"I knew her better than anyone. I know all the terrible things she’s done. And I know exactly how messed up she is. But she’s not evil. And we can’t just give up on her."
—Beast Boy
Terra returns to destroy the Titans one by one.
Tropes:
- Armor-Piercing Question:
- When Robin tries to convince Beast Boy that Terra is evil, he tells him if he and his teammates ever gave up on Robin when he was Slade's apprentice in the last season (despite that Slade blackmailed him).Beast Boy: When you were working for Slade, did we give up on you?
- Terra throws a set of these to Raven to rile her up, but it's the last one which causes her to lose control of her emotions, giving Terra the upper hand against her.Terra: Come on, Raven. What stings the most? That I tricked you? That I nearly wiped out your team? And everyone liked me better than you? ...Or is it that deep down inside you really believed I was your friend?
- When Robin tries to convince Beast Boy that Terra is evil, he tells him if he and his teammates ever gave up on Robin when he was Slade's apprentice in the last season (despite that Slade blackmailed him).
- Berserk Button:
- Raven and Cyborg push Beast Boy's buttons when they both agree that after all the terrible things Terra has done, she was always evil and always will be.Raven: Terra was never our friend. She was a liar and a spy, trained by Slade and sent to destroy us. She's evil, always has been, always will be.
Beast Boy: (angrily) You don't know what you're talking about, ok Raven! She's made some serious mistakes but she's not...
Cyborg: Hey man, the girl wrecked my car. Seems pretty evil to me.
(Beast Boy angrily picks up the table and throws it aside)
Beast Boy: (angrily) This isn't a joke! I knew her better than anyone. I know all the terrible things she’s done. And I know exactly how messed up she is. But she’s not evil. And we can’t just give up on her. - Raven doesn't react well to the above when Terra reminds her how they had bonded, just to be stabbed in the back.
- Raven and Cyborg push Beast Boy's buttons when they both agree that after all the terrible things Terra has done, she was always evil and always will be.
- Beyond Redemption: Initially, the Titans try to reason with Terra and convince her to come back to them, but she thoroughly rejects their offers and tries to murder them. By the end of the episode, they decide that they're done trying to reason with Terra and have to stop her no matter what.
- Bullying a Dragon: Downplayed. Terra manages to provoke Raven into entering her four-eyed demon form, and while this does put her on the backfoot for a moment, she's able to quickly subdue the enraged Raven and bury her in mud.
- Buried Alive: Terra opens a crevice beneath Beast Boy and Cyborg, and closes it after they fall in.
- Call-Back:
- Terra reminds Beast Boy that she "doesn't have any friends" when he tries to reason with her.
- Beast Boy reminds Robin of how they helped save him from working for Slade. Robin thus holds back when he confronts Terra alone.
- Terra mocks Raven about how they had previously bonded in "Titan Rising".
- Cliffhanger: Typical for season finales in Teen Titans: Slade assumes the Titans are dead, thanks to Terra, and they proceed to take over the city. Meanwhile, the Titans regroup in the remains of their tower and promise not to hold back.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Terra takes out Starfire, Beast Boy, and Cyborg in a matter of seconds.
- Dead Hat Shot: Terra delivers Robin's badge to Slade as proof of his "death".
- Disney Death: All of the Titans suffer this, either by Terra, or other villains, but they all survive.
- Dumbass Has a Point: Robin concedes that Beast Boy is right that they need to try reasoning with Terra first, before condemning her as a criminal. After all, they didn't give up on Robin when Slade blackmailed him last season.
- Evil Feels Good: Terra wears a thrilled Slasher Smile as she fights Raven and mocks her.
- Hidden Disdain Reveal: Terra and Raven both claimed to have always hated each other. The sincerity of these claims, Raven's especially, is questionable.Terra: You know, Raven, I never liked you.
Raven: I never even wanted to know you! - Home Field Advantage: It's rather unlikely for Terra to defeat Raven in a one-on-one fight, considering Raven has been training her powers for years while Terra only started developing her skills after seeking Slade. However, their penultimate fight takes place in a room filled with mud, where the environment is in Terra's favor - even then, Raven at least puts up a decent fight before going down.
- It's Personal: Not in exact words, but the last speech by the Titans border it emotionally.Cyborg: No more chances.
Starfire: No more trust.
Raven: And no more mercy.
Beast Boy: She's just another criminal.
