Teen Titans, Season 2, Episode 8: Titan Rising
The episode's honestly a bit predictable, other than the fact that Terra shows up again, apparently having controlled her powers and having forgiven the Titans after their past altercation. Everyone is welcoming except for Raven, who butts heads with Terra because she doesn't trust her. Slade happens to attack the city with giant robot sandworms, a battle that ends up in the almost-destruction of the Titans' Tower, and a short rematch between Robin and Slade. Raven and Terra end up working together to save the day, and Terra earns the trust of Raven and Robin, the two most cerebral and suspicious of the Titans. Of course, this all turns out to be an elaborate double agent ploy, because Terra... is actually working for Slade.
Cue hair dropping to cover one side of her face.
It's honestly a bit predictable, especially to those who are familiar with the source material -- but back when I first watched this, it came as a huge shock. Raven being suspicious of Terra is totally believable, and even Terra's memories of Slade might just be from her fighting Slade in her first appearance. And, yeah, if I hadn't known what would happen in the following episodes, I would totally buy Terra just wanting to prove herself to the Titans as a valuable ally.
The show's strength is definitely on its characters, with Raven, Terra and Robin all getting some really great moments, and there's a nice contrast between Robin and Raven. The two note how convenient Terra's sudden ability to control her powers are, but Raven -- though her little vision glimpses is a factor -- is outright hostile and refuses to let Terra do anything that might endanger them. Robin is suspicious but allows Terra to do some things (under observation) and is happy to play the 'good cop' while he tries to get a bearing on this new Terra. Robin's experiences in previous episodes, being accidentally responsible for driving Terra away, and Robin himself having to deal with redemption and whatnot over his time as Red X and later as Slade's Apprentice, probably have coloured his worldview somewhat.
Terra herself is pretty awesome, and while it is a huge shocker that after the whole act she did to convince Raven and the audience that she truly is on the side of angels, she's apparently a double agent for Slade all this long. Slade himself is an absolute winner, being a constant presence throughout the episode and just delivering that smooth, smooth Ron Perlman voice. He doesn't tip his hand at all regarding Terra or his plans to presumably bring the Titans down from the inside, and having it all just being yet another attack on the Titans is absolutely brilliant.
Yeah, I'm a big Terra fan. I honestly wished we moved one or two of the filler episodes between this one and the finale two-parter, starring Terra as a member of the team, but apparently the funds of this show can only support so many guest voice actors. So yeah. What could have been, etc.
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