Tag: Titans

REVIEW: ‘Titans’ Episode 10 – Troubled Water

It’s hard to know where to start with episode 10. At the end of the day, the episode is as chaotic as Gotham after the water contamination from the end of episode 8. The show not only flubs the villain story but manages to implode the remaining slivers of an overarching, cohesive plot. In fact, the episode seems to decidedly prove that there is no genuine or comprehensible story. There’s certainly no storyline available with a meaningful, consistent, or valid goal or even journey throughout.

Even if Titans has some clue as to what that plot might be, the villains of the show absolutely do not. Apparently, dosing the entire city with the anti-fear (and now crazy zombie-esque?) drug was not really an end goal at all, but simply a throwaway to hype up Red Hood as Gotham’s true savior. All that to take down Nightwing and the other Titans. How this tracks with what the season has provided us thus far is mysterious, to say the least. After non-stop back-and-forth motivations and betrayals by Jason, he winds up at Crane’s side as if nothing ever happened. Crane is still just Crane, defined by mediocracy and unconvincing ever-moving plans and motivations to take over Gotham. At the very end of the episode, they make a toast to “bad seeds”, not knowing he was breaking the fourth wall in doing so.

The episode moves into emergency territory with much of Gotham affected by the drug, the city put in full lockdown and quarantine, and general crime is causing generic chaos throughout the city – it is reminiscent of the episode as a whole. However, the true sacrifices to this setup are unfortunately our Titans, whose grand plan first involved showing up in random spots in the city to fight drugged criminals rather unsuccessfully. With that failure in plain sight, they somehow concoct the brilliant plan to turn themselves in as a group “for show”, with the idea being that they would post bail and then disappear. As a quick aside, the notion that these people – accused and arrested for poisoning and attacking an entire whole city – would be granted bail is just absolutely ridiculous to the point it almost hurts.

Shocking, however, is that this plan did not work out. Not because they were not granted bail, but because some Gotham City police are in cahoots with Red Hood and the attack the Titans. Now they are simply in hiding—a large group of (depending on the day) highly superpowered individuals up against the occasional handgun did, in fact, run away from the situation. Again, how this squares with the first nine episodes that portrayed the group as a very confident, dedicated to Gotham unit is anyone’s guess. It’s probably safe to assume that separating the group in this sort of war zone atmosphere of Gotham would, in fact, give it more of a gritty war zone sensation. However, it’s not only completely arbitrary but flat-out disingenuous to any premise laid down thus far.

If the episode felt bold with its general Gotham story decisions, it undoubtedly felt more empowered to make some bold character-specific moves. It could be compared to the brief allusions to a chess match between the Titans and Red Hood early in the season, except the Titans – and Jason Todd honestly – are making completely random moves without any rhyme or reason. Hence, this episode.

We can start with Dick, who is given the most attention as always. While he just suffered some head trauma and is having occasional visions of the bat symbol, he otherwise comes across as mentally competent. While sane as he might be, his character is not consistent in the slightest. If he’s seeing bats, that would suggest he’s probably leaning into the “bad Batman” route some more, and one would expect that it would lead him to be more dark and batty, quite frankly. Here, though, he’s just lukewarm at best and making terrible, selfish decisions without the added necessary mental components to make it believable or understandable. The hardest pill to swallow is his line, “Gotham is on its own.” I mean, come on. Even in a “baddest Batman” situation, Gotham is very much attended to.

Other characters can be looked at more briefly because the absurdity speaks entirely for itself. Blackfire somehow sustained a deadly gunshot wound through her Tamaranian armor. Starfire attempts to heal (really?) her with her fire, but her sister merely absorbed it and takes it from her. Moving past how all of that is bad, we are yet again at a space where Starfire’s character and powers are just wrecked. Shockingly, the admittedly evil and traitorous Blackfire appears to be following her passion. It might be worth harping on how this storyline has a negative amount of reasons to take place within the Gotham story. It’s hard to even care at times when it’s treated like it’s some mild sisterly squabble among the “real stuff”.

Donna and Lydia’s interactions were so unnecessary. Of course, the show feels the need to tie Donna’s just-came-back-from-the-dead issue in a very shoddy knot. But Lydia sneaking around in a potato sack outfit acting a bit crazed, the two “fighting” for four seconds in mystical woods only for Donna to be told she is the greatest of everyone just didn’t need to happen. Her arc within episode 9 was plenty enough to redeem and re-hype her character, and this only brought it down.

