After a bit of a plot cop-out with "The Firebending Masters", Avatar returns to form with "The Boiling Rock", a two-part episode that has a bit of everything that viewers have come to love about the show.  With some important character development, beautiful action sequences, and genuinely hilarious moments, there's something for everyone in these two episodes.

In a sense, "The Boiling Rock" is pure summer-blockbuster fare: action-oriented with a concrete objective.   Rather than the mystical quest-type adventures that are fairly common on the show, this two-parter features more along the lines of a classic heist story (a jailbreak counts as a heist, right?  After all, you're stealing prisoners.)  And in a story that doesn't depend so much on the spiritual, the non-benders really get a chance to shine.  Sokka and his abilities as a tactician (and his love of disguises, here calling to mind Luke Skywalker in stormtrooper armor) are at the forefront of course, but Suki and Mai both have utterly stunning fight sequences that are definitely a high point.  And with a likely bending-heavy showdown approaching between the Fire Lord and the Avatar, it’s great to be able to see the more “mundane” characters really shine for what may be the last time.

Aside from all the action, one of the highlights in these episodes has to be seeing Zuko and Sokka really working together for the first time.  While Zuko and Aang were pretty much the perfect odd couple in the last episode, I actually found the dynamic between Zuko and Sokka to be more interesting.  On the surface, they appear to be almost polar opposites; their personalities and their approach to problems are completely different.  However, when it comes down to it, both of them are warriors.  They both care about honor and they both want to avoid disappointing the men who have inspired them to become who they are.  Most importantly, the interaction resulted in some dead funny dialogue in the first part, particularly Zuko’s spot-on "I'm never happy."

On the other side, Chit Sang was a bit of a disappointment for a new character that got so much screen time.  Other than the fact that he's a firebender and he had friends he didn't seem too broken up about leaving behind on the second escape attempt, we know almost nothing about him after these two episodes, not even what it was he'd been jailed for.  Considering he joins up with the Gaang at the end, it seems like it would be just a tad important to know they didn’t have a mass murderer or other violent criminal lurking in their midst.  Beyond that, it seems like he could have given some interesting insight into how someone who wasn’t part of the establishment felt about the Fire Nation and the war.  Even just a brief line or two would have been nice.  Instead, he serves more as a plot device than an actual fully-fleshed character.

Perhaps the most intriguing event in these two episodes was the betrayal by Mai and Ty Lee.  Whether you buy the Mai/Zuko relationship or not, it was brilliant to see her to finally cut her ties with Azula.  And honestly, she never seemed to be all that frightened of Azula to begin with, having disobeyed her previously -- that doesn't necessarily say a whole lot about her feelings for Zuko.  It was Ty Lee jumping sides that was the real shocker, especially considering how forgiving of/cowed by Azula's cruelty she has always been in the past.  Seeing her actually attack Azula to protect Mai was almost as surprising as Zuko turning on Iroh last season.  This is the first real failure we've seen from Azula, and it will be interesting to see how she handles the fallout of knowing she did indeed miscalculate.