Netflix Avatar: The Last Airbender season 1 recap guide: All 8 episodes explained

Season 1 episode 3 recap: Omashu

The third episode opens with a group of rebels secretly meeting in Fire Nation territory to discuss their plans to kill Fire Lord Ozai. A mysterious woman who is believed to work in the palace where the Fire Lord lives joins them. But once they all arrive at the palace to enact their plan, they find the throne room empty.

Suddenly, a bunch of Fire Nation guards run into the throne room and start surrounding the rebels. Fire Lord Ozai then walks into the room. As the Fire Lord and the leader of the rebels talk about the war, the mysterious woman walks into the room and is revealed to be Princess Azula, the Fire Lord's daughter. She betrayed the rebels. Her job in the Fire Nation is to identify the traitors within their nation, so that's why she pretended to be helpful to the rebels. The Fire Lord then sets all the rebels on fire, killing them, before informing Azula that Zuko has found the Avatar. The show then cuts to the title card.

After the titles are over, we see Team Avatar on their way to the Northern Water Tribe. But they're stopped when Aang sees who he thinks is another Airbender in the sky. As they follow the person, they end up at Omashu, one of the Earth Kingdom cities. While waiting to enter the city, they meet a young man who helps them get past the guards. We find out later that his name is Jet. As they enter the city, Aang sees the person he thought was an airbender but turns out not to be one. It's a young boy named Teo who uses a glider chair to fly. Suddenly, an explosion happens at a nearby building causing Aang and Katara to use their airbending and waterbending abilities to put out the fires. Teo's father appears and takes Teo and Team Avatar to his nearby house. His name is Sai, and he's the mechanist to the King of Omashu.

Team Avatar learns from Teo that the Fire Nation has been bombing Omashu, and that Sai has helped create many mechanical inventions for the city, including their innovative delivery system. Katara then reminds Aang and Sokka that they still need to get to the Northern Water Tribe. But as they make their way out of the city, they see all the damage the Fire Nation has caused, prompting them to stay to help. They head back to Sai and Teo's house and inquire more about the bombings. Teo tells Aang that he has a hunch that the Fire Nation spies gather in a cave up in the mountains.

Back in Fire Nation territory, Azula expresses her frustrations about Zuko finding the Avatar to her close friends, Mai and Ty Lee. Azula wants to eventually be the Fire Lord like Zuko, but since he's the first in line, he would get the position over her. He didn't have a chance at first since he was banished, but with him finding the Avatar, Azula is scared that he might get back in their father's good graces. Meanwhile, Zuko, Iroh, and Zhao discuss how they're going to gain entry into Omashu. They found out that Aang was there from Zhao's source. In the end, Zuko and Iroh decide to be the ones to go.

Back in Omashu, Katara sees Sai secretly meeting with someone from the Fire Nation. But before she can intervene, Jet stops her. He reveals to Katara that Sai has been working with the Fire Nation, building them devices and selling them secrets. They then tail the Fire Nation member into the forest, only to find out that he knows he's been followed. The Fire Nation member then calls for help, and several other Fire Nation members join him. As Katara and Jet engage in a fight with the Fire Nation members, Jet calls out his friends, who come and help them. After successfully beating them all, Jet takes Katara back to his base. We find out that Jet and his friends call themselves the "Freedom Fighters," whose mission is to fight the Firebenders.

Jet and Katara bond and Katara tells Jet that she thinks her bad memories of her mother are interfering with her waterbending. Jet tells her to think of happy memories of her mother instead, and it works. Elsewhere, Sai and Sokka work on Sai's airship invention at Sai's house, while Aang and Teo make it to the cave. There, they find a lot of blasting jelly that could easily blow up half of the city if used. Aang also finds a belonging of Jet's in the cave. This means the Fire Nation isn't behind the bombings like they had thought. It's Jet and his crew.

Zuko and Iroh finally arrive at Omashu and try to blend in with the villagers. Meanwhile, Azula sends a message to Zhao, asking for his cooperation in keeping her informed on their mission to capture the Avatar and Zuko's plans. Aang returns to Sai's house with the blasting jelly in hand and asks Sokka where Katara and Sai went. Sokka tells Aang he doesn't know where Katara is and that Sai just left to take his airship model to the palace to show the King. Katara finally shows up at Sai's house, and she and Sokka begin to argue about Jet being a bad person. She storms out the door telling Sokka that she's going to prove him wrong about Jet. But when she goes to talk to Jet, she realizes that Sokka was right.

Jet reveals his plan to Katara. He tells her that he's placed a bomb in Sai's suitcase, and once Sai meets with the King, he'll detonate the bomb. Katara tells Jet that his idea is bad and that he's going to kill innocent people, but Jet tells her it's too late. Katara runs off and informs Aang and Sokka of Jet's plan. They then head to the King's palace to stop Sai, but are stopped by Zuko and Iroh. Aang decides to stay and fight Zuko, while Katara and Sokka head to the palace.

As they make their way to the King's palace, Katara looks up into a tree and sees a Freedom Fighter preparing to shoot a fire arrow at Sai's suitcase as Sai quickly approaches the King. The Freedom Fighter shoots the fire arrow, and Katara uses her waterbending abilities to put it out before it hits Sai's suitcase. Once the arrow plunges through the suitcase, it causes a commotion and Sai's meeting with the King ends. Meanwhile, Aang and Zuko are having an epic showdown. Since Zuko used his firebending abilities to fight Aang, he revealed his true identity as a Firebender. Now the villagers are panicking because they know a firebender is in their village.

To protect Zuko from getting captured, Iroh tells him to leave and then starts using his firebending abilities to make the guards think he's the one at fault. As Zuko makes it safely out of Omashu, Aang is captured by the Earth Kingdom guards.