Wayback Wednesday takes us back to the world of elemental benders and a 12 year-old boy destined to return balance to the Four Nations. The opening two episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender introduce us to the Southern Water Tribe‘s Katara (Mae Whitman) and her jerky brother Sokka (Jack De Sena) who discover a young Air Bender frozen in an iceberg. Having never seen an Air Bender before, believing them to have been wiped out, they are shocked but even more so when they discover Aang (Zach Tyler Eisen) has been frozen in ice for 100 years and is the missing Avatar destined to bring balance back to the realm dominated by the war mongering Fire Nation.
As we’ll see throughout the series, Aang gets by mostly by making our villains look foolish, moving quicker than they can catch up with, and, at times, literally running circles around them. While burdened at times by the weight of what he’s lost, Aang is almost always in good spirits wanting to visit as much of the world as possible. Other aspects of the show introduced here include Sokka’s chauvinism and dickish nature which will soften over time, Aang’s selflessness, Katara successfully water bending to help Aang escape, and of course the introduction of Aang’s flying bison Appa (Dee Bradley Baker).
We are also are introduced to Prince Zuko (Dante Basco) and his Uncle Iroh (Mako) who have been searching for the Avatar but were expecting to find an old man, not a child who has yet to unlock his mastery of the other elements and become the Avatar. The reason for Zuko’s obsession with the Avatar and how this quest began will be hinted at but not fully explained for multiple episodes. Zuko is momentarily successful in his quest when Aang turns himself in to save the tribe, only to later escape with the help of Katara and Sokka beginning their adventures together. And we see glimpses of the power of the Avatar within Aang which can come out to save his life when needed.
