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

Season 1 episode 6 recap: Masks

The sixth episode opens with a flashback of Iroh helping Zuko get ready for his first war council meeting. Iroh warns Zuko of expressing his opinions during the meeting and tells him that it's best to observe and learn instead. Then, we cut to the present time on a Fire Nation ship. Zhao informs Zuko that he's now in charge of the mission on finding the Avatar since Fire Lord Ozai promoted him to admiral. Once Zhao leaves, Zuko tries to command his crew to do what he says but they refuse to listen to him. Zuko storms off and Iroh tries to persuade Lt. Jee and the rest of the crew to stay on Zuko's side. He even explains to the crew that Zuko had to sacrifice a lot. Then, we cut to the title card.

After the titles, we see Aang arrive in Fire Nation territory. He's there to visit the shrine of Avatar Roku, but he's stopped by a bunch of Fire Nation sages who engage him in a fight. Since he's outnumbered, he decides to run away. He's then pulled into an elevator by a helpful Fire Nation sage, who claims he'll take him to Avatar Roku's shrine. The helpful sage who we learn is named Shyu takes Aang to the shrine and promises to hold the other sages off for as long as he can so that Aang can connect with Avatar Roku's spirit.

When Aang finally connects with Avatar Roku, he asks him what he took from Koh. Roku tells him that he stole Koh's totem of his mother. Now that Aang knows what Koh wants, he exits out of the Avatar State and takes the totem off a shelf in Roku's shrine. He leaves the room and sees all the Fire Nation sages on the ground paralyzed. June has finally found Aang and she used her shirshu to paralyze the sages. She then has the shirshu paralyze Aang so that she can take him with her. She ends up taking Aang to a cave, and Zuko and Iroh meet them. They pay June for her services, and she leaves.

The episode cuts to flashback of the day Zuko had his first war council meeting. Since he spoke out of turn during the meeting by challenging a general's plan to sacrifice a group of new recruits, Fire Lord Ozai decides to challenge him to a Agni Kai (a firebending duel). They have the duel the next morning and it ends with the Fire Lord burning Zuko's left eye for showing compassion. Zuko had gotten the upper hand at one point in the duel, but he hesitated instead of taking the Fire Lord out. This gave the Fire Lord the opportunity to take him down.

Back in the present, Zuko and Iroh travel by carriage to take Aang to the Fire Lord but are captured by Zhao and his men. Zhao takes Aang from them and heads to Pohuai with plans to go to the Capital City afterward. Zuko wants to follow Zhao to get Aang back, but Iroh warns him that it wouldn't be good for him. Zuko pretends to listen to Iroh but ends up infiltrating Pohuai Stronghold anyway in disguise. He eventually finds Aang and rescues him. Aang doesn't know who he is though. Zhao returns to the room where Aang is being held and realizes that he's gone. He informs all his men of Aang's escape, and they begin searching for him.

A disguised Zuko and Aang make it to the gate to leave Pohuai as Zhao and his men approach them. Zuko then grabs Aang and places his sword to his neck, in an effort to get Zhao to let them go. Although Zhao lets them leave, he commands one of his crew members to shoot Zuko with an arrow. With a knocked-out Zuko on the ground, Aang uses his airbending abilities to create a cloud of smoke to surround them. He then removes Zuko's mask and discovers that it was Zuko the whole time. As the Fire Nation guards approach them, Aang manages to quickly take an unconscious Zuko to a hiding place.

At the hiding place, Zuko finally wakes up and he and Aang have a light-hearted conversation. Zuko even reveals to Aang the real reason why he wants to capture him which is so that he can finally take his place as the rightful heir to the Fire Lord. Their conversation gets a little heated and turns into a fight with Aang accidentally knocking Zuko back unconscious. When Zuko finally wakes up, he finds himself on a small boat with Aang watching him from the ground. Aang asks him if they would've been friends if they had known each other 100 years ago. Zuko doesn't reply and instead hits him with a gush of fire, which sends the boat he's in sailing through the water.

Then, we cut to a flashback of Zuko lying in bed after Fire Lord Ozai burned him in the eye. The Fire Lord enters the room and tells Zuko that he's banished from Fire Nation territory until he captures and brings the Avatar back to him. He also demands that Zuko take the 41st Division (the crew of new Fire Nation recruits that Zuko had stood up for in the war council meeting) with him.

Back in the present, Iroh informs Lt. Jee of Zuko's sacrifice, and Lt. Jee stares in shock at what he's just been told. Suddenly, one of the crew members on the ship informs Iroh that someone is headed their way in a boat. It's Zuko! They pull him up from the boat onto the ship and welcome him back with honor. Elsewhere, Aang returns to the Spirit World to give Koh his totem back in exchange for Katara, Sokka, and the missing villagers. Then, Aang goes back to meet Gyatso but discovers that he's gone. The episode ends with Iroh finding out that Zuko went against his wishes and went to Pohuai anyway. He finds this out after finding Zuko's mask.