WARNING THIS REVIEW INCLUDES SPOILERS FOR SEASON 2 DC UNIVERSE’S TITANS

October’s episodes of DC Universe’s Titans started off very well. On the fourth we had the release of episode 5th titled ‘Deathstroke‘, which brought us back to the current Titans having to put together a plan to rescue Jason Todd, played by Curran Walters, from the dangerous Deathstroke, played by Esai Morales. The episode concluded with a very familiar moment for the young hero. He was falling to his death after Dick Grayson could not get to him in time. Once again DC Universe used this opportunity to see if fans thought he should survive or not.

The following week on the eleventh was episode six titled ‘Conner‘, which took us back to the end credit scene from the first season of Titans, where we saw Conner Kent, played by Joshua Orpin, somehow escape his tube and in the process free Krypto. The great thing about this episode was that it was a proper introduction to Superboy and it also established a very active Lex Luthor, who sent Mercy Graves to do her bidding, who was played by Natalie Gumede, to recover Conner. The two episodes then crossed paths when Conner was in the right place to save a falling Jason Todd from his certain death. Only to get shot with a kryptonite bullet in the chest.

This leads us to this week’s episode titled ‘Bruce Wayne‘.
Tensions are running high at Titans Tower after their most recent encounter with Deathstroke. Kory attempts to learn more about Conner Kent, and Rose tries to help Jason cope with his near-death experience, while the old Titans keep getting mysterious reminders of a past they’d rather forget. As Dick sets out alone to track down Deathstroke, a familiar voice begins to haunt him – taunting him and attempting to guide him back to being the leader the Titans need. With all the strange ongoing happenings and Dick’s continuing to keep the team in the dark, both Jason and the Titans reach a potential breaking point.

With everything that has transpired the last few weeks as recapped above, this episode really slammed on the breaks when it comes to the momentum the series was gaining. I’ll start with what I thought worked in this episode, first I thought that it was clever to have Dr. Watson, played by Genevieve Angelson, use Krypto to get to Conner and help him recover from his gunshot wound with the help of Kory’s abilities. Also it was interesting to see Jason’s PTSD after his near death experience with Deathstroke as you could see the lights flickering in his eyes. Knowing what her father can do to people, Rose who is played by Chelsea Zhang, reaches out to Jason as she thinks that she has finally find someone in the tower she can empathize with. Throughout the episode we also see that Slade has left certain gifts to each Titan reminding them of their dark past. This works well as it puts all of the characters at edge with each other.

What didn’t work for me was Grayson’s pursuit of Deathstroke with a sarcastic Bruce Wayne, played by Iain Glen, haunting his thoughts. For how little we have seen Bruce in this series, it was very strange to see him in this form, even though it was all in Grayson’s head. This would have had a better effect if we would have seen more of Bruce’s actual personality in previous episodes. But in a Titans series how much would we want to see him anyway? I think this would have made more sense if maybe the ghost of someone else would have been haunting him as it would connect better with the current story line. We do not need Bruce Wayne or Batman in everything that is DC related.

Also Grayson’s complicated road to realizing that Deathstroke had been watching them the whole time and the reveal to the group should have been a very intense moment as they should have felt the immediate danger and lead to a call to action. Instead it all comes to a screaming halt as Jason and Grayson have a heart to heart on the rooftop, as Jason is contemplating jumping off the edge. This comes after Jason was for whatever reason blamed for pranking the others with the items that triggered their dark memories. It is at this moment that Grayson decides to reveal his secret to him, causing the apparition of Wayne to finally disappear.

Overall I felt that with what we had seen, this episode lacked urgency. Deathstroke has the Titans right where he wants them yet his plan seems to be dragging along. Was it really necessary for Grayson to travel to all those places, only to be directed by Deathstroke himself to reveal his location? Also I wasn’t a fan of a lot of the dialogue as it felt very bland throughout the episode. It’s been a good season so far, but this episode felt out of place. Hopefully it can get back on track this week.

DC Universe’s Titans can be streamed exclusively on the DC Universe’s streaming service with a new episode premiering every Friday, along with their other live-action series Doom Patrol and Swamp Thing.

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