Netflix Zuko isn't a Villain, and That's a Problem

Zuko might be the character that Netflix got the most right, but they still got a lot wrong. Here's why.

#avatarthelastairbender
#atla

[winry]

They jumped to his redemption too fast. They knew we know about and love his redemption arc, so they just skipped his angry teen phase. I was so sad.

[Eilonwy]

Agreed! Zuko needs to have a redemption arc. So he needs something to be redeemed from.

[katejoseph]

Thank you so much. I’m tired of people saying that this Zuko is like cartoon Zuko. He’s not angry, not villainous enough. He talks to much especially in the blue spirit scene with Aang. He is not like my boy and his redemption will definitely suffer because of it

[gabrielkrows]

To make this issue even worse, they tone down his villainy while simultaneously making him much more hateable. In one episode where he fights Katara he incapacitates her. She is down, out of his way, and he still goes over to kill her. OG Zuko would never have attacked an enemy when they’re already beaten, let alone for the kill. The cartoon took great pains to show us that there was good and honor in him, and that moment takes all that away.

[CRISZTO]

I don’t think his acting is bad, his scar bothers me but also just the writing. God he could’ve shined in a good live action

[catwithquill]

I feel like they also made him less hesitant to do bad stuff also which is weird? Like, in the first animated ep he doesn't firebend at Sokka, doesn't do more than disarm him actually, and i think its because he sees him as a non bender and sorta a medling civilian. He does use fire to scare people, but i think that was a bluff. He had a conscience, but it was subtler. In the live action, he orders his men to attack children. He goes to shoot fire at Sokka while he's down, no hesitation. In the animated show, he wouldn't even do that to Zao!

[elizabeth]

Great video! I MUST add my biggest pet peeve of Zuko’s portrayal. They didn’t bother to age Zuko down for his childhood trauma. Lu Ten’s death is the inciting incident for Ursa’s banishment. Ozai tries to convince his father to revoke Iroh’s birthright after Lu Ten dies and as punishment, Zuko’s life is put on the line and Ursa saves for the price of banishment. That means Zuko should look like a child at Lu Ten’s funeral or younger than “3 years of banishment”

[CuckooKukri]

Thank you so much for pointing out how dumb it is that the 41st Division is serving under Zuko! The harshest critiques I've heard of the show still praise that change, and it drives me crazy for all the reasons you said. I always loved that we don't find out what happened to those soldiers, if Ozai even would have agreed with the general's plan or not. What we do know is that Zuko standing up to his father would not have changed Ozai's mind. It wasn't actually a noble sacrifice -- it was foolish and rash, which are some of Zuko's key character flaws. But it was also empathetic and came from an earnest place of love for his country, which are the strengths that enable him to have his redemption arc.

[sophieamandaleitontoomey]

The reason Zuko’s arc is considered to be one of the best in all of fiction is because we didn’t know at the beginning he would be redeemed. He was a massive jackass in the first season and fully willing to go to do terrible and reckless things in order to get Aang. One of which was burning down a village. And the reason it worked was because you understood why Zuko was doing what he was doing. Even though Zuko was a villain in season 1, you also knew he was a victim in massive denial of his mental and physical abuse from his father.

The POINT of the character is him coming to terms with the fact that it doesn’t matter if he has his Dad’s approval. He had his honor the entire time and it took a long road of struggles and discovery and mistakes for him to find a family that accepted him and supported him when his own father didn’t.

And all of that is completely removed in Netflix’s Zuko. While Dallas Liu is carrying that travesty on his back with his performance, Zuko’s lack of ruthlessness and inability to see anything beyond getting Aang hurts the character. He feels more like season 2 Zuko rather than season 1.

[faith]

This video deserves more views. Finally someone has explained why I can't get behind Netflix Zuko. Everyone keeps saying he's the only one well-written, and he is good compared to the other characters, but there's still a lot missing

[robchuk]

When the creators said they were going to add more Fire Nation in Season 1, I protested it as a mistake because I knew this would be the side effect. (Zuko, within the context of his family, should not be over explained before the story establishes him as a villain).

