Recap / Teen Titans S 3 E 3 Betrothed

Cyborg: (as everyone is watching Starfire packing a bag) Uh, Starfire?
Starfire: Hmm?
Beast Boy: Going somewhere?
Starfire: I am leaving for Tamaran.
Raven: And you're taking all your stuff because...?
Starfire: I am not ever coming back.
Robin, Beast Boy, Cyborg and Raven: (with an Eye Pop) WHAT?!
Robin: Starfire, what's wrong?
Starfire: Nothing is wrong. I am...getting married!

To the shock of her friends and teammates (especially Robin's), Starfire has been called back to her home planet Tamaran to be the bride in an arranged wedding. Unfortunately, the groom is a disgusting alien, and if Starfire doesn't marry him, it will mean war between her people and his. Suspecting that Blackfire (who introduced the groom and told Starfire the situation) may be up to no good and that there's more to the wedding, Robin orders the Titans to check out things more closely while he goes off to try and persuade Starfire to not go through with the wedding.

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Tropes:

• Aliens Speaking English: Played straight, causes a Plot Hole when a later episode reveals Tamaraneans don't naturally speak English and learn other languages by kissing
• Altar Diplomacy: Blackfire arranges to marry off Starfire to secure a truce. Subverted in that the war itself is a hoax.
• Arranged Marriage: Orchestrated by Blackfire to get rid of Starfire and gain a potent amulet in the process; Starfire annuls it later.
• Bait-and-Switch:
  • Galfore gears up to...tickle Starfire. The Titans tense up and get ready to attack him when his hands reach for her, but relax when they realize that.
  • Starfire's betrothed is first thought to be a Tamaranian hunk, but no, the real groom is some kind of blob/tentacle monster alien.
• Batman Can Breathe in Space: Subverted in a moment that's played for laughs—after Starfire reveals that she's set to be married, while the team is flying to Tamaran, Robin repeatedly asks, "You're getting married?!" One of those instances has him somehow getting outside the spaceship, perched on the front windshield, to ask the question again...only to realize he's not wearing the necessary spacesuit.
  Robin: (outside the spaceship) You're getting married?! And to someone you've never met?! (realizes he needs to breathe and desperately swims back on board the spaceship)
• Battle Strip: Starfire incinerates her wedding dress to reveal her usual clothes before challenging Blackfire for the crown.
• Big Ball of Violence: On Tamaran, it's traditional for everyone to fight over the food at dinner this way.
• Bigger Stick: During their duel, Starfire's starbolts don't hurt Blackfire because she's wearing the Jewel of Charta, which makes her invincible. Blackfire makes the big mistake of smugly explaining this. Starfire rips the jewel off and crushes it in her hand, and once that's done, she easily wipes the floor with her sister.
• Burning with Anger: Robin, when Starfire's Blob Monster groom is presented to her.
• Call-Back: In “Nevermore”, Starfire reveals it’s tradition on Tamaran to have a grand feast to celebrate an upcoming marriage. Thus in this episode, such a feast is the first thing that happens when the Titans arrive for Starfire’s wedding.
• Cool Crown: The crown of the Grand Ruler of Tamaran is an M-shaped piece of metal that fits to the wearer's forehead. Starfire takes this crown from Blackfire after defeating her, and later bestows it upon Galfore.
• Combining Mecha: Cyborg has modified the T-sub so that the Titans' pods can separate as individual fighter craft.
• Culture Clash: The Titans and especially Robin are shocked that Starfire is marrying someone she has never met before. She explains that this is normal for her people, the Tamaraneans.
• Exact Words: Throughout the episode, Starfire promises to do "what is best for Tamaran." At first, she believes she can only do this by agreeing to an Altar Diplomacy. Later, she realizes what is really in Tamaran's best interest is overthrowing her tyrannical sister, and later still it is passing her crown to a more worthy ruler.
• Explaining Your Power to the Enemy: During their fight, Blackfire smugly boasts that the Jewel of Charta is making her invincible. Once Starfire grabs it and crushes it to bits, she dispatches Blackfire in seconds.
• Faint in Shock: Robin faints in the cold open when Starfire hits him (and the rest of the Titans) the news that she's getting married to someone she has never met.
• Follow Your Heart: Galfore offers this bit of wisdom when Starfire is conflicted between her royal duty and personal feelings. She follows his advice, for the best.
• Foreshadowing: Galfore laments a few times that he is not the grand ruler of Tamaran, or he would put things right. In the end, he gets his wish.
• Friendly Tickle Torture: Galfore does this to Starfire when they first meet, which makes sense since he's her "K'Norfka".
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Starfire and Blackfire during their duel for the throne.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Robin spends the entire episode literally seething with jealousy over Starfire's engagement, especially when he thinks it's going to be to a Tamaranian Hunk. (Though he remains somewhat jealous even after he sees the real betrothed.) Lampshaded by Cyborg.
