Previously on Titans ... detective Dick Grayson (Brenton Thwaites), formerly known as Batman’s staff-wielding sidekick Robin, encounters Rachel/Raven (Teagen Croft), a young girl who witnesses her mother brutally murdered, and the two set out to find her killer. Rachel soon reveals her own mysterious origins and her perilous purpose: to bring forth her father, an evil being known as Trigon, who seeks to consume the universe in his darkness. Meanwhile, an amnesia-stricken young woman named Kori (Anna Diop) discovers that she is a fire-wielding alien known as Starfire with a strange connection to Rachel. Elsewhere, a teenage boy named Gar Logan (Ryan Potter) with the ability to shape shift into any animal he chooses unites with the other three heroes to form the Titans.
Along the way, this ragtag group is joined by several young caped crusaders and leather-clad, ass-kicking heroes like the crime-fighting duo Hank and Dawn (Hawk and Dove), as well as Donna Troy (Wonder Girl) and Jason Todd (the new Robin). The season-one finale of Titans saw Dick Grayson giving in to the darkness he’d been battling since he parted ways with Batman years prior and falling under the control of Trigon in a series of hallucinations that ended with him “killing” his old mentor and partner Bruce Wayne.
The season-two premiere, titled Trigon, picks up right where season one left off, with the Titans’ sinister new enemy seeking to disassemble the squad of young heroes by exposing their inner darknesses and succumbing to his power. We get a bit more backstory to each of the Titans as we see what moment in their past, or in some cases, near future, would or could force them to cross that point of no return. In some cases, it’s cold-blooded revenge; in others its harming their loved ones with their own destructive vices. In the end, the heroes triumph over the four-eyed red demon, but as has been true throughout comic book history, the villain never stays dead. Trigon will surely return.
Trigon felt more like the true finale for season one as it wrapped up the arcs involving Rachel’s origins and Dick facing his inner demons and taking on the role he was meant for as leader of the title team. While the premiere episode nicely closed certain storylines it also made room for new plots for the remainder of season two, including the establishment of a new “big bad” now that Trigon has been subdued.
In season two’s second episode, titled Rose, the Titans relocate to San Francisco, their home base in the comics, and reside in the newly christened Titans Tower where they plan to train before their next threat arises. Jason Todd, hilariously played by the charming Curran Walters, joins the Titans as their newest member. Kori and Donna busily work with local police to arrest fellow super-powered troublemakers roaming the streets. Dawn and Hank retreat to Wyoming for a more peaceful life together.
Just as the lives as the Titans have changed since the showdown with Trigon, the series itself feels like it has taken a massive tonal shift between seasons. While season one was indeed thrilling, full of action and brooding drama, it suffered from some pacing issues in its first handful of episodes as it was introducing a vast gallery of new characters, which muddled the execution of the main arcs along the way. Of course, things can get a bit messy when one is basing a series off decades worth of source material and setting up an entire team of heroes. While the cliffhanger ending to season one wasn’t ideal, it certainly left viewers wanting more. And that’s just what they got. In the words of Jason Todd, “Titans are back, bitches!”