Teen Titans

In terms of quality, filler is somewhat 50-50 when it comes to Teen Titans. Some of the filler episodes we’ve stomached in the past have entertained and in some cases even managed to pull off some much needed character development. All of them have centered on comedic irreverence, and a good handful of these episodes have ranked so poorly that we won’t bother drudging back through the low points.

However, not one of these afore-referenced filler episodes have accomplished what "For Real" manages to achieve: humor and irreverence within clear continuity.

Thank you.

Well deserved kudos go out to Melody Fox for penning a script that manages to successfully balance the more fun aspects of the series while still maintaining a sense of placement within this season’s story arc.

With that said, here is the run down. With the Titans scouring the globe in an attempt to thwart the Brotherhood of Evil’s plan to dispose of young heroes worldwide, the Titans East chapter of the team have been asked to spend some time in the West Coast, babysitting the tower and looking in on the good citizens of San Francisco.

Enter Control Freak, a throwaway villain whose presence all but screams “this episode will not count in the long run!” Yet this time around, we can’t help but feel that the Titans universe ends up a bit more fleshed out in the process. First of all, as deluded as it may be, it’s within reason that Control Freak would consider himself to be a nemesis of the team. After all, his obsession with the team has put them in some wily situations in the past.

It is equally plausible that the Titans themselves don’t even regard Control Freak as anything more than a second rate villain. He doesn’t even make the list of villains the team compiled data on for the Easters to study in the case of confrontation. This is exactly where he belongs. However Control Freak still manages to take on a persona that seems fitting for what is, as we’ve mused before, nothing more than a Harry Knowles parody.

Freak becomes a sort of alter-ego to the Flash villain Zoom, whose maniacally perverse logic has him believing that he can make heroes better by pushing them to their limits with crimes laced with physical and emotional tests. Freak has returned to the tower with his Ultimate Titans Challenge, which he reluctantly unleashes upon the Titans East to miserable results.

Each of his traps are specialized to defuse the powers of the Titans West, and when the members of Titans East manage to systematically dismantle his every attack, Control Freak protests, claiming that they are nothing more than second raters compared to the real Titans.

This is met with the truth, which amounts to Control Freak being nothing more than a Fanboy.

Oh, so many places to go with this…

The episode derails, in a witty skewering of net fanboy culture, as Control Freak enters a chat room of sorts. Various fanboy stereotypes in the chat room proceed to trash talk each member of Titans East, in a hilarious sequence destined to rank among the funniest bits in Titans animated history. As the Titans East perform random acts of heroism, one of the chat room fanboys laments that these second-raters should be put to some sort of test for Titanship, which gets Control Freak’s mental gears a-turning.

Control Freak ultimately devises a new set of challenges for the Titans East to face down, and one can all but guarantee that the team will work through each one in time to save the day. All of these challenges test each Titan’s powers, ranging in complexity, and all of which are overcome within reason, save one. Speedy is left to deter a bevy of missiles directed at the Bay Bridge, with one catch: no arrows.

The solution for this challenge had me guessing for some time, but the actual resolution was a bit far-fetched even for this Speedy-lovin’ critic. Let’s just leave it at this, riding missiles and steering them into one another was not the answer, but then again, we are talking about an animated superhero cartoon here.

Given that this is the sole quibble for what could have been an ultimately disappointing filler episode, it behooves this critic to digress.

All things in stride, we end up with an episode that fits perfectly into place within the continuity of season five. Hopefully, the remaining “filler” episodes will be crafted in a similar fashion.

Next up: Back to the Brotherhood, with our dear Starfire journeying to the Soviet to run into, none other than, Starfire. Confused? Tune in next week and we’ll all hold hands and sort this one out together.

Mario Anima