Avatar: The Last Airbender (TV Series) The Storm (2005) User Reviews

Avatar's first all-out classic

[ThunderingTim · 10/10 · 3 April 2017]

(Warning: SPOILERS)

Avatar: The Last Airbender aka The Legend of Aang is one of the best, richest shows of all time. It is considered in many corners as the best non-Japanese animated series. It would capture the hearts of kids, adults and critics alike and stand the test of time. While it is a Nickelodeon show, it deals with topics such as life and death, war and genocide, banishment and abandonment, love and hatred, revenge and forgiveness. These are pretty big themes for a kid's show and episode no.12 "The Storm" is often considered the first Avatar classic, the moment people began to see the series as much, much more than a young and entertaining show and began to regard it as a mythical, almost spiritual journey.

PLOT

Sokka tries to earn some money by working for a fisherman. Despite forewarnings of an approaching storm, they leave, but not after the fisherman scares Aang away by verbally attacking him for abandoning the world. As the weather worsens, Aang flees to a cave where he tells Katara about why he fled 100 years ago. Meanwhile, Zuko, relentlessly chasing the Avatar, also encounters bad weather, and while his crew takes shelter inside the ship Iroh joins them and tells them of why Zuko was burned and banished. We go back and forth between the two narratives and end up with Aang saving Sokka and the fisherman and Zuko choosing to save the ship and crew rather than continuing the chase.

Good Stuff

What Avatar does best is juxtaposing the good and the bad and showing us the good has its flaws and the bad its reasons. The dual story gives us a ridiculous amount of backstory but it deepens the show and the characters. Both tells, somehow fittingly, are told around a fire. Watching usually calm Iroh showcase his power (something we always suspected) by redirecting lightning is a joy to behold. One of my favorite shots is when both parties cross paths in the eye of the storm, Aang looks back and Zuko looks up, and as the two lock eyes with uncertain expressions we get a true sense of destiny.

King character and character development

We learn so much more about the antagonist and protagonist. Aang lacks a certain character development throughout the series and by its finale he's still the wonderful mix of spiritual monk, playful child, and mighty Avatar. Stephen King once wrote that he mentally gave his characters tons of development and backstory, so that when he put them in a situation, rather than going "Erm..I'll have him do this, yes" the characters personality dictated how they responded. Aang is such a character. Brought up by peaceful, contemplating monks he knows no other way of looking at the world and in a sense, is complete. The struggle in him is more his peaceful upbringing and his violent surroundings, creating an internal conflict that would be touched upon again, most notably in the series finale. With another character having so much character development it would be too much to do the same for Aang.

Zuko is often regarded as Avatars best and most interesting character. His transformation has been labeled the best of any TV show, including the non-animated ones. That may be a bold statement but I find myself agreeing with it. Zuko goes from a violent, perpetually angry young man to a balanced, peaceful man. But the point is, we already sense there is much more to Zuko in season 1 and this episode, while not starting that view, certainly develops it. Zuko's struggle is his internal good vs bad conflict, his wish to regain his father's favor despite hating him, his disobedience to his uncle even when he knows, deep, deep down, that Iroh is right. Learning who burned him makes us understand why he is so evil, and in pretty much the next scene he saves lives, almost to present his internal struggle outwards.

Conclusion

Aangs conflict in his peaceful nature and his violent responsibilities as Avatar and Zuko struggling to understand himself makes Avatar such a deep, meaningful show. The Storm is a perfect example of this. In a mere 20 minutes Avatar upgrades and enhances its show, its narrative, its arc and its characters. In one superbly written episode that is a visual, artistic, and character development master class, this examination of protagonist and antagonist elevates a good show mainly for the young to a deep journey for all ages. The Storm is not Avatars last classic but it's certainly the first. 10/10

The First Masterpiece

[hornsbyhavoc · 10/10 · 16 August 2017]

After the twin disasters that were Jet and The Great Divide, it looked like ATLA might be running out of steam.

Rest assured. It's not. Because in this one episode, so much depth and emotion is uncovered that it instantly redeems its predecessors and truly starts the show on its way to greatness. The Storm is a true masterpiece, one of the most pathos-inspiring backstory episodes in TV history, brings our protagonist and most direct antagonist narratively closer together, and is the real beginning of the development of Zuko, one of the best characters in the history of animation.

The premise of this episode is simple: Team Avatar, heading north to get to the Northern Water Tribe, run into a storm. Zuko and his crew, following them, are likewise caught. A fisherman angrily yells at Aang for disappearing a century before, and Zuko's lieutenant on the ship becomes fed up with Zuko putting his chase of the Avatar ahead on anything else, including his own crew's safety. Aang explains his backstory to Katara around a fire in a cave they are hiding out in, as Iroh tells Zuko's story around a fire on the ship's lower deck. What follows is a dual tragedy that really makes us feel Aang's pain, and singlehandedly redefines how we see Zuko.

