Titans
When they first announced that they were making a live-action TV series featuring the Teen Titans, I was pretty excited. When I was a kid, "The New Teen Titans" was one of my favorite comic series published by DC. It reminded me of the X-Men, I loved Starfire. This was going to be awesome. Promotional material slipped out, I loved the costumes, a little dark, but this is DC. Then they released the first trailer and we got the "Fuck Batman" heard 'round the world. I was not impressed. I wasn't and still am not sure, why the people who make these shows at DC think that hyper violent, dark and gritty is the way to go even if the material doesn't call for it.
It was definitely a big disappointment and I really had zero plans to watch this show. Then DC Universe went and announced the third season of "Young Justice" would be on their service and that just started. So, I finished those and I just went ahead and decided "let's see how this goes." And I thought it would be fun to chronicle my watch on the old blog. I'll do two episodes at a time, similar to my B: TAS rewatches. The season finale will have it's own post since the season is 11 episodes, which is an odd number for a season, but OK. Let's get this party started. Titans Together, I guess.
Episode 1: "Titans"
Thug: "Where's Batman?"
Robin: "Fuck Batman."
In Traverse City, MI, teenager Rachel Roth can't get a good nights sleep. She keeps dreaming about a young orphaned trapeze artist. She has something inside her. Something dark. That talks to her. Urges her to act on her darkest impulses. When the woman who she believes is her mother is brutally murdered in front of her, she unleashes that part and flees to Detroit, where she meets Detective Dick Grayson. The boy from her dreams. She pleads with Dick to help her. In Russia, a woman named Kory Anders wakes up in a wrecked car next to a dead man and she remembers nothing. After some investigating, she comes face to face with gangster, Konstantin Kovar, who is also looking for Rachel. She also burns he and his goons to death. Oh and a giant green tiger is stealing video games from an electronics store.
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| Actually, Batman's an OK guy. |
I'm going to start off by saying that this isn't terrible. It's definitely not the unmitigated disaster/trash fire that was "Marvel's Inhumans." It has loads of potential and there is some good stuff mixed in among the not so good.
Let's start with the good. The performances by the main cast are pretty good. Brenton Thwaites plays Dick Grayson/Robin and he is probably the weakest so far. I'm not sure if that is his fault, the writing or both. He's not given a lot to do except sort of scowl and brood. He definitely looks the part and kills the physicality the role demands. I'll just be interested to see some growth or maybe some flashbacks that show how Dick used to be before he "changed." Teagan Croft plays the teenaged Rachel Roth who will become Raven. Child/teen actor are hit or miss for me, but Roth does a great job. You feel for her. She also doesn't feel too grown up. This is a kid and I appreciate that. The MVP for me is Anna Diop who plays Kory Anders, the woman who will become Starfire. You just can't keep your eyes off of her. Her story is the most interesting and I'm excited to see more.
The action scenes are great. Also, brutal. You feel every punch and bone snap. The show has made a smart decision in making Rachel Roth the focal point of this story. I assume they are going to do their interpretation of the Terror of Trigon which is a super famous New Teen Titans story. It's a good one to start off with and here's hoping they don't fuck it up.
Now, the not so good. So, Robin left Batman because he was getting too extreme? Well, this all feels pretty extreme. I get they are trying to show this "Titans" show is grown up, but man, some of this violence felt really gross. Did we need a lingering close up of Raven's mom with the bullet hole in her forehead? Also, shout out to Sherilyn Fenn. Did Robin need to slam some dudes head into a wall, another guys head into a broken window and then stomp on him repeatedly? Maybe one or two even, but all three? We get it. You're gritty and edgy.
The characterization is a little off with Robin too. It's jarring to see this version of Dick Grayson. He's usually the light to Batman's darkness so this person just feels wrong. I can go along with it. This is a new interpretation or whatever, but maybe they need to show a little bit of who Dick used to be to give this some perspective. It's a lot of telling, but not a lot of showing.
I am interested to see how all this goes and I'm happy it's not a total train wreck.
Grade: C+
Episode 2: "Hawk and Dove"
Hawk: "You're late, Boy Wonder."
Dove: "You know he always likes to make a dramatic entrance."
Robin: "True."
Hawk: "I thought your boss told you to stay away from us."
Robin: "I didn't tell him."
Hawk: "So, what is this? A night out with the bad kids?"
Dick and Rachel take a road trip to Washington, DC to meet up with Hank Hall and Dawn Granger. They are vigilantes better known as Hawk and Dove that Robin used to pal around behind Batman's back. Dick thinks that Rachel will be safe if he sticks the teen with Hank and Dawn. He gets Alfred to loan him a ton of cash to make the deal a bit more palatable. Hawk and Dove have a different idea. They want to shut down a DC arms dealer and then retire from the superhero game for good. Little do the three know that the Nuclear Family has been tasked with finding Rachel and they don't mess around. Did Dick bring death to his former friends?
This episode of "Titans" is a little better than the premiere only because it's more focused. It tells a smaller story and doesn't split it between all members of the team. It also gives you a little bit of backstory into how Robin was before he became a psychopath who stabs arms dealers right in the dick. But more on that later. Alan Ritchson and Minka Kelly play Hawk and Dove and they acquit themselves well. Ritchson doesn't have a lot to work with. He's gruff, he says fuck a lot, he's adequately pissed when he feels like Dawn and Dick are still banging. Kelly is great. She's more nuanced. Her interactions with Rachel feel really natural.
The Nuclear Family is appropriately menacing. They are your typical suburban family, Mom, Dad, Sis and Bro, but as soon as they are activated they are crazy powerful, psycho assassins. The Nuclear Family is where this R rated Titans show really works. The violence against Dick's partner is upsetting and shocking and their easy take down of the three heroes and casual toss of Dawn off the roof sets up a great cliffhanger and real stakes.
The main issue with this episode is the show's continued notion to force the R rated nature of the show down the audience's throat. The whole conceit of Hawk and Dove is that they are two sides of the same coin. Hawk is the angry, aggressive war style hero, while Dawn is peace loving calm on. That is present a little here, but not when they are fighting. Dawn is still slicing people in the face, stabbing them in the leg. When she is acting the same way, the way their relationship works should lose a little.
And can we talk a little more about Robin the crazy. When he tells Dawn that he's changed she doesn't really believe until she sees him go full on crazy pants on the arms dealer and his thugs. Her whispered "Jesus" is all of us really. I will say that in the flashback, Robin is far less brutal then he is here, so I really. hope we see more of that. And honestly, what was Batman doing that was worse than what Robin is doing? Skull fucking corpses?
There's no Starfire or Beast Boy in this episode and he's kind of getting the short shrift. Beast Boy is typically the comic relief and this show could desperately use some of that.
Grade: B-
Next up, Kory joins the search for Rachel and we meet the Doom Patrol.
I'm curious if anyone else has watched this? What do you think? What about Teen Titans fans? Is this the live-action Titans show you always dreamed of? Let me know in the comments.
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