• Hope Spot: When Blackfire introduces Starfire to the person whom she will marry, a handsome Tamaranian male appears. Starfire looks on with a smile and her eyes turning into hearts, likely not feeling upset about the marriage anymore. Unfortunately, this guy is only introducing the real betrothed, who looks nothing like the hunky boy she's just seen.
• How Did You Know? I Didn't: This exchange.
  Cyborg: (after Beast Boy just turned into an alien that he saw earlier) How did you know you could do that?
  Beast Boy: (having transformed back) Lucky guess!
• I Choose to Stay: At the end of the episode, Starfire chooses to stay with the Teen Titans on Earth.
• Jabba Table Manners: Tamaranians in general, Starfire included. A Tamaranian dinner involves a Big Ball of Violence with everyone fighting over the food.
  Robin: I'm guessing you picked up your table manners on Earth?
  Starfire: (shoving food into her mouth with her bare hands) HURRY OR YOU WILL NOT GET ANY!
• Jaw Drop: Upon seeing a Tamaranian hunk that Starfire drools over, Robin's jaw drops so hard, it falls through the bottom of the screen and lands on his head.
• Klingon Promotion: Non-lethal example, Starfire is able to wrest the throne from her sister this way, although her reign lasts only long enough for her to relinquish it to Galfore.
• Kneel Before Zod:
  Blackfire: That’s right. Bow down before your grand ruler!
  Starfire: You may be the ruler of this planet, but you are not the ruler of me!
• Laser-Guided Karma: Blackfire gets this in spades from Starfire once the truth of her conspiracy comes out: she loses her crown and reign over Tamaran in a challenge from her sister, sees the powerful jewel she tried to sell Starfire out for destroyed during said challenge, and is exiled from her home planet afterwards as punishment for her crimes.
• Mythology Gag: When Galfore greets Starfire in native Tamaran, his sentence ends with the word "Koriand'r", Starfire's birth name in the comics.
• No, You:
  Beast Boy: Alien animals! Cool!
  Raven: You're the alien here.
• Papa Wolf: Galfore is willing to use violence against anyone who even hints he may harm his ward.
• Passing the Torch: At the end of the episode, Starfire passes her crown over to her caretaker, Galfore after he told her earlier to listen to her heart.
• Properly Paranoid: A two-fold example for both a villain and a hero:
  • Because of Robin's suspicions, Blackfire orders that the other Titans be kept an eye on before Starfire's wedding so that they don't discover the truth about why she arranged it.
  • Robin believes that Blackfire is up to no good since she arranged the wedding. Robin is correct when the so-called war between Tamaran and Drenthax IV is nothing more than a lie. Blackfire made it up to get revenge on Starfire, and as a bonus, Glgrdsklechhh will give her the Jewel of Charta which will increase her power.
• Rank Up: Galfore goes from basically royal nanny to the Emperor (Regent) to all of Tamaran.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Blackfire, when using the Jewel of Charta to enhance her power.
• Shipper on Deck: Judging by Galfore's knowing smile at the end, he clearly feels this way about Robin and Starfire.
• Ship Tease: Let's just say Robin is very, very unhappy that Starfire is getting married.
• Shout-Out: At one point, Starfire wanders onto a starlit palace balcony very reminiscent of Princess Jasmine's in Disney's Aladdin, complete with Robin visiting her on said balcony and inviting her to come away with him.
• "The Graduate" Homage Shot: In the midst of fighting to get to Starfire to tell her that she's being tricked into her wedding, Robin shouts her name through a window to attract her attention.
• Throwing Down the Gauntlet: Starfire makes a very public challenge to her sister for the throne of Tamaran. Unfortunately, as Galfore tells Robin, she has to do it alone.
• Uptown Girl: For a while, it seems like Starfire cannot remain with the Teen Titans (or Robin) on earth due to her royal duty to her planet, and her betrothed. Subverted at the end, when she passes the torch to someone else.
• Values Dissonance: In-universe. Arranged marriages are apparently traditional for the people of Tamaran; Robin is horrified that Starfire is getting married to someone she's never even met (although he has other reasons to be upset).
• Victor Steals Insignia: Blackfire breaks out of jail and takes over Tamaran, installing herself as the Grand Ruler and trying to force Starfire into an arranged marriage with a hideous blob alien. At her would-be wedding, Starfire challenges and defeats her sister, then takes the Grand Ruler’s crown from her and puts it on her own head before declaring, “The challenge is complete! Tamaran has a new Grand Ruler!”
• Weird World, Weird Food: The Titans don't find Tamaranian food very appealing, as it all looks like strangely colored blobs and mush.
  Beast Boy: Hel-lo! Vegetarian in the house! (holds up a blob of something) Does this like a veggie to you?
  Cyborg: (makes a noncommittal noise and eats the blob)
  Beast Boy: I'm not hungry.
• Wham Line: "I am… getting married."