Two years ago, Netflix dramatically let me down. As a massive anime fan, I tuned into the first season of their live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender remake and was horrifically disappointed within minutes. In fact, the most positive critique you could give it is that it was better than the live-action movies, which are widely considered to be garbage.

Why? The action was all there, but the heart of Aang's story wasn't. Spectacular VFX tried to cover up the hollow, mundane narrative underneath. In fact, to quote a fantastic jaw-dropping writer called Jasmine Valentine: "There’s little room to learn, with life-changing realizations made in a ridiculously short amount of time. If a tale can’t be paid its due diligence in a certain remit, should we even bother at all?"

In 2026, my excitement for Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2 is non-existent. I've approached its seven-episode run with complete trepidation, honestly wondering if there is anything better that I could be covering this week. However — while a long way from being a masterpiece — the hit Netflix show has clearly been listening.

Now that all of the exhausting worldbuilding is out of the way (for the most part), fans can finally focus on the character relationships that they want to invest in. There's a lot of tenderness and vulnerability on display, which is the most fulfilling part of our cast having grown up so much between seasons.

But there's still something obvious that's really bothering me... and it comes back to Netflix's "cookie-cutter" mold that none of its programs can escape.

Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2 has finally learned its lesson about the importance of heart

Read it and weep (for joy), kids — Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2 actually has heart. If we're being honest, nobody had to put any effort into achieving this, with the mere fact that the lore of the Four Nations is fully established meaning there's now room for bigger, better things.

A mature Aang (Gordon Cormier) now straddles his inner struggles of legacy and constant imposter syndrome even more effectively, with the likes of Katara (Kiawentiio), Sokka (Ian Ousley), and Suki (Maria Zhang) now all settled into their selves, wants and needs.

If anything, Zuko (Dallas Liu) is going through it the most. After deserting his family and retreating into hiding at the end of season 1, we've got a lot more sympathy with him this time around as he grapples with his supposed destiny of capturing Aang for the Fire Nation's glory. Unlike Lord Ozai (Daniel Dae Kim), he's no longer a villain, but a victim.

The standout character of season 2 is easily Toph (Miya Cech), who has finally been introduced after not appearing in season 2. Coming from a complicated family background that routinely dismisses her Earthbending, she comes into her own sassy self after teaming up with Aang to teach him the next element.

Collectively, the team is now firing on all cylinders, and it's nothing short of a joy to watch. Now we understand who they are and what the bigger picture looks like; intimacy, fun, and genuinely satisfying friendships are now flourishing. The jokes land, the serious moments stab you in the heart, and whimsy is flying around like Appa the sky bison.

Netflix makes season 2 look exactly like The Witcher — just with different lore

Everything else in Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2 feels like more of the same — and that's a huge problem when it comes to the visuals. Broadly speaking, the Four Nations are jaw-droppingly gorgeous, and the detail that the creative team has packed into the landscapes is nothing short of impressive.

The immediate VFX, such as the bending that our characters use, leave a lot to be desired. It's obviously not a usual thing for people to have fire and water shooting out of their hands, so we're suspending a great deal of belief anyway... but being in the moment doesn't help when seeing it happen looks so fake.

This lumps season 2 into the same visually poor category as The Witcher, which is another comparison I made during season 1's debut. Cover the faces of the actors, stick them in the woods for a combat scene, and you'd be hard-pressed to tell the shows apart. Netflix is determined to make all of its genre programs look exactly like one another, and I'm baffled as to why.

Then there's the ultimate ending, which we already know without including spoilers. Much like other long-running anime series like One Piece (with its Netflix adaptation also guilty of this), we've known about the final endgame from its first five minutes. Here, it's for Aang to learn his bending skills, become all-powerful, and defeat Lord Ozai and the Fire Nation.

With a third series already confirmed, this is being drawn out for as long as humanly possible. It was obvious that none of the above was going to be achieved by the time season 2 wrapped up, so we've made little substantial progress from when Aang's goal was first introduced.

