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REVIEWS
Episode #65 - Things Change
Original Airdate - January 16th, 2006 - Series Finale
After months of fighting the Brotherhood of Evil around the globe, the Teen
Titans are finally back home. But a walk through the city reveals that things
are no longer as they remembered. And while Beast Boy wants everything to be
just like it was in the past, he has to face the fact that in life things
change.
Review by Bird Boy
Defense / Rant by S.C.B.
Media by James Harvey |
Titans Writers
Written by Amy Wolfram
Directed by Michael Chang
Music by Lolita Ritmanis
Animation by Dongwoo Animation Co., LTD.
Titans Voices
Greg Cipes as Beast Boy
Scott Menville as Robin
Khary Payton as Cyborg
Tara Strong as Raven
Hynden Walch as Starfire
Ashley Johnson as Terra
Ron Perlman as Slade |
Review:
After all of the Brotherhood of Evil stuff went down, the Titans are
finally able to relax in Jump City once again. They return and
naturally trouble strikes in the form of some mysterious villain and
then in a crowd Beast Boy sees her: Terra! Yes, Terra, the character
fans have clamored and moaned (out of the gutter!) for more of since
season two’s “Aftershock” finale.
I’m going to start off by saying I was never that infatuated with
Terra’s character. She was fun while she lasted, but I liked her
better dead. Her return did absolutely nothing for me, though I
won’t deny that Beast Boy having trouble letting go was sad.
For many this episode just raises more questions. Terra miraculously
appears and no explanation for her departure from her stone form is
given. For Beast Boy it doesn’t matter, nor for many fans do I
imagine. But you can’t just brush this fact aside; this Terra we see
now is deeply rooted in school with friends and a complete lack of
knowledge of her past life. I could surmise that she was faking it
and didn’t want to admit she remembered anything, but it really
doesn’t matter since this was the final episode.
Another question that pops up is Slade. Yup, he’s back but only via
another one of his robots (makes you wonder how many times we’ve
actually seen the real Slade) and tells Beast Boy to leave Terra
alone. This only adds more to the mystery of her return. For a final
episode it certainly didn’t wrap anything up.
Of course, as Joss Whedon (I think it was him) said “never give fans
what they want.” I’m sure no fan in their wildest, crappiest Teen
Titans fan fiction ever thought of Terra coming back with no
memory and real no desire to go back to her former life. I have to
give Amy Wolfram credit for giving us something we didn’t think of.
It did make for a more interesting episode than the predictable
drivel that we’d gotten from the rest of the season.
I’m conflicted on what I want to say about this episode. On one
hand, I thought it was a horrible and completely crappy way for the
final episode of a series to end and yet the more I dissect and tear
this thing apart, I begin to appreciate it more and more. It
answered absolutely none of our questions from this or previous
seasons (Who is Red X? Who activated that powder in Slade’s mask
that drove Robin crazy? What in the hell was in that case?!) and yet
I’m almost satisfied more this way. If Lost has taught me
anything, the answers we get never live up to the hype so it’s
almost better to leave us guessing and wanting rather than
complaining about how it didn’t work out how we wanted it.
Most certainly this episode will be the talk of Titans fans
up until the “Trouble in Tokyo” DTV hits shelves and rightfully so.
There are plenty of questions to ponder and answers to formulate and
more horrible fan fiction to write.
The animation was nothing to write home about, but Ritmanis did an
awesome score at the end of the episode. When the dramatic cues hit
after Beast Boy offers Terra his communicator the scenes emotional
impact is amplified ten fold. No doubt about it, the music was one
of the highlights of the episode.
There was also a lot of symbolism thrown around in here. The weird
villain the rest of the Titans were fighting kept changing forms,
the traffic light changing colors and also a few neat visual
elements like the individual frames for Terra and Beast Boy when
they’re first in Titans Tower and they continue to “grow apart.”
Some will call it metaphorical BS, but I thought it added to the
episode. It felt out of place in an episode of Teen Titans,
considering we’d never see anything like it before in this show, but
it still added to the impact of the episode. And also beat into our
skulls the name of the episode.
Even in its ups and downs, Teen Titans was still one of the
most entertaining, action and humor filled cartoon I’ve seen in a
long time. It’s a shame that what originality it created will be
copied over and over into mindless shows that “Cartoon” Network will
continue to “amaze” it’s audience with.
