"Robin, you are my best friend. I cannot be in a world where we must fight. If you are truly evil, then go ahead. Do what you must."
—Starfire
Tropes:
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Robin when Slade first activates the nanobots. This helps the Titans realize what’s going on.
- Badass Boast: Each Titan says a piece that contributes to a whole of one: "Dude." "We know." "And we don't care." "We are your friends, Robin. We are not leaving without you."
- Batman Gambit: To eliminate the threat of the nanobots to his friends, Robin infects himself to force Slade into a Morton's Fork: if he kills the Titans, he loses his apprentice, but if he lets them live, Robin and the Titans will swarm him. And Robin knows how much Slade hates to lose because he also hates losing, acknowledging how similar they are. Fortunately for our heroes, Slade chooses the latter. Robin learned from the trope namer himself, after all.
- Book Ends: "Final Exam" had Cyborg and Beast Boy bickering in the middle about the fact that the latter was vegetarian and the former wanted meat on his pizza. During their "breakfast explosion" Cyborg riffs on Beast Boy for wanting tofu waffles and soy milk.
- Break the Badass: Slade nearly does this, as Robin can't retrieve the nanobot detonator from him or risk his friends' lives by defying orders. Just after Robin says he'll do anything Slade says, to keep his friends safe, Slade orders Robin to call him "Master".
- Break the Cutie: All of the Titans get this on losing their leader, but Starfire is close to tears in this episode, as she cannot believe that Robin has become evil. She regains her spirit on realizing that Slade is using their lives to blackmail Robin.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Slade stretches the Subtext farther than ever here.Slade: (to Robin) I made you my apprentice — all my knowledge, all my power, all for you... but the only thing you care about is your WORTHLESS. LITTLE. FRIENDS!!!
- Destruction Equals Off-Switch: Slade destroying the remote to the nanobots causes them to stop hurting their targets.
- Entitled Bastard: Slade thinks that Robin should feel "honored" to be his apprentice, and when Robin tells him where to stick it, he throws a tantrum and calls Robin "ungrateful".
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: You can tell by his shock when Robin ran for the machine that Slade NEVER expected Robin to sacrifice his own life, and he never planned on what to do should Robin infect himself with the same nanobots because that scenario never crossed his mind.
- Evil Feels Good: Slade while pinning Robin notes that he's getting endorphins from the thrill of stealing, according to the suit's monitors, and will force Robin to continue getting that thrill. Robin begs to differ and promises that when he gets the nanobot detonator away from Slade that he'll make the latter pay.
- "Eureka!" Moment: The Titans have this when they find nanobots in their bodies, attached to their blood cells. Starfire realizes that their lives are in danger at Slade's mercy. Raven provides the answer for why Slade hasn't killed them: he's using their lives to make Robin do his bidding. Everyone's expressions light up in understanding, except Beast Boy's.
- Genre Savvy: Beast Boy presents a bunch of comics featuring the usual reasons for a hero apparently acting evil — Mind Control, robotic double, clone. Despite this, they conclude that something made Robin pull Face–Heel Turn of his own free will. The reasons are that Raven can sense Mind Control with her powers, and Cyborg's sensors identified the real Robin. Unfortunately, they never consider the simple, mundane possibility of black mail until Slade activates the nanites in each of their systems and they heard Robin begging for Slade to stop the detonators, which immediately clues them in on what's actually going on.
- Honor Before Reason: Robin intuits that Slade is like this, that he'd rather not lose than kill the Titans. Fortunately, Robin gambled correctly.
- Irony: Slade wants to turn Robin into a heartless criminal and hates how he still cares about his friends... but it's only because Robin is a hero who cares about his friends that Slade was able to blackmail him into serving him!
- Kick the Morality Pet: Zig-Zagged. Star refusing to shoot starbolts at Robin leads to him refusing to fire in turn; Slade then activates the bots, nearly killing the Titans until Robin is forced to shoot Starfire with the heat ray he stole. Played straight in the climax, where Starfire crying makes Robin defy Slade's orders and infect himself with the bots.
- Mythology Gag: Slade has Robin break into Wayne Enterprises.Slade: Who knows? I might even become like a father to you.Robin: I already have a father. (cue bats flying near the ceiling)
- Near-Villain Victory: An interesting example. While Slade comes moments away from successfully killing all of the main team, he would have lost out on the opportunity to corrupt Robin over to his side, something he considers a defeat.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Slade activating the nanobots when Robin refuses to fire on Starfire ends up making the Titans realize that Robin is not acting on his volition, as he didn't activate the "glowy, hurty trick". When Cyborg finds the nanobots on the scanner in Titans Tower, they immediately figure out the situation.