For me, the constant theme of "Oh no! Danger is on the horizon, and the Fire Nation must be stopped" is going to wear thin quickly. I'd really like to see season 3 mix things up, but I'm guessing that it won't.

Did I enjoy seeing Aang and the gang in 2026 more than in 2024? Absolutely. Has it renewed my interest in seeing them again at the end of 2027 (season 3's assumed release window)? Far from it.

Spoilers for Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2 ahead.

Even before Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2 dropped on Netflix, we knew exactly where it was heading: the Fire Nation taking over all of the Four Nations.

In the latest batch of seven episodes, the target is the hidden city of Ba Sing Se — and as of season 2 episode 6, it's been captured.

With Avatar Aang (Gordon Cormier) the only person who can save the day, the pressure is on to stop Fire Lord Ozai (Daniel Dae Kim) from doing any more damage.

Unluckily, Princess Azula (Elizabeth Yu) is taking her dad's wishes into her own hands. But can our favorite gang cope with her fiendish plans?

Here's everything you need to know about the Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2 ending... and what it might mean for the already confirmed season 3.

Appa, Sokka, Zuko and Katara are all captured by the Dai Li — which is now controlled by Azula

We kick off Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2 episode 8 with a flashback of baby Aang meeting Appa the sky bison for the first time. Aang feeds Appa an apple (trying to say that three times fast), and they embrace.

Cut to the present day, where Appa has been kidnapped by the Dai Li — Ba Sing Se's secret police force — which is now being controlled by Princess Azula. Trust me, you will cry seeing him in chains.

In a meeting with the city's Grand Secretariat, Long Feng (Chin Han), Azula kills all of Ba Sing Se's highest-ranking men in the force when they question why the Fire Nation wants to control the city. Long Feng, however, begrudgingly but fearfully complies with Azula's plan: to raise Ba Sing Se's drawbridge and let the Fire Nation troops roll in, taking out anything they want in the process.

Remember, this is all coming from Lord Ozai's orders, despite Azula being a more than willing vehicle for them. But Appa isn't the only Aang ally the Dai Li has captured on her orders, with Sokka (Ian Ousley) and Katara (Kiawentiio) also in separate cells.

Sokka reunites with inventor Sai (Danny Pudi) in his cell, with the inventor already being captured before his arrival. Together, they try to figure out how to use the prison's underground structure to break free.

Katara has been put in a cell with Zuko (Dallas Liu), who was caught by the Dai Li after "doing a good act." This marks the biggest pinnacle in Zuko's personal struggle between good and evil so far, and Azula has no idea that he's jailed.

Meanwhile, Toph (Miya Cech) returns home to her mother, complaining that Aang and co. "don't understand her" after their huge falling out in episode 6. While initially seeming on board with how great Toph's earthbending powers are, her mother poisons Toph's tea in order to try and control her urge to leave home forever.

Aang and Iroh plan an escape mission

So where is Aang in this? Right behind his pals, having already figured out where Appa is underground just by sensing him. When the Azula-controlled Dai Li parade through the center of Ba Sing Se, he's hidden by allies made in season 2, episode 1.

When he attempts to approach the Dai Li's underground jail, he's spotted by Iroh (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) and is immediately suspicious. Iroh reveals that he's also on a mission to break Zuko out of jail, thinking that the pair should team up for maximum effect.

Iroh tells Aang about a secret door that Avatar Kyoshi once installed to lead into the underground caves, but it needs all four elements bent at once to be able to open it. Aang is missing his firebending powers at this stage, so he needs Iroh just as much as Iroh needs Aang.

Together, the pair locate and open the door, and set off on their rescue mission.

Zuko tries to bond with Katara

While Sokka and Sai try to be proactive, Katara learns who Zuko really is. Immediately, she goes on the defensive, telling him how all of her family — and the entire Waterbending tribe — were wiped out thanks to the hostile Fire Nation invasion.

Zuko definitely feels empathy for Katara, but still has a chip on his shoulder. He tells her that the Fire Nation also stripped him of his family, with his mother dying at the hands of Lord Ozai.

