The first one, contrary to some Executive Meddling.
You're likely going to see this labelled as the third episode in a lot of releases, with "Final Exam" being listed as the first episode. This is because Cartoon Network elected to switch the two episodes around for some reason.
Things kick off with a shot of a prison that's clearly taking a beating - smoke billowing everywhere and a wide range of sirens going off. Three prison guards come rushing in to find a giant sentient figure of concrete named Cinderblock smashing his way into the prison. They try engaging him with their laser rifles, but Cinderblock promptly hands their asses back to them before continuing further towards the treasure - the cells. It's when he reaches that part where he's stopped in his tracks by two voices. And they aren't the only ones.
Enter Robin. Then enter Starfire. Then enter Beast Boy. Then enter Raven. And then enter Cyborg. This Five-Man Band makes up the Teen Titans. And they are sure as hell not letting Cinderblock get his cement hands on whatever it is he's going for. After we get a look at all five of them at once, cue both them and Cinderblock charging into battle. Then cue the title sequence.
Once that's finished, we go straight back to the fight, where we see each Titan using their powers against Cinderblock to not much avail, though for the Titans the fight goes pretty well until Cinderblock decides to make straight for the cells. Robin and Cyborg decide to go for a team move called the "sonic boom", but it fails spectacularly when they accidentally catch each other's feet, causing Cyborg to end up sonic blasting Starfire and Beast Boy, and to further make matters worse, Robin then spills one of his grenades directly next to Raven. Cinderblock quickly takes advantage of their incapacitation by smashing his way through several cells, freeing the inmates in the process which in turn distracts the Titans from going after him. Though the Titans make easy work of the inmates, Cinderblock manages to find what he's looking for: a Tailor-Made Prison with containing a Person Jar, which he swiftly rips out and escapes with. Raven quickly takes care of the remaining escaping inmates, though of course that wasn't what they came for, and both Robin and Cyborg are not happy with each other about it. They both start blaming each other for letting Cinderblock escape with his treasure before Raven shuts them down, pointing out that their sparring will not change the bottom line that Cinderblock has successfully escaped with his treasure. Though it stalls them at first, they quickly start back up again, by this point taking personal digs at each other... and then when Robin remarks why Cyborg's even on the team in the first place, Cyborg simply responds with Screw This, I'm Outta Here before storming off.
We're then taken to a pretty ominous looking Clockworks Area - obviously the lair of someone - where Cinderblock arrives to bring the stasis tank before a figure sitting on a throne (this is later revealed to be Slade). As part of their scheme, Cinderblock activates the tank and awakens the human inside, where he immediately starts to panic, claiming that he should never be awake and that he only remains human while he is sleeping. Unfortunately for him, whatever he does while being awake is all part of their plan. And then we find out that last part; the man in the tank soon transforms into a purple Muck Monster and shatters the tank in the process. Not good.
Back at the Titan Tower, the remaining four are trying to come to terms with Cyborg's absence. Beast Boy tries and fails to reach him by phone. Starfire tries to eat her way out of it. Raven tries to downplay it altogether. And then there's Robin, who's increasingly regretting what he did earlier and before long is openly missing him. However, their reminiscence of Cyborg is abruptly cut short when they receive an alert from a chemical plant. There, they find the purple Muck Monster from before, Plasmus, upping his strength through drinking the substances. A battle ensues, where we see more of what the four remaining Titans are capable of, and though they struggle at first, they eventually succeed in apprehending Plasmus. But unknown to them, their fight was being observed by Slade, and aware of Cyborg's absence, he dispatches Cinderblock to another location.
And then things take a turn for the worse: Plasmus transforms into several creatures that go after each one of the Titans. As they all battle their specific sub-form, Robin leads his onto a conveyer belt above a series of large vats. They duel until they reach the edge, and when the Plasmus form tries to pull Robin into the vat, Robin's fall to a Cruel and Unusual Death is suddenly broken when he is grabbed by a hand... belonging to Cyborg. After pulling Robin to safety, he immediately suggests to him the "sonic boom" move from earlier. Robin agrees, and this time, they pull off the move flawlessly - Robin throws one of his grenades while Cyborg blasts it with his cannon. The resulting blast knocks Plasmus right back into his sleeping human state. As the dormant Plasmus is taken away, Robin and Cyborg both make up for what happened in the prison. Beast Boy suddenly remembers that Cinderblock is still on the loose... until Cyborg quickly shoots that worry down by revealing an apprehended Cinderblock who he single-handedly took care of while they were engaged with Plasmus. Reflecting on the whole experience, Robin notices something strange; the prison heist from earlier along with the use of Plasmus as a distraction seemed to be a little too clever to be pulled off by Cinderblock. It's at that point where we cut back to Slade's lair, and though he's pretty pissed that he was foiled this time round, he vows that he will succeed in the future.