To end on a high note, the random never-before-seen police station GCPD officers/workers that gave Commissioner Gordon the rundown on the situation and advised her what to do actually provided some solid acting. While the (what felt like) 23 seconds of that scene at the very beginning go the episode left more to be desired, it was solid.

September 30, 2021
REVIEW: ‘TITANS’ Season 3 Episode 9 – Souls

Episode 9 of this season of Titans is extremely baffling. On one hand, it makes no sense at all and feels completely out of place. Combine that with how corny and ridiculous it is this episode should have been a write-off. But yet, like its main characters, it manages to keep itself alive and be one of the most enjoyable rides of the entire series.

The episode finds our main three (dead) characters—Tim Drake, Donna Troy, and Hank Hall—in the black-and-white area of the afterlife where they are supposed to be on a literal train that takes them to the “final place.” Inexplicably, Tim and Donna are on the train at the same time but jump off the train because Tim desperately wants to be alive. Outside of the train, there is an entire rural outskirts-of-a-small-town type of area that generally consists of wooded areas and a road. There, they happen to run into none other than ‘Livin’ On a Prayer’-blasting Hank Hall, who is some sort of purgatory outlaw. There’s plenty more that can be mentioned, but the concept is outright nonsensical and absolutely does not match the universe in which Titans has been placed. The premise comes off as one that could better belong in Doom Patrol. Maybe that’s why it was so much more fun to experience, but in the context of Titans it is downright bewildering, even apart from the extremely contrived and illogical circumstances of absolutely everything that happens in the black-and-white place.

As mentioned, though, the episode is quite the dark horse, and the mini-adventure our three heroes go on throughout the episode was genuinely enjoyable and only partly because of its “so bad it’s good” quality. The three main characters, arguably all very much side characters in the world of the living, had the best chemistry and presence of any characters this season. Hank and Donna easily outdid their previous incantations and newcomer Jay Lycurgo’s Tim was stellar in the limelight this episode. Alan Ritchson’s Hank, alone and sans obligatory Dawn, was the charming and entertaining character he always had the potential to be. Even Conor Leslie’s Donna, who previously always felt flat, had substantially more color (ironically) to her personality and presence and was much more compelling than the character who died last season. The dynamic between the three was solid and the episode brought some humor to the land of death. Donna’s acknowledgment and resentment of dying at a carnival was appreciated dark humor and even a recognition of where at least one creative choice Titans made went wrong.

Out in the colorful regular world, Rachel Roth is living with the Amazonians in Themyscira, wanting to bring Donna back to life. The idea that Rachel was able to simply decide to go to Themyscira and then live and train there as one of them is ridiculous. That aside, the character was both still annoyingly juvenile in blatantly disrespectful of the Amazonian culture at every possible moment, but seemed to have some sort of growth when she was, essentially, put in time out. Hopefully, her time here off-screen will be used as an excuse for her having better control of her powers going forward and make her less of a constant liability to the Titans. She did provide a lovely admission that the Titans never actually did much work when she was with them.

While, as depicted, Donna and Tim seem to be able to simply will themselves back to life, it’s unclear if there is more behind their ability to do so. Hank didn’t make it over the bridge, however, one has to wonder what body he would have woken up as he previously exploded. Hank not returning made the most sense and at least gave some additional finality to that emotional arc, including a sweet reunion with his brother. Bringing any character back to life, especially so soon after their death, cheapens and lowers too many stakes, but Donna’s revival was entirely foreshadowed and Tim was too new and clearly significant to actually be removed from the story.

Donna’s first course of business upon being reanimated after months was, for some completely unknown and likely absurd reason, to rescue Bruce Wayne from suicide by fire. Yes, Bruce has returned to the screen, and apparently, he is still generally deranged. He dramatically finalized a last will and testament and then set his castle on fire with him in it. At this point, the question still remains why Titans has such a Bruce Wayne complex and why we need to keep caring considering we have been told or shown time and time and time and time again that he is terrible.

Episode 9 still deserves a toast—despite being dealt a hand that should never be able to win, it managed to make the most of it. The premise and context of it all made less than zero sense and had no place in the currently established Titans universe, its story devices were lazy and corny, but it entertained like no other. So, here’s to this episode—and the viewer—having some fun.

September 23, 2021
REVIEW: ‘TITANS’ Season 3 Episode 7 – 51%

After Jason’s joyride with the anti-fear gas, Gotham City is one again in about the same amount of peril it always is, and the chemical caused regular people to turn violent and murder people. Yet, after the dramatic previous exchange between Jason and Crane, Jason simply teams back up with him and promptly gets poisoned and essentially kidnapped. We learn that Crane/Scarecrow’s plan, as described to the 5 Families, is to dose the entire city to both set everyone “free” and put everyone under his and the mob’s control. Let’s be clear, though, that makes absolutely no sense.

