Thanks for tuning in to my twenty-seventh of 61 daily reviews of Avatar: The Last Airbender! Yesterday, we watched S2E6: The Blind Bandit.
This episode is Zuko at his lowest point, at least in terms of circumstances. Exhausted, destitute, and thirsty, his famine is written all over his gaunt cheeks. Desperation almost drives him to steal another refugee couple’s dinner. But the woman is pregnant, and even in the depths of his abyss, the honor-bound prince can’t bring himself to do that.
On his ostrich horse, Zuko saunters into a small village in the dry Earth Kingdom plains. The oppressive sun beats relentlessly overhead. The aesthetics of Zuko Alone take definitive inspiration from the Western genre, with its vigilante strangers and crooked lawmen. The villains of this episode are a group of Earth Kingdom soldiers who bully and terrorize the village they’ve been left behind to defend, while most of the men are off fighting the war.
What makes this episode great is how, like The Storm, it effortlessly weaves between past and present with a series of flashbacks that give us a far sharper look at the royal family than we’ve ever seen. For the first time, we meet Zuko’s mysterious but protective mother, Ursa. We also get a glimpse of young Azula, who’s already a prodigy, a know-it-all, a self-interested manipulator, and perhaps even a sociopath. But even Avatar’s most twisted villain evokes a twinge of sympathy when her own mother suggests she’s beyond redemption. “What is wrong with that child?” Conversely, it’s also clear that Ozai disapproves of his son. But that’s not news.
In the present, Zuko makes an unlikely ally: Lee, a poor farm boy prankster, who brings him back to his home for supper. Lee is a lovable, overeager little kid whose character is richly painted despite having few lines. Zuko, who sees himself in Lee’s fiery demeanor, bonds with the boy, giving him a lesson in swordsmanship and a treasured, ceremonial knife.
But Lee’s brother is away, fighting in the war, and the band of soldier thugs cruelly deliver the news that his regiment has been captured by the Fire Nation. At the same time, Zuko remembers his own horror when he learned of the death of Iroh’s son, Lu Ten. You can feel the wheels turning in his head as he relates his own grief to the theirs. War has no victors.
Through Zuko’s flashbacks, we also learn about the events that led to the disappearance of Ursa and the ascendance of Ozai, the second son, to the throne. We learn a little more about the current Fire Lord, who’s full face is still unseen: he’s a dishonorable plotter who begs the late Fire Lord Azulon to install him over Iroh after the death of his only son.
But Azulon is furious. Zuko doesn’t stick around to see what happens next, but Azula tells him that Ozai has been sentenced to kill his own son as punishment. Is it true? Zuko doesn’t want to believe it, then or now. “Azula always lies,” he chants. In the night, though, his mother comes to his bedside. Her words are tinged with emotion and an air of finality.
Zuko, please, my love, listen to me. Everything I've done, I've done to protect you.
The next morning, Ursa has vanished. Her husband’s reaction is not revealed. But the same day, the Fire Sages announce the death of Fire Lord Azulon. And his dying wish: his second son should succeed him. “Hail Fire Lord Ozai!” What really happened on that fateful night? Zuko may never know. (But if you want to know more, read the Friends of the White Lotus section below, which contains major spoilers.)
The last act of the episode is Zuko’s showdown against chief thug Gow, who takes Lee captive after Zuko leaves — he wields two hefty hammers and is a capable earthbender. The villagers, gathered around to watch, all cheer the stranger on. The prince tries to block the oncoming boulders with his twin blades, but the onslaught is too much for him and he gets knocked down. Unable to see another option, he blows his cover by firebending and knocks the now-terrified soldier into a wall.
The fight is over, but a switch has flipped for villagers. Zuko is the enemy now. He tries to return the knife to Lee, but the boy’s mother stands between them. And the boy won’t accept it, anyway. His cry is a searing heartbreak. “No! I hate you!”
That bittersweet ending confounds a sentimental resolution with its realism and elevates Zuko Alone to one of the greatest episodes in Avatar’s run. Unlike so many episodes, there’s nothing sentimental here. This story, with its bleak setting, is so compelling because its conflicts are so deeply human — you could take away the bending, and barely anything would change. And somehow, the writers manages to pack tons of character development, action, meaning, and plot into twenty-three minutes without ever feeling expository or boring.
It’s also a major turning point for Zuko. For the first time in the entire series, he’s unquestionably the hero of the story. He puts himself at risk to help a family in need, with nothing to gain. He follows his conscience, and doesn’t lash out impulsively. And in the end, he doesn’t even get praise or even acceptance for it. Just a powerful lesson about the division and hatred that war begets.
The episode also highlights the prince’s core character trait: his unrelenting determination.
That's who you are, Zuko. Someone who keeps fighting even though it's hard.
Both his mother and his uncle recognize this. Even the inscription on the prized knife that Iroh gifted to him commands, “never give up without a fight.” In last words to her son, Ursa tells him to “never forget who you are.” Zuko’s resolve is a neutral character trait; with it, he has the potential for great evil, as we have seen, but perhaps great good, too. After defeating the thugs, Zuko proclaims:
My name is Zuko. Son of Ursa and Fire Lord Ozai. Prince of the Fire Nation, and heir to the throne.
It feels like a newfound acceptance of himself and an affirmation of his destiny. Zuko’s path is only his own to chart.
See you tomorrow for Episode 8: The Chase! Share your own thoughts on this episode in the comments.
Spare observations
This is the only episode in the entire series’ run without Aang, Katara, and Sokka.
Zuko’s character design has been updated from Season 1. He’s skinnier, to reflect his starvation. And his hair is starting to grow out.
Lee’s farm boasts pig-sheep, pig-cows, pig-deer, pig-chicken, and pig-roosters!
We see a young Mai and Ty Lee in Zuko’s flashback. By the way Azula teases them, there might be a crush between Mai and Zuko.
We also see a glimpse of Iroh’s siege against Ba Sing Se. It seems he successfully broke through the wall.
“Read the inscription.” “Made in Earth Kingdom…”
Zuko’s knife is the same one he used to cut off his topknot in Episode 1.
Young Azula doesn’t yet have her trademark blue flame.
Zuko kicks Earth Kingdom Goon #3’s spear apart in the same way he did to Sokka in S1E2.
Friends of the White Lotus [SPOILERS]
The pregnant woman at the beginning is Ying. She and her husband encounter Team Avatar later in The Serpent’s Pass.
For once, Azula wasn’t lying. Azulon really did sentence Zuko to die for Ozai’s transgressions. His mother Ursa struck a desperate plot with Ozai in order to save her beloved son. In exchange for Zuko’s life, Ursa provided her husband with an untraceable poison to kill the Fire Lord. Ozai forced her to flee in fear that she would poison him next. Much of this information is never revealed until after the series’ end, in the graphic novel The Search.