Reviewed by JD Piche, RCRs Producer and Pop Culture expert,
follow him on Twitter at @misadventurer

It’s not Teen Titans, it’s not Teen Titans GO!, or Young Justice and it’s certainly not Justice League… “Titans” makes a class for itself as a prestige series amongst the DC TV series pantheon. Uber-Producer, Greg Berlanti has honed his skills with The CW Super Soaps, like Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Black Lightning and Legends of Tomorrow, and with Titans and showrunner Akiva Goldsman and DC wonder boy Geoff Johns at the helm we get an exploration into the deeper rationale of what makes a person put on a mask and cape and what that anonymity can do to their psyche. Not in the heady, meditation on ‘what is anger?’ like Ang Lee’s “Hulk” was, but we get the best-filmed versions of any DC characters ever. Years back there was the “All-Star” Superman and Batman books, which were meant as definitive versions of Big Blue and the Dark Knight, Titans is the definitive versions for a few of DC’s sidekicks and 3rd tier heroes.

The Series Trailer, is, unfortunate, as it doesn’t quite put Robin/Dick Grayson’s “^($K Batman” line into context, and feels like we’re just getting an Edge-lord Super Sidekicks show with blackjack and hookers. I’ve read comics my whole life and never truly “Got” why Dick Grayson had a chip on his shoulder about Batman when he was older. I remember when Batman was ‘dead’ and Dick reluctantly put on the mask because Gotham needed a Caped Crusader, and Jason Todd was ruining The World’s Greatest Detective’s name in the Battle for the Cowl storyline. I always thought he had just aged out. Titans gives us context of why Dick doesn’t like Bruce. It’s because of what Bruce did to him, by turning him into a weapon. Bruce took away Dick’s chance at a childhood and indoctrinated him into a rationale of ultra-violence. The core of Batman’s character is that he does not kill, but he sure as hell puts the henchmen and criminals he fights with his Hammers of Justice into traction. Batman made Dick into a child soldier, who, as long as he didn’t kill the bad guys, no holds were barred. And when Dick puts on the Robin mask, he does some unthinkable acts of violence. Brenton Thwaites plays Robin like a cursed Greek hero, burdened by an ever-consuming darkness, that happens to be the shadow of a Bat.

As Titans is ultimately a team show, Robin is our lead character and gets the most backstory and growth over the season, the next characters we learn about are Hawk and Dove. The not-so-subtly named duo, have always been kind-of “Also Rans” in the Justice League with their original backstory being a hand-wavey ‘now you have superpowers of anger and empathy.’

Alan Ritchson, who played Aquaman back on Smallville (and was denied an audition for the pilot of “Mercy Reef” which starred a young Justin Hartley as Arthur Curry/Aquaman, who would later play Smallville’s Green Arrow) plays Hank Hall, the kind of guy who does his best speaking with his fists and that lifestyle has taken its toll on his body. Minka Kelly is Dawn Granger, Hank’s better half, and as deadly as she is graceful. While Titans is a Year One show for several of the other characters, Hawk and Dove are on the verge of retiring, and have history (with the case of Dove/Dawn, a rather intimate one) with Robin. In the 9th episode, “Hank and Dawn” we see how Hank Hall is willing to sacrifice himself to protect his brother even at a young age and how a twist of fate draws Hank and Dawn together in what I found to be the most emotional and tragic episode of the season and they are my favorite characters in the show.

We don’t get to learn much about Kory Anders, played by Anna Diop, but as anyone familiar with the other Titans shows could tell you, She is Princess Koriand’r from the planet Tamarind and goes by the codename Starfire. Although our Kory has amnesia most of the season, she proves her worth to the team with her ability to cast fire from her hands.

What ties everyone together, is Rosemary’s Baby Rachel Roth, played by Teagan Croft, who in this version of the character has a bit of a possession problem, and finds herself in constant peril everywhere she goes. Again, anyone who is familiar with the other versions will instantly recognize her as Raven, the daughter of the Devil of the DCUniverse, Trigon. The myriad of foes facing our heroes seem to be forces loyal to this prince of darkness. Rounding out the team is Beast Boy, who can only turn into a Tiger, possibly for budgetary reasons. We also get some help from Wonder Girl, Donna Troy played by Conor Leslie and Robin meets his replacement, Jason Todd, played by Curran Walters, who seems to revel in everything that Dick detested.

The Series is a little slow to start as the Pilot feels like its meant to be a knee-jerk reaction to the Netflix Daredevil series, and had to keep some of the Nolan Grittiness, and yet also fit the TNT vibe, as the series was originally slated to air on the Turner cable channel several years ago, however that fell apart, then it seemed to be designed to be binged but due to a sales necessity drawn out to an 11 week run, it was fraught with turmoil. Episode 4, also which serves as a Backdoor Pilot to the DCU’s second original series, “DOOM PATROL” Quite possibly the oddest group of superheroes in all of comicdom. DCUniverse proves they’re swinging for the fences with their Over the Top Original programming, as well as keeping original series airing every week through 2019, It make me upset we’ll likely have to wait until 2020 for Season 2 of Titans. In a year of exceptional Comic TV shows, Titans is an absolute game-changer for DC. While Arrow was bogged down with another season of Ricardo Diaz Can’t Lose, and The Flash has to raise his teenage Daughter from the future, Titans is an amazing character study with such a visceral season finale it’s hard to talk about with people who haven’t seen it. What I can say, its the first Live Action TV depiction of Batman since the pilot episode of Birds of Prey back on The WB in 2002.

Episode Ratings –
1) Titans – 7/10
2) Hawk and Dove – 9/10
3) Origins – 7/10
4) Doom Patrol – 8/10
5) Together – 8/10
6) Jason Todd – 9/10
7) The Asylum – 5/10
8) Donna Troy – 7/10
9) Hank and Dawn – 10/10
10) Koriand’r – 8/10
11) Dick Grayson – 10/10

While DC Universe has a 14 day trial, looking at the rest of the content slated for 2019, starting with Young Justice: Outsiders starting in January, bookending Doom Patrol, then Swamp Thing and Star Girl starring RCR Favorite, Brec Bassinger, its a no-brainer for our subscription as well as access to the back catalog of other DC films and TV series.

Check out this series on the DC Universe App! All Episodes Available. https://www.dcuniverse.com/