Spirited Away (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

"Spirited Away" is the fifth 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 written by Gabriel Llanas and directed by Roseanne Liang.

The episode, like the rest of the season, adapts the first season of the original series, with this episode specifically adapting episode seven, "The Spirit World (Winter Solstice, Part 1)", and episode fifteen, "Bato of the Water Tribe". It follows Aang and his friends who get transported into the Spirit World and must find a way to escape. Meanwhile, Zuko and his uncle Iroh (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) recruit a bounty hunter to track down the Avatar. The episode was released on Netflix on February 22, 2024, along with the rest of the season, receiving mixed reviews.

Plot
Moving closer towards the Fire Nation, Aang and his friends stop at a burned down forest that was destroyed by the Fire Nation. Sokka spots a little girl who leads them to a nearby village. The leader of the village reveals several members have gone missing, including his son Shiyong. Aang refuses to let this matter go to rest, and still feeling guilty over running away from the airbenders, goes into the Spirit World to rescue the people. However, Sokka and Katara are pulled into the Spirit World as well. In the Spirit World, Aang encounters Wan Shi Tong, a giant owl who only Aang can hear, who tells Aang to stay on the path to stay out of trouble.

Elsewhere, Zuko and Iroh follow up reports of waterbending to find most of them are fruitless. Iroh instead enlists the help of a bounty hunter called June and her shirshu Nyla, who can track anyone. In the Fire Nation, Azula tries convincing Fire Lord Ozai that Zhao should deserve more resources for finding the Avatar, and Ozai agrees but warns Azula that Zuko found the Avatar and is fighting with honor rather than using cowardly manipulative tactics. Azula gifts Zhao the use of the Yu Yang Archers, proficient non-benders who are excellent at archery, as Zhao is promoted from Commander to Admiral.

In the Spirit World, the trio encounter Hei Bai, a vengeful spirit and the spirit of the burned-down forest. He attacks the group, leading them to veer off the path. Katara is transported back to the Southern Water Tribe where she is forced to relive the day the Southern Raiders raided the Wolf Cove. Katara tries to stop her mother Kya, from entering a house, but her mother enters anyway. A young Katara hides, and watches a firebender called Yon Rha, interrogate Kya on who the last waterbender in the Southern Water Tribe is, and young Katara tries to protect her mother by bending. However, it doesn't work and Kya takes responsibility for the waterbending, leading to Yon Rha killing Kya.

After leaving the path, Sokka encounters a three-tailed fox spirit who has a symbol that Sokka recognizes. From there, he is taken to the memory of him on the day he passed his ice dodging test where he overhears his father saying he is a disappointment.

Aang encounters a dangerous spirit called Koh the Face Stealer who Aang learns has captured his friends and the villagers, including Shiyong. Aang escapes the Spirit fog, called the Fog of Lost Souls, and finds Gyatso living in a hut. Gyatso reveals Koh is dangerous and that he has had previous encounters with the Avatar, including Aang's past life Avatar Roku. Aang decides to visit Roku's shrine and ask for his help, promising Gyatso they'll talk when he gets back. Before Aang leaves, Gyatso reminds him that if he had not run away from the Air Nomads, he would have been killed.

Production
This episode was directed by Roseanne Liang and written by Gabriel Llanas; it aired on Netflix along with the rest of the season on February 22, 2024. The episode features plotlines inspired by many episodes of the animated series. Aang entering the Spirit World is a plotline that occurs in episode seven, "The Spirit World (Winter Solstice, Part 1)". The story of Katara's mother's death comes from the season 3 episode "The Southern Raiders", while both Sokka's past realtionship with his father and Zuko hiring June to find Aang come from episode fifteen, "Bato of the Water Tribe".

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. George Takei guest stars as the voice of Koh the Face Stealer, a centipede-like spirit who uses the stolen faces of his victims. Takei also voiced a prison warden in the sixth episode of the original series. Randall Duk Kim and Amber Midthunder have voice roles as owl spirit Wan Shi Tong and Water Tribe Princess Yue respectively. Arden Cho stars as bounty hunter June. On playing the character, Cho stated "The entire process was so amazing and I have to say the costumes are just incredible. I remember reading June's dialogue and never quite feeling tough enough or cool enough. But once I put on her wardrobe, I was like "Oh I got this, I am June!" They say the shoes make the girl, but those boots definitely make June a bounty hunter." Elizabeth Yu, Thalia Tran and Momona Tamada play Princess Azula, Mai and Ty Lee respectively, while Lim Kay Siu, Casey Camp-Horinek, and Ruy Iskandar reprise their roles from previous episodes as Gyatso, Gran Gran, and Lieutenant Jee respectively. Rainbow Dickerson and Joel Montgrand portray Sokka and Katara's parents, Kya and Hakoda respectively, while Matt Yang King provides the vocalisations for Appa and Momo.

Critical reception
The episode received mixed reviews. Jonathon Wilson of Ready Steady Cut gave the episode 3.5 out of 5 stars writing "There's a distinct horror tone to Episode 5 of Avatar: The Last Airbender that sets it apart from previous episodes in Season 1. It's full of genuinely unnerving creature designs and horrifying scenarios that put our lead characters through the wringer, all while furthering the show's underlying mythology." Rich Eberwein from Winter is Coming gave the episode a C+ score praising Koh's expanded role when compared to the animated show saying the episode "this expanded role for Koh was a good choice. He very briefly shows up in the animated show where he tells Aang how to save the moon spirit, but giving him a legitimate villain arc was fun. " Noah Petrillo of The Review Geek had mixed feelings on the writing saying ""Spirited Away" does its best to condense multiple episodes of expertly paced spiritual worldbuilding into one episode. While it winds up landing on heartfelt ground, it can't help but feel wobbly in comparison to the original cartoon. Even with a massive budget and a great team of actors, it seems nothing can compare to ATLA's original, brilliant dialogue and pacing." The Comic Crow of Fandom Pulse criticized the episode writing "This episode feels so out of place from the rest of the series as it's one of the episodic adventures the crew takes that wasn't inherently connected to the main conflict in the show. It feels like a side adventure but not a very fun one."