The show is still fumbling with the Scarecrow/Red Hood villain situation so much that not even a single move by Jason last episode stuck. Presumably, Crane is now supposed to be the Big Bad, which is a general letdown considering Scarecrow is a somewhat tired character and exists within constant references to Batman. Plus, he’s just not menacing or threatening enough to be overly interesting. Red Hood seems to be effectively sidelined for now—knowing the show, he might likely get a redemption arc he doesn’t earn, but either way at this point it seems like a general waste of Red Hood as a villain.

Dick and Barbara have even more time this episode to dramatically discuss the ethics of vigilante justice and heroism. This time, we get a very brief introduction and use of Oracle the supercomputer, stored in Gotham PD, that essentially can track anything and anyone using illegal methods. How characters in a show heavily centered around not-particularly-legal methods of fighting wrongdoing can all of a sudden face a moral dilemma by using a computer that can listen to private conversations is beyond me. And yet, the whole situation is nuked almost immediately because Crane casually hacked in to the system. But Dick and Barb also have a strange moment where they seem to blame themselves as a duo for Crane’s escape (when it was 100% Dick’s doing) and decide, “We’ll put him back in…together.” Yikes. They both give themselves way too much credit for what is going on around them and at times completely unaffected by it either, other than several forced lines to the the contrary. There are more express references to Dick being like Batman and aiming to “be a better Batman” this time around. I’m patiently awaiting any kind of payoff there.

Somewhere along the way, in what could have been the most effective action taken by anyone this entire season, Kory and Komand’r go to a mob boss to get information on where Crane is and ultimately just kill two people for nothing. First of all, Blackfire still has absolutely no business being around at all. We get very forced lines on the whole Komand’r killed their parents thing, which is presumably meant to redeem her now. It’s very frustrating how unnecessary and shallow it all is. Neither seems concerned or upset at all that their parents were violently killed, but yet that is supposed to drive their relationship at this point. Blackfire’s emphatic “excuse” just diminishes her capacity to be a more bad ass threat at any point which is a bummer. To this day, I cannot pin down Kory’s character or personality. It’s fair to say that Blackfire has, you know, none. But Starfire is some sort of mixture of stern and serious but charming and better-than-thou, and almost motherly and nurturing. It’s very confusingly portrayed and doesn’t match with her backstory or even appropriately place her in the general context of the Titans.

One quick obligatory mention that Gar, with little to no screen time, is still the best character. He has a genuine emotional core that none of the other characters can claim. He also is arguably the best martial artist of the group for some wildly unknown reason other than the lack of willingness to devote more visual effects to him. While everyone is celebrating later, Gar is out there still trying to help Jason.

Finally, Titans presents to you: The Battle of Gotham. Clearly it’s all for show considering this is Episode 7 of 13. The ultimate war/battle was announced for that very night at the beginning of the episode. That’s a bit suspect. But maybe the plot will move on quicker? (It won’t). What we do get is a suited-up Titans team ready to take on some bad guys in an ice cream factory. Unfortunately, Blackfire is now just a full-on member? That’s difficult to deal with. But, they do some fighting. They are extremely non-dynamic and the action generally consists of one character doing something pretty slowly while the others stand around. If you need an example, watch…all of it. Still, Gar really stepped up without, for the most part, powers of any kind. Give this kid some limelight.

So, after doing very little, Crane ran away and the Titans literally celebrated their total victory over the situation. It’s a struggle to see that as some sort of reward for the first seven episodes of unclear plot and villains and, sometimes, point. But no worries, Dick and Barbara share a romantic moment, confirming that they will fully cycle through the history that keeps bringing them all down. Next time, let’s enjoy some Snowy Cones Ice Cream while we (probably) keep watching them make bad decisions.

September 9, 2021
REVIEW: ‘TITANS’ Season 3 Episode 6 – Lady Vic

Rounding out the first half of Season 3, Episode 6, “Lady Vic”, teaches us that the tragedy of Titans is that history seems doomed to repeat itself time and time again. With an entire season’s worth of story focused on the workings of Gotham City, nothing seems to move on—the villains and emotional anchors are old Gotham standards that are lingering around for Titans without effort or unique takes on familiar stories. The Titans themselves are falling into circular rhythms as well. Episode 6 has a few other notable features but it is undeniably and inescapably all about the Robin complex. The “be a better Batman” marquee slogan of this season is wildly ironic at this point. There is absolutely no problem with irony but Titans has to be somewhat intentional with it before it can land.

