PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *cosmological, psychological* No "poor" episodes this time, but the same number of "good" ones as in previous seasons. The most significant development is the show's introduction of recurring villain Brother Blood. In the comics, Blood was the leader of a mind-controlling cult, but here, he's the headmaster of a school run by H.I.V.E., involved in training new villains for their criminal operations.
FAIR DECEPTION-- In this debut episode for Brother Blood, the Titans need to send a mole into his school to suss out his dastardly plans. Cyborg disguises himself as a new villain, Stone, and becomes a student at the school, where he antagonizes Gizmo and charms the gamine Jinx. When Blood finds out Stone's true identity, this sets a running grudge between Blood and Cyborg. X-- A never-named thief steals the costume and gimmicks Robin used for his sham villain "Red X" in Season One. At first, the other Titans strongly suspect that Robin is playing games again, but though they acknowledge that this Red X is a threat, they're not able to catch him by episode's end. CRASH-- Beast Boy accidentally causes Cyborg's systems to go haywire. The heroes force the scientific genius Gizmo to shrink himself into Cyborg's body in order to set things right. The guilty Beast Boy tags along to make sure the job is done right, and the two have a "fantastic voyage" through Cyborg's innards. HAUNTED-- Though all of the Titans witnessed Slade's fiery demise, Robin becomes obsessed with the villain once more, insisting that the evildoer has returned. Has the Teen Wonder gone mad, or is some malign influence calling the shots? SPELLBOUND -- Raven, needing escape from her dire destiny (fully on display in Season Four), becomes fascinated with a fantasy-novel, and soon learns that there's a real wizard held captive in the book. And yes, it's another trite tale about youthful crusaders getting caught up with their obsessions, though there's enough wit and action to keep the preaching to a minimum. WAVELENGTH-- Aqualad brings the Titans ill tidings: Brother Blood has constructed a new installation beneath the sea. Further, he's constructed a doomsday weapon based on tech stolen from Cyborg, which increases the sense of personal enmity between hero and villain. The Titans launch a search-and-destroy mission that requires Cyborg to go off alone and destroy the weapon while the others keep Blood busy. However, Bumblebee, one of the students from Blood's H.I.V.E. school, appears to stand in Cyborg's way. Parenthetically, this Bumblebee is a distinct improvement over the mediocre comics-original. CAN I KEEP HIM? -- This is an OK comedy episode in which the young adult heroes often act like children. Following the episode DATE WITH DESTINY, Beast Boy secretly kept one of Killer Moth's genetically engineered worm-creatures. The worm causes damage in the Tower, and when the heroes look for the intruder, Beast Boy convinces Starfire to cover for him. Starfire bonds with the repulsive little creature, naming it "Silkie," but the beast grows to huge proportions and is reclaimed by Killer Moth. This forces Starfire to choose between her friends and her pet, though in the end Silkie is spared. I was tempted to give this episode a poor rating just because Silkie was grotesquely overused for dumb shenanigans in the TEEN TITANS GO series. BUNNY RAVEN-- The criminal magician Mumbo uses his powers not only to capture the Titans, but to turn them all into funny-animal versions of themselves, with the exception of Beast Boy, who gets changed into a lamp that can only shapeshift into other inanimate objects. Mumbo singles out Raven for special mockery by turning her into a bunny-rabbit version of herself, leading to assorted jokes about rabbits in hats. However, even though Raven isn't able to use her demon-powers, she figures out how to conquer Mumbo using the stage magician's methods of misdirection. TITANS EAST PTS 1-2-- It's a new grudge match between Cyborg and Brother Blood. Young man Cyborg travels east to help a new group of heroes set up their HQ as "Titans East," comprised of Aqualad, Speedy (introduced in WINNER TAKE ALL), Bumblebee and two new interdependent speedster-heroes, Mas Y Menos. Cyborg is invited to become this group's permanent leader, but then Brother Blood invades, again using Cyborg's tech against the heroes.
GOOD BETROTHED -- Here, the writers boiled down into one 20-minute episode a very long comics-plotline about Starfire participating in a political marriage on her homeworld to benefit her Tamaranian people. Blackfire, last seen getting taken to prison by cosmic cops, has somehow ascended to the throne of Tamaran, and she brokers a marriage between her idealistic younger sister and a disgusting slime-creature. Robin reveals some of his carefully guarded feelings when he argues that she ought to marry for love. However, though Starfire is saved from the altar, her relationship with the Earth-hero remains largely unchanged. REVOLUTION-- In what might be the best of the "funny episodes," Mad Mod returns with a much more ambitious scheme. Just as the young heroes plan to celebrate the holiday of America's independence from Great Britain, Mad Mod cancels the American Revolution by reprogramming the whole nation into believing that they're still a British colony. Further, Mad Mod uses a device that switches the ages of himself and Robin, so that the villain becomes young and the hero a doddering old fellow. The other four leaderless Titans must formulate a plan of they can do so is to emulate the principles of American compromise. THE BEAST WITHIN-- The heroes encounter a new villain, the armor-clad Adonis, and during their battle, Adonis throws some verbal barbs at Beast Boy. The usually genial green guy strikes back, defeating Adonis with extreme violence. Moreover, Beast Boy doesn't seem willing to dial down his aggression even among his own friends, and they become concerned that he may gone on an animal-like rampage. He apparently attacks and harms Raven-- or is there another force at work? Definitely the best episode to focus on Beast Boy.
