A story about Batman
The first episode of the latest season is an adaptation of a comic book story titled Death in the Family. On the screen, it is quite convincing and involves not only Bruce, but also the Titans, who are also members of the Bat-family. This may well be the point intended by the show’s writers – the characters, after the first shock, turn away from the traumatic event to turn inward and go on their own in the fight against crime. However, here too everything goes aside too quickly, because the plot begins another famous story about Batman. It’s worth noting that although Bruce Wayne does appear from time to time – similar to the second season of Titans– there is no Batman in this story. What was in the first season has an effect here as well, and we’re going to “fuck Batman” for the next season.
Tytanithey have always been a little bit towards the Batman narrative, dark, tormented and yet Batman-free. While technically the series is a team drama about the past and present of a squad of teen superheroes, it definitely has one main character and that is Dick Grayson, the first Robin to be played by Brenton Thwaites. Now acting as Nightwing, he leads the Titans, which now include Starfire, Gar Logan and Connor / Superboy, and his loyal doggy Krypto. However, before the series can delve into what the team looks like now, the death of one former member calls Dick from the Titans’ hometown of San Francisco to Gotham City, and the Titans finally follow him, and so begins the Bat City story, in which, as we know, we cannot complain about the lack of criminals.
More than Dick
The core of the third season of the Titans is an adaptation of Under the Hood , a 2004-2006 Batman story by Judd Winick, Doug Mahnke, and others who resurrected Jason Todd after his death in 1988 as the wicked Red Hood, burning revenge. It is with him, as we know from the trailers, that the Titans have to face, and it is no surprise for a DC fan who is at least a bit familiar with the source material or one of its other adaptations, such as the 2015 Batman: Arkham Knight video game year. Titansthey don’t deviate too much from the main body of the story, at least not in the first six episodes made available to critics. That’s not even that big of a problem, as the show’s second season similarly turned a version of the classic Marv Wolfman and George Perez story, The Contract of Judas , which wasn’t terribly subversive, but was still exciting to watch. The Judas Contract, however, was not a Batman story. It was about Teen Titans, but this time we have a strong twist in which the Gotham Bat is not …
This may sound as if the show’s creators are ignoring the non-bat cast. And well – it’s not entirely true. Kory finally gets a side-plot picking up the story from last season, in which her possibly evil sister comes to Earth in search of her relative. While it takes some time for them to appear, Hawk and Dove are also making a return. In places it seems that the series is a bit wordy, but soon we get into a whirlwind of action and the whole story can surprise us. The second half also draws our attention to the two members of the Titans left on Themiskra. As you can see, despite the enormous attention focused on Dick, we get evenly distributed accents on the rest of the group.
Fight scenes
A certain addition to this season is Barbara Gordon. Actress Savannah Welch who plays her creates amazing chemistry with Grayson on the screen. The series I reviewed has paid a lot of attention to the action sequences of this season, including Barbara’s great fight in Episode 6, which it would be unfair to omit here. Welch, as a disabled person, fantastically prepared for the action scenes and played Barbara, shot by the Joker, in the best possible way, enjoying the eyes of the viewers with a well-played match against one of the opponents. Another important event related to the show of strength is the moment when Grayson and his team destroy a warehouse full of bandits, and the crowning achievement of the action is the participation of Krypton’s beloved pet, who knocks the thugs to the shoulders with his bark.
Summary
Thematically, the series is much richer than in previous seasons, shifting away from redemptive and guilty themes in favor of exploring the idea of control through fear, manipulation and abuse. The fact that Scarecrow’s relationship with Jason echoes Batman’s relationship with Jason (as well as Grayson and Barbara) adds a strong emotional component to the already engaging main storyline.
In fact, this season’s storyline is really thought out and the dueling scenes are breathtaking. I am looking forward to the next season.
