Zuko had the rare honor of having his own episode in Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Korra shared the same honor in her series, The Legend of Korra. Despite both being animated series geared towards children, and only being on the air for a few seasons at that, Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra shared an expansive world filled with rich lore and nuance; even now, years later, some of the shows’ subtleties are being discovered for the first time by new viewers.
In addition to telling a new story in the world of Avatar, The Legend of Korra was markedly different from its predecessor. Korra wasn’t, at first, focused on defeating a tyrannical world leader hell bent on controlling the entire world, but rather sought other goals – that’s not to say she didn’t have her fair share of villains. But despite expanding on the franchise with new characters, revelations, and advancements, The Legend of Korra fundamentally shared its DNA with Avatar: The Last Airbender, and that extended to rare honor that Korra herself shared with Zuko.
In Avatar: The Last Airbender, Zuko was the only character to have an entire episode be about him, hence its title, “Zuko Alone”. It was the only episode in the series in which Team Avatar didn’t appear. And years later, Korra shared a similar honor, though it was slightly different considering she was the Avatar. In The Legend of Korra season 4, Korra had an entire episode dedicated to her, appropriately titled “Korra Alone”, in which the only scene Team Avatar appears in is a flashback. Every scene in the present is just on Korra.
At the time of “Korra Alone”, Korra had disappeared from the world and was trying to find herself again – at least, her connection to the Avatar Spirit. Zuko was experiencing a similar identity dilemma in his episode; he had gone out on his own in the Earth Kingdom and happened to bond with a person named Lee as well as Lee’s family. Zuko tried to defend Lee’s family in the episode, but in doing so, he outed himself as Prince Zuko and was then condemned by everyone, including Lee. Zuko realized his purpose and was back with Iroh in the following episode.
Given Zuko had arguably the most character development in Avatar: The Last Airbender, it makes sense that he received his own episode. Comparatively, giving Korra her own episode also made sense since she was essentially stuck in life. Even when she found Toph – a member of the original Team Avatar, but not Korra’s team, so the it stands that no member of either Team Avatar appeared in either episode – she was told that only she could overcome her predicament; there was nothing Toph could do for her.
