"Fuck Batman" Titans Recap: "Dude, Where's My Gar" & "Game Over"

 Titans

Have you been missing Garfield Logan? Well, there's so much Gar in these two episodes and it is... something. We also get some familiar faces. Check it out.

"Dude, Where's My Gar"

Gar Logan: "Jinx. Hey. Am I dreaming?"

Jinx: "Ugh. Still asking the boring questions, I see. Come on, Gar. Are you awake or asleep? Why not both?"

After helping the other Titan escape, Gar is trapped in the Red, a multidimensional force that connects all life. Gar meets Dominic Mnbawe, Freedom Beast, who tells Gar that he was born to be the avatar of the Red. And that means that he has to give up all his human attachments. As Gar learns more about the Red, his powers and his past, will he give up everything he cares about?

You've been dying for a live action Freedom Beast.

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When I saw who wrote this episode, I had high hopes. The episode is written by Geoff Johns, a prolific DC comics writer who served as chief creative officer for a number of years, with an assist from Ryan Potter, who plays Beast Boy. Johns reinvigorated DC twenty years ago. He brought Hal Jordan and Barry Allen back to prominence. He made the Justice Society of America almost as popular as the JLA. When DC rebooted their entire continuity with the New 52, he made Aquaman not a joke. And Ryan Potter seemingly knows the character he plays pretty well? David Duchovny co-wrote some episodes of "The X-Files." It's a thing that happens. When I was done, I sort of chastised and berated myself for thinking the episode would be good in the first place.

Geoff Johns still writes comics like it is 20 years ago. The comics industry has moved on and while nostalgia porn is still in style, most people want their nostalgia porn with some sort of coherent decent story. Or maybe that's just me. It feels like Johns is really hinging the success of this episode on the cameos that litter the last ten minutes of the episode. It's like he hopes that people seeing snippets of Grant Gustin's Flash or the animated Beast Boy or DC super writer, Grant Morrison will detract for the lackluster 35 minutes of content that we've consumed. As much as I enjoy, Brec Bassinger's Stargirl and her interaction with Gar, it's not charming enough to make the rest of the episode worth it.

The Red is an interesting concept. An anthropomorphic field that connects all living things. It's one of the most interesting things to come out of the New 52 reboot. I appreciate them bringing it in to modern day DC properties, but I kind of wish they hadn't used "Titans" as that property. They don't do a lot to make it unique and by tying it in to the Multiverse just makes it feel like a low rent Speed Force. I especially feel that after suffering through the recent "The Flash."

It doesn't help that this personal trial that Gar Logan is going through isn't extremely compelling. His guide throughout all this is Dominic Mnbawe aka Freedom Beast. He has a helm that allows him to work with the Red and he spends the majority of the episode telling Gar that in order for him to be a successful avatar of the Red he has to sever all his human connections which are important to Gar. The thing about it is that Freedom Beast doesn't give Gar any real reason why he has to isolate himself. It's basically this is how its done and how it needs to be done. Nothing really ties in to the revelation that Niles Caulder created the virus that killed Gar's parents and Freedom Beast's family. Gar is upset but non plussed overall. There is just no conflict here no matter how hard they try to convince us that it is.

"Titans" can usually overcome these narrative issues with some well choreographed, high impact action sequences but the couple in this episode really underwhelm. They aren't exciting and feel perfunctory. It doesn't help that they rely a lot on special effects and the effects in this episode are garbage. I've seen better effects in "Superman & Lois." I laughed out loud when they showed the BatLion thing that menaces Gar in the first act. I want to be more excited about Gar finally really utilizing his Beast Boy powers and shifting in to various animals but they all just look so bad. The Red scenes are obviously green screen. It's just all a big letdown.

The episode ends with Gar coming face to face with Cyborg implying that we are going to be getting a "Titans/Doom Patrol" crossover. It's got to be better than this.

Grade: D+

"Game Over"

Gar Logan: "And, uh, I believe your fist already met Vic's face."

Kory Anders: "Sorry about that."

Cliff Steele: "Ah, he's fine. Happens all the time."

