Warriors (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

"Warriors" is the second 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 Joshua Hale Fialkov and directed by Michael Goi.

The episode, like the rest of the season, adapts the first season of the original series, with this episode specifically adapting episode three, "The Southern Air Temple", and episode four, "The Warriors of Kyoshi", with elements from "The Waterbending Scroll" and "Avatar Roku (Winter Solstice, Part 2)". In the episode, Aang and his friends travel to Kyoshi Island to learn more about Aang's past life, Avatar Kyoshi. There, Sokka learns what it means to be a warrior from the leader of the Kyoshi warriors Suki (Maria Zhang), and Aang communicates with Avatar Kyoshi (Yvonne Chapman) for the first time. The episode also introduces Ken Leung as Zuko's rival Commander Zhao. The episode was released on Netflix on February 22, 2024, along with the rest of the season, receiving mixed reviews with praise for the direction and the performances but some criticism for the writing.

Plot
Aang looks through Zuko's notebook and decides to go to Kyoshi Island to see if he can learn more about his Avatar State. Katara notices a waterbending scroll Gran Gran packed to help her with her training. Aang, Katara and Sokka travel to the island where they visit the statue of Avatar Kyoshi, one of Aang's past lives. At the statue, the Kyoshi warriors arrive and capture the gang but let them go when Kyoshi's statue shines a light on Aang.

Meanwhile, Zuko, furious at losing his notebook, goes with Iroh to a nearby village where Iroh gets Zuko to approach Fire Navy Commander Zhao and ask him for his reports about disturbances without telling Zhao he has found the Avatar. However, one of Zuko's crew lets slip to Zhao's subordinate Lieutenant Dang that Zuko had the Avatar but lost him. Zhao, hearing reports about a "flying cow" near Kyoshi Island, sets off to capture the Avatar. Zuko and Iroh soon notice that Zhao's ship is missing and race to follow him.

Katara goes to the nearest river and begins practicing the waterbending moves in the scroll. She offers to teach Aang, but he refuses, haunted that training would bring up memories of his former teacher Gyatso. Reading through the information on Kyoshi, Aang finds nothing useful but Katara reminds him that because Kyoshi is one of Aang's past lives, he can communicate with Kyoshi. Aang goes to Kyoshi's statue and enters the Avatar State and meets with Kyoshi.

Also on the island, Suki, a Kyoshi Warrior, notices Sokka practicing with his boomerang and shows him how to fight and position himself in a battle, telling him that as non-benders they have to fight from the heart. Throughout Sokka's training, the two become close and nearly kiss but are interrupted when Yukari informs them the Fire Nation has arrived. Zhao's forces engage the Kyoshi warriors in a fight, while Zuko's squad travels to Kyoshi statue to get Aang.

Katara attempts to hold Zuko off using the new waterbending moves she's been practicing but loses. Sokka uses Suki's fighting style against the Fire Nation troops, but eventually the troops overpower the Kyoshi warriors. Speaking with Kyoshi, Aang asks for help in mastering the Avatar State, where Kyoshi explains its the combination of all the previous Avatars' powers and that it is dangerous when uncontrolled. Kyoshi tells Aang to focus on being a strong, disciplined Avatar and shows him a vision of the future where the Northern Water Tribe is attacked by the Fire Nation, before she takes over Aang's body and uses all four elements to drive away Zhao and Zuko's troops.

Production


This episode was directed by Michael Goi and written by Joshua Hale Fialkov; it aired on Netflix along with the rest of the season on February 22, 2024. The episode focuses on the introduction of the Kyoshi warriors and explores the character of Avatar Kyoshi. In this episode, Kyoshi becomes the first past Avatar who Aang makes contact with, replacing Avatar Roku from the original series. The episode also briefly alludes to Kyoshi's backstory, which was explored in the 2019 novel The Rise of Kyoshi and its 2020 sequel.

Main cast members Gordon Cormier as Avatar Aang, Dallas Liu as Prince Zuko, Kiawentiio as Katara, Ian Ousley as Sokka, Ken Leung as Commander Zhao, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as Iroh, and Daniel Dae Kim as Fire Lord Ozai appear. Yvonne Chapman guest stars as Avatar Kyoshi, Aang's past life from two generations prior. On speaking about Kyoshi's role in the show, Chapman told website Winter is Coming that "she’s a very fierce person, and she is going to be able to guide Aang in what needs to be done in his circumstances." In preparation for the role, Chapman read the two Kyoshi novels by F.C. Yee stating "I love the Kyoshi books– so addicted to those. Her backstory and just everything about this character is so beautifully written and really thoughtful. She just has one of the most fascinating stories of any character that I’ve read, so I definitely felt the pressure of being able to bring her to life..."

Also guest starring in this episode is Maria Zhang as leader of the Kyoshi warriors Suki. Zhang listed Natalie Portman and Emilia Clarke as inspirations for the role. Joining Zhang is Tamlyn Tomita as Suki's mother and mayor of Kyoshi Island, Yukari, an original character created for the show replacing Oyaji from the original series. Ruy Iskandar and Ryan Mah play Lieutenants Jee and Dang respectively, while Casey Camp-Horinek and Lim Kay Siu have voice roles as Sokka and Katara's grandmother Gran Gran and Aang's old mentor Monk Gyatso respectively. Matt Yang King also guest stars as the vocalizations for Appa and Momo.

Critical reception
The episode received generally positive reviews from critics. Noah Petrillo from The Review Geek praised Tomita's and Zhang's performances writing "The core cast delivers such earnest performances, that you can almost feel the respect they have for their characters." Petrillo also enjoyed the romance between Sokka and Suki stating "Perhaps the best part of Suki & Sokka’s romance was the quietness. Through beautiful movement, clever lighting (in the dojo particularly), and expert direction by Michael Goi, dialogue wasn’t always necessary. The chemistry was visual." The Comic Crow writing for website Fandom Pulse complimented Ken Leung on his performance saying "he’s a highlight of the show so far. He’s deceptive and cunning and is a far more competent villain than Zuko has shown himself to be," but criticized the CGI bending stating it started to "grow dull and lose its impact." Rich Eberwein gave the episode a 'C+' stating "Ian Ousley as Sokka is emerging as a standout performer" and praising the first glimpse of Daniel Dae Kim as Fire Lord Ozai.

Many critics and fans were critical of the omission of Sokka's sexism in this episode, a plot point from the original show which featured a sexist Sokka being humbled by Suki and undergoing a character arc. Zosha Millman for Polygon claimed it ruined Suki's character calling it "gross" and writing "Suki is still clearly the teacher and better fighter, and yet her live-action iteration’s whole plotline revolves around bolstering Sokka, rather than besting him" and that "The new series is too worried Sokka would look sexist, even momentarily seeming less than perfectly relatable, and so instead a strong girl was blanched of her own arc." The Comic Crow for Fandom Pulse claimed the episode ruined Sokka's character arc writing "Sokka begins and ends the episode in the exact same place he started it in. He can fight better, sure. But fighting was never Sokka’s strong suit in the group. This episode is just about giving him a girlfriend in Suki way earlier than they’re supposed to be together..." When speaking on the topic, Sokka's actor Ian Ousley told Variety that "Obviously we took out that [sexist] element, but he still has that attitude. Not a sexist attitude, but it’s morphed into more of – in Sokka and Katara’s relationship – ‘I’m the leader and you’re the follower’ situation. Stuff like that."