Tales of Ba Sing Sae

It’s always fun when a TV show breaks its format. Throwing expectations to the wind to do something unique or unexpected. However it’s rarer for such a thing to happen with two back-to-back episodes. Avatar isn’t your average show, so it decides to run the two most format breaking episodes in the series one right after another. It’s another thrill of where the writers and directors find themselves at this juncture. That even as our heroes are grounded they can still weave the narrative in so many unexpected directions.

As such we’ll take each tale from the capitol as its own entry, and how they reflect on the characters.

Toph and Katara

Ever since Toph joined Team Avatar there’s been friction between her and Katara. It makes sense, both represent oppositional approaches in life and tutelage. This has lead to hostility, but also offers an opportunity for growth and understanding. Katara has always been the maternal figure of the group, and while that instinct can cause friction with Toph in particular, it did save everyone’s life in “The Desert.”

As such Katara offers Toph a spa day to relieve the stress of life in Ba Sing Sae. Toph’s unsure, her appearance always resting unconformably on her shoulders, but she agrees and has a good time. Messing with the mud baths and steam rooms. She comes out gussied up and feeling nice.

Unfortunately a trio of mean girls condescends to her looks, and Toph responds in kind by throwing them down the river. Here Katara states her admiration of Toph even with her blindness and inability to really perceive herself. It’s a moment of maternal grace from Katara that actually pulls the two together, strengthening what might be a tenuous relationship.

Iroh

The section of  “Tales” that has lodged it in rarified air, The story of Iroh is a masterclass in using accumulated character knowledge to extract an extremely pointed piece of emotion from the audience. Iroh’s previous life has been one mostly told through implication and insinuation. How he was once a great war hero whose failure to topple Ba Sing Sae completely reoriented his life.

Iroh’s day in the city is mostly occupied by getting ready for a picnic and helping a variety of the citizens he stumbles across. He’s always been a man of great empathy, and here he display it to each passing individual without prejudice. Shop owner, crying child, street urchin, and robber all get the respect and humanity that they need to make the right choices.

It is the humanity and help that he couldn’t provide to his own son when he invaded Ba Sing Sae. Lu Ten died, and there’s nothing Iroh can do now but honor his son’s birthday at sunset. The final moments of the segment never fail to hit a knock out emotional gut punch as Iroh breaks down in song to his lost family. The performance by Mako so stirring and ragged that you can feel the loss welling in every word. It’s arguably the show’s greatest moment, and its only undercut slightly by being the second segment of the episode instead of the final one.

Aang

The slightest of the tales, as he looks for Appa Aang happens upon a depressed zoo. The manager notes that the animals need space, but none can be found or offered. So Aang offers to play wrangler and move the menagerie of chimeras to the countryside. There’s not much here besides some cute animal business and a bit of fun earthbending by Aang. Favorite animal from this sequence is undoubtedly the Rabbiroo.

Sokka

The Tale of Sokka is also slight, and mostly a joke, but it’s a really clever joke. One that plays on the unlikely genius of Sokka and his unashamed romanticism. As he’s walking down the street tossing his boomerang he notices a group of young women exchanging haikus. He observes and lets out a bucolic sigh before being kicked by an ostrich-horse into the fray.

This incident thus leads him into a rap battle with the poetry teacher. Where they drop perfectly constructed lines like, “chittering monkey,” and, “Squish, squash, sling that slang. I’m always right back at ya, like my boomerang.” It’s all very cute, once again tickling the show’s sillier anarchisms.  Though Sokka gets too cocky and flubs with an extra syllable, and is thrown out on his ass by the poetry bouncer. Oh the fleeting nature of genius.

Zuko

Zuko’s segment actually serves as a thoughtful reflection of our Fire Prince’s current emotional unrest. After being pushed and pulled all over the place over the course of the season things have moderately settled somewhat. Zukos has fallen into a routine at the tea shop, and it’s only disturbed when a young girl begins to notice Zuko. Zuko thinks it’s another Jet situation, but instead its just a teenage crush, and the girl, Jin, wants to ask our emo prince on a date.

And so Zuko gets gussied up, and tries to have a normal night out with Jin. It doesn’t really go well at first. Zuko feigns a life as a juggler, but can’t really cut the mustard in the immediate romance department. He’s awkward and terse and unable to connect with others.

However Jin has an idea, and takes Zuko to a fountain adorned with lanterns, but the lights remain unlit, and Jin is despondent that the romantic evening is foiled. But Zuko has an idea, and quickly ignites the lanterns with his firebending. It’s a risky move, but one that pays off with a kiss and an understanding that Zuko actually had a nice night. There is a possibility of stability, even in far flung places.

