Teen Titans, Season 3, Episode 5: Haunted
Easily my favourite episode of this season. I might be biased because I enjoy Robin and Slade's dynamic a lot, and this episode is surprisingly a dark one. Not that dark episodes are instantly good -- that's a big no-no from me -- but damn if this episode doesn't showcase how great Teen Titans can be when they suddenly do a mood swing and go for the dark.
We have the apparent return of Slade once more, and Robin is obsessed as ever with ending Slade. The Titans talk of Slade in no uncertain means that he was destroyed and gone in the climatic battle against Terra in season two's finale, all without using the word 'death'. But Robin is savvy as all hell, and he refuses to give up and starts falling back to his obsessive hunter mode that he was during his worst in season one.
Hell, even before the gas attack hit Robin, we even have him reading through Slade's case reports and inspecting Slade's artifacts for no real reason, which Cyborg points out. He's a lot more relaxed here and we're treated to this as him just being kind of diligent and not yet obsessed, but still.
After a short distraction with the welcome return of Cinderblock (who, I think, is the villain who makes the most appearances without having spotlight episodes) we get a beautiful fight between Robin and Slade, and, well, the audience gets to see eventually that this awesome fighting scene is only happening in Robin's mind. He's Fight Clubbing himself, while Starfire only sees Robin screaming into thin air... while Robin sees Starfire standing still and letting Slade get away. Considering what he sees, Robin's anger is understandable.
The thing is, the ghostly apparition of Slade actually offers Robin some explanations, and considering the setting -- and this is Slade, mr. crazy-prepared himself, Robin totally buys it -- he's got selective invisibility technology. He's just that good. The seismic plot device things are well hidden. The point is -- Robin can't stop him. Robin refuses to believe the other Titans, while the other Titans, well, just see Robin going crazy in Slade's old hideout... a very atmospheric fight as the lights go in and out and Slade appears and disappears and it's creepy and awesome like no one's business. And, man, Slade gets all the most awesome lines.
And rather uncharacteristically for this show, we get to see Robin get bloodier and more injured and more tattered as he fights Phantom Slade, and the injury shows in mental form as he gets more deranged. We get the absolutely sad scene as Starfire is forced to put Robin down with her starbolts when Robin starts threatening the other Titans -- it's a very sad expression but she knows she must do it, and it's a nice, subtle yet powerful moment.
They restrain Robin in the Tower, but of course Robin, being Robin, finds a way out to fight 'Slade', who, honestly the episode makes a pretty good point to make us question if Phantom Slade is actually a real thing at all -- even if he's an incorporeal ghost. Raven's attempts to see into Robin's head causes the mental manifestation of Slade to punch her in the face, and she notes that regardless of whether the Slade is real or not, he is real to Robin -- and thus the mental and physical stress can and will kill him.
Slade and Robin continue to fight in the Tower's basement, again a very atmospheric scene that actually puts Slade's fights with Beast Boy and Terra during the season two finale to shame. Robin finally figures out that Slade is uninjured, and can only be seen in the dark, and thus figures out that, yeah, he can't see Slade if he switches on the lights. It's a nice moment where Robin manages to figure everything out on his own, his personal journey against a pretty literal inner demon, but his friends -- Starfire and Raven in particular -- really helped him out without pulling the anime cliche of shouting a long friendship speech to jar him out of his evil illusions.
And, yeah, in addition to being uninjured and only appearing if the scene is dark, the animation of the episode really shows a lot of hints about Phantom Slade's true nature. His footsteps are all bereft of sound effects, and while Robin and Starfire have 'being rained upon' effects, Phantom Slade doesn't.
Yeah, there's the whole talk about the chemicals in Slade's mask (how insanely well-prepared was he?) but even Robin himself admits that it's partly triggered by his own obsession to fight Slade, noting that they're fighting so long against Slade that it's hard to think of him as permanently gone. There's the little dark hint at the end that the signal in the mask was triggered from an external source, and Slade's mask glow red... but this particular cliffhanger and mystery is never really addressed, unless like Slade's already running around at this point? Whatever the case, though, a masterful episode.
DC Trivia:
- When Raven is in Robin's mind, we get quick flashes of Robin's backstory -- his parents falling from the trapeze to their deaths, and shadows of Robin swearing an oath in the Batcave to Batman.
- Silkie (of course) and the Puppet King's body both make cameo appearances.
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