Avatar season 2 episode 7: Zuko Alone
Still watching Avatar! Here are some thoughts on season 2 episode 7:
Zuko Alone:
1. Very Southwestern landscape, what with the mountains and the dry scrubland. Zuko's ostrich-horse is obviously getting tired and weak, and Zuko's posture is getting hunched and weary. Also, I am not sure if it's just a shadow from his hat, or if he's developing a hollow in his cheek from hunger.
2. But even so, and even with his trouble understanding "Thou shalt not steal," he doesn't draw his swords and take food from a pregnant woman and her husband. Good job, Zuko -- I think you're learning.
3. I am fascinated by the eroding giant stone coins along the path through the grasslands. I suppose, considering what Fong and his men did with similar coins while trying to beat up Aang, these are the remnants of some ancient battle. Possibly one of Chin's battles -- I could see these coins being nearly 300 years old. Granted, they're pretty heavily worn away, but it's not as if anyone has been preserving them the way people care for famous statues, and I doubt earthbenders bother to make their weapons perfect enough to withstand centuries of weathering; what, after all, would be the point?
4. That's a pretty accurate depiction of vision fuzzing out as you zone out while traveling and start to lose control of your reflexes. (That is when you bite the inside of your mouth and take the nearest exit and park at a convenient gas station or fast food restaurant and take a fifteen-minute nap, because otherwise you are going to crash.) Zuko does not fall off his ostrich-horse, but he does blank out for a moment and have a vision of a vanishing woman -- his mother, I presume.
5. That's a fairly run-down town, though I don't think it was ever much to look at. The buildings are of cheap and weathered construction, nothing like the solid, prosperous houses we've seen in previous Earth Kingdom towns. There's a wooden watchtower in the central intersection, probably doing double duty guarding against soldiers and grass fires (and, in the case of the Fire Nation, both at once). The town has no wall, so warning is extra important.
6. Sleazy guys dicing and possibly cheating at dice. Hmm. Also, yes, I think those shadows are meant to show that Zuko is getting hollow-cheeked from hunger -- if he's in bad enough straits to eat ostrich-horse feed, he's definitely edging toward starvation.
7. Let's see: three guys with sword-bladed spears (naginata? *googles* no, more like guan dao), and one guy with two hammers at his belt, obviously the leader. They're all jerks. I wonder if Zuko feels some empathy for the kids who threw the egg, if he's just being obstructionist because he dislikes Earth Kingdom soldiers, or if he's (consciously or not) associating the soldiers with people who have bullied him in the past (Ozai, Azula, Zhao). I like the terseness of this whole confrontation scene, very classic Sergio Leone.
8. And the act of kindness pays off; the kid takes Zuko home for lunch.
9. Okay, we have sheep-pigs and a pig-chicken. Heh. I hope this world does not have dietary restrictions on eating pork, because apparently that could get troublesome quickly. *grin*
10. Zuko is the man with no name! *dies laughing* (He would have said 'Lee,' I suppose, since he used that name before and will use it again later, but he's apparently flustered because the kid is also named Lee. Zuko is very cute when he's flustered. *pets him, offers tea and dinner*)
11. Wow, Zuko sucks at roofing. That is way too many nails in one tile.
12. That's a very American ethos Gansu expresses: not poking into someone's past. The idea that you can move to a new place and start a new life, leaving all your old ties and troubles behind you. Makes me wonder how and why this town got started out in the middle of nowhere on such unpromising land.
13. Turtle-ducks! *is dead of cute* On a more serious note, I really like the sepia tint to this flashback sequence, and the storybook elegance of the palace grounds. Also, Zuko and his mom are just adorable and playful together. It is so strange to see Zuko happy, and amusing to see that he was always kind of a dork. He's thoughtless here, which is not surprising in a young boy (trust me, I teach first- and second-graders; I know all about idiot boys and girls), but there is no malice in him.
