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Breather Episode / Western Animation

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Breather Episodes in Western Animation.

  • The relatively light-hearted "Showtime" was sandwiched between the scary-loaded "Scarecrow" and "Psychocrypt" on Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers. "Scarecrow" was an X-Files style plotline (ironically, Robert Mandell would direct at least one episode of the show) with a Forgotten Superweapon and Eldritch Abomination stalking a farming village, shooting Niko, killing a sheriff and deputy, and stating things like "I am as beyond you as you are of the insects!" before the Ambadassador tried to Kill It with Fire (which only slowed it down). "Psychocrypt" ran on tanks of Nightmare Fuel and Mind Rape with The Queen using a machine to torture Zachary and Eliza on a nightly basis until it put Eliza's life in danger. The plot of "Showtime" was a low-level idiot among their Rogues Gallery deciding to conscript the Ambadassadors into his three-ring circus.
  • The Adventures of Puss in Boots: After spending a good portion of the third season frantically trying to deal with the result of the Wham Episode that was the previous season finale, the revelation that there is a lot more time to spare than first though immediately gives an opening for breather episodes starting with "Copy Cat", where Puss is so distracted thinking about the task at hand, he accidentally agrees to be in two places at once.
  • The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3: Mainly averted with the exception of the paired episodes "Crimes R Us" and "Life's Ruff." In the first, the Koopas bust a criminal out of jail who teaches them how to commit crimes. They eventually throw the Mushroom Kingdom at their mercy until the criminal, having been double-crossed, enlists the Mario Bros. help to stop them. The second is a light-hearted affair in which Luigi and Ice Land's King get turned into dogs.
  • Adventure Time:
    • "The Party's Over, Isla De Señorita" is a lot more mellow than the typical Adventure Time escapade. Even more unusual in that it's centered around the Ice King of all people.
    • In "Time Sandwich", after five consecutive episodes with more serious plots note  we have a lighter episode where Finn and Jake deal with another of Magic Man's pranks.
    • "Box Prince", a relativately normal episode without any of the usual weird stuff from the rest of the series, with a plot involving Cute Kittens.
    • In "James II", Finn, Jake and Bubblegum have all earned a day full of wacky chase scenes and fighting mindless goo-zombies.
    • After a lot of dramatic or philosophical episodes all at once, "Walnuts & Rain" has a very casual first season feel.
    • After the somewhat grim vision of Ooo's future in "Graybles 1000+" and the dramatic ending of "Hoots", "Water Park Prank" is just about Finn and Jake spending time at the pool.
  • Amphibia, for the most part, has a serialized storyline focusing on Anne Boonchuy trying to get back home. However, there are multiple episodic adventures scattered in-between.
    • "Cane Crazy", the first to take place after "Anne or Beast?" and its sister episode "Best Fronds".
    • "Anne vs. Wild", which ends with an ultimate discovery out of Anne's sight, is placed in between "Dating Season" and "Contagi-Anne".
    • "Prison Break", which focuses on Sasha and her set-up as The Dragon, is followed by "Grubhog Day".
    • "Trip to the Archives" is placed in between "Croak & Punishment" and "Snow Day".
    • "Bizarre Bazaar", which focuses heavily on the music box, is placed in-between "Family Fishing Trip" and "Cursed!".
    • "The Shut-In!", which had no relationship to the Newtopia travel arc, takes place after "Return to Wartwood" but aired after "A Day at the Aquarium". It is then followed by "Ivy on the Run", which precedes "After the Rain".
    • For the temple episodes, the first and second temples had four segments placed in-between ("New Wartwood"/"Friend or Frobo?" and "Toad to Redemption"/"Maddie and Marcy"), to Anne's request they take a break before going to the latter.
    • "Battle of the Bands" is the last major breather of the season before what happens in the finale, "True Colors".
  • The twelfth episode of Around the World with Willy Fog has Fog and his companions relaxing onboard ship and also has Fog and Romy taking a romantic stroll in Singapore. It takes place between the episodes set in India (which include an encounter with a bloodthirsty cult who plan to sacrifice Romy and try to kill the travellers when they rescue her, as well as Rigodon and Tico getting arrested for breaking a local law) and a three-part arc in which one of Transfer's schemes results in Rigodon and Tico becoming temporarily separated from Fog and Romy.