The more the two talk, the more they realize that they have a lot in common. It's the closest we've even seen Zuko come to his "good" side, and it seems as though he's finally going to stay that way for good.

Looking at the burn mark around his left eye, Katara offers to try and heal Zuko using the waterbending potion in the locket around her neck. Just as she's about to apply it, Aang and Iroh storm in, having found and released Sokka and Sai first.

Aang goes to fight Zuko, but Iroh stops him, claiming that he's seen huge changes for the better in his nephew. Not quite believing that Zuko has defected from the Fire Nation, the gang sets off in search of the exit.

Aang's escape plan is thwarted

With the Dai Li everywhere, the gang splits up. Aang goes to find Appa after Long Feng brings him up to speed with Azula's plans, earthbending a hole through the ceiling so that Appa can fly to safety.

But as he tries to rejoin the others, he passes another prisoner who was originally being psychologically tortured by a Dai Li officer earlier on. Aang offers to bring her with them, but instead of accepting his offer, she shouts that "the Avatar is here," alerting the guards.

From there, it's fighting on all fronts. In pairs, the group makes light work of the Dai Li roaming the hallways, especially when Toph joins suits, revealing that she has invented "metalbending."

In fact, metalbending is how she ended up there in the first place. When she wakes up after her poisoning, Toph awakes in a metal box riding inside her mother's horse and carriage. Coming to the conclusion that Aang really does understand her, where her family doesn't, she bends the box and flies out of the carriage, making her way to safety.

An all-out battle with Azula changes Zuko's allegiance

With the fight raging on, Azula soon joins the mix, learning that her brother is among the escapees. Honing her focus on him, she tries to convince him, once again, to rejoin her side.

At first, Zuko remains hesitant, more confident in his newfound ability to do good things. But when Azula brings up the death of their mother, he changes his mind.

Where Zuko has always held a grudge against Azula for how she acted when their mother died, Azula reveals that she was only acting on her mother's orders. Their mom wanted the siblings to stay together through the trauma, breaking an emotional trigger point inside Zuko when he hears this.

By the time the rest of the gang reach a large clearing in the underground caves, Azula and Zuko emerge to fight them all as a team. This shocks Katara, who had genuinely believed that Zuko was coming around to being on their side.

After a lot of intense bending and fighting, it looks as though Azula has Aang right where she wants him — after all, the entire point of kidnapping his friends was to lure Aang to Ba Sing Se.

But in his hour of need, Aang taps into what can best be described as an "Avatar portal," seeing physical forms of all the Avatars that came before him in his mind's eye. More clearly, it's what causes Aang's eyes and head arrow to turn a shining blue, as he's essentially channelling their collective power through his body.

Aang is left unconscious

At this point, we see Aang's best bending to date, turning the tables on Azula and leaving her (and the Dai Li guards who join her) powerless.

But just as he's about to deliver the final blow, Aang loses his inner vision, effectively shutting his power off. He collapses to the floor, but Katara, Sokka and Toph are able to get him to safety thanks to Appa having waited outside.

With Ba Sing Se still under Azula's control, our final scene shows the gang flying away on Appa's back. Kata uses the potion she initially offered to Zuko on Aang, aiming to heal him and bring him back to full health.

However, nothing happens after she gives it to him, with the final shot showing Aang completely unconscious and unresponsive.

Season 3 predictions

Obviously, finding out if Aang has actually survived the battle is a top priority for season 3. But the mere fact that season 3 has already been greenlit basically confirms that we'll be seeing Aang again anyway.

In a nutshell, we can expect to see Aang learning to firebend, infiltrating the Fire Nation, and preparing for his climactic showdown with Fire Lord Ozai before Sozin's Comet arrives. Not too much, then.

We also know that Zuko will eventually team up with Aang and the gang to make this happen, so we can expect to see some more emotional upheaval from him.

We're hoping to see season 3 episodes next summer.