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"Lightspeed" is the eighth episode of season five and the overall 60th episode of the Teen Titans series.

Synopsis[]

With the Teen Titans away fighting the Brotherhood of Evil and Titans East having returned to Steel City, The H.I.V.E. goes on a citywide crime spree. However, they soon discover a new hero called Kid Flash has arrived, stopping them at every turn while developing a relationship with Jinx. Meanwhile, Madame Rouge has also appeared, intending to capture Kid Flash. The upcoming fight will lead Jinx to question if whether or not a villain is what she truly wants to be.

Plot[]

The six members of the H.I.V.E

The six members of the H.I.V.E. Five

The H.I.V.E. Five under Jinx's leadership break into the Jump City Museum to plunder its current exhibit of Egyptian artifacts. The robbery itself goes as planned, but as soon as they leave the museum, the H.I.V.E. Five are surprised by an unknown speedster who strips them off the artifacts before they can stop him. Strangely, in place of the luck amulet she has stolen for herself, Jinx ends up holding a red rose in her hand, before the alarm goes off, forcing them to run for it.

Back at their headquarters, Jinx fumes at the interloper's meddling in their affairs because she fears that this will impede their chances at being taken seriously by the Brotherhood of Evil, but none of her teammates decide to pay more attention to the matter. But as they attempt another set of raids all over the city, the unknown speedster returns and foils them yet again, finally inciting their ire. Jinx gets the idea of capturing their new opponent and turn him over to the Brotherhood in order to improve their (or rather, her own) standing with them.

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Kid Flash captured

Jinx returns to the museum to steal the luck charm once more and finally gets to meet her adversary face to face: a heroic teenage speedster by the nom de guerre of Kid Flash. Kid Flash keeps flirting with her, but also addresses a doubt that has been secretly nagging her, namely that she is secretly dissatisfied with her life of crime. He tries to persuade her to abandon her career as a villainess, and at first, Jinx seems willing to do so ... until she reveals that this was just part of a trap! Though surrounded by the H.I.V.E., Kid Flash manages to hold his own, using his speed for great effect, until Jinx finally manages to trip him up and knock him out.

Once he recovers, Kid Flash finds himself in the H.I.V.E.'s headquarters in a cage, with the Five (or rather, Six, as he points out) first standing triumphantly before him before they start bickering about what to do with him. Finally, everyone but Jinx loses interest and leaves much to Jinx's annoyance, and once more Kid Flash tries to convince her that she can do better. Jinx in return holds onto her plan and calls up her idol in the Brotherhood, Madame Rouge, who agrees to come and pick Kid Flash up. But Kid Flash escapes his cage, but before he leaves, he races through the entire H.I.V.E., thoroughly dismantling the facility including Jinx's room (with a little bit of unintentional help from Jinx) much to Jinx's extreme anger, despite the H.I.V.E.'s frantic attempts to stop him.

Jinx does her smile (Brighter) (Slow)

When Madame Rouge arrives, she expresses her disdain at the H.I.V.E.'s inability to keep Kid Flash imprisoned and their status as "children" in general, then Jinx surprises herself and smiles slightly as her heart is beating for Kid Flash. Madame Rouge laughs as she said most unlikely, she turns around and she goes after Kid Flash herself. Still determined to prove her worth to her, Jinx decides to hunt Kid Flash down as well and catch him before Madame Rouge gets to him first. But again, most of the HIVE with the exception of See-More refuse to tag along, this time in fear of vexing Rouge.

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Madame Rouge on the hunt

In the city, Kid Flash appears before what he thinks to be Jinx but is actually Madame Rouge, who immediately sets upon him. Worn down and hurt, Kid Flash barely manages to get away and hide in a warehouse, where he is apprehended by Jinx. Before she proceeds to capture him with a forcefield device made by Gizmo, Kid Flash appeals to her one more time, telling her that she can use her bad luck powers for good as well, despite what she may think. Though torn, Jinx activates the device, imprisoning him.

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Jinx taking up a new life

As Jinx exits the warehouse, she runs into Madame Rouge and happily presents her catch. Rouge, however, batters her aside, belittling her admiration and efforts. Finally fed up, Jinx crushes the device, freeing Kid Flash, and when Rouge prepares to hit her again, Jinx responds in kind with one of her hex blasts, knocking Rouge back and exclaiming that she does not care who Rouge is anymore. Now Madame Rouge smiles, seemingly impressed. She leaves while saying that she and Jinx will be in touch. See-More appears after she is gone and tries to cheer Jinx up by inviting her to a robbery, but Jinx turns him down. After a quiet good-bye to him, she leaves and disappears into the shadows, but not without first noticing and picking up a new rose left for her by Kid Flash. Jinx walks into the Dark Alley while she follows her destiny as she becomes a good person in her heart after she takes up a new life with Kid Flash as his girlfriend.