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender:
    • There's the light-hearted character vignette episode "Tales of Ba Sing Se" right after a very dark and dramatic episode that changed the perception of the "haven" of Ba Sing Se.
    • After the dark depressing "Lake Laogai" episode is "The Earth King" where the Gaang finally overthrows the Dai Li, subverted in that it couldn't last.
    • "Nightmares & Daydreams" was (for the most part) a breather between the quite scary and grim "The Puppetmaster" and the "Day of Black Sun" two-parter.
    • "The Headband" also served this role, being a comedic Footloose-inspired episode after the brutal Book Two finale and the emotionally charged Book Three premiere.
    • The second half of the third season does this again with "The Ember Island Players", a humorous, fandom-related Recap Episode of the entire series right before the 4-part series finale. Sokka explicitly refers to it as the sort of "wacky, time-wasting nonsense" he's been missing.
  • Beast Wars, being a frequent patron of the Cerebus Rollercoaster and heavy Continuity Lockout, likes to throw in the occasional lighthearted episode with little to no effect on the overall story arc just to let it all sink in. For example, we go from fairly serious episodes like "Dark Voyage" and "Possession" to "The Low Road" which involves Rhinox effectively getting cyber-gas: being infected by a virus of sorts that makes him belch and fart bursts of energy, and Hilarity Ensues (though not without the genuine threat of the infection being fatal if he depletes his energy). The very next episode, "Law of the Jungle", has Tigertron accidentally kill his tiger companion during a firefight and have to deal with the guilt and consequences, and deals with some pretty heavy themes like violence sometimes being necessary, the Necessarily Evil aspects of fighting an enemy force in a war, and fighting For the Greater Good.
  • Ben 10: Alien Force has the lighthearted "Pier Pressure" come between "Maxed Out" (which covers the death of a major character) and "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" (which deals with the fallout of "Maxed Out" and includes some major reveals about the Tennyson family).
  • Big City Greens:
    • The action-packed "Coffee Quest" followed by the tearjerking "Phoenix Rises" are preceded by "Dinner Party". They are then followed by the nightmare-fueling "Blood Moon", which precedes "Big Deal".
    • The rather scary "Hiya Henry" is paired with the comedic "People Watching".
    • The suddenly dramatic and shocking ending of "Reckoning Ball" is followed by the relaxing, lighthearted comedy of its sister episode, "Clubbed".
    • The infamous "Wild Side" is paired with the wackiness of "Level Up".
    • "Quiet Please" is paired up with the plot-heavy "Chipwrecked", immediately followed by "Chipocalypse Now"; the latter is then followed by the relaxing comedy of "Rent Control".
    • "Okay Karaoke" stands out from most of Season 2 because it does not focus on the Greens going on an outrageous adventure, facing a threat, or doing something important whatsoever. Instead, it has them plus Remy go out for karaoke and find a song true to them, which Tilly has a completely difficult time over.
    • "Rembo" is the last Big City episode of Season 3 before the tearjerking "Dirt Jar", which is then followed by the game-changing nature of "The Move".
  • Blaze and the Monster Machines: The episode "Blazing Amazing Stories" takes a breather from all other episodes, as it isn't adventure-based and just focuses on Blaze and the gang telling stories to Pickle's baby sister which they star in. It also lacks any type of song, and there's no Transformation Sequence.
  • Bluey:
    • The cinematic-yet-hilarious "The Adventure" is followed by the "Copycat", where Bluey learns about death while trying to save an injured budgie.
    • The funny-yet-heartwarming episode "Hide and Seek" is followed by the tearjerking "Camping".
    • The lighthearted "Bingo" episode is followed by the poignant episode, "Rug Island".
    • The family game-night "Charades" is followed by the uplifting and soaring "Army", which is a Very Special Episode about Jack's ADHD.
    • The comedic "Queens" is followed by the show's famous and emotionally poignant episode, "Sleepytime".
