Post — Aaron Ngo

Major Spoilers are included in this season review. Please read with caution.

On June 29, 2020, I finished Avatar the Last Airbender for the third or fourth time. The final book delivered a satisfying conclusion that solidified the series as a timeless piece, with its plots and themes being ever-present during the coronavirus pandemic. Book 3 picked up where Book 2 ended: Aang and the rest of Team Avatar escaping Ba Sing Se and trying to restore balance to the world.

While the season premiere was a strong opener, I thought the series was meandering a bit with the next two episodes, but I still found “The Headband” and “The Painted Lady” enjoyable character-driven stories for Aang and Katara. After “The Day of Black Sun” mid-season two-parter and Zuko officially joining the team though, the series was committed to driving itself to its epic conclusion: Aang vs Fire Lord Ozai.

Speaking of Zuko, his character development came full-circle in this final season. He received a lot of screen time given his adventures with Aang, Sokka, and Katara to help them with their own character work. Aang found a way to dissociate Firebending from violence, Sokka redeemed himself by saving his father and girlfriend Suki, and Katara gained closure with her mother’s death. Aang low-key looked boring amongst all this awesomeness, but even he had a more solid character arc when he debated how to handle Fire Lord Ozai without killing him.

Netflix’s remastered HD made watching Avatar the Last Airbender more clean and fresher than my previous viewings. Book 3 also improved on the animation itself compared to Books 1 and 2 with more fluidity in scene movements. The action scenes also benefited from this, having taken more cues from anime shows like DBZ (example one: using a rocky area as the final battleground). The addition of military strategy—Sokka being the leader in this regard—was also a nice touch.

Overall, Avatar the Last Airbender is worth watching at some point in your life. This fantasy series has something for kids, teens, and adults. All the storylines were wrapped up in a satisfying manner, the last fight scenes were awesome and intense, and the life lessons are still worth learning too.

Thanks for reading my reviews on Avatar the Last Airbender. I might review The Legend of Korra in the near future. The sequel deals with topics more relevant to today’s current times.

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