Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 debuts June 25 on Netflix.
The first season of Avatar: The Last Airbender felt like watching the Ember Island Players, but unironically — it was a season of TV that struggled to decide whether it was gritty and dark for the now-grown-ups who watched the original 20 years ago, or if it should replicate the silliness and fun for a new generation of kids. It wound up struggling to mix the two tones; thankfully, when the world needed him most, the avatar returned.
Season 2 of Avatar: The Last Airbender improves on nearly every single aspect of the first season in really impressive ways. The pacing is much better, though not perfect; the condensation of storylines makes for a meatier story that allows each character to have their own satisfying arc; and there are some original subplots that are genuine improvements on the source material. The show also finally resolves its tonal issue by aging up the story. Just like the original cartoon started maturing in Book Two of its story, the live-action version also takes a more serious approach with its cast grown up — quite literally in the case of Gordon Cormier’s growth spurt, which the season tries clunkily to explain — and the story growing up along with them.
With Book Two being such a sprawling chapter in the Aang saga, it makes for a hard story to adapt, as it covers too many locations and side stories. The live-action adaptation decides to pretty much jump straight into the Ba Sing Se portion of the story as soon as possible, building up the thrills and dangers of the metropolis. It works, as we get a good feeling of the inner workings of the Earth Kingdom capital and its culture, the sheltered life its citizens live, and the vast network of secrecy and surveillance they live under.
The season finds a nice balance of giving the main story a sense of urgency while justifying slowing down to allow the characters enough time to explore the city and have individual arcs. Particularly compelling are the side stories for Aang, who is forced to play politician with Long Feng to try and gain an audience with the king; for Toph, and her dealings with her horrendous family history; and for Zuko and Iroh’s attempts at starting a new life.
Miya Cech does a great job as Toph, embodying the character’s toughness and prowess, but also her vulnerability, especially when it involves her family. Speaking of family, the Fire Nation continues to be a highlight of this adaptation. Elizabeth Yu’s Azula is a phenomenal villain, and she gets an expanded role this season that gives us insights into her resentment toward both Zuko and her parents, and her desperate and ruthless pursuit of approval. Dallas Liu makes for an impeccable Zuko, and his take on the Zuko Alone storyline is a treat to watch even in a new medium. This time, however, it is Paul Sun-Hyung Lee’s Uncle Iroh who gets the absolute best parts of the story.
Much like the One Piece live-action adaptation, this show knows when to remix storylines and where to add original ideas to make later elements hit harder, as in the case of Iroh. Season 2 expands on Iroh’s history with the Earth Kingdom, not only with him losing his son, but in getting quite explicit in reminding us that before he was a fun and wise uncle, he was a war criminal. The Last Airbender takes Iroh to task and forces him to reckon with the lives he destroyed and the atrocities committed under his command. It’s working from nuanced and implied moments from the source material, presenting them in a way that Nickelodeon couldn’t allow.
Sadly, it’s not all perfect. Visually, the show is a letdown, mostly set at night with poor lighting that makes it hard to follow the action. Bending looks great, but there is some awkwardness with the CG and action choreography (though creatures like Wan Shi Tong look great). Worse yet is the constant use of CG imagery and virtual sets for nearly every location; you can count on one hand the number of scenes set inside physical sets that aren’t just enclosed rooms.
Likewise, even if a lot of the added material and rearranging of original source elements make for a good overall story, it does suffer by forcing some of those elements into perhaps the wrong places. It’s most noticeable with Appa’s disappearance; this happens early in the cartoon and becomes a driving force of most of Book Two, but the live-action show leaves it for the last couple episodes of the season, making it feel like an afterthought. It therefore loses most of its emotional impact and comes across as a forced, out-of-the-blue twist when there are already enough subplots driving the story to its conclusion. This continues to be the biggest issue with this adaptation; it feels compelled to include every single memorable bit from the original cartoon even if by the time it’s included, it no longer makes sense.
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