Netflix ATLA: S1 Ep 4

Starting with a short prison scene. Another Aang & Iroh interaction, which is welcome but I wish it were about more than their present circumstances. We do get a little touch of Iroh seeing the better person Zuko is underneath, will become & vouches for him. Acting is getting better (which I should start focusing on more).
I like this confrontation of Sai. In the original, it was rushed to barely happening because Fire Nation War Minister Qin arrived at the Northern Air Temple & cut off their time to do so, and here, his actions feel less justified because, setting aside the threat of attack (which was also the bargain for the Northern Air Temple), surely being the mechanist to the King of Omashu should provide for him & Teo. Wonder how they'll work it around to redeem him.
Also, I just realized if we're getting the Iroh prison break with he & Zuko while Aang is in Omashu, we probably won't get that moment when Aang is in the Spirit World riding Fang (Roku's dragon) & Iroh notices it but the soldiers who are transporting him don't because he has gone to the Spirit World & keys in more to his good nature (Enough where his spirit is able to live in the Spirit World after death in Legend of Korra).

...You'd think that after spending all that time in Omashu last episode that Aang would have at least mentioned Bumi before now. Which is why I was/am bent out of shape that they restructured the stories the way they did. Even just having him mentioned last episode with the flashbacks, getting people to think he'll be brought up somehow in that episode, then not having it happen, coming to this episode, have Aang still remember the good times in Omashu while in prison, still seeing Bumi and THEN paying it off here would've been SO much better or at least made more sense than Aang mentioning/remembering him ONLY NOW.
Ooo, here we go Iroh. Having to play up the devotion to your country, but the pain it has cost you just right under the surface, that lip quiver before "Not even the loved ones lost along the way.", the voice tremble on "along". And mentioning how basically raising Zuko these 3 years filled the whole in his heart the death of Lu Ten left and the leitmotif of "Leaves from the Vine" on the same instrument? Who knew Memberberries were like onions. Great scene, whether you know or not.

Secret tunnels? Through the mountain? Are they taking the Cave of Two Lovers (S2E2) tunnels and using them here outright or will we get that in Season 2? It's more of a shipping episode with some lore of the creation of Earthbending & Omashu but it's a standout episode of Season 2 compared to... others (Looking at you, Avatar Day) Will we see the badgermoles?
In the original, they were transporting Iroh to Ba Sing Se to be tried there & Omashu is not much farther than near Senlin or Hei Bai's Forest where he was originally captured around, so a mention of Ba Sing Se would have been a nice worldbuilding opportunity, but we get a generic Pit labor camp that we won't even see because Zuko will absolutely free Iroh during transport. This just seems like such a superfluous change.
Huh, so if the Fire Nation spies ARE going to send "everything they've got", that will probably be the time to use the war balloon, but it'll have to be destroyed by other means. (In the original, there's natural gas leaks under the Northern Air Temple that the Mechanist used for the refugee's glider flight. They tossed the engine of the airborne ship into a natural gas leak that wiped out the Fire Nation army attacking the temple.) Omashu's been bombed enough.
Flopsie? What have they done to you?! (He was Bumi's pet gorilla goat in the original) Wait a minute... How does this Bumi know Aang is the Avatar? It makes sense in the original because there was time between Aang being told he was the Avatar and Aang's disappearance. He could have gone to Omashu/Bumi during that time, but here, Aang being told he was the Avatar and freezing in ice happened on the same night. Yes, Bumi is "a mad genius" & I guess he could've figured since a new Water Tribe Avatar (or even Earth Kingdom Avatar for that matter due to the attacks on Waterbenders) didn't come about in 100 years, either the Fire Nation ended the Avatar reincarnation cycle or any Air Nomad secretly alive should be the Avatar. Plus, unknown to the audience at this time, he's a member of the White Lotus, which would probably know about the Avatar's return (which would be known by everyone if we got a similar set of circumstances to the original where Aang's Avatar State use at the Southern Air Temple "activated" Avatar shrines all over the world & their sages would be aware of it.), but that is a LOT of assumptions. Maybe they'll clear it up later.
AND AANG KNOWS IT'S BUMI STRAIGHT AWAY! Honestly, good. The original "The King of Omashu" episode had Aang go through 3 trials to save Sokka & Katara and it was Bumi's way of teaching Aang to "think like a mad genius" for his inevitable fight against Ozai. However, in the original, Bumi snorts while laughing and has a distinct set of eyes that Aang should've picked up on when first meeting King Bumi and I'm glad he does here. Even without prior knowledge of the original and just the snort, it makes too much sense. My only question is what will Aang & Bumi do if not the trials?

