hit. Think about it this way; if Aang wanted to physically injure someone with Air-Bending; he couldn't do that unless he really tried to. He would have to put in thought, effort, and figure out how to make use of his surroundings, because Air-Bending inherently isn't all that hurtful; unless there's legitimate power behind it, it just sort of pushes things around. [Incidentally, this is also why the Air Bender tribes were naturally peaceful] This is absolutely nothing like being a Fire-Bender, where the ability to seriously injure someone is something ingrained into the very practice. As such, Air-Bending naturally stands in complete philosophical opposition to Fire-Bending, which is about precision, directness, and going only as far as you need to and no further; Fire-Bending battles are about being as aggressive as possible, and trying to end the battle in as few movements and attacks as required so that your opponent literally doesn't have any time or opportunity to hurt you. This is part of the reason why you can never go backwards in the Avatar cycle. Being a Fire-Bender could absolutely assist in learning Air-Bending, but that's only because Air-Bending mindset adds on to the Fire-bending mindset; it doesn't ignore any of the philosophies from the Fire Nation, and instead just gives more options. Trying to go backwards means that Aang would going to have to forget or ignore everything he's been taught about how to be a master Air-Bender; which is not only exceedingly difficult, but also goes against the whole concept about why the Avatar is so powerful.

Mike G. M.