"Fuck Batman" Titans Recap: "Home" & "Souls"

 Titans

The moment we've all been waiting for, well I've been waiting for, has finally happened. Donna Troy is finally back where she belongs after that bullshit death. Let's get into it.

"Home"

Conner Kent: "You're not bad."

Blackfire: "You're not bad, either."

Jason Todd is not doing great. He's going through withdrawals. He has turned on Jonathan Crane and he's is ready to come back to the Titans. Dick Grayson has a run-in with Tim Drake, who shows up at Wayne Manor revealing that he has deduced the secret identities of Batman and Robin. Dick denies it, but Tim isn't buying it. Kory is continuing to have her dangerous visions and enlists Conner and Blackfire to help her figure them out, while they try to figure out the feelings they have for each other. Crane is determined to get his plan back on track using Gotham's water supply.

Friends looking for friends.

If you thought Jason was doing bad before, well he's even worse now. He's going through pretty bad withdrawals. and when he meets up with Crane things go from bad to worse. It is pretty satisfying to see Crane get clocked. Jason pretty much wanders aimlessly for the rest of the episode. Dick spots him and thus begins an episode long game of cat and mouse where the brothers are searching for each other but not finding each other. I think season three of Titans is a huge improvement over the first two, but one of it's weak points is Jason Todd/Red Hood. Making him an addict dependent on Crane is a huge misstep. The flip flopping back and forth is a lot. Jason has a strong personality and his initial drive for revenge mixed with his abandonment issues are what drive him and the show is kind of losing sight of that. A stronger Red Hood would make this season pretty great overall.

Then here is Jonathan Crane. Initially I found his wacky, weird stoner persona fun, but the past few episodes, it has went from over-the-top in a fun way to over-the-top in a really grating, annoying way. He's all over the place this episode. Following and eavesdropping on Jason, resolving his mommy issues by killing his psychiatrist mother after she rats him out. Groundbreaking. The episode ends with Crane tricking Kory into destroying canisters that leak his toxin into Gotham's water supply. Good times.

The bright spot of this episode is the burgeoning relationship between Conner and Blackfire. When you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Blackfire is an exiled monarch and Conner is a clone of Earth's greatest hero and villain. They are both outcasts. Trying to fight against their natures. It's adorable watching them laying in bed, showing each other their planets. Even Kory knows it makes sense. This romance works so much better than the super forced Rose and Jason pairing from last season. These characters actually have reasons to be together. They have amazing chemistry. I can't wait to see where all this goes.

I do think it's a little odd that the Titans are so up in arms against trying to help Jason. Yes, he killed Hank, but there is a good chance he's not in control of his actions. No one held Gar responsible for all the Cadmus caused tiger murder he was responsible for. It's a weird line, especially for Dick since Jason is basically his brother. You'd think the Titans would want to help Jason. Maybe their positions will change as the season nears its end point.

Grade: B

"Souls"

Hank Hall: "I kind of think of this as my home base."

Donna Troy: "Classy for a guy who thinks flushing is optional."

Hank Hall: "Thank you."

After getting shot at the end of the last episode, Tim Drake is on a train heading for his final destination. Donna Troy is on the same train. It turns out Tim isn't ready to give up on life yet so he escapes with Donna in hot pursuit. After being rescued from ghouls by Hank Hall, the trio of heroes decide that they are going to try to make their way back into the land of the living. Meanwhile, on Themyscira, Rachel is trying to help bring Donna back while angering some Amazons along the way.

This is Themyscira? Sure...

I'm not sure if "Titans" will ever make Rachel Roth not super annoying. Did you miss Raven these first 9 episodes? Did you ever once ask yourself, "I wonder what Raven is up to?" I sure didn't. And it turns out she's been on this Wish.com version of Paradise Island training with the Amazons, trying to bring Donna back from the dead and annoying the majority of the warrior women on the island. I will give you three guesses which of those things she's succeeding at and you're only going to need one. The thing about Raven's... arc, I guess you'd call it, in season three is that it feels super unnecessary. At the end of season two, when she leaves, you assume that we will follow her but instead we get this one episode. And I guess the purpose is for her to learn that she can't bring people back from the dead, even though the person that she is trying to save, actually does come back from the dead? I guess we will see how she integrates back into the team in the last few episodes in the season.

The remainder of the episode revolves around how Donna Troy and Tim Drake make it back to the land of the living. It's great to have Donna back. She acknowledges that her death was so much bullshit. Connor Leslie does such a great job playing Donna. I love her snark. Her annoyance at Tim repeatedly calling her Ms. Troy. Her snarky banter with Hank. She is needed on this show and I'm happy that her "death" was short-lived. Not to mention she's a badass. I loved watching her taking out ghouls on the bridge back to the living with broken bottles, a sword and finally her lasso.

This episode is a much more fitting send off for Hank Hall than the episode where he died. Hank has really been thriving in the underworld. He's living his full Dean Winchester fantasy and who can blame him? Who hasn't wanted to live that fantasy at some point? There is some great comedy here with Hank. Him trying to use those nunchucks is basically me as a little kid trying to live out my Michelangelo Ninja Turtle fantasy and just smacking myself over and over again. Hank reuniting with the original Don and them teaming up to help people in the underworld is a great period to the end of the sentence for Hank.

Tim ends up back in his body in the ER. Donna returns to Earth just in time to stop Bruce Wayne from killing himself. So, that'll be a fun conversation for them to have.

Grade: B+

Next up, Gotham's goodwill towards the Titans doesn't last and Rachel and Donna reunite with the rest of the team.

What did you guys think? Are you happy to see Donna and Rachel return? Does Rachel have redeeming factors I'm missing? How do you think they could make Jason better? Let me know in the comments.