Avatar: the Last Airbender is one of the most celebrated animated series of the 2000s. The franchise is having a resurgence now with the announcement of several new shows and remakes on the horizon. The original show follows a group of kids as they attempt to defeat the evil Fire Lord and end The Hundred Year War. In this world, some people have the ability to bend the elements like a martial-arts skill. But only one person, the Avatar, has the power to bend all four elements: water, earth, fire, and air. Our lead character Aang is the Avatar, and we get to tag along on his hero's journey to master the elements and end the war.

With all of this new Avatar hotness on the way, now seems the perfect time to reevaluate what makes the original show one of the greats and share with newcomers the very best episodes in the series. So, here are the seven essential episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender. While in the show they refer to seasons as “Books” and episodes as “Chapters,” for the purpose of clarity they will only be referred to as seasons and episodes on this list.

1. “The Blue Spirit” (Season 1, Episode 13)

The Blue Spirit

Before becoming one the key creators in the Star Wars universe, Dave Filoni cut his teeth directing many episodes in the first season of Avatar. This episode is a great reminder on just why he was handed the keys to the Star Wars kingdom.

In this episode, Aang’s friends, Katara and Sokka, get sick. Due to this, Aang must travel on his own to find a cure for their illness, but on his journey he gets captured by the sinister Admiral Zhao. Alone and trapped, Aang has to escape the prison with a mysterious masked ninja named The Blue Spirit.

This episode is a perfect encapsulation of the best elements in the first season. While the stakes are high, it’s also pretty lighthearted due to the physical comedy involved with our heroes (collectively referred to as The Gaang) being sick. The comedy is balanced with brilliantly choreographed fight scenes that are just as jaw dropping as they were nearly 20 years ago when it first aired. The animation and direction is a spectacle in every sense of the word.

If you happen to be a fan of Filoni’s later work in series like The Mandalorian then this episode is absolutely a must-watch, even if the world of Avatar does not appeal to you at first glance. This is the episode that could make a new viewer fall in love with this world.

2. “Zuko Alone” (Season 2, Episode 7)

Zuko Alone

It’s always hard to pick a favorite episode of Avatar because so many episodes are special in their own unique ways. But, if this list were from worst to best instead of chronological order, this episode might have been number one.

“Zuko Alone” follows the story of the series deuteragonist Zuko, who has one of the best redemption arcs in television history. At this point in the show, Zuko is (as the title suggests) traveling alone through the lands that his nation occupied. As the disgraced Prince of The Fire Nation, he can’t help but feel a sense of responsibility for how his nation has destroyed the lives of innocent civilians. He ends up living with some humble farmers and helping the family with household and farm work duties. He sees a bit of himself in the farmer's son, whose older brother died in the war. He attempts to train the kid how to defend himself and fight with honor which leads into the more major plot points in the episode.

This is such a nuanced chapter of the show. Not only does it explore how war can affect the lives of a nation’s people, but it shows how some people can take advantage of war for their own selfish wants. Not only is this one of the all-time greatest episodes of the show, it’s one of the all-time greatest modern Westerns.

RELATED: Top 10 Most Emotional Moments from Avatar: The Last Airbender

3. “Bitter Work” (Season 2, Episode 9)

Bitter Work

This episode is essentially a drawn out Rocky montage. The Gaang have a day with Aang’s new earthbending teacher, Toph, who’s sort of like Daredevil and Wolverine combined as a small child. Aang doesn’t take to Toph’s teaching and almost gives up on his possibility of earthbending all together.

What this episode may lack in action and drama, it makes up for it in character moments. Because in Avatar, there isn’t a whole lot of filler, each episode progresses the main narrative in some fashion. However, when there are filler episodes, the writers take time to put major character developments in them. This makes it so even when filler occurs, it’s not wasting time with pointless nonsense.

Aang’s frustration with not being able to earthbend is excellently balanced with Sokka’s B-plot of getting stuck in the ground as he’s hunting. The two stories thematically link so well that by the time the two plots intersect, it doesn’t just bring the story together. It combines the comedy and drama of the show in a satisfying way that leads to a great action scene, and a fun twist at the end.

