Well fuck Batman y’all, it’s time for Titans! We are entering the home stretch here with “Donna Troy,” with only four episodes left to the end of this debut season. I gotta say here folks, I’ve been down on this series, I’ve criticized it, I’ve been a little reviled, but, this episode cashes in on the goods. Eight episodes in, and I’m finally willing to say I enjoyed an episode of Titans. Wunderbar!
This week, following a destroyed asylum and a Robin suit viking funeral, we get the introduction of good ‘ol Donna Troy to the mix. This is one of those even-numbered episodes after all. So big sister Donna drops in, Rachel and her mom make up for lost time, and at last Kory learns who and what she is. Let’s dive in!
1. The Amazon and The Bat
Oh baby. From the opening flashback of this episode I was captivated and dumbfounded. They did it. Finally this show nailed the dynamics of the DC Universe of my dreams. We open with Lil Dickie (who I was ready to never see again after last week), try to chunk a Batarang type object at Lil Donna Troy in a Wayne Manor of yesteryear. Apparently Wonder Woman and Batman are meeting downstairs to discuss the Joker. Lil Donna tells Lil Dickie, “Even Diana thinks he’s scary,” referring to the Clown Prince of Crime. We never see Bruce or Diana, we haven’t, we probably won’t, but the invocation of their names and what they stand for are enough here. Especially as it creates a beautiful contrast between Dick and Donna, which we’ll get to. Ugh it’s just so perfect, which is something I never thought I’d say for this show. Bruce wants Lil Dickie to see, witness, embrace all the darkness in the world and beat it into submission. Diana has been teaching Lil Donna to play the long game, to acknowledge the darkness, and know that you can do as much as you can and do more. No senseless killing, no toxic patriarchal violent and vengeance-filled masculinity. Just love.
This show sells all of that, establishes the presence of the Justice League and a former Teen Titans (since Donna and Dick talk about themselves as teammates), all in the course of a handful of minutes. It’s future world-building that is generative, and not just “Hey look here’s some (somewhat) cool shit” like the other even-numbered episodes. Richard Hatem and Marisha Mukerjee craft a great episode that not only introduces us to a fully enfleshed Donna Troy played by Conor Leslie (The Man in the High Castle), who, while never gets into costume, sells a grown-up future Wonder Girl. They also manage to do that AND move the plot forward, something these even-numbered episodes have so far been unable to accomplish. This episode is also directed by David Frazee who directed my favorite Lucifer episode (season one’s “A Priest Walks Into A Bar”). I’m impressed, which probably means the people who have been loving this show hated this episode. But oh well. It won’t last, but for week 8, I will humbly admit: I was wrong. This episode is a gem.
2. “We were a team.”
We open back in Chicago, the gang is all back together, Rachel is cooking breakfast for all of them with the happiness of a family restored in her mind. Her and Gar both make a joke about how they could hear Dick and Kory having sex the night before. Life goes on, Angela comes down, they have a sweet moment. All is well.
We keep going, Angela offers to take the team in at her house in Ohio which she somehow still has (I didn’t say all the details in this episode made sense, but the character work does). Dick tells Kory that since Robin is now dead he ACTUALLY has to find himself again, which makes sense since the writers seem to sell the idea that everyone thinks the danger has subsided. Dick and Kory promise to pick up whatever it was that was going on with them again some other time, and he takes off both with resolution of their relationship, and a hug from Rachel. It’s like the fifth time he’s tried to bail on them, but it’s sweet this time. Dick stays in Chicago, the rest of the peeps take an Amtrak to Ohio. We’re never gonna leave the Midwest, but more can you ask for?
Continued below3. “Her mom worked with my dad sometimes.”
Donna Troy is already my favorite Titan and I pray to the DC New God’s that she sticks around. Her and Dick’s relationship is that of childhood friends. Her constant throwing out crappy, dated names for Robin is wonderful. Him affirming that yes she is wise and “always right” only for her to say it’s because she’s older, smarter, and prettier, is cute. It’s low-key flirtatious in that we’ve been best friends since we were born (or I guess in this case put on spandex). It’s wonderful.
