History Recap / AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheDesert

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Toph recognized the voice of Ghashiun, who captured Appa and mentioned how he put a muzzle on him, causing Aang to go into the Avatar State out of rage, with only Katara stopping him. Justified, as she doesn't know what triggers Aang to get enraged and enter the Avatar State (harm to him or those he cares about) prior to this episode.

* BittersweetEnding: Slightly more bitter than sweet. On the sweet side, Zuko and Iroh safely escape their pursuers and are headed for Ba Sing Sei, where they will be safe. The bitter side? Despite having found someone to help them escape the desert, the Gaang haven't found Appa. Even though they have a lead, the emotional damage has already been done.

* EveryoneHasStandards: Sha-Mo, The Sandbender chief yells at his son, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" when finding out he stole the Avatar's sky bison to sell him to poachers ''and'' stranded a group of innocent people in the desert. It turns out he wasn't part of the theft and thinks that violating SacredHospitality is awful.

* EveryoneHasStandards: The chief yells at this son, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" when finding out he stole the Avatar's sky bison to sell him to poachers ''and'' stranded a group of innocent people in the desert. It turns out he wasn't part of the theft and thinks that violating SacredHospitality is awful.

* InformedAbility: PlayedForLaughs; Iroh says the Rough Rhinos, in addition to being elite warriors, is a very capable singing group.

* LargeHam: Sokka, how he expresses himself so over top, especially when after drinking the cactus juice, and he is increcibly "happy."

* MuggingTheMonster: The Sandbenders apparently didn't get the hints from Aang's arrow tattoos or Appa's markings that he belonged to an airbender, and the Avatar is the only living airbender in existence. They go MassOhCrap when Aang enters the Avatar State.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Toph recognized the voice of the sandbender who captured Appa and mentioned how he put a muzzle on him, causing Aang to go into the Avatar State out of rage, with only Katara stopping him. Justified, as she doesn't know what triggers Aang to get enraged and enter the Avatar State (harm to him or those he cares about) prior to this episode.

* NotHelpingYourCase: The chief's son, when realizing that Aang is the Avatar and ''raging'' at him for kidnapping his sky bison, is forced to confess and apologize. He says he wouldn't have taken Appa if knowing he belonged to the Avatar. Needless to say, this doesn't endear his father ''or'' Aang.

* OutOfTheInferno: Early on, when Iroh and Zuko are chased by a group of firebenders, one of the firebenders throws a bomb which explodes in front of Iroh and Zuko but then we see them riding out of the smoke unharmed.

''[[caption-width-right:333:The Si Wong Desert takes its toll on the Gaang as they're forced to navigate without Appa.]]''

* BreakTheHaughty: Continuing on from last episode, Toph is chewed out by Aang for failing to protect Appa. Remember how he said to her in "The Chase" that despite her bragging about her prowess, Appa was the one carrying her weight? Well, those words must have been echoing in Toph's mind as Aang was yelling at her in this episode.
* BrokenTears: When Katara is embracing Aang, he is crying in frustration over losing Appa. If you look closely, you can see he’s crying while in the Avatar State as well.

* CurbStompBattle: Xin Fu and Master Yu, both being skilled earthbenders, easily defeat the non-benders that were going after Zuko and Iroh’s bounty, finishing without breaking a sweat. Zuko and Iroh similarly give one to the Rough Rhinos, despite Iroh still recovering from his injuries given by Azula.

* OnlySaneMan: Katara serves as the only rational member of the team for the episode since Aang was upset over losing Appa, Toph couldn’t navigate well on the sand, and Sokka was stoned on cactus juice.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: The Chief of the Sandbenders seemed to have no part of the theft, and while figuring out what had happened mentions they should offer the Gaang hospitality. Unfortunately Aang is too far gone and he does little good.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Toph recognized the voice of the sandbender who captured Appa and mentioned how he put a muzzle on him, causing Aang to go into the Avatar State out of rage, with only Katara stopping him. Justified, as she doesn't know what triggers Aang getting enraged and entering the Avatar State (harm to him or those he cares about) prior to this episode.

* CurbStompBattle: Xin Fu and Master Yu, both being skilled earthbenders, easily defeat the non-benders that were going after Zuko and Iroh’s bounty, finishing without breaking a sweat.

* INeverSaidItWasPoison: The Chief Sandbender's son also doesn't even wait for Toph to recognize his voice before raging about Katara accusing his people of stealing their bison, which she didn't do. Instead, she only said that Appa was stolen, and then the Sandbender [[TooDumbToLive connected the dots in an astonishing feat of stupidity]].

