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Full spoilers follow for Avatar: Seven Havens Season 1, Episodes 10-13!
One thing that’s abundantly clear in the final four episodes of Avatar: Seven Havens “Book 1: Survival” is that between all the mysteries, theorizing, and big plot questions – how are there two Avatars? What did Korra do to cause the Cataclysm? What happened to Pavi (Saheli Khan) and Nisha’s (Aishu Devan) parents? – the far more important question is, and has always been, how this will impact the relationship between the twins? And to answer that, the finale is a heartbreaker, featuring one of the darkest, most upsetting endings in the Avatar franchise, while still somehow providing hope, heart, and above all, humor.
The Long View
That’s a lot to tackle, and to be clear we do still get movement on the overarching mysteries of the series that should take us all the way through Book 4. That includes the reveal of what’s needed to heal the world… While fans sort of guessed what was going on, and there is likely much more to come, it turns out that the Seven Chakras that coincide with Seven Havens are directly tied to Pavi. Specifically, as the Faceless Queen Agam (Sakina Jaffrey) discovers during a spiritual alignment in Episode 11, “Battle of the Ruins,” Pavi’s chakras are all messed up. And once she’s able to face her fear of being revealed as the Avatar in the finale, “The Root Chakra,” she unlocks – guess what – her Root Chakra.
Read Last Week's Review:
Avatar: Seven Havens Episodes 7-9 Recap and Review
Both we, the audience, and Nisha are surprised that it’s Pavi who can unlock these alone; it was completely reasonable to speculate that the only way of stopping the fear literally bubbling under the Haven of Ellora was through Nisha and Pavi working together. Instead, the additional shocker is that somehow Nisha summoned that fear, killing her and Pavi’s parents in the process. Pavi was protected from the resulting rock slide by some sort of green energy, which took her leg… And Nisha, while able to hold back an energy dome about to consume the Haven in Episode 12, “The Dome,” is nowhere near as strong as Pavi, who single-handedly dispels the fear and begins to reconnect with past Avatars, as well as charting her path to her next destination, The Floating Isles (or Wilds – there are no closed captions on the screeners provided by Paramount).
(Side-note: there’s a ton of lore we could get into here, but we’ll save it for the section below.)
But in between all that, these episodes are really about two things: Pavi and Nisha, and how we react to fear. On the former, the show has managed to craft a powerful sisterly bond over the course of 13 episodes that feels real… Pavi is gutted by the revelation that Nisha killed their parents, but she’s far more upset that Nisha lied to her about it. And we’re left in a place where Pavi is finally owning up to her destiny, but seems harsher and more closed off (despite unlocking the Chakra) than the goofy weirdo who befriended rocks and bugs in the initial episodes. Meanwhile, Nisha is being cheered by the crowd in Ellora at the end, a flip on the fear of the Avatar that dogged her every move. But she’s just seen Pavi display more power than she ever has, and that clearly alarms her. They haven’t exactly changed positions, but it’s clear this resolution isn’t as simple as “hooray, fear cured!”
That gets to the second part, which we’ve been harping on all season: fear. The show hasn’t necessarily been subtle about how it’s reflecting our current world (or at least the world of several years ago when they were writing, developing, and animating this), but when a character says “We can’t just hide from this scary bubble” or “Freedom of choice is all I’ve ever wanted” they’re basically putting it out there what metaphorical levels the show is working on. And what works about it is that the series still functions as a rollicking adventure show and a sweet all-ages animated show while still being very blunt about where it leans politically.
And that’s what the best of entertainment should be doing, right? Commenting on our real world while also working as, you know, entertainment. Seven Havens has absolutely nailed that balance over 13 episodes. Not only that, but these final four address a number of fan “concerns” that have bubbled up. One of them has been about the “weak” bending, which one could venture comes from the fact that bending is disappearing from the world (as stated multiple times) and which we now know at least in part comes from these seven Chakras being blocked. But also, Pavi taking on the fear energy dome in the finale rocked. No pun intended on earthbending, but saving up your big bending stunts for the finale makes sense in terms of the build of a season.
The show hasn’t necessarily been subtle about how it’s reflecting our current world.
The other question about the show has been why Pavi and Nisha are nine years old, with concerns raised that they’re trying to age down the Avatar series even further than has already happened. While one could point out here that it’s a children’s cartoon on Nickelodeon, and apologies this isn’t catering to you, an adult who watched the original series 20 years ago, this finale cemented that not only is this show going crazy dark and upsetting – with Pavi and Nisha’s parents abandoning Nisha, then dying in a rockslide caused by Nisha – but at the very least Pavi is starting to grow up by the end of the episode. Her hair is different, and Khan does a masterful job of maturing her voice. There’s been speculation about a time jump going into further seasons, and given the epic journey nature of the show (as also set up in the finale) that seems likely… They won’t be nine forever.