14. Huh. Azula is obviously a bully, but... well, I don't think she's anything like as bad here as she becomes later. She needs to be the best -- that's why she pushes Ty Lee and denies that cartwheeling is a game (you can lose games, after all) -- but she seems to be going after Zuko and Mai mostly because it's funny and will make Ty Lee laugh, not for any really evil purpose. And before she puts on the fake puppy-dog eyes, she does sound genuinely slightly aggrieved that Zuko won't play with her and is monopolizing their mother.
And Ursa... her phrasing is unfortunate at best. Azula addresses a question directly to her, and Ursa replies by saying, to Zuko, "Yes, darling, I think it's a good idea to play with your sister. Go on now. Just for a little while." She's marginalizing Azula in her affections. She's much, much less violent about playing favorites than Ozai is, but she's playing favorites nonetheless, and I can't see how Azula could fail to notice. (Zuko, I think, does fail to notice, maybe because he's the one getting what he wants.)
15. Iroh, you fail utterly at presents for girls. *thwaps him* The joke about seeing the city "if we don't burn it to the ground first" is chilling in its implications, but very accurate to a nation at war (even a war of conquest). Note that Iroh, even if he is already a kooky tea-lover, is very much a Fire Nation general and prince. While I think even back then, he would not have supported killing the moon, I think he would had no compunctions about invading the North Pole, for example, and, well, burning it to the ground.
16. I think it is clear that in his early childhood, Zuko had a relatively easy time of it. His mother loved him and supported him over his sister, his uncle was fond of him (and cared enough to choose presents he would like), and, based on Zuko's tone and word choice, his cousin Lu Ten was presumably friendly with him. It was only his father who didn't like him much, and maybe his grandfather was distant -- and that is, of course, enough to eat at a kid's mind, especially one who clearly craves parental love, but still. I don't buy him being abused at this point in his life. In fact, aside from Azula's greater talent at firebending and greater awareness of the world beyond their immediate family, I would say they were in something of the same boat -- both having one parent's clear favor and trying but failing to get the other's favor as well.
17. Sneaky Lee is sneaky... but not sneaky enough. Hmm. I like the sunflowers, very Van Gogh. And Lee is convincingly bad with the swords.
18. Aww, Lee looks up to Zuko like he looked up to his big brother. Very cute. (Also, I like how Zuko's hair, while still unflatteringly short, has grown out a bit from that first ultra-severe buzz cut style.)
19. The moon is full. Of course the moon is full. The moon is always full (sometimes even when it has been shown, earlier in the same night, to be a crescent). Ugh, drama.
20. One of the sheep-pigs has deer antlers. Weird. (ETA: Or no, wait, when Zuko rides off, the critter with antlers chases after Lee as if it's his pet dog. So maybe it's a different species? Deer-pig, or maybe deer-dog-pig-sheep... oh, I give up, all the mix-n-match is making my head hurt. It definitely sounds like some kind of pig hybrid, though.)
21. Zuko is given some food and is about to leave when suddenly the sleazy soldiers appear in a cloud of dust. "What do you think they want?" Gansu asks. "Trouble," Zuko says, and we cut to commercial break.
22. Ooh, you do not treat the people you are supposed to be protecting like that! (Also, are we meant to believe the story about what the Fire Nation does with prisoners of war or not? Because I could see some of their officers doing that -- especially after hearing what they're willing to do to their own men, courtesy of the flashbacks in "The Storm" -- but I could equally well see these Earth Kingdom soldiers making up stories to scare the farming family.) But the jerks ride off when Zuko makes a tacit threat of intervention -- they're not quite willing to push things to a fight just yet. Interesting -- this is really a classic Western, with the lone drifter coming in to chase out the gang of thugs terrorizing a helpless town.
23. Flashback time! Zuko and Azula are running around the garden, smiling and laughing (note: they are both smiling; they obviously got along some of the time), when Ursa receives a letter telling her Lu Ten has died. Zuko is horror-struck. Azula is standing a bit too far back to catch her expression, but she certainly doesn't look amused at the news; solemn might be more accurate. (On a side note, I am interested in the clothes the palace servants wear; they are mostly white and very body-covering, including little peaked headdresses. For some reason, I keep looking at them and thinking of the Crusades.)
