Beast Boy and Cyborg insist on hiring a clown for a Titans party, even though Robin tells them that clowns are for little kids. When the clown fails to live up to their memories, Cyborg and Beast Boy decide to give the clown some cool updates.
This episode provides examples of:
- Actually Pretty Funny: When Raven chews out Cyborg and Beast Boy for turning the clown into a rebellious monster in "The Return of Slade", she admits during her tirade that the transformed clown actually is kind of funny.
- Afraid of Clowns: Starfire asks what clowns are, and when Robin shows her a photo of one, she utterly freaks out and becomes a trembling mess. Robin hires Honk the clown, which does not help her nerves in the slightest and she hides from him.
- Broken Aesop: This episode is a giant Take That, Audience! aimed at people who think the show doesn't hold up to the standards of the original series—and, by extension that only kids should be watching cartoons. Problem is, Raven, who delivers the Aesop is shown to be a fan of a My Little Pony-esque cartoon— meaning that even though she calls out Beast Boy and Cyborg for liking childish things, she has no problem doing so herself.
- Hypocrite: Raven yells at Beast Boy and Cyborg for still liking clowns because clowns are for kids. Cyborg and Beast Boy point out to Raven that she is a fan of the children's show Pretty Pretty Pegasus, to which Raven replies is "different".
- Made of Explodium: When Robin throw Slade's mask on the ground in his touchdown dance it explodes Master Shake-style.
- Monster Clown: The clown was made into this thanks to Beast Boy and Cyborg who think clowns should be "cool".
- Never Trust a Title: Slade does return, but it's relegated to an Offscreen Moment of Awesome within the first minute and the rest of the episode is about the victory party.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: The Titans defeating Slade in 3 episodes and a TV movie.
- Ratings Stunt: The episode's title implies the appearance of Slade, only for this to be a complete lie and he has nothing but an indirect cameo, and the real plot of the episode being a Take That, Critics!.
- Take Our Word for It: The battle with Slade was so epic that it couldn't be shown onscreen.
- Take That, Critics!: The episode is a very clear jab at the show's critics, particularly fans of the original Teen Titans (2003) show. Slade does not actually appear; the off-screen battle was discussed as resolving many plot threads and mixing drama, action and comedy, much like the original cartoon. The rest of the episode uses Beast Boy and Cyborg not finding clowns entertaining anymore as a stand-in for the critics of Teen Titans GO!, with the moral of the episode being that Cyborg and Beast Boy are judging the clown in completely the wrong mindset, since the clown is normally hired for kids much younger than the two Titans, and didn't even pretend to cater for the so-called "nostalgic" audience. In other words, the episode sends the message that fans of the original Teen Titans have no right to criticize Teen Titans Go! because it's not meant for them.
- Time Skip: "THREE EPISODES AND A MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE LATER"
- Trivial Title: Despite the name of the episode, "The Return of Slade" never actually features Slade. Instead the Titans defeat Slade offscreen over the course of three episodes and a TV movie. The rest of the episode ends up being another Take That, Critics!.
