Titans
We've reached the final three episodes of season two of "Titans." I haven't seen a show that has so much potential that squanders it in a long time. I'm kind of glad that we are going right into season three after this because I'm rooting for these crazy kids.
"E.L._O."
Donna Troy: "Did he just leave?"
Dawn Granger: "Yup."
Kory Anders: "So, let me get this straight. Bruce Wayne somehow arranged for us all to meet in this diner in the middle of nowhere to mansplain us into putting the Titans back together?"
Dawn Granger: "Yup. I think that's exactly what just happened."
Now in solitary, Dick is seeing his Bruce spirit guide more and more. It seems like he's trying to tell him something. Meanwhile, the rest of the Titans are trying to their separate ways, but they keep being drawn to a diner in Elko, NV. Even after they decide to kind of get back together, they are still divided. Donna and Dawn decide to go after Gar and Conner while Kory and Rachel decide to go spring Dick from prison. Which decision is the right on? And what is the revelation that fake Bruce is struggling to get Dick to realize?
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| These be our prison break costumes. |
I'm not sure where to start here. Like I said in the intro, "Titans" has a shit ton of potential, but it just isn't sure how to use it. We are heading into the last three episodes the action should be ratcheting up, but it kind of feels like we are running in place. I don't feel any sense of excitement and it kind of feels like the show is spending a lot of time on stuff that doesn't feel super necessary, especially with the limited time the season has left.
Let's start off with chatting about some of the stuff that the show is doing well. I feel like for the most part, the show finally is getting a decent grip on the personalities of all the characters. They may not be exactly like their comics counterparts, but they are least staying true to how they've been portrayed in the show and that is important. There is the scenes with Kory and the shrink she's trying to hook up with. Dawn retrieving the photo of the Titans from the dumpster. These all make sense.
But then the show is forcing this relationship between Jason and Rose. There hasn't been enough in the show for anyone to be invested in this. They had maybe like one formative scene together and we are supposed to care about this?
The show makes a lot of weird narrative choices as well. It's pretty clear that Conner and Gar are in real danger, so it doesn't make sense that Kory and Rachel would be so gung ho about breaking Dick out. And then, he's already gone when they get there. So, two heroes bust into a prison for nothing. There's also this episode long tease about what "Bruce" is trying to get Dick to realize and it's very obvious from the beginning of the episode that it is that Jericho is inside of Deathstroke. Oh, and remember when I said the show had a decent grip on the characters personalities, that's still true, but brainwashing Gar into killing people is not something I can get behind.
Grade: C
"Faux-Hawk"
Adeline: "Jericho told me that you had some kind of special talent. That you could almost fly, take down legions of bad men, that you could do the impossible. Well, I've got one for you, Mr. Grayson. Bring my son back to me."
Dick Grayson: "I'll try."
Cadmus is using the brainwashed Gar to attack innocent people publicly with the final plan being to have him attack a carnival. The female Titans finally hook back up to help Conner and Gar now that Dick is MIA. Dick visits Adeline. Rose comes clean to Jason about her past with her dad including that she was a double agent. Something is up with Kory's powers and Hank is doing coke and participating in an underground fight club as Hawk.
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| Ravager. |
The penultimate episode of the second season of "Titans" does pretty much nothing that the second to last episode of a show should do. There is no amping up of stakes. No real hook to make you excited for the finale. Much like the previous episode, it is a bunch of meandering vignettes strung haphazardly together.
A lot of the episode is taken up by, you guessed it, a flashback! Seriously. I hope in season three, the writers explore new narrative devices. There are so many to choose from. You don't have to just rely on flashbacks. This one tells the story of how Rose came into the employ of Deathstroke. Remember way back when the season first started and it felt like Deathstroke and Ravager were going to be an integral part of this season, like that story was going to be the through line and it felt exciting? I remember that, too. Sigh. Good times. Chelsea Zhang does a good job as Rose, she just deserves better. So many thing about this flashback sequence. Rose's mother calls her "boo?" I probably would ditch her for my assassin dad, too. I don't understand why Rose decides to work with Slade so quickly. I get they need to squeeze all this into that one flashback but they could have done a better job. This all culminates with Rose telling Jason she initially joined the Titans to spy on them for Deathstroke and he's very upset and they break up and I don't care because I don't care about this relationship at all. And, spoiler alert, since Ravager isn't in season three at all, you shouldn't care about it either.