24. Zuko gives Lee his knife, and we segue into another flashback. Hmm. You know, little!Azula sounds like her older self, just higher pitched; the intonations and everything are such a close match that I'm fairly sure it's the same voice actress. (Or else the little girl one is a damn good mimic.) Zuko... I am not so sure about him. I know Sokka's voice actor did his own flashback scenes in "Bato of the Water Tribe," because I could hear him failing to sound like a little kid, but Zuko does sound like a kid, and without that hint of rasp in his older voice... Hmm. I must check the credits at the end of the episode. (ETA: Yes, there is only one credit for Azula, so Grey DeLisle voices her both young and old. Little!Zuko, on the other hand, is voiced by Elijah Runcorn instead of Dante Basco. Which leads me, inevitably, to the theory that the rasp in Zuko's voice is related to his scarring; I guess he screamed himself raw-throated at some point before he healed.)
25. It's interesting that Azula is paying attention to politics and palace intrigue even at her young age, while Zuko is happily oblivious to most of it. On the other hand, behind his lack of empathy for anyone outside the Fire Nation, Zuko obviously has his morals in the right place, whereas Azula's moral compass is slightly warped at best. Then again, she has a point; Iroh did up and quit. He had reasons -- he may have had actual military reasons as well as personal grief -- but the fact remains that he lifted the siege and retreated. "A real general would stay and burn Ba Sing Se to the ground," Azula says. I wonder if she thinks that would just be carrying out his mission, or if she thinks it would be a sort of, I dunno, a memorial to Iroh's grief. Because while falling apart is a perfectly understandable reaction, vengeance would be equally understandable and probably more in keeping with the martial bent of Fire Nation culture.
26. Hmm. What, exactly, is Azula insinuating with her incessant talk of someone replacing Azulon? Also, Ursa, while I fully understand being taken aback by Azula, you might have a better idea of what's wrong with her if you spent a little more time with her and a little less with Zuko. Maybe, oh, half an hour per day? I'm sure you could pry her away from Ozai that long.
27. Yep, Ozai favors Azula just like Ursa favors Zuko. And both kids know it. (I kind of wonder if Zuko would have been able to answer the question if he'd had another few seconds to search his memory. But Azula jumped in, so we will never know.)
28. No, Zuko, don't embarrass yourself! *hides face, watches through cracks in fingers* Oh, this is jumping up and down on every sympathetic embarrassment squick button I have. *winces some more* (Seriously, I had to hit pause and go do something else for half an hour before I worked up the nerve to watch this section. Even then I could not watch it all at once but had to keep hitting pause every couple seconds and ducking out to check my email or some-such.)
29. Ursa, it is very nice of you to comfort Zuko and encourage him to keep trying, but I think sometimes it is good for children to know when not to make fools of themselves in public, yes? Also, if you are going to compliment your son, it might be a good idea to also compliment your daughter. I am just saying.
30. Oh, so that's why Azula's been saying things about 'what if dad became heir' and 'what if something happened to grandfather.' She's been spying on Ozai. I wonder why she pulled Zuko behind the curtain with her this time. It could be an overture of sorts -- a way of saying, "Hey, I want you to know the stuff I know so we'll have shared secrets," -- but it could equally well be a way of gloating and saying, "Look at all the neat stuff I've learned, and that I have the guts to listen to while you quiver like a baby." Or maybe it started as the former and ended as the latter when Zuko ran off.
31. That is one huge bedroom. Interestingly, while the furnishings are sumptuous and richly carved, they are quite sparse. The room as a whole still retains the Asian-influenced minimalist aesthetic so common to architecture and interior design in this series. I like that.
32. And Zuko is sleeping with his hair tied up even as a kid. Seriously, is he a masochist or something? It hurts to sleep with a high ponytail, and you have to redo it in the morning anyway, since your hair always gets pulled around and mussed in your sleep. How hard would it have been to draw him with his hair down? I'm sure viewers could figure out who he is from context and facial shape. (Then again, he is still fully dressed as well, so perhaps he just lay down for a brief nap?)
