Another thing that's funny is the attempt to paint Zuko attacking Aang in Sozin's Comet as traumatic for the gaang (even though they didn't see it that way) because earlier than that Zuko makes a tentative joke about chasing them around like old times and they all laugh (except Katara) and Zuko himself is treading carefully because he's unsure if it's too soon. So this idea that Zuko is somehow being insensitive is just...wrong.
Even Katara, who is upset by the joke and who does yell at Zuko initially before listening to what Zuko has to say, is the one to bring him back into the group hug after that scene and reassure him that he is part of their team.
And that's it, isn't it? These attempts to distance Zuko from the gaang and insist that he actually isn't redeemed enough mostly just exist because they're afraid he'll steal Katara away from Aang.
And the thing that's so weird about trying to frame Zuko freaking out and attacking Aang as being something that must've been soooooooo triggering to the gaang is that if anything, everyone's reaction in that scene is meant to illustrate just how far they've come with trusting Zuko and that he is a full-fledged member of the group. They don't doubt his loyalty for a second. They're confused and demanding an explanation for the erratic behavior, but they still assume his intentions aren't to hurt Aang, which they aren't. Like you watch it half-expecting them to go "oh no, he's switched on us again!!!" and the fact that they don't, that they never think that even for a second, that Sokka is more concerned with his terrible sand sculpture getting ruined, and that Miss "if you give me one reason to think you'll hurt Aang I'll kill you with hammers" has the reaction "What's wrong with you? You could've hurt Aang!" instead of immediately freezing him to the ground, is very much deliberate.
And then once he explains himself they all seem to collectively accept it as a valid crash out and are no longer mad because his erratic behavior makes sense to them and they understand why he reacted the way he did.
It was so asinine to take the explanation that "he was just mad that everyone was relaxing" like????? No he very clearly wasn't. He was crashing out over the fact he was sending an under-prepared child to fight his abuser, and that child seems to not appreciate the gravity of the situation. His goal is pretty clearly not to hurt Aang but to goad him into fighting back, since Aang's fighting style is very avoidant, defensive, and pacifistic, and those are things he can't be if he wants not to die when facing Ozai. When Aang threatens him to stop before he blows Zuko off the roof, Zuko says "Go ahead and do it!" because that is what he wants, he wants Aang to fight back because he thinks Aang is going to get himself killed via his reluctance to fight back. Zuko's father melted half of his face off just for embarrassing him, when Zuko was the same age as Aang. And now he's sending Aang to fight Ozai, and Aang seems to not grasp just how much danger he's in.
Even later on he doesn't seem to get just how at risk of dying he is when Zuko teaches him lightning redirection.
"Well not over over, I mean, there's always Katara and a little spirit water action, right?" And Katara's like "Uhhhhh no, I used it all up the first time. You're fucked."
To me it's a parallel to when Toph goads him into standing up to her because it will help him get in the earthbender mindset by deliberately doing things to upset him, using his staff to crack nuts and smacking it around on everything until he finally puts his foot down.
Oh, yeah, absolutely. And it makes sense for Zuko to freak out about this, too, considering that he knows personally that being defensive and avoidant with Ozai is not going to work. Everything that Zuko keeps saying to Aang in the finale is trying to emphasize to him that Ozai will not show him mercy, and he needs to stop him or he will die.
And, you know what, that DOES almost happen. Aang does almost get killed because he wants to avoid fighting Ozai directly. The way Ozai corners Aang when Aang is being defensive and taunts him for it is very reminiscent of his agni kai with thirteen year old Zuko.
And unfortunately, whereas Zuko tries to impress upon Aang that he won't get an easy solution, the narrative provides Aang with one anyway. It's sooo frustrating, and criticizing Zuko for being right because Aang got his deus ex machina after all only highlights where the narrative fumbles.
And even if we ignore the poor writing they did by giving Aang the deus ex rockina and the lion turtle ex machina, Zuko was still right to act the way he did because he couldn't have possibly known that energy bending was an option. He was acting very understandably based on the information he had. He was harsh in how he spoke to Aang, but it was in a tough-love kind of way because he was legitimately concerned for Aang's life and would rather be a little mean and have Aang come back alive than to baby him and get him (and the rest of the Earth Kingdom) killed because of it.
"Maybe we can make big pots of glue and I can use gluebending to stick his arms and legs together so he can't bend anymore!"
"Yeah, and then you can show him his baby pictures and all those happy memories will turn him good again!"
"Do you really think that would work?"
"NO!"
The entire finale is just Zuko shaking Aang vigorously by the shoulders and slapping him back and forth while he screams "YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!!!!!!!!!" but its okay cause the universe will bend over backwards so that Aang never has to change or make hard decisions. Obviously it would've been tough to have him kill the Fire Lord cause its Nickelodeon but they could've gone the other previously set up route of him having to let go of his unhealthy attachment to Katara, and that could've been the key to him unlocking energy bending. That way they could get away with the energybending loophole and have it feel like it was actually earned and satisfying, and his character actually gets growth and development too instead of never having to change or give anything up.
Blaming Zuko for not knowing about energybending for the purpose of reading his actions in bad faith is like people who criticize L in Death Note for not knowing about the Death Note.
