Recap / Teen Titans S 2 E 13 Aftershock Part Two

Alas, poor Terra.

"My name is Terra. I have done horrible things. And I have absolutely no regrets."

—Terra

Having decided to give her no more chances, the Titans fight back against Terra.

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Tropes:

• All Your Powers Combined: Plasmus, Cinderblock, and Overload are combined by Slade to create Ternion.
• And Show It to You: The PG variant. Cyborg rips out the power core (or heart) of a Blocker. And then uses it as an impromptu grenade to blow up some nearby Sladebots.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Interruption: When the Titans ambushed Terra.
  Slade: [via intercom] Apprentice, report! What's going on?
  Terra: I don't [sees the Teen Titans, alive and royally pissed off, coming at her]... No!
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Raven constantly ignores Beast Boy and mocks his puns. When a Slade-controlled Terra nearly kills him, however, Raven says it will be the last thing Terra does.
• Bad Boss: Slade refuses to tolerate failure, he berates Terra for retreating even though she was outnumbered. When Terra does so anyway, relieved to be safe from the Titans, he begins beating her, promising to do far worse than them. When Terra protests he can't treat her that way, he replies that she's done terrible things and burned every bridge she had, so he's the only one left for her.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: As Slade tells Beast Boy, "She wanted control, so I gave it to her."
• Beware the Nice Ones: The Titans are generally a genial team, with Beast Boy always trying to lighten a situation. Several episodes ago they had treated Terra like family. Here, these same teenagers tear through her, to the point that she flees barely five minutes into the fight.
• Bittersweet Ending: Slade has been defeated (from his fall into lava), Terra redeems herself and the city has thankfully been saved from a volcanic eruption. However, Terra's redemption came at the cost of sacrificing herself to stop the eruption, turning herself to stone in the process. The Titans hold a memorial at her statue, promising to bring her back someday, and Beast Boy has made peace with Terra.

"TERRA
A TEEN TITAN
A TRUE FRIEND"