The Episodes Close Up
Okay, before we get too much farther, let’s recap the specific episodes (briefly), though they all work nicely together as a four-part finale. First up is Episode 10, “Ghosts and Spirits.” The thrust here is that Chancellor Kayoko (Jennifer Sun Bell) has been driven mad by the fear anomaly, and has the whole city under martial law. While Pavi deals with the metaphorical ghosts of her parents after discovering her childhood home, Nisha encounters the first spirit we’ve seen on the show, which leads her to the place we later discover she freaked out at and killed her parents. And in the midst of this, Agam discovers the duo and leads them to her hideout.
Then in Episode 11, “Battle of the Ruins,” Kayoko makes the exceedingly poor decision to redirect the bubbling pit of fear energy under Ellora to the hideout of the Faceless. We also discover definitively that Jae (Major Curda) never betrayed the Order of the White Lotus; he was just trying to not get arrested so he can free them later. We also get info on the Chakras from Agam, and they end up fighting the bubbling fear energy together, barely escaping in time.
Episode 12, “The Dome,” heads back to Ellora as Nisha solo tries to stop the energy, now in the form of (yep) a dome, while Pavi holds it back. Kayoko isn’t having any of it, and breaks Nisha’s hold, releasing the dome, which consumes our twins… Leading to a vision of their mother. Also, Jae and his boyfriend Datu (Topher Ngo) break up, which is a real bummer for ‘shippers but lets Jae be free to travel in the next episode.
And then we’ve got the finale, Episode 13, “The Root Chakra,” which we’ve covered a chunk of already. To touch on a few other points/where we leave folks, Pavi leaves for the next Haven with Jae by her side, while Nisha stays in Ellora with Karthik (Akshay Khanna). Kayoko is still possessed by the fear entity, which seems… interesting. Agam, meanwhile, seems to stay in Ellora, while she names Zi (Dianne Doan) the Faceless Queen, and the rest of the Faceless presumably head to Republic Forest, as planned.
If this first, excellent season is any indication, Books 2, 3, and 4 will all do what Book 1 did so well: lead with its heart on its sleeve.
So, lots more to explore when we get into Book 2, particularly with the twins separated and on very different paths. We still don’t know why or how there are two Avatars, what led to Nisha’s parents wanting to abandon her, how Korra caused the Cataclysm, or why Pavi’s Chakras are blocked. But if this first, excellent season is any indication, Books 2, 3, and 4 will all do what Book 1 did so well: lead with its heart on its sleeve.
Avatar Easter Eggs, References, and Connections
Before we get to the Easter eggs and references, it’s important to recognize the untimely, awful passing of voice actor Eric Bauza at age 46 on October 25. While Bauza didn’t voice any of the main roles on the series, he was, as always, a utility player. In these final four episodes alone he’s credited with Jin-Woo, Townsperson, Elloran Citizens, Kosal, Pich, Faceless, Faceless Bandits, Faceless Kids, Firebender, Guard #2, Benders, Guards, and Ellorans – just to give you an idea of how important this legend was to the series. And not only that, but he also stood out as Pudding Guy in the previous chunk of episodes, a delightful addition that seemed to be the heir to The Last Airbender’s Cabbage Merchant. What they’ll do with that role in subsequent seasons is TBD, but Bauza leaves a gap in the world of Avatar that can’t readily be filled.
Not to make an abrupt turn, but let’s talk about those blocked chakras. This was first introduced in The Last Airbender and explored when Aang was injured by Azula, and was unable to access the Avatar State. Here, while Pavi goes HAM on that red energy dome in the finale, she does not enter the Avatar State at all, likely because her Chakras are blocked. But we do get a strange red glow around her, and that greenish glow that protected her from Nisha’s rock slide in the flashback, which seems to be something new.
Speaking of something new, when Pavi does finally unlock her Root Chakra, she sees constellation versions of the previous Avatars Kyoshi, Roku, Aang, and finally Korra (aka, the four Avatars before Pavi and Nisha). Without getting too deep in the weeds here, at the end of Legend of Korra, thanks to a big fight between Raava and Vaatu, the spirits of order and chaos, Korra’s connection to the Avatar Cycle was severed, then begun anew. So whatever Pavi is seeing in this Rainbow Road/constellation deal is something different (or, since Korra went on many adventures after the final season of Legend of Korra, perhaps she experienced something different first).
As for Easter eggs, these episodes are remarkably light by comparison to the rest of the season, but we do have a few. Jae proudly declares “I will always be Team Avatar” in Episode 11, giving us our first glimpse of this show’s, well, Team Avatar – something we’ve gotten in both The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra.
In Episode 12, Pavi makes an absolutely ridiculous mud mask for Nisha to disguise her – which works, as an Elloran refers to her as “old man.” This is just part of a long tradition of Team Avatar having the absolute worst disguises that, somehow, beyond all reason, always actually disguise them.
And one blink and you’ll miss it Easter egg, as everyone flees the energy dome in Ellora at the beginning of Episode 13, sees a citizen quickly walk in front of the camera holding – what else – an armful of cabbages.
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