Azula going mad with power is something which always surprises me but somehow always makes sense. Now, I know a lot of us (myself included) sometimes fall prey to playing armchair psychologist and diagnose Azula with Antisocial Personality Disorder or Schizophrenia but that's not a good way to go about this. 1) You have to be 18 years old or over to be diagnosed with Antisocial Personality Disorder and (I think) the same holds true for Schizophrenia 2) Azula wouldn't have felt remorse for insulting Tai-Li in The Beach if she were an Antisocial Personality Disorder case and schizophrenia can only be diagnosed after six months of consistent hallucination 3) Most importantly, that isn't actually a good way to examine a fictional character.
That having been said, Azula's paranoia makes senses. She "trusted" Zuko (meaning she thought he was on her side) and he betrayed her. She trusted Mei and Mei betrayed her. She trusted Tai-Li and Tai-Li betrayed her. And the only reason she has the Dai Li on her side is due to them betraying both of their previous masters (the Earth King and Long Feng) so of course she doesn't trust them.
What's more Ozai making her Fire Lord as "punishment" isn't even a slap on the wrist, it's a reward and an undeserved one at that. Azula 1) spoke out of turn during a war meeting and was praised for it 2) failed to kill the Avatar and knowingly covered up his survival and reaped no consequences for it and 3) repeatedly tried to kill Zuko and/or capture the Avatar but consistently failed and reaped no consequences for it. Ozai isn't abusive to her, he rewards her so much that her treating her fairly seems to her as if it were abject cruelty "you can't treat me like Zuko" and that's what causes her to snap. (Though I like how in her heart of hearts, she knows her mother truly cared about her.)
Beyond that, everything about Zuko's duel with Azula, I love. Everything about the Battle of Ba Sing Se, I love. Everything about Sokka's battle against the Fire Nation Air Force, I love. Ozai is honestly extremely generic in comparison to most of the villains of the show but the battle against Aang is still a pretty neat fight scene. I also love the humour of this episode.
This is a great episode and honestly makes me feel badly about the next episode being an unworthy follow-up.
That having been said, Azula's paranoia makes senses. She "trusted" Zuko (meaning she thought he was on her side) and he betrayed her. She trusted Mei and Mei betrayed her. She trusted Tai-Li and Tai-Li betrayed her. And the only reason she has the Dai Li on her side is due to them betraying both of their previous masters (the Earth King and Long Feng) so of course she doesn't trust them.
What's more Ozai making her Fire Lord as "punishment" isn't even a slap on the wrist, it's a reward and an undeserved one at that. Azula 1) spoke out of turn during a war meeting and was praised for it 2) failed to kill the Avatar and knowingly covered up his survival and reaped no consequences for it and 3) repeatedly tried to kill Zuko and/or capture the Avatar but consistently failed and reaped no consequences for it. Ozai isn't abusive to her, he rewards her so much that her treating her fairly seems to her as if it were abject cruelty "you can't treat me like Zuko" and that's what causes her to snap. (Though I like how in her heart of hearts, she knows her mother truly cared about her.)
Beyond that, everything about Zuko's duel with Azula, I love. Everything about the Battle of Ba Sing Se, I love. Everything about Sokka's battle against the Fire Nation Air Force, I love. Ozai is honestly extremely generic in comparison to most of the villains of the show but the battle against Aang is still a pretty neat fight scene. I also love the humour of this episode.
This is a great episode and honestly makes me feel badly about the next episode being an unworthy follow-up.