First, Kory and Blackfire’s continuing arc is pretty frustrating. It is abundantly obvious that Blackfire’s presence will backfire sooner rather than later, yet Kory keeps her around in Wayne Manor with her new family and hopes for the best. It feels very forced, awkward, and lazy to have her evil sister simply start existing within the Titans framework with so little context for her being any kind of beneficial to the season’s overall plot.

Unfortunately, the villain situation continues to devolve. While the duality of Jason and Scarecrow was already diluting the evildoing, now the two have split up and have vaguely different goals based on the same original plan. Yet, what exactly are their goals? To take over Gotham? To what extent? To what end? One of the last notes we get on this subject is Jason uncomfortably standing on the street and watching other people commit crime after using the anti-fear gas. The one villain-related device that the show did utilize well was emphasizing newcomer (to Titans) Lady Vic’s violence. In her scenes, the show uses a lot more blood and gore than it has been using this season. Because the style actually stands out, it made that aspect of Lady Vic more pronounced and maybe the character punchier, which is sorely needed considering that otherwise, the character is almost entirely blank.

Make no mistake, Titans Season 3 has kept one major theme alive and (sometimes?) well—the Bat Family, specifically all Robins, are doomed to drown in the endless cycle of Bruce Wayne’s dark influence, self-doubt, angsty outbursts, returning to Bat origins, succumbing to Bruce Wayne’s dark influence, self-doubt, and on and on and on. The whole saga of it in Titans is such a fine example of rinse and repeat. While the tedious repetition of the plot that is history repeating itself without self-awareness could probably be saved, though, if the show leaned into it aggressively.

But before that, the rinse and repeat of even just Dick Grayson this episode is almost all-consuming. Much of the episode explores his past romantic relationship with Barbara Gordon while he was still Robin and before she was Batgirl. To be fair, there is a solid tension between the ease of their past relationship and their current one which is defined by the two having more responsibilities and the respective Bat-related paths they each took. This is truly just highlighting that Dick is taking the “bad Batman” approach because Barbara really did some soul-searching and ended up going the Commissioner route because she realized the Bat situation was toxic. The two still seem circularly doomed to fall back into their old romantic relationship, though, but optimistically maybe not. But they probably will.

The next obvious “things will never change” item is Dick hunting down Jason and Scarecrow alone and getting shot—as mentioned for the previous episode, there is non-stop chatter amongst the Titans that no one can go out and do dangerous things on their own because they are all, you know, a team and a family. But Dick does not seem even slightly regretful about it, which basically screams, “Look it’s Batman” yet again for him this season.

The theme we are almost exclusively drowning in is, quite frankly, that the Bat people have a lot of problems with themselves and others. Specifically, the Robins each spiral and leave the life and thus open space for a new Robin to be indoctrinated. This is perfectly played out for huge Batman and Robin fan Tim Drake’s introduction as he is violently orphaned due to Jason really letting his personal spiral infect the entire city. Titans has called out this Robin theme for years but very zealously since Episode 1 of this season. But nothing yet has changed with that story. All the Batboys are looking to be better Batmen, but Titans this season has only wanted us to know that Batman is absolute garbage, so they clearly aren’t working with much.

Listen, despite the fact that the story seems to be maybe unintentionally repeating itself with no sense of purpose, it does still have potential to be something quite good. If the show can explore the tragedy of the doomed Robins with much more grit and darkness—and come out of it with some sort of redeeming lesson or at least somewhat differently-ending arc—we could get a genuinely compelling “be a better Batman” situation. A very dark and violent depiction of the existential meltdown of the Bat-Family, referencing the unavoidable toxicity and self-torture that being a Bat person carries, could be great.

Right now, it seems like the show either is not or does not want to take full advantage of that potential arc—that would be fair if it was not completely overtaking the entire show anyway. Titans may likely be ignoring or neglecting the situation it has created, which would really cause the whole thing to flop. Being more self-aware and fully embracing the irony of Dick’s and Jason’s (among others’) stories—in other words, leaning very hard into it—could make it all worth it in the end.

September 2, 2021
REVIEW: ‘TITANS’ Season 3 Episode 5: Lazarus

Titans Episode 5 boldly attempts to navigate the mental and emotional spiral of Jason Todd that we know culminates in his adoption of the Red Hood mantle. While some of the series dives into the intricacies of its characters has paid off in the past, Jason’s spotlight here fails to reach the depth it needs to be absorbing. To be fair, the more intimate focus on Jason does give off a flicker of greatness in its examination of the long-term effects of superherodom on an impressionable and flawed teenager.

