Teen Titans – Review: Aftershock, Part 2

In a world without Titans, Slade has taken control of everything: the streets, the city, and the heart of his young Apprentice. But are our heroes really gone?

Review by Amazing Spidey
Media by Bird Boy

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
Dee Bradley Baker as Ternion

Note: The review for Aftershock Pt. 1 and 2 are the same.

As Teen Titans was originally supposed to be one season of 26 episodes and not two seasons of 13 episodes, this season’s finale acts as both seasons’ finales, in a way. The Titans are still fighting Slade, and he’s finally found his apprentice, in former Titan Terra.

These episodes act as a follow up to Betrayal in that Terra now has no feelings left for The Titans, and The Titans have branded her a traitor, and want nothing to do with her.

As with last seasons finale, The Titans, specifically Beast Boy are left to face an enemy they don’t want to fight, one of their own; one of their friends. Whilst one could accuse the finale of being too similar to the previous one, that’s not the case. It should be said, however, that the two part Apprentice successfully achieved everything it set out to do, whilst here, the result, unfortunately, was not the same.

It continued with the same tone as Betrayal. In fact, there really is no reason why this couldn’t have been a 3 part story; they are that alike, and the story focuses on the same characters, specifically Beast Boy, Slade and
Terra. The remaining Titans really don’t do anything at all, except beat a bunch of lackeys from previous episodes, which is a shame. Robin, Cyborg and
Starfire are far more interesting characters than Terra, Slade and Beast
Boy.

Sure, the typical silliness was somewhat evident in the show, particularly whilst the Titans are driving in Cyborg’s badass car. Raven is sick of Beast
Boys jokes, Cyborg rants about his baby, Starfire is so adorably confused at the jokes and so on. The humor soon went and the action poured in thick, and didn’t really stop throughout the episode.

The episode isn’t as enjoyable as it could be, and the problem more or less rests on Beast Boy. In previous episodes he has been shown as the funny guy, which ironically also seemed to annoy most viewers who found humor in the other characters, such as Raven, who wouldn’t know a good joke if it bit her in the cape. In this episode, he acts serious–too serious. It really didn’t fit. He even sounds like he was trying to be funny, which doesn’t help his cause. The problem with this episode really does rest on the characters shoulders. Terra worked best as a member we weren’t sure we could trust.
Once she had turned evil, the mystery had gone, and with it, the interest.
Slade works best as a man sticking to the shadows and playing the people around him to get what he needs. Beast Boy works best as foil for the rest of The Titans. When he’s on his own, he’s irritating. Of course, I’m the first to admit this is a cartoon for 11 year olds, most of who probably find him hilarious; but then again, this is my review, as an 18 year old with too much time on his hands.

The ending wasn’t up to much either. Not only could you see Terra’s sacrifice coming a mile away, her final moment was with Beast Boy, when it really should’ve been with all the Titans. The underpinning theme to the whole episode was friendship, specifically the friendship they had, but lost. If Robin and the rest of Titans who wanted Terra defeated had thanked them for saving it would’ve made for a better, more emotional scene. Instead it was Beast Boy (again!) when we, as viewers, got the feeling he didn’t really want to fight her.

Terra as a statue was weird. It gives us the hope that not all is lost, and it was nice seeing Starfire give her the flowers, it shows the rest of them cared.

Teen Titans, on a whole works best because of the relationships between the characters, whether they are teaming up to fight a villain or fighting over where to go for dinner. When you take that away, the result is usually a sub par episode, which feels like something is missing. Overall, this episode was disappointing, but it tied some of the loose ends up. The producers can now freely choose between using Slade and choose how often they wish to use him. It also offers an opportunity to freshen the show up a bit, without the chief villain. I’m certainly looking forward to the results.