Avatar: The Last Airbender (TV Series) The Avatar and the Fire Lord (2007) User Reviews

This episode is insane

[themetaldepth · 10/10 · 12 November 2019]

Avatar is the Breaking Bad of the kids shows honestly. The writing, character development, the way it is filmed, the humor...

You'd expect this level of writing in an adult show, yet it is here, in a kids show.

This episode is so well-made, it tells you the story of the previous avatar (Roku) and his friend, who is the firelord (Sozin) that started the war a hundred+ years ago. But what makes it so amazing, is that they use both the perspective of Avatar Roku and firelord Sozin.

Seriously, this episode might just be the best episode of any kids show ever made.

Simply Amazing

[the-beast56 · 10/10 · 5 March 2021]

The writing, the dialogue. Everything here is top notch. And they got Ron Perlman to voice Sozin. Such a welcome surprise.

When The World Needed Him Most...

[rxckne · 10/10 · 13 July 2023]

He stood his ground.

Seeing the fate of Roku in this episode was breathtaking to watch considering the entire series we were unsure of what really happened to him and if he actually vanished. But surely enough he was betrayed by Sozin, tried to fight off the volcano, but tragically died with his dragon that tried to protect him until the end.

This episode really shows the influence of some of my favorite modern shows in animation. It reminded me of the Gravity Falls episode "A Tale of Two Stans" where we got to see the backstory of the Pines brothers and what lead to Stanley taking over the Mystery Shack, and the flawed brotherly relationship they had up until things fell apart and they were separated. This episode also reminded me of the Attack On Titan episode "Memories Of The Future" in the manner that Aang was being show the past by Roku and the events that lead to his demise, similar to how Zeke was showing Eren through his fathers memories and the moments that lead up to him getting the founding titan. It's great to see that two of my favorite episodes in television might've taken inspiration from this episode and even episodes prior. Even when Aang was in the avatar state in the season 2 finale, seeing the purple silhouette of himself really reminded me of the paths in AOT. And maybe I'm reaching and there wasn't an influence but nonetheless I like the similarities these episodes share and how well the episodes came out in their perspective shows.

While I don't think this episode tops Sozin's Comet, this is easily in my top 3 Avatar episodes for how well they painted the backstory of Roku and Sozin and how their relationship fell apart, and finally getting the full story of the intro sequence from every episode and learning the Avatar never vanished, but fought for the sake of saving others. This beautiful backstory for 2 of the most important characters in the series was done excellently and deserves to be looked upon as one of the best of the series, and in television.

Best Episode so far?

[xheartxcorex1362 · 28 October 2007]

I think this may be the best episode of the new season... if only for the end exchange behind Zuko and Iroh. Oh my God, Zuko's great grandfather is Avatar Roku, Zuko seemed so pained to find this out and I must admit I did not see that one coming. This makes me 20x more excited about future episodes. (I thought that The Beach was a great episode, but this one takes the cake) The Fire Nation always had interested me the most, and I would really love to know what happened Ursa (Zuko's mother) hopefully his ties to Avatar Roku, Ursa's grandfather, will shed some light on this (fingers crossed). If there was an avatar top 10 episodes list, this deserves to be on it.

My favorite episode for a reason

[jmbburgess-74209 · 10/10 · 25 February 2021]

This episode shows why Avatar is the best kids show ever and imo the best animated show ever. The writing is on par with shows like Dexter and Breaking Bad yet it's a kids show. I doubt I'll ever watch a kids show that makes me connect to the characters more than ATLA The episode is fantastic because it tells both sides of the fire nations back story from the perspectives of both Fire Lord Spain and Avatar Roku. Also it has the fantastic twist at the end that I won't say but wow! Easily a 10/10 if I could give it a higher rating I would.

The "The Storm" of Season Three

[matitya-33937 · 10/10 · 18 February 2024]

I consider the Season One episode The Storm to be the best episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender. This episode seems to be Season Three's answer to it and it actually does a great job replicating what made The Storm great.

It's not obviously clear what Roku's point was in showing Aang this story but it becomes apparent after watching the later episodes. On the other hand, Iroh's motivations for telling Zuko the same story are abundantly clear.

I like how Zuko and Aang's parallel reactions to the same story evoke their own parallel backstories from The Storm. I also think Fire Lord Sozin (as portrayed in this episode) is the most well-written villain the show has ever given us and I like the backstory of Sozin and Roku.

All in all, it's a great episode of a great show.

Shared Histories

[Seras11123 · 8/10 · 5 September 2021]

Season 3 has had its fair share of "filler" episodes thus far, but this is one of the best and most important of these episodes so far. We learn the backstory behind Roku and Shozen, effectively framing the reason why the Fire Nation started the war. Not only are the revelations by Aang big takeaways for him, but Zoku learns something that rocks his world.

Context saves the day

[sevskirita · 7/10 · 4 September 2021]

The tragedy of Sozin and Roku isn't compelling much in itself. However, the sadness of how the Avatar went missing and the relation of it to its two audiences makes this episode decent.

The latter of these is the most standout of the episode. Although it doesn't seem particularly relevant to Aang (he already knows good firebenders exist, and so making the nation a comparison to the person itself seems tangential without tying it back to someone like Zuko), it does seem relevant to Zuko.

Zuko is already seeing how power and reputation leads to only an illusion of contentment and social fulfillment, so I think perhaps it was a good idea to focus on Roku's side of the story for him. Learning of the loss of true friendship and honor (this part could have been developed more) is developed enough with Sozin's perspective, but now Zuko is also faced with the pain and evil experienced from the perspective of those hurt by the Fire nation's greed.

Overall, I would put this just barely above average. Without the cool factor and already very developed characters (mostly because of the plenty of time they've had), the main story of this episode isn't all that compelling. Its storytelling relies too much on exposition, and some parts would do much better by being shown, such as the extent of Roku and Sozin's friendship beyond just naming each other best man, and some parts aren't exposited enough, like the Air Nomad genocide. Hadn't Zuko learned that it was an actual battle and not just a wiping out of monks? It would have at the very least been better to have Sozin say it was a surprise attack, and maybe even act like it was a smart play.

Anyways, the episode is too simple to truly be great. It makes about 7.4/10 to me, a little above average tv.

Can't really see why it's top rated

[bonetram · 7/10 · 31 December 2023]

They don't really explore Sozins hunger for power. They suggest multiple times there is a jealousy between them, but it's is also repeatedly disproved.

Sozins struggle to take over the world and the orgin to why this 100 year of war happend would have needed something to ignite.

Maybe the lost 25 years between the confrontation avatar/fire lord and the attack against the Avatar. Were the key point to The Avatars lack of success to tame his old lost friend.

Maybe there were other parts of Sozins upbringing, realtion to his father that triggers his aspirations?

This would also bring deeper meaning to Zuko wanting clarity in his own travel.