The episode essentially takes the scenic route to its explanation of how Jason/Red Hood wound up in criminal business with Scarecrow. The supposed reveal that Scarecrow is the mastermind behind the vague scheme is honestly a tad disappointing as it deflates any prowess that Jason at one point seemed to have as Red Hood. And the plan is…something? Turning Gotham into Fear City is certainly on brand, but the rest is fluff at the moment. Hopefully, a more menacing or even meaningful evil scheme will come to the surface, but for now, it’s about as gray as Gotham itself.

The series has plenty teased that Jason was internally scarred by his confrontation and near-death experience with Deathstroke last season. It seemed to play some role in his impulsive and angry departure from the Titans, but it was otherwise left alone. Dedicating this episode to Jason could have been an entrancing look at his festering inner demons. To be fair, the episode had the bones to make it work, but it never hits the right note. For starters, while Titans can be notoriously slow, but this really crawled. For the better part of an hour we watched Jason have a conversation either with the therapist or Bruce. Considering both played essentially the same role in drawing out Jason’s thoughts and feelings, the two felt duplicative. Jason’s revelations mostly felt like a re-watch of the tortured- and traumatized-by-Batman Robin story that still feels like is being played out by Dick Grayson.

The icing (or lack thereof) on the cake is that overall the portrayal of Jason and his troubles in this episode merely felt like it was scratching the surface—there’s depth somewhere that could have been tapped into, but we never get there. Despite this being about Jason himself, it was still hard to pin down his personality or character in general throughout the episode. The best moment for Curran Walters’ Jason came along with Bruce firing him as Robin. Jason more authentically comes unglued and shows the cracks in his psyche. His reaction to what he perceives as another rejection of his Robin encompasses his insecurities in not being good enough which has been well planted throughout the series.

While Episode 5 attempts to recreate some of the series’ past successes with character focuses, it did not quite rise to the occasion. While Jason had his moments, overall the narrative here dragged on slowly with static conversations that felt like Dick Grayson on repeat. Now that Jason is out to prove Bruce wrong, the interesting path would be to see when, where, and why the two former Robins diverge.

August 26, 2021
REVIEW: ‘TITANS’ Season 3 Episode 4: Blackfire

After a relatively strong start for Titans, Episode 4 is starting to show a few more cracks in the operation. We interrupt a functional story with a new side story that doesn’t quite land on the same planet we’ve been working with. Optimistically, Episode 4 may just be an innocent stumble along the way to a satisfying story. Pessimistically, the episode might be foreshadowing the slow unraveling of the rest of the season—only the coming weeks will tell.

The episode briefly explores the emotional aftermath of Hank’s dramatic death last episode. Dawn is shockingly composed given the fact that Hank’s death is technically, or at least directly, her fault. This is all used as an excuse for her character to exit the series for the foreseeable future. It’s fully cemented that Titans has no vision to see Hank and Dawn as two separate people, but while it may have been interesting to explore her individual character more, the show never made her a particularly interesting one, to begin with. She and Hank always came across as unneeded filler, and maybe the series is trying to remedy that.

Unfortunately, it seems as though the show decided that the exit of two peripheral and plot-overflowing characters was the perfect time to add another significant character alongside a side plot that overpacks the existing story in the same way. While the Red Hood chronicle continues, Kory a.k.a. Starfire is handed a major arc in the form of her sister, Blackfire. The lazy arc origin does suit the story itself sadly – it’s bland. How the murderous, vengeful, Queen Blackfire managed to find herself completely helpless in a government lab secured by one person is supposedly explained, but it will just never be okay.

The situation makes both sisters and their powers come across as relatively arbitrary and insignificant. This is more a shame considering that Starfire’s character already suffered from that. It begs the question of whether the series is concerned with her being overpowered and is going out of its way at every turn to dampen her. Spending episodes with her blacking out and having visions just felt like a return to her amnesia in the first season. In any event, maybe the dynamic between the two rivals could have dormant potential, but hope for that feels lost on the delivery. At times it could be hard to watch given the dry and empty performances which automatically took you out of any scene.

Turning to our main story, it’s obvious that history repeats itself. While it could be an interesting theme to explore, it still sometimes seems unintentional at this point. Despite overwhelmingly constant reminders throughout the series as a whole that no Titan should go out on their own to confront a villain, Dick decides to once again do exactly that. Instead of being “a better Batman”, he is being as “Batman” as he can be. On one hand, it seems to suit his character—it’s fun to see him act so in control and with so much dark confidence, but the outcome is the same and he inadvertently lets both Jason and Scarecrow loose.

