Summary
“Aang” is a real mess of a premiere, with heaps of exposition and a dangerously rapid pace that doesn’t give the audience a chance to settle in.
The Season 1 premiere of Netflix’s live-action reimagining of Avatar: The Last Airbender plays out like it has somewhere else to be, delivering heaps of exposition and several action sequences with nary a thought spared for a breathless, probably bamboozled audience. Episode 1 is sometimes exciting and impressive-looking, at least as far as the bending is concerned, but it’s mostly a mess of information that often feels like it’s on fast-forward.
The cold open is anything but, since it lays out the plans of Fire Lord Sozin, leader of the Fire Nation. Avatar introduces a world in which the four elements – earth, air, fire, and water – are kept in check by the titular Avatar, who has the power to control (or “bend”, in the show’s parlance) all four elements.
The Avatar keeps the world in peace, but when one dies, their spirit is reborn, and another Avatar emerges – though this is a process that seems to take a bit of time. Sozin sees it as an opportunity to lay waste to the Airbenders, from whose ranks the latest Avatar will be chosen, and then take over the world without a viable challenger to his dominance.
This is all explained in a rather clunky early info dump. Needless to say, our hero Aang is that Avatar.
The Fire Nation Wipes Out the Airbenders
We’re introduced to Aang as a slightly smug little prodigy. His best friend is his sky bison, Appa, and his primary teacher is Brother Gyatso, who doesn’t think he’s ready for much responsibility but keeps reiterating to him how talented he is, mostly just feeding his ego. Nevertheless, with the Fire Nation attacking the Earth Kingdom as a distraction – which we learned about in the cold open – the powers-that-be in the Sky Temple insist that Aang be informed of his status as the next Avatar and shipped off to learn the other bending abilities so he can fight back against the Fire Nation.
Gyatso telling Aang of his true nature plays out like a scene that would usually occur after a few episodes when we know these characters well enough to care. As things stand, it’s a bit silly, but it fulfills its intended function. Aang, all confused, flies off with Appa to clear his head, meaning he isn’t in the Sky Temple when the Fire Nation turns up and lays waste to everyone there, including Gyatso.
During the attack, Aang’s Avatar powers kick in – his tattoos turn blue when this happens – and a sudden, violent storm waylays him and Appa. They’re both lost in the ocean and end up frozen in a giant block of ice.
How long was Aang in the ice?
At this point, we meet Karata and Sokka, siblings who live in the Water Tribe community of Wolf Cove. It’s an isolated place, and Sokka is the only remaining Waterbender, but her powers aren’t very impressive since Sokka thinks her training will attract the attention of the Fire Nation. Sokka has a baseline level of irritation and sarcasm that I found quite enjoyable, for what that’s worth.
Either way, Sokka and Katara stumble across a giant iceberg, and the latter uses her primitive Waterbending to crack it open. Out tumbles Aang, who has been there for 100 years. In that time, as explained by one of Wolf Cove’s elders, the Fire Nation has conquered most of the world. The Waterbenders are fighting back and the Earth Kingdom is holding on, but the tribes have become completely isolated for their own safety.
Making Friends
Aang is naturally a bit thrown to hear this, but he gets over it remarkably quickly. To be fair, though, there are pressing matters to attend to. Prince Zuko, the son of Fire Lord Ozai, is desperately searching for the Avatar to satisfy his father, who has banished him from the Fire Nation, and he just so happens to be nearby when Aang’s powers kick in again. Zuko approaches Wolf Cove with a few men to investigate, and Sokka offers him out for a one-on-one. Zuko wins easily, so Aang intervenes, eventually volunteering himself as a hostage to save Wolf Cove.
Impressed by his selflessness, Katara and Sokka set out to rescue Aang on the back of Appa. To be fair, Aang is only onboard Zuko’s ship for about five minutes anyway. He sticks around for one brief chat with Iroh, son of Fire Lord Azulon and Zuko’s uncle and put-upon advisor, and then manages to escape by swiping his cell keys from an oblivious guard.
How does Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 1, Episode 1 end?
Sokka and Katara pick Aang up on Appa’s back, with a little help from Katara’s burgeoning Waterbending powers. They realize, though, that they can’t return to Wolf Cove, as doing so would put the villagers in the firing line of the Fire Nation, so, at a bit of a loss for where to go next, they visit the remnants of the Sky Temple.
Aang finds Gyatso’s charred remains and has another outburst, this one a bit more indicative of the raw power he possesses (though obviously can’t quite control – yet.) Seeing the wreckage of his old home, Aang resolves to make sure the deaths of his people aren’t in vain by learning the other bending arts and taking down the Fire Nation.
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