Avatar: The Last Airbender/Recap/Book 2/12 The Serpents Pass

""I thought I was trying to be strong, but really I was just running away from my feelings.""

Still reeling from the loss of Appa (although Aang insists he's fine), the gang realizes that they will need to take a ferry to get to Ba Sing Se instead of just flying. However, a young couple, one of whom is pregnant, has their passports stolen, so is not allowed on the ferry. Our heroes promise to help them across the treacherous "Serpent's Pass"; they're also joined by Suki, who's been helping with the war effort. Zuko and Iroh, who do take the ferry, and meet another familiar face in the form of Jet; together they help 'liberate' some food.

Tropes

 * Aerith and Bob: Hope is the only character in the show with a non-Asian name.
 * Creator commentary says they originally had Aang give her a Chinese name, but decided against it to avoid confusion over the name's meaning.
 * Almost Kiss: Sokka and Suki halfway through the episode, as Sokka is still not completely over the loss of Yue.
 * Bifauxnen: Smellerbee is offended at Iroh's implication she's a boy.
 * Blatant Lies: Aang is clearly suffering emotional withdrawal from the loss of Appa, but he insists that everything's just hunky-dory.
 * The Bus Came Back: For Suki, Jet, Longshot, and Smellerbee.
 * Cliff Hanger
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?: Smellerbee trying to come to grips about people being confused about her gender.
 * Fiction 500: The first case of Toph's name getting them something.
 * Foreshadowing: The bureaucrat who manages Full Moon Bay gives Team Avatar a taste of what Ba Sing Se will be like.
 * Freeze Frame Bonus: The Obstructive Bureaucrat has the Cabbage Merchant's cart of cabbages violently destroyed because they might carry a parasite that could spread through the whole city. As the DVD Commentary points out, freezing when the pieces of cabbage are flying around shows he really did have a cabbage slug.
 * Fridge Brilliance: After the treacherous journey, the young couple name their baby Hope - there's a famously treacherous Real Life nautical route that's best known by its main waypoint, the Cape of Good Hope.
 * Kick the Dog: It's hinted that Jet is responsible for the young couple losing their passports.
 * Last-Minute Baby-Naming: Ying and Than don't name their baby until she is born and Aang gives them the idea to name her "Hope".
 * Ship Tease: Aang tells Katara that the newborn baby reminded him about his deep affection for Appa...and for her.
 * Shout-Out: The gate to the Serpent's Pass tells people to "abandon hope".
 * "Shut Up" Kiss: Sokka gives one to Suki right before she leaves them after they get through the pass.
 * The Stoic: Aang puts this on in the wake of going into the Avatar State the previous episode, but gets better in the end.
 * Your Costume Needs Work: Aang tries to get the Gaang free passage on the ferry to Ba Sing Se using his status as the Avatar only to be told that his costume isn't any more convincing than the others that the ticket lady has seen.
 * Your Princess Is in Another Castle: Here comes the Avatar, everybody, on his way to find and save Appa. What could possibly get in the way of his journey? Wait, what's that next to the wall of Ba Sing Se?