TV Review: Titans Season 2 Episode 1

Titans Season 2 Episode 1 “Trigon”

Director: Carol Banker

Starring: Brenton Thwaites, Teagan Croft, Anna Diop, Ryan Potter, Curran Walters, Conor Leslie, Minka Kelly, Alan Ritchson

Rating: TV-MA

Runtime: 52 minutes

I’ve never been more wrong about anything in my life than I was about Titans. In a time when I’ve stopped watching pretty much any new TV shows, I make time for Titans. Even with its flaws, the first season of Titans is easily in my top ten favorite shows ever. Sure, it’s one of those “dark” reimaginings of a comic book property, and those got old ten years ago. But it takes a lot of inspiration straight from the comics, and when it does it’s always great. 

With the title “Trigon” this episode continues where season one left off. Rachel Roth and Gar Logan are trapped in a house with Rachel’s father, Trigon. He’s made Dick Grayson submit to his dark side, and Dick is now a mindless pawn of Trigon. Gathering together, Hawk, Dove, Jason Todd, Kory, and Donna Troy gather together to save their friends. Things don’t go to plan, with everybody becoming mindless pawns, and it’s up to Rachel to save them from her father. 

This episode has a lot of ground to cover, wrapping up the first season, and setting up things to come in this season. That’s maybe my biggest problem with this episode, it’s mostly a season one finale. If you didn’t know, season one ended one episode prematurely, and they decided to use it as the opening for season two. I don’t think we will ever really know why, but that’s the hand we were dealt as fans. Again, I think as a finale, it works. As a premiere, it still works in setting up what’s to come, but because it serves as both, I don’t think we spend as much time on either as we could. While I do like the look of what’s to come (more on that in a second) I think it would’ve been better at the end of the first season.

One of the highlights of this show for me is the acting. the main cast really nails their roles. The kind of father/daughter or brother/sister relationship between Dick and Rachel is fantastic. Teagan Croft is the main star of this episode and carries a lot of it, and she sells it. She’s a girl in distress, facing the (literal) end of the world) practically alone. For the most part, everyone else is standing there brainwashed, but when they’re not, they’re all great. Curran Walters is a great Jason Todd, a little annoying, a little headstrong. He’s kind of that annoying little brother, especially when he’s interacting with Alan Ritchson (Hawk). Ian Glen and Esai Morales make their debut as Bruce Wayne and Deathstroke, respectively. 

Esai Morales looks great as Deathstroke, and I can see the presence he has that a character like Deathstroke needs. Though he doesn’t have too many lines. Ian Glen is good, though you can hear hints of his natural accent coming through. He’s not my favorite live-action Batman, but he’s definitely not the worst. The costumes are pretty on point still We mostly just see Jason Todd as Robin, but we do see glimpses of Hawk, Dove, Dick Grayson’s Robin, and Donna Troy.  Which, Donna Troy’s costume is so good. The special effects have always been one of the bigger weak points in the show, and it doesn’t change too much in this episode. It looks a little low budget, but it’s not the worst I’ve ever seen, even in this show.

What really blew my mind in this episode, is Trigon. Seamus Dever returns as Trigon, and I still like his performance. In human form, he’s a little creepy and eerie. And the mind-blowing comes when they go full Trigon with him. It’s with the okay looking CGI, but they go full-on, goat leg, red skin multi-eye Trigon. I just love it. When this show goes for it, it goes for it. As a season premiere, this episode is okay to good. When it comes to a finale (which is what it really is) I think it’s fantastic. If you’re a fan of the first season, you will, at the very least enjoy this episode. If you haven’t seen it yet, now’s a perfect time to get on board with it.

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