Before I actually Review this episode, I'd like to ask you something real quick.
What would you say the A-plot for the episode is? Robin's dilemma over
building a pool or a senior center? Or Beast Boy/Cyborg's quest to con
the pizza place?
Because I always assumed that Robin's plot was the main plot here, with
the pizza shenanigans serving as a B-plot. So I was always confused as
to why the episode was named after its B-plot.After all, Robin's plot
definitively starts first, and arguably ends last, with the pizza stuff
sandwiched in between alternate Robin scenes.
And that's when I timed this episode.
The pool plot only lasts about 4 minutes, while the pizza plot lasts
about 5 minutes and 21 seconds, even though most of that time is made up
of montage.. Which I guess explains why the episode is named after the
pizza plot.
But I think this serves to highlight the fact that this episode is
structurally weird, as far as episodes of Teen Titans Go!.... go.
Plot/Themes
Unlike the vast majority of Teen Titans Go! episodes, this one is
structured more akin to an episode of Seinfeld, with its main character
caught between doing the right thing and doing something selfish while
the comic relief characters team up for a zany scheme. And that's a fine
structure for an episode, but what this episode utterly fails at is
tying these two plots together.. I mean, yes, we see an old guy at the
senior center get free pizza, providing the final slap in the face to
Beast Boy and Cyborg's scheme... but is that really the funniest way
these two plots could collide?
I think it would tie the two plots together better if, say, Beast Boy
and Cyborg ended up dipping into Robin's construction fund to finance
their pizza antics. After all the money was wasted on trying to get free
pizza, maybe there was no money left to finish the building, creating a
half-finished structure, meaning that Robin disappointed the old people and Starfire. And when all is said and done, maybe Cyborg and Beast Boy do end up with that free pizza... Even though the pool/senior center is
across the street from Zippy's Pizza. But they don't eat it, since
they're still full from all those pizzas they ordered earlier. Sure, it
runs the risk of making Cyborg and Beast Boy look like unsympathetically
colossal jerkwads... But I think the last few season have repeatedly
demonstrated that TTG doesn't exactly care about keeping its characters
likable.
And I feel that the show would go that far with these two stories... If
this episode had been written after the show found itself. Cyborg and
Beast Boy's questionable ethics don't win in the end. Robin does the right thing in the end. This is kind of the antithesis of where the show
wound up, where every other episode would see the writers finding new
ways to troll the audience..
The structure of "A-plot and mostly-unconnected B-plot" is a standard
structure for many shows, but to my knowledge, this is the first and
only time Teen Titans Go! Puts two unrelated plots in the same episode. "La Larva de Amor" had two plots, but the "Looking for Silkie" plot matched up with the "Silkie's in Latin America" plot.
Between the story structure and the characterization, you can tell this
was the pre-"Meatball Party" experimental phase where they hadn't yet
starting cranking things up past eleven.
But I feel as though the two plots were sort of mashed together, like
they realized that neither plot could carry a whole episode, so they put
them together to kill two birds with one stone.
Characters
Nothing is really learned, and the characters don't really change. Their
personalities have been established, and they behave within the roles
that the show has set up for them. Although it is interesting to note
that the Titans are all toned down compared to later seasons. And even
compared to earlier episodes.
Robin has his crush on the alien princess, but he doesn't seem like the
kind of nut who would hear voices while stealing Speedy's identity to
date Starfire.
Cyborg and Beast Boy go too far, but have the self-awareness to realize it.
Raven still arguably has her classic personality. For now. (As an aside, I think this is the first time she's sat out 90% of an episode.)
And Starfire is... There. Actually, let's talk about her, strange as that may seem.
Starfire
She is a nothing of a character at this point, and I don't mean that in the same way that Val-Yor did. (You're welcome, Teen Titans fans.)
She's there to provide
the occasional joke over her speaking patterns, or alien ways, or even
the odd visual gag. But her personality is simply nothing. I bring this up because I think it's emblematic of the show's growing pains. While some of the characters had their personalities altered from the beginning, they're still figuring out what works with Starfire.
In order to make Robin funny, they turned him into a control freak. In
order to make Cyborg and Beast Boy funny, they exaggerated their comedic
tendencies. Beast Boy is now even more of a doofus, and Cyborg is more
bombastic than ever.
In order to make Raven and Starfire funny... What do they do? As of yet,
nothing. Starfire and Raven are both just kind of there. But while
Raven's curmudgeonly tendencies add a nice contrast to the rest of the
cast, Starfire's comedic potential is actually lower than it was in the
original show. In the original Teen Titans, her alien ways led to a few
zany moments in a show that wasn't about zany moments. Sure, it was more
off-the-wall than The Batman or the DC Animated Universe, but it wasn't
off-the-wall all the time. And now that the show is, Starfire has been left
behind, in the same way that a knock-knock joke becomes less funny when
you stick it alongside a classic Bugs Bunny routine.
Animation
Nothing to write home about. For a redesigned aesthetic that was
supposed to make the characters more physically expressive, episodes
like this rely a surprising amount on the script itself, rather than the
animation. Sure, the Grim Reaper's appearance is funny, the fact that Beast Boy
gives the pizza guy a pony ride is funny, and there are a few sight
gags, like the crappy Robin costume and the arthritic hands, but the
funniest stuff comes from the actual writing on display.
Take Beast Boy's popsicle catching fire. The idea of a popsicle catching
fire is a funny juxtaposition. But the final animation doesn't add
anything to how funny the idea inherently is. We don't laugh because it
caught fire in an amusing way, we merely chuckle because it's a funny
idea. The animation of the popsicle catching fire doesn't have a
satisfying bounce to it, or top-notch timing, or any above-and-beyond
animation that elevates the simple gag beyond an amusing idea. (Boy,
nothing murders a joke like explaining and vivisecting it, huh?) That
pretty much sums up the gags in this episode, to say nothing about the
previous episodes that suffered from the same problem for a few gags.
That's not to say that the animation is bad. It's serviceable... But I
think it's safe to say that "serviceable" is basically the bare minimum
of what we as an audience expect in... Well, anything, really.
Final Thoughts
A middle-of-the-road episode. A few chuckles, and nothing to rile people up, intentionally or unintentionally.
Next time, Beast Boy once again indulges in questionable behavior. What a clorbag.
See you then!
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