(Warning: spoilers for the Avatar: Seven Havens premiere below. For a spoiler-free review, check out my review of the first six episodes.)
Like the original Avatar: The Last Airbender‘s first episode, “The Boy in the Iceberg”, Avatar: Seven Havens‘ first half hour “On the Horizon” asks a simple question: what happened to the Avatar? And like the original, the answer is “probably something terrible” – though, thankfully, that’s where Paramount+ and Avatar Studios’ latest iteration on the Avatar lore (following this summer’s beautiful, if muted Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender film), ends. That’s not to say what follows is either unfamiliar or novel; with a blend of The Legend of Korra‘s more mature, coming of age teen stories and the sense of discovery and grief that lay under the surface of the original, Avatar: Seven Havens‘ first chapter is one of mystery, wonder – and thanks to an incredibly well-delivered climax, intrigue that marries its many elements in one of the franchise’s most interesting twists yet.
“On the Horizon” opens by introducing us to a young, one-legged wildling girl named Pavi, who lives outside a walled city called Ellora with her cat-monkey Geet (who is voiced by… Dee Bradley Baker!), spending her days scrounging for food and hiding from the militaristic Brigade of benders that patrols the city. Set on the anniversary of a cataclysmic event (which we learn involves Korra, the last known Avatar), “On the Horizon” streamlines much of its worldbuilding through Pavi and a young Brigade squad leader named Jae (who has more than a few shades of Sokka’s arc ready-baked into his character). And boy, is there a lot of worldbuilding; “On the Horizon” smartly keeps itself moving through its layered introduction to Ellora’s world, where benders of all four elements are drafted as children into a single, city-defending army in a fealty demanded by the city’s legacy as one of the seven “havens” that survived the aftermath of the Korra-involved apocalyptic event (which isn’t given a time, but presumably happened decades earlier).
From there, Avatar: Seven Havens guides viewers through the pastel-laden desert-like world of Ellora City with the many familiar narrative elements of the regular series; the resourceful, caring Pavi’s relationship with her pet companion parallels Jae and his brigade enjoying the food and sounds of the city’s annual festival – which, of course, includes an informal stage play, one that shows us just how much the people of this time have come to hate the concept of the Avatar, thanks to Korra’s destroyed legacy. But while the structure of “On the Horizon” is quite familiar (we even get a glimpse of Ellora’s militaristic power structure, defined by a captain the town deifies, and a gruff commander, neither of whom the pilot episode really has time to dig its teeth into), the story it tells never feels stale or repetitive; especially once the heavy expository lifting of the first two acts is settled and Seven Havens can start moving into the central mysteries of its story (where is the Avatar, and what did Korra do to the world?).
Given the density of those first two acts, it’s no surprise the quietest part of the episode works the best, which sees Jae follow Pavi through a windstorm and into her home among the makeshift ruins of the old world; we even see an ad for an energy drink with Korra’s name on it (one of many touches suggesting whatever happened killed the technological revolution that defined much of The Legend of Korra‘s historical era). Not only does it make for a strong introduction for these two characters in isolation from the comforts of their known worlds (Jae’s within the walls, and Pavi’s outside them), but it also pushes the first episode right into the heart of its story, when a tornado pins Jae under some falling rocks – where Pavi reveals she has the ability to bend both earth and air, something that shocks Jae and Seven Haven‘s pilot episode to life.
From there, the rest of “On the Horizon” is a breakneck sprint to the final moments, where the series reveals its actual twist: that Pavi is not just the Avatar; she’s one of two Avatars, the other being a strange girl (who looks suspiciously similar to Pavi) bending fire and earth in the brigade’s temple at the episode’s close. The dichotomy is immediate and striking, as we see a glimpse of a talented, powerful young girl who Jae learns is being hidden by the Brigade from the public, being trained in secret – without a single line of dialogue between the two, Avatar: Seven Havens draws immediate and strong parallels between the two girls, and the clear experience (and suffering) one has faced alone. “On the Horizon” goes to great lengths to see how comforts on things like peace and family have been stripped away from Pavi, making for a potent final image of the two “unregistered”, young benders being hidden from the world (or in Pavi’s case, hiding) as they see each other for the first time.
The intense last few minutes of “On the Horizon” make for a palpable ending to the pilot episode, which mostly lumbers through a lot of well-crafted, if obvious scenes catching viewers up with the Avatar world until it gets to those final moments. And again, though the bones of Avatar: Seven Havens are incredibly familiar to anyone experienced in the Avatar mythos (what I’m saying is, Commander Boutan = Tenzin, maybe?), the mix of tragedy, mystery, and resilience is already quite addicting, even only after its first half hour. Time will tell whether it can maintain this headwind, but with “On the Horizon”, Avatar: Seven Havens is off to a predictably strong start.
Other thoughts/observations:
- Welcome to Avatar: Seven Havens reviews! Reviews of episodes two and three will publish today and tomorrow – and you can read my spoiler-free review of the first six episodes here, if you’re curious about my general thoughts of the first book. Remember – you can always subscribe to Processed Media for free!
- Most disappointing part of the pilot: there’s no opening voiceover anymore! But don’t fret – it will start to appear with episode three.
- the score is quite different than both Avatar and Legend of Korra – and even though it is a little jarring at times, I’m into it.
- Book One is titled “Survival”, and Kathrik mentions needing the return of the Avatar “more than ever”… does not bode well for the people of Ellora City, that’s for sure!
- The opening shot, which pans down from a very Spirit World-like sky, is what we call “the good stuff”.
- Yeah, Jae’s air-powered hoverboard is cool as shit.
- Seven Havens is obviously playing its cards close to its chest about what happened with Korra, but one can’t help but wonder if her tethering the spirit and physical world together went haywire somewhere down the line.
- “You’re not losing a child Malika; Ellora is gaining a hero.” Now that’s propaganda!
- Love the pair of guards who patrol the city walls; more of them, please!
- So two Avatars… could that mean Vaatu and Rava are within the twins’ spirits? And if so… who is who?