Deathstroke: Knights & Dragons - The Movie offers a new take on the Deathstroke legacy. Mercenary and master assassin Slade Wilson leads two lives: one as the relentless killer known as Deathstroke, and the other as a dedicated family man. When these worlds collide, forced together by the vicious terror group known as H.I.V.E., it is the killer in Slade who must fight to save his loved ones, as well as what remains of himself. With his soul torn apart and his young son held captive, Deathstroke will have to atone for the sins of his past to fuel the battles of his future!
“Never give a paid killer a reason to work for free.”
'Nuff said there to get me interested.
From my understanding that this was set to be a mini-series on the CW Seed streaming app until the decision was made to release it all as one feature length film. I don't see why not because CW Seed has a lot of interesting animation on there that's slept upon by a lot of people (me included) for the sheer fact that they aren't aware that it's out there. Deathstroke has been long overdue for a solo film and I'm anxious to see how this plays out. Who knows, maybe this might be a hit and it could land him a similar series like Harley Quinn on DC Universe.
Daily Planet intern Clark Kent takes learning-on-the-job to new extremes when Lobo and Parasite set their sights on Metropolis in Superman: Man of Tomorrow, available later in summer 2020 on Digital, 4K, Blu-ray & DVD.
Produced by Warner Bros. Animation, DC and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, Superman: Man of Tomorrow is the 41st film in the popular series of DC Universe Movies.
Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner Darren Criss (Glee, American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace) and Emmy nominee Zachary Quinto (Star Trek franchise, Heroes) lead a star-studded cast as the voices of Superman/Clark Kent and Lex Luthor, respectively. The cast also includes Alexandra Daddario (San Andreas, Baywatch, All My Children) as Lois Lane, Brett Dalton (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) as Parasite/Rudy Jones, Ryan Hurst (The Walking Dead, Sons of Anarchy, Remember the Titans) as Lobo, Ike Amadi (Mass Effect 3, Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge) as Martian Manhunter, Neil Flynn (The Middle, Scrubs) as Jonathan Kent, Bellamy Young (Scandal, Prodigal Son) as Martha Kent, Cristina Milizia (DC Super Hero Girls) as Maya, Petey & Kaylie, Eugene Byrd (Bones, LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures) as Ron Troupe, April Stewart (South Park) as Mrs. Ross, and Piotr Michael (The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle) as Perry White, as well as Cissy Jones (Firewatch) and David Chen (Gotham).
Chris Palmer (Voltron: Legendary Defender) is the director of Superman: Man of Tomorrow, utilizing a script by Tim Sheridan (The Death of Superman). Supervising Producer is Butch Lukic.
This is the first film to start the new continuity for completely rebooting the DC animated film continuity following Justice League Dark: Apokalips War. The biggest stand out for me is the complete shift in style in terms of animation for this film. If this is what they want to go with then that's completely fine with me. It definitely sticks out and distinguishes itself completely from everything before it from WB Animation, so it's appropriate to set the tone for this reboot. My biggest knock against the old animation style was that it looked too much like the style for Young Justice and made me think that those shows and the films were in the same continuity when they weren't in the least.
This seems like it's going to be a "proper" reintroduction to the Man of Steel that we need right now, despite the fact that I think that DC Comics should focus on their lesser known heroes right now over the Trinity. Then again, if you're going to restart your comics universe, you better start it off with Superman to get ball rolling properly.
Filming began in Georgia in late August 2018, and the first season consists of 15 episodes. In July 2019, the series was renewed for a second season which is set to premiere in 2020 on both DC Universe and HBO Max.
