In Netflix Avatar during the second episode, a baffling decision was made to replace Roku with Kyoshi as the one to advise Aang on what to do about the Fire Nation. However, many shill accounts were quick to jump to defense claiming Roku had not been replaced. People simply had to wait till the sixth episode to see that he was still here and just as important to the show. This was an outright lie.
The last episode left off with Katara and not-Sokka captured by Koh as Aang left to consult Roku on how to defeat the spiritual predator. It seemed like this would be essential for the next episode, but it isn’t. The entire plot of the last episode is about to be completely ignored to focus on adapting another episode. But before that, Roku’s adaptation is so minimal and pointless it’s almost as if he was included out of obligation by the showrunners.
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Roku and Aang never talk about the current war, what is happening with the Fire Nation, or anything about how Aang needs to learn to master the four elements. It’s entirely centered around dealing with Koh, which would be fine if it weren’t for the fact that Koh is not important at all in this episode. Roku reveals Koh misses his mommy and gives Aang a totem that Koh wants back. Then tells him to abandon his friends. Great guy.
Zuko finds out Zhao is an admiral and the actor almost makes it seem like he’s about to cry. It’s hard to take the character seriously when instead of angst and anger we’re shown whining and tears. Zhao orders Zuko to assist him as he now outranks Zuko, but that’s obviously not going to happen.
When Aang goes to leave Roku’s shrine, June captures him and turns him over to Zuko and Iroh. Would have been nice to do more with her as they set her up fairly well in the last episode, but she just turns Aang over and leaves. Aang begs Zuko to let him save his friends and he’ll turn himself over, but Zuko refuses. We then get a flashback to the day Zuko is exiled from the Fire Nation.
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The flashback highlights that Zuko is incapable of coming up with an effective strategy during the war council before a general taunts him for it. The original story had Zuko speaking out simply because he couldn’t stand the idea of sacrificing soldiers for the sake of winning a battle. Making one of the generals taunt him into doing this sort of takes away from the decent and honorable man Zuko is meant to be.
Zhao intercepts Zuko and Iroh, threatening to kill them if Aang isn’t turned over. And once again Zuko appears as if he’s going to cry. Once in captivity, Aang speaks to Zhao who is probably the most likable character at this point. He’s a villain and his ego is over the top. Approaching Aang with a scribe who is being forced to document all of Zhao’s ‘greatness’ in capturing the Avatar.
Zuko quickly infiltrates the base Aang is being captured masked as the ‘Blue Spirit’. Hard to believe Zuko would be capable of doing something like this as he isn’t a threat up until this point. In the first episode, he does slap not-Sokka around, but that’s hardly an accomplishment. More time should have been spent showing the audience that Zuko was actually capable, but that would have meant the showrunners couldn’t keep cutting back to Azula.
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Bonus points for not cutting back to Azula this time. Instead this episode actually spends time focusing on the relevant characters and although the opening with Roku sours it, this is the best episode of the series so far.
Aang is freed by Zuko and the two attempt to sneak out of the base before being forced to fight off every soldier. The fight is a mixed bag. Hand-to-hand combat is alright, but not as good as the second episode. And the bending is more minimal, but there is a well-done scene of Zuko and Aang working together to knock soldiers off one of the walls. Zhao stops the two before they can break free until Zuko gets desperate and threatens to kill Aang.
Zhao does let them escape but has Zuko sniped before they can get very far. Aang finds out the Blue Spirit is Zuko and gets them to safety. Aang attempts to talk to Zuko who is cold and distant, but eventually, he does respond. It’s nice to see these two be given time to talk and find out that they share a lot in common.
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But the moment quickly passes when Aang says Zuko could be a more compassionate Fire Lord which triggers him into attacking Aang before being knocked out. We then see the Agni Kai between Ozai and Zuko where Ozai pins him down and burns his eye as punishment for showing compassion and not going for the kill against him. It goes to show why Zuko is the way that he is, but unfortunately, the audience has seen him come across as spoiled and entitled up until this point.
Aang gets Zuko to his ship and tries once more to make peace with him only for Zuko to lash out again. Setting up the eventual turn to the good side Zuko does much later on.
Unfortunately, this is where the episode loses a lot of points because it feels as if dealing with Koh is simply an epilogue to the episode. There’s no fight against Koh, not even a simple conversation. Koh just lets everyone go after getting his mommy idol back. Hai Bei who was the original spirit causing problems never makes an appearance in the episode and there’s no actual resolution to whether or not he’ll continue to rampage or even if the villagers are safe now.
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The final rating for the sixth episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender on Netflix is 6/10
This episode could have been so much better had it not been a ‘Part 2’ of the last episode. Koh was set up as an intimidating villain and even Roku warned that he could hurt Aang in ways he didn’t understand, but we never get to see any of that. Koh is an afterthought after all the setup he was given and that’s a real shame.
It would have been much better to have just finished the story with Koh in the fifth episode and then made Aang’s capture and rescue by Zuko its own story instead of tying it into the other events.
On a positive front, there was plenty of time given to establish Zuko and Aang’s connection and how they’re both dealing with not living up to the expectations of others. Aang seemed to genuinely despise Zuko until he got to learn more about him and what drives him. It would be nice if the other episodes spent more time developing the relationships between the characters.
Also no cut away to Azula, perfect! Just two more episodes until this one can be put on the shelf.
What do you think about Avatar Episode 6? Is it as disappointing as we think? Let us know in the comments!
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