The rest of the episode is just like wastes of storytelling space. Dick meets up with Bruce's costume guy to get his new costume and get read repeatedly for burning his original Robin suit. I mean, it's cute and it's nice to see Brenton Thwaites do more than just scowl, but is this the time for that? Then, there is the title of the episode which refers to Hank's downward spiral. This feels like a plot point that would have crept up mid season but here we are, the episode before the finale and we are spending an inordinate amount of time on Hank's coke fueled binges and groupie sex that he falls asleep during. Oh and the kid who he sells his Hawk suit to and doesn't remember. Hank hits rock bottom and snaps out of it surprisingly quickly.
Let's end this on a positive note. I do like Kory reading Rachel in the car. She says everything I think about Rachel and I love it. I enjoyed the interrogation scene with Dawn and Donna. Anytime Donna uses her lasso, I'm here for it.
I still loathe this Gar subplot.
Grade: D+
"Nightwing"
Hank Hall: "Things are getting super fucking ugly out here."
Nightwing: "You're not going to make fun of my suit."
Hank Hall: "I just did."
Nightwing: "I've missed this."
Dawn Granger: "We have a very angry Superboy. Any thoughts?"
Donna Troy: "Other than yelling, "Hey, Conner."
Nightwing: "Yeah. But we need Rachel."
Making his debut as Nightwing, Dick takes down Deathstroke with Rose's help, freeing the soul of the trapped Jericho in the process. No time to celebrate because Mercy is using Gar as a way to test Conner out and sell him to the highest bidder as a super soldier. Can the Titans get through to their brainwashed teammates? And which Titan will pay the ultimate price?
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| Lamest final fight ever. |
As the second season of "Titans" draws to a close and can't help but think about the season that could have been if the show would have just stuck with the Deathstroke plot and not added all this Cadmus nonsense. Deathstroke is a quintessential Titans villain and with Jericho, there is so much here they could have done. They could have expanded on it. They really could have brought this arc to life in a really fantastic way. But for some reason, they rushed it. Focused on a lot of other nonsense. Maybe they were concerned that they weren't going to get another season, so they decided that they should try to get as much in as they possibly could now? Who knows. Whatever the reason, this season suffered because of it.
Take the last confrontation between Nightwing and Deathstroke. It just doesn't hit as hard as it could have. Also, Deathstroke kind of goes out like a bitch which is too bad. He's literally taken care of in the first fifteen minutes of the episode. It's very anitclimactic. But Rose is forgiven and Jericho takes residence in her body and everything's good, right? Sure.
The other big action set piece is the fight between Nightwing, Donna, Dove, Starfire and Raven against Beast Boy and Superboy. It's about as consequential as the fight between Deathstroke, Ravager and Nightwing, but it is at least fun. There isn't a ton of humor in "Titans" as a whole and that is unfortunate because these banter segments are great and it looks like the actors are actually having fun when they are happening. Raven is able to get through to Gar and Dick uses her psychic powers to break through the brainwashing and stop Conner. I'm wondering if the show is is setting up a relationship between Dick and Conner like the friendship between Bruce and Clark. That would be cool. I'm curious if there will be any sort of repercussions in regards to the killing that Conner and Gar did while they were under Cadmus control. I'm going to guess no, and I'm fine with that. As far as I'm concerned, it can just be forgotten about.
This brings us to the big death of the episode: Donna Troy. As you can imagine, I would be pretty upset about that if she wasn't in the promo materials for season three. That says to me they will find some way to bring her back from the dead which I'm cool with. The show treats Donna so weirdly. In this episode she goes toe to toe with Conner and more than holds her own, but a few episodes ago she is beaten almost to death by Deathstroke? And, she is killed because she's electrocuted by the piece of that Ferris wheel? I guess.
The rest of the episode is pure set up for things to come next season. Rachel heads to Themyscira with Donna's body. Jason is on the outs with the team. Hawk and Dove are split up. Blackfire shows up on Earth, possessing the body of a pregnant woman. As always, these things have lots of potential. Will the show actually live up to said potential? We will see.
Grade: B-
I'm curious what others thought about this season? Do you see a method to the madness? What was your favorite part of season two? Least favorite? Let me know in the comments.
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