TV Review: Titans Is The Teen True Detective of DC
Imagine if the cop-drama of True Detective did a mash-up with the zipping, superhero nature of The Flash, and you will get Titans. The DC Comic is heading online through DC Universe’s streaming service. It is violent, horrifying, tragic, and super good. It is everything we love of the Batman series, and all its spinoff characters, of which the show follows Dick Grayson/ Robin.
Brenton Thwaites plays Dick Grayson/ Robin, and gives the character a “Barry Allen charm” mixed in with extreme bitterness. Picture it! What if Barry never moved on from his traumas? It would not take his likability to others, but it would take way his liking of them. Thwaites moves Grayson with such a dynamic, which makes him a fascinating watch. Even though you know a few reasons why Grayson is emotionally cut off, i.e. his parents’ murder, it is his relationship with his adopted father, Bruce Wayne, that is really driving him to be a simmering, sentimental wreck.
Titans displays Dick Grayson’s fallout with Batman like its mysterious underbelly. The mention of his name and all flashbacks will excite fans for multiple reasons. First, we love Batman, and, by how the show goes, he HAS to make an eventual appearance: even if a few seasons later. The second reason is that not many takes of Batman show Bruce’s more abusive side. Yes, he can be emotionally cold, but he can also mess with another’s psyche. The curiosity surrounding Ben Thwaites’ Dick Grayson is that you feel his sense of betrayal and disappointment for the ones he lost that are still living. Hence, you pity him, and warm up to his relationships with characters like, Raven (Teagan Croft), Koriand’r/Starfire (Anna Diop), and Dawn/Dove (Minka Kelly).
Notice how I just mentioned ladies! This guy needs a buddy, which I am sure he will get as the season progresses, but its the women in Grayson’s life that are opening him up. Diop is FIERCE as Koriand’r/ Starfire, and marches onto screens with a regal, Beyonce step. She is has the coolest power, at least visually, and gives the strength and tenderness to balance Grayson: who can be a little too stuck on self-defense, “guard my heart” mode. For this, Kelly’s Dawn feels like a breath of fresh air. Bringing out a vulnerability to Dick Grayson that you want to see and Hank/ Hawk’s (Alan Ritchison) jealousy. Hank and Dawn are badasses, and I am excited to see how they are fleshed as a couple/ superhero duo lining up to form the Titans. Yet, the show finds its tragic heart through Croft’s Raven.
While each character has their valid reasons to cry and be stuck in eternal therapy, Raven wins out in the “short-end of the stick” category. Croft fluidly interchanges between her humanity and her demonic side, and makes you sad for this sweet girl chosen to be destructive. Her lack of choice over herself/ her life bonds her to Grayson, and gives you “big-bro/lil-sis” scenes that could ignite “feels.” Moreover, through character, the show gains a horror/ supernatural vibe that is surprising, welcomed, and adds to its natural grit. Titans’ is, by far, one of the most violent web series out there, and it could turn it up a notch.
From the first few episodes I have seen, Titans is trying to find a balance between embracing the grimness of its world and still make itself accessible to mass viewers. Yet, the power of the internet lies in its freedom, and there is a sincere chance for Titans to grow darker and unabashed with its representation of a world seemingly abandoned by hope. What I love about this web series is that its creators, Greg Berlanti, Akiva Goldsman, Geoff Johns, takes persons of all walks of life/ tragedies and bond them by the hope they find in each other: not their situations. So often we think optimism is situational, but it is actually relational. People, not places or things, fuel us to believe there is better, and Titans slowly builds a chemistry between its characters that proves this. I am excited to see this team unite. To Watch Titans on Click Here. New Episodes Premiere Every Friday!