Wait, have we really gone all this time without Katara having her watch pouch?!? And it apparently gave her an XP boost & leveled up because she froze Jet to a cart exactly like she did to him in the original (except it was a tree, not a cart) even the tempo almost matches. And the confidence boost showing shades of the Waterbending master she will become.
Zuko's sneaking, even though it's only a tiny bit, is a nice way to hint at his Blue Spirit sneaking ways. The guard asking "What are you going to do?" is goofy. We know he has two choices: Aang, the person that can return Zuko to his former glory or Iroh, the surrogate father he's had for 3 formative years. You don't need to spell it out for us.
Bumi still pulling the wool over Aang's eyes with the bitterness of living through the Hundred Year War is a good way to bring about at least the final trial, but I wonder if they'll keep the same explanation as to why Bumi put Aang through it (teaching him to "think like a mad genius").

Oh god, the singling Nomads. We ARE getting the caves in The Cave of Two Lovers. Also, when Chong (the actual singing Nomad) says "Shake it." the instrument he's playing is still heard even though he motions with his hand. We're also getting the story of Omashu, so if we get Season 2, bye-bye episode 2. The story is ripped, word for word, from the show and the gender change is fine. ♪ Member berrieeeeees, Member berrieeeeees, through the series, Member Member Member Member BERRIEEEEEEEEEEES ♪

If you're going to mention the Dragon of the West & Ba Sing Se, why not just keep what the show did & have him transported to Ba Sing Se? Sure, it's a far distance but the threat of death from a trial is much worse then working in a nebulous "Generic Labor Camp", especially if the soldier outright says "I've got all the time in the world." (wrote the distance bit before I got to that part, so it just seemed funny.) And you wouldn't think I'd have a problem about the difference between the White Lotus tile & the sandal he used in the original, but Zuko holds onto that sandal & after Iroh is arrested for helping Katara & Aang escape Ba Sing Se at the end of Season 2, he uses it (with help from June & Nyla, a shirshu (animal) that can track a smell over a continent) to find Iroh (who escapes prison (S3E11)) after Aang disappears right before he's supposed to fight Ozai. (S3E19)

Quick Jennamite/rock candy callback (Wonder if it tastes like Memberberries.)
The location where the tile was when Zuko picked it up (fork in the road) is not the same as where Iroh dropped it (no fork). It couldn't have been that hard to film on the same location, right?
Did Sokka just quote The Beatles & Deon Jackson? We had disputes between Sokka & Katara, but nothing like this in Season 1. Definitely something akin to it in S3E16, but not this early. Nice touch, especially because Sokka is realizing Katara is learning to protect herself & won't need him and Katara is realizing Sokka is just trying to protect the only family he has around after losing his mother & father effectively.
I also like the additions of the effects the Siege of Ba Sing Se had on people. It was always just mentioned in passing, so to see Iroh's past transgressions not only elaborated on but put before him helps give weight to the penitent & humbling path of life he's living to even try to make up for it.
Woah, A Lu Ten's wake scene... What a good little scene, and again, it's because they took the time to elaborate on 1 original episode's worth of material. Ozai sowing the seeds of his jealousy of Iroh's claim to the throne with the just barely detectable higher intonation on "His" in "His sacrifice will be enshrined in legend." saying YOUR sacrifice (the loss of your son & the love a father has for his son (which he gains again through Zuko)) will be forgotten by your failure at Ba Sing Se. The acting overall was very nice as well. If given the additional seasons to break out of the one dimensional character Zuko was expected to be in the first season, I'd like to see the range of the Zuko actor, because when showing the other side of Zuko, he's doing a great job. And the only thing that bugged me about this Iroh was the voice, but again, that's because I was fortunate to have Mako & Greg voice the character for my 1st exposure, but I've definitely warmed up to this Iroh and it's largely due to this episode.

Nice little wrap-up of Sokka & Katara's previous dust up while also dropping seeds of reasons to forgive Jet & Sai. Same pause before delivering "The tunnels are changing.", but the crystals were supposed to tell you the correct path even when the badgermoles change them. And they are a lot more menacing and smaller than I'd expect. I guess them being the 1st Earthbenders, I thought their larger size lent to their mythic status as the 1st Earthbenders very well.
Zuko/Iroh vs Earth Kingdom soldiers had all the highlights from the original: Iroh crumbling rocks with his chains, one of the soldiers blocking fire with his helmet. Choero's fine but nothing to write home about, but I've heard people had issue with the fire looking fake and the only fake fire that stood out to me is the shot when Zuko stands up fully from landing. One standout flub from the CG team, however is when Iroh breaks the rocks with the chain, the pieces fall by the side of the road. One piece lands next to a rock that was already by the side of the road. When Zuko follows up with a feint sweep kick to an overhead fire kick, the piece is not next to the pre-existing rock. I only noticed it because I was rewinding & looking at the CG, but still, it's a fairly big mistake. Wonder if they'll do anything with injured Iroh slowing Zuko down, since he's supposed to be involved with Roku's shrine in episode 8 of the original. If he isn't, maybe bring in Song from S2E2 to show Zuko some compassionate people from the Earth Kingdom to occupy his story during that episode.