33. I cannot work out Azula's motives in this scene. On the one hand, she's gloating that daddy loves her and doesn't care about Zuko; she's going to become his sole heir and maybe get their mother all to herself as well. On the other hand, she is warning Zuko, which she didn't have to do. Maybe she doesn't completely believe Ozai will do it, and wants to scare Zuko? Maybe she does think he'll do it, and wants to make her brother run away instead of waiting to be slaughtered? I really cannot figure it out.
34. Interesting that Ursa immediately assumes Azula is at fault for the commotion, and hauls her off with no concern for gentleness. Say what you will about Ozai (and it will all be true), I don't think Ursa was a model of good parenting either, really. Less overtly bad, certainly, but definitely not the saint a lot of fandom makes her out to be.
35. And back in the present day, Lee has done something stupid and rash with the knife Zuko gave him, and Zuko tells his mother, Sela, that he'll get the kid back. Cut to commercial break. (Yep, definitely a Western. I am crossing my fingers to have a standoff in the main street of the town at high noon.)
36. Ha! We do get the standoff! *dances with glee* (Although... what is the point of having Lee tied to the watchtower post? Bait for Zuko, obviously, but how did the thugs know Sela would be able to find him?)
37. Yeah, Zuko is definitely much more badass when he's not firebending. I guess all that playing with knives as a kid paid off? You know, when Azula said he wasn't even good at it, I think she might well have been lying. It's true he didn't seem particularly skilled, but he had good balance while swinging the knife, which is more than he had while firebending. I wonder if she just wanted him to keep focusing on a fighting style where she had him beat hands down rather than take up a new style she might not have been so good at.
38. Ah, now the one-on-one with the leader. Zuko is doing a very credible job, but still. It's hard to fight boulders with nothing but swords. (I am very amused by the old man giving advice from the alley.)
39. Ursa, when you vanish into the night after doing something drastic, it is perhaps not the best time to be cryptic, yes? Maybe an actual explanation might help your son cope with having his life turned upside-down, yes? Just a suggestion.
40. Oh, Zuko. Firebending? Risky, but necessary. Actually giving your real name and full title when asked by a downed thug, in the middle of an Earth Kingdom town? STUPIDEST THING YOU HAVE DONE ALL SEASON. (Yes, even stupider than listening to Azula's lies at the colonial spa.) *headdesks repeatedly* It's not the worst thing he's done all season -- that would be stealing food from the young couple in that random town back in "Avatar Day" -- but definitely the stupidest. I had to keep hitting pause and switching to other windows here as well.
41. How does an Earth Kingdom farmer in the back end of nowhere know the full story behind Zuko's scar when his own crew had no idea just a few months ago? Nonsensical plot hole makes no sense.
42. On the other hand, impressive funeral/coronation is impressive. I guess the Fire Nation takes the whole "the king is dead; long live the king" thing very seriously, eh? Or did Ozai just rush the coronation to make sure it was a done deal by the time Iroh got home?
43. Wah, Zuko is essentially getting run out of town with the implicit threat of farm implements and earthbending if he doesn't go. Lee hates him, Sela fears him, and nobody even wants his knife anymore. Still, he did bring most of that on himself. A firebender fleeing the war might have been accepted. The Fire Lord's son? Not a chance in hell. *sigh* Oh, Zuko, it is all very well and good to remember who you are, but that doesn't mean you have to announce that identity to everyone you meet. I know you suck at lying, but there is a thing called discretion; you might want to look into learning some.
-----
Anyway, this was a good episode, and I adored the flashbacks, but oh man, I am just wrung out like a limp rag from sympathetic embarrassment. Eesh. Also, I confess I do not understand the fandom picture of Ursa as the perfect mommy. She's nice, yes, and she means well, but she plays favorites just as much as Ozai (only she prefers Zuko while he prefers Azula), and I am not at all sure her focused attention would have been good for Zuko in the long run, any more than Ozai's focused attention has been good for Azula.