Diane Guerrero as Kay Challis / Jane: A member of the Doom Patrol with 64 distinct personalities, each displaying a different super power. Skye Roberts plays a young Kay in flashbacks. Some of Jane's personalities include Hammerhead (an aggressive woman portrayed by Stephanie Czajkowski), Pretty Polly (a woman named after the eponymous song portrayed by Hannah Alline), Penny Farthing (a cockney woman portrayed by Anna Lore), Silver Tongue (a woman whose vocalizations are used as a weapon and is portrayed by Chelsea Alana Rivera), Lucy Fugue (a woman with electrokinesis portrayed by Tara Lee), the Secretary (a pessimistic woman portrayed by Jackie Goldston), the Weird Sisters (a 3-in-one personality portrayed by Monica Louwerens), Miranda (a former primary personality of school-age portrayed by Leela Owen), Black Annis (a personality aggressive to men portrayed by Helen Abell) and Dr. Harrison (a woman who can persuade anyone to do anything she wants).
April Bowlby as Rita Farr: A member of the Doom Patrol and former actress, who developed the power to stretch, shrink and grow after being exposed to a toxic liquid.
Joivan Wade as Victor Stone / Cyborg: A half-human, half-machine superhero, struggling with his duality, who calls the Doom Patrol into action.
Alan Tudyk as Eric Morden / Mr. Nobody: A living shadow able to drain the sanity of others after being experimented on by ex-Nazis in post-war Paraguay. He also tends to break the fourth wall and narrate at certain points.
Matt Bomer and Matthew Zuk as Larry Trainor / Negative Man: A member of the Doom Patrol and former pilot, who crashed into negative energy and is now wrapped in bandages from head to toe. Bomer voices the character and appears as Trainor in flashbacks and his present day burnt body, while Zuk physically portrays Negative Man when wrapped in bandages.
Brendan Fraser and Riley Shanahan as Cliff Steele / Robotman: A member of the Doom Patrol and former NASCAR racer whose brain was transplanted into a robotic body after an accident destroyed his own. Fraser voices the character and appears as Steele in flashbacks, while Shanahan physically portrays Robotman.
Timothy Dalton as Niles Caulder / the Chief: The leader of the Doom Patrol and a leading doctor in medical science who specializes in finding those in need who are "on the edge of death in need of a miracle". Dalton is listed amongst the main cast but credited as special appearance.
Recurring
Julie McNiven as Sheryl Trainor, Larry's wife and the mother of his children
Kyle Clements as John Bowers, Larry's secret lover who also served in the Air Force. Tom Fitzpatrick portrays the character as an old man in the present.
Lilli Birdsell as Mother Archon, Elliot's mother and the high priestess of the lost city of Nurnheim
Ted Sutherland as Elliot Patterson, an 18-year old man who is the key to the Cult of the Unwritten Book's attempt to summon the Decreator, an interdimensional entity who will destroy the world
Will Kemp and Dave Bielawski as Steve Dayton / Mento, leader of the original Doom Patrol. Kemp plays the younger Mento and Bielawski plays the older Mento.
Jasmine Kaur and Madhur Jaffrey as Arani Desai / Celsius, a member of the original Doom Patrol. Kaur portrays the younger Celsius while Jaffrey portrays the older Celsius.
Dennis Cockrum as Sydney Bloom, a film producer of Bloom Studios who Rita tries to get cast in one of his upcoming movies
Alan Mingo Jr. as Morris Wilson / Maura Lee Karupt, a former agent of the Bureau of Normalcy-turned-crossdressing cabaret singer on Danny the Street.
Pisay Pao as Slava, an immortal primitive woman with whom Niles falls in love.
Bethany Anne Lind as Clara Steele, Cliff's daughter who survived a fatal accident in 1988, and was believed to be the only survivor of her family. Sydney Kowalske plays a younger Clara Steele in flashbacks.
David A. MacDonald as Daddy, Jane's sexually abusive father.
Haley Strode and Susan Williams as Dolores Mentallo, Flex's wife. Strode plays the younger Dolores while Williams plays the older Dolores.
Ed Asner as Hospital Patient, an old man who is actually Mr. Nobody in disguise.
