There are some excellent moments of character development, and the run of episodes in Ba Sing Se is easily one of my favourite TV arcs of all time. This was a sensational season of television, especially for an animated kid’s show. A near-perfect finale, and I was desperate to find out what happened next. The Azula fight is amazing, Zuko’s betrayal is heart-breaking, and the twist of Aang getting mortally wounded left me speechless. The Ba Sing Se arc comes to a thrilling conclusion, and every thread set up over the season gets a satisfying resolution. “Zuko Alone” might be a critical darling, but I’m a sucker for an explosive finale. The scene where Momo rests defeated in the footprint always gets to me.
Momo: With all of the previous tales being seemingly unrelated to the tale at large, it was great to have a tale that directly linked to a major dilemma – Appa’s whereabouts.Zuko’s character development is in its crucial stages in the second season, and its episodes like this that cement his arc as one of television’s best. Zuko: Second only to Iroh’s tale, I wasn’t expecting such a heart-warming and sincere story for such a stoic character.Sokka: A really fun vignette where Sokka has to compete in a Haiku battle, with some genuinely funny moments and a great ending.Aang: Another quite weak story, but there’s enough action involved with Aang causing a stampede to keep me engaged.A perfect vignette which single-handedly puts this episode in the A Tier. What really sets it apart is the ending, which wrecked me emotionally. Iroh: Easily the best of the bunch, we get to see Iroh living a harmless day in Ba Sing Se.It was nice to develop Katara and Toph’s characters further, but I think they could have come up with something a bit more interesting. Toph and Katara: Possibly the weakest of the vignettes, as it was a bit of a boring watch.I think it would be best if I mentioned each of the vignettes: I had a hard time ranking this one, as there are so many moving parts and individual stories.