Them Soviet Boys

"Them Soviet Boys" is the twenty-sixth episode of the fifth season of Teen Titans Go!, and the two-hundredth-thirty-fifth overall episode of the series.

Summary[]

In order to quickly get through their chores and karate lessons, the Titans learn how to montage.

Plot[]

Ah...what a nice and sunny day...to play with a paddle ball by yourself. This is what Cyborg is seen doing when the episode first starts. Beast Boy interrupts his paddling by going to where the ball is paddling. He gives Cyborg the usual greeting: "Yo, Cy!" The paddle ball gets stuck in Beast Boy's eye. He then asks Cyborg, "You knows what I want right now?!" Cyborg knows what Beast Boy is about to say, so they say "steamed broccoli!" at the same time. Starfire and Raven overhear them, and Raven says, "Did someone say steamed broccoli?" Starfire also wants the steamed broccoli by saying, "I wish to immerse the tiny, green trees into the boiling water to soften their branches!" Raven then says she's hungry and asks how long they're going to take to steam the broccoli. Cyborg answers her question by saying it takes 5 minutes to get the perfect, soft texture. Beast Boy adds on that it will also take an additional 2 minutes to get the water to boil. Starfire exclaims that 7 minutes is too long. Raven asks if there is another, faster way to steam broccoli. Cyborg suggests that they could do a montage. Starfire curiously asks what a montage is. Cyborg and Beast Boy introduce "montages" to Starfire. They explain how directors in the past used montages to skip boring periods of time. Starfire and Raven are convinced to do a montage, so they indeed do a montage and they make steamed broccoli within seconds. They all cheer after successfully making steamed broccoli. They then dive into their steamed broccoli that they just made. Just before they put the broccoli in their mouths, Robin interrupts them and says to meet them in the front yard immediately.

The Titans (besides Robin) all head to the front yard and they see Robin kicking around in a karate suit. Raven, frustrated, says to Robin that it must be important for him to call them all to the front yard. Robin says that Katarou, their old nemesis, has returned. Cyborg corrects Robin by saying that Katarou is Robin's old nemesis; not the Titans'. Beast Boy agrees with Beast Boy. Robin ignores their statements, and says they should be on guard anyways.

The Titans then hear a "crunch" noise and they all get scared. The "crunch" sound turned out to be the noise a rabbit was making while eating a carrot. Cyborg, on the other hand, claims he will hit Katarou with the "old shablamo." Robin claims the "old shablamo" is useless against Katarou and that the only way to defeat him is to become a martial arts master. Robin says the should start out with the classic, old, crane kick. The Titans think Robin is talking about the crane kick from The Karate Kid. Robin says that it's garbage and won't work on anyone. Cyborg tells Robin that he wants to be taught to become a martial arts master. Robin says it takes months and years of dedicated focus to become a martial arts master. Starfire enrages and says that takes too long. Beast Boy, on the other hand, suggests a montage to become a martial arts master quick. The Titans besides Robin all agree that they should do a montage, so they then enter a montage to become a martial arts master.

The Titans besides Robin are seen all in karate outfits, and practicing and breaking boards in many different ways throughout the montage. After the montage, they have became martial arts masters in under a minute. Robin keeps reminding the Titans that there are no shortcuts in becoming a martial arts master. Beast Boy claims that Robin is still wrong and that Beast Boy and the rest of the Titans besides Robin have just proved Robin wrong. Cyborg convinces the rest of the Titans, once again, to montage all the things they haven't done yet. Robin asks them if they want to correctly progress by putting time and effort into what they do, or if they want the instant gratification. Starfire chooses instant gratification. The Titans besides Robin then continue on by montaging on what they want to do but they haven't done it yet.

In the next montage, Raven is seen cleaning the Titans Tower, Cyborg is seen fixing the T-Car, Beast Boy is seen programming on a computer, and Starfire is learning French.

After the montage, the Titans besides Robin are seen cheering as they are coming out of the elevator in the Tower. Starfire then grabs out her tablet and shows a video of a kitty playing a keyboard. Robin, of course, interrupts, and destroys her tablet with his staff, and throws the tablet from his staff behind him. The tablet explodes. Robin warns the Titans that Katarou could show up any minute. After that exact sentence, the proximity alert goes off. Robin says that Katarou has infiltrated the Tower, but doesn't know where. He then orders the Titans to "GO!"

