Avatar: Seven Havens - “The Faceless”, “The One Left Behind”, & “Night of the Afflicted” Review
In this latest batch of episodes of Avatar: Seven Havens, it is becoming increasingly clear that the season’s real subject is what fear can lead people to do in the name of survival, and what propaganda it can lead them to believe. The previous trio of episodes set up a world that blames the Avatar for its ruin. These three show how that belief spreads, and how it reaches even the people closest to the Avatar’s secret.
The threat is double. More people in Ellora are falling ill with an affliction that the show ties to an evil source in the spirit world, as we are presented with another threat to benders in “The Faceless.” Meanwhile no one outside the White Lotus can know that the Avatar has returned, which means that Pavi and Nisha must face a spreading plague while continuing to keep their true nature hidden from the public.
One of the most affecting threads belongs to Jae. He is a protector of the Avatar through the White Lotus, and he is also a Brigade member with a boyfriend, Datu, who believes the anti-Avatar propaganda as much as everyone else seems to, including the rumor that the Brigade is hiding her. It is a small, human version of the season’s larger question. Here is fear doing its most insidious work, not with exterior threats but inside a relationship, where each man protects a secret from the person he trusts most.
But it’s the sisters who remain the heart of the show. Their lives have been very different, and that has shaped their relationship in compelling ways. Pavi’s bending is less advanced than her sister’s, yet she has the patience to empathize and connect with others more easily, while Nisha has the stronger command of the elements, but also tends to be brusque and impulsive. Neither is complete without the other. The temptation is to read Pavi’s gentleness as innate goodness and Nisha’s chaos as a darkness waiting to surface, and the show seems aware of the temptation, but what it suggests instead is that they are strongest when together, and that their bond is one of the few things in this world not built on fear.
The pacing helps. The story builds its momentum gradually, and each episode feels more urgent than the one before. “Night of the Afflicted” ends on a genuine turning point, with Chancellor Kayoko reaching out to the other Havens for help in a gesture that promises to expand what we know of this world. The involvement of the other Havens could change nearly everything, from the spread of the affliction to the mystery of the twins’ past, and I am curious to see who answers and what they want in return.