"They don't navigate by sight but by feeling." ...You what? Yes, the badgermoles are supposed to be blind; It's why Toph in Season 2 is able to learn Earthbending from them. But they "see" the same way she explains her "sight" - Seismic sense; Using Earthbending to feel the vibrations of other earth, footsteps, anything rooted in earth, etc. Not feeling. What a bunch of hippie-dippy-baloney.
Most of the choreo from Aang & Bumi's fight is also right from the show (kicking a boulder with both feet, quicksand, leap over rock from behind, etc.) which is fine (the show was very inventive with its choreo).
Bumi guilting Aang with not being around for those hundred years & thinking he won't have to make any difficult decisions like he had to do as king is new territory because Bumi wasn't angry at Aang at all in the original. At face value, it's another point to what I brought up about Gyatso in episode 1: that Aang has to grow up into his Avatar role & make decisions that are best for the world, even if they take away from who he is.
There's one thing that bugs me with it, though (It's only irking me now because it came to a point in this fight). My only complaint is that we should feel or even see some ramifications of those choices with him or Omashu. Instead, he's a whimsical king with lavish guests, able to have a feast with exotic foods & ornate centerpieces. And Omashu seems to be a thriving city with "artists, scientists, buliders." He may have had to make difficult choices to get there, but we need to feel them in order to feel enough empathy for him to consider his point over Aang's way of thinking & to contrast his whimsical, happy & comfy life we saw earlier and I simply didn't.
What Bumi expected Aang to do in the fight (kill him) Aang finding another way to end the fight mirrors the situation of the series' final fight (Aang thinking he needs to kill Ozai but instead uses Energybending to take his bending away). Also, when Aang lets go & the 2 giant rocks hit the ground, we see Bumi clearly on the ground, nothing obstructing him. After Aang gets up, he splits a rock in two to get up... from what I don't know.
Also, the "I wasn't here for the world, or for you, but I'm here now." echoes the realization he came to after discussing his past with Katara in "The Storm" (S1E12) (Actually, his last lines in the episode are "I can't make guesses about what would have turned out if I hadn't run away. I'm here now and I'm going to make the most out of it.")
So I guess this coming attack on Omashu will be successful and that's how they get Season 2 episode 3 out of this (Omashu falling to the Fire Nation. I mentioned Mai's father being appointed the governor in my review of episode 3). I don't think that Teo & Sai will relocate to the Northern Air Temple, so there goes episode 17 but there also goes my potential problems if they did. (Chief among them being: How would they have got there before the Gaang, who can literally fly there?) And there's the final shot of episode 5 of the original, "CABBAGES!" & all (Liiiiitle green-screen-y).

And in case you weren't feeling it enough from or for Iroh in this episode, that last scene was a nice little touch to really show what Zuko means to Iroh & vice versa. The bandaged Zuko made me recall a flashback in S3E12 around the same timeframe of near after Zuko's scar & banishment. They were at the Western Air Temple, but Zuko was similarly bandaged.

PROS:
Everything with Iroh in it: This was supposed to be Bumi's episode, but, along with Bumi's intentions being strange, Iroh's story had the heart. He's a favorite character in the original for the same reason, and again, they added new scenes which compliment the original wonderfully.

New choreo & animated choreo: While not the most exciting of the fights in the original, these 2 fights (Aang vs Bumi & Zuko/Iroh vs Earth soldiers) were our 1st exposure to Earthbending (in fights at least). I don't want it to feel stale, so the new stuff is welcome, but I also mentioned how the original fights were memorable, so it's nice to see them incorporate moments from it here (now that they have the bending correct SHYAMALAN).

"B-stories" still have development: Sokka & Katara's role in this episode boiled down to FREE AANG, but I'm glad they also explored how they're changing by being out in the world & can they remain close as brother & sister. They had development along with their simple mission.

CONS:
Bumi was strange... er: Glossing over the fact that he didn't feel like 112 except for the face (if you're not familiar with cartoon Bumi, Google it. It was always going to be weird.), his motivations clouded his reasoning a bit. Bumi lost confidence in Aang because he was gone for a hundred years. If a friend from your teen years that you lost contact with shows up as a teen when you're 80, being cryogenically frozen would be sufficient enough as a reason. So the turn from friendly to hateful didn't sit right with me, and I think it carries over to if you don't know the original series.

Jet scene felt tacked on: That scene should absolutely have been at the end of the previous episode. ...That's it.

Couple CG & continuity errors: I spotted more errors casually in this episode then the past 3 episodes together, if there were any.

OVERALL STANDALONE: I love Iroh. Bumi is weird.
OVERALL KNOWING ORIGINAL: I love Iroh more. Bumi is weirder.