- Not Brainwashed: Discussed.Beast Boy: Okay, the way I see it, there are only two logical explanations. One: Robin's been replaced by an evil robot double. Two: he's another innocent victim of zombie mind control.Raven: As logical as that sounds, if anything was controlling his mind, I would have sensed it.Cyborg: And my scanners confirmed his bio-metrics. That was the real Robin. Our Robin.Starfire: Lies! That was not Robin! Your scanners are wrong! Robin is our friend, and nothing could ever make him betray us! Nothing.Raven: But something did.Beast Boy: Three words: disgruntled radioactive clone.Raven: No matter what the reason, no matter how much we wish it wasn't true, Robin's a criminal now, and just like any other criminal...Cyborg: The Teen Titans have to bring him down.
- Not So Similar: Robin finally acknowledges that he and Slade aren't so different, save one thing: Robin has friends to help him through his inner demons.
- Not So Stoic: Slade seems amused and even impressed when Robin attacks him, calmly telling him that he's doing much better than the last time they fought. When Robin knocks him down from a reasonable height and cracks his mask however Slade begins to lose his cool and furiously begins attacking Robin.
- Offscreen Crash: When Beast Boy brings up another Genre Savvy (yet ridiculous) theory, Cyborg picks him up, and Raven kicks him off to the side, making him crash into something.
- Please, I Will Do Anything!:Slade: If the Titans are so distracting, maybe I should just get rid of them...
Robin: Don't... I'll do whatever you say. - Please Kill Me if It Satisfies You:Starfire: Robin, you are my best friend. I cannot be in a world where we must fight. If you are truly evil, then go ahead. Do what you must.
- A Rare Sentence: Raven, the stoic goth girl who prefers to be alone if she can help it, surprises everyone with this:Raven: "I know this isn't my style, but we just kicked Slade's butt. Shouldn't we—celebrate or something?"
- Sadistic Choice: At one point Slade activates the nanobots and tells Robin that he'll only turn them off if Robin uses the thermal blaster on Starfire. He's forced to shoot her, knowing that Starfire is sturdy enough that such a blast would hardly be crippling, but the nanobots certainly would kill her.
- Shoo the Dog: When the Titans come to save Robin, he tries to tell them to run, dropping his Jerkass facade. They refuse, saying they don't care if the nanobots kill them.
- True Companions: The Titans come to save Robin from Slade, on realizing that Slade is using their lives as bargaining chips and breaking their leader's spirit. From their expressions, and Cyborg saying, "and we don't care" if they're killed or not, they make it clear they know that Robin wasn't betraying them of his volition, and welcome him back into their fold.
- The Unreveal: We never see what Slade looks like under his mask, after the Titans succeed in breaking it.
- [Verb] This!:Slade: My apprentice is progressing even faster than I'd hoped. All he needed was a little...motivation.Robin: Motivate THIS! [punch]
- Villainous Breakdown: Slade has a big one during the climax. He starts out calm, but once Robin starts to push him he begins to lose his cool, especially when Robin gets a good hit that knocks him down and cracks his mask. Then he snarls angrily after Robin tosses his insignia at him, attacking quite viciously in response and ranting about how "ungrateful" Robin is for rejecting him. It reaches a breaking point when Robin infects himself with the nanobots to defeat his blackmail card and declares that Slade will lose either way; Slade destroys his remote, gives another snarl, and attacks like a wild animal.
- We Will Meet Again: Just as Slade gives off Exit Villain, Stage Left, he activates a device, vowing, "Another day, Robin. Another day..."
- What You Are in the Dark: The Titans learn that their best friend is being held hostage, and they will die if they go to rescue him. They show up anyway, with Raven telling Robin that they know about the situation because he's not getting left behind.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: The Titans scan their bodies and learn there are miniature bombs attached to their red blood cells. Starfire points out that it means Slade could kill them at any time, so why hasn't he? Raven provides the answer: he's using it to blackmail Robin.
- The Worf Effect: No matter how many sneak attacks that Robin pulls off, Slade manages to catch and overpower him. Keep in mind that Robin has been trained by Batman and took down Cinderblock by himself in the previous episode. Robin only ends up defeating him by his friends' side.
- Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Slade keeps praising Robin for his threats and for becoming ruthless and resorting to underhanded means of attack. Naturally Robin gets incensed by this, both because Slade keeps comparing them, and because Slade clearly doesn't view him as a threat.
