Teen Titans S01E02 Review: Alien Jewel Theft

Teen Titans, Season 2, Episode 2: Sisters

This episode gives us a more focus on one of the five members of the team, Starfire, while continuing to define the other four. We don't really get much development of the team, admittedly, because Starfire and Robin hogs most of the screentime, but we did get to see more of Beast Boy being a prankster (and a vegan, which totally makes sense), Cyborg being all testosterone and stuff and Raven being the most glorious snarker in the show, and Robin being a nice guy who realizes the feelings of his friends even when he's having fun. Starfire is... well, we get to see her be a bit ditzy at first and then kind of failing to fit in.

See, Teen Titans is based on DC comics, but it's a very loose and stylized adaptation, exorcising... well, a lot of the subtleties in order to relate to younger audiences. Here, we're introduced to Blackfire, who in the comics is Starfire's evil sister who wants to take her rightful heir as the ruler of their planet, Tamaran. While we did get a Tamaran episode later down the series, the plot of this episode just boils down to exploring sibling rivalry and the feeling of being replaced in a team. Blackfire comes to Earth and hangs out with the Teen Titans, and proves herself to be so much better at, well, everything compared to Starfire. It's a bit ham-fisted how every single time Starfire tries to meet one of her friends Blackfire seems to be there doing things Starfire can't do (judo throws, making goth bracelets, excelling in video games, dancing), and unlike Starfire not really getting metaphors and Earthen slangs, Blackfire is totally down with the groove. 

The concept of the episode is decent, really... it just didn't really feel well-executed. Everything that happens seems to happen so quickly, and Blackfire kind of comes off as too much of a douche to really believe that the Teen Titans would (accidentally) sideline Starfire so much. Again, this is just the second episode, and we aren't really familiar with these characters just yet, so we're stuck with trying to just get a hang on who this 'Starfire' girl is, and why I should care if she leaves the team. Yeah, there's a bit of an 'aww' moment when Robin and Starfire talk to each other on the roof, and it turns out that Blackfire is super-evil after all and is trying to frame Starfire for thefts that she committed.

Admittedly the Centauri aliens and their pink robo-jellyfishes being revealed to actually be space policemen trying to arrest Blackfire is a nice little plot twist, and the fact that it was foreshadowed by the alien jewelry that Blackfire gave Starfire is cool... but that doesn't really help make this episode better. 

Overall it's a nice concept and attempt, but all in all I feel that this is one of the weaker episodes of the season, because even as a child I remembered thinking that Blackfire is irritating and there never was a sense of tension that Starfire was getting replaced at all. It might have worked better with a stronger script and placed later on in the series, but as a second episode it's honestly quite unimpressive.


DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• Blackfire, real name Komand'r, was Starfire's older sister in the comics as well, though a difference that makes her somewhat more sympathetic (as far as a character that goes around attempting to murder her own little sister can be sympathetic) was that the reason for her hatred towards Starfire was that her deformity -- she cannot naturally generate starbolts -- caused her to be overlooked in favour of her sister in Tamaran's hierarchy.