Summary
In “City of Walls and Secrets”, the second season of Avatar: The Last Airbender commits to a big change of scenery and pace, settling into a more focused mini-arc.
Since Avatar: The Last Airbender is adapting such a long-running anime, condensing so many arcs into single digestible episodes, it has a tendency to feel anthological in an odd way. The first two episodes were like that; you had the whole Serpent’s Pass debacle, and then you had a completely different change of scenery so all roads could converge on a new location to focus on the introduction of a new character. Episode 3, “City of Walls and Secrets”, is a bit like that, at least initially, but it quickly becomes obvious that this pit stop is going to take a lot longer. In fact, the relocation to the Earth Kingdom capital of Ba Sing Se is one of Season 2’s core mini-arcs, a place where various character threads and subplots can all coalesce.
After a brief intro during which Aang begins to learn earthbending under an impatient Toph, and then inadvertently through The Boulder and Ji Shen, since the idea of them attempting to retrieve Toph turns out to be in service of a gag instead of a genuine threat, the action shifts pretty much exclusively to Ba Sing Se, and stays there for the duration, introducing a few new characters and ideas and letting them percolate at a more sedate pace than this show is typically comfortable with.
Playing Politics
The thing about Ba Sing Se is that it’s a city of immense wealth and technology that, crucially, has no idea what’s going on in the outside world. It’s ringed by giant walls and is aggressively isolationist, and the Earth King, Kuei, rigorously enforces the most comfortable narrative through his royal guard, the Dai Li. In short, getting help with the war effort is going to be a problem, since, as far as Ba Sing Se is concerned, there is no war.
This inadvertently promotes Toph to the most important character in the cast, since even though Joo Dee, the gang’s liaison while they’re in the city, makes a massive fuss of entertaining the Avatar and his personal retinue, it’s only Toph who knows how things work, given that she comes from a wealthy family that’s known for schmoozing in these kinds of circles. She describes Ba Sing Se as a maze of bureaucracy, and points out that the only way to make progress through it is to play the political game. To simple tribal people like Aang, Sokka, and Katara, this is completely alien.
And Ba Sing Se treats everyone like aliens, too. New arrivals are housed in prison cells bent into the city’s walls, and even when the refugees are granted asylum, they’re housed in rings clearly organised according to wealth and status. Aang’s villa is in the upper ring, but the refugees all move into the lower ring, as well they might. Out of sight, out of mind.
Something’s Amiss
Aang and the others are quickly introduced to Long Feng, the cultural minister, who seems to have the ear of the king and is gracious and kind in a way that virtually guarantees he’s going to turn out to be a villain down the line. Not that Aang sees that, though. He’s still largely fascinated by all the pageantry that Ba Sing Se is built around, even if he becomes frustrated with his seeming inability to get anywhere near the king, let alone speak with him. Long Feng delivers the placatory news that all the refugees have been granted asylum, and invites Aang and his retinue to be honored guests at a party at the royal palace, but it’s only Toph who recognises it’s all a dog and pony show.
Meanwhile, suspicious developments begin mounting up. Joo Dee militantly polices everyone’s interactions and ensures they don’t go off the beaten path in a manner that implies they’re likely to uncover something alarming if they do. Some of the gang, including Teo and, much to Sokka’s chagrin, Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors, have left to recruit new fighters, apparently aware that idling in the lap of luxury isn’t going to help long-term. And Diya, Amita’s daughter, has seemingly been bitten by a venomous spider while she was held in a stone cell, but when Katara tries to bend the venom out, it doesn’t work. Hmm.
Party People
The party at the royal palace is very much the centrepiece of Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2, Episode 3. It’s a triumph of production design that also introduces a few more characters and thematic threads into the main plot. We meet, for instance, the rather hostile General Sung, and Zei, a professor of anthropology at Ba Sing Se University who takes a shine to Sokka and wants to know everything about the cultural practices of the water tribes. Even among academics, people from outside the city are seen as curiosities to be studied and marvelled at, not real human beings in need of genuine help.
This sentiment is reflected by all the hoity-toity types who are oblivious about the war and much more interested in marrying their sons off to Toph, which makes for a funny recurring gag. But stuff like Katara becoming annoyed at medicinal flowers being used for decoration instead of helping people speaks to a more serious issue. This isn’t a place of sanctuary; it’s a hub of delusion that actively rejects the truth and authenticity. The upside is that it allows moments of genuine character drama to blossom in the cracks, such as Toph getting Aang angry to give him a breakthrough in his earthbending, or Sokka opening up to Katara about his fears of losing Suki in the same way he lost Yue. This is solid drama.
But, of course, Aang can’t get near the king, and Long Feng explains to him that since he’s only interested in perpetuating his worldview, through force if necessary, the only way to win his ear is going to be proving that everything Aang does is for the good of Ba Sing Se, not necessarily the wider world. And that’s going to take some time.
Other Guests
Elsewhere in “City of Walls and Secrets”, Zuko and Iroh, after practicing a technique to redirect Azula’s lightning, also make their way to Ba Sing Se as refugees. On the journey, Zuko falls in with Jet, Longshot, and Smellerbee, a group of rogues who clearly see Ba Sing Se as more of an opportunity than a sanctuary.
We also end on a couple of cliffhangers, as well we might. Firstly, Sai is “invited” by the king to Lake Laogai, but the fact that he’s taken away in handcuffs suggests the invite isn’t optional. And we also see a woman with a painted face dropping off a healing plant for Diya in the middle of the night; the beginnings of a vigilante arc, perhaps?
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