Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 review: "Better in basically every way compared to its first season"

Netflix's live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender will always be directly compared to the animated Nickelodeon series it so closely adapts; such is the fate of all adaptations. Does it hew too closely to the original or go too far afield? That's the constant question, and a fair one, for any media directly recreating another. The second season of Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender chooses to play it safe, by and large, making for an experience best described as "fine."

I'm somewhat repeating myself from my Avatar: The Last Airbender season one review, but it is as true here as it ever was. The previously described "harmonious middle ground" that's being attempted here continues, and with slightly better results overall. It never quite reaches the highs of the material it's adapting, but this second season also avoids the lowest dips of the first.

If you're not already familiar, the second season follows Aang (Gordon Cormier) and his pals as they traverse the Earth Kingdom in search of someone to teach the Avatar-in-training earthbending now that he's mastered waterbending from Katara (Kiawentiio). They encounter the blind earthbender Toph (Miyako) and convince her to teach him. Eventually, the Gaang end up in Ba Sing Se, home of the Earth King, in order to convince him to join the war against the Fire Nation. Meanwhile, Zuko (Dallas Liu) and Iroh (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) pose as refugees themselves in the Earth Kingdom while being hunted by Zuko's sister, Azula (Elizabeth Yu).

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Again, this is basically the exact plot description for Book Two of the animated Avatar: The Last Airbender series. The biggest difference between the two isn't even the medium; it's the fact that the live-action version is actually shorter. The animated series had a luxurious 20 episodes to cover the same material, while Netflix only grants 7, making for a remixed and much-trimmed Earth Kingdom experience.

Minor tales of Ba Sing Se

The effect this concentration produces is stifling. While individual performances from the actors are more easy and affable than the first season, it's hard to avoid the feeling that Ba Sing Se – billed as an absolutely massive city with impenetrable walls – is composed of roughly five separate rooms shot from different angles and a single outdoor market.

It doesn't help that many of the visual effects, be it fights, critters, major structures, or so on, often also look a bit off. There's regularly an overwhelming sense that it's all happening on a stage and nothing is real, which might be true but is kind of the opposite of what you want to imply. I would not go so far as to say my disbelief was ever really suspended.

That's not to say it's all bad. Despite the pressure of the condensed narrative and any issues with the visual effects or sets, plenty of character moments manage to shine regardless. Avatar, as a franchise, might be known for its spectacular elemental martial arts, but it's also known for being just as good at emotional throughlines. Dallas Liu, in particular, makes an absolute meal out of Zuko's torment between right and wrong, love and acceptance, throughout the season. Ian Ousley's Sokka also lands his beats more often than not, from silly goofs to direct lifts from the animated series, to meaningful moments exploring trauma.

Down to earth

Going into this season, my biggest concern was Toph, Aang's acerbic and tough earthbending teacher. In animation, it's easy enough to have a blind character who can see through vibrations, but it's another boulder of a problem to try and accomplish the same in a live-action adaptation, while also covering all the sociological elements involving her background and family. But from the moment Miyako steps into a scene, she owns it, which is honestly very Toph-like behavior.

Unfortunately, and perhaps most concerningly, the chemistry between Aang and Katara just doesn't work. It's the clearest example of the effect that squeezing the season's material down has had; without more time to explore what the two of them mean to each other, the major beats in season two come across as hollow or saccharine. And yet the relationship between those two massively underpins a lot of this season without ever being explicit, but it goes on to become even more of an element in the parts of Avatar that the live-action Avatar has yet to adapt.

There are a couple of aspects I won't spoil here that do work quite well thanks to this remixing, but it's few and far between. More than anything else, Netflix's live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 makes me a bit worried about Season 3's attempt to bend and shape the source material into some kind of conclusion, but it's an inoffensive experience.

Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 is streaming now on Netflix. For more, dive into our spoiler-filled Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2 ending explained, or here's everything we know about Avatar: The Last Airbender season 3.