Garfield finds himself still in the Red trapped in an overgrown copy of the Doom Patrol mansion with Cliff Steele, Victor Stone and Larry Trainor. They are soon joined by Kory who may be the key to them all escaping. The Titans are still trying to figure out how to stop Sebastian Blood who is working with Conner after seemingly killing Mother Mayhem. Conner is the new president of LexCorp and is ready to help Sebastian make his app dreams come true. Conner believes he is manipulating Sebastian but he soon learns that he may have underestimated Brother Blood. At the same time, Dick and Rachel use black magic to try to sever Rachel's connection to Sebastian.

Reunited and it feels so good.

"Titans" has two modes. There is the mode where they do very little which is kind of what the last episode did. It focused solely on Beast Boy's trippy trip through the Red. Then, it does too much while still doing very little. That's what this episode did. There are a number of different storylines swirling around, but hardly any of them are super compelling. In cases like this, I find that it's best to break the episode down starting with most compelling storyline to least compelling storyline.

The most entertaining storyline in this episode is Gar and Kory's adventures with half of the Doom Patrol. This is my PSA to watch "Doom Patrol." It's a great show. It's quirky and weird and queer and I want DC to do more of it. It's a real treat to have the voice talents of Brendan Fraser and Matt Bomer on "Titans." They all have really great chemistry and there is a charm to these scenes that raise this episode over the last one. Anna Diop continues to show that she is the best thing this show has going for it. I was so happy when she found her way into the Red. She has chemistry with anyone and her speech to Gar is great. It's cheesy for sure but Diop sells it in a way that no one else on the show really could. My only grip about this is that I could have used more and the way they escape from the Red doesn't really make a lot of sense.

Then, we have Conner Kent-Luthor and Sebastian Sanger's new partnership. It's clear from the beginning that Conner is trying to play Sebastian. The manipulation is so blatant that I'm shocked that Sebastian doesn't pick up on it right away. Then I have to remind myself that Sebastian is a whiny, crybaby man child who thinks the entire world is against him and can't handle even the smallest bit of rejection. After another berating by Mother Mayhem, Sebastian seemingly sets her on fire and leaves her to die. This leaves Sebastian free to work with LexCorp to work on what he is really passionate about: that fucking app.

Yes, we get app development in "Titans" and its about as exciting as you would expect it to be. It's pretty clear that in every way that matters Sebastian Sanger is a failure and he always has been. He seems to intrinsically know that this app is doomed to fail so he imbues it with the power of Trigon. It turns out Abraxis, the game that Sanger created, is connected to him and he's able to steal energy from the people playing it. Or something. Who cares? The way that Sebastian shifts from whiny little bitch to scary (I mean, he's supposed to be scary) is supposed to be like chilling but it's more like huh? While I do enjoy seeing Conner being shown he's not as smart as he think he is especially since the show is making him seem a lot smarter than he really is, it's still pretty jarring when the power shifts. Also, this whole thing is just for show since Conner lets Tim in to the LexCorp system to shut the game down. So I'm not sure what the point of all this is. All I know is that if they kill Bernard off because of this, I will burn it all down.

Finally we have Tim and Rachel doing some black magic to sever the connection between Rachel and Dick. This could have been the best part of the episode but its just kind of meh. First, it doesn't make a ton of sense why Rachel doesn't want the other Titans to know they are performing this spell. I get that its black magic, but its not like she hasn't done some suspect magic before. They pretty heavily imply that Dick's "friend from London" is John Constantine but it seems that for some reason they aren't allowed to say his name. So instead of Constantine we get this Italian witch, Helena. And she's no John Constantine. Think of how fun it would be if Constantine was the one performing this ritual. Making snarky comments. Pointing out how hot Dick's ass is. It would have been a hoot. Instead we get a scene we've seen a million times before that ends just the way we think its going to.

At the end of this episode, things aren't looking great. Sebastian's app is gone. His connection to Rachel is gone. Mother Mayhem is emerging half burned from a body bag and he's looking at that horn like he really wants to blow it.

Grade: C+

Next up, Kory makes a decision on how she is going to help stop Brother Blood and in the series finale, the Titans have their final showdown with Brother Blood.

What do you all think? Is "Titans" going to go out with a bang or a whimper? Should DC just cut Geoff Johns loose? Do you wish there'd been more "Titans/Doom Patrol" crossovers? Let me know in the comments.