This is a case of the writers being overzealous with a character, because they already know where he ends up, and are too eager to get there. To be sure, this is in fact the problem with all the characters (Sokka is already mature and engineering, Aang is already laser focused instead of procrastinating, Katara's skill level goes from 0 to 60 without the work, you can tell Suki is already Sokka's endgame romance, Zhao is the obvious main villain right off the bat, Azula's insecurities are already highlighted, and even the tragedy of Iroh's son, is way too early a reveal) and its why the show feels less gratifying. It has no intrigue. Netflix Avatar is the first adaptation I've ever seen where the creators lacked the tact to have *patience* in telling their story.

[danielmalinen]

Netflix makes Zuko less angry and les zealot, which unfortunately waters down and dilutes the Zuko Alone arc and eventually his conversion in the Zuko Here episode.

[dredgen]

Idk man. I think ATLA is a show that maybe shouldn’t be brought to live action.

[yourshoulderdevil]

Zuko's character goes with his scar really well. His scar, anger, and past were big important parts of his character. His scar represents his anger, his father's abuse, his morals, and his search for honor. He was scarred because of what his father considered weakness, and it serves as a constant reminder for Zuko for why he feels like he needs to be remorseless and powerful even though it conflicts with his inner character. He blames himself for this disfigurement and it fuels his rage until he learns to accept himself and his past when he realizes that it was wrong for his father to scar him. After that his scar reminds him of the cruelty of his father and the fire nation. His scar is a constant reminder of both his ugly and messy past, and what his own anger can do if used for wrong. He has to learn to live with it and the pain it causes him.

Netflix Zuko's past and personallity are also like his scar. They're definitely there, and there was probably a good amount of effort put in to them, but instead of ugly, obvious, and meaningful, they're just a reddish smudge. A small detail to be overlooked. The creators were too scared to display Zuko and his scar in it's horrific, ugly, and painful glory. They wanted something easy and marketable, not compex and important. They probably wouldn't have added either if it wasn't for the outrage it would've caused.

[kiwjdwz]

Zuko isn't a villain, Azula isn't intimidating, Aang isn't joyous, Sokka isn't funny, Kitara isn't ANYTHING. I genuinely think they forget she existed until the last episode. And Bumi?!!! Bumi and Iroh shows me the writers had ZERO respect or love for the original show.

[saltblood]

My thoughts in regards to the 41st division becoming his crew is that, if he got *the remains* of the 41st after the suicide charge they were sent on, this could have been a point of growth for zuko to maybe push him to think about whether he actually wants to rejoin the fire nation, and become apart of its hierarchy again. You could have had the fire lord not telling zuko, but after zuko is banished telling the same room of generals what to do with the now likely angry and shattered 41st division. Mixing them in with the rest of your troops could cause loyalty and morale issues, if they tell everyone they meet about their doomed suicide charge. So we will dump an army unit on the ship we send zuko on. Zuko could comment at some point about how incompetent, or incapable his crew is as a throwaway line by an angsty antagonist, and at some point in the season have him overhear his crew talking about their past in the fire nation military. He ignores it at first, but the fact that his own nation threw away the lives of the people who he now leads would weigh on him. It could be an easy way to spark his thoughts of deserting his pursuit of the avatar.

[TamiaTheNerd]

Honestly after hearing that Zuko could take the 41st division as his crew, my first thought was he got an entire other division k!led because there’s no way they changed the plans 😭

[denzeldubois]

Zuko not capturing Aang and then having knowhere to go means we will lose Irohs incredible speech at Lake Laogoi and that is a massive bummer.

[jy-lijq]

I just want to know what they plan to do the white lotus since paku, bumi and iroh dont seem like theyre apart of it

[gabrie]

Something else that they completely got wrong is that Netflix looked at all 3 seasons and the popularity of the character when adapting Zuko. Zuko is solely an antagonist in Book 1 and only the B plot focuses on him. In Book 2 he becomes a deuteragonist and in Book 3 he's one of the main characters alongside the team avatar. They focus on him way too much in the live action to the point where his story overshadows Katara's, it's absurd.