Momo

The only segment that pushes the narrative forward in a notable, but alas it’s mostly more animal hijinks. I love that Momo is given a full throated goal to follow, as he flies about the city to locate Appa. The relationship between the animal companions is incredibly sweet, illustrated well by Momo’s exaggerated gestures and Baker’s enthralled chattering. It’s fun to see our Lemur friend dance in a street circus and befriend some mini-panthers, but outside the final reveal that Appa is somewhere in Ba Sing Sae it’s too much of a retread of Aang’s tale.

Odds and Ends

• I do love that Sokka still has that bag from “The Blind Bandit.”
• The mugger that attacks Iroh was pointed out by Joo Dee in the previous episode.
• Zuko’s hair has finally reached full emo phase, and I am so glad to be here.

Appa’s Lost Days

The thing with having lovable animal companions in a show with any amount of tension is that eventually those lovable animal companions will get hurt. What’s shocking about “Appa’s Lost Days” is not that our favorite flying bison is put through the ringer, but the staggering amount of abuse that he takes. In a way “Lost Days” is the most grueling of Avatar episodes, an unrelenting barrage of torment doled out on our hero’s steed. In lesser hands this could have been a disaster, but here it reinforces the importance of Appa to Team Avatar. It makes the Aang’s desperation in “The Desert” more potent and The Gaang’s current issues in Ba Sing Sae more infuriating.

So the sandbenders have snatched Appa away from Toph, tie him down and muzzle him. In one of the disconcerting techniques of the episode it is the first time we see Appa restrained, and for most of the rest of the run time he is fettered by chains, ropes, and whips. What was once a mighty beast is now entangled in the snares of human cruelty.

That cruelty is best exemplified by the Fire Nation circus that Ty Lee used to work at. To fill out his show the ringmaster wants Appa to sly on the crack of his whip and swish through burning hoops. To add to the indignity is the sight of him dressed up in a garish outfit for the audience. This section feels the most like a PSA in the episode, highlighting the senseless depravity of animal performance, but what makes it work is that it’s not the greatest challenge Appa has to face in this entry.

Indeed he escapes the circus, but only more pain follows. In fact the natural world seems to turn against him, as he searches for Aang he is greeted with many of the beasties that fought Team Avatar in the past few episodes. Stings from buzzard wasps and pricks from desert cacti. Respite is not even found in a barn as a timid farmer frightens our beast of burden. There’s some respite in dreams, as we see baby Appa and Aang meet and bond, but the world outside is cruel and despondent.

This climaxes in the episode’s harshest moment.  Exhausted Appa tries to rest in a cave, unfortunately an angry boar-q-pine attacks. Appa eventually wins the melee, but not before being badly injured. Rarely is blood used on Avatar, scratches and bruises sure, but rarely blood. For the second time in the series we see an inkling of it here, Appa’s never been more hurt, and we well and truly feel the suffering on screen.

There’s some respite though. The Kyoshi warriors show up and treat Appa’s wounds, but before the troupe can reunite Appa with Aang Azula attacks. Looks like Appa’s fur has led to another big fight with the Fire Princess. Unfortunately the Kyoshi Warriors are easily bested by the Trio of Terror. Suki sends Appa off, and once again he’s alone.

Appa returns to the place he was born. The Eastern Air Temple, and though it’s mostly abandoned there’s still life here in the form a wizened Guru. The man knows Appa is in a poor state of affairs and he takes his time with creature, stating that there is still love in the best even as fear has crept in. The Guru has message for Aang, and sends Appa to Ba Sing Sae for the reunion we so richly desire.

But this is the back half of season two baby, and all good things are thwarted as Long Feng is able to nab the air bison before Aang even knows he’s in the city. It’s another frustration and refutation of success. Progress always stifled and torn asunder by malicious forces that we can’t even begin to understand, and it’s a theme that undergirds the entirety of the Earth Kingdom.

Odds and Ends

• Eternal Kudos to Dee Bradley Baker, whose animal voices wonderfully toe the line between being completely bestial and filled with distinct emotion.
• The Sand Sailer Team Avatar uses in “The Desert” is the one Appa topples here.
• I like that Iroh keeps Appa’s appearance a secret from Zuko. Right now Zuko needs stability, and another fruitless chase after the flying bison will only undo his nephew’s progress.
• This is the first time we’ve seen the Kyoshi Warriors in garb since season one.
• I believe this is the only episode that flashes back within the time frame of the narrative being told, a rarity and interesting structure that the show doesn’t return to.

[spoiler title=’Spoilers]

• This episode is shockingly crucial to the events of the finale. It explains how Aang is gone with the Guru when Azula infiltrates the city, and how the Trio of Terror was able to disguise themselves as the Kyoshi Warriors to pull off said infiltration. The plant/payoff in this season remains incredible.

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