Teen Titans, Season 3, Episode 6: Spellbound
Another Raven-centric episode, this one deals with the thinly-veiled theme of meeting a mysterious yet enchanting fellow who seems to just be Mr. Perfect, so much that you devote all your time, all your everything, to spending time with him (or her). Creepy Slade aside, Teen Titans generally don't get too preachy about morals or relevant events, but Spellbound was definitely an episode that carried such themes. Now this isn't Justice League (and the fact that it stars teens) so the censors clamp down tighter, but there's definitely a 'fooled by a man' undertone to everything that's going on.
But it's always a treat to see Raven in a vulnerable situation, and that's not because of some sick kink I have but simply because of all the great stories that are told from seeing a normally-unflappable icy statue actually show some form of emotion. Nevermore dealt with Raven's multiple emotions and her own anger issues. Switched dealt with Raven's negativity. Fear Itself dealt with Raven's fear and her refusal to acknowledge it. Spellbound... delves more into Raven's desire for love and companionship, for someone who's into creepy gothic books. She's found a family in the Titans, but sometimes your family pisses you off, especially if it involves someone as rowdy as Beast Boy and as cluelessly trying-to-be-helpful like Starfire.
It's a great analogy as Raven's latest storybook reveals itself to contain the spirit of the wizard Malchior, the protagonist of the book, who sealed the dragon Rorek within it. And then Malchior begins to... well, consume all of Raven's time and just have her do almost nothing other than to satisfy Malchior and free him from his prison. Of course, Malchior turns out to have swapped around his name and Rorek's in the book, and he's actually the dragon. From then on it's standard fare, and Malchior's lines are hilariously cheesy, but it's one that carries a heavier impact due to the subtext and simply exploring Raven's characterizations. There were some great Beast Boy/Raven moments for the shippers too, but the focus is solely on Raven this time around.
Oh, and this episode features Cardiac -- er, sorry, Kardiak -- who's a giant human heart that floats around and shoots out tentacles to kidnap little children. Who in the hell thought up of Kardiak? He's so awesome. Why couldn't Raven's creepy online boyfriend be Kardiak instead of a tired ol' dragon?
It's an episode that honestly isn't that great, and you probably wouldn't tell after those paragraphs I just typed, but it was definitely a lot more enjoyable than I remembered it being.
DC Easter Eggs Corner:
- Another appearance by white-costumed Raven, which is an actual costume change that happened during the tenure of New Teen Titans, the incarnation of the team that the show is very closely based upon.
No comments:
Post a Comment