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *cosmological, psychological* No "poor" episodes this time, but the same number of "good" ones as in previous seasons. The most significant development is the show's introduction of recurring villain Brother Blood. In the comics, Blood was the leader of a mind-controlling cult, but here, he's the headmaster of a school run by H.I.V.E., involved in training new villains for their criminal operations.
FAIR DECEPTION-- In this debut episode for Brother Blood, the Titans need to send a mole into his school to suss out his dastardly plans. Cyborg disguises himself as a new villain, Stone, and becomes a student at the school, where he antagonizes Gizmo and charms the gamine Jinx. When Blood finds out Stone's true identity, this sets a running grudge between Blood and Cyborg. X-- A never-named thief steals the costume and gimmicks Robin used for his sham villain "Red X" in Season One. At first, the other Titans strongly suspect that Robin is playing games again, but though they acknowledge that this Red X is a threat, they're not able to catch him by episode's end. CRASH-- Beast Boy accidentally causes Cyborg's systems to go haywire. The heroes force the scientific genius Gizmo to shrink himself into Cyborg's body in order to set things right. The guilty Beast Boy tags along to make sure the job is done right, and the two have a "fantastic voyage" through Cyborg's innards. HAUNTED-- Though all of the Titans witnessed Slade's fiery demise, Robin becomes obsessed with the villain once more, insisting that the evildoer has returned. Has the Teen Wonder gone mad, or is some malign influence calling the shots? SPELLBOUND -- Raven, needing escape from her dire destiny (fully on display in Season Four), becomes fascinated with a fantasy-novel, and soon learns that there's a real wizard held captive in the book. And yes, it's another trite tale about youthful crusaders getting caught up with their obsessions, though there's enough wit and action to keep the preaching to a minimum. WAVELENGTH-- Aqualad brings the Titans ill tidings: Brother Blood has constructed a new installation beneath the sea. Further, he's constructed a doomsday weapon based on tech stolen from Cyborg, which increases the sense of personal enmity between hero and villain. The Titans launch a search-and-destroy mission that requires Cyborg to go off alone and destroy the weapon while the others keep Blood busy. However, Bumblebee, one of the students from Blood's H.I.V.E. school, appears to stand in Cyborg's way. Parenthetically, this Bumblebee is a distinct improvement over the mediocre comics-original. CAN I KEEP HIM? -- This is an OK comedy episode in which the young adult heroes often act like children. Following the episode DATE WITH DESTINY, Beast Boy secretly kept one of Killer Moth's genetically engineered worm-creatures. The worm causes damage in the Tower, and when the heroes look for the intruder, Beast Boy convinces Starfire to cover for him. Starfire bonds with the repulsive little creature, naming it "Silkie," but the beast grows to huge proportions and is reclaimed by Killer Moth. This forces Starfire to choose between her friends and her pet, though in the end Silkie is spared. I was tempted to give this episode a poor rating just because Silkie was grotesquely overused for dumb shenanigans in the TEEN TITANS GO series. BUNNY RAVEN-- The criminal magician Mumbo uses his powers not only to capture the Titans, but to turn them all into funny-animal versions of themselves, with the exception of Beast Boy, who gets changed into a lamp that can only shapeshift into other inanimate objects. Mumbo singles out Raven for special mockery by turning her into a bunny-rabbit version of herself, leading to assorted jokes about rabbits in hats. However, even though Raven isn't able to use her demon-powers, she figures out how to conquer Mumbo using the stage magician's methods of misdirection. TITANS EAST PTS 1-2-- It's a new grudge match between Cyborg and Brother Blood. Young man Cyborg travels east to help a new group of heroes set up their HQ as "Titans East," comprised of Aqualad, Speedy (introduced in WINNER TAKE ALL), Bumblebee and two new interdependent speedster-heroes, Mas Y Menos. Cyborg is invited to become this group's permanent leader, but then Brother Blood invades, again using Cyborg's tech against the heroes.
GOOD BETROTHED -- Here, the writers boiled down into one 20-minute episode a very long comics-plotline about Starfire participating in a political marriage on her homeworld to benefit her Tamaranian people. Blackfire, last seen getting taken to prison by cosmic cops, has somehow ascended to the throne of Tamaran, and she brokers a marriage between her idealistic younger sister and a disgusting slime-creature. Robin reveals some of his carefully guarded feelings when he argues that she ought to marry for love. However, though Starfire is saved from the altar, her relationship with the Earth-hero remains largely unchanged. REVOLUTION-- In what might be the best of the "funny episodes," Mad Mod returns with a much more ambitious scheme. Just as the young heroes plan to celebrate the holiday of America's independence from Great Britain, Mad Mod cancels the American Revolution by reprogramming the whole nation into believing that they're still a British colony. Further, Mad Mod uses a device that switches the ages of himself and Robin, so that the villain becomes young and the hero a doddering old fellow. The other four leaderless Titans must formulate a plan of they can do so is to emulate the principles of American compromise. THE BEAST WITHIN-- The heroes encounter a new villain, the armor-clad Adonis, and during their battle, Adonis throws some verbal barbs at Beast Boy. The usually genial green guy strikes back, defeating Adonis with extreme violence. Moreover, Beast Boy doesn't seem willing to dial down his aggression even among his own friends, and they become concerned that he may gone on an animal-like rampage. He apparently attacks and harms Raven-- or is there another force at work? Definitely the best episode to focus on Beast Boy.
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