Why Things Change Was a Good Ending In Teen Titans

Teen Titans is still my favorite cartoon of all time. From it's anime like animation style, to it's seriousness yet goofyness and likeable characters Teen Titans is still one of DC's most popular shows even to this very day. The series just recently turned 20 years old on July 19th, and Cartoon Network still talks about the original show on their social media pages. Like many fans of the show, I originally didn't like the ending of the series. Sure you can argue that "Things Change" technically wasn't the last time the series aired as we got the movie "Trouble in Tokyo" in late 2006. However I will say that doesn't really count. As time went on my opinion on the series finale has changed as I grown to appreciate it's true meaning. Just what the heck is the meaning of the episode?

Let's start off by summarizing the episode first. The Titans have returned to Jump City after being gone for a while and taking down The Brotherhood of Evil. Jump City has changed just in that time period that they were gone, many businesses were shut down. The team walks past old hang out spots, and small memories of the team appear on the screen. A strange alien attacks the city, and whenever the team is ready to take on the alien, Beast Boy notices someone who looks a lot like Terra. Terra was a former teammate who was turned to stone after she saved the city from a huge volcano eruption caused by her when Slade had manipulated her into working with him. Beast Boy couldn't believe it so he heads to where Terra used to be and notices she's gone! He tells the team but none of them believe him, so he ends up going off and trying to find Terra. He eventually catches up to her, but she refuses to remember anything about being a Teen Titan and doesn't want anything to do with Beast Boy or the team. He keeps following her around, and eventually the Titans are desperate since they're getting their butts kicked by the alien and they need Beast Boy. He finally realizes that "Terra" isn't going to come with him, and that she wants to live her own life he gives up and runs out of the school that he followed "Terra" to and the show ends.

I was in disbelief that this is how the show ended the first time I watched it. Every other time I would rewatch the series, I would get upset for two reasons one Teen Titans was my special interest for the longest time and since it was ending I just didn't want it to end so I would get upset. The other reason is because my heart would break for Beast Boy because he tried his hardest to be with "Terrra" and he wanted things to go back to how they were in the past. I thought the show left on a cliffhanger because we never seen the Titans formally defeat the alien creature, every other episode has a resolution with the team defeating the villain. This was the only instance where we didn't see that happen, and I think that's why I truly believed it was left on a cliffhanger just like a lot of people.

However, the series finale did such a good job telling us fans that this is it, this is the end and nothing we can do can change the fact that the show is done. Life is full of changes, both good and bad and there's nothing we can do about it. Sometimes life goes in the direction you don't want it to, and you can try and try to make it go the way you want but you can't do this. Beast Boy wanted "Terra" to remember all the good times they had, and he wanted her to go back to the team so they could be friends again and possibly have a relationship again. "Terra" didn't want that, and just wanted to live life as a normal teenager who didn't have to worry about saving the world. (Note I put Terra in quotes as Ashley Johnson, the character's voice actress is credited as "School girl" so was it truly Terra?) Perhaps "Terra" did remember everything and she just couldn't face all the negativity that she left behind when she joined Slade and almost wrecked Jump City. The character herself mostly has been written to be a villain in the comics, so Terra herself wasn't meant to be part of the team in the end anyways. (I believe there's a comic where she is actually a hero, though I haven't read it. Please let me know if this is correct in the comments below!)

So there you have it, Things Change is a great finale for Teen Titans and at this point there is no need for a Season Six of the series. I would love to see a reboot of some sort with a more serious tone, unlike Go which is too goofy and off the wall. We just have to accept that you can't always get what you want in life, and it's full of changes. The world itself isn't the same as it was at the beginning of this year, and the world is constantly changing. Things Change shows that, because even before "Terra" shows up towards the middle of the episode, the Titans are in disbelief of how much Jump City has changed. It's amazing that such a beloved cartoon from the early 00's can show us that meaning, and it's still being talked about to this day decades later.