Netflix's DC Titans Season 2 TV Show Review

Seriously underestimated

by Casimir Harlow
Movies & TV Shows Review

39

Highly Recommended
Netflix's DC Titans Season 2 TV Show Review

Netflix's DC Titans Season 2 Review

The second season of DC's grittiest TV series finally lands in the UK on Netflix, but can it live up to the promise shown by the first?

Nobody could have possibly expected a live action show about the Teen Titans to be any good. Even those enamoured by the admittedly hilarious Teen Titans animated show could not have imagined that comedy would have translated at all to a live action romp, nor that they would go in the complete opposite direction, and deliver a hard-hitting and frequently dark superhero series worlds apart from the lighter touch of DC's Arrowverse. These Titans are not just disparate but veritably damaged individuals, both mentally and physically scarred, who come together in a time of adversity but, come the end of it all, find the biggest threat may well be from within (not wholly unlike the Ultimate Avengers graphic novel plot that would be loosely adapted into the first Avengers movie).

Titans keeps up the character development, leaving the action setpieces more impactful as a result


After dealing with the fallout from Rachel's connection to her powerful father, the loose Team split and go their separate ways, with former Robin, Dick Grayson, taking the current Robin, Jason Todd, as well as the mystically powerful Rachel and shapeshifter Gar, and relocating to the old Titan Headquarters so that they can train and get up to speed as formidable fighters of their own. Kory - the alien Starfire - and former Wonder Girl, Donna Troy, take to the streets as their own crime-busting duo, whilst former Titans Hawk and Dove ostensibly retire to the country.

But fate was never going to leave them apart for long, with a bio-enhanced one-eyed girl - on the run from the authorities - soon taken under Dick's wing, and an also bio-enhanced one-eyed old enemy - Deathstroke - not far behind. Unsurprisingly, the two are not unrelated.

Netflix's DC Titans Season 2


Titans' first season was originally supposed to end slightly differently, but an 11th hour change saw the 11th episode made into the first season's grand finale, whipping up a storm with its dark future Batman reveal. Although it wasn't supposed to end there, the 12th episode got pushed to be the second season premiere and, with the inexplicable scheduling of US shows in the UK (even the Arrowverse gets decent treatment by comparison - and where's The Doom Patrol?), viewers on this side of the pond had to wait a hell of a long time to actually find out how Season 1 was originally supposed to end.

And the reality is that, whilst "Episode 12" is a superb - epic - season finale, it's a little jarring as a season opener, not because it's not good, but because it makes the subsequent build-up of plot for the Season 2 arc feel a little low-key and maybe even anticlimactic. Due to the studio-dictated rearranging of episodes, a binge of Season 2 is especially inconsistent - the season-wrap moments in Episode 1 don't gel well with the 'what we've been up to' vibe in Episode 2, and the rise of the big bad (as well as even the addressing of Rachel's powers) comes as even more of a painful slow-burn.

Moving past this, and Season 2 of Titans is just as compelling as the first, infusing an ostensible tale of young superhero machinations that should be no different from the likes of Arrow, Flash and Supergirl, with a much richer, darker core replete with traumatic flashbacks, backstories and damage. Whether it's Dick's relationship with Batman (tended to respectfully this season, with a well-cast Iain Glen - Game of Thrones - as an older Bruce Wayne), Rachel's unchecked dark magics (unsurprising daddy issues remain), the addictions of Hawk and Dove, the traumatic memories of Donna Troy, or the obligations of Kory to her homeworld, Titans keeps up the character development far better than its peers and predecessors, maintaining focus on this, and leaving the more tense engagements and action setpieces more impactful as a result.

Strong casting, strong characters, and a compelling story which is built up well, leave what could have been another lightweight superhero addition actually way ahead of the pack


Brenton Thwaites still makes for a strong leader of the pack - struggling with his decision-making and, indeed, his identity - whilst Teagan Croft's Rachel (reminiscent of a Natalie Portman in Leon) wears her dark powers well, although Conor Leslie wears her past traumas more authentically, with Minka Kelly and Alan Ritchson still the experts in that field. And Esai Morales (Ozark) has enough presence and experience to imbue the main antagonist with a feeling of genuine threat (the flashback episodes revealing what happened last time with Deathstroke provide a high point across both seasons).

Strong casting, strong characters, and a compelling story which is built up well (this is how to do flashbacks, Team Arrow), leave what could have been another lightweight superhero addition actually way ahead of the pack. And the excellent fight sequences (these guys really get bloodied up) are just the icing on the cake to what is a still somewhat surprisingly great series. Highly recommended.

Scores

Verdict

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8

8
AVForumsSCORE
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