The good news is that having them together should fuel their master plan. However, the bad news is that the master plan doesn’t seem like much of a plan. Sure, we will probably get more elaboration on what the pair are up to down the line, but it’s looking like Scarecrow will more or less reduce Jason to assistant villain without anyone taking the place of head villain. Suffice to say, Titans has more “villain problems” on the horizon. Unless someone can truly climb the criminal ladder and sit on a throne of captivation, it’s going to be underwhelming.

Overall, the fourth episode keeps the Gotham City plot intact, though its potency may be severely threatened by the shift in villain dynamics now that Scarecrow is more in play. The episode tries to spice things up with the Starfire-Blackfire arc, but it is genuinely not compelling nor well-executed. The noticeable housekeeping and streamlining of storylines and characters Titans undertook at the beginning of this season is, unfortunately, looking to be in jeopardy now. Fingers crossed things will reorganize themselves, take a look in the mirror, and be better Batmen.

August 19, 2021
‘TITANS’ Vincent Kartheiser Unlikely to Return After Season 3 Due to Misconduct Investigations

Titans‘ third season has finally and it seems its premiere is smeared with some rather surprising news. Deadline has revealed that new cast member Vincent Kartheiser will very likely not return for a fourth season due to the actor being subject to multiple investigations by the studio. It seems the actor triggered at least two complaints and two internal investigations over the course of the season’s production. He was accused of disruptive, juvenile behavior alongside inappropriate comments. All investigations were done remotely from Burbank due to COVID protocols.

According to them, the accusations haven’t risen to the point that he would get kicked from the show’s production, but he did get a representative that was monitoring the actor’s behavior closely. Naturally, Kartheiser‘s spokesperson denies the allegations and only shared the following statement on the matter:

Warner Bros investigated this matter and made clear to Mr. Kartheiser its expectations for behavior on the set, and he agreed to comply with their directives.

It’s quite shocking that these allegations have only seen the light of day now. Of course, there is no official confirmation or statement by Warner Bros. So, we still need to consider there is more to this story but it’s not a great way for Titans to kick-off its third season. Kartheiser took on the role of the famous Batman villain Scarecrow and only had a one-year contract. So, it seems they might write out the character and focus on a new villain for the fourth season.

Source: Deadline

August 13, 2021
REVIEW: ‘TITANS’ Season 3 Episodes 1-3

The first three episodes of Titans Season 3 released on HBO Max yesterday waste no time making it clear that Titans can be a very different show. Despite still being centered around darker themes, it is hard to miss that the start of the season feels like Titans is being dragged away from its overly broody, dispirited origins. Episode 1 immediately portrays our heroes as an actual team that takes down bad guys and sticks around for the San Francisco press—the people love them. Already, the show feels more optimistic and a bit more enthusiastic.

Dick Grayson himself is a bit jarringly more upbeat in these first scenes. He is snarkier and less dejected, fully embracing his role as the leader of the Titans. Koriand’r is similarly lighter and friendlier right off the bat. Season 3 also wasted no time in updating her look once again. While it’s a bit tedious to see her physically change so frequently—especially while the others remain exactly the same—each time Titans updates Kory she tends to look more and more like the strong and intimidating royal alien that we want her to be. The other characters showcased in the early minutes of Episode 1—Gar, Conner, Dawn, and Hank—all are given brief but meaningful re-introductions that emphasize how far the characters have come in terms of their physical abilities and relationships to one another.

The first three episodes are ignited by the death of Jason Todd. While Season 2 ended with the death of Donna Troy, using Jason’s supposed death as the focal point here is genuinely a clever move. Fresh off of the trauma and perceived abandonment he endured by the Titans last season, Jason as Robin impulsively and unpreparedly confronts the Joker alone, only appear to be quickly and brutally beaten to death. Already the show has married the internal tensions of the Titans with Gotham City lore, which Titans has repeatedly flirted with in the past. Dick’s discovery of Jason’s strange chemical inhalant and Bruce Wayne’s utter psychotic break following Jason’s death sparks a detective thriller that sees the Titans relocate to Wayne Manor to investigate.

There is heavy emphasis on Bruce Wayne/Batman, Gotham, Dick, and Jason in the first three episodes. While the show seems rightfully aware of its past success in its portrayal of Dick as a damaged former Robin and his relationship to Bruce, this theme starts to feel a bit excessive at times. The way in which Titans is going out of its way to literally tell (rather than show) us how Bruce is a psychopath who destroyed the lives of young Dick and Jason is too forced. Dick and Barbara Gordon talk about how Bruce is in denial several times, Barbara yells at Bruce in front of Dick about how horrible he was with the Robins, and Bruce promptly opted to murder to Joker all to bring it home that Bruce is, well, terrible. The introduction of Barbara has so far been positive, as she anchors our characters into Gotham a bit more smoothly. It also expands our known Bat-Family and exposes us to more of its secrets and scars.