    • The clever and witty "Ragdoll" is followed by the poignant flashback episode, "Fairytale".
    • The hilarious fourth-wall breaking "Stories" episode is followed by the poignant and uplifting, "Turtleboy", which features a main character that is deaf. It was followed up by the comical "Puppets", which is then followed by the tearjerking "Onesies", which talked about infertility.
    • The comically-driven "Granny Mobile" was followed by the shocking dramatic "Space". The latter episode is then followed by the wacky shenanigans of "Smoochy Kiss".
    • After the heavy "Dragon" episode, which explained more about Chilli's family, it was followed by the light-hearted yet adorable, "Slide", which sees Bingo and Lila trying to help out bugs in the backyard.
  • One episode of Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood doesn't have the usual coping strategy or helicopter adult supervision. Instead, the cast spends two episodes discussing what makes them happy and indulging themselves.
  • Courage the Cowardly Dog has a few. This doesn't mean they aren't emotional just that there is less danger involved. "The Hunchback of Nowhere" is a good example, where Courage befriends a deformed but goodhearted hunchback. There is no new monster or scare, just two sad souls finding friendship with each other and seeing the rare decent side of the world. It is a more quiet and subdued episode and yet one of the most effective.
  • Danny Phantom is a blend of comedy and drama, but after the heavy handed "Reign Storm" dealt with a number of story arcs, Character Development, and continuity, the next episode was the lighthearted (possibly THE most lighthearted of the series) "Identity Crisis" which is played for laughs from start to finish. There is also "The Ultimate Enemy" which was just fearsome (and a fan favorite). After that episode aired, viewers got the lighthearted, cutesy, and hilarious (and non-canon) Christmas Episode.
  • Dexter's Laboratory had a few episodes which were more light-hearted, sandwiched in-between during the show's Three Shorts format:
    • "Dial M For Monkey: Magmanamanus" in Season 1 was sandwiched in-between the dark, Time Travel-focused "DeeDeeMensional" and Sick Episode "Maternal Combat" that highlighted Dexter's Ping Pong Naïveté. In this episode, Monkey didn't face any intergalactic threat or threatening villain, just a lava monster, Magmanamanus, a Kaiju parody physically bearing some resemblance to DC Comics' Clayface that's not quite a Not Zilla (due to being made of lava) who wanted to go to sleep and is more of Anti-Villain than a true villain threat; any villain threat was accidental. He is temperamental but not evil and just wanted some sleep. As such, it was the lightest episode of the three shorts in this episode (Season 1, Episode 1) and ended on a more emotional note than the other two.
    • "Sun, Surf and Science" in Season 2 was a Villain Episode, focusing on Mandark (pre-Villain Decay) but he didn't do anything evil as he normally does, the only thing he did particularly wrong was cheating during a surfing contest. But this one was more light-hearted and showed him making a new friend, a surfer dude, especially as he's not normally shown having friends in other episodes. It showed him in a more positive light, Dexter was entirely absent in this episode. This was sandwiched between the dark "The Continuum of Cartoon Fools" and the frightening "Big Bots" about a volcanic eruption.
    • "Dexter's Library" in Season 4 aired between "Bad Cable Manners" which satirized Digital Piracy Is Evil and "The Scrying Game" which was a Darker and Edgier episode, and focused on Dexter getting Drunk with Power as he automated a library with robotic help and trying to find a Bland-Name Product version of Green Eggs and Ham. Dexter remains the Butt-Monkey as usual, but for a more mundane reason; the amount of books he can take out is limited from five to four.
  • Dora the Explorer: "Boots's Special Day" is mostly about enjoying him; he and Dora do things for the fun of it, and the audience isn't asked for much help. The only notable instance of the audience being asked for help, is, of course, when Swiper shows up- and perhaps to compensate, he’s much more aggressive than usual, deliberately being more sneaky.
  • The basic gist for the story structure of Elena of Avalor is to have several episodes moving forth the overarching story involving Shuriki, Victor and Carla, and Elena's scepter, and then follow it up with more lighthearted stories that, though usually continuing from past episodes, are still relatively self contained. For example, the episodes "Class Act", "All Kingdom's Fair", and "A Lava Story" are sandwiched inbetween the five preceding episodes involving Shuriki and the scepter, and the "Song Of The Sirenas" movie, a major wham episode.
