Book 2: Zuko Alone / The Chase

He is indeed.

This story is basically "How does Zuko act when Iroh is not around to be his guiding light of wisdom?"

It's as alone and self-isolated (Refusing to stay for dinner, even though he's starving, until the family offers work) as you think, with a touch of smart-assery ("Maybe a chicken flew overhead." in response to soldiers trying to pick a fight).

He's done giving a single, solitary fuck, and I love it.

It's also peppered with flashbacks of a younger Zuko, Azula, and...who is that lady...

It's their mother, the Fire Lady, Ursa. Who may be the one person who gets an interesting story in the supplementary comics. And I believe she is the only person besides a throwaway character who does not have a name from a language from the Asian continent.

You see Azula's already manipulative personality, sweet-talking her mother into letting Zuko play with them, just so she can torment Mai about her crush.

Also BB Mai is adorable.

DYK Avatarverse; Before Iroh was the peace-loving uncle we know today...he held Ba Sing Se under siege for a record amount of time, before calling off the effort when his son died. It's okay to regret your imperialism when someone you love dies!

Iroh is first in line for the throne, and Ozai second. So, how does the latter become Fire Lord?

Her fire isn't blue yet.

1. Ozai asks for Azulon to betray Iroh and make him the successor to the throne instead.
2. Azulon, in what seems to be very ironic for this bloodline, gets angry at how callous his son is being after his brother lost his child. "Your punishment has barely begun!"
3. He may or may not have told Ozai that, in return
   for his request, that he has to kill Zuko.
1. I say 'May or may not' because the only word we have is from Azula, but I'm inclined to believe it, considering the rest of the storyline.
4. Instead, Ursa is suggested to have killed Azulon.

And, just like tea, she leaves.

---

In the present day, Zuko bonds with the young boy of a family who gives him shelter, constantly defending them from the thuggish soldiers.

Unseen - Pig roosters. 

 As events happen, he draws parallels to events in his own past, like being reminded of his cousin's death when word of the family's oldest son being captured is voiced.

Then, when the younger boy is captured by the thug soldiers, Zuko tries to fight with just his swords, before getting another flashback, hearing the words his mother left him with; "Never forget who you are."

Guns blazing - swords blazing - he starts Firebending and proclaims his bloodline. And even though he saves the kid, there's hate there now.

How can there not be, when not only is he a Fire Nation citizen, he is the child of the family directly responsible for ninety-nine percent of the world's current problems.

Back in flashback land, you know what happens.

All hail Fire Lord Ozai.

I want to hazard a guess at how old everyone is. My bet is Zuko is around ten;

In the present day show, he's sixteen. The last shot of the episode has him looking fairly worried about his father's new reign of, no doubt, terror. The flashback in The Storm has him clearly a bit older, more excited about serving his country, and Iroh has returned from his siege. 

Considering The Storm flashback is right before he gets banished - and he has been banished for two years at the start of the series - he's probably fourteen there.

In this episode, Azula is probably eight. It just kind of works, seeing as she's two years younger than Zuko.

It's a cool episode, spelled out like a western. The only thing I don't dig is Ursa's voice acting - it's kind of stilted and unnatural.


The Chase is more a character study than anything else.

• The changed group dynamic of the Gaang now that Toph is here.
• Especially with Katara, whose helpful and fair nature is quite at odds with her "I can handle the situation my goddamn self". 
• Toph, who is trying to prove her independence and non-helplessness by supporting herself and herself only, before some tea with Iroh sets her straight.
• The dogged determination that both Zuko and Azula have in their hunt for Aang.