ATLA, book 1, eps 13 & 14 (The Blue Spirit and The Fortuneteller)

The Blue Spirit – Sokka and Katara are down with bad colds after the storm of the previous episode, so Aang sets out to find help from a nearby herbalist. The herbalist is unhelpful (ish) and Aang's travel there gets him noticed and, on his departure, captured by the famous and deadly Yuu Yan archers, now under the control of the just promoted Admiral Zhao. Aang is swiftly spirited away to a castle with a complex series of siege walls that reminds me of the occasional nightmare I have about trying to get outside and having every window/door etc open on a new enclosed area, and the highly efficient Admiral is already giving speeches to his troops about how now the Fire Nation's only obstacle has been removed, when a mysterious figure with a blue stylised mask finally completes its break-in, frees Aang, and starts trying to break him out.

( The reveal! )

The fortuneteller. A chance encounter leads Aang and the others to a village where Madame Wu, a fortune teller who is always right, guides pretty much everyone's decisions, to the extent that the village no longer indulges in its previous sensible if infrequent yearly custom of sending someone up to check the activity of the local volcano. I am sure you can hear the thuds of the plot from here, and I was left wondering whether these characters are going to come up again, because it's an odd story – is Madame Wu really that powerful? Why doesn't the village use her the way Katara does? Is this in fact some sort of brutally suppressive anti-free will dystopia in disguise, rather than a rather pleasant if unhelpful peaceful village?

( Not really spoilery. )