Avatar S2E15: "The Tales of Ba Sing Se"
Six joyful vignettes, lovingly crafted | Grade: A+
Thanks for tuning in to my thirty-fifth of 61 daily reviews of Avatar: The Last Airbender! Yesterday, we watched S2E14: City of Walls and Secrets.
Perhaps the most unique episode in all of Avatar is entirely filler. The Tales of Ba Sing Se brings us a series of vignettes that highlight each of our protagonists as they go about an “ordinary” day. This standout episode also highlights different folks on Avatar’s crew through its writing credits. Each tale was written by a crew member who wasn’t one of the series’ regular scriptwriters.
That Avatar could make an episode like this, and knock it out of the park, is truly a testament to what makes this show so great. Yes, there’s the brilliant action sequences and carefully-woven themes. But as much as all of those things, Avatar is defined by its richly textured characters and its capacity for lighthearted fun. It’s the strength of those characters that makes an anthology episode like this work. And as I’ve said before, it’s that sense of play that keeps this show exciting and fresh on every rewatch.
Even as Season 2 has grown more and more urgent, The Tales of Ba Sing Se gives us a chance to catch our breath before things accelerate towards the finale, but it doesn’t feel like a distraction. Though the stakes have never been lower than here, this calm only sharpens the storm to come.
The Tale of Toph and Katara
One of the weaker tales of the set, this one follows the two female protagonists as they go for a spa day (at Katara’s insistence, of course). It’s more Toph’s story than Katara’s, though. As the girls leave with just a bit too much makeup caked on, a gaggle of rich mean-girl types tease them. But our heroes get the last laugh by bending them down the river. The Blind Bandit talks her typical thick-skinned game, but it’s clear that she really does care and is hurt by the insults. To cheer Toph up, Katara proves she’s a nurturing friend who can give a thoughtful complement like nobody else (not that we didn’t already know).
It’s a nice moment of relaxation and intimacy for the characters, who haven’t had so much screen time together since their feud in The Chase. And a bit of character development for Toph, whose masked insecurity featured prominently in that episode. But at the same time, it’s a bit odd that the two girls are lumped into Bechdel-approved story, instead of each getting their own. Katara is a useful foil for Toph, here, but I would have liked to see her get her own time to shine.
The Tale of Iroh
Andrew Huebner’s tale is a triumph that plays up the tropes of one of our most beloved characters while expertly tugging at our heartstrings. In a clear metaphor for his role in Avatar, we watch Iroh as he compulsively helps people while going about his day, from a crying boy who he sings to, to a would-be mugger who’s down on his luck. Here you can really feel the care put into this episode’s details, like the sequence where Iroh outruns his hat and it snaps back in classic Looney Tunes fashion.
The reveal here is that Iroh is celebrating the birthday of his late son, Lu Ten. He builds a little shrine, and chokes up while singing Leaves from the Vine, the same song he played for the crying boy earlier. “If only I could have helped you,” he intones. Does he dream he could have saved his son from death, or saved him from the cruel legacy of the Fire Nation, like he’s trying to do now with Zuko? Either way, what a great, tragic irony — the man who can help anyone, except the one person he wishes to help most. The moment feels so big and so intimately small at the same time, and it never fails to make me emotional too.
The Tale of Aang
The other lesser story of the bunch, Aang’s tale follows his adventures to save a broke and crumbling zoo by luring all the animals outside the Inner Wall, where he earthbends some farmland into an expansive new habitat. We get to see a menagerie of Avatar’s signature hybrid animals, including the hog-monkey, tigerdillo, rabaroo, elephant mandrill, and dragonfly (emphasis on the dragon). Also, normal cats and dogs!
Does the tale make sense? Not really. (Doesn’t someone own that farmland?) Nor does it really dive too deeply to show parts of our main character besides the fun-loving hero, Avatar Aang. But that’s OK. In Avatar, and especially when it comes to the Avatar, sometimes you just need to stop asking questions and enjoy the show.