Robin: And we're going to stop her. No matter what it takes. - Ironic Echo: Back in "Betrayal," Beast Boy, furious and hurt over discovering Terra's alliance with Slade, told her, "Slade was right. You don't have any friends." When Beast Boy tries to reason with her by pulling the friend card, Terra throws his words back in his face.Terra: I don't have any friends, remember?
- Kick the Dog: Terra mocks Raven for trusting the latter, referring to their bonding in "Titan Rising".
- Lame Pun Reaction: The Titans except for Starfire have this response to Beast Boy's joke; only Starfire Comically Missing the Point finds humor in "the duck not having brain capacity to talk."
- Match Cut: The episode uses some pretty effective ones to depict the Titans taking on Overload, Plasmus and Cinderblock at the same time. There's Raven blocking Overload's electrical blast, filling the screen with light which is match-cut to Cyborg's flashlight pointing at the camera, before Plasmus suddenly reveals himself. And then Plasmus roaring is intercut with Cinderblock letting out another roar. And Raven "drowning" in mud later cuts to the surface of a rough ocean wave.
- Mood Whiplash: The Titans are heckling Beast Boy for telling terrible jokes during a car ride, and then Terra literally crashes into them.
- Never Say "Die": Just about every kid-show friendly variation is used in this episode.
- No One Could Survive That!: Terra dispatches the Titans in ways that left no way to check their bodies—except for Raven and Robin, who were implicitly Left for Dead. She and Slade still assume they all died.
- One-Winged Angel: An oddly heroic example, when Raven assumes her four-eyed angry form and lashes out at Terra during their fight.
- Playing Possum: Terra pretends to have been knocked unconscious, then sucker punches Starfire when she tries to see if she's OK.
- Redemption Rejection: For Beast Boy's sake, Robin tries one more time to get through to Terra, but she hits the hammer home that she is Beyond Redemption.Terra: I! Don't! Need! SAVING! I'm not some sad little girl who is waiting to be rescued. I wanted to be this way. I wanted to go with Slade. I wanted to annihilate you and your pathetic friends. And now... I never want to see your face again.
- Skewed Priorities: In an otherwise very serious discussion the Titans have about Terra after her attack on them, Cyborg broodingly claims Terra is doubtlessly evil because she destroyed his car. Beast Boy furiously lashes out at him over seemingly joking around, which is pretty mature coming from him.
- Slasher Smile: Terra sports one of these to help establish how evil she's become.
- So Proud of You: Slade is pleased at Terra when she brings him Robin's badge and confirms the Titans are "dead".
- Symbolism: When Robin questions if Terra really wants to be Slade's apprentice while he has her pinned against a fence, and makes her look at her reflection in a window, through the fence, the window is partially broken, as though Robin's trying to tell her the life of a criminal isn't glamorous.
- Taking the Bullet: Starfire takes a boulder for Robin that knocks her into the ocean.
- Unexplained Recovery: It's left to our imaginations how the Titans survived their battles with Terra and regrouped underground. The plausibility greatly varies:
- Starfire is knocked off a cliff by a boulder and falls into the ocean. Given her powers, Starfire could easily survive the fall and then fly out. The real question is why Slade or Terra would ever assume that killed her.
- Cyborg and Beast Boy drop down a crevice that's closed after them. One assumes they used their powers to tunnel their way out (which makes them the only ones with a reason to be underground).
- Raven was pulled to the bottom of a pool of mud. Presumably, Terra assumed Raven had suffocated and left, then Raven dug or teleported herself out.
- Robin is crushed under a rock, just offscreen but completely in Terra's view, and afterward Terra brings Slade an emblem from his costume. The closest thing to a logical explanation is that Robin survived the crushing, was visibly mistaken by Terra to be dead, then recovered in hours (possibly helped by Raven's previously-established healing abilities).
- Villain Has a Point: Raven claims she never trusted Terra, and Terra mockingly asked why she acted otherwise and pointed out about her temper problems. Raven clearly is lying (both to Terra and herself).Terra: You're not getting mad, are you Rae? Oh, better be careful. Beast Boy told me all about your temper tantrums.Raven: Anger is pointless. My emotions are under control.Terra: (mockingly) "Anger is pointless." And you're calling me a liar?
- Watch the Paint Job: Terra destroys the T-Car, much to Cyborg's shock and disappointment since he's been repairing it.
- Witch with a Capital "B":Raven: Terra.
Terra: Raven.
Raven: Traitor!
Terra: Witch!
