Now that we have firmly returned to the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender after twelve long years and had a few episodes to settle in, Seven Havens has kicked off in earnest. After introducing twin Avatars, giving us their out-of-his-depth teenage mentor Jae, and establishing the state of the world, episodes 4-6 work instead on character development and continuing the evil spirit mystery surrounding Ellora.
The first and most important thing I’ll say for these episodes is that I feel like I actually know who Pavi, Nisha, and Jae are now. Rather than vague statements like “oh he’s funny” or “she’s serious,” Seven Havens now gives us enough to work with to guess how the characters feel as new events take place and how they might react. Pavi and Nisha are now very plainly aspects of our previous Avatars – not to say anything about whose soul is in whom, or if Raava is split in half between them.
Pavi is so clearly Aang, the peace-loving goof, friend to animals, who always believes there’s a way around a problem, who has lived for so long without friends and now clings to them even to her own detriment. Nisha is Korra, who takes on problems head-on, does not look back, feels a deep sense of duty and justice, and has many walls guarding her heart. Pavi does not want to be the Avatar, but Nisha wants to be the Avatar too badly. Together, they will find, you guessed it, balance.
We also have an odd introduction to a character that I have to assume will join the main cast later, Uki. We see her in action in episode 1, and again for a few minutes in episode 4, but then she is kidnapped by a group of masked bandits from the Harshlands called The Faceless. The group spends an entire episode looking for her, only for her to be dragged out into the Harshlands tied up, so there must be a lot more to the Faceless than being Mad Max ripoffs. One of the Faceless also talks very much like a regular human, which rules out the theory about them being spirits too. I have a strong feeling they know more about the black spirit attacking Ellora than we do.
Speaking of the black spirit, I am not so sure anymore that it actually is Vaatu. For those in need of a refresher, Vaatu is the Great Spirit of Darkness that is the manifestation of chaos. Raava, his counterpart, is the Great Spirit of Light who is the manifestation of order. Every 10,000 years, they must battle each other for dominance of the next age. Raava also notably is the Avatar; while the gift of bending all four elements is something the Avatar can do on their own, it’s Raava that is being harnessed when energybending, recalling past lives, or using the Avatar State. Many have theorized that Pavi is Raava’s Avatar and Nisha is Vaatu’s Avatar, but it seems so obvious that I hope they don’t go down that route.
Regardless, the black spirit invading Ellora, which starts transforming afflicted citizens into fear zombies in episode 6, looks so similar to Vaatu that it is unthinkable that they are not related somehow. It also is clearly hunting for the Avatars every time it attacks; in episode 3, it left once it found them and showed them a vision of their past. In episode 6, it does the same, after causing massive damage to the city and injuring dozens of people. Why is this thing so desperate to show Nisha and Pavi who they are? I am not so sure anymore that it’s just Vaatu’s current form hunting them down, but I also don’t know what else to think.
Meanwhile, I have grown much more suspicious of everyone’s favorite Uncle Dad Commander Karthik. He is too trustworthy, kind, and helpful for something not to be up. Not to say the White Lotus has been infiltrated or anything; I think he very much believes in the ideals of the White Lotus, but it’s been 200 years since anyone was clear on what those were. The new White Lotus has some of the Avatar’s old artifacts, sure, but do they still stand for the spread of knowledge without division of nations? Or does Karthik have big, big ideals that he’s going to take too far just like Amon or Zaheer before him?
I might need to get out my Charlie Day corkboard, but a lot of theories flying around are making sense. Seven Havens, seven chakras. Earthbending Avatar, Earth chakra. The Earth Chakra is pink, just like Ellora on the map. Book 1 is called Survival, which is what the chakra fuels. The Earth chakra is blocked by fear, and the black spirit is inducing fear into people to drive them into mania. It’s too many coincidences!
All in all, I’m very pleased with the progression of the season, and episode 6 dearly needed the climactic action we got. Some more supporting characters are sliding into focus, and I am completely unable to guess what the black spirit is. And I love that! There’s so much to speculate on. Is Councilor Kayoko incompetent or evil? What is the red crystal? And where’s Uki??? More please!
FilmObserver Score: 8/10 – Excellent
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