Comedy
Avatar: The Last Airbender (2024)
Avatar: The Last Airbender, Netflix’s live-action remake of the Nickelodeon cartoon, has some good lessons and some troubling elements.
To some, Patience Evans might seem a little out of the ordinary. She prefers to keep to herself. She carefully arranges the belongings at her desk each day. And she has an undeniable gift for solving murder cases.
Until recently, Patience—who’s on the autism spectrum—has been sequestered to the Criminal Records Office in the basement of City of York Police Office. That is until Detective Inspector Bea Metcalf recognizes Patience’s talent.
Working alongside Jake Hunter and Will Akbari, Metcalf is tasked with investigating what appears to be a suicide. To Metcalf, the case initially seems clear and ready to close. But then Metcalf meets Patience, who points out similar patterns with other suicide cases.
Metcalf is eager to put Patience’s puzzle-solving prowess to use. Although the unpredictability and fast-paced nature of detective work can overwhelm Patience, Metcalf learns to advocate for and accept her new partner. Together, Patience and Metcalf become a dynamic team and unlikely friends—solving plenty of prickly murder cases over the course of the show’s first season.
Alas, that powerful working tandem breaks up in Season 2. While Patience herself continues her work at the City of York Police Office, she’s forced to work with a new Detective Inspector named Frankie Monroe. Although Monroe is bristly toward Patience at first, the new detective quickly recognizes Patience’s gift, too. Together, Patience and Monroe investigate cases including a murder at a railway museum and a vampire-themed mystery.
When Patience isn’t connecting the dots of a crime, she’s either following clues to find her mother or puzzling over a budding romance with forensics team member Elliot Scott.
It seems likely that romance will one day bloom. After all, whether she’s on the job or not, Patience has a knack for putting puzzle pieces together.
Based on a French TV series called Astrid about a crime-solving woman with Asperger’s syndrome, Patience (airing on Channel 4 in the UK and PBS in the United States) similarly endeavors to shed light on the unique gifts and challenges of individuals with autism. In the show, characters with autism share their stories and experiences, giving viewers a helpful glimpse into the lives of people with neurodiversity.
Of course, these valuable lessons are scattered throughout the show’s larger storylines that include crime and violence. Dead bodies are shown—sometimes covered in blood—and characters witness rather gruesome deaths. Forensic teams discuss the details of deaths in a clinical manner, and there are also discussions and depictions of suicide.
Profanity in Patience is limited to some misuses of God’s name and British profanities such as “bloody.” And in a few episodes, spirituality plays a role in the cases. (For instance, in Season 1, Episode 2, characters discover that someone built an alter to a god of revenge.)
For families willing to navigate violence and profanity, Patience invites viewers on puzzle-solving adventures where they might develop increased empathy for people like Patience Evans.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at letters@pluggedin.com, or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out. )
A man dies by a gruesome suicide, and DI Bea Metcalf is tasked with confirming that the death is indeed a suicide and nothing more. But Patience Evans, a clerk at the Criminal Records Office, spots similarities to other suicide cases. Perhaps these aren’t suicides at all, but a series of murders.
A man lights himself on fire, which we see completely consume him. The man squirms and yells before he dies onscreen. Later, photos of the man’s charred hands and body are shown briefly. Someone visits a morgue where a completely covered body is shown. Detectives discuss the details of another person’s suicide. Later, those detectives look at a picture of the scene in which the man lies dead in a bathtub filled with bloody water—his wrists bleeding and blood staining his clothes.
Someone misuses Jesus’ name. A character uses the British profanity “bugger.” A child uses the word “flipping” as an exclamation of distain for pickles on his burger. Someone uses the word “retarded” to describe the mental state of a child, recommending she be put in a mental hospital.
Characters discuss that a man had a sex addiction and paid sex workers. They also discuss that the man gave his wife an STD. A woman briefly mentions to another woman that her underwear does not match. A man is seen without a shirt.
Metcalf’s ex-husband makes a hurtful comment regarding their custody arrangement for their son. A child hits his mom’s phone out of her hands. A parent forgets to pick up her child from school.
Detectives discuss a dangerous drug that may have been used in a murder. Someone offers a beer to a character.
Avatar: The Last Airbender, Netflix’s live-action remake of the Nickelodeon cartoon, has some good lessons and some troubling elements.
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