And now to bed.
This entry was cross-posted from http://edenfalling.dreamwidth.org/422158.html. You may comment here or there.
Zuko Alone:
1. Very Southwestern landscape, what with the mountains and the dry scrubland. Zuko's ostrich-horse is obviously getting tired and weak, and Zuko's posture is getting hunched and weary. Also, I am not sure if it's just a shadow from his hat, or if he's developing a hollow in his cheek from hunger.
2. But even so, and even with his trouble understanding "Thou shalt not steal," he doesn't draw his swords and take food from a pregnant woman and her husband. Good job, Zuko -- I think you're learning.
3. I am fascinated by the eroding giant stone coins along the path through the grasslands. I suppose, considering what Fong and his men did with similar coins while trying to beat up Aang, these are the remnants of some ancient battle. Possibly one of Chin's battles -- I could see these coins being nearly 300 years old. Granted, they're pretty heavily worn away, but it's not as if anyone has been preserving them the way people care for famous statues, and I doubt earthbenders bother to make their weapons perfect enough to withstand centuries of weathering; what, after all, would be the point?
4. That's a pretty accurate depiction of vision fuzzing out as you zone out while traveling and start to lose control of your reflexes. (That is when you bite the inside of your mouth and take the nearest exit and park at a convenient gas station or fast food restaurant and take a fifteen-minute nap, because otherwise you are going to crash.) Zuko does not fall off his ostrich-horse, but he does blank out for a moment and have a vision of a vanishing woman -- his mother, I presume.
5. That's a fairly run-down town, though I don't think it was ever much to look at. The buildings are of cheap and weathered construction, nothing like the solid, prosperous houses we've seen in previous Earth Kingdom towns. There's a wooden watchtower in the central intersection, probably doing double duty guarding against soldiers and grass fires (and, in the case of the Fire Nation, both at once). The town has no wall, so warning is extra important.
6. Sleazy guys dicing and possibly cheating at dice. Hmm. Also, yes, I think those shadows are meant to show that Zuko is getting hollow-cheeked from hunger -- if he's in bad enough straits to eat ostrich-horse feed, he's definitely edging toward starvation.
7. Let's see: three guys with sword-bladed spears (naginata? *googles* no, more like guan dao), and one guy with two hammers at his belt, obviously the leader. They're all jerks. I wonder if Zuko feels some empathy for the kids who threw the egg, if he's just being obstructionist because he dislikes Earth Kingdom soldiers, or if he's (consciously or not) associating the soldiers with people who have bullied him in the past (Ozai, Azula, Zhao). I like the terseness of this whole confrontation scene, very classic Sergio Leone.
8. And the act of kindness pays off; the kid takes Zuko home for lunch.
9. Okay, we have sheep-pigs and a pig-chicken. Heh. I hope this world does not have dietary restrictions on eating pork, because apparently that could get troublesome quickly. *grin*
10. Zuko is the man with no name! *dies laughing* (He would have said 'Lee,' I suppose, since he used that name before and will use it again later, but he's apparently flustered because the kid is also named Lee. Zuko is very cute when he's flustered. *pets him, offers tea and dinner*)
11. Wow, Zuko sucks at roofing. That is way too many nails in one tile.
12. That's a very American ethos Gansu expresses: not poking into someone's past. The idea that you can move to a new place and start a new life, leaving all your old ties and troubles behind you. Makes me wonder how and why this town got started out in the middle of nowhere on such unpromising land.
13. Turtle-ducks! *is dead of cute* On a more serious note, I really like the sepia tint to this flashback sequence, and the storybook elegance of the palace grounds. Also, Zuko and his mom are just adorable and playful together. It is so strange to see Zuko happy, and amusing to see that he was always kind of a dork. He's thoughtless here, which is not surprising in a young boy (trust me, I teach first- and second-graders; I know all about idiot boys and girls), but there is no malice in him.