Overall I can’t fully say that this was a satisfying end to the
series. I also can’t call it a bad episode; perhaps if it had been
thrown into season three instead of so far back into the series it
would’ve played out better, but as it stands it’s still a solid
episode and one fans of Terra will undoubtedly not want to miss.
Defense / Rant
I haven't always been a fan of the Teen Titans show. I had
never heard of them before the show began, having only watched
Justice League, Superman, and so forth. When I finally
did get around to watching it, I was disappointed. My first episode
was 'Final Exam', and I wasn't particularly impressed. It was the
same pseudo anime stuff that I'd seen in a dozen other shows, and
the action was pretty slow, and bluntly, a bit boring. But then I
saw 'Masks', and my opinion changed forever. There was something
great beneath the 'kiddie kiddie' atmosphere. I gradually got used
to the exaggerated anime expressions, and even grew to enjoy them so
much that I missed them during their absence in the beginning of
Season 5. In the end, I finally realized what Teen Titans was
all about: heart.
Now that's not to say shows like Justice League Unlimited and
Batman Beyond don't have heart; it's very much the opposite.
But those shows are the 'thinking man's' superhero show, if you
will. Teen Titans is governed by emotion and style. And that's what
is at the heart of the series finale, 'Things Change'.
I can safely say that the Teen Titans crew had never done
something like this before. It was unique, incredible, and
beautiful. And yet, I see so many complaints and criticisms leveled
at the episode, my mind boggles. One of these criticisms is the fact
that the other Titans subplot is given nowhere near as much
attention as the Beast Boy/Terra storyline. And so, to defend this
wonderful episode, let me redirect you to the press blurb that
accompanied the episode:
After months of fighting the Brotherhood of Evil around the
globe, the Teen Titans are finally back home. But a walk through the
city reveals that things are no longer as they remembered. And while
Beast Boy wants everything to be just like it was in the past, he
has to face the fact that in life things change.
You'll notice that Beast Boy is the only character mentioned by name
in the synopsis, and this is with good reason. I doubt I would get
much argument when I say that Season 5 has been Beast Boy's season
(much more so than Season 2, which is now Terra's season). It shows
his journey from an immature and (more than slightly) nervous boy
into a confident and capable hero.
As we begin Season 5, Beast Boy is being the same character we are
used to ("Get it? Tuba? Snorkel? Tuborkel!"). Suddenly, as
soon as it becomes clear that the Doom Patrol are in trouble, Beast
Boy changes into a character that we have only seen glimpses of in
previous seasons ('Betrayal', 'Aftershock', 'The Beast Within'). We
see that when he is called upon, he can cast aside his self imposed
image of the immature jokester and step up to the plate. However,
after 'Homecoming' is over, Beast Boy sees it as clearance to act as
his old self again, constantly trying to forget about the past and
once more become the comedy relief in episodes like 'Snowblind' and
'Revved Up'. And it works, until 'Calling All Titans' and 'Titans
Together', where he once again must assume his 'serious' mode and
proceeds to successfully free the other Titans and defeat the
Brotherhood of Evil, something that the Doom Patrol could never do.
However, even then, Beast Boy attempts to become what he once was ("Dudes,
check it out; Brain Freeze!"). What Terra's return in 'Things
Change' accomplishes is to finally show Beast Boy that he has come
too far to go back. In fact, one could argue that the entire episode
is Beast Boy's subconscious mind trying to get him to move on and to
grow up. Each of the different characters could represent Beast
Boy's trying, on some level, to push himself in the right direction.
Terra is a gentle nudge, trying to convince him that he can't go on
as he wants to. The Slade robot is far more abrasive, but the
message is the same. And finally, the Titans are appealing to Beast
Boy's unselfish, heroic nature, with Robin's message spelling it out
as bluntly as possible:
"Beast Boy! We need you!"
And this finally accomplishes what the season has been trying to do
all along; get Beast Boy to grow up. And he would not have been able
to do that without some closure on Terra.
That is why the other Titans are not featured prominently.
Their subplots and themes have already been resolved in this season,
albeit in a more subtle way.
1) Robin has become far more trusting of his team, and shows much
more willingness in allowing them to help him ('Revved Up'). His
relationship with Starfire has also been resolved to a satisfactory
conclusion in Season 4, no less ('Stranded'), showing that he is
becoming far more comfortable with her as well as the idea of the
two of them being together (this is subtly hinted at in 'Titans
Together': "I could use a hand.")