Characters[]

Main Characters[]

Villains[]

Others[]

Trivia[]

  • This episode is told entirely from the perspective of the H.I.V.E. Five.
  • Kid Flash is based on the DC comics' early version of the teenage Wally West, who was Kid Flash in the Teen Titans comics of the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. Michael Rosenbaum was specifically hired as the voice actor, as he has also voiced Wally West (in his adult incarnation of The Flash) in DCAU's Justice League series.
  • When Madame Rouge shows up in H.I.V.E.'s HQ, Billy Numerous jumps behind a broken piece of furniture, possibly the couch. When the angle is changed, it almost looks like he is behind Jinx. Looking closely, you can see he is indeed still behind the broken furniture (or it could just be a case of Billy and a clone).
  • A whole new side of Jinx is shown in this episode. Previously, she had been the 'snotty popular girl', but in this episode, she comes out as being ambitious and craving respect — before being taken in by Kid Flash's persistent charm and disgusted by Madame Rouge's bullying and dismissive attitude.
  • The H.I.V.E. Five was initiated into the Brotherhood of Evil, though they forgot they were initiated.
  • When Kid Flash knocks Billy Numerous' various clones into the goal, the light behind the net turns on, and the goal horn sounds, possibly implying a motion sensor over the goal line. In any standard ice hockey arena, the light and horn are controlled by a judge who is positioned behind the goal and can see when the puck goes in, and are not activated automatically.
  • Mammoth is seen eating a Lightspeed Energy bar, a brand of energy bars endorsed by The Flash in the Justice League episode, "Eclipsed".
    • The Flash in the Justice League and Kid Flash are both versions of the character Wally West, and are both voiced by Michael Rosenbaum.

Continuity[]

  • This was the only episode out of the whole series ever not to feature any of the main Teen Titans. They only feature in the theme song, but, when it is about to finish, it gets interrupted by the H.I.V.E. Five who announce that this is their episode (since Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Starfire, and Raven are not featured). Although Jinx mentions they are away fighting the Brotherhood of Evil. As of this episode, every single Titan in the series has been absent for at least one episode.
  • In this episode, the boy members of H.I.V.E. Five, Gizmo, Mammoth, See-More, Billy Numerous, and Kyd Wykkyd think that joining the Brotherhood of Evil is a bad idea, and mock Jinx's eagerness to join them. However, in previous episodes, "Homecoming - Part 1" and "Homecoming - Part 2", the boys are shown to be helping the Brotherhood. They even feature in the final battle in "Titans Together" — while Jinx turns against the Brotherhood and even causes Madame Rouge's own downfall.
  • It is mentioned that the Titans East have returned to Steel City following the events of "For Real".

Cultural references[]

  • When Kid Flash says "Trust me." to Jinx, it is most likely a reference to the Disney movie Aladdin, when Aladdin extends his hand to Jasmine
  • When Kid Flash tries to escape from Madame Rouge, he spins through the wall and leaves his shape. Taz the Tasmanian Devil, a Looney Tunes character, is known to do that.
  • The candy bar Mammoth is eating is called Lightspeed which is the name of the episode. This could also be a reference to the DCAU Justice League series, in which the Wally West incarnation of the Flash sponsored an energy bar called Lightspeed.
  • Jinx saying "Where will I go? What will I do?" is a reference to the 1939 movie Gone with the Wind.
  • See-More suggested that they brainwash Kid Flash to make him steal for them. This happened to the Flash on the show Justice League, when Gorilla Grodd brainwashed Flash into stealing for him via a special helmet that induced special brainwaves.
  • The scene in the museum where Billy Numerous and his clones form a continuous maze in Kid Flash's way is a reference to the light cycle scene in the 1982 Disney movie Tron.

Goofs[]

  • When the H.I.V.E. Five plan a series of robberies, these include "an armored car on Main, three jewelry stores and a taco stand". See-More and Kyd Wykkyd hijack the armored car, but the others appear to choose other non-related targets: Gizmo robs an electronics store, Billy Numerous disrupts some junior hockey players at an ice rink and Mammoth goes to a small store for a candy bar — which he claims he paid for.
  • When Billy Numerous had the idea of building a fort on the couch with the other H.I.V.E. members, Mammoth's eyes had pupils after he agreed.
  • As Jinx reminded the two Billy Numerous duplicates that Kid Flash would not get out of his cage, she accidentally smiled at the end of her sentence.

Gallery[]

Titans GO
Click here to view the gallery.

Transcript[]

ForReal37
Click here to view the episode transcript.

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