  • Family Guy
  • The Futurama:
    • After the famously emotional episodes "Lethal Inspection" and "The Late Philip J Fry", Season 6 followed them up with "That Darn Katz" — a largely comedic episode about Amy and Nibbler trying to stop cats (which are actually evil aliens) from enslaving the human race.
    From a review by Zack Handlen of A.V. Club:"...'That Darn Katz!' may not have pulled on the heart strings like the last two episodes, but this one was firing on all cylinders – and we need episodes like this, just silly larks about cats taking over the world, to give us breathing time between the crying jags."
    • Season 6 finale "Reincarnation" is a playful cool-down after the much more dramatic "Overclockwise" that preceded it.
    • "Murder on the Planet Express" is a weird example. It's a mostly comedic episode that comes off the more emotional "Game of Tones" (and just before the final two episodes of the show), but is filled with Nightmare Fuel and Black Comedy.
  • For the series of Garfield Specials, Garfield Goes Hollywood, Garfield's Thanksgiving, and Garfield Gets a Life are all more laid back compared to the rest of the specials. There's no moments that are explicitly Played for Drama or see the characters in genuine danger, and feel more similar to the comic strip and Garfield and Friends, which are more gag-focused.
  • The late Season Two episode of Gargoyles, "Vengeance", which has the major plot of Wolf teaming up with his long-dead ancestor Hakon and hunting Goliath, had the minor plot of a schlub named Vinnie who'd lost a lot of jobs as a security guard thanks to gargoyles and seeking them for revenge. He had a BFG built and finally shot Goliath in the face. With a cream pie. And said that they were even now. This and the episode involving the three youngest males competing over Angela were in between much more serious episodes.
  • On Generator Rex, "Badlands" was a lighthearted episode pitting the eponymous character against a hammy Card-Carrying Villain, set between an episode revealing a previously-unknown chunk of Rex's backstory and the serious Season Finale.
  • Gravity Falls:
    • Season 2 opens up with "Scaryoke" and "Into the Bunker," two story-heavy episodes that respectively involve a zombie invasion and a shape-shifter sealed in an underground bunker. Following those is a cooldown with "The Golf War," a more lighthearted stand-alone about a race of minigolf people. After it is "Sock Opera," where Big Bad Bill returns and possesses Dipper.
    • "Roadside Attraction" is one last Monster of the Week romp. It is set after "The Last Mabelcorn," which puts the Big Bad back in to focus, and before "Dipper and Mabel Vs. the Future," an emotional episode that leads straight in to the show's endgame. Alex Hirsch's comment on it provides the page quote.
    • After "Blendin's Game," which deals with Parental Abandonment, "The Love God" is a lighthearted episode focused on relationships and one of the few where the supernatural entity of the week has no horror element, or is even completely malevolent. It comes before "Northwest Mansion Mystery," which is far more horror-themed and about Pacifica's Abusive Parents, and "Not What he Seems," a dramatic plot-crucial episode.
  • Hilda:
    • Season 1 has "House in the Woods", which is meant to bring Hilda’s adjustment process full-circle. Compared to the hefty drama and turmoil of two previous episodes, and emotional narrative of two following episodes, this one is an atmospheric story about the true meaning of home.
    • Season 2 has two: the first is "The Yule Lads", a decidedly frivolous Christmas Episode, that happens after an emotional rollercoaster in “The Deerfox”; the second is “The Replacement", which is followed by a season finale with Cliffhanger Sudden Downer Ending; speaking about "The Jorts Incident", that happens between events of aforementioned episodes, it features horror elements.
    • Season 3 has "The Laughing Merman", which is a lighthearted standalone adventure. Not just the episode breaks away from the overarching fairy plotline, but this is the only episode in season (without the premiere episode), that doesn’t include any dark or emotional themes in general.
