omfg I just watched "Zuko alone" (season 2 ep7) for the first time and it's so fucking good holy I'm getting goosebumps rn. The flashbacks, Zuko saying "I'm the son of Ursa and fire lord ozai" right after he got a flashback of his mom, the boy Zuko helped saying "I hate you!" After Zuko tried giving him the knife he got when he was younger, UGHH the angst, the feels I'm sobbing 😭💔

I also like how they showed azula being cunning even as a kid, not mourning her grandfather's death, wanting iroh to die so ozai can be king, not caring about lu tens death, etc. Also, how much her dad favoured her over Zuko, and how Zuko inherited his mom's gentleness. Zuko shows empathy so many times throughout this season. The most prominent one being refusing to steal food as soon as he found out it belonged to a pregnant woman. These little stuff show that his empathy, a character trait he always had, was slowly coming back to him and had never left him even after all the abuse he went through.

it also shows how much Azula has been influenced as a child by her own dad's cruelty and becoming just like him, to please him. The firenation is genuinely the best written segment of atla imo, and I'm saying this as a first time watcher.

The earthkingdom family being so quick to turn on Zuko after they found out he's the prince is so realistic but sad at the same time :( it shows how much a hundred year long war affects people. I'd say this is the episode Zuko truly realized the damage his nation, and his father had done to the world.