Still, the show wasted an opportunity to emotionally hook the audience at the start by glossing over Jason’s “death.” Given the groundwork the series has laid, it likely would have been effective to wallow in the loss for a moment before quickly moving on to his Red Hood alias and continually focusing on how Bruce is, again, terrible. Not only does the rushed and vague death make the Red Hood twist more predictable, but it also dampens how much impact the story could have had with a more intense focus on the implications of Jason’s death on the Titans and even in Gotham. Instead, it is mostly used as a quick plot creator and a reason to aggressively communicate that Bruce is, once again, terrible.

The emphasis on Bruce is clearly a ploy to emphasize Dick. Showcasing Bruce as terrible and doomed to be terrible is any easy way to make Dick look worthier. It also spurs the recurring theme through these three episodes that Dick should “be a better Batman.” This will surely set the course throughout the season for Dick to continue to go through turmoil as Batman’s legacy. There were moments in Season 2 where this dynamic truly shined for the show, but at a certain point it gets repetitive. Dick’s character and the series’ exploration and development of it is no doubt one of its best assets, but it’s coming at the expense of Titans being about Dick and Gotham City rather than the Titans.

Jason’s Red Hood is an OK villain so far. While his presence isn’t particularly menacing or frightening, he does commit significantly violent and sadistic actions at the beginning of his tenure which cements him as a formidable and serious foe for the Titans. While Jason’s change in character is just convincing enough, it falls short of being truly gripping or believable. Still, his more manipulative and puppet master-type edge is more interesting than his Robin. His role does bring forth more intricate detective-type work and storytelling than in previous seasons. It has the unfortunate tendency to drag, but when it’s at its best it can be compelling. In any event, it’s certainly an upgrade to the splotchy and often incoherent plotlines of the past.

Aside from developing a cohesive and streamlined story, the first three episodes have also vastly improved on their portrayal of their titular characters. Gar remains cheekily charismatic, and Conner, the newcomer, has been well implanted as his number one companion. The two have an innocent, childlike dynamic that suits both characters consistent with how they’ve been established in previous seasons. Honestly, the two—especially Gar—deserve more screen time based on how well they interact amongst themselves and as side characters in others’ stories. Perhaps more is in store for them later in Season 3. Kory, on the other hand, is very slowly improving, but the script never seems to give her much personality or even room to express one. Rachel is absent for the first time. To be honest, it wasn’t all that noticeable until it was mentioned in the show. While I’m sure the character will return from Themyscira bringing potentially several major plot lines to the table, her absence is letting Titans breathe and regroup at the moment following the overly ambitious Rachel-centered Season 1 and Rachel-heavy Season 2.

The greatest praise that can be given to these first three episodes is Hank’s arc. Hank and Dawn always had the problem of being two characters that did not exist without the other. True, their relationship was a driving force of Hawk and Dove, but neither felt overly interesting. In the brief space where the two were no longer a couple, Hank was given more screen time and the character was actually one of the more enjoyable to watch. He gained aspects of humor and even joy without losing his short-tempered and sturdier ways. He also had warm moments with several Titans that he normally would not interact with much. When Jason implanted the bomb in his chest, it initially felt like a generic beat-the-clock episode. It played out as one, but the ending took the bold step to actually kill Hank at the very moment all seemed saved. It was a little disappointing to see him and Dawn make up so quickly in the midst of it all after they had finally been released from the constraints of being attached, but ultimately it was all in favor of making Hank’s death actually impactful. For the first time in the series, a death actually felt like a loss. Not only did the Titans lose Hank, but they seemingly lost Dawn as well after she decided to leave following his death.

Episodes 1 through 3 delivered a solid start to Season 3, and are undeniably of higher quality and more enjoyable than Titans episodes have been in the past. It comes with the unfortunate tradeoff of losing focus on the actual Titans in favor of a Gotham-centered plot. The action is also noticeably missing so far from the series, particularly with respect to any hero whose powers rely on (less than ideal) visual effects. Where some is included, it’s perfectly decent, but there’s not enough of it to drawn from at this point.

