Omashu – The episode begins with Tan (Osric Chau) leading a group of renegades in a coup against Fire Lord Ozai (Daniel Dae Kim). During the confrontation, it is revealed that the coup was botched from the very beginning thanks to Ozai’s daughter, Azula (Elizabeth Yu), infiltrating the group. As Tan is burnt to a crisp for his troubles, Azula mocks his claims of the return of the Avatar. She finds herself nearly speechless when Ozai confirms Tan’s claims with the letter from Commander Zhao (Ken Leung).

Katara (Kiawentiio) becomes frustrated when her training doesn’t advance as fast as she hoped. After Aang (Gordo Cormier) fails to help, he says the failure is all the more reason for them to get to the Northern Water Tribe. When Sokka (Ian Ousley) arrives with a load of fruit, he agrees that it is no longer safe for them to stay in one place for too long. Their trip soon leads to a stopover at Omashu when Aang thinks he spots another airbender.

Commander Zaho, Uncle Iroh, and Prince Zuko (Dallas Liu) meet to hash out a plan to locate Aang. After some reluctance, Zuko agrees to let Zaho reach out to some of his contacts in the North as long as he is extremely selective about what he reveals.

As soon as they reach the Earth Kingdom, a proud and excited Aang shares Omashu’s unique history with his Sokka and Katara. A nearby disturbance with an Omashu Guard (Christopher Logan) reveals that the Earth nation doesn’t take kindly to strangers. Thanks to a local merchant’s (Sebastian Amoruso), attraction to Katara, this won’t be a problem for them. It doesn’t take much for her to get his help, which proves to be a wise decision when they are met with slight resistance from another Omashu Guard (Moheb Jindran)

Aang quickly tracks down the boy he has mistaken for an Airbender, Teo (Lucian River Chauhan). Much to his surprise, the boy is handicapped and using a flying wheelchair invented by his very creative father, The Mechanist (Danny Pudi). An explosion in the city forces both Aang and Katara to publically reveal their abilities. After safely returning Teo to his house, Aang learns that the incident in town was actually a bombing by the Fire Nation and it wasn’t the first. Teo also inspires him to take the fight to the Fire Nation, despite the urgency to get to the Northern Water Tribe.

During archery practice at the Fire Nation, Azula makes her disdain for Zuko apparent. As she discusses this with Ty Lee (Momona Tamada) and Mai (Thalia Tran) it also becomes clear that she doesn’t plan on sitting by idly and letting him claim all the fame.

Teo shares his strategy for attacking the Fire Nation while Commander Zhao tells Uncle and Zuko about the Airbender sightings near Omashu. Zuko quickly dismisses Zhao’s offer to send in two spies and says he and Uncle will go instead.

While practicing her training, Katara witnesses The Mechanist making a shady deal with what appears to be a Fire Nation Spy (Kelvin Lum). Much to her surprise, Jet appears out of nowhere and not only confirms her suspicions but reveals himself to be much more than a humble merchant.

Elsewhere in town, Aang and Teo make their way to the entrance of a cave. Katara and Jet’s continued pursuit of the spy leads them into a trap and are apparently outnumbered. At least it originally appears that way until Jet reveals that he’s got backup as well. Once Longshot (Nathaniel Kong), The Duke (Taylor Lam Wright), and Pipsqueak (Vincent Huang) appear, it doesn’t take them long to make quick work of the spy and his two friends.

Sokka bonds with The Mechanist while helping him make adjustments on his newest project. The Mechanist appears impressed with Sokka’s talents and encourages him to pursue engineering.

While Jet takes Katara back to his base, Teo and Aang arrive at the cave. Aang appears impressed as Teo explains why he suspects the area is the staging ground for the bombings. Their continued expedition leads Aang to discover that it isn’t the Fire Nation behind the bombings. Much to her surprise Katara overcomes her emotional block when swapping origin stories with Jet. Encouraging her to use the pain of the loss of her mother seems to do the trick.

When Uncle and Zuko arrive in Omashu disguised as locals, Aang’s suspicions about the Fire Nation not having a hand in the bombings are confirmed. This is confirmed by Zuko indicating to Uncle that his father, Lord Ozai, would never agree to the bombers hiding their identities. He would want the locals to know it was the Fire Nation behind the attack.

Commander Zuho receives welcome news from Azula, confirming that she will reward him further for information on Zuko’s pursuit of the Avatar. After receiving the letter he orders Lieutenant Dang (Ryan Mah) to bring him the man the rat from Zuko’s crew.

Aang witnesses Katara and Sokka’s sibling rivalry firsthand when he shares his cave discovery with Sokka. Katara arrives shortly with her suspicions that The Mechanist is behind the bombings. The dispute ends in a huge blowup with Katara racing to the town to prove her claims. Much to her surprise, she discovers that Jet’s group is not only behind the attack, but they are right in the middle of planting a bomb on The Mechanist, which they plan to detonate when he meets with the King.

Katara swallows her pride and returns to Sokka and Aang to request their help to stop Jet. It’s mere seconds later when they encounter resistance in the market in the form of Zuko and Uncle. Aang tells Katara and Sokka to continue on while he handles Zuko.

Although Zuko doesn’t initially use his firebending powers, he appears to get the better of Aang while Sokka and Katara race toward the palace. During the battle, Zuko loses control and causes a huge disturbance in town after learning that Aang stole his journal. The ensuing hysteria forces Zuko and Uncle to retreat while Aang turns his attention to putting out the fires. Elsewhere, Katara and Sokka arrive just in time for her to avert the attack with her waterbending powers. The episode ends with Uncle sacrificing himself to allow Zuko to escape and Aang being taken into custody.

Avatar: The Last Airbender Review

This was by far the best and most interesting of the series thus far. It was great to see Katara advance her abilities. I am also starting to have more respect for the Fire Nation. As ruthless as they might be, they appear to have a strict code. Jet and his crew were extremely interesting and I’d like to see more of them, although I doubt will happen.

All in all, an excellent episode, and the more I watch the series, the more alluring it’s becoming. I’d give the episode a 5.6 and can’t wait to see the next. Oh, I forgot the Mechanist. He’s an incredibly intriguing character as well.

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