"Spice Game" is the fifth episode of the third season of Teen Titans Go!, and the one-hundred-ninth overall episode of the series.
Summary
Tired of Robin's bland cooking, the other four Titans try their hand at making their favorite foods spicier with various spices.
Plot
At night, Raven is levitating and reading a book while Cyborg is playing a video game, Beast Boy relaxes as a cat, and Starfire plays with Silkie on the couch. Their stomachs begin growling for food and Cyborg wonders who cooked dinner. Robin announces that his specialty, boiled potatoes, are ready, disappointing the Teen Titans. They gather at the kitchen table where Robin happily consumes his food while the other Titans are upset at eating the mush he always makes. Starfire says her flavor buds crave excitement and Beast Boy suggests adding a little fire and holds out a bottle of hot sauce. He pours some on his boiled potato and celebrates the new flavor. Cyborg, Starfire, and Raven follow suit and agree with Beast Boy, but Robin warns that they're ruining their lives. Beast Boy makes him inhale the hot sauce and Robin overreacts, gulping down a gallon of milk to get rid of the spiciness. He tells them that the "spice game" is a never ending escalation of spice that keeps getting spicier until they don't know what spicy is anymore. He claims the spice of life is routine and notes that it's 7:15 pm, bedtime. Robin scurries off, leaving the other Titans in the dark.
The next day, Robin notices that Raven, Cyborg, and Starfire are longing for spice and he decides to get their minds off of it. He introduces them to a potato, but Beast Boy introduces them to a hot pepper and claims it's their ticket into Spicy Town. Robin warns them that they've escalated from hot sauce and that the spiciness will consume their souls. Beast Boy ignores him and tells the Titans to eat up. Robin tries to get them to go back to the bland side, but the Titans decide to embark on the spicy life. They celebrate by singing a song, "I'm a Hot Pepper". Later, Robin is peeling a potato when the other Titans come up to him, celebrating the spicy life. Robin orders them to handle themselves, but Raven taunts that they're too spicy for him. He tries to disprove them by adding a single grain of salt to a pot of boiled potatoes, but claims that it's too spicy and drinks another gallon of milk to quench the spiciness.
Beast Boy claims that they don't need salt as they've got jalapenos, but the peppers have no effect on the Titans. They try again with serrano peppers, but to no avail. Raven demands eating four habanero peppers without food, but the result is the same. Robin reminds them of his warning and explains they're now immune to spicy food. Cyborg asks Beast Boy for another pepper, but he tells them he doesn't have a hotter one. Starfire believes there is one they have not yet tried and Raven uses her magic to summon a Tears of Zephos pepper that grows in gardens of eternal fire and brings great pain and suffering to whoever is foolish enough to eat one. They each take a bite out of the pepper, and begin screaming and breathing fire. Raven summons gallons of milk for her friends to quench the spiciness, but Cyborg reports that it's not working. She summons Ancient Legends and tells the Titans that they must travel to the Dairy King's lair and drink the infinity milk from the Dairy King's immortal udders. However, she cannot read the map as her eyes are too watery.
Robin smugly notes that their spicy life has consumed their souls just as he predicted. He asks the Titans if they're ready to live life to the bland again and they agree. He leads them across a desert, a lake, and through the Mystical Mounds of Gomera until they arrive at the foot of the stairs to the Dairy King's lair. He warns the Titans to be cautious as they have no idea what's inside, but they run in screaming, wanting to be first. However, they slam into the Dairy King, a ginormous cow, who stomps on them. Robin appears at the doorway and demands he give up his milk, but the Dairy King simply moos. He tries attacking with his staff, a birdarang, and punches, but the Dairy King deflects him every time. Robin wonders how the Dairy King could predict his predictable moves and decides that he needs a little spice in his life. He sprinkles a single grain of salt onto his tongue and begins blabbering, confusing the Dairy King. Robin takes out two grappling hooks and latches them onto two of the teats. He begins squirting milk from them, directing the milk to land on his teammates, curing them. Eventually, the udders completely drain and the Dairy King collapses. Cyborg cheers for sweet relief while Beast Boy admits that they should have listened to him about being bland and predictable. However, Robin claims that the lesson is to live life in the middle, not too bland, but not too dangerous. Starfire guesses that the lesson sounds reasonable.