August 13, 2021
REVIEW: ‘TITANS’ Season 3 Finally Feels Like a Titans Show

The third season of the now-HBO Max original Titans promises to be the best season yet, easily leaving the first two in the rearview mirror. It does not fail to recognize what it did well in previous seasons and not only amplifies it but uses it more purposefully. The result is a much more cohesive and engaging plotline that evenhandedly threads itself out across the season. This approach is in stark contrast to the patchwork of character introductions and scattered stories that weighed down the previous seasons. Sadly, it still suffers slow and even tedious points, but ultimately is a vast improvement on the series’ ability to tell a story.

The series is noticeably lighter in tone this time around. Titans has by no means become “light”, but much of the overly dark visuals and broody, dejected tone have been pulled back some. With that, the severity of violence, the amount of blood and gore the series puts forth is significantly lower. While there may be some loss in terms of how gritty the HBO Max series could be, it also feels like there is more space now for the show to deliver a story and explore its characters.

One of the biggest strengths of the season is highlighted in the very first scenes of the first episode. Titans, for the first time, has really established that the Titans are, in fact, a team. While they took time to call themselves a team and a family in the last season, it never felt particularly believable until now. The series is starting to truly take advantage of the groundwork it laid for itself. While the series still does what DC often does well by opening the series up to a wide and versatile survey of DC characters and storylines, this season feels like it is building upwards for the first time rather than outwards.

Instead of endlessly adding new elements into the show just to leave others to wilt, Titans finally takes existing elements and uses them to their higher potential while more subtly and tactfully adding in new pieces. There are certain themes and characters that were simply dull in the past but are redesigned into powerful and emotional moments in Season 3 that make the show great at times.

Where Titans truly shined in the past is its portrayal of its leading character, Dick Grayson. Brenton Thwaites’ Grayson, newly minted as Nightwing, continues to steal the spotlight. The series doubles down on the character to the point that the show could, at times, arguably be titled Nightwing without being misleading. This direction can come at the obvious expense of other characters’ development, but it also genuinely aids the organization, consistency, and quality of the season. Where some characters are afforded more limited attention, it is often deliberate and of higher quality than in previous seasons.

Rather than portraying itself as a typical superhero action show, the latest season often operates under the guise of a detective thriller. This does, unfortunately, lead to a deficiency of action, particularly of those characters whose powers are dependent on visual effects. To be fair, where the action is highlighted – particularly hand-to-hand combat – it is well executed and enjoyable to watch. There’s just not enough of it.

At the end of the day, Titans retains plenty of its flaws going into its sophomore season. Still, it does stand out, though, by being noticeably and significantly better. It seems like the creators meaningfully took stock in what the series was doing well and what it was not, and tailored this season specifically to address that. Because of that, it can feel like a different show than what it has been, but the result is a much more compelling and enjoyable Titans.

August 13, 2021
New ‘Titans’ Set Photos Offer Closer Look at Teagan Croft’s New Raven Costume

Titans is currently busy filming its third season which might see a new direction for the franchise. Now that the former DC streaming app remains focused on comics, the series is now part of the HBO Max family. We’ve been excited to see if it’ll also see a shake-up in the show’s format with potentially a higher budget. The first showcases of the cast’s new costumes were a promising start and it looks like some set photos have found their way online that offer a closer look at two of next season’s main cast members. Damaris Lewis is rocking her new outfit as Blackfire, which was revealed around three months ago. Luckily, she is not alone as we also get a closer look at Teagan Croft‘s new Raven costume.

Filming Update!#DCTitans Behind the scenes @TeaganCroft (Raven) posing for the photo sitting with @DamarisLewis (Blackfire) on the set. 🦇🎥🎥 https://t.co/SuuOwYF2yy

— Toronto Filming (@TOFilming_EM) June 5, 2021

We also got a look at her costume from a distance, which includes Blackfire’s full costume and a tease of Anna Diop‘s Starfire costume.

Filming Update!
More photos from yesterday's #DCTitans set with the amazing cast of Teagan Croft (Raven), Anna Diop (Starfire) and Damaris Lewis (Blackfire). 🦇🎥🎬 pic.twitter.com/NQHm21NyPH

— Toronto Filming (@TOFilming_EM) June 5, 2021

Now, the show has taken a very different approach with Raven’s outfit but her iconic purple hair and forehead mark remained. They have teased her iconic hood but it seems she ditched that entirely. There is a chance this isn’t her final outfit in the series. Still, it’s great to see Croft‘s evolution as the character throughout the last two seasons and it’ll be interesting to explore how the events of the upcoming third season might shape Raven even more. Here’s hoping we get an official trailer soon to see if they will showcase the new comics in action.

Source: Twitter (Close-up), Twitter (Distance)

June 5, 2021