Aang's story has already had some of the gaps filled in: he didn't want to be Avatar, was told too young, and ran away. This is now filled in: the revelation of being the Avatar socially isolated Aang, and the monks of the temple decided to begin training him rigorously at the Eastern Air Temple and separate him from Monk Gyatso, his father figure who attempted to protect him. Rather than be separated from everyone he knew and loved, Aang made a rash decision and ran away, resulting in him almost dying and freezing himself for 100 years. We truly feel Aang's pain here, but it;s nothing compared to what we feel for Gyatso. The tragedy of the man who never harmed Aang and who died at the hands of the Fire Nation without ever having found out what happened to the boy he treated like his son is one of the series' saddest stories. It's truly a haunting story, and yet it's somehow upstaged by the story running alongside it.

We've mostly known Zuko as an obsessed, evil person hunting down Aang for his personal want of honor. While we'd seen his want to be accepted by his father, this story line blows open and reinvents his entire character arc. We see flashbacks of a young, smiling, ambitious Zuko who challenged a general's decision to send new soldiers into battle as bait. This moral, upstanding Zuko is a surprise, but we soon find out what made him into such a damaged character. His uncle explains that, rather than the general, Zuko would have to face his own father in an Agni Kai (Firebending duel) and that, rather than strike his own father, Zuko asked forgiveness and for mercy. His father did not listen, and Zuko's shriek whilst being burned and receiving his scar is among the most disturbing sounds from any children's show. Zuko's good side is seen in the present when he saves a falling crew member, and his decision to exit the storm and save his people, rather than hunt for Aang, lets everyone know he may not be all bad. The transformation of Zuko from the smiling kid to the hurt exile is one of the most painfully emotional moments of the whole series, and the pathos the audience can now feel for Zuko is incredible for a very hate-able character just an episode before.

The look that Aang and Zuko share as each escapes the storm--Aang on Appa, Zuko with his crew--perfectly sums up the whole episode. These are two broken characters with their own personal demons, and it's a great piece of parallelism. The Storm is a masterpiece, completely flawless, and one of the high points of Avatar.

The origin stories of Aang and Zuko.

[poseyfan · 10/10 · 22 June 2022]

This and the Blue Spirit are my favorite episodes in season 1. This one in particular gives so much amazing character development. There is a reason Zuko is my favorite character. There are also some pretty humorous moments that you come to expect watching this show. Great episode!

My only problem is how did the lady get up to the cave? That puzzled me lol.

More than just a Kids show!

[and_mikkelsen · 10/10 · 19 October 2023]

Thus episode is the one wherf i truely saw the potential of this show! This is where I really descided to just watch the rest of this show!

This episode gives us the backstories of Aang and Zuko and we learn how everything is way more complex than we thought at first! This is especially apparent in the case of Zuko! Before this episode he was just the main antagonist, but not anymore! Honestly after this episode, I can never view Zuko the same way again! His backstory is what deffienes him!

The backstory of Aang was also great! Emotional as Aang reveals the reason for why he had been frozen for a 100 years!

Iron also pulls off one incredible move during the storm!

Overall an amazing episode.

One of the episodes that made A:TLA the great show it came to be known as

[mail-david-schmid · 9/10 · 26 January 2017]

As a typical Ehasz episode, "The Storm" does many great things at once. It furthers character development, putting most of the characters into situations that challenge them in a meaningful way and require them to grow as a person. Through that, personalities change from static familiar tropes into characters that feel alive and whose decisions you are looking forward to. At the same time, much needed back story to Aang and Zuko is provided. Up to "The Storm", Zuko has been quite one-dimensional, not really being more than an inserted villain to keep the protagonists on the move. The parts of his past that get exposed here do a lot to make him feel like an actual person. Zuko also for the first time gets to make some choices that allow the viewer to sympathize with him, when he risks his own life to save a crew member and prioritizes the ship's safety over hunting the Avatar at all costs.

Aang also gets to confront what is probably his main weakness that he keeps working on throughout the entire series. His tendency of avoidance, to run away when he feels overwhelmed, is a big source of grief, suffering and self-loathing to him. It comes along naturally with his greatest traits, his independence and committal to staying true to himself — if he finds himself in a situation where he is unable to get along with any choice imposed on him by others, running away is his natural instinct. This challenge for Aang being introduced here starts a trend of him gradually overcoming his fleeing instinct and facing his problems and enemies that's engaging to the viewer.

Sokka and Katara don't get much development, but they get to play out their strengths, with Sokka having some delightful humorous moments and Katara showing sympathy and friendship to Aang.