Characters
- Robin
- Beast Boy
- Cyborg
- Raven
- Starfire
- Silkie (cameo)
- Dairy King (debut)
- Pelican
- The Hot Pepper
Song
Trivia
- This episode aired two years after "Artful Dodgers".
- Once again, despite being advertised as "The Spice Game" prior to release, the title is actually shown as "Spice Game" within the episode. This is the fourth time this has happened, all of which happened in season three. Just one word has been removed, mostly "The". ("Cat's Fancy", "Dignity of Teeth", "Croissant")
- This episode reveals that Robin goes to sleep at 7:15 PM.
- This episode also reveals that Robin only cooks boiled potatoes for dinner.
- It's possible that Robin's tongue is very sensitive, considering how he flipped out over a single speck of salt on his potato.
- Robin could also have a sensitive nose, as when he smelled the hot sauce he almost died (or perhaps only passed out).
- The "next day" time card from "Beast Man" is reused.
- Cyborg's screams are in the same vein as Beast Boy's screams in "Scary Figure Dance".
Continuity
- This is the second episode where Robin's love for potatoes is shown. ("Second Christmas")
- Raven consults her Ancient Legends book once again. ("Legendary Sandwich", "Staff Meeting", "Little Buddies", "Real Magic", "Puppets, Whaaaaat?", "Salty Codgers", "Halloween", "Mouth Hole", "And the Award for Sound Design Goes to Rob")
- The last terrain that the Titans cross bears a resemblance to the Mystical Mounds of Gomera where Robin trained with the Master of Whistles in "Mouth Hole".
- Raven makes her belly "talk" as a way to say that she was hungry. She previously made her belly "talk" in Smile Bones. Adding to this, Raven uses the same voice for her belly as she did in the former episode.
- Cyborg's scream sounds similar to Beast Boy's scream from "Scary Figure Dance".
References
- Robin using milk to get rid of the spiciness is an actual working remedy; whole-fat milk actually cancels out a food's capsaicin, the oil which provides its "spice" and causes the feeling of a burning mouth.
- This episode is a reference to a Total Drama: The Ridonculous Race episode called "El Bunny Supremo", when one challenger suffered from eating spicy pepper and wanted to drink milk as well.
- Robin's explanation of having too much spice is exemplified in a Q*bert-stylized game of the Scoville heat scale, which refers to the "spice" levels in food, including chili peppers. Fittingly, the top pepper can be referred as the bhut jolokia or the ghost pepper, which is also the world's hottest pepper, with the potential to suffocate and kill by consumption.
- The Tears of Zephos is apparently a reference to the ghost pepper, and the Titans screaming in pain from it is a reference to the high capsaicin dangers from the ghost peppers that cause extreme irritation to the mouth.
- The dragon Beast Boy turns into resembles Mushu, the dragon from Disney's Mulan.
- During the travel montage, one of the maps that appears has an illustration of the headquarters of the Legion of Doom.
Errors
- Beast Boy states in the episode "Friendship" that he can't turn into mythical creatures, but in this episode he turns into a dragon. This could mean that he can, but simply chooses not to.
- In "Robin Backwards", Robin stated that the Titans needed to be in bed by 9:00 PM. However in this episode, he says that bedtime is at 7:15 PM.
- The Dairy King's udders are said to be immortal (never decaying or dying), but they are shown to be drained after Robin revives the Titans.
- If Robin is that sensitive towards salt and hot sauce, then he should have died when first breathing in Tamaranian air in Tamaranian Vacation.
- Robin's assertion to the contrary, salt is NOT a spice. It is a mineral, a compund of sodium and chloride. Spiced are derived from plants, specifically from the bark (cinnamon), roots (ginger), berries (clove), fruit (peppers), or any other part excluding the leaves. Leaf-based seasonings are herbs, such as parsley, cilantro, oregano and basil.
Running Gags
- Robin overreacting about hot sauce.
- The Titans (except Robin) going crazy about spice, and even almost DYING from all the spice.
- The Titans drinking milk to get rid of the spiciness.
- Robin thinking salt is spicy, with ONE grain of salt.
- Robin making a bad dinner, which is boiled potatoes.
- The Titans crying from having too much spice.
Transcript
The transcript for "Spice Game" can be found here.
Gallery
The image gallery for Spice Game may be viewed here. |