14. Huh. Azula is obviously a bully, but... well, I don't think she's anything like as bad here as she becomes later. She needs to be the best -- that's why she pushes Ty Lee and denies that cartwheeling is a game (you can lose games, after all) -- but she seems to be going after Zuko and Mai mostly because it's funny and will make Ty Lee laugh, not for any really evil purpose. And before she puts on the fake puppy-dog eyes, she does sound genuinely slightly aggrieved that Zuko won't play with her and is monopolizing their mother.
And Ursa... her phrasing is unfortunate at best. Azula addresses a question directly to her, and Ursa replies by saying, to Zuko, "Yes, darling, I think it's a good idea to play with your sister. Go on now. Just for a little while." She's marginalizing Azula in her affections. She's much, much less violent about playing favorites than Ozai is, but she's playing favorites nonetheless, and I can't see how Azula could fail to notice. (Zuko, I think, does fail to notice, maybe because he's the one getting what he wants.)
15. Iroh, you fail utterly at presents for girls. *thwaps him* The joke about seeing the city "if we don't burn it to the ground first" is chilling in its implications, but very accurate to a nation at war (even a war of conquest). Note that Iroh, even if he is already a kooky tea-lover, is very much a Fire Nation general and prince. While I think even back then, he would not have supported killing the moon, I think he would had no compunctions about invading the North Pole, for example, and, well, burning it to the ground.
16. I think it is clear that in his early childhood, Zuko had a relatively easy time of it. His mother loved him and supported him over his sister, his uncle was fond of him (and cared enough to choose presents he would like), and, based on Zuko's tone and word choice, his cousin Lu Ten was presumably friendly with him. It was only his father who didn't like him much, and maybe his grandfather was distant -- and that is, of course, enough to eat at a kid's mind, especially one who clearly craves parental love, but still. I don't buy him being abused at this point in his life. In fact, aside from Azula's greater talent at firebending and greater awareness of the world beyond their immediate family, I would say they were in something of the same boat -- both having one parent's clear favor and trying but failing to get the other's favor as well.
17. Sneaky Lee is sneaky... but not sneaky enough. Hmm. I like the sunflowers, very Van Gogh. And Lee is convincingly bad with the swords.
18. Aww, Lee looks up to Zuko like he looked up to his big brother. Very cute. (Also, I like how Zuko's hair, while still unflatteringly short, has grown out a bit from that first ultra-severe buzz cut style.)
19. The moon is full. Of course the moon is full. The moon is always full (sometimes even when it has been shown, earlier in the same night, to be a crescent). Ugh, drama.
20. One of the sheep-pigs has deer antlers. Weird. (ETA: Or no, wait, when Zuko rides off, the critter with antlers chases after Lee as if it's his pet dog. So maybe it's a different species? Deer-pig, or maybe deer-dog-pig-sheep... oh, I give up, all the mix-n-match is making my head hurt. It definitely sounds like some kind of pig hybrid, though.)
21. Zuko is given some food and is about to leave when suddenly the sleazy soldiers appear in a cloud of dust. "What do you think they want?" Gansu asks. "Trouble," Zuko says, and we cut to commercial break.
22. Ooh, you do not treat the people you are supposed to be protecting like that! (Also, are we meant to believe the story about what the Fire Nation does with prisoners of war or not? Because I could see some of their officers doing that -- especially after hearing what they're willing to do to their own men, courtesy of the flashbacks in "The Storm" -- but I could equally well see these Earth Kingdom soldiers making up stories to scare the farming family.) But the jerks ride off when Zuko makes a tacit threat of intervention -- they're not quite willing to push things to a fight just yet. Interesting -- this is really a classic Western, with the lone drifter coming in to chase out the gang of thugs terrorizing a helpless town.
23. Flashback time! Zuko and Azula are running around the garden, smiling and laughing (note: they are both smiling; they obviously got along some of the time), when Ursa receives a letter telling her Lu Ten has died. Zuko is horror-struck. Azula is standing a bit too far back to catch her expression, but she certainly doesn't look amused at the news; solemn might be more accurate. (On a side note, I am interested in the clothes the palace servants wear; they are mostly white and very body-covering, including little peaked headdresses. For some reason, I keep looking at them and thinking of the Crusades.)
