I've just finished going through the third season collection and listening to some of the commentaries as well. While not quite as consistent as the second season (really, what is?), it's still very strong, with much higher quality animation and deeper character development than the first season (as it should). My favorites:
*SPOILERS BELOW*
Sokka’s Master:
Finally, an episode that deals with Sokka’s usefulness to the gang beyond being Mr. Meat and Sarcasm guy. Features an amazing swordfight with killer choreography and cleverly hints at further White Lotus development with Piandao. Iroh’s transformation into He-Man rocks. Oh yeah, having T-1000 voice the sword-master automatically makes the episode 50% more awesome. Fact.
The Avatar and the Firelord:
It’s fascinating to see the parallels between the past and the present: Sozin/Roku versus Zuko/Aang. From friends into enemies, the story between Roku and Sozin illustrates that no one is born good or evil. It was the choices they made in their lives that determined their destinies. When Roku was revealed to also be Zuko’s great-grandfather, it brings Zuko’s inner conflict between his two halves into a whole new light. Greg Baldwin’s first speech replacing the late Mako as Iroh makes the episode IMO.
The Puppetmaster:
Exploring the decimation of the Southern Water Tribe by the Fire Nation wasn’t something I was expecting in Book 3 but it was very welcome.
Bloodbending. Wow, I’m not sure how they got the concept by the censors at Nick, but I’m eternally grateful they did. The end with Hama congratulating Katara as she was being dragged away was great. All around solid episode.
The Day of Black Sun - The Eclipse:
I found the second part of the two-parters in Season Three to be the stronger ones. Azula continues to be one of the best female villains in any series without lifting a finger. She obviously gets her scheming and manipulating skills from her father. Toph gets in some of the sweetest metal-bending action outside of the series finale, but the show stealer had to be Zuko’s confrontation with Ozai. The only thing that I would have wanted more from the episode was some sort of permanent loss (like Hakoda dying) as a result of the invasion fleet’s defeat, but that might have been too much for the intended audience. Oh and not seeing Iroh tear metal bars apart with his bare hands in his prison break. Minor quibbles to an excellent episode.
The Western Air Temple:
The producers commented that this was probably the most dialog-heavy episode of the season, but it works extremely well from a character development perspective. The order in which the gang accepts Zuko is done brilliantly. Toph, not having the experience of being hunted and chased by evil Zuko of Season One, is the character that first reaches out to him. Sokka, being the pragmatic one, understands the need for Aang to learn firebending, and grudgingly accepts him into the group. Aang, who’s all about forgiveness, realizes that Zuko understands the dangers of firebending and accepts him openly. But Katara, oooh boy. She was the idealist that trusted him first and got stabbed in the back. She watched Zuko become a direct accessory to the murder of the world’s last hope for peace and her best friend. She does not forgive, nor forget. The death threat scene is so in character, and soooo fucking good it’s not even funny. My second favorite episode in the season outside the finale.
The Boiling Rock, Part II:
This second part of the two-parter sets up a lot of things that will be seen in the final few episodes. Suki is portrayed as a kick-ass complement to Sokka. (That’s some girl..:lol) and Mai and Zuko gets a brief and bittersweet reunion. Most important in the episode is a glimpse of the first real crack in Azula’s character, where she is caught completely off-guard by Mai and Ty-Lee’s betrayal. That played a crucial role in the unraveling of her perfect persona in subsequent episodes. Solid action and storytelling all around.
The Southern Raiders:
Arguably the darkest and most controversial episode of the season, the Southern Raiders was also my favorite outside the finale. From a character analysis standpoint, this is Katara’s worst hour. Her thirst for revenge overshadows everything and everyone, leading her to lash out at others in completely unjustifiable ways, from accusing Sokka of not loving their dead mom, to dismissing Aang for not understanding what she went through when he lost his whole freaking race to genocide, to BLOODBENDING the Captain of the Southern Raiders. Zuko doesn’t help matters as he completely rejects Aang’s very wise advice of forgiveness just to get on Katara’s good side. (Dude, did you forget he JUST forgave you for all the shit you did?!) Zuko’s an awesome character, but he’s really an idiot a lot of the time. :lol
I was completely caught off-guard by the portrayal of the main villain as a pathetic man living with his mother. I loved it. “Take my mother, that’s fair!” So pathetic.
