TV Review: Titans Season 2 Episode 11

Titans Season 2 Episode 11 “E.L._.O.”

Director: Millicent Shelton

Starring: Brenton Thwaites, Teagan Croft, Anna Diop, Ryan Potter, Curran Walters, Conor Leslie, Minka Kelly, Alan Ritchson, Chelsea Zhang, Esai Morales, Joshua Orpin, Iain Glen

Rating: TV-MA

Runtime: 47 minutes

Oh boy, a lot of things take place in this episode of Titans. Like, a lot. The team is still split up, and most of them are doing okay, but not really. Hank and Dawn broke up, Rachel is back to her “homeless teen” schtick, with Donna Troy looking for her. Dick Grayson is still in prison, Conner and Gar are in captivity by CADMUS. Things, in general, don’t look good. Fair warning, SPOILERS for this episode ahead.

There are four storylines running through this episode. Two major, one a bit more sidelined, and one that’s an afterthought in the episode, kind of. Dick Grayson is in prison and is back to hallucinating Bruce Wayne. Jason Todd and Rose Wilson, who’ve been MIA for an episode or two, are in Gotham. Together they’re staying in empty houses and busting drug dens. Meanwhile, Rachel starts getting visions in her dreams again, this time of the Elko Diner in Nevada. Through various other ways, Donna Troy, Dawn, and Kory all make their way to the same diner, where the four of them find out who’s summoning them.

It’s Bruce Wayne. The real Bruce Wayne this time. He knows what’s been going on the team, and informs the ladies of Dick’s prison time, and Gar and Conner and their kidnapping by Cadmus. With them being in agreement to help their team, they still disagree on who to help first and split up (again). I like the involvement of the real Bruce Wayne, Iain Glen has grown on me more as the character. It’s also nice to see more of Anna Diop as Starfire since it feels like she’s taken a backseat in this half of the season.

We haven’t seen Jason Todd or Rose Wilson since the team broke up a couple of episodes ago. It’s nice to see them again. They’ve got a relationship going now, though they both admit it’s new territory for them to get that close to each other. Curran Walters is great as Jason Todd, as he’s always been. I like Chelsea Zhang as Rose Wilson, though it’s another character we haven’t spent too much time with. But there is a real bombshell at the end of the episode. There’s no Terra in the show, but there’s definitely someone playing the Terra role, a double agent working for Deathstroke. It’s Rose. Rose is working for her dad. But she also calls it quits, since she’s got feelings for Jason Todd now.

The other major storyline is Dick Grayson’s continuing prison time, a result of his guilty conscience. This time though we get to see Jiminy Crick- whoops, sorry. We get to see Bruce Wayne, a manifestation of Grayson’s mind! I like Brenton Thwaites as Robin, I like that we’re going to see a live-action Nightwing finally. But boy the “I must punish myself” got old pretty quick. But he’s escaped prison by the episode’s credits.  As much as I like him, I’d still like to see other characters too. On the plus side, we get to see more of the snarky, hard-ass, Bruce Wayne, even if he’s imaginary. Plus, they fight, and it’s kind of cool, even though it’s clearly not Iain Glen fighting.

I like Ryan Potter’s Beast Boy. He brings an eagerness to being a hero that none of the others really have in this show. He hasn’t had much to do this season other than get beat up (by his friends) and trying to help Conner be a hero (which also didn’t turn out well). Now he’s at CADMUS with people poking around in his brain. Literally, they do brain surgery to turn him into a weapon for CADMUS. 

This isn’t a bad episode, I actually really like it. But we’ve been on the same page with the characters for a few episodes, and it’s looking like it’s time we’ll move past it. There are only two episodes remaining in this season, so things are going to have to be resolved kind of quick. If they’re not, then it’ll be something to look forward to in season 3. But at this point, I’m ready to see a certain black and blue costume take center stage. I’m willing to bet most people are with me on that, too.

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