After a fine first episode, this one falls flat.
At the beginning, Aang is banished from the tribe. Katara attempts to go with Aang, but then gives up after Sokka chides her for leaving her family. This immediately stops her from going with Aang. Why? From the beginning Katara is shown as a water bender(the only one in her tribe actually) and she seems really enthusiastic to actually master this magic by travelling to north pole if necessary. Now is her chance and she decides to stay? Not to mention that Aang and Appa are a very interesting, adventurer duo and Katara has that "adventurer" spirit in her as well. This "refusal of the call" is too forced, I think.
Then Aang and Appa leave(but not completely, they just hang around near the tribe), Fire Nation show up with their giant warship, Sokka prepares defense and Aang also sees the approaching doom. Then the warship arrives. There is a little scene where Sokka's hand built watchtower collapses completely when warship shows up. The tower is the pride of Sokka and seeing how it is demolished by a whim shows how much overpowered Fire Nation is. This also causes Sokka to realize that this is a much bigger threat than it is and soon, he'll see the powers of Aang and will agree with Katara that Aang must be supported in the upcoming journey.
There is also this montage of both Zuko and Sokka preparing for the battle. They are both serious, but the audience already knows that Sokka and the entire village is no match for Zuko. So it produces a serious but comical and also an emotional scene at the same time. I liked that.
Zuko arrives and defeats Sokka without breaking any sweat -- as expected. He demands Avatar and he gets Avatar. After a fierce fight with Aang, both him and the village(and the audience) realize that Aang is really a very strong character. But here his merciful, good side is also shown when he sacrifices himself in exchange of saving the village. If civilians were not around, Aang would have probably defeated Zuko, but he didn't want any harm to come anyone. Also, an interesting detail here: Zuko agrees with his demands and leaves the village without any harm. We get a glimpse of Zuko's character here. Yes, he is represented as the epitome of "evil" or "main antagonist", but there is also mercy and humanness inside of him as well.
Aang is taken to ship as prisoner; Sokka and Katara prepare a rescue operation. Appa proves it can fly.
Now these scenes are what make this episode weak. The suspense of Aang being taken prisoner aboard Fire Nation ship made completely useless when he attempts escape after spending like a minute on the ship. He easily dispatches guards, runs to get his glider/stick thing, defeats Zuko on the way and is stopped by Zuko from escaping at the very last moment. I am surprised by Zuko's attempt, but when you show Aang this powerful, it is useless to also show Zuko hanging on to his glider and bringing him down. This suspense doesn't work as Aang can easily defeat Zuko and his henchmen again.
Also, the "rescue operation" of Katara and Sokka just turns into a observation of Aang's devastating abilities. They just watch Aang from air, doing nothing. Aang falls to the sea(and somehow immediately begins to drown when the same fate will befall Zuko and he will climb back, two times), and then his "Avatar mode" gets unlocked, he unleashes devastating water bending powers upon Fire Nation ship and soldiers, defeats all and loses his consciousness.
Katara, Sokka and Aang then climb on top of Appa and fly away. They decide to go to north pole to master water bending power.
This episode could have been better, I liked the established conflicts between Zuko and Sokka, also Zuko versus Aang confrontation was continued. But it falls flat for now as Aang is ridiculously powerful against his enemies. We'll see how he'll get challenged in future episodes.
At the beginning, Aang is banished from the tribe. Katara attempts to go with Aang, but then gives up after Sokka chides her for leaving her family. This immediately stops her from going with Aang. Why? From the beginning Katara is shown as a water bender(the only one in her tribe actually) and she seems really enthusiastic to actually master this magic by travelling to north pole if necessary. Now is her chance and she decides to stay? Not to mention that Aang and Appa are a very interesting, adventurer duo and Katara has that "adventurer" spirit in her as well. This "refusal of the call" is too forced, I think.
Then Aang and Appa leave(but not completely, they just hang around near the tribe), Fire Nation show up with their giant warship, Sokka prepares defense and Aang also sees the approaching doom. Then the warship arrives. There is a little scene where Sokka's hand built watchtower collapses completely when warship shows up. The tower is the pride of Sokka and seeing how it is demolished by a whim shows how much overpowered Fire Nation is. This also causes Sokka to realize that this is a much bigger threat than it is and soon, he'll see the powers of Aang and will agree with Katara that Aang must be supported in the upcoming journey.
There is also this montage of both Zuko and Sokka preparing for the battle. They are both serious, but the audience already knows that Sokka and the entire village is no match for Zuko. So it produces a serious but comical and also an emotional scene at the same time. I liked that.
Zuko arrives and defeats Sokka without breaking any sweat -- as expected. He demands Avatar and he gets Avatar. After a fierce fight with Aang, both him and the village(and the audience) realize that Aang is really a very strong character. But here his merciful, good side is also shown when he sacrifices himself in exchange of saving the village. If civilians were not around, Aang would have probably defeated Zuko, but he didn't want any harm to come anyone. Also, an interesting detail here: Zuko agrees with his demands and leaves the village without any harm. We get a glimpse of Zuko's character here. Yes, he is represented as the epitome of "evil" or "main antagonist", but there is also mercy and humanness inside of him as well.
Aang is taken to ship as prisoner; Sokka and Katara prepare a rescue operation. Appa proves it can fly.
Now these scenes are what make this episode weak. The suspense of Aang being taken prisoner aboard Fire Nation ship made completely useless when he attempts escape after spending like a minute on the ship. He easily dispatches guards, runs to get his glider/stick thing, defeats Zuko on the way and is stopped by Zuko from escaping at the very last moment. I am surprised by Zuko's attempt, but when you show Aang this powerful, it is useless to also show Zuko hanging on to his glider and bringing him down. This suspense doesn't work as Aang can easily defeat Zuko and his henchmen again.
Also, the "rescue operation" of Katara and Sokka just turns into a observation of Aang's devastating abilities. They just watch Aang from air, doing nothing. Aang falls to the sea(and somehow immediately begins to drown when the same fate will befall Zuko and he will climb back, two times), and then his "Avatar mode" gets unlocked, he unleashes devastating water bending powers upon Fire Nation ship and soldiers, defeats all and loses his consciousness.
Katara, Sokka and Aang then climb on top of Appa and fly away. They decide to go to north pole to master water bending power.
This episode could have been better, I liked the established conflicts between Zuko and Sokka, also Zuko versus Aang confrontation was continued. But it falls flat for now as Aang is ridiculously powerful against his enemies. We'll see how he'll get challenged in future episodes.