TITANS: SERIES 2 REVIEW:

WARNING: This is a SPOILER review!

Titans: series 2 is created by Akiva Goldsman, Geoff johns and Greg Berlanti. It stars Brenton Thwaites (as Robin), Anna Diop (as Starfire), Teagon Croft (as Raven). The list goes on! The story is about revenge. Deathstroke (played by Esai Morales) had a son called Jericho. Unfortunately, his son was killed during a fight between Deathstroke and Robin. Deathstroke wants revenge, by splitting up the Titans and to make Robin pay for what he did. That’s the main story. The entire series focuses on sub plots for the other members of the Titans such as:

• The relationship between Jason Todd and Deathstroke’s daughter. 

• Hawk and Dove’s connection between each other, and how being part of Titans is a danger to them. 

• Super boy’s “fish out of water” arc. 

Before getting into my review of Series 2, I thought it might be best to give a quick review of series 1 of Titans. In my opinion, all the actors did an absolute brilliant job, and I thought the story of series 1 was good. Unfortunately, it was very slow to begin with, due to setting up multiple characters. However, it does start to speed up once the team was together. The main issue I had with series 1, was the phasing for each episode. Some episodes would feel interconnected with the story arc, but there are other episodes that feel misplaced and unnecessary to the series. Episode 9 of series 1 is the best example of a misplaced episode, as we spend 50 minutes understanding more on Dove’s character (played by Alan Ritchson) after having a big plot twist towards Starfire trying to kill Raven at the end of episode 8. It just feels like an unnecessary filler episode. 

However, what saved series 1, was the finale. I thought the finale was very different, as it focuses on Dick Grayson’s character more by going into his mind. It’s not what you expect for a finale. 

Overall, I think series 1 is good, but with oddly phased episodes. 

8/10 

Series 2, without a shadow of a doubt is MUCH better than series 1, and that’s mainly down to the story of series 2. The story is great! It not tells a fantastic story about revenge, but also introduces popular characters in the series such as Deathstroke, Bruce Wayne and Superboy! I also felt that the phasing towards certain episodes in this series was handled A LOT better than series 1. It doesn’t go off on a tangent like series 1 did, but instead all episodes of series 2 feel interconnected, whilst also telling sub plots that’s relevant in the main story. I found myself surprised at times towards the connection between each episode, as It almost feels non-linear at times; which I’m ALWAYS up for! 

The highlight for series 2 is Jericho. The development towards Jericho is perfect! Your introduced to Jericho as this kid that can’t speak. He loves spending time with his mum and his friends, which makes you immediately care for him as a character. However, as the series goes on, there’s more history towards Jericho than you expected. The main history gives us answers towards how Jericho has powers, how Jericho lost the ability to speak and how Jericho died. The answer is deathstroke. 

• Jericho has powers due to the injection Deathstroke was given.

• Jericho lost ability to speak due to assassins hunting for Deathstroke.

• Jericho died by sacrificing himself to save Robin from Deathstroke’s sword. 

Not only that, but also gives us a HUGE plot twist that Jericho has been stuck in Deathstroke’s mind for 5 years, he’s been alive this whole time! His character was brilliantly written and also brilliantly acted by Joseph Wilson.

Superboy’s character (played by Joshua Orpin) was a bit bland in my opinion, mainly down to being underused in A LOT of episodes. Superboy has an entire standalone episode for himself to develop, which worked and also connected back to the main story. However, he then gets underused by recovering from Kryptonite bullet for 2-3 episodes. Not only that, he’s then been captured AFTER recovering from the bullet to be used as a weapon. I thought the performance was great! But the way he’s been written into the story is a bit weak in my opinion. However, saying that, I’d expect his character to be fleshed out a lot better in series 3, now that he’s a part of the Titans.

Bruce Wayne (played by Ian Glen) is there as a supporting role for Dick Grayson’s character. He’s not in the series as much, but when he is there; He’s either the devil on Dick Grayson’s shoulder OR there for gadget support. In my opinion, I think Ian Glen was miscast. He did great as Bruce Wayne for sure! However, when you think of Bruce Wayne, you think of Batman. Unfortunately, I don’t see Ian Glen as Batman, which is unfortunate. 

The soundtrack for this series was ok. It mainly focuses on pop culture music like “The clash” etc. It works well, but there’s no originality for the soundtrack. Music needs to not only stand out, but also fit the tone towards the series. This series is gory, dark and phycological at times, so really there needs to be MORE instrumental score’s than pop culture music. 

These days, action sequences in TV shows can be a hit or miss in my opinion. Some TV show’s such as “The Flash” and “Arrow” can either heavily rely on CGI or practical choreography. I’m more into practical choreography, as then the fights are real and stands out more. Titans has a mix of both. Some characters such as Jason Todd, Dove and Robin heavily focus on practical choreography, due to them being human. On the other hand, other characters such as Starfire, Raven and Superboy rely on CGI. The reason why is mainly due to their characters having non-fictional powers that doesn’t exist in the real world. I LOVED the fight sequences in this series (from both CGI and practical.) The fight sequences didn’t drag on or go off on a tangent with CGI. Instead, they used fight sequences as a tool to build up more stakes for the story, especially when Deathstroke is in the room. However, when it came to the finale of Series 2, they used a lot of quick cuts during the fight between Deathstroke and Robin. It’s not a huge issue, but it is noticeable.

Overall, Series 2 of Titans is great! It tells a brilliant story about revenge whilst also balancing sub plot between other members of the Titans. The phasing was much better in this series than series 1. Series 1 had a lot of interconnected episodes; however, some episodes felt a bit inconvenient and unnecessary to the plot (like episode 9 in series 1.) On the other hand, series 2 of Titans had better phased episodes, as ALL episodes connect beautifully into the main story.