  • Book 4 of Infinity Train was intended to be a breather season, lightening things up from the anthology's bleaker third outing that ended on a melancholic note where two of the protagonists died, one nearly dies at the hands of another, and the last choses to join a former villain rather than remain anywhere near the others. The fourth season set up plot points for a fifth season that would have returned to a darker tone, serving as the origin story for one of the show's few recurring characters, but the network ended up passing on it.
  • In Iron Man: Armored Adventures, after the episode "Designed Only for Chaos", which features the Heroic Sacrifice of the Living Laser as well as Tony confronting the fact that his dad had created weapons for S.H.I.E.L.D. in the past, the next episode "Don't Worry, Be Happy" is an entirely comedic story about Happy Hogan finding and putting on the Iron Man armor, and the various antics afterwards.
  • At the end of its second season, Justice League breaks up the tense Joker episode "Wild Cards" and the Grand Finale "Starcrossed" with "Comfort And Joy," a completely heartwarming story that shows how each League member spends Christmas.
  • The Legend of Korra:
    • The series has "The Metal Clan" (3x5); the new Team Avatar just escaped Ba Sing Se with a dozen airbenders, and now head to Zaofu to recruit another airbender, and meet up with Lin's sister Suyin.
    • The fourth season episode "Remembrances" takes a break from the drama and actions of the Earth Empire for Mako, Korra, and Bolin to bring up good and bad memories. Varrick interrupts Bolin's story and makes it into an idea for a mover that involves a Villain Team-Up with Amon, Unalaq, Vaatu, and Zaheer.
  • The Lion Guard:
    • "Ono and the Egg" is set before "The Rise of Scar", which shifts the show from a slice-as-life children's comedy to a more story-heavy Myth Arc for the season.
    • "Rafiki's New Neighbors", placed in-between "Swept Away" and "Rescue in the Outlands".
    • "The Ukumbusho Tradition" is placed after "Rescue in the Outlands" and is followed by "The Bite of Kenge". Said episode precedes "Timon and Pumbaa's Christmas", which is then followed by "The Morning Report".
  • Metalocalypse in Season 4 had "Dethvanity", a stand-alone episode about the band's image problems, between a series of increasingly arc-heavy episodes.
  • Miraculous Ladybug: Due to the show's tendency to air episodes Out of Order, this can sometimes happen, especially in the later seasons where there's more of an ongoing plot.
    • "Gigantitan", which focuses on Marinette's Zany Scheme to ask Adrien out and a brainwashed giant baby, aired between "Robostus" and "Dark Owl".
    • "Psycomedian" is an early season 4 episode that didn't air until the majority of the rest of the season had due to its Troubled Production, so it's more light-hearted compared to what aired before it.
  • My Little Pony:
  • Ninjago has "The Absolute Worst" and "The Kaiju Protocol" during Secrets of the Forbidden Spinjitzu, both being self-contained episodes in the middle of The Ice Chapter. The former episode is a comedic story where three villains recount their battles with the Ninja via Self-Serving Memory, while the latter focuses on a more lighthearted, but still intense fight against the Preeminent. The latter episode in particular is sandwiched between the episodes revealing that Zane is the Ice Emperor and a Whole Episode Flashback showing how that happened.
  • The Owl House:
    • While "Wing It Like Witches" has some action, the stakes are lower than the previous two episodes and the episode's comedic tone signifies that it's meant as a breather before the two-part season finale.
    • "Them's the Breaks, Kid" is a Whole Episode Flashback focusing on how Eda met Raine. There is some drama, but Foregone Conclusion nullifies much of the tension. The episode serves as a breather after the Tear Jerker previous episode. The very end of the episode goes back to the Myth Arc, paving the way for the rest of the series.
  • The Powerpuff Girls (1998):
    • The tearjerker of "Twisted Sister" is followed by "Cover Up", a lighthearted (and most hated) episode about Buttercup trying to overcome the reliance of a Security Blanket.
    • The scary and sad "Speed Demon" being followed by the light-hearted yet anvilicious "Mojo Jonesin'".
    • Also with "Knock It Off" being followed by "Keen on Keane".