Toph has to learn how to be a better teacher, Aang has to learn how to conquer his mental block, and Sokka has to learn that he shouldn’t mess with a Giant Moose. It’s a perfect episode. Even if technically the only progress made in this episode is that Aang moved a rock.

4. “Tales of Ba Sing Se” (Season 2, Episode 15)

Tales of Ba Sing Se

This is the episode that many fans of the show designate as their favorite. It follows six different vignettes from different characters. Not every vignette is a winner, but luckily the bits are so short that the clunkers don’t drag down the experience. But, the reason so many fans consider it their favorite is because of their engagement with the heartbreaking story of Uncle Iroh.

Iroh is one of the best characters in the show because of his contagious abilities to be constantly optimistic and always see the best in people. But, here, you see the deep melancholy that brought this character to have that sort of outlook. It’s harrowing, especially as this story is dedicated to Mako, the original voice actor for Iroh who tragically died during the show's production. This episode reminds the audience that not everything is black and white, and to always consider others’ unspoken struggles.

5. “Sokka’s Master” (Season 3, Episode 4)

Sokka's Master

Comic-relief characters like Sokka rarely get their own dedicated episodes. But this is where Avatar differs from other shows, Sokka has pathos. His humor comes from his insecurity at being the least powerful member of the Gaang.

In his struggle, the Gaang inspires him to learn a new skill from a master to help him feel like he has a greater purpose. So he meets the legendary swordsman, Master Piendao, voiced by Robert Patrick (Terminator 2).

His training isn’t the most thorough since the Gaang were in a race against time. He basically only learns how to use the sword rather than becoming a master. But this is what makes this episode stand out. Sokka realizes that he doesn’t need to be a bender to show his worth; he already has worth. Just like he didn’t need to be a master, he just needed to realize he has the potential to be.

6. “The Avatar and the Firelord” (Season 3, Episode 6)

The Avatar and the Fire Lord

This episode follows the story of Roku and Sozin, who were key players in the start of The Hundred Year War. The story follows the two of them through their lives as they start as the best of friends and turn to bitter rivals. The focus is primarily on Roku as he struggles to balance confronting Sozin and preventing a war. Within this story, the main themes of the entire show are cemented.

There’s a lot to juggle in this episode. It has to introduce us to the young versions of previously established dead characters. It has to show how the world was 100 years before the events of the show. It also has to go through Roku’s entire life as the Avatar and introduce the audience to his supporting cast of characters. That’s not even including the themes and topics the episodes tackles.

This story raises discussions on generational trauma, the complications of war, death, and several other topics. And yet, each theme is handled with grace.Given that it’s a prequel, this episode could be considered like a short film that works completely by itself. It’s engaging and deeply empathetic, and ends with one of the sweetest moments in the series.

It’s no small feat that this episode managed to take all of that and make a cohesive story. The fact that it turned into one of the most underrated episodes in the show’s run is a travesty, and more fans need to revisit just how great this one really is.

7. “The Boiling Rock” (Season 3, Episodes 14 and 15)

The Boiling Rock

Over the course of Avatar’s many shows, games, comics, and more, it has no shortage of prison break stories. That being said, it’s insanely impressive that even though they had so many, each prison and each escape plan was unique. This two-part episode is the absolute best of all the franchise’s prison stories.

It is about Sokka, and a few other characters I don’t want to spoil, rescuing his father from an Alcatraz-inspired prison that’s in the center of a boiling hot lake. The prison is renowned for being inescapable, which of course makes for the best kind of prison break stories.

The story only escalated from there, each scene adding a new layer of drama and conflict to our hero’s plan. The fact that most of the escaped characters aren’t able to use their bending, or don’t have bending powers to begin with, forces them to be more creative with their solutions to fight their way out of jail.

More than anything, this just shows how downright clever the series is. The stories always take different turns while still not completely upending and derailing what’s happening. “The Boiling Rock” is one of the most nail-biting episodes of the series and there is never a dull moment. It also blessed us with one of the best memes from the franchise: “That’s rough buddy.”

These episodes display what makes Avatar truly one of the greats. Some of these episodes are straight comedy, some are dramatic, one is even a wartime epic. The fact that the show tackled all these subjects and genres gracefully inside a brilliant deconstruction of the hero's journey is the reason it’s still in the hearts and minds of people nearly 20 years later.