Titans
We have reached the end of the first half of the final fourth season of "Titans." Let's see where things end up before we take a little break. Let's go.
"Inside Man"
[Tim Drake is watching monitors, spinning in a chair, repeating "All clear" over and over again.]
Tim Drake: "Wow. Look over there. It's an empty hallway again."
Bernard Fitzmartin: "Why don't you say 'all clear' one more time? It was, really, such a delightful phrase."
The Titans are trying to keep Sebastian safe in STAR labs until the blood moon passes. They don't know that they have a traitor in their midst. Conner has been possessed by Mother Mayhem and is attempting to deliver Sebastian to her. Can the Titans keep Sebastian safe and save their teammate and friend?
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| Friends? |
This fucking snake. Honestly. How did they make a CGI snake that looks so fake? It reminds me of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." Do you remember that giant rubber snake that Harrison Ford wrestles with in that movie? That snake looks more real than the one that is prowling the hallways of STAR labs in "Inside Man." It would be so bad, but we are supposed to believe that the Titans would be terrified of this fake looking snake. Like, doesn't this show have HBO money? I've seen network television shows that look they have a higher CGI budget. It's not a great look for a high profile superhero show.
One of my biggest gripes when it comes to the rise of streaming services is this need that they have to split seasons in two. I get you're trying to get as much out of your content as possible, but splitting a 12 episode season in two makes no sense particularly when it is clear that the show didn't realize that it was going to be split when the season was being made.
"Inside Man" isn't a terrible episode. We have definitely seen way worse episodes of "Titans" but as a penultimate episode for the first half of this fourth season, it falls really flat. It's very boring. It feels like there is about 20 minutes worth of plot stretched to over double that time. Much like a lot of "Titans" episodes, it fees like there are a lot of good ideas but they never really follow through on them.
This could have been a really thrilling episode with Mother Mayhem throwing obstacle after obstacle at the Titans to try to get Sebastian away from them. Other cult members. Maybe more zombies. Lots of snakes. Even the idea of Conner being the "inside man" could have been great, but it sort of fizzles out. It feels really obvious that something is not right with Conner. He looks terrible. He's acting strangely. But no one on the team notices. That's a lot to take in. And then, Conner is taken out pretty easily by Jinx. I feel like this is really built up and it sort of ends with a shrug.
The same is true for the sequence when Kory and Rachel take Sebastian from STAR labs. They are led to a Metropolis offshoot of the Elko Diner, which is cool, as is Kory using the jukebox and them being transported to once again meet with Tamaranean Zadira. The rest just falls flat. It's a lot of talking about how Kory should kill Sebastian because its her destiny and if she doesn't the world will end. Blah, blah, blah. It's not that exciting and Kory sees the vision with Dick and the little girl with the red balloon. I would have loved to see Kory and Zadira throw down, but nothing. Instead, Mother Mayhem shows up and Sebastian leaves with her to protect Rachel and Kory. Yawn.
Back at STAR labs, the team is trying to find a way to save Conner from the serpent he's been infected with. Bernard and Gar come up with the idea to have Gar turn into a virus and enter Conner's body. He can then infect the serpent. This is such a cool idea that is executed really poorly. I thought we were going to see the Gar-Virus inside Conner's body battling the serpent. That would have been so cool. Instead, we get the remaining members of the team watching a monitor and narrating what is happening. Yet another in a long line of missed opportunities here.
Luckily, we have Tim and Bernard who do their best to rescue the episode from mediocrity. James Scully and Jay Lycurgo have such amazing chemistry that they are a joy to watch. You don't want their scenes to be over. The entire episode you are just waiting for them to have their first kiss and when it finally happens it doesn't disappoint. These two need to be protected at all costs.
There a couple of other things that happen. Jinx talks to Gar about the Red. Mother Mayhem kills Gina at the behest of Trigon. But overall, it's just... OK.
Grade: C
"Brother Blood"
Jinx: "Oh, hey. Look at you."
Tim Drake: "Hey, Gar-Virus."
Jinx: "Almost human-sized again."
Garfield Logan: "Yeah, yeah."
Dick Grayson: "How's Conner?"
Tim Drake: "I'm not sure, he keeps calling me 'home slice'."
Jinx: "Well, he said I'm hotter than last July, so I'd say he's fine."
With Sebastian in the hands of the cult of blood, the Titans are scrambling to save him before the ritual can be completed. They are also dealing with Conner embracing his Lex Luthor side. It comes with some good ideas but a lot of ego and attitude. The Titans decide to try to teleport to Mayhem's base to retrieve Rachel's powers and save Sebastian. Meanwhile, Gar is having visions and Mother Mayhem is getting closer to convincing Sebastian to complete the ritual.
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| An interesting way to get a haircut. |
We need to talk about Conner Kent. From the moment Conner starts using his laser vision to shave his head, I was cringing hard and it turns out I had good reason to be cringing. Conner embracing his Lex side is giving big Peter Parker under the influence of the symbiote in "Spider-Man 3" vibes and I'm glad the show initially treats Conner acting this way as kind of like a joke. I think where I start to struggle is when they try to make it more serious. Part of the problem is that I don't think that Joshua Orpin is a good enough actor to sort of pull this off. There are a lot of nuances to this that need to happen for this to have the impact that the show needs it to have and unfortunately, I just don't think that Orpin has the chops to pull it off and that is unfortunate, particularly since I see this Superboy with the Lex side at the forefront being a storyline for the remainder of this final season.
A lot of this episode is spent with Sebastian Sanger and trying to persuade him to willingly drink the blood and immerse himself in it to complete the ritual. The way that the show does this is by .... flashbacks!! You knew that. This show loves a flashback and will not let an opportunity to have one or many pass it by. We see flashbacks of Sebastian's past and each time Mother Mayhem is there to tell him how special he is. It all feels very paint by numbers until we get to the reveal that the three people from the flashbacks are now part of the cult of blood and believe in Sebastian. It's a nice little twist but I don't know if it is enough to make up for so much of this episode being taken over by flashbacks.
This episode suffers a little bit from the same issues as the last episode. This is, for all intents and purposes, a midseason finale. There is a lot of standing around talking and planning. I think what sort of puts it above the last episode is that it's not boring. I think the writing for this episode is a little bit better. The interplay between the team is great. And though I'm not sold on Conner Kent, the reactions of the team make it a bit more interesting. We get more adorable moments between Bernard and Tim and I love when Tim throws out that he and Bernard kissed. It's a lovely moment.
I think where this episode really shines is in the end. I think "Titans" really shines in its action sequences and while the one that ends this episode isn't necessarily as dynamic as some of the others it injects the episode with the adrenaline that the last couple of episodes of have been missing.
Things play out kind of like you'd expect. Sebastian embraces his destiny. Jinx gets stabbed. Rachel gets her powers back but everything remains white, which I have to say, I really prefer to the black, goth motif. I think on camera, it just pops more. The visions that Gar has been having all episode come true and the episode ends with the Titans disappearing, having been transported to who knows where?
Grade: B
Well that's it for "Titans" for now. I'll be replacing it with a new re-watch feature that I'm really excited about so watch this space.
So, what did you all think of these last two episodes before the break? What are your hopes for the final six episodes? Let me know in the comments.
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