Season 3, Episode 8
Behind the Lines
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What a punk.
That was her first impression of him. 'Stone'. Really, did he have anyone fooled? He honestly thought he could just show up, gain the trust of every H.I.V.E. student, and bring the whole operation down around Blood's pointy head? Please. What a blowhard.
...And yeah, she was pretty cocky, too. But she could back it up.
Stealth missions weren't really her thing, honestly. And a slow burn wasn't nearly as much fun as a flash of lightning. But Aqualad had asked her specifically, and she knew the operation was more important than her personal preference. So she'd waited, and trained, and monitored newer students, and steadily moved toward larger and larger positions in the Academy. She'd crossed every 't' and dotted every 'i' she needed to in order to prove to Blood that she was the real deal.
And Stone had just... waltzed right in.
She hadn't met him in person. But the whole school was buzzing with the news of this new recruit, and she'd smelt a rat right away. 'Takes one to know one' and all that. His attitude was off, and he hadn't bothered to fashion that strong of an alibi- nothing thoughtless or idiotic, but inexperienced. She'd considered trying to get a message to him, somehow. Letting him know how close he was to being found out.
Then something strange happened. His shtick worked.
Probably not in the way he'd expected, but it had worked. Instead of convincing the others that he was an ally to be trusted, he'd made them think of him as a rival to be challenged. A threat, but not an enemy. A half-lie would be much harder to unearth than complete falsehood, and it didn't take Stone long to figure that out. In fact, in a strange way, it almost strengthened the students' respect for him.
And even Blood himself had pinned an entire campaign on Stone's abilities, so clearly he'd been doing something right. Day after day, the headmaster would stand before them, gloating in his power, glaring over the crowd of students with red eyes, and she would dutifully pretend she was being brainwashed, occasionally sneaking a glance to notice that Stone was attempting to fake it as well. She often wondered if he understood how lucky he'd been, or how close his infiltration plans had come to disaster. She hadn't been present during the climactic battle- the one that destroyed part of the Academy- but she couldn't have avoided news of the event if she'd tried. A double agent revealed, and a school betrayed. Blood had been furious. The sorceress- Jinx, wasn't it?- had been furious. Arguably, a complete success.
And yet the Teen Titans had shown up, in person, making absolutely sure that the H.I.V.E. would never forget their faces. Cyborg had played his cards, and collected the prize, but at a price: none of them could play the game ever again. Now that she thought about it, the Titans were indebted to Aqualad for having the foresight to keep another agent out of the spotlight.
Patience was key. Cyborg had been the hammer the Titans had dropped on the Academy, but she was the ace in the hole, ready for anything. Hidden in the background, she would be prepared when the time came.
So when the building itself was destroyed, and a new headmaster was instituted, she'd specifically requested to travel with Brother Blood and the H.I.V.E. soldiers to the new facility. In fact, Aqualad's orders arrived while she was already halfway to her destination: Keep an eye on Blood. Find out what they're planning. Be careful.
As if she hadn't been monitoring the entire situation already.
It hadn't taken long to get the information. She'd felt no small measure of pride, knowing she'd accomplished a mission that Stone's heavy-handed antics couldn't have finished in a hundred years. Soon, Aqualad knew about the machine, and what it was capable of. The Titans followed soon after.
And just like that, they were face-to-face. The Dropout. The Traitor.
She decided to indulge a long-standing idea. After all, he'd held his own against the top students- Blood had called him one of the best, and not even Mammoth had been able to overpower him. How would she fare?
The camera was running, of course. She could claim that she had to fight him... but she had to admit, it was satisfying to send him flying.
He was still a punk, after all.
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Scrapped idea: -Where was Brother Blood between the Academy's destruction and the formation of this underwater base? How did he accomplish this? (Scrapped because I couldn't think of a good idea. That's pretty much it.)
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Weak short story is weak and short. I won't argue that. But I'm gonna move forward anyway, because if I try to make every one of these a perfectly-crafted piece of writing, I'll update even more slowly. However, I really do apologize if you were hoping for a more creative take on Brother Blood, Aqualad, Cyborg, Bumblebee, or any other element of this episode.
So, what's 'Wavelength' all about? Well... it's complicated.
The tone of this one's kinda tricky. It's hilarious, but I'm fairly sure it's still trying to be a serious episode, as opposed to filler. A brand new character (Bumblebee) is introduced, we get a ton of new ideas with Cyborg's motivation and attitude towards the rest of the team, and Brother Blood makes an excellent comeback. But there are some moments that aren't simply funny- they're goofy, almost to the point of making the rest of the episode kind of disconnected. More on that in a minute.
Even though this is Cyborg's episode, and partially Bumblebee's as well, Brother Blood really gets some interesting moments. For example, when exactly did H.I.V.E. upgrade from just a school to something that can afford a standing army? Did he somehow get those soldiers to where he wanted them, and get them all the equipment and training and everything? That's impressively ambitious. Also, has he had red-psychic-mind-lightning powers this whole time? I don't remember any telepathic electrocution in the season opener.
