Revisiting Avatar: top 5 episodes from book one
Book one is not considered by most to be the best of the last airbender,with many claiming characters were juvenile and underdeveloped. However it was still good enough to impress critics and fans alike, thus securing a further two more cherished seasons. There are lots of not very good episodes in this series, from when avatar was still finding its feet however I think that there are some gems in this season that can stand amongst the best of that later seasons.
5. Winter solstice part 1: The Spirit World
This episode is of unrivaled importance for continuity throughout the rest of The Last Airbender and even into Korra. The audience is presented with the spirit world, spirits and the role of the Avatar as bridge between the physical and spirit world. It also mentions Ba Sing Se as the earth nation capital and the site of Irohs fabled military disgrace, and plants hints of the level of Irohs spiritual understanding which is not fully understood until the third season. Aang and the Panda spirit make amends with themselves for not protecting innocents and the forest from the wrath of fire nation soldier, and for the first time we see a symbolic suggestion that the world can repair itself over time from the carnage of a hundred years of war.
4. The Fortuneteller
The Last Airbender had twice as many episodes per season as Korra, so it could always afford to dedicate a few to explore themes and locations otherwise irrelevant to the primary plot. Fortuneteller felt almost like a fable or a proverb, warning for the complications that arrise from excess superstition or theology. Aang is not sure where he stands when Katara is swept away by the tellings of a con-woman/ psychic and Sokka tries to demonstrate that science and logic reign supreme despite the jeers of others. We see that obvious coincedental pre cognitive dispositions play a large role in the playing of peoples ‘fate’. For example Sokka meets a man who has been told he will meet his love while wearing red shoes, and therefor he eagerly wears red shoes every day. Sokka tried to explain that this isnt a fair scientific test for the psychic reading, but to no avail. Also the voice actress who did a one episode appearance as Meng also goes on to play Toph.
3. The Blue Spirit
Aang is captured by the newly annointed Admiral Zhao to be rescued by a sword fighting vigilante called the blue spirit. Demasked and unconscious following an arrow injury, Aang realises his saviour is Prince Zuko to his horror. He contemplates leaving him for dead but saves Zuko to repay the debt. When Zuko is slipping into consciousness Aang has a one way conversation with him about his frustrations and how under different circumstances they could have been friends, just like Zuko would reciprocate in The Siege of the North.
2. The Siege of the North: part 2
Iroh realises that Yue owes her life to the moon.
The last episode of book one fittingly gives us glimpses into the more developed and detailed characters and story lines of the second book. Zuko is stuck in a cave with meditating-coma-Aang and uses the cognitively absent Aang as a psychologist to tell his frustrations too. We hear details of his abusive and neglectful father, and for the first time recounts of his prodigal and ruthless sister. Zhao kills the moon spirit in the spirit oasis, prompting Iroh into a traitorous rage. We see that Irohs true loyalities lie not with the tyrannical fire nation despite his royal upbringing and military prowess, but instead with nature and his family. Yue sacrifices herself the revive the moon, marking avatars first on screen non implicit major character death, followed shortly by Admiral Zhao.
1. The Storm
This episode is great because it juxtaposes Aang and Zuko showing just how similar their pasts and temperament are. Both have suffered terrible injustices as children and feel bound by a duty to their people. The only difference between them is seen to be that Aang had a good hearted mentor in Monk Gyatso, while Zuko was raised by the Fire Lord. The plot set in the current setting is rather dull and of no great consequence, however the flashbacks to Aang and Zukos childhoods teach us to empathise with the series anti-villain and would go on to determine events for the rest of the series and beyond.