This is a long episode. Appa doesn’t speak, so the entire story must be show rather than tell. No shortcuts with language.
LEFTOVER NINE
Four Weeks Ago. It’s a flashback to the dunes and the sinking library. Appa fights against the sandbenders tying him up. Toph, holding the turret, can’t properly defend him. When the benders anchor themselves in the sand, Appa isn’t strong enough to fly free of their ropes. They ride away on their sandsailers, towing Appa behind.
ONE
Dissolve from Appa’s eye to the sun in the sky. Time has passed. The benders, sending little dust devils into the sails, pause. The leader, the self-important son, tells his gang to raid Appa’s saddlebags for treasure. When they jump on him, sand swirls up into Appa’s nose. He sneezes, blowing one of the boats into a sand dune. Leader Boy doesn’t care, though, because it’s a boat they stole.
THREE
Goods from the saddlebags are tossed onto the sand, including Sokka’s club. The gang considers it all garbage and leaves it behind.
TWO
They’ll make their money by selling Appa. At the bandit camp, a deal is struck. Someone in Ba Sing Se should pay a fortune for him. Content with a chest of money, Leader Boy and his crew prepare to leave.
FOUR
Bandits on beetle mounts pull Appa onto a sled. Meanwhile, Aang flies through the desert and blows on his bison whistle. We see a resigned Appa fire up, opening his eyes wide. He rocks his sled from side to side. Laughing, Leader Boy sails away, happy to have tricked the bandits into taking a large, angry animal off his hands. Appa flaps his tail, sending his sled airborne and dragging a beetle with him. The bandits bring out their darts and shoot him. Drugged, Appa crashes into the sand. We see Aang calling for Appa and Appa rumbling as he tries to answer. As he loses consciousness, we hear the bandits, anxious to rid themselves of Appa, suggest they sell him for parts.
Fade in on a man talking to Appa in a cage. He sounds sympathetic at first, petting him through the bars, but then he declares he will break Appa. It’s a circus. Appa is one of many large and exotic animals in cages. The Trainer feeds cabbages to every animal but Appa. He must learn before he can eat. The Trainer, a firebender, releases a bird and whips it to perform. While he’s showing off, the Trainer misses Appa airbend the cabbage cart next to his cage so he can eat. Catching him the Trainer fire-whips Appa’s cage.
Nighttime at the circus. A boy walking through the grounds sees Appa in his cage as he tries to bend a bale of hay to his mouth. The boy runs in and rolls the bale to Appa, who licks his face before eating. The boy dashes back out.
In comes the Trainer with the Ringmaster who insists the “wind buffalo” should perform, ready or not. The boy, peering around the curtain’s edge, sees the Trainer threaten Appa with fire.
Later, at the performance, the boy sits in the audience. The Ringmaster, also a firebender, introduces Appa. The curtain drops and we see him in a ridiculous costume. The audience laughs. Trainer commands Appa “up”. When he roars, the Trainer fire-whips him and Appa flies up. The boy calls out in anger, but his father restrains him. Appa begins his tricks, flying through lit rings, but his costume snags an edge and catches on fire. He roars, using his tail to send a ring onto the Trainer’s head. The audience laughs. When Appa lands he sees the boy laughing, and flashes back to Aang laughing. The boy encourages Appa to “go”.
As Appa flies up, hampered by the costume, the Trainer shoots fire at him. Appa swats him from the tent with his tail and flies free, his costume catching on a gap in the tent and falling away from him. The boy smiles, seeing that Appa’s free.
SWITCH
Fade in on Appa over the desert. He reaches the impact crater that is the only thing left of the sunken library. Landing, he gives a useless little dig, and we see that his six legs are still manacled.
FIVE
He flies onward, obviously hungry. Smelling honey, he flies into the horrible bee mountain, only to be chased out.
Nighttime, and Appa flies onward. His fur is matted. He finds a barn where he can eat the hay and drink from the trough, then he collapses into sleep. He dreams of the air temple and the moment that boy Aang chose him. Cut to Aang camping with the gang. He dreams of the same moment, his arms sleep-reaching into the air as he hugs baby Appa.
The dream ends when a man with a pitchfork finds Appa in his barn. A woman with a torch comes to see what’s happening. The fire scares Appa. He rears up to attack, destroying the barn as he flies away into the night.
