Zuko Alone, written by Elizabeth Welch Ehasz, first aired on 12 May 2006. Zuko (Dante Basco) is on his own, and the episode explores his character and his past as he recalls his conflict with his father, Ozai the Firelord (Mark Hamill), as well as the fate of his mother, Ursa (Jen Cohn).

The episode opens with a ‘previously on…’ and doesn’t check in on Aang’s (Zach Tyler Eisen) story at all this episode.

Zuko has a rough go of it, falling into conflict with soldiers and his own memories. He does help out with a local family, and we see that Zuko isn’t quite as mean and cruel as he pretends to be and that he’s looking for a connection. But of course, that goes sideways when Zuko reveals who he is.

Problems with his sister, Azula (Grey Griffin), started when he was young. Azula is cold and scheming from the beginning, and Iroh (Mako) gets more backstory as we see that he left the service when his own son was killed, and that caused some shame in the family, since they were of such high standing.

We learn that Ursa was trying to make Zuko a good person, while Azula was crafted to be cruel and power-hungry. It’s no surprise that Zuko and Iroh ended up pairing up, a boy searching for a good father figure, and a man missing his dead son, while Zujo’s father seizes power.

The Chase is on! Written by Joshua Hamilton this episode first aired on 26 May, 2006. Appa is shedding, and the group is trying to adapt to the new dynamic of having Toph (Micheala Jill Murphy) as part of the group, and Katara (Mae Whitman) wants her to help out with the team.

But the group dynamic is further distupted by Azula’s pursuit, she is using a large steam-powered machine that seems to be able to consistently and constantly finding them. Sleep-deprived, tensions are high as they finally realize that hey are being tracked by cause of Appa’s shedding.

Azula, and her two friends, Mai (Cricket Leigh) and Ty Lee (Olivia Hack) are determinted to run our heroes down, and they know they just have to keep following the trail Appa inadvenrtently leaves for them.

Zuko, however, is following Azula’s machine.

Aang leads a false trail to a deserted town so that he and the others can escape and he can face Azula. The team reunites and they learn Azula is Zuko’s sister, and Zuko and the rest join in the fight with Iroh at their side.

They survive the encounter, but Zuko refuses to allow Katara to heal an injured Iroh and the two temporary allies split, and our heroes finally get some sleep.

Bitter Work was written by Aaron Ehasz and was first broadcast on 2 June, 2006. This episode is almost like a big training montage, both Aang and Zuko are working on refining their skills.

Toph is working with Aang on his earthbending technique, while a recovering Iroh is helping Zuko with his firebending to better combat Azula, and reveals some new techniques he developed from watching waterbenders, which allows him to control lightning. We get to see how troubled Zuko is and this episode, working in concert with Zuko Alone really shows some nice development for the character.

As Aang struggles to learn, Iroh reveals to Zuko that all of the elements work together, and that it is important to include all elements if you wish to seek balance in yourself.

Sokka (Jack De Sena) has gone on a hunting trip, and inadvertently gets stuck in a crevice. To get him out, Aang will have to believe in himself to earthbend Sokka out of his jam.

I’ll be continuing my journey with Aang next week with more of Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Complete Series on Blu-Ray available now from Paramount Canada.