Avatar The Last Airbender - Season 1

Stream on Netflix

Episode: 8 Episodes (48 - 63 minutes each, The first is the longest)

Rated TV-PG

Based on the beloved Nickelodeon cartoon.

“Only justice can bring peace.”

The Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water Nations have always lived peaceably together under the overwatch of the Avatar, the only person able to control all four elements. Each time the Avatar passes away their spirit is reborn into the next Avatar that will keep the balance and peace amongst the nations. Unfortunately, once the last Avatar died a new one did not rise up. The Fire Nation saw this as a time to go to war, unbeongst to them the Avatar has returned.

Themes:

The elements, control, genocide, incarnation, avatars, being forced to grow up too quickly, power, loss, family, culture, traditions, keeping one’s culture alive, respect, expectations, burdens, kingdoms/nations, government/thrones, hope, kindness, sacrifice, fighting for a cause, peace/unity, war, avoidance, cost of safety, grief, anger, mentoring, price of freedom, betrayal, effects of war on families and children, love, abandonment, sacrifice, finding commonality in pain and hardships, forgiveness, home, spirit/soul, enlightenment, sexism, disappointment, royalty, nature, genocide, the moon, change, and sky bison.

Language:

A*s - 2

Name calling such as coward, outsider, idiot, little, and trader.

Stuff to be aware of: (some off this could be considered spoilers if you don’t know the story)

Episode 1: Men get hit with fireballs and rocks. A man gets burned up and his body is left as an ashy corpse. This scene happens pretty quickly. There is briefly a woman with glowing eyes, she is an Avatar hero (not meant to be scary). There is a very large scale, pivotal battle sequence. An entire nation and it’s people are wiped out. There are some mortal wounds and major burns shown, but they are brief. It is implied that children are killed.

Episode 2: A guy has his shirt off and another girl around his age admires him in an awkward way. There is a battle scene when a village gets attacked, but there is nothing graphic. Some flirting and a kiss between a boy and girl.

Episode 3: A young man/kid gets burned alive off screen. There are buring sounds and and yelling off screen. A man gets shot through the shoulder with an arrow. There is no blood seen.

Episode 4: A leader calls a servant an, “idiot.” There is a soldier that escorts a prisoner and he punches and hits the prisoner several times. He almost drops a huge rock on his head, but he is stopped. One character gets a sharp rock stabbed into his back, there is blood around the wound. A giant creature called a badger mole chases characters and tries to eat them. The scene is very dark, but the creature could be scary to some.

Episode 5: Some more fighting, but nothing more intense than previous episodes and the cartoon. There is a scene in which a village is attacked and burnt down. There are some burnt up bear statues made of wood that appear suddenly and scare one of the characters. This episode has Ang going into the spirit realm in which he looks like a ghost. There is a creepy creature that looks kind of like a feline wolf with tentacles on his note. There is also a creature that looks like a tall owl. There is talk of creatures that eat people’s souls. There is a creature that is invisible and makes footprints in the sand. There is a scary looking monster that kind of looks like something from Stranger Things (no eyes, four arms, runs on all fours). A scary child runs around just escaping sight and laughing. She then comes out of nowhere creating a jump scare. You briefly see a mother shot with fire and burnt up. There is a human looking character that has black paint around his eyes and he moves in creepy ways. This man turns into a very creepy looking centipede monster with lots of legs and a creepy doll looking face. His face turns into different people and animals. Fans of the show will know him as Koh the Face Stealer. This creature may be scary for younger viewers.

Episode 6: The bounty hunter’s feline wolf thing returns and licks someone poisoning them. It is emptied that a man is killed by fire, but it is not seen. The scary monster (Koh) is seen in flashbacks. Wine is mentioned. A man falls forward, not sure if he is knocked unconscious or stabbed in the back. There is a lengthy fight scene and bad guys are killed and fall from great heights. A character gets nicked in the head with an arrow. He has a little blood on him. Two characters duel with fire bending and one gets burnt in several spots. One is held down and his face is burnt, but this act is not seen.

Episode 7: There is a brief scene with characters drinking. A man shows part of his chest and shoulder where he is covered in scars. Breifly Koh is shown with a different face in a flash back. There is some sexism in this episode dealing with women not being able to do things.

Episode 8: This episode is mostly a battle with lots of fighting, but nothing more intense than previous episodes. Momo gets hurt and looks dead, but there is no blood. A fish in a bag is stabbed and the blood soaks through the cloth. Several characters have cuts and bleed throughout the finale. There is a large water spirit, but I wouldn’t consider him scary. After the battle several people are seen dead. They eyes are closed and they are covered by blankets.

Overall:

“If I’m gonna save the world, I am to do it one person at a time.”

I did not watch the entire animated series, so I can’t speak to the faithfulness of this adaption, but what I do know is that this one nails the main characters and their interactions. While this one doesn’t have quite as much humor as the cartoon, it still has all the heart of the original show. I enjoyed it, but Koh may be a bit scary for younger audiences.

A few complaints I have, but didn’t really keep me from enjoying the show. Several of the action sequences take place at night and it is not always easy to see everything that happens. The action scenes can be a bit blurry and hard to follow at times. This show is best watched in a dark room. Some of the background/sets look a little fake. I think we would have benefited from a few more episodes filling in some story. Lastly, some of the groups and people’s matching uniforms could have used a little more variety. This likely is to match the cartoon, but sometimes makes everything kind of blandish and the same.

I’m excited for season two!