[8.0/10] I like the dichotomy of this one. Raven is resigned to the fact that the end of the world as she knows it is coming, and so she wants to spend a perfect day with her friends. The rest of the Titans, however, refuse to accept Trigon’s prophecy as an inevitability and so want to fight him and his minions and, more importantly, protect Raven.
I like ti because Teen Titans uses the same motivation to produce different actions. Raven loves her friends and so simply wants to spend time with them, be giving toward them, even smile at them, as a sort of spiritual last meal with those she’s grown close to. The rest of the Titans love Raven back, but that love motivates them to ensure she sees another day, crafting elaborate protections and giving their all to stave off Trigon’s forces.
I love the contrast of that. The feelings of affection and connections are clear on both sides, from Raven's ill-fated attempt to cook up some pancakes, to Beast Boy handing over a lucky penny because she needs it. So even if we agree or disagree with one approach versus the other, we understand why each member of the Titans does what they do, and more importantly, we feel it too.
The psychology of Raven’s approach to the day and conundrum is the most compelling part here. She’s clearly full of dread but trying to put a brave face on the outside so as not to let on. She’s fiercely protective of her friends and grateful for their attempts at protection, but thinks it’s all a fool’s errand. And as she’s resigned to her apparent fate as a portal for her demonic father, she eventually gives in rather than resisting further to spare her friends greater pain. Her motivations are complex, her choices myopic, but they’re based on who Raven is and has been over the course of the series, and on her bond to the other Titans.
The same’s true in reverse. It’s touching how far Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy will go to defend their friend. The fight against Slade and the fire wraiths is mostly just action-y filler, but Cyborg hooking himself up to the Tower’s power system and blasting them all with his entire super-charged battery is a great way to dramatize the team’s preparation here and willingness to pull out all the stops.
It’s also nice to see Slade get a bit of comeuppance. He’s usually the mastermind, so having Raven call out what a fool he is for trusting the devil, and watching Trigon dispose of him after he’s no longer useful puts Deathstroke in his place. It’s also a nice way to further establish Trigon as an even bigger bad.
This is a strong start to “The End” trilogy of episodes. Trigon’s taunts about inevitability and one’s inability to fight fate as he and Raven have a bit of a mind duel set the stage both for the threat he poses to the world and to Raven’s sense that she cannot resist her own destiny. Her giving in to spare her friends, and the challenge that emerges when she becomes a portal for someone coded as the devil himself, promises an epic confrontation to come.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2021-08-16T22:38:24Z
[8.0/10] I like the dichotomy of this one. Raven is resigned to the fact that the end of the world as she knows it is coming, and so she wants to spend a perfect day with her friends. The rest of the Titans, however, refuse to accept Trigon’s prophecy as an inevitability and so want to fight him and his minions and, more importantly, protect Raven.
I like ti because Teen Titans uses the same motivation to produce different actions. Raven loves her friends and so simply wants to spend time with them, be giving toward them, even smile at them, as a sort of spiritual last meal with those she’s grown close to. The rest of the Titans love Raven back, but that love motivates them to ensure she sees another day, crafting elaborate protections and giving their all to stave off Trigon’s forces.
I love the contrast of that. The feelings of affection and connections are clear on both sides, from Raven's ill-fated attempt to cook up some pancakes, to Beast Boy handing over a lucky penny because she needs it. So even if we agree or disagree with one approach versus the other, we understand why each member of the Titans does what they do, and more importantly, we feel it too.
The psychology of Raven’s approach to the day and conundrum is the most compelling part here. She’s clearly full of dread but trying to put a brave face on the outside so as not to let on. She’s fiercely protective of her friends and grateful for their attempts at protection, but thinks it’s all a fool’s errand. And as she’s resigned to her apparent fate as a portal for her demonic father, she eventually gives in rather than resisting further to spare her friends greater pain. Her motivations are complex, her choices myopic, but they’re based on who Raven is and has been over the course of the series, and on her bond to the other Titans.
The same’s true in reverse. It’s touching how far Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy will go to defend their friend. The fight against Slade and the fire wraiths is mostly just action-y filler, but Cyborg hooking himself up to the Tower’s power system and blasting them all with his entire super-charged battery is a great way to dramatize the team’s preparation here and willingness to pull out all the stops.
It’s also nice to see Slade get a bit of comeuppance. He’s usually the mastermind, so having Raven call out what a fool he is for trusting the devil, and watching Trigon dispose of him after he’s no longer useful puts Deathstroke in his place. It’s also a nice way to further establish Trigon as an even bigger bad.
This is a strong start to “The End” trilogy of episodes. Trigon’s taunts about inevitability and one’s inability to fight fate as he and Raven have a bit of a mind duel set the stage both for the threat he poses to the world and to Raven’s sense that she cannot resist her own destiny. Her giving in to spare her friends, and the challenge that emerges when she becomes a portal for someone coded as the devil himself, promises an epic confrontation to come.