Avatar

 The Last Airbender Season 1 Episode 1 Recap

The cold open is anything but, since it lays out the plans of Fire Lord Sozin, leader of the Fire Nation. Avatar introduces a world in which the four elements –earth, air, fire, and water are kept in check by the titular Avatar, who has the power to control or “bend”, in the show’s parlance all four elements.

The Avatar keeps the world in peace, but when one dies, their spirit is reborn, and another Avatar emerges – though this is a process that seems to take a bit of time. Sozin sees it as an opportunity to lay waste to the Airbenders, from whose ranks the latest Avatar will be chosen, and then take over the world without a viable challenger to his dominance.

This is all explained in a rather clunky early info dump. Needless to say, our hero Aang is that Avatar. We’re introduced to Aang as a slightly smug little prodigy. His best friend is his sky bison, Appa, and his primary teacher is Brother Gyatso, who doesn’t think he’s ready for much responsibility but keeps reiterating to him how talented he is, mostly just feeding his ego. Nevertheless, with the Fire Nation attacking the Earth Kingdom as a distraction – which we learned about in the cold open – the powers-that-be in the Sky Temple insist that Aang be informed of his status as the next Avatar and shipped off to learn the other bending abilities so he can fight back against the Fire Nation. Aang is naturally a bit thrown to hear this, but he gets over it remarkably quickly. To be fair, though, there are pressing matters to attend to. Prince Zuko, the son of Fire Lord Ozai, is desperately searching for the Avatar to satisfy his father, who has banished him from the Fire Nation, and he just so happens to be nearby when Aang’s powers kick in again. Zuko approaches Wolf Cove with a few men to investigate, and Sokka offers him out for a one-on-one. Zuko wins easily, so Aang intervenes, eventually volunteering himself as a hostage to save Wolf Cove. Impressed by his selflessness, Katara and Sokka set out to rescue Aang on the back of Appa. To be fair, Aang is only onboard Zuko’s ship for about five minutes anyway. He sticks around for one brief chat with Iroh, son of Fire Lord Azulon and Zuko’s uncle and put-upon advisor, and then manages to escape by swiping his cell keys from an oblivious guard. Sokka and Katara pick Aang up on Appa’s back, with a little help from Katara’s burgeoning Water bending powers. They realize, though, that they can’t return to Wolf Cove, as doing so would put the villagers in the firing line of the Fire Nation, so, at a bit of a loss for where to go next, they visit the remnants of the Sky Temple.

Aang finds Gyatso’s charred remains and has another outburst, this one a bit more indicative of the raw power he possesses (though obviously can’t quite control – yet.) Seeing the wreckage of his old home, Aang resolves to make sure the deaths of his people aren’t in vain by learning the other bending arts and taking down the Fire Nation.