Victoria Blade as Millie, Eric Morden's ex-girlfriend.
Episodes
*** SPOILERS ***
1 "Pilot"
In Paraguay 1948, third-rate criminal Mr. Eric Morden takes part in an experiment run by former Nazi scientist Heinrich Von Fuchs that transforms him into a metahuman. In Florida 1988, NASCAR driver Clifford Steele is caught in a car crash, but is saved by Dr. Niles Caulder, who transfers Cliff's brain into a robotic body seven years later. Also living with Caulder are Rita Farr, a 1950s actress who was exposed to a toxin while filming that turned her into plastic, and Larry Trainor, a former United States Air Force test pilot who was exposed to negative energy in the early 1960s. In the present, the group have lived together for many years in "Doom Manor" with Jane, a young woman with 64 super-powered personalities. Jane convinces the others to go into the nearby town of Cloverton, Ohio while Caulder is away. Rita becomes upset and turns elastic, unintentionally wreaking havoc until Cliff stops her. Caulder urges them to flee with him, as their actions will attract the enemies he has been hiding from. He, Jane, Rita, and Larry leave, but they return to help Cliff protect Cloverton. Caulder is confronted by Morden, who opens a vortex in front of the team.
2 "Donkey Patrol"
Morden takes Caulder into the vortex, and Jane follows, after which the vortex devours Cloverton. Realizing the futility of trying to live in the regular world, Rita retires to the Manor to wait for Caulder's return, and Larry tries to leave town, but the negative energy being inside him will not let him. Victor "Vic" Stone, a half-man, half-machine friend of Caulder's as well as Detroit's well known superhero Cyborg, sees news footage of Cloverton's destruction, and travels there to investigate. Morden's donkey spits out Jane. Back at Doom Manor, Cliff is unable to interrogate Jane about her experience because she is cycling through her personalities. As Cliff learns about Jane's condition, Vic triggers one of her violent personalities and she attacks him and Cliff. Rita begrudgingly agrees to go into the gateway via the donkey's mouth, and Larry and Vic are sucked in as well. On the other side, Morden tortures them with fantasies to thwart their search for Caulder, but Larry's energy being intervenes and the team, as well as the entire town of Cloverton, are spit back out. Vic's father Silas asks him to come home, but Vic refuses and decides to join the team.
3 "Puppet Patrol"
Vic goads the others into a road trip to Paraguay, hoping that by learning what happened there in 1948 they can find Caulder. While trying to gain some control over the negative energy being, Larry recalls his estrangement from his wife Cheryl and lover John Bowers after his accident. The team discovers that Caulder was present when Von Fuchs changed Morden into Mr. Nobody, and that Von Fuchs is still alive, only to be killed by one of Jane's personalities. They return to Doom Manor on a jet provided by Silas. At Fuchtopia, a man named Steve undergoes Von Fuchs's enhancement procedure and is transformed into a metahuman.
4 "Cult Patrol"
Occult detective Willoughby Kipling comes to Doom Manor seeking Caulder's assistance to prevent the end of the world, only to find him gone, so he convinces the team to help him instead. Guided by Kipling, they abduct a tattooed, 18-year-old man named Elliott who is the key to the Cult of the Unwritten Book's attempt to summon the Decreator, an interdimensional entity who will destroy the world. Kipling sends Cliff and Jane to a priest whose stigmata are a gateway to the lost city of Nurnheim, but before Jane can sew the wounds closed, she and Cliff are drawn through the gate and captured. The high priestess of Nurnheim sends otherworldly assassins to retrieve Elliott, and Vic, Larry, Kipling, and Rita are unable to stop them. The cult begins the ritual, and a giant glowing eye appears in the sky.