24. Zuko gives Lee his knife, and we segue into another flashback. Hmm. You know, little!Azula sounds like her older self, just higher pitched; the intonations and everything are such a close match that I'm fairly sure it's the same voice actress. (Or else the little girl one is a damn good mimic.) Zuko... I am not so sure about him. I know Sokka's voice actor did his own flashback scenes in "Bato of the Water Tribe," because I could hear him failing to sound like a little kid, but Zuko does sound like a kid, and without that hint of rasp in his older voice... Hmm. I must check the credits at the end of the episode. (ETA: Yes, there is only one credit for Azula, so Grey DeLisle voices her both young and old. Little!Zuko, on the other hand, is voiced by Elijah Runcorn instead of Dante Basco. Which leads me, inevitably, to the theory that the rasp in Zuko's voice is related to his scarring; I guess he screamed himself raw-throated at some point before he healed.)
25. It's interesting that Azula is paying attention to politics and palace intrigue even at her young age, while Zuko is happily oblivious to most of it. On the other hand, behind his lack of empathy for anyone outside the Fire Nation, Zuko obviously has his morals in the right place, whereas Azula's moral compass is slightly warped at best. Then again, she has a point; Iroh did up and quit. He had reasons -- he may have had actual military reasons as well as personal grief -- but the fact remains that he lifted the siege and retreated. "A real general would stay and burn Ba Sing Se to the ground," Azula says. I wonder if she thinks that would just be carrying out his mission, or if she thinks it would be a sort of, I dunno, a memorial to Iroh's grief. Because while falling apart is a perfectly understandable reaction, vengeance would be equally understandable and probably more in keeping with the martial bent of Fire Nation culture.
26. Hmm. What, exactly, is Azula insinuating with her incessant talk of someone replacing Azulon? Also, Ursa, while I fully understand being taken aback by Azula, you might have a better idea of what's wrong with her if you spent a little more time with her and a little less with Zuko. Maybe, oh, half an hour per day? I'm sure you could pry her away from Ozai that long.
27. Yep, Ozai favors Azula just like Ursa favors Zuko. And both kids know it. (I kind of wonder if Zuko would have been able to answer the question if he'd had another few seconds to search his memory. But Azula jumped in, so we will never know.)
28. No, Zuko, don't embarrass yourself! *hides face, watches through cracks in fingers* Oh, this is jumping up and down on every sympathetic embarrassment squick button I have. *winces some more* (Seriously, I had to hit pause and go do something else for half an hour before I worked up the nerve to watch this section. Even then I could not watch it all at once but had to keep hitting pause every couple seconds and ducking out to check my email or some-such.)
29. Ursa, it is very nice of you to comfort Zuko and encourage him to keep trying, but I think sometimes it is good for children to know when not to make fools of themselves in public, yes? Also, if you are going to compliment your son, it might be a good idea to also compliment your daughter. I am just saying.
30. Oh, so that's why Azula's been saying things about 'what if dad became heir' and 'what if something happened to grandfather.' She's been spying on Ozai. I wonder why she pulled Zuko behind the curtain with her this time. It could be an overture of sorts -- a way of saying, "Hey, I want you to know the stuff I know so we'll have shared secrets," -- but it could equally well be a way of gloating and saying, "Look at all the neat stuff I've learned, and that I have the guts to listen to while you quiver like a baby." Or maybe it started as the former and ended as the latter when Zuko ran off.
31. That is one huge bedroom. Interestingly, while the furnishings are sumptuous and richly carved, they are quite sparse. The room as a whole still retains the Asian-influenced minimalist aesthetic so common to architecture and interior design in this series. I like that.
32. And Zuko is sleeping with his hair tied up even as a kid. Seriously, is he a masochist or something? It hurts to sleep with a high ponytail, and you have to redo it in the morning anyway, since your hair always gets pulled around and mussed in your sleep. How hard would it have been to draw him with his hair down? I'm sure viewers could figure out who he is from context and facial shape. (Then again, he is still fully dressed as well, so perhaps he just lay down for a brief nap?)