The Titans go on the roof of the tower...to see nothing. All of a sudden, they hear some flapping noises. They get startled. Turns out it was a pigeon. It farts and flies away. Shortly after that, they hear another noise. They get startled, once again. Finally, it is the one and only Katarou that appears. Robin calls out Katarou, then says "our old nemesis." Katarou also corrects him, by saying that Katarou is only the old nemesis of Robin. He additionally says that he thinks Robin's friends are cool. The Titans besides Robin start having conversations with Katarou and also say that he's a cool guy. Robin forces all the other Titans to come to him. He then challenges Katarou.

He claims Katarou doesn't stand a chance against five martial arts masters. Katarou accepts the challenge and Robin and the Titans charge at him. Unfortunately for the Titans, they get taken out by Katarou one by one. Robin then scolds the Titans and says that this is the result if you montage. Starfire wants to try and get out of this by montaging, but Robin doesn't allow it and he forces the Titans to listen to him. He points out all the montages they did when they finished montaging becoming a martial arts master. Raven realizes that the things they show in the montage are the only things that they actually finished. Cyborg also confirms that montaging gives illusions in the end as the results. He finally learns that real results come from real work. The other Titans also realize that montaging gets you nowhere and apologize to Robin for not listening to him, but he says there's no time as they still have to stop Katarou. Raven questions him though, asking how is it possible to defeat Katarou. Robin answers, "with a crane kick." Raven points out that they've never learned the crane kick, but Robin is willing to teach them. Starfire also says that there is not much time to learn the crane kick, but Robin introduces another film making device: "dissolve." Katarou wants Robin and the Titans to carrying on on defeating him, but Robin says that he will take Katarou down slowly.

Now, the lesson starts for learning the crane kick. There are multiple scenes of the Titans attempting to perfect the crane kick. By the time they are elders, they have finally perfected the crane kick. They then charge at Katarou, who is seen dead. The Titans do not know that he is dead, so they go up to him and start kicking the air. Katarou's skull then moves and the Titans think they've killed him. They all shortly cheer, then afterwards died. Is this the end of the Teen Titans? Of course not!

Characters[]

Robin
Cyborg
Starfire
Raven
Beast Boy
Katarou (debut)
Monsieur Mallah (cameo)
Waiter (cameo)

Trivia[]

With the exception of the mention of Soviet film maker Sergei Eisenstein, this episode has nothing to do with anything Soviet oriented. Instead, it's about martial arts and montages.
- It is also a jab on people who want instant gratification.
Senior Raven's outfit has been changed in this episode. Her dress had three gems below her hips/waist, instead of having pale yellow flower patterns all over it. It also came off as longer than her previous one.
This episode marks the latest instance in the series where a character from the 2003 Teen Titans series makes a debut, with Katarou making his first appearance here and Keone Young reprising his role from the original series.
Cyborg breaks the Fourth Wall by speaking to the viewer near the end of the episode.
Montages are most needed in popular culture. Without them, lessons can take forever in real life.

Continuity[]

Raven is seen unhooded for the 93rd time in the series.
"Crane Kick" from Season 3's "Hey You, Don't Forget about Me in Your Memory" is mentioned in this episode.
Music from Season 1's "Driver's Ed" is heard in the beginning of the episode after a Titan says "Steamed broccoli!"
Beast Boy's Brain from "Head Fruit" appears when the "The More You Know" parody screen is shown.

References[]

This episode might be a parody of the Teen Titans episode "The Quest", an episode where Katarou also happens to make his debut.
Starfire mentioned Kung Fu Panda, a DreamWorks production movie when practicing karate.
When Cyborg finally learns that real results come from real work, a parody of "The More You Know" appears briefly.
Katarou, when mocking the Titans for being weak at martial arts, mentioned William Zabka who is an actor and producer normally recognized as Johnny Lawrence in The Karate Kid and The Karate Kid Part 2.
The cat video Starfire shows Robin is a parody of Keyboard Cat, an old internet meme.

Errors[]

During the karate montage, when Raven prepared to break the board it was shown to be her left foot, yet in the next scene it was her right foot.

The French waiter uses the "tu" form of "parler," when he should be using the "vous" form; as the "tu" form in French is only used with very close friends or family.