2x07 Zuko Alone

[9.2/10] Hell yeah, Zuko solo episode! I adored the structure of this one. Telling two stories about the same person – one with Zuko in the present playing the ronin, and one with him as a child pre-exile – made for some interesting stylistic contrasts and thematic connections.
The ronin part in the present was fairly standard Yojimbo/Man With No Name-style stuff, but still impeccably cool. Zuko is a nigh-silent badass, wandering into town, not complaining about anything but holding his ground and quietly doing what he needs to do when he needs to do it. Little grace notes like him forbearing when he sees the pregnant couple, or hitting his thumb when the local kid asks how he got his scar show the ways in which Zuko is both changing but also unable to escape who he was.

That connects with the themes laid out in the flashback segments. Getting to see Zuko as a child informs who is as an adult in interesting ways, and also adds to the A:TLA lore as to how Ozai became the Fire Lord.

On the one hand, these scenes feel very domestic and down-to-earth. Meeting Zuko and Azula’s mother is very interesting, as her loving but firm hand cut a sharp contrast from what we know of Ozai. There is a warmth there, if you’ll pardon the expression, that shows the sweetness in Zuko’s old life. But there’s also difficulty. His relationship with his sister with one of the best-sketched of the episode. She is, on the one hand, exceptionally cruel, with a seeming taste for violence and humiliation and the magic powers to help her enact both. But at the same time, she is also just a standard ribbing kid trying to get the better of her brother in a typical sibling rivalry. That adds believability but also harshness to moments when she tells Zuko that their father is going to kill him.

That threat dovetails with the Shakespearean and biblical vibes to the flashback scenes. The line of succession and plotting to that effect has an epic feel to it, even apart from the King Lear/Jacob and Esau/Abraham and Isaac character of them. It adds depth to the world, with the sense that Ozai learned abuse of his children from his own father, and turns Iroh into a wronged party. The revelation that Iroh lost his own son, and that is what led him to lose the war (or at least contributed) adds another sympathetic dimension to him, and a cruelty or at least cravenness to Ozai. It clearly divides the Fire Nation potentates into the harsh and power hungry (Ozai, Azula, Azulon) and the sensitive (Zuko, Iroh, Zuko’s mom).

There is also a mystery element. How exactly did Azulon die and Ozai come to power? Was Azula right that Azulon demanded Ozai sacrifice Zuko? Did Zuko’s mom live up to her turtleduck lesson and take out Azulon herself so that Zuko wouldn’t be killed? What convinced the seeming resistant Azulon to put Ozai in power over Iroh? Is it just a lie! So many intriguing questions.

But it amounts to a revelation in the present, and a cool one-on-one fight between Zuko, who’s connected with that local kid, and the local army ringleader/bully who’s kidnapped him. “Never forget who you are” is a pretty trite moral, but coupled with what we see in Zuko’s past, it fits well. He embraces his position as the Fire Prince, no longer hiding his abilities or his past, even knowing that it will make things difficult for him and bring him scorn. It’s being true to himself; it is not giving up without a fight, and it’s what his mother would have wanted.

He walks out and into the fire of the sun. "Zuko Alone" is a masterstroke - a bold, audacious episode that challenges any preconceived notions about the character of Zuko. Even before this though, Zuko as a character was a wonderful creation - a perfect blend of intense, threatening antagonism and complicated, interesting three-dimensionality. Here though? We see Zuko as a human being, hell, even a heroic figure in some regards, and it only makes him more interesting, complex, and ultimately wishing to see him do the right thing in the end. The western-esqe visual cues and the slow, meticulous pace of the episode are a breath of fresh air as well, feeling like a brand new experience in this world while also giving us a spectacular stand alone narrative.

The flashbacks are equally as important here too. Seeing more of his childhood puts into perspective how tragic his entire situation is, and much is left up to interpretation on what exactly transpired politically. In the end though, that's not what is truly important - instead the show focuses on the experience he had personally with his mother and his sister, and the deepening tragedy that's inevitably at the core of his character. A breathtaking episode.