Aang (Avatar: The Last Airbender episode)

"Aang" is the premiere episode of the first season of Netflix adventure fantasy television series Avatar: The Last Airbender, which is based on the animated television series of the same name (2005–2008). It was written by showrunner Albert Kim and original series creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, and directed by Michael Goi.

As the first episode of the series, it introduces the setting and the main characters of the show, adapting the first three episodes of the first season of the original series, "The Boy in the Iceberg", "The Avatar Returns" and "The Southern Air Temple". The episode centers on an airbender Aang (Gordon Cormier) who discovers he is the Avatar, the one person who can bend all four elements: air, water, earth, and fire. When Aang runs away from his home at the Southern Air Temple, he awakens to discover he has been trapped in an iceberg for 100 years and that the Fire Nation has waged war on the world. The episode was showcased at the show's premiere on February 15, 2024, and later released on Netflix on February 22, 2024, receiving mixed reviews with praise for its worldbuilding and fight sequences but some criticism for its script, tone and pacing.

Plot
In a world with four nations, each of which can bend an element: water, earth, fire, or air, an earthbender tries to get a message to the Earth King regarding the Fire Nation's plan to attack the Earth Kingdom, but he is captured and is taken to meet Fire Lord Sozin who informs him the attack on the Earth Kingdom is meant to be a distraction, before being executed.

At the Southern Air Temple, 12-year-old Aang is told by his friend and mentor Monk Gyatso that he is the Avatar, the one person capable of bending all four elements. Afraid of the responsibility he now has as the Avatar, Aang decides to take a ride on his sky bison Appa to clear his mind.

As Aang leaves, Sozin and an army of firebenders, with their power amplified by a comet in the sky, attack the Air Temple and begin to kill all the airbenders with the belief that they would also be killing the Avatar. Gyatso is one of the last airbending masters left but he is killed by Sozin as he was trying to protect young airbenders. Meanwhile, Aang and Appa get caught in a storm and hit a wave, sending them into the ocean before Aang's eyes and tattoos glow and he forms an iceberg around him and Appa.

100 years later, at Wolf Cove in the Southern Water Tribe, siblings Sokka and Katara go fishing where they are sucked into a current and end up on a glacier with their boat drifting away from them. As Katara tries to waterbend the boat back to them, she inadvertently cracks open an iceberg behind her causing a massive light to shoot into the sky. The light is seen by Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation, who is looking for the Avatar, leading him to set a course for Wolf Cove. Aang falls out of the iceberg unconscious and Katara decides to bring him to the village.

Sokka and Katara's grandmother, who they call Gran Gran, reveals Aang is an airbender to the water tribe siblings. When Aang wakes up, he calls for Appa who arrives at Wolf Cove and Gran Gran tells him he has been in that iceberg for 100 years and that the Fire Nation has waged war on the world. Katara takes a guilt-ridden Aang to an old Fire Nation ship that was damaged in one of the raids and he teaches how to feel the energy around her, helping her successfully waterbend for the first time by creating a ball of water. She drops the ball of water when she sees Zuko's ship approaching the Wolf Cove.

Zuko arrives at the gates of the tribe demanding that they hand over the airbender so no one gets hurt, leading Gran Gran to deduce Aang is the Avatar. With encouragement from Katara, Sokka goes to fight Zuko but Aang saves him before he can be killed. Aang fights the Fire Nation troops but turns himself over after noticing the fight is endangering people. Aang is taken to Zuko's ship where he meets Zuko's uncle Iroh. He asks Iroh why the war is going on, and Iroh tells him the Fire Nation is trying to unite the four nations under one rule to bring peace. As Iroh leaves, Aang uses airbending to steal the keys from a guard and escapes.

Katara tries convincing Sokka to help rescue Aang, but Sokka is already on board with the idea. They fly Appa to Zuko's ship, where Aang hides from the guards and finds Zuko's room where he finds his airbending staff which Zuko had captured. He steals Zuko's notebook, which contains details of the past Avatars. Aang eventually escapes Zuko's ship and is rescued by Sokka and Katara on Appa. Zuko shoots a fireball trying to bring them down, but Katara extinguishes it with waterbending.

Knowing they cannot return to Wolf Cove, Aang takes them to the Southern Air Temple where he sees the skeletons of all the airbenders. Upon finding Gyatso's skeleton, Aang's eyes and tattoos glow again and he begins making a tornado which nearly sends Sokka and Katara flying off an edge. Remembering Gyatso's words to him, Aang exits the state he is in and embraces he is the Avatar and that he must save the world.

Production
This episode was directed by Michael Goi and written by Albert Kim, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko; it aired on Netflix along with the rest of the season on February 22, 2024.

Main cast members Gordon Cormier as Avatar Aang, Dallas Liu as Prince Zuko, Kiawentiio as Katara, Ian Ousley as Sokka and Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as Iroh appear. The guest stars for this episode include Lim Kay Siu as Aang's childhood friend and teacher Gyatso, Casey Camp-Horinek as Sokka and Katara's grandmother Kanna who is nicknamed 'Gran Gran', Hiro Kanagawa as Fire Lord Sozin, Yvonne Chapman as Avatar Kyoshi, Ruy Iskandar as Lieutenant Jee, Clyde Kusatsu as a fire sage, David Sakurai as an earthbender, and Matt Yang King as the voice of Aang's sky bison Appa.

Critical reception
The episode received mixed reviews from critics and fans. Mo Hoosen of The Streamr criticized the show's pacing stating, "The show is in a rush to get somewhere and feels completely isolating for new viewers, paying lip-service to beats from the animated show with very little care." Sean Mott of Idobi Radio described the show as being "off to an odd start," and called the tone "really uneven." Archie Fenn from The Insightful Nerd calls the script the biggest problem with the episode writing "the dialogue is lacking in any kind of personality or enthusiasm, with every single character reduced to an exposition delivering shell of the originals." However, Fenn praised the action design claiming it as "one key area where Netflix's version truly shines."