  • In some episodes, Ready Jet Go! will take a break from teaching science to provide entertainment and character development in it's episodes: "My Fair Jet", "Jet's First Halloween", "Date Night", "Jet's Time Machine" and "Mindy in Space" all qualify for this trope, all of them having little to no actual curriculum (even though Jet's Time Machine provided an important Aesop and Jet's First Halloween tried to teach viewers about harvest moons)
  • The ReBoot episode Game Over is a subversion. It appears to give the main characters a break from Megabyte's invasion and Enzo can play the games without having to worry about getting ambushed when they end. Then he loses an eye and the game.
  • Regular Show:
    • "My Mom" is the first episode in which nothing particularly wild or crazy happens — it's mostly just Muscle Man teasing Mordecai and Rigby, who are annoyed by his antics. Keep in mind this is a series whose first episode included a magical keyboard that transported everyone to the Moon where they fought an Eldritch Abomination.
    • "See You There" involves a birthday party with just a few hijinks by the end.
    • "Wall Buddy" is this in Season 5, it's much more lighthearted and less surreal than episodes prior to it, and features Rigby acting incredibly immature.
    • "Paint Job", which is a ridiculous Rule of Funny episode that unusually doesn't involve anyone but Mordecai, Rigby and Benson.
    • "White Elephant Gift Change", the first half of the second Christmas Episode acts as this for "The Real Thomas" and to the episode's next segment "Merry Christmas Mordecai".
  • Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated:
    • "Mystery Solvers Club State Finals", paying homage to Hanna-Barbera's Scooby-Doo rip-offs, without any Mr. E., nor Pericles.
    • "Heart of Evil", with Blue Falcon and Dynomutt. Mind you, Blue Falcon is a walking homage to Batman as written by Frank Miller, but the whole thing is basically played for laughs and has no immediate effect on the rest of the series.
  • The Secret Saturdays: "Curse of the Stolen Tiger" is a lighthearted episode about Zak's powers interacting with a cryptid's ability and causing him bad luck. It falls between the action-heavy and emotionally charged "Once More the Nightmare Factory" and the dramatic revelations of "The Kur Guardian".
  • The Simpsons:
    • "Homer's Enemy" is a dark, bitter deconstruction of the show's mythology, and is often seen as the darkest episode in the entire series, dividing fans to this day. The next episode, "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase", is a light-hearted satire of how TV networks produce spinoffs and successor series that are sometimes inferior to the original show.
    • In the Treehouse of Horror chronology, the breezy and comedic "Treehouse of Horror VI" is this - coming between the violent and Nightmare Fuel-riffic V and the bleak and cynical VII.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM): invoked Thanks to executive insistence that the show was too dark, the second season has two comedic episodes by mandate, both of which consisted of two 15 minute shorts rather than a full 30 minute episode. While the regular episodes had very dark themes, and were typically about the characters fighting Robotnik or uncovering clues from the past, the first of these irregular two-in-one episodes involves Antoine being kicked out of the Freedom Fighters and joining a gang of biker hyenas, and Sonic telling ghost stories to Tails and Antoine. The second two-in-one episode involves Sonic's house being destroyed during a snowstorm and moving in with Antoine, which drives him nuts, and the second segment was a more Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog-style episode where one of Rotor's robots falls in love with Antoine and keeps stalking him. As you can tell, Antoine is the most prominently featured character in these episodes.
  • South Park:
  • Star vs. the Forces of Evil:
    • "Stump Day" and "Holiday Spellcial" were silly Christmas Episodes placed between the double-length "Monster Bash", which revealed that Miss Heinous is Eclipsa's daughter and her real name is Meteora Butterfly and "The Bogbeast of Boggabah"/"Total Eclipsa The Moon", the latter of which revealed that Eclipsa did not have any other children besides Meteora, raising questions about her successor Festivia in the latter.
    • "Skooled" and "Booth Buddies" are both plot-heavy episodes, the former being about Miss Heinous learning more about her past and deciding to take over Mewni and the latter featuring Star and Marco having a romantic kiss despite Star dating someone else. The next episode is "Bam Ui Pati!", which is just about Pony Head trying to watch a new episode of her favourite show while her sisters and Star try to stop her, which is followed by the last three episodes of the season, which resolves the season's overarching storyline.
