This Netflix episode hurts to watch if you are an actual fan of the real Avatar: The Last Airbender series from Nickelodeon. It fundamentally changes the character of Bumi into a bitter, murderous, and hateful man, while also still having him make jokes and toy around with Aang. The ending of this episode was an atrocious character assassination, but that comes later.
Episode 4 of Netflix Avatar: The Last Airbender picks up with Aang and Iroh both in prison, and the two have a cordial conversation. It’s a small moment and is added for the Netflix series, but this is an example of making a positive change to the source material. It’s the only one of two times in this episode where they make a positive change to the source material.
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Aang criticizes the Fire Nation about the war, and Iroh gives a nuanced take on what’s going on. He doesn’t claim the Fire Nation is in the right, but he also acknowledges that there is no simple way to end the war. However, when Aang condemns Zuko for his lack of loyalty, Iroh defends his nephew and claims he’s the one who needs to show his loyalty to Zuko. And then gets taken off. While Aang is warned, he will meet the king.
Then we shift to not-Sokka and Katara, who are begging the Mechanist to help them free Aang. The simple solution here would be to just seek another audience with the King and ask for Aang’s freedom. We just saw in the last episode that he and the King have regular meetings to discuss his inventions. Instead, they decide to break into the prison and free Aang. It doesn’t make much sense, and while it would have been nice to spend more time with Aang and Bumi instead of this subplot, this version of Bumi would be better spent off-camera.
Before they leave, the Mechanist is encouraged by not-Sokka to turn in the Fire Nation spies threatening him and his son before they take off on a prison break, and it is paid off later.
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Bumi and Aang have dinner, and Bumi comes across as his usual self. He’s saying random things and constantly laughing, all while cracking poor jokes. He immediately acknowledges Aang as his old friend, and it seems at first that we’re getting a true adaptation.
Up until Bumi starts to guilt-trip Aang about disappearing. It’s cold, it’s mean, and it comes across as Bumi outright hating Aang, only for him to jump back into making jokes and laughing as if nothing happened.
Before we can get to the prison break, Jet confronts Katara, and we wrap up the plot from Episode 3 that really should have been left in that episode. This is why shoving Azula into the story so early was pointless, as the time could have been spent dealing with Jet. Instead, it feels completely out of place and like a waste of time before her and not-Sokka can actually progress the plot.
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And then the showrunners really decide to piss off Avatar: The Last Airbender fans by shoving in the singing hippies, who aren’t supposed to show up until much later on in the second season of the cartoon. With how serious the show has started to take itself, seeing this group really takes someone out of the story and leaves them wondering what’s even happening.
They then tell not-Sokka and Katara the “Tale of Two Lovers,” which has been changed to be about two women. There’s honestly zero reason for this to happen other than the writer’s desperate desire to throw in more LGBT propaganda content into the show. The story is supposed to help not-Sokka and Katara navigate the tunnels, and it will later.
We’re then shown Iroh being carted off while an angry soldier hits him for what he did in Ba Sing Se. It goes on for too long, and there’s a lot of this. It feels like this is where the whole “make it like Game Of Thrones” starts to rear its ugly head. There’s a lot of time spent on an unnamed soldier tormenting Iroh for murdering his brother in Ba Sing Se. It all feels so pointless, though.
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Zuko eventually shows up, and we’re given a couple of flashbacks showing Iroh’s son’s funeral. It’s supposed to be very emotional, but this really should have been saved for when the crew is actually in Ba Sing Se. It felt so out of place and just felt lacking.
Bumi leads Aang away from the dinner party and continues to heavily guilt trip him. It feels a little uncomfortable when you realize he’s chastising a 12-year-old, but the showrunners really wanted to go down that rabbit hole. In the cartoon, Bumi fights Aang as a test, but the battle between Aang and Bumi almost feels like a murder-suicide pact.
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Bumi isn’t pulling any punches and really is trying to kill Aang while also encouraging Aang to try to kill him first. It’s so out of left field and really ruins Bumi’s character. In the original cartoon Bumi never forgot his friendship with Aang and still believed in Aang. Here he treats Aang like a naive child, pisses on their friendship, and is in full-on murder mode.
Katara and not-Sokka have a stupid argument about not-Sokka not listening to her, which really hasn’t been shown in the Netflix series. At all. They quickly make up, though, after wasting everyone’s time and continue exploring the tunnels before running into Badgermoles, the original earthbenders.
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And this is where one of the most idiotic decisions was made. Badgermoles now can sense emotions. Most specifically, love. And when they sense how much Katara and not-Sokka love each other, they decide to help them find their way toward Aang.
This is beyond idiotic. It actually ruins what Toph said about them using earth-bending to sense their way around. It destroys how Toph was able to learn earth bending and ‘see’ using it. But Toph will appear in the second season, and we’ll just have to wait to see how badly she gets butchered now that her backstory has just been destroyed.
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Bumi tosses a massive boulder on Aang’s head, who is barely able to hold it up. Meanwhile, another massive boulder is about to squish Bumi, who tells Aang to drop one. It’s so out of place that Bumi is ready to die for the sake of dying. Or let Aang die because he really hates that kid now.
Katara and not-Sokka finally appear with the help of Love, and they save Bumi, and Aang saves himself. Bumi is furious, but the power of Love and friendship finally wins the day, and Bumi suddenly decides suicide is wrong and murdering a child is also wrong.
And when the crew is finally able to get out of the prison, Bumi suddenly cares about fighting the Fire Nation again, and it’s all rainbows and butterflies.
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The final rating for the fourth episode of Netflix Avatar: The Last Airbender is 2/10
Nothing in this episode of Netflix Avatar: The Last Airbender makes any sense. Bumi is warped into a spiteful, hateful, would-be child killer who completely gives up on fighting the Fire Nation and really wants to commit suicide. And it is suddenly redeemed through the power of love and friendship, and it’s all just so awful.
The inclusion of the singing hippies is mind-boggling as it is so tonally different from anything else happening. They’re not bad, the song is catchy and funny. It feels like they’re from the cartoon because they aren’t meant to be taken that seriously. But altering the Tale Of Two Lovers to be a lesbian romance and making it part of Katara and not Sokka’s subplot is so forced and should not have been included.
There are so many awful choices made with only bits of brevity from the absolute garbage being forced down on people.
Only four more episodes to go for Netflix Avatar: The Last Airbender. Can it get any worse than this? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
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