Appa's Lost Days

"Appa's Lost Days" is the sixteenth episode of the second season of the American animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender, and the 36th episode overall. The show follows Aang (Zach Tyler Eisen), the last airbender and the “Avatar”, on his journey to bring balance to a war-torn world by mastering all four elements: air, water, earth, and fire. On his quest, he is joined by companions Katara (Mae Whitman), Sokka (Jack DeSena), and Toph Beifong (Jessie Flower), and hunted down by Fire Nation prince Zuko (Dante Basco) and princess Azula (Grey DeLisle).

The episode, written by Elizabeth Welch and directed by Giancarlo Volpe, follows Appa (Dee Bradley Baker) struggling to reunite with Aang after he was kidnapped in the episode "The Library". Along the way, he encounters Kyoshi Warrior Suki (Jennie Kwan) and Guru Pathik (Brian George). Meanwhile, the episode also showcases the first time Appa met Aang through flashbacks. The episode released on Nickelodeon on October 13, 2006, and received positive reviews for its depiction of cruelty to animals.

Plot
Following Appa's capture, he escapes from the sandbenders and buries a sand sled into the desert. He is tranquilized and sold to a circus where animals are used as entertainment. Appa shows resistance to being used for the circus, but the animal tamer threatens Appa with fire and claiming he will break him to his will. A young boy arrives in the tent and moves the hay closer to Appa so he can eat, with the young boy reminding him of Aang. That night, Appa is introduced as "The Wild Buffalo" and is forced to fly through burning rings. However, Appa notices the young boy telling him to escape, so he strikes the animal tamer to the ground and begins to fly away. As he is escaping, the tamer strikes him with a fire whip but Appa still manages to flee the circus.

Appa flies back to the desert where he finds the library buried and Aang no where to be found. Appa goes to find food but the only thing he has to eat is a cactus, which he eats but leaves thorns in his mouth. Appa goes to the buzzard wasp nest but doesn't find any food. Instead, he is forced the buzzard wasps, collapsing in the sand when he loses. That night, Appa stumbles into an open barn where he eats hay and drinks water. As he sleeps, Appa dreams of his first time meeting Aang at the Eastern Air Temple, where the young Aang gives the baby Appa an apple and says that this means the two will be forever together. It is revealed Aang is having the same dream as he sleeps on the Serpent's Pass path.

Appa is startled awake by a farmer who attacks Appa with a pitchfork, forcing his wife to come to the barn with a torch. Scared of the fire after his encounter with the circus tamer, Appa flies away damaging the roof in the process. Appa flies over the Serpent's Pass, something Iroh notices as Zuko and him sleep on the ferry, but eventually lands in a forest where he is forced to fight against a boar-q-pine (combination of the wild boar and the porcupine) and is pricked with several quills. Eventually, Appa wins the fight and claims the territory as his, where he falls himself. The next day, Suki of the Kyoshi Warriors, who had heard about Appa's kidnapping, and assembles the Kyoshi Warriors to help him. She lures him out of the ruin where he is hiding by using apples, reminding Appa of Aang, and the Kyoshi Warriors clean him and nourish him back to health. As they finish, Azula and her two friends, Mai and Ty Lee, arrive and attack the Kyoshi Warriors calling them "the Avatar's fan girls." As the fight grows intense, Appa flies away scared of the fire that Azula is producing. Seeing Suki is in danger, Appa rushes to recue her but she scares him away with fire telling him to find Aang.

Appa flies far, flying over a group of Southern Water Tribe ships, eventually landing at the Eastern Air Temple where he remembers playing with his siblings as a calf. As Appa roams around, he meets Pathik, a guru that wishes to help the Avatar. Pathik lets Appa sleep, saying how Appa must let the clouds in his mind part and be at peace, and in the morning, he asks Appa to deliver a message to Aang. He attaches a letter to Appa's horn and tells him to find Aang in Ba Sing Se. As Appa enters the city, he is watched by three pygmy pumas (an animal designed to be similar to the jaguarundi) and two Dai Li agents. Appa is called to the ground by a bison whistle. Believing it to be Aang, Appa lands only for Long Feng to capture Appa underground, leaving only a single footprint in the mud.

Credits
Main cast members Zach Tyler Eisen, Dante Basco, and Dee Bradley Baker star as Aang, Zuko, and Appa respectively, with archive recordings of Jessie Flower as Toph Beifong being used for the episode's opening. The episode marks the second time in the series that Mae Whitman and Jack DeSena do not voice Katara and Sokka respectively, after the episode "Zuko Alone." Appearing as guests are Mako as Zuko's uncle Iroh, Jennie Kwan as Kyoshi Warrior leader Suki, Grey DeLisle as Fire Nation Princess Azula, Cricket Leigh as Azula's knife-throwing friend Mai, Olivia Hack as Azula's acrobatic friend Ty Lee, Brian George as the Guru Pathik, Dwight Schultz as the circus trainer, and Paul McKinney as sandbender Ghashiun.

The episode was directed by Giancarlo Volpe and written by Elizabeth Welch.

The animation for the episode was done by JM Animation.

Reception
The episode received positive reviews for its depiction of cruelty to animals.

Max Nicholson of IGN gave the episode a rating of 8 out of 10, praising the "spotlight placed squarely on Appa for an episode, as the forlorn sky bison went in search of his Avatar companion." Hayden Childs of The A.V. Club called the episode "a tough watch for the casual cruelty that Appa experiences, but it is a necessary component of the show. Appa’s absence has been looming over the show for several episodes now, and this episode shows that the Aang Gang has been looking in entirely the wrong place."

In 2020, The Harvard Crimson ranked the episode as the 31st best episode of the series.

In 2007, the episode received a Genesis Award from the Humane Society of the United States in the category "Outstanding Children's Programming," noting it for it being "a mythical tale about animals held captive for human entertainment that resonates with the way animals are used in circuses today."