The season finale for Titans was very odd. It didn’t feel like the natural endpoint for the season and more of a midway mark before the actual finale. With the DC Universe flagship series returning for season two last week, it pretty much gave us the ending we should have had on the first place.
***SPOILERS FOR TITANS SEASON 2***
For those who might have forgotten, the season ended with Trigon coming to our world and talking over the mind of Dick Grayson to use for wicked purposes, I’m sure. Kory regains her memories that Rachel (Raven) exists to bring Trigon forth and that he can only remain if he breaks Rachel’s heart (not a metaphor). So Hawk and Dove (who find this information out from Raven entering Dove’s mind last season), recruit Jason “Best Robin” Todd to try and save Rachel and Gar (Best Boy) from Trigon.
Trigon’s mind games are mostly fun to watch, mostly because it just exposes the heroes for being a little too into murdering people. When an illusion of Rachel asks Kory to kill her, the alien princess does so, falling right into the trap and becomes the first possessed. We find out a little bit more about Donna’s backstory where we see how her father died and adult Donna is forced to watch the whole thing happen helplessly. She sees the arsonist who was responsible for the fire and throws him out a window turning evil.
Jason sees Bruce under a pile of rubble and Dick is there saying he needs to be put down, carrying on from the homicidal Batman fantasy in the finale. The two Robins fight each other and Jason decides if there can only be one Robin, it’ll be him. He delivers a headshot to Dick with the gun that killed Bruce’s parents, which he apparently keeps loaded. Hank and Dove do drugs together and it’s all about as interesting as everything else they’ve done.
The “final betrayal” comes with everyone kicking the shit out of Gar because he’s Raven’s love interest. Rachel begs Dick for help and Dick seemingly kills the changeling by choking and then throwing him across the room. Trigon reverts to his demon form which … doesn’t look terrible, but my Granny Goodness it’s not great. However with nearly half an episode left, Raven finds a way to defeat her father by having control over her own abilities and using her new forehead gem abilities.
So we spend (checks timer) almost 20 minutes of a 52-minute episode about Trigon with him gone and the demon himself only stays around for maybe five minutes?
It’s honestly kind of underwhelming as an opener, but if I attach it to last season it works because of the momentum leading up to it. Right now it only serves as a liminal storyline to get to Deathstroke’s introduction and the rest of season two. I’m not mad at it though, because underwhelming doesn’t mean bad, but it does show that the priority of this episode was moving forward.
Which means we need to talk about the new people. We get to see Esai Morales as an aged Deathstroke, who feels the need to come out of retirement when he sees Jason’s “Titans are back, bitches” TV camera-bomb. I love to stan a petty/Maleficent style hero. Also, as a Slade Wilson fan, Esai Morales already seems perfect for the role serving us all the hot daddy assassin swagger we need.
Which left me with some … questions was Ser Jorah as Batman/Bruce Wayne. Now, I know we jest about Kate McGrath’s ever-changing accident on Supergirl, but like Bruce Wayne is born and raised New England coastal elite. Scottish Iain Glen looked at the default New York/Boston/American accent and said, I’ll do what I want. Which is a very Bruce Wayne thing to do, but doesn’t sell the role. Robert Pattinson will look like the second coming of Michael Keaton after this. Sorr, ser.
Still, the Batfamily dynamic is kicking off in an interesting way and I do like the idea of Dick wanting to tell Bruce how his training hurt his childhood. It’s a good scene on paper, it’s just the awkwardness of the accent that pulls it back.
Donna Troy will be coming back as a lead, which is exciting because I love Wonder Girl—however, can the Donna Troy and Kory rivalry just stop, it is exhausting, tired, and I’m not exactly sure why two adult women of the same age range need to fighting because of Dick? I get she’s his big-sister type, but it doesn’t make the optics of it any more papable to watch.
“Maybe it’s time for a do-over,” seems like the perfect way to describe this episode and what it is trying to do. Titans is trying to be a little bit brighter and a little bit more fun to make up for being so extra in its marketing that it turned people off. I think the series has so much potential and as someone who just loves a lot of these characters, I’m sticking around. We will see how big this do-over is when the show continues tomorrow. At least, for now, we have Titan’s tower! Kinda. And an updating Raven wig.
(image: DC Universe)
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