Sunday, December 1, 2019

“TITANS” S2 FINALE on DC UNIVERSE Resolves Some Plots but Leaves Enough Puzzles for SEASON 3


While The CW is still masterfully setting up the foundation for their epic Holiday crossover event regarding the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” starting this month, other platforms with their own settings on the DC universe of comic-book superheroes are chugging along with their own stories. Take for instance their exclusive VOD service DC Universe, which not only premiered its mature-rated animated series for “Harley Quinn” on Friday last week, but also brought an amazing finale for the second season of “Titans,” which sees team leader Dick “Robin” Grayson (Brenton Thwaites) assume a “new” costumed identity, while leaving hints on what a third season might tackle.

Comic Book Resources tells us that the finale episode of season 2 for DC Universe’s “Titans,” which became available November 29, saw the expected final confrontation between Dick and the one DC super-villain that has plagued the team from the original DC comic books to almost all adaptations of them across media. That of course is the super-human mercenary Slade Wilson/Deathstroke (Esai Morales), who has tried to disassemble the Titans this season with some very dire threats to the members. But Grayson is not having any more of that and takes on Deathstroke with his new costumed identity of Nightwing.

Of course, anyone who knows Dick Grayson’s character history is aware that he progresses from being the original Robin to Nightwing, a development given interesting focus during this show’s season 2 run. His fight with Slade, assisted by his daughter Rose (Chelsea Zhang) puts paid to his own ghosts of the past seen in the Titans’ backstory here. But a new complication arises with the spirit of Jericho Slade now inside his sister Rose’s body after Slade is beaten and killed. But Dick’s conflict with Deathstroke is just one half of the team’s finale struggle.

The other half is the team’s risky rescue of Superman clone Conner (Joshua Orpin) and “Beast Boy” Gar (Ryan Potter) from their mind-controlled state as a staged demonstration for Cadmus by Mercy Graves (Natalie Gumede). Much like with Dick’s Deathstroke duel, the Titans managed to save their friends, but the cost was grave due to the death of Donna “Wonder Girl” Troy (Conor Leslie) in the heat of battle. That might not stick however since Rachel “Raven” Roth (Teagan Croft) plans to return her to Themyscira where her adoptive Amazon family might be able to resurrect her. Lastly, the second Robin Jason Todd (Curran Walters) is disillusioned by how Rose has manipulated him, that he did not rejoin the Titans and departed on his own.

Several plot points are left unresolved that could be taken up as soon as a new season of “Titans” is announced. A new team lineup is finalized, Mercy’s boss Lex Luthor will want his super-clone back, and Starfire’s (Anna Diop) sister Blackfire (Damaris Lewis) is now on Earth to hunt her down. Hopefully DC Universe will give word on the series’ future to determine if these threads will be followed.

Image courtesy of WhatCulture.com

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