Titans
Before we move on to season three of "Superman & Lois," I figured we would wrap up the recently completed fourth and final season of "Titans." When we left them, the Titans failed in their mission to protect Sebastian Sanger who becomes Brother Blood. They lose a friend (RIP Jinx) and in a last ditch effort, Gar asks to be taken to the Red and the team disappears. Let's dive into a true "Titans" two-parter. The first episode ends with a "To be continued..." and everything.
"Caul's Folly"
Dick Grayson: "Listen, Roberta is a little eccentric. But I trust her. She's an expert in extraterrestrial languages. Knows everything from Klingon to Tamaranean."
Kory Anders: "You know Klingon's not a real language, right?"
Dick Grayson: "Try telling her that."
After receiving the power of Trigon, May, Sebastian and the cult leave and the Titans wake up to an empty hideout and no Gar. Conner finds a journal and a letter left by Lex Luthor. This leads the Titans to look for a horn that only someone of Trigon's bloodline can blow that will cause him to return and end the world. Kory may be able to stop at but at the expense of her own life. The hunt for the horn leads the remaining Titans to the strange town of Caul's Folly. While, Conner meets with an old associate of Lex's who has an interesting proposition for him.
 |
| Cops. Gross. |
I've said it before and with the show in its final run of episodes, this may be the last time I get to say it. You can say what you want about "Titans" and I have and I'm sure I will say more, but I will always admire their commitment to male nudity. In a lot of comic book properties, things are geared towards the male gaze, but "Titans" has routinely recognized that their cast is full of gorgeous male actors and has routinely objectified them and we love that. Joining the ranks of Alan Ritchson and Joshua Orpin, Joseph Morgan bares his backside in this midseason premiere as he emerges from the lake of blood he submerged himself in at the end of the last episode. Now, it's not the best bare butt scene the show has ever had, that would be the baring of Ritchson's beefy backside in season two, but I'm never going to look a gift bum in the mouth. Or something. Whatever the saying is.
This episode begins kind of where the last one left off. Sebastian Sanger emerges from the pool of blood and he's being worshipped and he's leaving. Then we cut to the same place, but the Titans minus Gar are passed out on the ground. It's unclear how much time is passed or how everyone got here. Everyone is just talking about how there was darkness and now they are here. And no one seems to be concerned that Gar is missing. That to me is the strangest thing about this entire episode. I'm not saying that they had to spend the entire episode agonizing over what happened to Gar, but I think he warranted a little more than a mention and forget.
Pacing problems have always been the bane of "Titans" existence and this episode is no different. It feels like nothing happens. The main action of this episode: Titans find journal left by Lex Luthor. Journal leads them to weird small town housing a Trigon calling horn. Turns out small town is actually being run by Mother Mayhem and the Church of Blood. It feels like it could have taken half the time that it takes. This episode is a lengthy 45 minutes and it definitely feels like it could have been half that time and accomplished the same things that it accomplishes.
One of the issues with "Titans" is that it is doing things we have seen other shows in the same vein do. That in and of itself isn't an issue. I don't expect shows like this to reinvent the wheel, but if they are going use these old tropes, then they could at least inject something new into it, but this show doesn't it. This episode introduces us to Roberta. She's a paranoid, smart, nerd who think Klingon is a real language. We have seen a character like this time and time and time again and Roberta is really not unique at all. There's nothing to differentiate this character from a million others just like her. Then there is the revelation that Starfire could stop Trigon from destroying the world, but it may destroy her. Again, this is something that we have seen done before on every single show like this at one point or another and there is nothing new and exciting about Kory potentially dying even if we all know she probably won't.
This Conner becomes the new Lex Luthor subplot is officially my least favorite subplot on the show this season. Joshua Olpin is not a good enough actor to pull this off. It just comes off extremely cringe-y and again, it feels weird that no one on the team is really that concerned when their most powerful member takes off on his own to follow the directive of his megalomaniac, supervillain "father." The only good thing about this plot is that we get to spend some time with Mercy Graves again. I do think her painting Lex Luthor as this champion of diversity would be interesting to investigate but of course we won't.
I think the town of Caul's Folly is an interesting concept, but we learn very little about it. It's just another weird small town in a long line of weird small towns in superhero/sci fi shows. I'm less critical of this because I'm a fan of the trope and I'm willing to forgive it. It's not too long before Dick, Kory and Rachel are separated. It seems that the townspeople think that Dick might be the son of Trigon according to the only two non Church of Blood members who populate Caul's Folly. The police take down Dick and the next thing we know he's standing in front of Mother Mayhem and Sebastian.