What’s interesting is that the producers made it clear in the commentary that this was very much an Aang/Katara episode even if Aang had very little air time. At the moment of truth, it was Aang that was the angel on her shoulder, staying her hand. For once, it was Aang helping Katara through a rough patch, by letting her go on this journey to realize that revenge will not bring her mother back and she will never live with herself if she went through with killing Yon Ra. It really cements the complexity and the depth of their relationship.
Ember Island Players
The final breath before the plunge, and the funny before the dramatic. By far the funniest episode in the entire series, it leaves no stone unturned in terms of poking fun at everyone, from the characters (Woman Aang, Man-Toph, Meat Guy Sokka, Tearbending Katara, Uncle advocating how fun treachery is, and Zuko screaming “HONOR” as he’s engulfed in flames), the writers themselves (being unclear about Jet, the crappiness that was “the Great Divide”
and even the creepy shipper community (Katara and Zuko making out in the Ba Sing Se caverns). Take note TV writers, THIS is a clip show done right. HILARIOUS.
Sozin’s Comet – the Finale
There really is only one word to describe the two hour series ender: EPIC. I honestly can’t remember the last TV series that went out with such a bang. I won’t go too much into detail into this, since this post is already way too long, but there are many really brilliant scenes that made the finale my favorite episodes in the entire series.
The freaking Intro: The “Previously on Avatar” background music and the montage of the threads that were to be wrapped up was absolutely fantastic. Unfortunately it wasn’t part of the DVD collection since the finale was broken up into 4 episodes. Boo.
Zuko and Iroh’s reunion scene: Zuko with such a sincere and tearful apology and Uncle just grabbing him in a bear hug. One of the most powerful and emotional scenes in the series.
Transformer Toph: Shave and a Haircut BEATDOWN. Nothing more needs to be said for Toph’s best metalbending scene.
Sokka’s Very Special Birthday: I just about busted a gut when the two dudes were chatting about working up in communications and down in engineering. Just like Avatar to pop in an absolutely hilarious scene in the middle of a tense sequence.
Azula’s breakdown scene: It’s finally caught up to Azula, after being perfect for so long. She finally cracks completely and the scene with her hair-cutting (which she wouldn’t tolerate “even one hair out of place” at the beginning of Season 2) and the vision of Ursa was chilling and tragic. Great stuff.
Old People Camp vs. Ba Sing Se: It’s good to see all the White Lotus Masters kick some butt, if only for a short period of time. Bumi’s a riot, as usual.
Last Agni Kai: The fire duel of the siblings was haunting, especially with the brilliant piece of music running through the scene and the contrast in flame colours. Go go Zuko breakdance firebending!
Katara versus Joker Azula: It made so much sense for Katara not to fight Crazy head-on, but with smarts and through non-violence. Chained up Azula was a pretty tragic looking figure.
Spiritbending and Avatar Aang: People complain about the lion turtle deux-ex machina, but the other two season finales also involved them (Ocean Spirit and a controllable Avatar State anyone?). :lol In the end, I really really appreciate the fact that Aang becomes a fully-realized Avatar by staying true to himself (and by doing so, is able to perform spirit-bending and not be corrupted by Ozai) and solving the conflict HIS way.
Tea Shop at Ba Sing Se: Such a peaceful and fun scene for everyone. There was this part where Aang looks back at everyone with such a sense of peace and happiness, so good.
The End: It’s interesting to note that the hug scene between Aang and Katara is extremely similar to the Season One finale scene, just like how the Aang and Katara Season Two finale scene mirrors their first meeting in the Iceberg. Those producers are sneaky brilliant! And the kiss, what can I say? No words, pure love. The music during this scene is my favorite piece in the show. Perfect ending to go off on.
So those are my picks and thoughts on Season Three. 12 fantastic episodes out of 21 isn’t a shabby ratio (much better than most shows), and there are some that are good but not great, and only one that’s an outright stinker (the Beach urgh). Anyways, the show ended out on top, and that’s not something that can be said too often.