Welcome back for another weekly review of Avatar! This week, we tough out a storm and learn of the tumultuous pasts of two of our leads. How does the episode hold up? Here are my thoughts.
1. Somber Tone.
Up until this point, Avatar has been mostly lighthearted, with an adventurous and upbeat tone even when dealing with serious topics. There are a few great jokes throughout “The Storm,” because it wouldn’t be Avatar without a bit of humor, but overall we get a much more somber episode. From the visual darkness during the storm to the slower music to the stories themselves, it’s a welcome tonal shift that completely fits this story.
2. Two (Mostly) Unrelated Stories.
The bulk, or at least most important parts, of the episode are the fleshing out of Aang’s past experiences from 100 years ago and Zuko’s past experiences from just a few years back. These are things that had been hinted at until now, though never fully explained. And besides both dealing with a character’s past and some other thematic links, they’re two unrelated stories. Zuko’s ship does spot Team Avatar for a small moment near the end of the episode, but that’s only moment of connection after having gone through the duration of the episode switching back and forth between the two.
The focus on Aang makes sense, as he’s been the single main character up until now. As for the equal focus on Zuko, this shows how important he also is to the overall narrative and sets him up for greater roles in future episodes.
3. Aang’s Regret.
In learning about Aang’s past, we also learn of the internal struggles he’s been dealing with but hasn’t outwardly expressed. I think the ideas this episode introduces set this show far apart from other “chosen one” narratives, because Aang has already learned about his “chosen one” status by the time we meet him. He’s already been through that initial denial and fear, and now we see the real, tangible, extreme consequences that a century of ignoring his duty has led to. He has every right to be angry at the situation, as well as angry at himself, which is a nice flaw to introduce.
This all also gives deeper meaning to his journey in the episodes thus far: I noted how back in episode 4, “The Warriors of Kyoshi,” Aang started to turn away from the danger before turning back to face it. It was the first true heroic moment in his life, and we now understand how big a deal it was that he didn’t simply run away.
4. Zuko’s Empathy.
In addition to learning about Aang, we also learn about why Zuko got banished from the Fire Nation. And, surprisingly, it’s because he was the only one in that Fire Nation war room with enough empathy and (excuse the pun) enough of a fire in his heart to speak out.
Note how Iroh cringes and looks away during Zuko’s punishment, while Zhao and Azula (cameo!) excitedly look on. Placing Iroh there, and showing his reaction, introduces some deep connection between the two which hadn’t been completely apparent until now. Unlike most of those around them, they both care about people. Iroh clearly sees this in his nephew, and he’s dedicated to helping Zuko realize it.
Going back to Zuko, right after we learn about his past, he goes out of his way to save one of his ship’s crew members. He did endanger the crew member’s life by being headstrong about heading into the storm, but ultimately he cared enough about the guy to risk his own life and save him. A nice touch to thematically tie that past into his present.
5. Hope.
Katara mentions how Aang represents hope for others. Soon after, Iroh mentions how the Avatar represents hope for Zuko. It’s a little ironic, but while they both have troubles in their past, they both see a path in front of them.
Particularly, Aang sees a reason to keep moving forward, and Zuko sees a way back to where he was. You can immediately see how one of these might be more fulfilling, especially when you consider Iroh’s statement, immediately before the hope line, that “things will never return to normal” for Zuko. We get the sense that Aang has mostly worked through his personal troubles, while Zuko still has a long way to go before he can move forward. And boy, does he.
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Did you enjoy the episode as much as I did? What do you make of this new information about our characters? Was there anything I missed? Let me know in the comments!
