TV Review: Titans Further Proves DC Shines On TV With Episode 8

When it comes to the DC Universe, on film, it has been a struggle. Yet, television has been to DC what movies have been to Marvei. (Yeah, I said it!) Titans continues that tradition, and heading into episode 8, the show smoothly finds its pacing and and character history to make you handle its plot twists.

(Light Spoilers Ahead)

If you watch Titans then, like me, you are trying to figure out WHY Ben Thwaites’s Dick Grayson DETESTS Batman. Thwaites gives Grayson/ Nightwing a “Batman” demeanor of being solid, snarky, and consistently saving the ones he loves. Thus, with so much in common with The Caped Crusader, you grow eager to know what was the fallout. Thankfully, it is the presence of Curran Walters’ Jason Todd that, oddly, enlightens the truth.

While only for one episode, thus far, Curran Walters’ stint as Jason Todd helped Titans become more of what it promised; a foul-mouthed, violent, and rambunctious set of heroes that feel mismatched in their love for each other and misfitted in their ability to save the world. Yet, they work! Part of why you love Titans is that each characters has their “sour apple” or rather their inner issue that, once they bite, reveals the bitter past they are struggling to sweeten. This was seen through the very intriguing flashback scenes of Dick Grayson, and the overall stellar episode called “Asylum.”

Thanks to Asylum, we got to see the feelings of weakness each character combats, and also gain the first inklings of a Beast Boy/ Rachel Roth relationship, similar to the comics. Yet, “feeling weak” is a sentiment amplified in episode 8, “Donna Troy.”  Sure, the romance brewing between the FIERCE KWEEN, Anna Diop’s Starfire, and Nigthwing is absolutely worth shipping, but in online streamed TV, love cannot go smoothly. Thus, their chemistry takes a wrench for its potential future as hints begin to rise that Starfire’s “alien” mission is to kill Raven. Of course, this is also a twist to the blossoming “older/little” sister vibe between the two. While Teagan Croft has wonderfully shown her character, Rachel Roth, has the inner power and malice to defend herself, a Starfire VS Rachel battle would be significant for another reason.

If Rachel’s origins are truly from Hell and Starfire’s from Space, Titans is opening itself up for a grander mythos that will heighten its avid grasp to remain grounded. Visually, Titans feels like a dark and greyed “detective drama,” of which lies a cynical but approachable humanity. For being a show where Ryan Potter’s sweet, noble Beast Boy can become a killer tiger, the secret key to Titans’ growing likability is that the characters do not feel emotionally far-fetched. While they can fight off any enemy, they cannot seem to figure out what happiness and stability mean to them, of which the Donna Troy episode highlights perfectly as it simultaneously open the show for bigger comic-book storylines and, hopefully, special effects. 

Conor Leslie as Wonder Girl/ Donna Troy gives a nuanced take on the beloved character. While you were ready to see some “Wonder Woman” fabulosity, like Dick Grayson, she is going “cold turkey” on being a super-hero. While she is charming, feisty, has some kick-ass fight scenes, and can completely snark back at Dick’s bitterness, Leslie’s chemistry with Thwaites allows us to fully absorb how tired these characters are of “saving the day” to spend their nights feeling alone and traumatized. Not many superhero shows delve into the natural sadness, alienation, and perplexity of being a superhero. While superheroes are fictional, good people are not, and, unfortunately, good deeds are more punished than bad ones, of which accepting/ healing from that truth is not often represented. It is in this truth that, perhaps, we already know why Dick Grayson hates Batman.

Once again using flashbacks, Episode 8 further reveals that Dick Grayson’s anger with Batman might be that he never had a choice on whether or not to be a superhero. Fans will love that the flashbacks deal with a “Joker” situation, of which many people die and a young Dick Grayson (emotionally played by Tomaso Sanelli) is left to wonder if he is being lined up, as Robin, for more traumas. When older, we see a Nightwing struggles to understand how he is or can feel compared to the younger Dick Grayson, whom is, obviously, more settled in the fact that he is not having a life he wants or likes. In perspective, after seeing him lose his parents so tragically, it was crazy of Bruce Wayne to adopt and turn this kid into a crime-fighter. While in comic-books, the idea seems “cool” and fascinating, Titans shows that, in humanity/ literally, this was wrong. A kid has has as much business fighting crime as he does committing it, i.e. none, and pushing Dick to fight bad guys while rummaging through his parents’ loss was not the most emotionally savvy move, Batman!  A New Episode of Titans premieres Friday on The DC Universe streaming channel Click Here.