All 8 episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender ranked from worst to best

5. Episode 4, "Into the Dark"

This episode features a great additions to this show: more conversations between Aang and Iroh of the Fire Nation. The fact that they speak at all shows Iroh has more nuance and empathy than a lot of other people from the Fire Nation, which is important for later in the story. During this conversation, Iroh tells Aang that he owes his nephew Zuko more than Zuko owes him, prompting an incredible flashback scene to the funeral of Iroh's son Lu Ten. Lu Ten was Iroh's only son and the loss devastated him. As Iroh sat inconsolable by his son's casket, Zuko was the only one who gave him any comfort in his time of need. This scene solidified the fact that the additions to the Fire Nation characters were the best source material change this remake had to offer.

As for Aang's encounter with King Bumi, it felt weird. The entire time, Bumi is telling him that the world is suffering. Year after year, he has had to make tough decisions to preserve his city. Then Aang apologizes for not being around for the last hundred years, but he's here now and he's going to make the most of it. This scene feels worse the second time around because I know in the last episode Aang is not comfortable with the fact that he missed the last hundred years, which is contrary to the conversation he has with Bumi here.

4. Episode 7, "The North"

The budding relationship between Sokka and the Northern Water Tribe princess Yue was the crown jewel of this episode, which says a lot considering I should be more excited about the team finally making it to the North Pole. Katara's arc is fairly similar to what it was in the original show in that the Northerners won't let her practice waterbending because she's a girl. I liked the duel she has with Master Pakku, which was strikingly similar to the animated version but still looked pretty good in my opinion.

But again, Aang and his arc continue to grind my gears. He is labeled useless by Master Pakku, who was expecting him to have learned something by the time he made it to the North. And I was too. He shows up empty-handed without any waterbending experience. If Katara had at least taught him the basics before they arrived, I would have liked a scene of Pakku giving him a rundown of more advanced techniques before the Fire Nation invaded. Give me some sort of progression for Aang so he doesn't look like a complete fool all the time.

I guess Aang was banking on Avatar Kuruk teaching him something, but Kuruk turns out to be a bit useless because of permanent spirit damage to his body. This blocks him from taking control of Aang through the Avatar state like Kyoshi did earlier in the season. These things may seem little, but they damage Aang's character a lot and make me feel unsatisfied with his character arc. Aang certainly felt incapable in the animated show, but he always tried. The live-action version of Aang has less ambition and drive.