lizbee | Meme: 30 days of Avatar

Yes, one of these. Will I manage to update it every day? UNLIKELY.

DAY 1. Favorite Episode

"Zuko Alone"

This wasn't an easy choice. There are a whole lot of episodes that I will watch and watch and watch again. But "Zuko Alone" is kind of special. It has flashbacks (I LOVE FLASHBACKS!) that give us our first proper glimpse of politics in the Fire Nation royal court, as Zuko's family cracks apart and never quite recovers. I love that screencap of him at his grandfather's funeral, watching his father usurp Iroh's crown. He looks like a little boy just realising that there's something very wrong in his world, but he doesn't understand how or why.

Also, we get so many great things here! Ursa, for one thing, who casts a very long shadow over both her children's psyches. (I blame

selvage for her encouragement of my vague idea about fic where Ursa is a courtesan in Ba Sing Se, secretly working against Long Feng and the Dai Li, and it's all going well until her family turns up. Well,

selvage and Capital Scandal.) And Fire Lord Azulon, up (down?) there with Piotr Vorkosigan as the Worst Grandfather Ever. And the realisation that Iroh is the rightful heir to the throne, which makes you go back and look at everything he's done in a completely different light.

And meanwhile, back in the present, we have Zuko trying to create a new identity, but hampered by memories and post-traumatic flashbacks. I love the western aesthetic, and the little family that welcomes him in, and the sad, stark reality at the end that the people of the Earth Kingdom are so traumatised by this war that they can't accept his help in the end.