Summary
Episode 4 is a more introspective and character-driven chapter. Its eccentricities can be a little distracting, but it provides solid development for the heroes and villains alike.
Now that it’s slowing down to a manageable pace, Avatar: The Last Airbender is getting better. It’s also getting weirder, but that’s another matter. Either way, Episode 4, “Into the Dark”, is a much more character-driven installment than Season 1 has been thus far, pushing both the heroes and the villains to examine their motivations and relationships. There’s also a giant badger/mole hybrid, which has to count for something.
Picking up from the end of Episode 3, both Aang and Iroh are in prison, though the Earth Kingdom has very different fates in store for both of them. In the meantime, though, they’re able to have a bit of a chat, and Iroh reveals once again that he’s much more than the reputation he has earned as a general and the “Dragon of the West”.
That reputation, though, earns Iroh a nasty fate – he’s to be taken to “The Pit”, an Earth Kingdom labor camp for prisoners of war. And on the way there, his guards are sure to torment him, since they have lost friends and family to his military conquests.
Old Friends in High Places
Aang, meanwhile, is taken to the King, who turns out to be Bumi, his childhood friend who, unlike Aang, has spent the last 100 years fighting a constant war and making endless impossible decisions. The stress of this has driven him somewhat mad, and he’s wildly hot and cold with Aang, one minute reminding him of their past together and the next challenging him to various trials to prove his worth as Avatar.
Meanwhile, Sokka and Katara try to figure out how to rescue Aang and are told by Sai of some tunnels under the palace. However, the downside is that they’re unstable and apparently haunted. Sokka and especially Teo are disgusted with the revelation that Sai was feeding the Fire Nation secrets and designs, but he had his reasons – he was trying to protect his son and his home.
Character Development
This begins a trend of more introspective character work that is threaded throughout the episode. When they descend into the tunnels – despite being warned off by a group of minstrels who like the cave’s acoustics – Sokka and Katara are forced to discuss their family and the disagreements they have had. And while Iroh is being transported, we’re shown flashbacks of how his relationship with Zuko has developed since the loss of his son, Lu Ten, which forced him to abandon a siege. Iroh sees Zuko not as a nephew but as a son, almost a replacement for the one he lost.
From Zuko’s perspective, we see how Iroh was fair and warm to him when others weren’t. When Zuko was banished until he located the Avatar, Iroh left with him. Eventually, Zuko is able to rescue his uncle from captivity, and you can see the genuine affection between them in a way that hasn’t always been obvious until now.
Towards the end of the episode, Bumi, who is in surprisingly good shape for a man over 100 years old, challenges Aang to fight to the death. He’s partly trying to prove a point about the responsibilities of the Avatar, but also slightly bitter about Aang not having been there during the Fire Nation’s conquest. He’s also… you know, just nuts.
Luckily, having been led through the tunnels by a giant badgermole, Sokka and Katara turn up right on time to intervene and prevent any casualties. Through Aang’s compassion and his insistence that he will save the world in the same manner he won this fight, through the help of his friends, Bumi is inspired to rejoin the fight against the Fire Nation. Sai, too, has tipped off the Earth Kingdom about the spy ring, inspired by Teo to take up the fight now that the Avatar has returned.
What did you think of Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 1 Episode 4? Let us know in the comments.
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