Titans Episode 5: Together

TV Reviews | Nov 12th, 2018

Starring: Brenton Thwaites, Anna Diop, Teagan Croft, Ryan Potter
Created By: Greg Berlanti, Akiva Goldsman, Geoff Johns
Studio: Berlanti Productions, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television

The first four episodes of “Titans” slowly bring together what the core of this version of the Titans will be, through all of their trials and tribulations.

Episode 5 has the group on the run but this time they decide to face whatever lies ahead but they will do so together. As the group trades in Dick’s Porsche for a minivan, they make their way to a strategically placed motel to decide what they’re going to do next. Meanwhile, the Nuclear Family got a new daddy and is on the hunt for the Titans.

The team has some time and participates in some team bonding…in more ways than one. (I see you Robin and Starfire…wink wink.) As each member gives a demonstration of their powers to comedic effect, they ask Dick what his powers are. Still bent on his life of secrecy, he coyly replies that his power is to keep them alive. With the group going about their business as well as a comic accurate hookup things quickly turn to shit.

The Nuclear Family discovers the teams’ hiding spot and does their damnedest to bring in Raven by any means necessary. Dick and Kory are picked off and each have to deal with a double team as Garfield and Rachel (Raven) are ordered to escape. With the Nuclear Family hopped up on whatever drug it is they take, they seem to be too much for the elder Titans. The fight makes its way to the parking lot where the outcome seems glim. It is here that Dick finally decides to reveal his alter ego to the rest of the Titans as Robin enters the fray in the nick of time and, with the help of the rest of the team fighting together, defeats the Nuclear Family once and for all.

I thought that the introduction of Robin to the rest of the team was definitely a “Hell Yeah” moment as the younger Titans were in awe of him for reputation alone and he has some great fight scenes in uniform. As the show has portrayed, he is much more visceral and violent when in uniform and he had every reason to let loose against the Nuclear Family.

As the members of the Nuclear Family are tied up for questioning, Dick gets enough information from them in order to track them back to the nefarious man in charge of them. Leaving the team but promising to return, Dick makes his way to Chicago and to the penthouse suite of their handler Dr. Adamson. When he arrives at the suite, the man in charge tells him they only have a few minutes until they’re both dead. Shortly before Dick’s arrival, the handler hit the detonator and activated a device implanted in the heads of the Nuclear Family promptly blowing them to smithereens and leading to one of the best lines in the series as Kory states that “Dick will think that she did it”.

As Dick and Dr. Adamson face down an army of soldiers and Dick is facing a severe beating, we are introduced to the next in line for the mantle of Robin…Jason Todd. He takes out the soldiers and introduces himself to Dick as the new Robin…and that ends the episode.

Episode 5 has been one of my favorite episodes of “Titans” so far. The group is slowly becoming the tightknit family that they became in the comics and in the animated series and the dynamics of the father/mother and son/daughter roles are becoming more and clearer. Simple things like Dick taking down the mirror in Rachel’s room without asking questions or Kory confidently getting what she wanted out of Dick (pun intended) on her own terms.

I also enjoyed the reveal of Dick as Robin to the team and the obvious Batman comments afterwards. Garfield has a case of hero worship in regards to Batman and Dick by relation. I’m sure that meeting someone who knows of let alone worked side by side with a character as mysterious as Batman in the “Titans” universe would be something short of awesome. I was also excited to see that Jason Todd would be introduced into the show as Dick’s replacement as Robin already, which means that we may be seeing Dick taking up the mantle of Nightwing sooner rather than later.

With the Titans coming together and working as a team for the first time, we caught a glimpse of what’s in store for them in the future if all bodes well. The threat of the darkness inside of Raven is still quite real and there are still those out to bring her in for their own wicked schemes but for the first time she isn’t alone and has people to fight for her and alongside of. With the Nuclear Family disposed of for the time being, it seems that things may be set up for an even greater threat that may be above the paygrade of even the mighty Titans. Next episode we’ll get to see where Jason Todd fits into things and maybe somewhere along the line (but highly doubtful) Garfield will finally get to meet the Batman.

Bottom Line: The Titans have bonded as a team and a family and managed to handedly defeat their biggest threat so far, but there are far greater threats honing in on the Titans in the near future.
Rating: NR
Overall Rating:

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