Mixed, but Overall Positive Feelings About 'Titans' S2 Premiere

One of the greatest controversies in the industry last year was the backlash over the live-action Titans series being developed for the DC streaming service: DC Universe. Between super poor set photos and controversial marketing that intentionally showed footage out of context to rile up fans, the show was looking to be just the latest in a series of misses for the DC brand. However, then the pilot came out, and things weren't the worst they could be, and for most people, the series only improved each episode. So Here'ns The Thing, in the finale of the first season we were left in a very dark place, Dick Grayson had succumbed to his darkest urges and fell prey to the influence of Trigon, so fans were definitely eager to see how this whole incident would be handled. The result was.... interesting to say the least.

I want to first say that overall I really enjoyed the premiere. It was solid and had some really stellar performances as well as set up for a lot of really cool things to come. However, there were some choices that I won't say were bad necessarily, but they left me wanting and not in a good way. The biggest of my issues was just how easily Trigon was taken care of. Raven (yes she finally earned her place in this episode) easily brushes him aside and it makes the entirety of the pilot season feel wasted. There was SO much build-up to this moment, and it's over before it really begins. This is a recurring thing throughout the episode that I feel is the problem, and a lot of this has to do with the fact that this episode is an odd mixture of what should have been the finale to last season, and a premiere to a second. But then not even halfway through the episode there is a massive tonal shift! They drop Trigon like a bad habit and move on very abruptly. It makes the entire first season feel like a waste of time, it's as if the writers said: "yeah forget all that, this is what we are doing now." While it's certainly not bad (I'll talk a bit about that here in a second), it's definitely jarring and discombobulating. That being said, it was probably the right call. 

One of the most valid criticisms that I saw on the first season was that all the characters were just sad, ALL THE TIME. That Dick Grayson went through the same character arc over and over again in the first season only to regress during the next episode. However, after the fall of Trigon, we finally see Dick come full circle with his character arc in a brilliantly written encounter with Bruce Wayne (Ian Glenn's performance is super awkward as he's trying so damn hard to hide his brilliant Glasgow accent), where Dick admits that he was his own problem and that he had been blaming Bruce for something that ultimately had nothing do with Bruce and everything to do with the fact Dick had a skewed view of what had been offered to him the whole time. The whole tone of this episode is so much brighter after Trigon and brings so much more color to the show than we got to see in the initial series.  This change is honestly super welcome. Dick is almost jovial, and I am excited to see him become Nightwing. Raven is ACTUALLY  Raven now, Beast Boy is... well not quite Beast Boy yet, but he's getting there! Jason has some really great potential as well, and I do think that this season is shaping up to completely overtake the last one.

All in all, I would say Titans S2 premiere was a great success. Despite my qualms with the rather lackluster wrap up to the first season's Trigon plotline, the direction the show seems to be headed this season feels a lot more in line with what comic book fans will be familiar with in the iconic New Teen Titans. Ultimately I think that this is due to a very important factor, I think that it's very likely that they listened to the criticisms of the first season in order to make the second the best they could. Only time will tell, and I look forward to watching next weeks episode which is titled "Rose Wilson," which surely means we are about to get introduced to none other than Ravager, Deathstroke's deadly daughter! Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this edition of Heren's The Thing! We will catch you guys soon!