Even the side-characters that only show up in this episode, the grumpy old man and his wife, are written well and get some genuinely funny lines that are delivered in serious situations without sounding out of place.

The only two scenes that I wasn't completely happy with are the short cut of the smelly airbender that one of the teams have to include into their group and Zuko's past Agni Kai with his father. The former seemed kind of out of place and contrary to A:TLA's usually rather inclusive philosophy. I suppose it might have been there to show that it wasn't really sound logic to exclude one person for being too good at the game, yet include another one that's (supposedly) similarly bad or unpopular. Still, even then I don't think it accomplished anything, and I wonder why it was inserted at all.

The latter always felt a bit constructed to me. Usually, you'd expect a prince to get away with the kinds of things Zuko said in opposition to the council general. From a later perspective, we understand that the Firelord had already been disappointed in Zuko for quite a long time, as I understand it for lack of natural talent and not being willing to make whatever sacrifices that are necessary to reach military goals and more power, so Zuko speaking out only gave Ozai an opportunity to get rid of him. On the one hand, I like how only through information we received later on did this flashback make sense somewhat, on the other hand it makes it seem strange that Zuko would work so hard to get accepted back by his father who treated him that badly. Still, altogether I think it was a good choice to set up his past and give an explanation for his built-up anger.

One of the best episodes

[mikeliturria · 10/10 · 31 July 2022]

I love this episode because it's the first time where we see Zuko could be a good person. Until now we only saw an angry Zuko that only cares about hunting the avatar, now we know why he needs to catch him and that at least he cared about the citizens of the fire nation and wanted to be a good leader.

Fantastic

[NCritz_ · 10/10 · 15 May 2022]

This is such a heartbreaking episode. This was one of the first episodes that showed Zuko as a tragic character, and that in some ways he and Aang are the same. The duality of their stories in this episode is one of the main reasons I love it so much. You feel for both of them, you understand Zuko a little more and why he's doing what he does. In a sense they're very much alone, this episode tries to put that out there. Aang feels regret for leaving his people he cared about. Zuko wanted his father's respect, but ends up with his scar and banished and even though he has his uncle and his crew, he feels alone.

This episode makes them try to redeem their past mistakes by Zuko having to save his crew in order to tell that he has heart regardless of his behavior and his motives, so he gives up on an opportunity to capture Aang to show selflessness. Aang has to face himself in the same storm he lost everything in. I cant watch this episode without getting a little emotional over it. A quote that always stood out to me from this episode was "You will learn respect, and suffering will be your teacher."

It also feels a bit of a prelude for the story of the next episode, the Blue Spirit where Aang (unknowingly until halfway through) and Zuko have to work together to escape their captors.

Great

[tug_san · 16 December 2021]

This episode shows a glimpse into Aang and Zuko's backstories with beautiuful storytelling that never feels like exposition. All the while having another great "a" story that doesnt alienate the more episodic format of the past episodes. And shows a little character progression for zuko at the end where he chooses the wellbeing of his crewmembers over the avatar.

And as a cherry on top, gives a visual clue to a major future plot point with the Azula happily watching his brother's punishment. What's not to like?

The best episode of the show

[matitya-33937 · 10/10 · 11 February 2024]

I find it not quite ironic but mildly amusing that my favourite episode of the show immediately followed my least favourite episode. I'm pleased to say that this more than atones for the mistakes of The Great Divide.

Sokka gets a job working as an angler because he and Katara and Aang need some extra money but Sokka gets caught in a storm and needs Aang to come and rescue him. That sounds almost like a recipe for a filler episode (though admittedly a better one than The Great Divide) but that's not what this episode is.

Instead, it contrasts Aang with the villainous Prince Zuko as each one has a flashback detailing his respective origin story while also subtly showing how similar the two nemeses are. We see how at only twelve years old, Aang couldn't handle the responsibility of being the Chosen One and runs away only to find himself caught in a storm (aside from the titular storm) frozen and cryogenically preserved for 100 years resulting in him developing survivor's guilt as he blames himself for the evils that have transpired in his absence but masks the pain behind his goofy and childlike demeanour. (One of many things about the character that the live-action movie didn't understand.) That's a lot of depth for a TV-Y7 show and an impressive exploration of the character.

While Zuko's origins provides a better backstory than Rosebud ever was. And I like how despite pretending not to do so, Zuko truly cares about his crew and their well-being and how this episode sets up Zuko's father Fire Lord Ozai as an actual character rather than simply an abstraction. I also like how the episode humanizes Zuko's crew instead of letting them be generic henchmen like they were previously.

The comedy Sokka provides in this episode is also funny. More than any other, I believe this episode epitomizes all that was great about the show and is as such worthy of tremendous applause.