This article contains spoilers for Avatar: The Last Airbender episode 3, "Omashu". Avatar: The Last Airbender sees the beloved cartoon being brought to life in live-action form, courtesy of Netflix.
As before, the new adaptation follows the titular airbender, Aang, and his friends as the youngster sets off to master all four elements — Fire, Water, Earth and Air — so he can bring balance back to the world.
Avatar's third episode sees the gang arriving in the Earth Kingdom city of Omashu after Aang thought he spotted another airbender. There, they cross paths with the Mechanist and end up entangled with a group of freedom fighters who are bent on rooting out traitors working with the Fire Nation. Read on to find out how the third chapter played out in our Avatar: The Last Airbender episode 3 recap.
Arriving at Omashu
Episode 3 picks up with a group of rebels meeting within the Fire Nation. They infiltrate the palace, where they plan to assassinate Fire Lord Ozai. With the aid of a contact who works within the palace, they reach the throne room but find it empty.
Suddenly, they're surrounded by Fire Nation soldiers, and Ozai walks in for an evil monologue wherein he proclaims he wants to bring "peace" by ruling over the other kingdoms. He also reveals the rebels' insider to actually be his daughter, Azula, who has been put to work within the Nation to identify traitors. Ozai then incinerates the rebels and informs Azula that her brother, Zuko, has managed to locate the Avatar.
After the titles, we pick up with Team Avatar, who are heading for the Northern Water Tribe. Whilst flying on Appa, Aang spots what he thinks could be another airbender mid-flight, and follows them toward Omashu, one of the Earth Kingdom cities.
Elsewhere, Iroh, Zhao and Zuko hold a meeting. Zhao notes that the window to recapture the Avatar without the Fire Nation knowing is limited. Zuko doesn't want anyone else involved but eventually allows Zhao to reach out to a few trusted sources for more info.
Team Avatar arrives at the gates of Omashu and learns that outsiders aren't welcome. Luckily, they cross paths with a boy on a cart (who we learn later is Jet), who helps them get inside the city, disguising them as his relatives. Inside, Aang chases down the "airbender", to find he's a boy in a glider chair. As his disappointment sets in, an explosion goes off in a nearby building. A man, Sai (The Mechanist) rushes to the boy (called Teo) to check he's okay, and gets him back inside his house nearby, with Aang and Katara using their powers to help clear up after the blast.
The gang learns that Sai works to maintain many of Omashu's devices, including the city-spanning delivery system, and Teo tells them that Fire Nation bombings have been happening in the city for a while now. And whilst Aang initially wants to continue North, to prevent the tragedy Kyoshi warned him of, he decides it's only right to stay behind and help the people of Omashu, too, and they return to Sai's to ask for more info about the attacks. Teo has a hunch the attackers gather in a cave up in the mountains.
Back in the Fire Nation, Princess Azula mocks Zuko for his travails on the hunt for the Avatar, suggesting that he's done nothing compared to her finding traitors within the land... but she worries he's got hope, and that he might interfere with what she's been working towards, since Zuko's still first in line to become the next Fire Lord. Elsewhere, Zhao reports to Zuko about Aang's arrival in Omashu; he offers to send two of his best men to infiltrate the city, but Zuko says he and Iroh will go.
Zhao warns them not to get in any trouble, as he won't be able to send help into the city. Later on, Azula sends a missive to Zhao, asking him to tell her about Zuko's movements, promising to reward his loyalty if he does so.
Discovering the truth
Whilst practicing her bending, Katara spots Sai meeting with a hooded figure and handing over info. She moves to intervene, but Jet stops her. Jet tells her Sai's a traitor to the kingdom, and the pair begin tailing the robed figure from the Fire Nation through the city. Meanwhile, Aang and Teo fly up to the cave, leaving Sokka behind in the Mechanist's workshop, where he helps Sai work on his airship design.
Jet and Katara catch up to the spy in the woods. He realized they were coming, and brings out reinforcements. Katara and Jet fight back, and look to be outnumbered... until Jet calls in his own reinforcements, and his band of freedom fighters step in to help.
After beating the spy, Jet's gang heads back to their base. There, Jet tells Katara that the lax leader of Omashu is the reason that corruption has crept into the city, but he and his fellow men fight back. Katara and Jet bond over what they have lost to the Fire Nation. Katara worries that her bad memories are interfering with her bending. Jet tells her to cling to the happier memories of her mother, and that seems to help her shape water better.
In the cave, Aang and Teo find a stockpile of blasting jelly which is capable of destroying half the city, if detonated. But Aang also finds the rags that Jet had handed them on his turnip cart... meaning the Fire Nation isn't behind the bombings.
Zuko and Iroh arrive in the city. Zuko seems unimpressed by the place, but when the Prince asks Iroh about the explosion, he is shocked to learn that Fire Nation spies could be employing underhanded tactics. Aang and Teo return to the workshop, finding Sai has left to go to the palace. As he's about to reveal who's behind the bombings, Katara enters.
This leads to an argument between the siblings over who is really to blame. Sokka believes Sai wants to help the city, whilst Katara believes what Jet's told her, and that he must be to blame. As a result, Katara storms off to find Jet... where she learns what the boy's plan is.
En route to the palace, his gang bumps into Sai and swap cases with him. They've planted a bomb in the new case, and plan to detonate it when Sai meets with the king. Horrified, Katara returns to Aang, and they plan to intervene with the plan to stop innocent people from getting hurt.
As the trio leaves for the palace, they're waylaid by Zuko. Aang tells Katara and Sokka to leave the fight to him, and the pair duke it out in a fight that takes them through the markets. Aang asks Zuko why he's been hunting him this long; Zuko realizes this means the Avatar has his notebook, and lets off a fireball out of anger, revealing a firebender's in the city.
With Aang occupied, Sokka and Katara make use of the city's delivery carts and whizz up to the palace just in time to stop the plan: Katara uses her waterbending powers to put out a flaming arrow meant to detonate the bomb, which thuds into Sai's case seconds later.
Aang uses his powers to put out the flames that start burning through the city, and Iroh lets off a blaze to distract the Earth Kingdom guards so that Zuko can escape Omashu unscathed. The episode then ends with Aang being surrounded by Earth Kingdom soldiers, who uses their powers to trap his legs in stone.
Avatar: The Last Airbender is now streaming on Netflix.
