Teen Titans, Season 4, Episode 13: The End, Part 3
Sadly, the whole Trigon arc ended up being a bit underwhelming. That's not to say that it's flat-out bad (it's still better than Brother Blood in season three), it's just that for all the big foreshadowings and buildup, the final two episodes ended up being a bit m'eh. And definitely compared with the Slade and Terra arcs of the first two seasons, or with the finale episodes like 'Starcrossed' over in Justice League, the Light episodes in Young Justice or the Darkseid episodes in Superman: TAS...yeah, Teen Titans is more about comedy and whatnot, but the epicness of what's supposed to be the series finale honestly just isn't as much as I'd prefer.
A good chunk is simply because, well, Trigon is more of a plot device than an actual villain. And while he's a mite more interesting than Brother Blood due to his interactions with Raven, he's way too content to let his Negaclone Teen Titan army fight the little insects while he sits and does absolutely nothing. He even quickly tells both the audience and the Titans that, yeah, he knows of Robin's attempt to travel through hell and save Raven's soul or whatever, but he just doesn't care, because Raven's gone forever.
Mind you, Raven is kind of gone. She's reduced to a confused little girl, and Robin tries his best to comfort her. Robin's role here is kind of appropriate, and while it might just be favoritism for the 'main male character' of the show, Robin is the one closest to Raven, having the most understanding about her ordeals way back in 'Birthmark'. Yeah, Beast Boy might be the one who shares shippy moments with Raven, but Robin and Raven are kind of bound by a bond of mutual understanding, of shitty imposing fathers and being thrust into a destiny he doesn't want. Sharing a mind back in that one season 3 episode probably helped them to understand each other a fair bit, too.
Sadly, the process of getting little Raven to trust Robin ends up just being him saving her from certain death, then telling her stories of how brave she is. Raven's main problem -- her nihilistic, defeatist attitude, finally comes to form as the amnesiac mini-Raven shouts at Robin about how there's no hope for Trigon has won, and Robin's line, "I'll have to have enough hope for the both of us"... is a bit anticlimactic as far as dramatic revelations go. This whole sequence really isn't bad per se, but definitely could've used a couple more revisions. Honestly the whole Chibi-Raven thing really could've been a good character growth moment for Raven, but the fact that it felt like she was kind of stripped of any agency until she recognizes the good in herself and decides to fight makes her kiddification nothing more than a distraction so the plot can run its course until like near the end of the allotted runtime.
Slade, meanwhile, fights the gatekeeper of hell and kills him, which is a cool action scene, if nothing else but a bit of a distracting subplot from the whole Trigon thing. Slade blows up the demon with a bomb, throwing him into hell lava, before regaining his flesh again. It's at around this point that the three surface-bound Titans switch partners and take out the Negaclones, upon which they're almost immediately routed by another Magma Rager army. Yeah, poor Cyborg, Starfire and Beast Boy are definitely filler here.
Trigon has a random "I WILL ENSLAVE THE UNIVERSE" moment which really felt like he felt bored sitting for almost the entirety of two episodes, while the Teen Titans discuss chibi-Raven's situation. The Titans and a vengeful, demon-axe-wielding Slade, team up and damage Trigon enough to break his horn, but he knocks everyone down. Raven finally stands up and shields her friends, causing Trigon to finally have some personality. Like all abusive fuckers, he tries to assert his authority over his daughter, telling her that he is her creator and her master, that she exists only to serve him, and she is inferior to her father's power.
Raven transforms quite epically into her White Raven form, denies Trigon's shitty excuse of parentage, notes that the (now dead) Azarath monks and the Teen Titans are her true family, and just unleashes the power of white energy blasts unto Trigon's body. One utterly epic Azarath Metrion Zinthos later, and Trigon is gone, and all his evil magic is reversed. Again, it would be nice to have some logic as to where Raven got her power-up from, and a lot of the 'kid Raven' and 'negatitans' screentime really could've been better served being utilized as, like, a subplot to have them go around and try to collect plot coupons from Azarath or something to justify Raven's power-up.
Robin and Raven share a bit of a moment where Robin tells Raven that she is the most hopeful of them and kept up hope and kept on fighting (despite being reduced to a kid for two episodes because she thinks the situation is hopeless okay um) and the Titans are now a big happy family, with Raven back to wearing blue and apparently free of influences of her father, having outgrown a very oppressive parent.
It's a bit of a pretty generic ending, honestly, although Raven's awesome moment of standing up against her father is badass as all hell. Raven suddenly growing up, turning into White Raven and unleashing a plot device blast that kills/seals Trigon is very convenient, kind of like the random instant-Cyborg-healing in season three, but at least with magic and emotional demonic powers in play there's more justification here. There's way too much clutter in this final leg of the plotline, though, which is a shame because Raven and Trigon's story is really fascinating. It's a shame that they couldn't properly juggle it and give the relationship the attention it deserves. It's not outright bad at all, but it just fails to stand up to the buildup that has been done.
No comments:
Post a Comment