For all its virtues, it’s always been pretty obvious that Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender wouldn’t save the world as definitively as Nickelodeon’s original series. Its first season had a low bar to clear: after the travesty that was M. Night Shyamalan’s 2010 film, all it really had to prove was that Avatar could, in fact, be adapted in live-action at all. It passed that test with relative ease, and got a little extra credit from culturally appropriate casting and a keen dedication to the source material. Fans’ dogged desire for an adaptation that respected the original series was potent enough to paint over any flaws. As Avatar’s title hero moves from the relative cakewalk of Season 1 and into a more tumultuous chapter, though, one has to wonder if we were too lenient on the show in the first place.
Season 2 reunites with fledgling Avatar Aang (Gordon Cormier) after a generous, if vague, time jump. One supporting character mentions that it’s been “a long time” since the events of Season 1, but that much was clear from Cormier’s abrupt growth spurt. It’s the first of many changes to the original cartoon that Netflix’s Avatar deploys this season, but the only one out of the show’s control. One can’t stop a 12-year-old kid from maturing into a teen, though subtextually, it might work out in Avatar’s favor. An Aang in the throes of puberty lends a more literal sense of angst to this darker chapter. The other directions Avatar takes this time around are harder to forgive — but more on that later.
