Black Manta offers to build the Titans a new pool, but Robin thinks the construction process is too slow.
Plot[]
It's pool season in summer, and the Titans all anticipate to leap into their swimming pool for a thrilling and relaxing swim. However, they are soon repulsed by how their pool has been contaminated by someone's trash, and with Robin spearheading the investigation, the five soon find out that the garbage-pouring pipeline belongs to a familiar submarine's owner, who is their old foe Black Manta!
Although Black Manta has a friendlier disposition, Robin still retains his own distrust and interrogates the manta-headed middle-aged man, who admits that he mistook the teens' pool for a public waste dump. Raven and Cyborg agree that their pool looks really miserable. To atone for his mistake, Black Manta offers to construct a new pool for the team in exchange for letting him chill at their home, and the four remaining members immediately permit him after he projects how he thinks the new pool would look like. Robin initially doesn't want to comply, but soon he caves in to Black Manta's effective persuasion and gives the manta man (who now calls himself "Invisible Manta") a shot begrudgingly.
However, a month later Black Manta doesn't seem to have taken any action to build anything, instead loafing and lounging around, letting his cat Mr. Puddles play, watching television on his hammock and of course displacing all of his belongings inside the tower. This starts getting on Robin's nerves, and he complains to Black Manta about the procrastination, but turns out he is the only person who wants to evict the manta man since the rest of his friends are fine with the manta. Still, Robin decides to blackmail Black Manta to work by threatening to tow away the submarine, and also scolds the manta man from touching his pizza, which affronts his team since Black Manta's feelings are wounded. But Robin can care less about feelings and more about work efficiency.
A little while later, things seems to have taken a worse turn; the bathroom no longer has water for Robin to bathe, the faucet breaks and squirts overflowing water in Starfire's face when she tries to wash the dishes in the kitchen, and Raven, Beast Boy and Cyborg don't have anymore television to watch because the electricity and lighting have also gone out. The Titans rush to find Black Manta, who has earned himself a building permit and is now constructing, at the cost of the power cables and supply pipes. Angered, Robin declares that Black Manta is fired and the manta man retorts that he should learn to be patient. After another visual presentation from Black Manta, the four other Titans instantly get enticed and become Black Manta's construction helpers due to their desire to have a mind-blowing pool inside the Tower. This winds up destroying most portions of different rooms of the Tower and also terribly disrupts Robin's daily life.
With much of the island destroyed and the rest of the Titans being volunteer construction workers, Robin demands Black Manta to talk with him since the pool is still not done when pool season is almost over, but Black Manta insists that he should learn to be patient. Nonetheless, Robin can't wait any longer and has already summoned Black Manta's archnemesis Aquaman to expedite the progress. Both men have a petty argument about who's better and decide to settle things like "men of the ocean" which is actually a splash competition; Black Manta will get to stay at the island forever if he wins, but if he loses, Aquaman will forcibly evict him. Despite Robin's protest, the other Titans have already allowed the two men to proceed.
Of course, the competition itself is just both Black Manta and Aquaman playing the cheating game to torture each other with their powers to attack each other and summoning their own sea animals to help them gain the winning chances. And Robin is indeed displeased and frustrated that his four teammates are all voting for Black Manta. Aquaman is still self-assured and unleashes his last resort to stop Robin from pleading him, by summoning a ferociously enormous Kraken via a peculiar call! With one destructively impressive dive from the Kraken, Aquaman gains the perfect score and Robin mocks Black Manta for losing, but it turns out...
Thanks to the Kraken's destruction, the now destroyed Tower effectively serves as the indoor pool that Black Manta has promised to build, essentially saving Black Manta's work as well. Impressed that Black Manta was right all along, Robin finally switches to the manta man's side. Just as Black Manta suggests the Titans to play polo with him, Aquaman hopes to save his own face but instead ends up being mocked by Black Manta with tirades of him being a laughingstock who wears the same old clothes as the sun continues to set.
Raven is seen unhooded for the 145th time in the series.
Robin's baby hands are directly brought up and shown onscreen like in many previous episodes.
Music from "Pure Protein" can be heard at one point of the episode.
References[]
The song Robin sings in the shower is in the same tune as the original Teen Titans theme song.
Errors[]
Although Robin possessing baby hands has been more consistent starting with Season 5, his hands are shown to be normal until Black Manta mentions them.
Running Gags[]
Black Manta loafing around or unintentionally disrupting the Titans' lives with his "pool-building".
The Titans except Robin being enticed by Black Manta.
Black Manta and Aquaman being petty men doing splash competition rounds.
Transcript[]
The transcript for "Pool Season" can be found here.
Gallery[]
The image gallery for Pool Season may be viewed here.