Picking up from the events of the previous episode, the Gaang are forced to make their way out of the Si Wong Desert on foot. Aang is depressed and enraged over the loss of Appa, Toph is blind in the sand, and Sokka and Momo end up on a MushroomSamba after drinking liquid from the inside of a cactus, leaving Katara to hold the team together single-handedly. Eventually, they find one of the boat... ish craft the local Sandbenders use to get around and are then confronted by the very Sandbenders who stole Appa. Toph recognizes this fact by their voices, which pushes Aang's BerserkButton. While just about everyone flees the wrath of the Avatar State, [[TheHeart Katara]] advances into the gale and administers a CooldownHug. The episode ends with the two of them weeping in each other's arms.

* BerserkButton: "You MUZZLED APPA?!?!" Aang's pure rage at that statement is enough to get him into the Avatar State.

* CirclingVultures: Vulture-wasps are circling the group in the desert.

* IntoxicationEnsues: For Sokka, very quickly.

* LargeHam: Sokka. Jack [=DeSena=] was clearly having a '''lot''' of fun with this episode.

* OpenTheIris: Sokka in his MushroomSamba.

* SandIsWater: A glider works just as good on sand as it does on water.
* ScaryStingingSwarm: The Gaang gets attacked by huge vulture-wasps.

* InnocouslyImportantEpisode: Downplayed, this episode is mostly focused on Iroh, Zuko and the Gaang figuring out how to escape the Si Wong Desert, meaning that it's still an important episode in regards to the season's MythArc. However, it's ''incredibly'' important for the franchise as a whole since it first introduces the Order of the White Lotus, one of the franchise's primary {{Big Good}} factions, into the story.

* BerserkButton: “You MUZZLED APPA?!!”

* BilingualBonus: "Si Wong Desert" doesn't sound so bad at first, until you realize "Si Wong" is Chinese for "death", or "to die".

* FantasticDrug: Sokka and Momo hallucinate after drinking the juice of an unidentified cactus, apparently this world's equivalent of peyote/mescaline.

* InformedAbility: Iroh says the Rough Rhinos, in addition to being elite warriors, is a very capable singing group.

* LargeHam: Sokka. Jack [=DeSena=] was having a LOT of fun with this episode.

* MuggingTheMonster: The Sandbenders apparently didn't get the hints from Aang's arrow tattoos or Appa's markings that he belonged to an airbender, and the Avatar is the only airbender in existence. They go MassOhCrap when Aang enters the Avatar State.

** Toph spouts very little, if any, snark during the episode.

--> '''Fung''': ''[when Iroh places the lotus tile in the center of the board]'' I see you favor the white lotus gambit. Not many still cling to the ancient ways.\\
'''Iroh''': Those who do can always find a friend.
* TeamMom: The Episode. With the team stranded in the middle of an enormous desert, Appa gone, and the other team members all incapacitated somehow - Aang by his rage and grief at Appa's disappearance, Sokka (and Momo) by an extended MushroomSamba, Toph by her inability to feel vibrations through sand - it falls to Katara to take the lead in trying to get out of the desert, and trying to keep the others from going insane in the process. By the time she gets Aang out of the Avatar State with a CooldownHug in the final scene, she's [[DeconstructedCharacterArchetype mentally exhausted]] and crying just as much as he is.

* WhatTheHellHero: The first scene has Aang chastise Toph for letting the Sandbenders capture Appa. Though it's actually a subversion of sorts, as Toph did the best she could to save Appa, and Aang lashing out at her is unjustified.

* EverythingMakesAMushroom: Aang creates a mushroom cloud in the sand out of rage. Led to MemeticMutation, "IT'S...A...GIANT MUSHROOM!"

* INeverSaidItWasPoison: The Chief Sandbender's also doesn't even wait for Toph to recognize his voice before raging about Katara accusing his people of stealing their bison, which she didn't do. Instead, she only said that Appa was stolen, and then the Sandbender [[TooDumbToLive connected the dots in an astonishing feat of stupidity]].

* NotHelpingYourCase: The chief's son, when realizing that Aang is the Avatar and ''raging'' at him for kidnapping his sky bison, is forced to confess and apologize. He says he wouldn't have taken Appa if knowing he belonged to the Avatar. Needless to say, this doesn't endear his father, ''or'' Aang.

-->'''Aang''' ''(in Avatar State)'': [[VoiceOfTheLegion TELL ME WHERE APPA IS!]]

** Aang is clearly not himself due to his rage over losing Appa. After recovering Momo from the Buzzard Wasp that had snatched him away, he knocks it out of the sky at the very least stunning it ''as it's retreating.'' For [[FriendToAllLivingThings Aang]], that's a pretty big deal.

--> '''Katara:''' You've been hallucinating on cactus juice all day, and then you just ''lick something'' you find stuck to the wall of a cave?!
--> '''Sokka:''' I have a natural curiosity.

