When the first season of Titans dropped last year, it was met some criticism (its dark tone, character portrayal, and excessive violence), but as it progressed, it began to win the audience over, myself included. Eventually, this darker and more mature take on the infamous teenage superhero team quickly grew into a stellar tv series.
The costume designs were comic accurate, the acting was solid, and the visual effects were well done. Unfortunately, its biggest downside was that it ended on a cliff-hanger. Now that the second season premiere episode dropped, many are wondering if this helps to hype up the upcoming season. Personally, yes, but at a cost.
The episode begins literally seconds after the first season’s final scene. Rachel, in an attempt to save Gar from dying, released her father, the demon Trigon, from imprisonment and save his life. Unfortunately, he places Dick Grayson under his dark influence, and when he does the same to the rest of the team, who end up brutally attacking Gar, Rachel succumbs to her demonic side.
Trigon, in his comic accurate demonic form, then emerges from the house they were in, and his presence has an immediate effect on the general area. Every step he takes, the grass turns to ash, birds fall from the sky, and trees wither and die. Unfortunately, we never get to see this effect happen in the rest of the world. A demon that’s said to destroy planets and spread his darkness should have had a greater influence, but sadly that’s not the case.
The second half of the episode then focuses on the team recovering from the ordeal. Donna, Hank, Kory & Dawn go their separate ways, but the rest of the team travel to San Francisco to set up a new base as a new team of Titans. However, this comes after a conversation between Bruce Wayne (played by GoT actor Iain Glen) and Dick, which brings some much needed closure between them.
Once the team settles into their new base, we get our first look at this season’s main antagonist, Deathstroke. Played by Esai Morales, the infamous assassin seems to have retired from the mercenary life. However, once he finds out that the Titans have returned, he finds his way back to his old home, and dons his armour once again. This harkens back to the Perez &Wolfman run of the New Teen Titans, where he had history with the team. It’ll be interesting to see how said history will translate to live-action as the series progresses and the two inevitably clash.
Overall, the premier episode did a good job of setting up the newest season, but at the cost of concluding the arc of the first season rather anticlimactically. They could have made the first half an episode in itself to conclude the first season, and use the remainder to continue setting up the pieces for this season. Regardless, I am curious to see where they go from here, and with the amount of characters they’re introducing this season, you know we’re going to be in for one hell of a ride!