Watching Dick try to make small talk at Donna’s photography art gallery is hilarious because he can’t do it. He’s not the suave Dick Grayson yet. That’ll come with Nightwing. No here he’s still just an unadjusted rich kid. He starts speaking fast and trying to tell some story he’s clearly made up to a hipster with a scarf and he, thankfully, gets called away by his friends. Even when she goes to meet with some poachers she’s trying to take down, and he follows, everything still works. He beats up the people she meets with, and she gets mad at him because she literally has super powers, knows what she’s doing, and don’t need no man.
Their whole chat towards the end of the episode drinking PBR and bitching about their parents is also wonderful. Favorite line of the night, “Robin was an echo chamber for Bruce’s pain and yours.” Donna is telling Dick that Diana and the Amazons filled the hole in her life with good things, love, empowerment, family. Bruce gave Dick rage and violence. It’s perfect, perfectly sums up everything that’s been going on. Still wish no one on this show had to kill anyone, but oh well. Oh right and then Donna finds the pictures of the language Dick and Kory tried to translate that contains her secrets…
4. Mommy/Daughter Time
Alright so B plot of the episode. Which I guess if we’re being honest is less a B plot and more another A plot. Two A plots. Wow this is a first for Titans! Kory, Gar, Rachel, and Angela are all trying to head to Ohio to be one big happy family and regroup. Kory tells Gar he wants to makeout with Rachel and it’s funny to watch him react and be reminded that yes this killer tiger is still a teenager. Rachel and her mom have some bonding time and Angela cries a lot. It’s sort of generic information drop. Sorry I missed your formative years, your father’s a charismatic killer (and a demon but we don’t get there), your other mom was one of my friends, oh also you never cried as a child. Gotta throw that horror movie go-to in there also. Rachel looks in the mirror, and for the first time all season, doesn’t see the darkness. That’s the thing that works here.
Kory is struggling with post-vivisection, mental things and starting to remember her past. She accidentally assaults a US Marshal, and suddenly the group gotta steal a truck and blast some AC/DC. No one dies, they blow up a train, but the FBI made sure no one was in that car as they try to corner Kory since she, you know, killed people and assaulted some police officers. Still trying to figure out how any of the members of this team will be able to break free from fleeing from the cops the rest of their lives but I digress. All in all, we move the Kory plot along, pump the breaks on the Rachel stuff, give Gar his first one-on-one with Kory. It’s all good stuff. We aren’t going to meet Trigon this season. I’ve come to that conclusion. We’re gonna have 11 episodes of world-building and future-looking. This is like the Amazing Spider-Man 2 of seasons. But hey, this episode works.
5. On to Ohio
Alright so here’s where the Sumerian and the “who is Kory” stuff meet. Donna can translate the language Dick and Kory found, and we get the very, very obviously forecasted reveal that Kory was sent to Earth to kill “the Raven.” She’s called “the knight” or “Starfire” and she wants to kill Rachel. We all saw this coming.
Continued belowRachel sees Kory in distress when they finally reach the peace of rural Ohio, and offers to try to heal her like she healed Dr. Adamson. Kory is like alright whatever it ain’t gonna work. It does, and Kory lights up and goes right for the throat. Dick and Donna speed to try to get there soon. Boom cliffhanger. We may have all seen this coming. We knew the Kory/Rachel stuff probably wasn’t gonna be pleasant. She didn’t want to find her to bring her presents or whatnot, but we built up five episodes of relationship and it’s starting to pay off. It’s well done. I’m content.
Now instead of following-up on any of this progress, we’re gonna spend next episode getting a Hawk and Dove origin story. Why? No fucking clue. Welp, there goes the streak.
Anyway, that’s all folks! Sound off in the comments with your thoughts, and we’ll see you again next week as we count down with only three episodes left!