--> '''Fung''': ''(When Iroh places the lotus tile in the center of the board)'' I see you favor the white lotus gambit. Not many still cling to the ancient ways.
-->'''Iroh''': Those who do can always find a friend.
* TeamMom: The Episode. With the team stranded in the middle of an enormous desert, Appa gone, and the other team members all incapacitated somehow - Aang by his rage and grief at Appa's disappearance, Sokka (and Momo) by an extended MushroomSamba, Toph by her inability to feel vibrations through sand - it falls to Katara to take the lead in trying to get out of the desert, and trying to keep the others from going insane in the process. By the time she gets Aang out of the Avatar State with a CooldownHug in the final scene, she's [[DeconstructedTrope mentally exhausted]] and crying just as much as he is.

* ThoseTwoBadGuys: Master Yu and Xin Fu take a detour from their job of finding Toph for her father to try to collect the bounty on Zuko and Iroh.
* TwoLinesNoWaiting: The Gaang trying to make their way out of the desert is paralleled with Zuko and Iroh trying to elude the Rough Rhinos and [[ThoseTwoBadGuys Master Yu and Xin Fu.]] No interaction.

* TookALevelInJerkass: Aang himself becomes much meaner and angrier after [[AngerBornOfWorry losing Appa]].

* FantasticDrug: Sokka and Momo hallucinate after drinking the "cactus juice" of an unidentified cactus, apparently this world's equivalent of peyote/mescaline.

* MushroomSamba: Sokka (and Momo) spend most of the episode having one.

* INeverSaidItWasPoison: The Chief Sandbender's also doesn't even wait for Toph to recognize his voice before raging about Katara accusing his people of stealing the bison, which she didn't do. Instead, she only said that Appa was stolen, and then the Sandbender [[TooDumbToLive connected the dots in an astonishing feat of stupidity]].

* BeeAfraid: The Gaang gets attacked by huge vulture-wasps.

* SacredHospitality: Mentioned by the chief; he says anyone who is in the desert needs their shelter and food. He gets angry when finding out that his son stranded a group of children to sell their veicular animal.

* {{Hypocrite}}: The Chief Sandbender's son accuses Team Avatar of stealing the sand cruiser a little too readily when, not too long before, it's revealed that ''he'' was among the sandbenders who stole Appa.
* InformedAbility: Iroh says the Rough Rhinos, in addition to being elite warriors, are a very capable singing group.

* OhCrap: The Sandbenders when they realize that they stole the Avatar's bison, and they have no way of getting it back. Even more so when Aang goes into the Avatar State and they realize that a PhysicalGod has it in for them. Yeah, he calms down, but those guys must have had nightmares.

* CurbStompBattle: Xin Fu and Master Yu easily defeat the men that were going after Zuko and Iroh’s bounty, finishing without breaking a sweat.

* EverythingMakesAMushroom: Aang creates a mushroom cloud in the sand out of rage. Led to MemeticMutation, "IT'S..A..GIANT MUSHROOM!"
* FantasticDrug: Sokka and Momo hallucinate after drinking the "cactus juice" of an unidentified cactus, apparently the world's equivalent of peyote/mescaline.

* InformedAbility: Iroh says the Rough Rhinos are a very capable singing group.

* OnlySaneMan: Katara serves as the only rational member of the team for the episode since Aang was upset over losing Appa, Toph couldn’t navigate well on the sand, and Sokka was on cactus juice.

* TeamMom: The Episode. With the team stranded in the middle of an enormous desert, Appa gone, and the other team members all incapacitated somehow - Aang by his rage and grief at Appa's disappearance, Sokka (and Momo) by an extended MushroomSamba, Toph by her inability to feel vibrations through sand - it falls to Katara to take the lead in trying to get out of the desert, and trying to keep the others from going insane in the process. By the time she gets Aang out of the Avatar State with a CooldownHug in the final scene, she's [[DeconstructedTrope mentally exhausted]].
* ThirstyDesert: Without Appa, the group is trapped in a seemingly endless desert with little water reserves.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Toph recognized the voice of the sandbender who captured Appa and mentioned how he put a muzzle on him, causing Aang to go into the Avatar State out of rage, with only Katara stopping him. Justified she didn't know about or witness Aang getting enraged and entering the Avatar State prior to the episode.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Aang is clearly not himself due to his rage over losing Appa. After recovering Momo from the Buzzard Wasp that had snatched him away, he knocks it out of the sky at the very least stunning it ''as it's retreating.'' For [[FriendToAllLivingThings Aang]], that's a pretty big deal.

* GRatedDrug: The cactus juice that Sokka and Momo drink.