—Terra's Plaque

• Bookends: The episode opens with a muted, quiet, grim narration by Terra about who she is and all the horrible things she's done. The episode closes in a similarly gentle fashion, with the only exception that it's Beast Boy, narrating Terra for who she was, both her light and dark side.
  Beast Boy: Her name was Terra. She was gifted with tremendous power, and cursed with it as well. She was a dangerous enemy, and a good friend. And she was one of the bravest people that I have ever known.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Beast Boy against Slade's robots, while on the hunt for Terra. He takes down a dozen of them without breaking a sweat and finds Terra more quickly than the Titans do.
• Darker and Edgier: This may be the most serious-toned episode of the entire show, with the only humor coming from snarky comments from some of the Titans. Otherwise, there's less levity and the noticeable lack of over-the-top animation used for comedic moments.
• Death of a Child: Well, depending on what might have happened to her afterwards, poor Terra is certainly as good as finished by the end of this episode..
• Disney Death: Terra's last stand against Slade turns her to stone. Raven and Robin say they'll try to find a way to restore her.
• Disney Villain Death: Terra throws Slade down a crevice, and he dies either from the fall or when he's engulfed in lava.
• Downer Beginning: Slade and Terra have taken over the city, all of the civilians have cleared out, and the Titans are nowhere to be found.
• Exact Words: Slade reminds Terra that she promised to "fight at his side forever". He just happens to have the means to make her keep that promise, whether she wants to or not.
• Fatal Flaw: Terra's refusal to realize that she has choices, including the choice to become Slade's apprentice. Beast Boy calls her out on this.
• Foreshadowing: When the Titans ambush Terra, Slade says her suit's "neural interface" lets him assist her. It does a lot more than that.
• Fusion Dance: Plasmus, Cinderblock, and Overload combine to become a giant monstrosity.
• Good Is Not Soft: All the Titans are angry that Terra tried to "annihilate" them in the previous episode, and they very well let her know.
  Starfire: She seems quite scared.
  Raven: Scared isn't the same as sorry.
• Grand Theft Me: Thanks to Terra's suit, Slade can control her powers as he pleases, or stop her from leaving.
• Heroic Second Wind: Terra gets this right as Slade tries to compel her to kill Beast Boy. She proceeds to fight him off and toss him into lava. That was a long time in coming.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Terra uses her powers to stop the volcanic eruption, which turns her into stone.
• Hope Spot: For Terra, she thinks she can run back to Slade to regroup after the Titans kick her butt. He then delivers a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown and prevents her from leaving.
• Hypocrite: The previous episode, Beast Boy begged Terra not to go down her dark path and not to kill him and his friends. She ignored him and gleefully buried him alive. The beginning of this episode, Terra begs Beast Boy to not attack her, which he coldly ignores.
• I Cannot Self-Terminate: After Terra finds out the neurosuit lets Slade control her, she confronts Beast Boy and asks him to "destroy" her.
• I Regret Nothing: Terra's opening monologue, though her tone and flashbacks obviously signals that while she says it out loud, she's still obviously wrestling with herself if her decision was right or not.
• Implied Death Threat: When the Titans come across Terra about to kill Beast Boy, Raven tells her that if she goes through with killing Beast Boy, it'll be the last thing she ever does.
• Infernal Background: The shot in the cold opening with Terra and Slade together has flames in the background, symbolizing Terra's Deal with the Devil.
• Ironic Echo: While beating Terra to a pulp, Slade throws her opening monologue back in her face when she protests.
  Slade: Who else would have you, my dear? You've done horrible things, unforgivable things. Where else could you possibly go?
• Killed Off for Real: Slade dies and Terra is petrified. She's never seen in her usual form again.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: The Titans quickly gain the upper hand on Terra in their initial fight and she tries to flee, only for Slade to order her to stay; she soon leaves anyway, much to Slade's displeasure.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Beast Boy, up until he encounters Terra underground and she begs him to "destroy" her since that's what he wants.
• List of Transgressions: Terra offers one at the beginning of the episode for her actions, and then Beast Boy offers another one below.
• Match Cut: Early in the episode, to depict Terra's Happy Flashback intersect with the present. Like a now-empty pizza joint intersecting with Terra and the team having a pizza-eating contest in happier days, Terra flying past a building cutting to Terra and Beast Boy bonding some time ago, the abandoned Jump City bank intersect with Terra helping the Titans take down Mumbo at some point, and so on.
• Mayor of a Ghost Town: Slade's forces have conquered the city, but every civilian evacuated. He doesn't seem to have a problem with this, begging the question of why he wanted to take it over.
• Mook Horror Show: The Titans' first attack on Terra. They attack from the shadows and fog, never let her get a good look at them, and send her running with her tail between her legs. It's a lot like Batman, except in the daytime.
• Never Say "Die": Every possible euphemism is used, particularly "annihilate" and "destroy." Raven also hints at killing Terra if the latter had killed Beast Boy.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Titans' ruthless retaliation against Terra scares her to the point of going back to Slade's base, which results in Slade just as ruthlessly beating her to a pulp, damaging her psyche even more.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Terra is subjected to two back-to-back. The first comes from the Titans, who continue to pile on non-stop attacks up to and including dropping a bus on top of her. When Terra retreats from the Titans' counterattack, Slade beats her for not continuing to fight as he ordered.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Beast Boy begins the episode by assisting in the No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on Terra without a word to her the entire time. Shortly after when she escapes, he drops the current fight to pursue her in a fury.
• People Puppet: Slade's power suit he gave to Terra ends up grafting into her nervous system. When she tries to leave, he activates a mechanism to control her every move. She does manage to fight back in the end.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Beast Boy loses it when Terra moans she doesn't have a choice but to help Slade during their fight. He lets her have it that, reminding her that she willingly joined him.
  Beast Boy: That's a lie! You've always had a choice! It's all been your choice. You chose to work for Slade, chose to betray us, and now you've chosen to give him control. Slade isn't doing this, Terra. You are!
• Redemption Equals Death: Terra turns against and kills Slade, but then has to make a Heroic Sacrifice to save the city.
• Resignations Not Accepted: Tired of the Titans' retaliation, and Slade's abuse, Terra storms out. Slade warns her that it's too late to return to them now that she has shown her true colors. When she tries to leave anyway, he activates a device in her power suit to start controlling her every move.
  Slade: You chose this life, apprentice. It's too late to change your mind now. Far too late.
  Terra: But it's not too late for me to walk out the door.
  Slade: I'm afraid it is, my dear. You see, you no longer have any control in the matter. (actives controls in Terra's power suit, making her return to him) You promised to "fight at my side forever", and that's a promise I intend to make you keep.
• Rule of Symbolism: During Terra's narration in the prologue, we see the heart-mirror Beast Boy gave her back in "Betrayal". At one point, the mirror shatters, cutting to a heart-shaped image of Terra's reflection fracturing in half. This also references the window reflection from the last episode.
  • Remember that adorable puppy Beast Boy would change into whenever he wanted to shower Terra with kisses? Throughout the episode, Beast Boy changes into a snarling, vicious wolf.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Terra retreats to Slades' base after the fight with the Titans. When Slade beats Terra for disobeying his order, she tries to abandon him, but she can't take his neurosuit off.
• Sympathy for the Devil: Downplayed. When Terra retreats from fighting the Titans, Starfire has a momentary bout of pity for Terra as she notes "she seems scared". Raven, however, informs Starfire that just because Terra's "scared" doesn't necessarily mean she's repentant for trying to kill them.
• Taken for Granite: Terra's ultimate fate by the end of the episode. The Titans promise to find a cure for her condition, but only time will tell if they will be able to fulfill that promise.
• Tempting Fate: Moments after Terra said, "well, they're ^note the Teen Titans, of course really gone," early in the episode. Almost immediately, the Titans announces their appearance by destroying a platoon of Blockers flanking Terra, smacks her out of the sky and gives her the biggest No-Holds-Barred Beatdown she'll ever receive in her life.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Subverted by Raven, who threatens that if a Slade-controlled Terra kills Beast Boy, that "it will be the last thing you ever do."
• Tranquil Fury: During the Titans' No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on Terra, there's no dialogue during the attacks and they give her no breathing room between attacks. When Beast Boy finally appears, he doesn't even shift out of wolf form to talk, only growling at her.
• Villainous Breakdown: Slade loses his patience when Terra begins to defy him, much like Robin when he was forced to be his apprentice.
• Villains Want Mercy: When Terra gets ganged up on by the Titans for what she did to them the previous episode, she begs Beast Boy to stop attacking her, which was rightly ignored.
  Terra: Beast Boy? Beast Boy, stop! Aren't you even going to talk to me?
  Cyborg: There's nothing left to say.
  Starfire: You attempted to annihilate us.
  Raven: Did you think we wouldn't take it personally?
  Robin: It's over, Terra!
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Terra, as always.
• You Have Failed Me: Enraged at Terra's refusal to fight the ruthless Titans and retreat, Slade beats her to a pulp, promising to do far worse. Slade almost says this word-for-word.
  Slade: You failed me, apprentice. I ordered you to eliminate the Titans, you did not. I commanded you to fight, and you ran.
• You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry!: Beast Boy, as Cyborg witnesses. His tiny green friend takes down more than a few robots in angry T-Rex mode, and then goes on the hunt for Terra.

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