Titans – Season 2 Episode 1 Recap & Review

The Actual Finale

As far as season finales go, Titans left things hanging in the balance ready for its second season. With many questions hanging over the series, the season 2 opener sees most of these questions answered whilst setting its sights on the conflict to come. Given the way the first season ended, Titans’ first episode here feels like a definitive finale. It makes for a bizarre watch too, seeing all these character arcs come to a head and resolving the big conflict in the first episode of the season. Quite why this wasn’t selected as the definitive closer last year remains to be seen but in terms of episodic content, this one is actually pretty enjoyable and features some good material to chew through ready for the season ahead.

We begin the episode with Rachel asking her Father to stop and release Dick from his entrancing darkness. Just as Trigon is about to exert his will over Rachel, Gar arrives and grabs her by the hand, leading her up the stairs and scrambling away from her Father.

Meanwhile Jason arrives with Hawk and Dove while Kory briefs the newcomers on what’s happening outside. With an intergalactic portal infront of then, they discuss how to get inside while Gar and Rachel run down the hallways away from Trigon. However, Dick, under the dark influence, chases after them. As they rush back to the living room again, the rest of the Titans walk through the portal and come face to face with their fears. As they all tackle their inner demons, Trigon comes for them, one at a time with individual visions.

While some manage to thwart their fears, others are not so lucky prompting a big fight to ensue, climaxing with Rachel pleading with Dick to help her. Unable to get through to him, Trigon transforms into his true, monstrous form. With Rachel now under his control, the beast heads outside and exerts his will.

Inside the house, Gar transforms from a snake back into his human form, managing to bring Rachel back from the brink, who in turn saves Dick. The chain reaction is instant, and with the Titans now together, Rachel confronts her father and overpowers him. With the world now saved, the team breathe a sigh of relief and prepare themselves for what’s to come next.

Meanwhile, having seen the Titans broadcast on TV, an old man sporting an eye-patch heads back to his modern, swanky house. As he heads underground and enters a password-protected room, we learn the man happens to be Deathstroke and as he looks upon his outfit he smiles, “It’s time”.

Confronting his past, Dick heads back to Wayne Manor and speaks to Bruce, clearing the air. Along with the rest of the Titans, they then settle in to their new base at San Francisco, ready for what may come next.

The episodic content itself is pretty good and there’s no denying that if this was placed as the climactic finale to the first season, we’d probably be viewing this episode a little differently. As it stands, there’s no getting around the fact that the episode is ill-placed and ultimately offsets the pacing right from the word go, especially given the way everything is wrapped up here. Given the year’s hiatus we’ve had, seeing these character arcs for Dick, Rachel and the others come full circle is definitely satisfying but given the break, unless you go into this one with a fresh mind over what’s happened before, some of the emotional depth will certainly be lost.

A lot of the first season tackled Dick’s ghosts from his past and seeing this come to a head when he speaks to Bruce at the end should be a really satisfying moment. Unfortunately it feels hollow and lacking the depth it otherwise would have had this episode been labelled as the definitive finale to the first season.

Still, there’s plenty of scope for the second season and with the promise of Deathstroke coming into the fold, all eyes turn to the new conflict ahead. Let’s just hope the second season doesn’t end on a cliffhanger resolved by the first episode in a possible third season.