With the Titans defeated, Terra and Slade have taken control of San Francisco. Slade’s robots and ninjas patrol the City’s streets, ensuring that his iron-fisted rule is clearly felt. We follow Terra on one of her patrols, which ironically leads her to revisit deserted parts of the City, places she visited during her time as a Titan. These memories vibrantly contrast bright colors with the stark grays of Slade’s desolated rule.

By placing the viewer perspective with Terra, we see firsthand what is bubbling up inside of her, and it is clear that she will be forced to face these feelings soon. Frankly, this decision was a stroke of sheer brilliance, and it pays off in a multitude of ways. Aside from showing us Terra’s internal struggle, choosing to place the point of view with Terra also gives is a vastly different view of the Titans when they finally show up.

This first encounter with Terra in the episode really shows what the Teens are capable of, and just how deadly they can be when they want to be. They play the fog and one by one they toy with Terra, all without uttering a word.

This is why you don’t mess with the Teens, and when Terra plays the emotional card by appealing to a feral Beast Boy with “Beast Boy, don’t you even want to talk to me?” Cyborg’s response says it all, “Terra, there’s nothing left to say.”

Truer words have never been spoken. Love or hate Terra, the writers have certainly equipped us with enough ammo to make a case for either argument.

After a brutal beating at the hands of the Titans, Terra flees against Slade’s orders, and what follows is a chilling look at the trouble Terra’s gullibility has gotten her into this time.

As it turns out, Terra’s new “Slade suit” is much more than a mere fashion statement. Instead it has somehow integrated itself into her neuro-system, becoming a part of her and giving Slade full control over her and her power. Even if she wanted to defy Slade at this point, it is too late. She is a puppet in his hands.

One thing deserving to be mentioned is the level of depth that this episode seems to contain. It feels as if it reaches back through the most trivial of episodes and somehow emotionally connects them all to the Terra situation.

Beast Boy’s rage is expressed in a way that we have never seen before. His animosity over being genuinely hurt by Terra has taken over completely now; to him there is no robot army and no Slade. He has only two things on his mind, revenge and Terra.

When Plasmus, Overload, and Cinderblock merge together into one giant menace, the Titans get to show off their powers a bit more in the process.

Starfire, for one, stands out in this scene. We get a bit more of a glimpse of the warrior beneath the gentle surface of Star. Her eagerness to jump right into the fray shows that there is more than one heavy hitter on this team.

Fans of the comic know that the outcome to Terra’s story arc is dark, and this episode is drenched in black. Of course as grim as this episode may be, it cannot match the levels achieved by the comics.

That being understood going in, the episode still delivers the goods in spades. This is, by far, the best episode of Teen Titans yet, and of the two season finales this is definitely the better one.

Albeit, “The Apprentice” laid the groundwork for Slade’s ultimate goals, and it did a dandy of a job tying all of the plot threads from the season together. However, the outcome of that finale was inevitable; ultimately, Robin can’t betray the Titans. We know his continuity all too well.

Okay, admittedly the continuity of the show is not really one hundred percent on the level either, but each minor deviance seems to pull together thematically. Let’s face it, no matter what liberties may be taken in the show Robin can never turn evil. It just can’t happen.

Terr,a on the other hand, can and did in the comic continuity. Well, to say she “turned” evil is a bit of a misstep, but you get the point. The suspense comes from how this finale chooses to play out this arc, and how Beast Boy will handle their final confrontation.

In the end, Terra betrayed the team, she mislead them and sold out their deepest secrets to their sworn enemy while breaking Gar’s heart in the process. We even got to see her feel justified in doing so, while priding herself on the destruction of her Titan companions.

This finale plays all the right notes from the continuity, even if it does toy with Terra’s standing in the end with the rest of the team. Of course, even this note of forgiveness does sort of play in line with the outcome in the comics, in a way.

Slade even walks away a more evil, more threatening villain. Although it is implied that he was consumed by the lava Terra unleashes in the final battle, one can only assume we will see his return sometime in the future. Regardless, Slade’s treatment of Terra is brutal, and shows just how low he is capable of stooping.

This is the definitive way to close out Season Two by setting us up with questions for the third season to tackle. Is Slade dead? Will Terra reappear? If Slade is gone, will we be doomed to countless Larry the Titan and Johnny Rotten episodes? We’ll just have to hold off till next Saturday to get that ball rolling.

Next Week: It’s time to kick off Season Three when Cyborg takes a note from Terra and infiltrates the HIVE Academy ranks to learn what these miscreants are up to in “Deception.” See you all next week!

Mario Anima