Avatar: The Last Airbender/The Cave of Two Lovers/Recap

""Love is brightest in the dark.""

In order to slip through Fire-Nation-controlled territory and reach Omashu, our heroes join with a group of wandering nomad hippies to take a dangerous pass under the mountains. This pass has a seemingly innocuous name, the Cave of Two Lovers, but as ancient legends say death awaits all that go in there, and that the tunnel paths constantly shift.

The advent of badger-moles (the actual source of the shifting paths) splits the Gaang down the middle: Katara and Aang become separated from the others. While Sokka attempts to use his intellect to find a way out (and escape the hippies, whose mellow harshes him the heck out), Katara and Aang wonder why the legends claim that "love will light the way". After all, it's not like two of them like each other or anything. Nope, nothing of the sort...

Tropes:
"Chong: Sokka, I hope you learned a little something about not letting the plans get in the way of the journey.
 * Aesop Amnesia: Justified in that the people trying to teach Sokka the aesop were really annoying.

(Later that day in the next scene.)

Sokka: The journey was long and annoying, but now you get to see what it's really about: the destination."

"(an extremely large number of Fire Nation catapults shooting at them while flying)
 * Big No: When Sokka finds he's trapped in a cave with a bunch of hippies
 * Broken Aesop: "We used love to light the way." "Really? We used huge, ferocious beasts to lead our way."
 * Continuity Nod: The eye-patch wearing Fire Nation commander from "Jet" shows up again.
 * Did They or Didn't They?: Did Aang and Katara kiss?
 * According to Mae Whitman (the actress who plays Katara), they did. Also note that the same music that plays when the lights go out plays when they kiss in the series finale.
 * Digging Yourself Deeper: Aang tries to play off Katara's suggestion to kiss to see if that will show the exit out of the tunnel. It doesn't go so well. ("No, I was just saying if it was a choice between kissing you and dying...")
 * Entitled Bastard: Without so much as a backwards glance, Zuko abuses Song's hospitality by stealing her ostrich-horse.
 * Face Palm: The answer to Katara's question to Sokka, "Why is your forehead all red?"
 * Fate Worse Than Death: When Iroh accidentally poisons himself, he and Zuko have a choice between the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation for getting help. If they are discovered, the Earth Kingdom will kill them, but the Fire Nation will give them to Azula. They choose the Earth Kingdom.
 * Gilligan Cut: Aang initially declines to go through the cave, stating that Appa hates being underground and that they needed to do what made Appa happy. Cut to...

All three main characters: AAAAHHHHH!

(cut to them returning to the nomads, singed)

Sokka: Secret love cave, let's go."

"Sokka: I present to you, the Earth Kingdom City of O...
 * Hands-On Approach: Katara uses this to teach Aang the Octopus Form.
 * Held Gaze: Happens between Katara and Aang in the cave as they look at each other and the lights go out since "love is brightest in the dark".
 * Ironic Echo: To "The King of Omashu".

(camera pans to show )

Sokka: ...oh no."


 * Know Your Vines: Uncle Iroh faces this problem multiple times. "Delectable tea, or deadly poison?"
 * "These are pakui berries, known to cure the poison of the white jade plant. That, or makaola berries that cause blindness."
 * Leitmotif: Aang and Katara's love theme makes its first appearance.
 * In something of a Call Forward, an instrumental version of "Leaves on the Vine" plays when Aang and Katara approach Oma and Shu's tomb. Which is thematically appropriate, as both Iroh and Oma built new lives following the death of a loved one in war.
 * Named After Somebody Famous: Chong.
 * New Age Retro Hippie: The nomads
 * Only Sane Man: Sokka
 * The Power of Love
 * Reality Ensues: Flailing torches around is good for scaring off bats, sure, but Appa is considerably more capable of causing damage and already agitated from being underground.
 * Ship Tease: Read the title
 * Star-Crossed Lovers: Oma and Shu
 * Stylistic Suck: The hippies' song about the secret tunnel.
 * Tentative Light
 * Tonight Someone Kisses: subverted. Aang and Katara lean in as their candle goes out... at which point the cave's luminescent crystals kick in and the camera pans back down to them, leaving us unsure whether they did or not.