"Avatar: The Last Airbender" Review

(Started writing on May 23, 2020)

I'm going to make this straight and direct to the point:

IF YOU'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR A TV SHOW THAT'S FUNNY, CREATIVE, BINGE-WORTHY, EMOTIONAL, HAS COMPLEX CHARACTERS, AND TACKLES IMPORTANT ISSUES IN OUR COMMUNITY, LOOK NO FURTHER!

"Avatar: The Last Airbender" exists!

"Avatar: The Last Airbender," for y'all that didn't know, is a TV show that was created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. The first episode, "The Boy in the Iceberg," aired on Nickelodeon on February 21, 2005, and the last episode of the series, "Sozin's Comet: Avatar Aang," aired on July 19, 2008, ending a three-year old and three season long saga. The series was on Amazon Prime for awhile, where I was fortunate enough to binge-watch all three seasons from start to finish, but sadly, the show moved off the Amazon Prime, and most people thought that the TV show was gone for good.

Luckily, Netflix has graced many of us in quarantine with an EPIC return of the series, so I took it upon myself to revisit the world that had blessed my childhood and oh, was I shocked. As a child, I had only seen "Avatar: The Last Airbender"as a show filled with comic relief, magic powers, and a very complex plot, but now, as an almost full-fledged teenager,

the added maturity has opened my eyes to so much more in the TV show. I now see added morals in the story, such as responsibility to one's family while chasing what is right, battling with one's inner demons, even how difficult it is to lose someone and how to deal with that loss. During episodes where I used to have laughing fits, I now sob; during episodes which had scenes that made absolutely no sense to me as to why the animators added that in, I now realize that those scenes were essential to each and every one of the characters and added more depth as to who they are and who they were going to be in the later future.

"Avatar: The Last Airbender" to me is now not just a show about an imaginary world where people can "bend" the elements, it's now a show about real people and feelings. This show doesn't contain those shallow characters like in those Disney sitcoms, not at all. This show portrays each and every character with their flaws and inner demons, basking them in a type of light that allows us to fully relate with these characters. This allows us to laugh with them when they laugh, cry when they cry, and experience their journey along with them as if we were right there by their side.

The overall plot isn't too hard to follow. In the realm of where "Avatar: The Last Airbender" takes place, there are four basic elements; fire, water, air, and earth. Some people are capable of mastering the element; these people are called "benders." Every bender can only master one element, except for one person called the "Avatar," who can master all of the elements. The soul of the Avatar is reincarnated every generation, in an endless cycle of benders (earth, fire, air, water, earth, fire, air, water, etc.). The Avatar's job in the realm is to make sure that the realm is balanced and everyone is living in peace.

There are four nations: the Fire Nation, the Southern and Northern Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, and the Air Nomads (pictured below.)

Now it's here where the story starts: everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. The Fire Nation brutally attacked all the neighboring kingdoms and tribes in hopes of conquering all the nations and uniting them under the Fire Lord. However, when the realm needed the Avatar most, he vanished.

One hundred years later, in present times, (where the first episode starts), we see Katara and Sokka, two Southern Water Tribe siblings, on a boat, looking for food. Sokka is very chill and makes Katara do all the work (wrong move, buddy) which causes Katara, a budding water-bender, to lash out at her brother and split an iceberg in the process. Inside the iceberg, however, they find a young boy with arrow tattoos, along with his flying bison. They both wake up in a matter of minutes, and Katara and Sokka soon discover that the young boy, named Aang, is the missing Avatar and that he and his bison, Appa, have been in that iceberg for 100 years. Katara begs Aang to teach her how to water-bend, and Katara and Sokka both bring Aang and Appa back to their tribe.

Now one thing I forgot to mention is that the current Fire Lord, Ozin, has two children: Azula and Zuko (Azula pictured to below). Zuko, however, has been banished from the Fire Nation for refusing to fight his father in an Agni Kai (A firebending duel). Zuko's only way to regain his throne and honor is to find the Avatar and bring him back to the Fire Nation.

When Katara and Sokka bring Aang back to their camp, Zuko sees this, realizes that Avatar is awakened, and with the help of his uncle, Iroh, who is helping Zuko find the Avatar, they launch an attack on the Water Tribe.

I don't want to spare you guys all the details, but the end result is that Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Appa leave the Water Tribe to head for the Northern Water tribe, in hopes of finding a water master to teach Aang how to waterbend.

The following episodes follow Aang and his friends on their journey to make Aang learn how to master all the elements, with of course, wacky adventures and emotional moments along the way, and eventually, defeat the Fire Lord and restore peace to the realm.

This show, in my opinion, has one of the BEST redemption arcs I've ever seen, correctly exploring a character and their inner demons, instead of immediately transferring a character from the "bad" side to the "good" side. This show also contains perfectly timed comedic relief, as a way of diffusing the tension from the emotional moments (that's rough buddy, cactus juice, etc).

I would recommend this to everyone. To kids, as this show helps to elevate their imagination, to adults, as this show is one of the only cartoons out there which helps to reveal some of the most troubling issues of our society today, and just anybody who's looking for a TV show to watch.

SO WATCH THIS TV SHOW AS SOON AS YOU CAN!

(Okay, I'm done, thanks for reading. Also sorry if I haven't updated my blog in such a long time, hehe, I've been really busy!)