When I refer to "Team Avatar" or "the crew" in the episode bullet notes, I'm referring to the team of Aang, Katara, Sokka, Appa, Momo, (and eventually) Toph and Zuko.
By Cat Chang
The series is separated into three acts, named for every element that Aang still needed to master to defeat the Fire Lord. When I watched this show the first time, I was used to a unit-like learning structure: you learn a lot of information, you take a test, you move onto another unit (which may or may not advance skills you had previously learned).
Watching this show was one of the first times I fully realized that life was not like school. You'll continue to practice the things you've learned after you've demonstrated mastery, and masters can continue learning. I like how the show marks the end of one element with the beginning of the next.
Generally, I think Plot Twisters has already incorporated the three-act structure well: first, a storyteller learns basic components of human nature, and perhaps reflects on the position they are in at that point. Second, they learn where they fit into the big wide world, learning what their strengths are and what problems they are most passionate about. Third, reflect and brainstorm ways they can use their strengths to tackle complex world challenges. This is how I think Team Avatar protagonists learn about themselves throughout the show.
To me, a key thesis of the series is, in the words of the Beatles, "getting by with a little help from friends." All the main characters get better at seeking help and support from those who are there for them. Based on the way @Jenny Liu Zhang has written some of the NPCs so far, I see this being the main way PT uses NPCs - as quasi-spirit guides, or simply someone to talk to. Jenny's already written the tea master, who is pretty analogous to Iroh, a source of wisdom from experience and humility. I think it would be really fun to have a fortune teller similar to the one from Episode 14: The Fortune Teller to get horoscope like daily readings from. Jenny and I have also discussed a friend who our storyteller stays with, who is just a friend to listen to. Our storyteller's "Team Avatar."
At the beginning of the series, Aang knew he was the Avatar and had airbending skills - but had no context as to how the world had changed in 100+ years, or how the Avatar went through life. In Episode 7: The Winter Solstice, Part I: The Spirit World, when he finds out about the spirit world, this comes to a head: "It's not like I have anyone to teach me all this stuff." Later that episode, he meets the spirit of Avatar Roku. In the next episode, when he learns of Sozin's Comet from Roku, he's overwhelmed by all he has to learn: “What if I can’t master the elements in time, what if I fail?” “What if I have questions? How can I talk to you...” unconfident he'll find anyone who has the same experience Roku has. “You’ll find a way,” Roku responds. If only everyone had that confidence injected into us from that young. From unpromptly meeting Jong-Jong and Jet to taking on Toph and searching for Appa, Aang from then on carried an optimistic spirit that he'll learn from everyone he meets.
Katara and Aang were in similar situations — for Katara, she got small hints of her power from her tribe and family, and expressed how much she wanted to learn to bend properly from a master for most of her life. But with a mother murdered by the fire nation, father at war, and a home isolated far from the nearest humanity, Appa (via Aang) gave her the freedom she needed to go out and explore who she is, and a support system of people who she can trust along the way.
Some are more eager to ask for help than others... and sometimes, just don't know how to ask. This is exactly what happens in Episode 44: Sokka's Master, when Aang brings Sokka to a sword fighting master to learn from. Sokka's insecurity from a lack of bending skill was arguably implied since the first scene of the entire series, more explicitly implied in Episode 25: Avatar Day when Team Avatar gets attacked by the fire nation, allowing everyone to collect their things except Sokka... and at the beginning of Episode 44, when the rest of Team Avatar works together to put out a fire in a village, but Sokka can't do much. After days of learning from Piando the sword master (and getting a custom sword crafted from a meteorite), Sokka gains confidence to put himself out there in battle: particularly in leading Battle of Black Sun and breakout at Boiling Rock, and helping Suki and Toph during Sozin's Comet.
Team Avatar's relationships with Jet and Zuko, and Zuko's relationship to his family vs. the fire nation as a whole... demonstrate the tough work and experience it takes to trust someone. I think that the series demonstrates a thesis that those who are persistent, transparent, and there without asking are those who you should trust - and particularly, transparency is something to demand out of those you do trust.
In real life, I haven't experienced much mistrust and betrayal from individual humans... as much as I have with systems, structures, and organizations (i.e. distrusting the police, believing in a church, political parties, role of higher education in my life). Also, rarely can I pinpoint a specific encounter with any of these institutions that have suddenly shifted a belief on something. When presented with new stories and information, I often change my mind on how I should let these organizations in my life. Opinions are reflections of encounters and research that have taken time to process, understand, and in some cases, accept. We've thought about this practice of evaluating trust and forming opinions as journal prompts, questions in the Lake, cookie trails, or cookies, in Plot Twisters before, but they are things that are hard to realize are significant in the moment.
"When I thought of the enemy, I saw your face," Katara told Zuko while stuck in Ba Sing Se's crystal catacombs in Episode 40: The Crossroads of Destiny. This was the first time in which Zuko encountered Team Avatar questioning his destiny of earning back his father's respect, and the first time anyone on Team Avatar had encountered Zuko not trying to hunt Aang (yet). After a conversation about losing their mothers, Katara sees some genuine remorse in Zuko and Zuko had the could have gone after a new destiny. But, Zuko still betrayed Katara's trust, attacking Aang with Azula, nearly killing Aang. Apart from making it difficult for Team Avatar to trust him in the future - it wasn't until Zuko could go home and see that life with his family was corrupt, and intimate reflection in Episode 45: The Beach that resulted in realizing that he'll never understand his sister... caused him to choose his own destiny.
I think Episode 10: Jet is one of the most underrated episodes of the series. It finds Team Avatar at a moral crossroads that many people face - when you find someone with similar values and goals but envision different ways of getting to that world. This could be a metaphor for political parties, or denominations of religions. Katara and Aang are quick to trust Jet - probably somewhat high off of meeting so many cool and wise people, but mostly because Jet and the Freedom Fighters look a lot like Team Avatar - it's a group of scrappy, fun-loving kids who have lost something to the fire nation and are out to make things right in the world.
There were many instances in the series where Aang is criticized for actions of Avatars past. Although he understands why this is - but initially, he doesn't understand how to manage it (and the rest of Team Avatar tries to defend him - Episode 25: Avatar Day). Understanding the things we can vs. cannot control is something most adults don't even master - but in the end, we learn to use the things we can control to make as much change as we can.