TV Review: Titans Episode 1

Titans Episode 1 “Titans (Pilot)”

Director: Brad Anderson

Starring: Brenton Thwaites, Anna Diop, Teagan Croft, Ryan Potter

Rating: TV-MA

Runtime: 50 minutes

“F*** Batman.”

I’m sure the whole world was cringing when they heard that line. I know I did. But that trailer came out a few months ago, and the first episode of Titans is available to watch on the DC Universe app. Despite the initial trailer looking… well, terrible, the first episode of Titans is actually decent. And, dare I say… good?

The first episode of Titans focuses mainly on Rachel Roth (Teagan Croft) and Dick Grayson (Brenton Thwaites). Rachel is a girl who has strange dreams and stranger powers that she doesn’t understand. A group of people is after Rachel for reasons, unknown which sends her on a collision course with Dick Grayson. Dick Grayson is a detective in Detroit, and former Robin, trying to distance himself from his former partnership with Batman. On top of that, we get a couple of interludes, to check in on Kory Anders (Anna Diop) in Austria. She’s on a mission to find Rachel Roth. But she doesn’t know why, because she has amnesia.

I’m surprised by how much I enjoyed this first episode. There’s definitely that darker tone to it, but it’s not as bad as the trailers led us to believe. There’s a couple of action scenes, and we get a general sense of what the main plot will be about. The main focus here is the characters and their interactions. I have to say that the main cast did a great job. Especially once Robin and Rachel start interacting. It’s not an immediate bond, but you can see it start to form. Anna Diop as well is a very likable Starfire. Even though he’s part of the main cast for the show, Ryan Potter’s beast boy is hardly in this episode. We’ll be seeing more of him though, that’s for sure.

That’s what’s good, but there is some bad. As I said, Starfire seems like a likable character, and the story they’ve set for her seems interesting. I’m not a fan of amnesia stories, though. I’m sure it will be resolved eventually, but it’s usually a bad plot device to force some conflict. And I’m sure this will be the cause of the inevitable superhero fight they have before they team up. Besides that, my main gripes are with the effects and choreography. The effects aren’t the worst on TV right now, but they’re far from the best. Robin fights some thugs in an alley, but the fight is a jump cut/close up shots kind of thing. Again, I don’t think they’re the worst on TV, but they’re definitely not the best.

As it stands, I like this show more than I thought I would. Now, this is only the first episode of eleven, with the second season already announced. It could take a nosedive halfway through like some other recent comic book shows. I don’t want that to happen, obviously. If you enjoy the CW shows like Arrow and The Flash, I think you’ll like this show. It’s not quite at those levels in terms of production, but I think it has potential. This first episode, at least, is definitely worth watching.