Teen Titans – Review: Deception

School’s back in session at the HIVE Academy, and Gizmo, Jinx and
Mammoth are up to something. To find out what, the Titans send Cyborg on a daring undercover mission to infiltrate the academy and blend in as one of their own.

Review by Bird Boy
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
John DiMaggio as Brother Blood
Kevin Michael Richardson as Mammoth
Lauren Tom as Gizmo and Jinx

Teen Titan’s has and always will be a mixture of comedy and action that’s packed so tightly together, you feel energized (or have a slight buzz, depending on the episode you just watched) and ready to take on Cinderblock yourself—assuming that Justice League doesn’t follow, as that sort of kills that excitement right off the bat.

Every once and awhile, however, you get a real piece of crap. Actually, calling this “crap” would be unjust—it wasn’t crap, it was merely…one twenty-two minute block of boringness. It had a generic undercover / spy theme to it, and, as Matt Wilson so eloquently pointed out, the Titans did to the H.I.V.E. exactly what Terra had done to them—as hurt as the Titans were, they didn’t seem to have to have a problem doing it to someone else.
Then again, I guess super villains don’t have feelings, so that should be
A-OK…

After following two seasons of two Slade arcs, it will be refreshing to see a new villain in the mix—but the way Brother Blood is portrayed…he’s basically Slade, except he has many more apprentices and he has an envy of
Ra’s al Ghul. His profile will change later on down the road, I’m sure—but for now, it’s just a generic villain to take on a bunch of super-powered teenagers. The mere fact that none other than Bender Bending Rodriguez himself, John DiMaggio voices Brother Blood does make me smile—nice hearing him, even that laugh of his will never emit from Blood’s mouth.

Those that missed the intense anime-effects from season two, will be happy to know that they’re pretty much back in full-force in this episode. All the stereotypical embarrassed red marks under the eyes, tear drops from the skull and mushroom “phew”’s are back, and quite possibly more annoying than ever. One of the few enjoyable things about this episode was the music and animation (sans anime-effects)—the music fit every scene like a glove, and the animation was tight and smooth; a round of applause to Carter and Dong
Woo on those two fronts.

Overall, the episode was just one giant yawnfest—no real redeeming qualities aside from introducing Brother Blood and more than just the same three
H.I.V.E. members we’re used to seeing. I’m sure his future appearances will be more fulfilling—as of now, it was the dullest Teen Titans since “Car
Trouble.”