This is based on opinion. Please don't list it on a work's trope example list.
"Jake, let go. I'll be okay. I promise."
Season 1
Season 2
- "Half-Baked". After months from the last time they met, Rose appears in Jake's dreams to warn him of the Huntsman planning something horrible. The whole episode is about Jake trying to complete a potion that will create a portal to find and save her... And when he finally got it, he not only has to use it to destroy the source of one of the ingredients, that is the demon involuntarily causing havoc, but when he uses it he accidentally opens a portal to both the demon and Rose, and has to choose between Rose and his duty.
Jake: (Seeing the second portal) Uh, Fu? What's happening?
Fu: Well, your voice is saying "krylock"… but I'm guessing your heart is saying something else!
Jake: Rose…
Rose: Jake?
(Jake looks at the chaos at the carnival, then between the two portals. He looks down for a moment, then finally looks back at Rose)
Jake: I'm sorry.
(Jake runs into the portal leading to the Krylock as the one containing Rose closes behind him)
- The scene in "Hero of the Hourglass" where Jake complains to his Mom about having to constantly wind up in trouble with his Dad due to magical stuff that he isn't aware of, which leads to this heart-to-heart with her.
Jake: It's like Dad doesn't even know who I am. Who we are. All these years, didn't you ever wanna tell him the truth?
Susan: Come with me.
(Cut to a scene of the two of them in the basement. Susan opens an old trunk and pulls out her high school yearbook)
Susan: It was the last day of high school; June 27th, 1986. Your Dad and I had been going out a year, so I decided to write him a letter and tell him the truth. The existence of magical creatures… all of it.
Jake: It's not even opened.
Susan: I was going to slip it into his locker that day, but… I just couldn't.
Jake: Don't you ever wonder what might've happened? Y'know, if you had told him the truth?
Susan: Every day. But trust me, Jake. Some secrets… are better left secret.
- Rose's brief Heroic BSoD upon learning the truth that she was kidnapped at birth in "Dreamscape". The image of her being ripped from her mother's arms by the Huntsman himself is gut wrenching. It's even worse when you remember in "The Academy", she told Jake the reason she never tried to escape the Huntsclan Academy was because she had nowhere else to go. Her whole life, she (along with all the other children in the Academy) had been led to believe that the Huntsclan was all she had, only for that to be a cruel, manipulative lie.
Rose: My parents didn't die. The Huntsclan took me from them! I have a family…
- "The Love Cruise":
- Jake's classmate Joshua is left heartbroken and confused when his girlfriend Trisha abruptly dumps him (due to being hit by one of Cupid's Arrows) when they'd been so happy together. Fortunately, they soon reconcile.
- The end of the episode, with Rose breaking up with Jake. Really driven home with the last shot of the episode, when Jake flies out of Lao-Shi's shop and drops his picture of Rose to the ground.
- The episode "Homecoming" is chalk full of moments:
- Fu Dog confirming to Jake that Rose has betrayed them, just as Sun announces Jake and Rose as Homecoming King and Queen, anyone?
- Rose's attempted Heroic Sacrifice.
- How about I add to that. Jake intervenes to stop Rose from being killed with the rest of the Huntsclan, but they all vanish just the same, so it's impossible to tell if he was successful.
- Really, just how drawn out the scene is, with various shots of Rose alone in the air, rising closer to destruction. Also, just how close Rose comes to dying. By the time Jake's wish reaches her, the skulls are starting to vaporize her. If Jake had been just a second later, Rose would have died.
- Jake wishing that Rose was never taken by the Huntsclan, and could just have a normal life with her family. After a moment, he then destroys the Crystal Skulls before leaving. His scream and tone in how he said to consider the skulls destroyed was filled with anguish, heartbreak and anger.
- Doubling as a Heartwarming Moment, this exchange:
Lao Shi: To use [the skulls] for your own personal gain would—
Jake: It wouldn't be for my personal gain!
It'll be for HER'S! - Following that up, Jake smashes the skulls and says angrily, "Consider them destroyed." When Jake flies off, Fu Dog and Grandfather Long look down in disappointment or shame at their inability to do anything to help.
- And later in the episode, where he finds that this is the case. She doesn't remember who he is, but he asks if they could meet again. She says they can't, because she's moving to Hong Kong. Rather bittersweet, really.
- This post just sums it up nicely.
- And to add a bit of Fridge Tear Jerker into the mix... remember Sara's vision in "The Academy"?
- "Being Human"
- Jake deliberately gets himself suspended from dragon duties so he can enjoy his graduation like a normal kid. While Haley gets run through the wringer — she is forced to do endless hours of training, has to do magical creatures' menial tasks, ends up late for school several times, fails a test and has to lie to her dad. Jake looks the happiest he's been in days in the meantime, getting to spend time with his friends.
- Harsher in Hindsight: the school principal before Rottwood mentions that Jake was an ace student and doesn't understand why his grades have slipped. Haley very nearly goes the same way when she takes up dragon duties for a few days.
- As Jake prepares for graduation, Chang corners him, since she needs the American Dragon's chi to resurrect the dark dragon. She mocks him about promising to meet up with another girl for graduation. Jake tries to transform and remembers he lost his powers. Cue one terrifying kidnapping.
- Haley Calling the Old Man Out to Lao Shi and Sun when they angrily talk about Jake getting himself in trouble on purpose. She points out that Jake has been through a Trauma Conga Line where he can't even be with the girl he loves, tell his dad the truth, or even so much as get a decent night's sleep.
- "The Hong Kong Longs"
- Jake's dad finally finds out his family secret. He's obviously taken aback, faints, and has a lot of questions. But unlike in the past where he freaked out and broke up with Susan, he takes the news much better, especially when he learns Jake is in trouble. But it occurs to him that his son is in danger from a giant dragon that wants to wipe out all humans, and he's concerned.
- Jake still has the photo from his and Rose's high school dance. Trixie and Spud even lampshade that it shouldn't exist since Rose never met him in the new timeline he created.
- Lao Shi's fear when the Dark Dragon forces Jake to drug the other dragon council leaders by taking Lao Shi hostage. He can only manage a Little "No" as Jake pours the potion into the ceremonial drink.
- Rose obviously doesn't believe Jake about him being a dragon and them having a history; her parents call a paddy wagon for Jake, believing him to be mentally unstable. But what brings her memories back? The photo from their high school dance, which shouldn't even technically exist.
- Rose finally fulfills her destiny to kill a dragon. It was just not the dragon the Huntsclan wanted her to slay, and she nearly dies again doing it. Jake is terrified as he sees her take on the Dark Dragon one-on-one.