If Netflix’s take on Avatar: The Last Airbender proves one thing about live-action remakes, it’s that the journey really is just as crucial as the destination. Season 2 might adapt key moments of the original Nickelodeon show with total fidelity, but it otherwise guts the series of the build-up that made those moments matter. We feel that the most where the title hero is concerned. Season 2 follows Air Nomad Aang (Gordon Cormier) in his quest to master the element of earth — the penultimate task in his quest to become the Avatar — as well as master the Avatar State. That new mandate brings him to the Earth Kingdom capital of Ba Sing Se, where political conspiracies, a slippery shadow leader, and the Fire Nation’s most ruthless warriors await him.
The series does still hit some of the major storylines fans will recognize: Aang and his friends discover a hidden library that gives them a real boon in their ongoing battle against the Fire Nation, and our hero eventually overcomes his fears and taps into his ultimate secret weapon. But Avatar also fundamentally changes the way he goes about it, which might morph this remake into a different story entirely.