Speaking of that other episode, I'm noticing that Brother Blood has legitimate reason to absolutely despise Cyborg. I wonder if they'll meet again?
As for Cyborg and Bumblebee, I'm kind of torn. On the one hand, I think she's pretty cool, and I'm definitely a fan of the sarcastic, arrogant attitude she has. But for some reason, when they were bickering and bantering and whatever, I really wasn't feeling it. It kind of seemed like they were arguing just because the writing said they should be arguing? It's possible that she's supposed to be a foil to Cyborg because they're so similar, but I don't know. Their whole bit wasn't that interesting to me.
And I have one specific problem with both of them. Bumblebee says she could resist Brother Blood's hypnosis because, 'There isn't a man alive who can tell ME what to do!' which seemed, at least to me, a really weak reasoning. And Cyborg refuses to let Bumblebee help him, even after she's proved which side she's on multiple times. I get that he's suspicious, but he's turning her down repeatedly just because she beat him up a little in their fight. We know they're gonna work together by the end of the episode, so why bother dragging it out because of a dumb reason?
(Also, this line made me pause: "And (I read) a few memory files about the big crush you had on Jinx." Is that the most explicit this show has ever been about a relationship? Or any kind of romantic intent at all?)
Finally, the episode's ending is worth talking about. I was very impressed with the last six or seven minutes especially, what you might call the 'endgame'. There's a point where Beast Boy and Aqualad are stuck in a collapsing chamber, Cyborg is fistfighting Blood (who, of course, knows his mechanical weaknesses from studying the blueprints) while trying not to go crazy from the sonic explosions, the other three Titans are trying not to drown/suffocate in a pocket of air that's slowly disappearing in the wreckage of the building, AND there's a tidal wave racing towards Jump City. That's kind of intense. I honestly had no idea how they were going to win this one.
Of course, it all works out, but it's still a wild ride. Cyborg's fight with Blood in particular is a lot of fun.
And speaking of the ending, just after the Titans get a new alert and Robin tells Cyborg that it's time to go, he looks out the window and says quietly, "...Yeah. It just might be." I don't like where that might be going, man. That's kind of unsettling.
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Funny stuff: The main plot opens with Aqualad delivering this line: "Your trash is in my ocean." Turns out he's talking about a leftover villain, but holy cow, does that not sound like a completely different problem? I honestly thought this would be an environmental episode for a second.
(After Aqualad sadly says, "With no fish to help me...") Beast Boy: "You got schooled." No one reacts. No one groans, or laughs, or anything. Aqualad says 'Pretty much' and they all move on with their lives. I love this show.
Cyborg gets some hilariously off-beat animations in this one. Really over-the-top. In fact, I'm not sure it fits the serious tone of the episode. For example, there's a bit where all the blue parts of his machinery turn red and black, and then lightning explodes from his hands. Like a wizard.
"Release the mind-controlled squid." I'm just... I don't know. What do you do with that?
Beast Boy gets a whole bunch of clever and creative undersea morphs in this episode. Really. But the moment I wrote that note down, he became a giant whale and ate the other Titans. Sigh.
"Hey there, B. Haven't seen you since-" "SINCE YOU BETRAYED HEADMASTER AND RUINED OUR SCHOOL?!" "...I was gonna say the Sadie Hawkins dance. But yeah, that too."
Her weapons are just two letter B's that shoot lightning. I am okay with this.
They're playing the dramatic fight music, but it's zoomed out, so we're just seeing Cyborg dance around and yell in mild annoyance once in a while. Because, for all intents and purposes, he's just getting stung by a bee over and over.
I was getting really annoyed with Bee for trying to make Cyborg jealous of Robin, but then he punched the wall and made a divider come down right between them. The timing was pretty great.
There is a scene where Beast Boy stares at his own butt. "Oh, my booty! I promise I'll never sit on you again." He then kisses it. I am not giving you a freaking shred of context.
The tidal wave is pretty scary, honestly. And then... "Surf's up!" That quote makes things a lot less intimidating, huh?
Robin hacks into the computer, and it literally says "Smash" and "Cancel" as options. Huh.
Instead of disagreeing or bickering any more, Cyborg and Bumblebee (at the end of the fight) come up with the exact same plan, but insist on being the one to explain it. They're shouting over each other, but it's okay because they're actually yelling the same thing.
OKAY, I'M NOT REALLY DOWN WITH THE STRATEGY OF 'HIT THE WAVE WITH ANOTHER WAVE' TO SAVE EVERYTHING, BUT WHATEVER.
"I'd really rather just stay here and drown." I mean, the alternative is Raven hides in Beast Boy's gross whale mouth. Tough choice.
At the end Aqualad says goodbye with this: "If I run into any trouble, I know who to call." Eyyyyy.
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Next up: 'The Beast Within'. Disclaimer: I actually have seen this one already. For some reason, this is the one random episode I watched at some point in my life, so I remember most of the main plot.
For the most part, though, this is gonna be standard procedure. I'll watch the whole thing to have it fresh in my memory, then do a normal update and stuff.