    • "Out Of Business" is a purely nonsensical episode about the characters going to a clearance sale that comes after "Surviving The Spiderbites", an episode which raised questions about Eclipsa's monster lover and his numerous crimes.
    • "Junkin' Janna" and "A Spell With No Name" bring up some plot points that become important later in the season. The episode after that, "A Boy and His DC-700XE", takes a break from the main plot before "The Monster and The Queen" and "Cornonation".
  • Star Wars: The Clone Wars:
    • Early in the mostly-serious season 4, "Mercy Mission"/"Nomad Droids" takes a break for a story focused on R2-D2 and C-3PO having some light-hearted adventures.
    • The 13-episode season 6 has the "Disappeared" two-parter. While the story does have dark moments involving Human Sacrifice and a face-off against Mother Talzin, the fact that the story heavily references Indiana Jones and, most importantly, stars Jar Jar Binks with Mace Windu as his straight man, means that compared to the arcs that come before it (a very dark story about the causes of Order 66 and another dark one about the Sith's machinations to take over the InterGalactic Banking Clan with a subplot about Anakin slipping closer to the Dark Side, both with Downer Endings) and the epic, mystical Yoda arc that comes after it, "The Disappeared" is lighter and more standalone.
    • After the epic battles and nightmarish For Science! doings of the villains in the Bad Batch arc and the high-stakes conspiracy of the last arc she was seen in, "Gone With a Trace" reintroduces Ahsoka onto the show with a low-stakes story involving her meeting a pair of sisters who live in the Coruscant underworld. The stakes ramp up in the later episodes of the story arc, but chasing after a rampaging droid is a relatively minor problem compared to facing off against the Pyke Syndicate.
  • Zig-Zagged in Steven Universe. While the show does have several episodes with heavy focus on drama and character development alternated with more lighter-toned episodes, most of these lighter Slice of Life stories still manage to contain clues that later turn into major plot points. With that noted:
    • "Bubble Buddies" focuses on Steven meeting a girl named Connie and their attempts to get out of the bubble he created and takes place after the Darker and Edgier "Frybo" and "Cat Fingers".
    • "Shirt Club" focuses solely on a minor character and Steven making T-shirts, and takes place between the emotionally brutal "Rose's Scabbard" and "Story for Steven". Granted, as a 2x11 minute show, the episode is paired with the also lighthearted "Open Book", but that episode contains one of Connie's most important character defining moments.
    • "Log Date 7 15 2" serves as a comedic Dénouement Episode following Wham Episodes that concluded Peridot's redemption arc, "It Could've Been Great" and "Message Received".
    • "Greg the Babysitter" is a silly story about taking care of a friend's baby, which comes after "Monster Reunion" and "Alone at Sea", which had some big reveals and ultimately ended on bittersweet notes.
    • "Kindergarten Kid" is a homage to Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner that served as the Season 4 premiere, airing the day after the season 3 finale. Considering that the final episodes of that previous season transitioned from a small story arc about Amethyst's depression and lack of self-worth directly to Bismuth's reveal and outrage, Jasper's corruption, The Reveal that Rose (allegedly) shattered Pink Diamond, and Steven near-death in the midst of space (first from an attempted assassination, then from a lack of oxygen) without a break, this episode was definitely needed.
    • "Escapism" is a downplayed example. As the penultimate episode of season 5, it takes place during a very important and serious Story Arc, and is about Steven trying to send a Distress Call after he, Connie and the Crystal Gems have been imprisoned on Homeworld. However, the episode does this via the use of the Watermelon Stevens, resulting in an episode more lighthearted than the ones before and after it.
  • Episode 10 of Sym-Bionic Titan is a teen romantic comedy set between a tearjerker episode and a particularly violent and intense one.
  • Tangled: The Series: "The Way of the Willow", which takes place before the rather dark Wham Episode "Queen For a Day". It is then followed by "Painter's Block" and "Not in the Mood", which are set after said episode and before "The Quest for Varian".
