ok wow yeah that fight was so intense, they pretty much did everything perfectly. Honestly I had no idea who was gonna win (well, I kinda figured Tenzin would eventually lose but I wasn't sure if Kya and Bumi would make it out ok), the tension was seriously there. I thought Kya was gonna own that waterbending bitch but I guess octopus form is too strong. With Bumi, I knew he was not a strong airbender so that "comedic fighting" scene was perfect for him, but I don't know if I am happy or not with him losing. A lot of people disliked the first season comedic fight where the airbender kids save Lin (with farting...) and of course this fight had way more emotional weight so you could say it might be cheapened to have the fight end with a joke. I'm not sure if it would though, the bit of comic relief was appreciated in the tense scene, and it didn't feel out of place considering Bumi's personality and the fact he isn't really an experienced airbender.
Speaking of inexperienced airbenders, I'm also glad that they showed Zaheer was totally outclassed by Tenzin and wasn't stronger just because he's the villain. It would definitely be silly for Zaheer to win that fight on his own. More than that, it's the first time we've seen Tenzin as a real bad ass airbending master since season 1, when he blew away Amon.