This episode provides examples of:
- Aborted Arc: The end of this episode implies that Slade's motivation is to get revenge on the Titans for some unspecified incident. However, this is dropped for the rest of the series, leading Slade's characterization of a creepy criminal mastermind with only vague motives, so we never find out exactly what Slade was seeking vengeance for.
- Action Prologue: The episode begins with Cinderblock smashing his way into a prison as part of a Great Escape.
- Anachronic Order: This episode was switched with Final Exam, which leads to a bit of weirdness concerning the first mention of Slade.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:Cyborg: You're bossy, you're rude, you got no taste in music!
- Bittersweet Ending: Robin and Cyborg make up for their argument, the latter rejoins the team, both Plasmus and Cinderblock are captured, and Slade’s plan has been stopped but unbeknownst to the Titans, Slade vows vengeance on them.
- Clockworks Area: The first shots of Slade's lair.
- Conveniently Timed Distraction: Cinderblock causes this in the prison by bulldozing a path through several cells, giving the inmates a clear and irresistible way out. This ends up distracting the Titans from going after him by forcing them to deal with the inmates.
- Defensive "What?": Raven:Raven: My mind is never troubled. People come, people go. It's pointless to be upset about Cyborg. [Raven's hair flips up and she cracks the screens on the tower wall] What?
- Detachment Combat: Plasmus has the ability to detach itself into multiple smaller copies to overwhelm the Titans after they restrain him the first time, though this episode is the only instance it uses this power for reasons unexplained.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Beast Boy (due to Greg Cipes' voice cracking partway through production of the first season) and Raven's voices are notably different, and Starfire speaks in a strange monotone that does not carry over to the other episodes. Slade, meanwhile, is accompanied in this episode by Wintergreen, his butler from the comics, who doesn't feature in any of Slade's other appearances throughout the series.
- Establishing Character Moment: This technically being the first episode, we get to see what each of the Titans are capable of, but a particular mention goes to both Robin and Cyborg.
- Establishing Series Moment: At the beginning, we're introduced to the members of the Teen Titans one by one.Robin: One!Starfire: Two!Beast Boy: Three!Raven: Four!Cyborg: Five!
- Funny Bruce Lee Noises: While fighting one of the mini-Plasmuses on a conveyer belt, Robin tries intimidating his opponent with this. It... doesn't work.
- Heroic BSoD: Robin ends up experiencing this in the tower through regret over what he did to Cyborg.
- No-Sell:
- The laser rifles in the beginning naturally do nothing to Cinderblock.
- In the first battle with Plasmus, many of the Titans' abilities don't cause any significant damage to him (mainly due to his Healing Factor).
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Cyborg single-handedly defeating Cinderblock and taking the villain into custody, which we only see the aftermath of.
- Recruit Teenagers with Attitude: Subverted to an extent at first, though the Titans do manage to successfully take care of both culprits by the end.
- Resurrected for a Job: Inverted. Cinderblock awakens Plasmus from stasis as part of the episode's plot.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: A frustrated Cyborg's response to an equally frustrated Robin after the latter, out of frustration, questioned why he was even part of the Teen Titans in the first place.
- Shout-Out: The way Plasmus's tentacle busts through a door and causes Starfire to scream, followed by a shot of Plasmus peeking through the resulting gap, seems like an homage to The Shining.
- Taking You with Me: Subverted. The Plasmus form that tries to yank Robin into a chemical vat fails when Cyborg grabs him just in time.
- 10-Minute Retirement: Cyborg leaving the team qualifies, as he's back by the end of the episode.
- Torso with a View: Starfire managed to blast a hole through Plasmus' midsection large enough for her to fly through, but it doesn't last.Starfire: Did I let him have too much?
[cue Plasmus' torso-hole resealing itself]
Beast Boy: I'm thinking not enough. - The War Has Just Begun: Slade's reaction upon hearing that this particular episode's plot was foiled by the Titans was to swear that he will come back better... and that he will win.
- Villain Opening Scene: The episode opens with Cinderblock bulldozing his way into a prison.
