Spoilers ahead for my review of Avatar: The Last Airbender Smoke and Shadow comics #1-3!
It makes me so happy to see Zuko get to have a normal family with Kiyi, his mom, and stepdad, as well as count himself so blessed by the family he found in Team Avatar. You can really see how happy they all make him! For all that Azula acts like she's always doing perfectly and better than everyone else, Zuko can't even imagine her happy. Lol, Iroh, practicing making his hand waving extra angsty in order to be Zuko's decoy was just the hilarious kind of way a dad would embarrass his kid!
Iroh and Ursa's relationship is so underdeveloped, but the crumbs we got were fascinating! We know that they wrote to each other and were on friendly terms, but it was so needed for Iroh to get a chance to apologize to her for all his brother and father did to ruin, inflict pain on, and control her life. He was the one royal who gave Ursa hope while she was kept in that palace as a slave of a princess. When Kiyi is kidnapped, no one can understand her pain better than Iroh. It's so hard to see Ursa's trauma of returning to the palace where she lived with Ozai. Zuko offered her old rooms, but of course, she couldn't go back there. Zuko doesn't know the true extent of Ozai's evil. I don't understand why people hate Ursa so much. Was it right for her to forget about her children in exchange for a new life? No, but leaving them was the only way Ozai would agree to let Zuko live. She never abused Azula. Her daughter is an unreliable narrator, twisted up by Ozai into hating those who would've protected her - Ursa, Zuko, and Iroh. I can't blame her for wanting to forget about her sexual trauma even if I don't agree with her forgetting about her kids. She never wanted to leave them with that monster. She was in an impossible situation with no good options, so she did the best that she could. I was so emotional seeing Iroh support Ursa in visiting Ozai for closure. That monster understands now that all of his cruelty and raging don't hold any sway over her anymore. She'll never grovel before him again.
Zuko vouched for Kei Lo so quickly - he understands being a kid on the wrong side and how hard it is to realize you and the people you love are bad guys. Zuko is so quick to reassure Aang when he hears about an awful piece of history that he couldn't prevent in a previous life. I love how exhausted Zuko is by Kataang's lovey dovey moments, lol.
I don't understand why Mai and Zuko ever ended up together with no chemistry, so much fighting, and it randomly came out of nowhere in season 3. I don't really ship them. His thoughts on Tom-Tom being traumatized from his kidnapping were so sad. Zuko has never felt as happy as that little kid chasing a bug because even before his dad seared off half of his face, his childhood was filled with fear. Zuko fights so hard so that no other kids will feel what he did. He's too young to be Fire Lord, really, with his self-esteem finally being built back up after years of abuse and trauma, to now be dealing with everyone hating him no matter what choices he makes. He shouldn't have to make decisions that make him at odds with his friends and have his friends question why he sounds all "grown-up and stuff?" Aang gives mercy all the time, but he's not a politician like Zuko. His role is different than Zuko's, which puts them at odds when Zuko must act more violently than Aang would like. If Zuko didn't, he wouldn't be a good Fire Lord. And if Aang didn't fight for peace, then he wouldn't be a good Avatar. So sometimes Aang has to kidnap the Fire Lord to get him to see another perspective, lol. That's just a part of their friendship. All those months of Zuko trying to kidnap the Avatar, and it's Aang, who ends up capturing Zuko!!
