"Deception" is the first episode of season three and the overall 27th episode of the Teen Titans series.
Plot
The criminal activities of the H.I.V.E. Academy students in town have increased in frequency of late; one night the Teen Titans catch Jinx, Gizmo, and Mammoth trying to rob the Bank of Perez. The villainous trio escapes, but with a special gift from Robin: a bug which allows the Titans to track down the H.I.V.E. Academy. In order to find the reason behind the rising wave of robberies, Robin suggests an undercover mission. Cyborg has already anticipated the idea and constructed a pair of hologram rings which bestows him with two disguises: a superpowered youth named "Stone" who can turn his body into solid rock, and the appearance of his old self from the time before his cybernetics were installed. In order to cover up his absence, he leaves a fully robotic double of himself behind.
Stone and Mammoth in combat practice
Cyborg manages to wheedle his way into the H.I.V.E. and soon catches the interest of not only a familiar trio of delinquents, but also of the Academy's new headmaster, Brother Blood, who keeps a special eye on him (much to Gizmo's chagrin). In time, Cyborg wins the trust of his fellow students and earns the H.I.V.E. Communicator, but in turn gets so used to being in school that Robin has to remind him what his real mission is, so one night Cyborg sneaks into the headmaster's office and hacks into his personal computer. He quickly finds the "class project" for which Blood had sent out his students stealing to provide its funding: a new device called an Ion Amplifier. But right after Cyborg has hit the file, Blood reveals himself and announces that he had known Stone was Cyborg all along, but also expresses that he is fascinated with him and makes him an offer: In return for his services, Blood promises to make him fully human again. Overcome by Blood's mental powers and his desire to become human again, Cyborg pledges his undying loyalty to him.
Cyborg's disguise uncovered by Brother Blood
Alarmed by the sudden cut-off of their communication, the remaining Titans (along with the Cyborg robot) sneak into the Academy, but soon fall into a trap. While Blood looks on, Jinx, Gizmo, and Mammoth attack them - along with Cyborg/Stone. One by one, the Titans are dragged down and imprisoned in a force field. Cyborg, in the meantime, fights his robot double and viciously smashes it into pieces, but in the process one of his rings is broken and his disguise blown. Blood gives him the Amplifier so he can destroy the Titans, but in a surprise move, Cyborg reveals his own deception and directs his fire at Blood. Blood manages to deflect the blast, which hits the ceiling instead, and with its power vastly increased by the Amplifier, it brings down the entire school. Brother Blood, the H.I.V.E. students and the Titans all manage to get away.
Brother Blood places the Ion Amplifier on the brainwashed Cyborg
Once the Titans have returned to the Tower, Cyborg explains that he had to make his deception all the more believable even to his friends when he found what the amplifier was capable of. With that cleared up, the Titans wonder how Cyborg could have resisted Blood's mind control; Cyborg states that it was the fact that his brain is half robotic and therefore impervious to psychic manipulation. Later, in a private moment, Cyborg is lamenting over the loss of his disguise and confesses to Starfire that he never got to finish high school because of his cybernetics. So, while being at the H.I.V.E., he had, for the first time, felt like normal again. Starfire offers him kind encouragement that, since she has known him as he is now, he is already normal for her and prefers him just the way he is. Soon after the other Titans (Robin, Raven and Beast Boy) appear and humorously decide that, since Cyborg had technically left the Titans to become a H.I.V.E. student (albeit temporarily), he has to be reinitiated.
Characters
Main Character
Supporting Characters
Villains
Others
Trivia
- Cyborg's hologram human form is, as he states, "the original version", namely his human appearance form before his accident: Victor Stone. When Cyborg removes his rings and says "Goodbye, Stone", it may very well also be the moment where he puts his former life as a "normal" human being behind him for good.
- The H.I.V.E. Five return after being absent in season 2.
- The title is meant to relate to Cyborg going undercover in the H.I.V.E. Academy and deceiving Brother Blood and the students.
- Raven willingly chose to have fun in this episode, making Cyborg face initiation all over again.
- Originally, Starfire and Cyborg were meant to go undercover together until the writers decided that the story worked better if Cyborg went alone.
- In this episode, we see Cyborg as a real human being as what he looked like before his accident.
- During the H.I.V.E. "initiation" (which is more like hazing) ritual in which Jinx, Gizmo, and Mammoth make Cyborg carry Jinx's books for her all day while wearing a pink dress, Mammoth also mentions that Cyborg must eat the unicycle which Mammoth shows him (see quote above). It could be theorized that Cyborg did indeed eat the unicycle, as he is shown in the later episode "Crash" to be able to eat and digest just about anything.
- Also during the initiation, we see bubbles of students who laugh as Cyborg as he walks down the hall. The bottom left character is series character designer Derrick Wyatt. The bottom right character is one of the women Beast Boy tried to flirt with in "Every Dog Has His Day". It's unknown what significance this has.
- In Robin's fight with Cyborg, he wields what appears to resemble eskrima sticks. This is most likely a reference to Nightwing's signature weapon.
- Part of Cyborg's cover story, while at the H.I.V.E. Academy, is that a mad scientist created him, which he awkwardly announces to the entire cafeteria. This is in reference to Cyborg's comic book origin, where his father, ex-STAR Labs scientist Silas Stone, outfitted his body with cybernetics to heal him after an accident.
- Cyborg's appearance as Stone shares a resemblance to the Marvel character Luke Cage who also had metal a headband, belt and wristbands. Luke cage has also been known to wear a simple black T-shirt.
Continuity
- This episode is Brother Blood's first appearance in the series. Many other characters that appear later on (Angel, Billy Numerous, See-More, I.N.S.T.I.G.A.T.O.R., Kyd Wykkyd, XL Terrestrial, Wrestling Star, Bumblebee) also make brief cameo appearances, though none have dialogue.
- Cyborg states that he was able to resist Blood brainwashing him, because half of his brain is electronic. However, in "Titans East - Part 2", he declares his human spirit to be what allows him to resist the madman's mind control.
- This was not the case in "Mother Mae-Eye" where he is under the control of the titular character.
- The milk carton on "Stone's" lunch tray features a MISSING section with a photograph of the Headmistress from "Final Exam".
Goofs
- Before Cyborg gets pulled up by horseshoe magnet, his left ear turned human.
- Beast Boy’s mongoose form more resembles a weasel.
- At the end of the episode where the Titans wanted to dress up Cyborg, Raven's hood was up even though it was down.
- In the scene where the Titans fight the Hive, Robot-Cyborg pushes the real Cyborg through a wall. Smoke appears, but after the smoke is gone, there is briefly no visible hole where there should be.
Gallery
Click here to view the gallery.
Transcript
Click here to view the episode transcript.