The season premiere of Titans wastes no time in getting us back into the action from the last episode of season 1.
The fate of our heroes is answered as soon as the season 1 recap ends. Trigon has enslaved Dick and he is seen chasing Rachel and Gar in the house. Rachel’s heart must break in order for Trigon to take his true form and rule. Kori and Donna are still trapped outside trying desperately to get in to help. We then cut to Wayne Manor where Jason is seen having some fun while having the manor to himself. Dawn and Hank arrive looking for Bruce and after some insult tossing, Jason tells them he is not there. Jason insists that he comes with them to help and Hank is very much against it. In the end, Jason gets his way and they head out to join the rescue.
Gar and Rachel are trapped in a room when a possessed Dick Grayson is standing outside trying to get to them. Rachel sees the group outside and knows they have to get to them. Trigon sees this and envokes the last part of his plan and lets them in. Each hero is seen battling his or her own personal demon. One by one they fail and are enslaved by Trigon. In his final attempt to break Rachel’s heart, he has them all turn against Gar and each takes a turn beating him. The final blow comes from Dick and that is enough to send Rachel over the edge. Trigon takes her heart and it turns into a gem. As her heart transforms so does Trigon from human to his demon form. I might add not too shabby CGI was used to make demon Trigon come to life. Trigon places the gem into Rachel’s forehead and she turns into her dark self.
Gar then transforms into a snake to get away and then gets Rachel to remember the good and she turns back to her light side. She then tells Gar that she needs to save Dick. After a flashback to Haley’s Circus, Rachel gets through to Dick and turns him back to normal. It is then she goes and has an anticlimactic face to face with Trigon. I know they had to end the arc but dang they could have done a tad bit more in my opinion. The local news media arrives to cover the carnage aftermath and Jason jumps in front of the camera in full Robin gear shouting, “TITANS are back bitches!!” (We will get into the language in a minute.)
Dick is seen packing a jeep with Rachel, Gae, and Jason parting ways from Kori, Hank, Donna, and Dawn. They vow to meet again but under better circumstances. After a camera pan out, we see a cabin and we get our first glimpse at Slade Wilson aka Deathstroke. He then gets angry after watching the news broadcast and hearing Jason’s verbiage.
Dick Grayson is seen pulling up to Wayne Manor only to be greeted by Bruce Wayne. Bruce and Dick sit and share a few words about why he left. Bruce seems to understand and accepts what they spoke about. He offers Dick any help with anything he may need. Dick mentions San Fransico and after a brief pondering, Bruce says only on one condition. Dick, Rachel, Gar, and Jason are seen driving over the San Fransico Bridge and all fans know they are going to Titans Tower. Each hero is seen exploring the many rooms of the tower. The coolest is the one Gar stumbled in.
This episode was great! I really enjoyed the bulk of it. A few points were a tad underwhelming but the episode as a whole made up for it. They set up this season nicely with a new arc, new villain, and maybe new costumes!
Episode highpoints are the action, the nostalgia, and the performances from our cast. I was a little concerned about Iain Glenn being cast as Bruce Wayne/Batman, but after seeing the interaction with Brenton Thwaites my concerns were put to rest. All the hate that Anna Diop received from last season should go away as you see more of the Koriand’r you know from the comics at least powers wise. Even Teagan Croft got a MUCH better interpretation of Rachel/Raven this episode. So all in all the show looks like it is coming together.
Low points of the episode were in the VERY short fight between Rachel and Trigon, and the language. I am not a prude at all but it was like they were tossing curse words just because they can. I kept looking for Brendan Fraiser’s Robotman character to pop up with the amount of cursing there was in this episode. I get that it is darker and made for a more mature audience but dang we don’t need an f-bomb after every sentence.
JQ gives this episode a 9 out of 10…as Jason Todd so eloquently stated…TITANS ARE BACK BITCHES! Check it out on the DC Universe App!
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Brian Isaacs - Executive Editor / Publisher