The Tale of Sokka
A perfectly meaningless scene for the lovable goofball. Sokka accidentally falls into the window of a haiku society, composed of a gaggle of tittering girls and their stern-faced mistress. Naturally, he gets into a rap battle with the woman, spouting verse, flexing, and swaggering all over the stage while the disciples ooh and ahh. Lauren MacMullan’s lines and Jack DeSena’s braggadocious delivery are comedy gold:
There's nuts and there's fruits. In fall the clinging plum drops, always to be squashed.
Squish, squash, sling that slang. I'm always right back at ya, like my ... boomerang! That's right, I'm Sokka, it's pronounced with an "okka," young ladies, I rocked ya!
In his bravado, he lets an extra syllable slip out, and a bouncer hilariously appears out of nowhere to toss him out. Our young lover boy sighs sadly. He knows he’s always the one to mess up a good thing.
The Tale of Zuko
What could be more Zuko than getting worked up over a suspicious girl who must be on to him, when actually she’s just into him? Wingman Iroh knows exactly what’s going on and instantly accepts for him when the cute customer, Jin, asks Zuko/Lee on a date. The angsty prince shows up sporting a black buttoned vest with a green trim and a greasy comb job. He then proceeds to absolutely bomb the dinner by asking nothing and barely answering. But somehow, miraculously, the night is saved by his godawful attempt to juggle after lying about being in the circus.
Jin takes him to a romantic fountain, but the lanterns are all extinguished. He tells her to close her eyes and quickly lights them all with fire blasts. Risky, and hypocritical after he hissed at Iroh for firebending his tea. The things a guy will do for, uhh, love. Jin tells him to close his eyes, and gives him a gentle kiss. He kisses back, but then runs away. Is he thinking about someone else, or just resistant to finding a life for himself in the Earth Kingdom capital? Even though he quickly shuts down again, it’s special to see the guarded Zuko open himself up to some positive emotions.
The Tale of Momo
Not many shows would devote the time to a story from the perspective of its main character’s comic-relief pet. But Avatar is not like many shows. Justin Ridge and Giancarlo Volpe wordlessly craft a compelling four-minute segment that follows Momo, the pucklike but often-overlooked lemur, as he searches the big city for his missing best friend, Appa.
The choreography is great between Momo and the trio of pygmy pumas whom he evades, saves, and ultimately befriends. The direction takes the little lemur as seriously as a human character, playing up the drama as the pumas claw at him through the cracks in his hiding box. Well, maybe not quite as seriously. There’s always room for jokes and absurdist touches, like Momo’s conscription into a troupe of dancing monkeys. In the end, the pumas lead him to an Appa-sized pawprint, and the lemur curls up for an emotional climax of his own.
See you tomorrow for Episode 16: Appa’s Lost Days! Share your own thoughts on this episode in the comments.
Spare observations
I’d like to see a battle between sonic-haired Toph and heavy makeup Toph.
Why does the mean girl on the left’s headpiece look like she draped a dog’s feet over her head?
“I’m mugging you!” “With that stance?” “What…?”
“My cabba—oh, forget it.” It’s the final appearance of the cabbage merchant, and I honestly just feel bad for the poor guy as he sobs in the background.
“That’s one too many syllables there, bub.”
Zuko runs straight into his room and slams the door when Iroh asks him how the date went. But it’s a really sweet ending as he shyly cracks it open again to report, “it was nice.”
We get to see how much Appa’s disappearance has affected Momo, who dreams about his friend and imagines him in a passing cloud.
The roar that plays when the pumas burst into the performers’ ring sounds like a classic stock sound, but I can’t find it’s exact origin.
Friends of the White Lotus [SPOILERS]
The emotional heft of Iroh’s tale is only magnified by its dedication to his legendary voice actor, Mako Iwamatsu. Mako died before Season 2 could be released, and a new actor, Greg Baldwin, would be brought in for the production of Season 3.
The paw that Momo curls up in is actually Appa’s pawprint. The story behind it is revealed in Appa’s Lost Days. It’s a bit careless that the Dai Li would not have covered it up.