Brief Thoughts On Titans Season 2, Episode 3
by Erik Amaya
Jason Todd (Curran Walters) is really a punk.
And he definitely proved it in this week’s episode. After three months at Titans Tower, things are starting to get tense with Deathstroke (Esai Morales) resurfacing, Dr. Light (Michael Mosley) causing trouble, and the old Titans coming for a visit. But Jason certainly didn’t help matters by doing what Jason always does: whatever the hell he wants. It is why Bruce (Iain Glen) shipped him off to San Francisco and the thing Dick (Brenton Thwaites) hopes to train out of him. Nonetheless, the kid is already the Red Hood, it’s just that nobody knows it yet.
Meanwhile, the rest of the episode is a series of connective and set-up scenes as plenty still needs to be established before the season plot properly begins. Donna (Conor Leslie) feels the presence of ghosts throughout the Tower, which makes her keenly uninterested in staying beyond the current crisis. That sentiment is shared by both Hank (Alan Ritchson) and Dawn (Minka Kelly), who both insist they’re retired. Their back-and-forth on the issue is dramatically frustrating, but surprisingly realistic. As their situation uses superheroing as a form of drug addiction, the slide-backs, if even they last for just for a moment, ring true. One imagines all three will remain at the Tower a lot longer than they plan. This is a 13-episode season, after all.
But their unease at coming to San Francisco reveals a key mistake in Dick’s leadership. Despite insisting there would be no more secrets, he’s keeping a secret about the old team’s run-in with Deathstroke. It inspired Rachel (Teagan Croft) to keep mum about her darker powers and led to Gar (Ryan Potter) and Jason keeping quiet about what happened in the training room — to say nothing of Jason’s brash decision late in the episode. These sorts of secrets are deadly and it would be easy for, say, a Slade Wilson to exploit that.
Which brings us to a key moment in the episode: a conversation between Slade and Dr. Light. The latter is ready to get his big, lazy revenge. But Slade introduces a new idea: culling the herd. He wants to know who is the weakest and surgically remove them. Really, there is no weaker Titan than Jason. But it makes you wonder who will be the next to get crossed off the board. Gar looks pretty good for it, but maybe Hank, with all his demons, is the next to fall for one of Slade’s traps.
Oh, and did you notice Deathstroke appears to have Deadshot’s crosshairs affixed to his mask? Interesting detail.
Back in Chicago, we’re properly introduced to Faddei (Robbie Jones), a member of Kori’s (Anna Diop) royal guard. He’s here to take her back to Tamaran so she may serve as queen. They’re great together — both the actors and the characters. It’s just a shame he represents the very last thing Kori wants to do.
But something worth examining was the mention of her sister Blackfire. Is it possible this summons to rule is one of her tricks? Should the show make it to a season three, she’d be a great villain — provided the show feels like spending time on Tamaran.
As she is headed to San Francisco, you have to wonder if Slade has accounted for her and what he will do when she joins the battle.
Titans streams Fridays on DC Universe.