The thing I like the most about this season is Bernard and Tim and they continue to be adorable. Tim doesn't text Bernard and Bernard's upset. So they decide to just be friends. But of course they don't want to be just friends. I would watch this episode all over again just to watch the scene of them both at the door of their adjoining rooms ready to declare they don't want to be friends and then make out. I mean, that and the butt shot.
Grade: C-
"Dick & Carol & Ted & Kory"
Sebastian Sanger: "What are we toasting?"
Conner Kent: "To the future."
It turns out that the town of Caul's Folly is completely controlled by Mother Mayhem and the Church of Blood. They've been tasked with protecting the horn and they take that task very seriously. The rest of the world thinks Caul's Folly was destroyed in a fire but it's actually in a pocket dimension and the townspeople are controlled by music that makes them forget who they were and their past lives. This is slowly happening to Dick and Kory but luckily Dick has Batman training for that! Just record your past traumatic memories and listen to them when you find yourself forgetting who you are. Can Dick and Kory keep their senses of self long enough to rescue Rachel who is going to be killed by the townspeople as a heretic? Will Tim and Bernard be helpful and not just super adorbs?
 |
| I love these two. |
This episode is kind of a hot ass mess and I didn't understand a lot of what is going on. I'm not sure that is because I wasn't watching attentively or because of a slapdash script that didn't make a whole lot of sense. Honestly it could have been a little bit of both.
What is happening in Caul's Folly is super murky. I understand that the Church of Blood decided that this town would be perfect to hide the horn in. I don't need to have like a crystal clear explanation about why they chose this particular town. I can let that go. But there's a lot more that they could have explained. How exactly did the Church of Blood put this town in another dimension? If they have that kind of power, then why haven't they been exercising it more? How has no one else figured this out? It's so weird. It's like they just thought that this sounded cool so why worry about if it makes sense or not?
It didn't feel like there was any explanation to what was going on with Vinnie the DJ who was being drained of more blood than should be in his body and was apparently responsible for the song that was keeping everyone under control. I will say that it's a pretty chilling visual and it's cool to see Dick destroying these giant tubes of blood and get splattered with them. But it would have been nice if there was some sort of explanation as to how this was all working. But there is absolutely zero. It's so weird. Why not give some sort of generic bullshit explanation but instead it's like the show just figuratively shrugs and says "whatever."
Bernard and Tim use Bernard's fancy S.T.A.R. Labs equipment to track down the radio tower where they find a kid just sitting outside. It's pretty obvious that he is going to be the son and brother respectively of the deaf father/daughter helping Dick and Kory in Caul's Folly. There's again no explanation about how long this kid has been sitting here. How long ago was the fire that supposedly destroyed Caul's Folly. It's all very odd. I know I keep saying that but I can't stress it enough. It's like this episode has zero interest in explaining to viewers how the sausage got made. There has to be some rhyme or reason for this and there is just none.
All that being said, I did enjoy this episode. I did think it was entertaining overall. I think that Anna Diop and Brenton Thwaites have really developed some nice chemistry over the last few seasons and that is on full display here. I love the opening scene with them in bed in matching pajamas trying to figure out if they'd slept together or not. And can we give a slow clap to the red dress with '60's style bandana that Kory wear for the majority of the episode? Diop looks absolutely stunning. I love how Kory calls Dick's Batman training peak daddy bullshit. She's absolutely right. Good stuff. I did think that the flashbacks of previous scenes from past seasons felt unnecessary. I felt like that real estate could have been used a little better and it was pretty obvious that it would be happy memories that would actually bring them back to themselves in the end.
These first couple episodes of have been pretty devoid of action so it was nice to see some action sequences in this one particularly since the series excels at them. I loved Dick fighting the Caul's Folly sheriff's department in the sanctuary of the church. I got a kick of him bashing them in the head and limbs with hymnals. This injected a nice does of adrenaline into the proceedings. And, of course, Bernard and Tim continue to be the best even though the show tried to make them annoying by trying to get them to have a tired fight over what is best, science or your gut.
Sebastian Sanger is a pretty lame ass villain. He's a wet rag, "pick me" douchebag and is not engaging at all. This shift to him over Mother Mayhem is not great. And it doesn't seem like it's going to get any better now that Conner has decided to go full Lex Luthor, Jr and partner up with him.
Grade: B-
Next up, we catch up with Gar in the Red and Sebastian learns new ways to use his powers.
What do you all think? Are you as disappointed by all this as I am? Did I totally miss everything about that second episode? Let me know in the comments.
No comments:
Post a Comment