33. I cannot work out Azula's motives in this scene. On the one hand, she's gloating that daddy loves her and doesn't care about Zuko; she's going to become his sole heir and maybe get their mother all to herself as well. On the other hand, she is warning Zuko, which she didn't have to do. Maybe she doesn't completely believe Ozai will do it, and wants to scare Zuko? Maybe she does think he'll do it, and wants to make her brother run away instead of waiting to be slaughtered? I really cannot figure it out.
34. Interesting that Ursa immediately assumes Azula is at fault for the commotion, and hauls her off with no concern for gentleness. Say what you will about Ozai (and it will all be true), I don't think Ursa was a model of good parenting either, really. Less overtly bad, certainly, but definitely not the saint a lot of fandom makes her out to be.
35. And back in the present day, Lee has done something stupid and rash with the knife Zuko gave him, and Zuko tells his mother, Sela, that he'll get the kid back. Cut to commercial break. (Yep, definitely a Western. I am crossing my fingers to have a standoff in the main street of the town at high noon.)
36. Ha! We do get the standoff! *dances with glee* (Although... what is the point of having Lee tied to the watchtower post? Bait for Zuko, obviously, but how did the thugs know Sela would be able to find him?)
37. Yeah, Zuko is definitely much more badass when he's not firebending. I guess all that playing with knives as a kid paid off? You know, when Azula said he wasn't even good at it, I think she might well have been lying. It's true he didn't seem particularly skilled, but he had good balance while swinging the knife, which is more than he had while firebending. I wonder if she just wanted him to keep focusing on a fighting style where she had him beat hands down rather than take up a new style she might not have been so good at.
38. Ah, now the one-on-one with the leader. Zuko is doing a very credible job, but still. It's hard to fight boulders with nothing but swords. (I am very amused by the old man giving advice from the alley.)
39. Ursa, when you vanish into the night after doing something drastic, it is perhaps not the best time to be cryptic, yes? Maybe an actual explanation might help your son cope with having his life turned upside-down, yes? Just a suggestion.
40. Oh, Zuko. Firebending? Risky, but necessary. Actually giving your real name and full title when asked by a downed thug, in the middle of an Earth Kingdom town? STUPIDEST THING YOU HAVE DONE ALL SEASON. (Yes, even stupider than listening to Azula's lies at the colonial spa.) *headdesks repeatedly* It's not the worst thing he's done all season -- that would be stealing food from the young couple in that random town back in "Avatar Day" -- but definitely the stupidest. I had to keep hitting pause and switching to other windows here as well.
41. How does an Earth Kingdom farmer in the back end of nowhere know the full story behind Zuko's scar when his own crew had no idea just a few months ago? Nonsensical plot hole makes no sense.
42. On the other hand, impressive funeral/coronation is impressive. I guess the Fire Nation takes the whole "the king is dead; long live the king" thing very seriously, eh? Or did Ozai just rush the coronation to make sure it was a done deal by the time Iroh got home?
43. Wah, Zuko is essentially getting run out of town with the implicit threat of farm implements and earthbending if he doesn't go. Lee hates him, Sela fears him, and nobody even wants his knife anymore. Still, he did bring most of that on himself. A firebender fleeing the war might have been accepted. The Fire Lord's son? Not a chance in hell. *sigh* Oh, Zuko, it is all very well and good to remember who you are, but that doesn't mean you have to announce that identity to everyone you meet. I know you suck at lying, but there is a thing called discretion; you might want to look into learning some.
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Anyway, this was a good episode, and I adored the flashbacks, but oh man, I am just wrung out like a limp rag from sympathetic embarrassment. Eesh. Also, I confess I do not understand the fandom picture of Ursa as the perfect mommy. She's nice, yes, and she means well, but she plays favorites just as much as Ozai (only she prefers Zuko while he prefers Azula), and I am not at all sure her focused attention would have been good for Zuko in the long run, any more than Ozai's focused attention has been good for Azula.
And now to bed.
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