He flies over a boat that carries Iroh and Zuko, although only Iroh sees him. (We can now recognize the timeline. Everyone’s on their way to Ba Sing Se.)
Appa, exhausted, crashes outside of a cave and chews at the grass. Out of the darkness, a boar rushes at Appa, knocking him down a hillside. As they prepare to battle, we see that Appa is still shackled. Thorns tangle in his fur. He defeats the boar and takes over its cave, which is more of a temple in the roots of a tree. Time passes.
Cut to Suki and the other Kyoshi Warriors in their uniforms picking berries. She recognizes Appa’s fur stuck to the branches. Around them is the sign of the boar battle. Tracking him, Suki finds Appa in his cave, defensive and injured. She lays the berries in front of the opening and goes for help.
Later, she returns with the other Warriors and instructs them to move slowly. It’s their job now to return Appa to Aang. Suki approaches, soothing him. She speaks of Aang, and Appa relaxes.
And now he’s all clean, his shackles are removed, and he’s giving kisses to the Warriors. Suddenly, his ears perk and everyone turns. Here come Azula and her gang riding the lizard steeds. She’s been following the fur. The Kyoshi Warriors take a defensive stance around Appa. As Azula attacks with her lightning bending, a tree catches fire and Appa cringes. Closeup on Azula’s face as she sees this. Suki attacks, telling Appa to fly away. When he returns to help them fight, she waves a torch at him and tells him to find Aang. We leave the fight between Azula and Suki, not knowing the outcome. We’re with Appa as he continues to fly.
SIX
He flies through the rain and the night. He crosses over ships in a body of water and we see Sokka’s dad looking up at him.
SEVEN
Appa returns to the air temple, which is now derelict.
EIGHT
Wandering about, he remembers his happy young times. At the edge of the temple a man sits in contemplation. Appa rushes forward, licking him, then startles when he realizes he doesn’t know him. The man introduces himself as Guru Pathik. When Appa growls at him, Pathik lies back down. Time passes. Every time Pathik sits up, Appa growls and Pathik lies back down. Eventually, Appa falls asleep. Then Pathik approaches and touches Appa’s chest, psychically reading the sorrows there. He can feel Appa’s love, but also how his trust has been betrayed. Pathik has been expecting Appa and Aang for a long time now, he says. Pathik had a vision that he would be needed. He soothes Appa as he sleeps.
When Appa wakes in the morning, fruit waits for him. He finds Pathik meditating. Trusting him, Appa lies down next to him. Pathik presents a scroll for Aang and ties it to Appa’s horn. Using Appa’s connection to Aang, Pathik traces a pathway to him in Appa’s mind.
NINE
Cut to Appa flying over Ba Sing Se at night. The Dai Li spot him. Looking over the city, Appa hears a whistle. Insert a shot of the bison whistle resting on the ground next to Aang’s sleeping head. It’s Long Feng who makes the noise, blowing on a pipe. Appa steps forward, leaving his footprint in the dirt, as Long Feng throws a lever. The ground under Appa flips as he falls through a trap door. Pull out on the plaza, where only a footprint remains.
CRITICAL NOTES
As you can see, my breakdown of this episode identifies the Three before the Two. This show tends to reverse those beats, doesn’t it?
Working backwards, the Nine is clear. Appa’s timeline is now equal with Aang’s timeline. Everybody’s story can move forward. Before that, the Eight is clear. It’s a very strange climax: Appa finds a Guru. The entire episode has action, and here’s a respite. In my opinion, an Eight about healing is kind of boring, but it is structurally sound. Before that, the Seven is very good. Of all the places Appa can go after leaving Suki, the air temple is a clear decision. It leads right into the Eight.
The Six is also clear. A strange beat that stands apart from everything around it is very common for a Six. How the heck did Sokka’s dad end up in the story? It’s strange, and funny, and a pause in the action. We stop and ask, “What?” This kind of Six works much better if we have an “Aha!” as we remember whatever the Three was. It’s so satisfying to recognize an odd Three/Six Mirror.
Sadly, that didn’t happen here. When the spoiled kids ransack Appa’s pack, the camera holds for a beat on Sokka’s club. Someone knew subconsciously that a connection between the Water Tribe men would make a good visual. It’s very tenuous, but I would count it if the Three were in the proper place. Instead of the spoiled kids, let the bandits go through the saddlebags. What difference does it make who finds nothing of use in the pack? Just move the beat.