Review by C.J. Bunce
The first season of Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender began with the highest of stakes–the end of the known world where Airbenders, Earthbenders, Waterbenders, and Firebenders shared a fragile balance all under a Chosen One called the Avatar charged with keeping that balance in check. In my review of the first season here at borg I commented that the show, based on a beloved anime series, continued the strong line of storytelling including the Land of Oz, Middle-earth, Narnia, His Dark Materials, and Star Wars. Avatar: The Last Airbender absorbs all that came before it to present one of the best TV fantasy series yet. Yes, it’s a live-action adaptation that rivals the animated source material–not only will the series appeal to its existing fan base, this is a story for a fan of fantasy, period.
The first season was a spell-binding onboard ramp to this fantastical world, but the action and drama really propel the heroes ahead this season. An even better season filled with drama, thrills, intrigue, and real-world challenges about life and death, politics and governance that taps into Earth myths and legends and is faithful to the source material with perfectly cast actors, the next seven episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender await, now streaming on Netflix.
Gordon Cormier is not so little and young this season as Aang, the Avatar of the title. Still that wide-eyed, eternally optimistic, and often naive hero, his compassion and concern for his friends is challenged this year, but his performance doesn’t wane. I can’t think of an actor in ages who conveys “earnest” better than Cormier. George Lucas tried to pair his Anakin and Padme in the first of his Star Wars trilogy prequels and it was clunky and cringey, but the casting of Cormier opposite co-star Kiawentiio as Waterbender Katara proved to be a success with the two as believable peers now. The actress was about 19, he was about 16 for this season. The third season, which was filmed after the second, will wrap the series, but a slightly older Cormier should make the two an even more believable pair should romance be in their future (fans of the franchise already know the answer).
Netflix flat-out beats its Disney counterparts through its giant sets–this doesn’t have the feel of Disney’s CG-heavy worlds created via The Volume. This world feels more lived-in, like many a traditional Asian warrior epic (I’m thinking specifically about adaptations of The Legend of the Condor Heroes and Lone Wolf and Cub here). It’s also as if Hayao Miyazaki’s animated worlds snapped into the real world–something better than just a live-action adaptation of the 2005-2008 animated series from Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino. Pay close attention to music of Takeshi Furukawa. His evocative, masterful, emotional score belongs on your soundtrack playlist next to John Williams.
The heroes grew in surprising ways this season, including Aang and Katara, but also Ian Ousley as Sokka, Maria Zhang as Kyoshi warrior Suki (Zhang should have her own spin-off series), Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as Iroh, Danny Pudi as Sai, Sebastian Amoruso as Jet, and of course the CG characters Appa and Momo. From the villain branch, Elizabeth Yu delivered a more powerful performance as the vile Azula and Daniel Dai Kim was back briefly as Fire Lord Ozai. And Dallas Liu continues to have the most expansive character arc as the outlyer Prince Zuko. By now there’s no question Uncle Iroh is trying to be a force for good, and Zuko seems well on his way–except when he isn’t.
But the best character was all new to this season. That’s Miyako as the new friend to the group, the blind Earthbender Toph Beifong. Where do you start with this badass, small-statured heroine? Her “I invented Metalbending!” is the kind of line that defines an entire series. Her struggle to find new friends was one of creator Albert Kim’s most poignant story threads of the series. Not only did Miyako embody a nuanced young live-action heroine, her take is incredibly real, layered, something fantasy fans haven’t seen before.
At the midpoint of the season two cloaked superheroes emerge, adding more intriguing tropes to the series.
Along with newcomer Miyako’s great performance, viewers are treated with great work from other new cast members like Chin Han as the scheming Long Feng, Amanda Zhou as the frighteningly robotic ambassador Joo Dee, Madison Hu as Fei, Dichen Lachman as the spirit of Air Nomad Avatar Yangchen, Crystal Yu as Lady Beifong, Lourdes Fabares as General Sung, plus Yvonne Chapman returned as the spirit of Avatar Kyoshi. It’s worth noting how the creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender had no problem including as many lead female characters as male in their epic story.
More polished and lived-in than the animated series, the costumes, dialogue, and environments continue to dazzle–truly cinematic quality besting the streaming versions of His Dark Materials, The Rings of Power, Game of Thrones, and most of the Star Wars TV series. The scripts are infused with humor at every turn. What other series intertwines cultural elements from Asia and Native Americas, with corresponding actors from across the world? What other show presents stakes, duty, honor, devotion, and bravery like this?
Avatar: The Last Airbender is every bit as compelling drama and adventure as any live-action fantasy that came before on film or TV. Credit show creator Albert Kim and the original series and current writers for getting it all right. Great acting, great writing and dialogue, top-notch production quality–it remains one of the best TV series of the decade, watch the first and second seasons of Avatar: The Last Airbender streaming now on Netflix. Look for season three streaming on Netflix in 2027.
