Being a super-villain must be trying. They spend their time plotting to overthrow society, gain power and wealth, and struggle to outwit their superhero archrivals all in a days work.

What's more daunting than the trials of super-villainy? Why, being the super-villain father of a high school drama queen who has been dumped by her steady a mere days before the junior prom, of course! Gasp!

Thus is the burden of poor Killer Moth, a mediocre villain who wants to rule the city yet must yield to his fatherly duties of consoling his heartbroken daughter, Kitten. Little does he know his plan to take over town is about to be revised.

Kitten wants her ex-boy toy to pay for her humiliation, and what better way to do that? Why sheer jealousy of course! And no teenage boy could be more jealous of Robin: the Boy Wonder, leader of the Teen Titans, and ward of the master of gloom and fanboy intrigue, BATMAN.

Robin is in a bit of a slump as it is. After an opening chase with a jewelry burglar that can be best described as a cross between a spider and a man, Robin finds his luck running thin.

Despite his "Akira" inspired motorcycle, Robin proves he is no Kaneda and lets our Spidey-Villain get away after being paralyzed by his venom blasts. Once again, the team is temporarily without their leader. If only the Dark Knight could see him now.

As always, Starfire is there to comfort her beau, taking him back to the Tower for some Tamaranian acupressure and TLC while the rest of the team continues to pursue the jewel thief. This is where Killer Moth's plan comes into play.

Originality appears to be lost on Killer Moth. He controls a horde of, ahem, mutant killer moths and plans to use them to crush the Titans and take over the city. This doesn't really smack of creativity, and it's Kitten that adds the interesting twist to her father's scheme.

Kitten insists that her father include her need for a prom date in his list of demands for the Titans, and she wants Robin to oblige. One moment worth mentioning is Starfire's rant once she learns that Kitten's request is not a duel, as she first mistook it to be. Her screams reshape Robin's hairdo into a style that any comic fanboy should be quick to pick up on.

Much to Starfire's chagrin, Robin is off to the prom for the sake of the city he has sworn to protect, and the rest of the team must hurry to figure out the Kitten and Killer Moth connection to spare Robin from anything too humiliating.

As Robin and Kitten continue to tussle over dancing and moonlight kisses at the prom, which is held aboard a yacht no less, Starfire has resigned to keeping watch over her man while resisting the urge to pummel Kitten into oblivion.

Kitten likes her men like she likes her father, in the palm of her hand. Hmmm, a little Freudian, eh? How does she accomplish this with Robin? Simple, she possesses a remote that will unleash the killer moths upon the city should he refuse her advances.

Meanwhile the rest of the team finds themselves deep in the liar of the Killer Moth, struggling to contain the horde in what can only be described as a throwback to The Silence of the Lambs.

The real high points in the episode come from the love triangle between Starfire, Robin, and the teeth-grating Kitten. From the moment the terms of the prom date are disclosed at Titan Tower to the final showdown aboard the yacht, the chemistry here is priceless.

The romantic shenanigans reach their peak when Kitten's ex-boyfriend, Fang, crashes the party. You guessed it, he was the jewel thief in the opening chase, and it appears that he turned to crime in an attempt to shower Kitten with jewels as a form of apology.

Although I'm not sure that I entirely buy Starfire's attraction to Robin, I understand Kitten's reasoning in pursuing him. Starfire is a good foot taller than Robin and this doesn't sit with me. Most women I've dated prefer men who are taller than them, or at least that's the reason the taller ones give me upon rejection. So, what does she see in him? Is it his moody brooding? Is it the cool Kaneda-replica bike? Perhaps it's her alien preferences, or maybe I'm just jealous.

Of course the love quadrangle plays out exactly as you would expect it to, but let's face it, the plot was never touted as the strong point here.

One thing that continues to excite me about the animated Titans is the crafty use of word play (Get it? Nudge, nudge. Kitten wants Robin!), film, comic, and anime references, and the sarcastic tone the series takes towards the ridiculousness of teenage miasma.

The sheer fact that a run of the mill super-villain threat is truncated into a high school revenge drama is amusing to me, and the politics of teen hood wrapped up in a light hearted in-joke is far more appealing than a generic villain vs. hero rehashing.

Sure, this isn't the Titans I grew up reading in the eighties. Yes, I wish Kid Flash had been included in the line up. True, there is room for the series to improve, but the overall layout, style, and humor alone is enough to keep me tuning in.

P.S. A note to all the would-be Changeling detractors, I submit for your consideration his method of dispatching members of the moth frenzy by turning into a mosquito sized bug, attaching to the back of a giant moth, and quickly changing into an elephant to squash them onto the pavement. Nope, this isn't your Doom Patrol's Beast Boy.

Next Week:
Starfire is undergoing a crazy transformation in what looks to be the Titan's take on the "puberty" episode. Are scales and claws going to make the Titans reject Starfire? I had no idea she was so vain! Stay tuned!

Mario Anima