2) Starfire's main difficulty throughout the series has been her
difficulty fitting in with earth culture. By Season 5, she had
become so comfortable and at home on Earth and with its people that
she even brought an exiled man out of his self imposed retirement ('Snowblind')
through her simple force of will and understanding of humanity.
3) Raven has also come far from the dark recluse of the earlier
seasons. Because of the events of Season 4, she is much more
comfortable with her emotions, as evidenced by her unofficially
adopting three children ('Hide and Seek', 'Titans Together').
4) As usual, Cyborg is left as the odd man out, as his message has
usually been the same in his spotlight episodes, that it's not the
technology that makes him a hero, it's his humanity.
As you can see, Beast Boy is the only character left. The other
Titans' battle with the white creature shows that they are
comfortable enough with themselves to move on and continue with
their lives, while Beast Boy continues to chase the past in the form
of Terra ("Why can't things go back to the way they were?").
Obviously there are many Terra fans who are outraged by her 'return
that isn't a return'. One of the things that writers are often
concerned with is fan service (something that Teen Titans
sister show, Justice League Unlimited, has been accused of
many times). If Terra had been brought back only to become the same
as she was before, it would be detrimental to the lesson of the
episode; that things change, and life goes on. And consider this:
even if Terra had returned as she was before, she most likely would
have run away again, being unable to face up to the guilt of what
she had done.
Slade would also have been a deciding factor if she had returned in
such a way; he would have stalked her until she was his again. As it
is now, Slade obviously has no interest in pursuing her. Perhaps it
is out of some perverse affection for his former apprentice that he
doesn't want her to come to any more harm, and this is what prompts
him to send the robot to dissuade Beast Boy. I cannot honestly think
of any other way that the writers could have brought her back and
still make her happy. If she was brought back as before, she would
have been miserable. Fans of the character should be pleased that
she has finally found (if not entirely psychologically healthy)
peace and closure.
But the most common criticism is that this episode doesn't do what a
series finale should: tie up loose ends. The identities of Slade and
Red X are not loose ends that need tying up. Slade has a second
name, yes. He has a face beneath that mask, yes. What difference
would it make to the character at this point to show the audience
his face, or reveal that he is Jericho's father? None whatsoever.
And as for Red X, he's hardly even a character. He's a symbol of
Robin's darker side, of a past mistake he would prefer to forget. He
also acts as a mirror of the Boy Wonder, showing him what he could
have been like if he had gone off the rails instead of being raised
by Batman.
Of course, there are questions raised in this episode (Is that
really Terra? Does she really have amnesia? Why did Slade send a
robot to attack Beast Boy? What the name of Hades is that white
thing?), and all of them immaterial to what the episode was
trying to do; complete Beast Boy's character arc. Many people have
argued that 'Titans Together' would have made a better series
finale, but that leaves Beast Boy at the exact same place he was
when we first met him in Season 1.
If 'Titans Together' had been the final episode of the series, I
would have a felt little bit short-changed. The episode speeds by at
such a pace that you hardly have any time to acknowledge what's
going on and really allow it to sink in. After I watched it, it
hadn't stuck in my mind. It was a fantastic episode, don't get me
wrong. But 'Things Change' had such a leisurely pace. It allowed you
to truly get to grips with the concept and wrestle with it. And,
most importantly, it leaves you thinking about it long after it's
finished.
A Teen Titans episode has never done that to me before. As I
have mentioned earlier, Teen Titans is driven by emotional
and stylistic stories. It is very much dominated by the characters,
rather than the situations they are in. That is why the stories
cannot be scrutinized and looked at too closely, lest they fall
apart. I have never been moved to write an essay on an episode of
any TV show, animated or otherwise, and certainly never Teen
Titans. That was the biggest indicator to me that this episode
was something special.
And in the end, a series finale shouldn't be a quick paced 'wam bam'
affair (though it sometimes can be). It should take you back to the
roots of the show and remind you of what you loved about it. And at
its heart, this show was about five teenagers learning life lessons,
ranging from fitting in ('Sisters'), to obsession ('Haunted') to
racism ('Troq'), and drug abuse ('Overdrive'). And personally, I
can't think of a life lesson more important than knowing when to
grow up.
“Beast Boy to Robin; I’m on my way. Over.”
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