  • In Team Umizoomi, "Robo-Tools", "The Sunshine Fairy", and "Little Panda Joe" are the breather episodes of Season 4, which introduced the show's most prominent villains, the TroubleMakers.
  • Teen Titans:
    • One clue to judge the tone of an episode is its opening. If the theme song is sung in Japanese, it's going to be a goofy episode. If it's in English, then the episode will be serious, have at least some continuity, or is a Wham Episode.
    • The first four seasons each have an off-the-wall comedy just before the season finale, all of which are varying degrees of dark.
    • On a larger level, Season Three was almost a breather arc, seeing as it was a fairly lighthearted storyline about Cyborg's escalating enmity with Large Ham Diabolical Mastermind Brother Blood, sandwiched between the (dark) Terra arc and the (really dark) Raven arc. The fact that they had to make Brother Blood a large ham to give viewers a breather just shows off how nasty Slade and Trigon are.
    • "Mad Mod" is a breather before "The Apprentice (Parts 1 & 2)", "Fracture" is a breather between "Betrayal" and "Aftershock (Parts 1 & 2)", "Mother Mae-Eye" is a breather right before "The End (Parts 1-3)", "Go!" is a breather before "Calling All Titans", "Titans Together" and "Things Change".
  • Thomas & Friends: "Happy Ever After" from Season 5 is this, as there's no wild adventure, danger, or major problem whatsoever, as it focuses on Percy assembling a good luck package for a wedding.
  • Total Drama:
    • "Brunch of Disgustingness" is a gross foods challenge smack dab in the middle of the season (episode #14 of 26, or 27 if one counts the ensuing special). With no elimination and a one-off rejiggering of the teams, this episode is essentially the season's halftime show.
    • The first season has "Haute Camp-ture", which showed where all the voted-off campers go after they're were voted off. Notably, the episode does serve a purpose story-wise: the campers are given the chance to vote someone off, but due to a flaw in the rules, they vote off Leshawna.
    • Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race has pretty much any episode with a non-elimination leg of the race since there's no chance of anyone going home unless they get injured.
  • The long and uncharacteristically dark "Transwarped" season premiere in Transformers: Animated was immediately followed by the lighthearted antics of the Constructicons and a wacky one-shot character in "Three's a Crowd". Then "Where Is Thy Sting" took us right back to dark again.
  • VeggieTales:
    • In between the surprisingly heartwrenching singalong video "The End of Silliness?" and the dramatic "King George and the Ducky" and "Esther: The Girl Who Became Queen" is "Larry-Boy and the Rumor Weed", a typical Larry-Boy episode that, while somewhat dark, is still relatively lighthearted in comparison.
    • Invoked by "Dave and the Giant Pickle", which comes in between the time-consuming development and dramatic action scenes of "Rack, Shack, and Benny" and the Troubled Production of the show's first Christmas Episode, "The Toy that Saved Christmas".
  • Season 7 of The Venture Bros. has "The High Cost of Loathing", a very light-hearted episode coming right after the trio of Wham Episodes at the start of the season.
  • Voltron: Legendary Defender has quite a few throughout its seasons:
    • Season 1 has "Some Assembly Required" after the three-part pilot, where there are no threats but instead the paladins learning to use their Lions and figuring out how to form Voltron after the first time in the previous episode.
    • Season 2 has "Space Mall", although it does have the more serious subplot of Shiro trying to gain full control of the Black Lion to prevent Zarkon from taking it.
    • Season 3 has "The Legend Begins", a Whole Episode Flashback about the previous paladins. However, it does include the backstories of Zarkon and Haggar, and Zarkon waking up from a coma that he ended up in at the end of the second season, but not much happens in the present day besides that.
    • Season 4 has "The Voltron Show".
    • Season 5 has "Bloodlines", although that has the more serious subplot of Keith working with someone who turns out to be his mother.
    • Season 6 has "Monsters and Mana", an RPG Episode.
    • Season 7 has "The Feud" where the paladins have to take part in a game show.
    • Season 8 has "Day Forty Seven" and "Clear Day", though the latter has a serious subplot where Allura has hallucinations.

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