Let me take back my life

I lost myself getting there....

I was a little worried about Zuko at the beginning of season three. I found his betrayal of Iroh to be somewhat unbelievable (After everything they've been through? Really?), and I had no idea why he was trusting anything Azula said, especially after he'd spent the entirety of seasons one and two talking about how royally nuts she is. Zuko's mentality at this point appeared to be: Gee, I just betrayed my uncle, who's always been super awesome to me. That was a crappy thing to do. Oh, well! Guess I'll just get myself a random girlfriend and pretend my sister doesn't totally freak me out, and then I'll wonder why I'm ten times pissier than normal….

Ultimately, however, I realized how important it was for Zuko's redemption storyline that he have this huge moment of weakness. Essentially, at the beginning of book three, Zuko gets everything he wants: his father's respect, reinstatement as heir, the chance to go home and have things return to "normal." The irony, of course, is that as soon as Zuko gets everything he wants, he realizes it's not what he wants at all. Sure, that's tough on fangirl nerves, and you could certainly argue that, in some ways, it's a less-than-believable plot development that Zuko would take so long to stop being an idiot. But you could also say it's brilliant writing, and it makes what Zuko does next mean so much more.

It's tough to pinpoint the exact moment when Zuko starts to get his head on straight, since there are little moments throughout the series which hint at it to varying degrees. The real turning point, however, seems to be a culmination of events in season three. Zuko realizes what he thought he wanted hasn't made him any less angry and miserable (S03E05, "The Beach"). He learns that he's actually related to Roku, the previous Avatar, on his mother's side (S03E06, "The Avatar and the Firelord"). And, perhaps most importantly, he parallels the beginning of his original descent into crappiness by attending a war meeting with Ozai, where he acts like the perfect son…and realizes that isn't him (S03E09, "Nightmares and Daydreams").

However, the fun doesn't end there. Zuko's road to redemption is delightfully, believably difficult. Aang and cohorts don't immediately believe he's changed, and it takes a soul-searching, Zuko-accompanied field trip for each of them to get on board with Zuko's new attitude (except for Toph, who, because she doesn't have the season one baggage of the others, is fairly okay with Zuko from the start, particularly because she realizes Aang needs a firebending teacher).

Zuko makes a ton of mistakes throughout the series, and he has to work extremely hard to bring himself around to where he needs to be. The fact that his redemption arc is so detailed, difficult, and complicated is, I think, a huge part of why Avatar is such a great show...and why Zuko inspires such fangirl glee.


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