Although Good, ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ Is Still Jam-Packed
by Frank Martin
Often times, an adaptation is built up with so much fan hype that some forget the work should still stand on its own. Many who view the new live Avatar The Last Airbender series on Netflix won’t have any knowledge of the original animated series. They will be coming at it completely blind. Because of this, the show should be able to work as a standalone piece. And it does … for the most part. The show makes logical sense and follows a consistent plot with strong character arcs and themes. But because it wants to honor its source material as much as possible, there are a lot of elements weaved into the fabric of the narrative. This can often leave episodes feeling a bit too jam-packed and muddled for the uninitiated.
The Last Airbender animated series more or less sets the stage during its intro. It tells the story of Aang (Gordon Cormier), the most recent Avatar, who survived an air nomad genocide when the Fire Nation began their war. The cartoon is forced to do this because it begins a hundred years after that war began. The recap is necessary. The Netflix show has no such qualms as it decides to start off on its own point 100 years prior — right before the Fire Nation attacks. This immediately sets the show off on its own path to introduce new audiences to its setting and the stakes.
The first couple episodes move along nicely on this new chartered timeline. It’s when the season starts to move along that the jam-packed episodes begin. It’s impossible for those familiar with the show to separate their experience from the adaptation. These viewers will be able to notice the many characters within each episode, but these characters were originally introduced over the span of an entire season on Nickelodeon. Without being familiar with them, it’s a bit difficult for new viewers to keep track of everyone all at once, especially when they only show up for an episode or two. Still, just because something is crowded doesn’t mean it’s a failure. It just means new viewers have to pay extra close attention, and they can benefit from having a more seasoned Avatar fan to fill in the cracks.
Avatar: The Last Airbender is now streaming on Netflix.
