Masks (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

"Masks" is the sixth episode of the first season of the Netflix adventure fantasy television series Avatar: The Last Airbender, which is based on the animated television series of the same name (2005–2008). The show follows Aang (Gordon Cormier), the last airbender and the “Avatar”, on his journey to bring balance to a war-torn world by mastering all four elements: air, water, earth, and fire. On his quest, he is joined by companions Katara (Kiawentiio) and Sokka (Ian Ousley) and hunted down by Fire Nation prince Zuko (Dallas Liu). The episode was directed by Roseanne Liang and written by Emily Kim & Hunter Ries, and Bryan Konietzko from a story by Ubah Mohammed and Michael Dante DiMartino & Konietzko.

The episode, like the rest of the season, adapts the first season of the original, with this episode specifically adapting episode eight, "The Winter Solstice, Part 2: Avatar Roku", episode twelve, “The Storm”, and episode thirteen, “The Blue Spirit”. It follows Aang as he ventures into the Fire Nation and is captured by Admiral Zhao (Ken Leung), before being rescued by a mysterious masked marauder called “the Blue Spirit”. The episode also includes the backstory of Prince Zuko, explaining how he got his scar and why he's hunting the Avatar. The episode was released on Netflix on February 22, 2024, along with the rest of the season, receiving positive reviews with Liu's performance gathering praise.

Plot
In a flashback to 3 years ago, Prince Zuko is invited to his first war meeting where he challenges a general's plan to sacrifice a batch of new recruits, the 41st Division, in order to win a battle. Zuko's father, Fire Lord Ozai, decides Zuko will settle this through an Agni Kai. The next morning, Zuko learns he would have to fight his father instead. While he fights back, Ozai wins the duel and burns Zuko's left eye, leaving a scar as punishment for his actions at the war chamber. While he's healing, Zuko is visited by Ozai who tells him that what separates the Fire Nation from the rest is that they sacrifice the weak to win the war. Zuko counters by saying that would be refusing the weak the chance to become better. A furious Ozai exclaims that "compassion is a sign of weakness" and banishes Zuko from the Fire Nation, telling him he can only return when he has found and captured the Avatar. As he's leaving, Ozai tells him to take the 41st Division with him.

In the present, Aang travels to Crescent Island to talk with Avatar Roku with the hopes he can help save his friends from Koh the Face Stealer. At the temple, Aang discovers the Fire Sages, who are meant to serve the Avatar, have turned on him and now support the Fire Lord. One defector, Shyu, helps Aang enter Roku's shrine. Speaking with Roku, Aang learns Roku took a special statue from Koh that originally belonged to Koh's mother, the Mother of Faces, and Roku tells Aang to trade the statue for his friend's lives. Before leaving, Roku warns Aang to not rely on his friends too much. Exiting the shrine, Aang finds the Fire Sages paralyzed and is soon knocked out by the shirshu Nyla. Meanwhile, the recently promoted Admiral Zhao takes charge of Zuko's ship and his crew, and while Zuko tries to motivate the crew, Lieutenant Jee lashes out at Iroh exclaiming that "he may be a prince, but he's not our prince."

When he comes to, Aang learns he's been captured by the bounty hunter June, who has been hired by Zuko and Iroh. Aang begs Zuko to let him go so he can save his friends, but Zuko refuses. Eventually, Zhao arrives and takes Aang off Zuko's hands and locks him up at Pohuai Stronghold. While he's boasting himself, a mysterious swordsman called "the Blue Spirit" rescues Aang and the two escape together. The Blue Spirit is knocked unconscious during the escape, and is revealed to be Zuko. Aang saves Zuko and the two hide in a barn where they bond until Aang mentions that Zuko seems compassionate. Remembering his father's words about compassion being a weakness, Zuko attacks Aang and in self-defense Aang knocks Zuko out with airbending.

Aang puts Zuko on his boat and asks him if they knew each other 100 years ago, if they could have been friends. Zuko violently rebuffs before Aang escapes and Zuko sails back to his boat. While waiting for Zuko to arrive, Iroh tells Jee about Zuko's story where Jee learns that through Zuko's sacrifice, the 41st Division, which includes himself, are still alive. Zuko returns to the boat where the rest of the crew welcome him back with honor, claiming "[their] prince has returned." Aang rescues everyone captured by Koh by trading the statue for their lives, but when he goes back to meet Gyatso, he finds he is gone.

Production
This episode was directed by Roseanne Liang and written by Emily Kim, Hunter Ries and Bryan Konietzko from a story by Ubah Mohamed, Michael Dante DiMartino and Konietzko; it aired on Netflix along with the rest of the season on February 22, 2024. The episode features plotlines inspired by episodes of the animated series, primarily episode eight, "Avatar Roku (Winter Solstice, Part 2)", episode twelve, "The Storm", and episode thirteen, "The Blue Spirit".

Main cast members Gordon Cormier as Aang, Kiawentiio as Katara, Ian Ousley as Sokka, Dallas Liu as Prince Zuko, Ken Leung as Admiral Zhao, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as Iroh, and Daniel Dae Kim as Fire Lord Ozai appear. C.S. Lee guest stars as Avatar Roku, Aang's past life. François Chau and James Rha star as the Great Sage and Fire Sage Shyu respectively, while Arden Cho plays bounty hunter June. Elizabeth Yu appears as Princess Azula in Zuko's flashback, and Ruy Iskandar plays Lieutenant Jee. Matt Yang King stars as the vocalisations of Appa and Momo.

Critical reception
The episode received positive reviews. Rich Eberwein from Winter is Coming gave the episode a A- score saying “This episode made me yearn for more Zuko-and-Aang scenes and got me excited for potential future seasons of the show.” Jonathon Wilson of Ready Steady Cut gave the episode 4 out of 5 stars writing “Episode 6 shares some of Zuko’s backstory, helping the audience to empathize with his plight while Aang seeks the help of a former Avatar once again.” Noah Petrillo of The Review Geek gave the episode 3 stars out of 5 saying "despite Dallas Liu stealing the show as Zuko, the character feels less developed. Zuko comes across as sad and lost from the outset, rather than fiercely determined yet misguided. It simply doesn’t compare to the deliberate pacing in the animation." The Comic Crow of Fandom Pulse gave the episode a score of 6 out of 10 writing "There was plenty of time given to establish Zuko and Aang’s connection and how they’re both dealing with not living up to the expectations of others. Aang seemed to genuinely despise Zuko until he got to learn more about him and what drives him. It would be nice if the other episodes spent more time developing the relationships between the characters."

In their ranking of all 8 episodes from the first season, Tyler B. Searle from Collider gave this episode the top spot, writing: "The flashbacks in "Mask" are some of the show's best-paced sequences, feeling tense, pressing, and suitably epic in scope. Along with telling the familiar and tragic origins of Zuko's scar, the show adds some new drama by revealing that the crew of Zuko's boat is made up of the people who would have been sacrificed in the military operation he opposed."