Netflix’s decision to pursue a live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender was met with an understandable amount of skepticism, and the reception of the first season was conflicted, at best. Despite the negative reviews, Netflix confirmed that they’ve renewed the show for two more seasons.
The underwhelming execution of Netflix’s Avatar stands as a reminder that not every popular piece of entertainment media needs to be adapted time and time again. If anything, Netflix’s fumbling of the first season is a tell-tale sign that the streaming platform was too eager to covet another property without knowing how to properly care for it.
Season 1 of Avatar: The Last Airbender on Netflix was guilty of sampling only certain elements of the original series and leaning too hard into the unchecked freedom of creative liberty. Because of puzzling changes to how the Nickelodeon cartoon was translated across mediums for a second time, subsequent seasons might be greeted with less enthusiasm and a rightfully refreshed wave of apprehension. If this was just a taste of how Netflix plans to push forward with Avatar, one season was more than enough.
Netflix’s hastiness to shoehorn key characters from Avatar: The Last Airbender “Book Two: Earth” into their live-action series prematurely is concerning. When it comes down to the show’s future, how will the creative team continue to pick apart the animated series to fit their debatable vision? Two of the main lessons that Avatar: The Last Airbender teaches are discipline and patience, which were seemingly lost on the showrunners and writers when figuring out how the first season would unravel.
Avatar’s three-season arc was perfected through excruciatingly careful timing. Each individual plot point was crafted with the utmost delicacy to ensure masterful storytelling at every turn. Netflix choosing to barrel through “Book One: Water” hints that it isn’t ready to flesh Avatar out into a full-fledged series. Their decision to do so, regardless if they should, is troublesome.
The quality and accuracy of how characters were written into the show failed to fully meet expectations, with the exception of Sokka (Ian Ousley) and Zuko (Dallas Liu). If Netflix struggles to grasp the essence of its central characters, how will future seasons potentially introduce Toph Beifong? Toph’s adaptation into live-action demands a full understanding of her character, and there’s an unforgiving suspicion that Netflix may mishandle her as a whole. Toph could be at risk of being reduced to just her blindness—a trait that she adamantly insisted did not define her by any means. If Netflix was willing to sidestep Sokka’s sexism, deny Katara her anger, and overlook Aang’s need to learn waterbending, are they really ready to take on the Blind Bandit?
Avatar: The Last Airbender confirming that it will branch out across multiple seasons also raises questions about the trajectory of the plot. Season 1’s ending teased that the live-action series would commit to incorporating Sozin’s Comet, but in the original series, the Sozin’s Comet arc arrives at the tail end of “Book Three: Fire.” In fact, it was revealed that the timeline of the live-action show was altered to better fit the ages of the cast members, further confusing the coherency and cohesiveness of the adaptation. Netflix’s messy and disrespectful approach to the scope of Avatar encourages the belief that there really was no plan for the series to begin with. It’s not too late for Netflix to walk back on a needless promise.
No point of Avatar: The Last Airbender warranted that Netflix invest in the series’ future. If anything, Netflix should have concentrated on making sure that its first season was able to succeed on its own. It’s dumbfounding that Netflix would confidently release a half-baked show and insist that it’s followed by subsequent seasons almost immediately instead of concentrating on putting sincere quality into a singular season.
There’s not much of a need for Avatar to continue past its initial season. Netflix’s inability to let sacred media rest is deeply frustrating and there are too many Avatar: The Last Airbender episodes in “Book Two” that the streaming service should be forbidden from touching. No, Netflix, we don’t need more seasons of Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action. In a roundabout way, Netflix’s Avatar already meddled with “Book Two” by pulling in King Bumi, Omashu, and the Cave of Two Lovers. Isn’t that enough?
(featured image: Netflix)