5 "Paw Patrol"
Mr. Nobody releases Caulder from captivity so the two can work together to stop the Decreator. Mr. Nobody travels to 1977 and uses one of Jane's personalities, Dr. Harrison (whose power is persuasion), to create a Cult of the Rewritten Book, which will create a counterpart to Elliot that can oppose the Decreator. Back in the present, Cliff and present day Jane escape Nurnheim with instructions left by Dr. Harrison. Meanwhile, Caulder, Kipling, Vic, and Larry find Elliot's counterpart, a dog, which Kipling uses to summon the Recreator, who brings back everything previously disintegrated by the Decreator. Just before Caulder leaves, Mr. Nobody freezes time and self-destructs Vic's arm cannon. In the past, Caulder rescues Jane from a mental institution in which she was being tortured, and promises to keep her safe. Unbeknownst to Caulder, Mr. Nobody tells Jane to find the Doom Patrol.
6 "Doom Patrol Patrol"
Victor's father Silas arrives to repair him. Jane's investigation leads her, Larry, and Rita to an old superhero team called the Doom Patrol; consisting of Steve Dayton / Mento, a millionaire with psychic powers whom Rita dated in 1955; Arani, a woman with elemental control of fire and ice who claims to be Caulder's wife; Rhea, a woman with electromagnetic abilities; and Joshua Clay, a man who fires kinetic energy blasts. The current team learns that Caulder assembled and led the original Doom Patrol, but they disbanded after being defeated by Mr. Nobody. Steve, Arani, and Rhea are also revealed to be old and mentally ill, with Joshua as their caretaker. A medicated Steve has projected an illusion that they are young and running a school for super-powered children. He subjects Jane, Larry, and Rita to delusions of painful events from their pasts before Rita is able to calm him down. Meanwhile, back at Doom Manor, Vic hacks into Cliff's daughter's social media account for him after Cliff discovers that she survived the crash that destroyed his body and killed his wife.
7 "Therapy Patrol"
The team struggles with their personal demons. Rita struggles to figure out her true identity. Larry's energy spirit forces him to revisit his affair with John. Vic discovers that online dating is difficult for Cyborg. Jane struggles to connect with her personalities. Cliff confronts his daughter's adoptive father Bump, only to realize the scenario is a hallucination. Cliff decides the team needs a group therapy session, and they reluctantly begin to share in turn: Rita is having an identity crisis, Larry is lonely and laments pushing John away after the accident, and Vic blames himself for his mother's death. Cliff and Jane hurt each other's feelings, and Cliff has a breakdown caused by Admiral Whiskers, a rat convinced by Mr. Nobody to seek revenge against the team, who caused his mother's death.
8 "Danny Patrol"
Cliff and Rita seek out Jane, who is under the control of Karen, a perky but unstable personality with the power to make people love her. In their search for Caulder, Larry and Vic come across a sentient, genderqueer, teleporting street named Danny, which is being hunted by the Bureau of Normalcy. Larry remembers his own experience with the Bureau, which experimented on him in the 1960s after his accident and gave him the first glimpse of his negative energy spirit. Former Bureau agent Morris Wilson has become a drag queen named Maura Lee Karupt who helps keep Danny going by sustaining a party atmosphere. She faces off with her former partner, Agent Darren Johnson, to stop the Bureau's persecution of Danny. Jane and Karen fight for control of her mind, but soon Jane snaps, leaving her catatonic while her consciousness is dragged into the Underground.
9 "Jane Patrol"
A catatonic Jane is confronted by her many other personalities in the Underground, who want her to restore order and resume being the dominant personality. With the help of Driver 8, Jane chooses to remain catatonic and try to figure out what is wrong with her. Back in Doom Manor, the team argues about how to help Jane until Larry's negative spirit sends Cliff's consciousness into the Underground. He is soon subdued by two of Jane's aggressive personalities, Hammerhead and Driller Bill, and locked in a cell next to Karen. She is let go, and Penny Farthing leads Cliff through Jane's memories. Cliff and Jane face her biggest fear, revealed to be Jane's abusive father, who appears as a giant monster made of puzzle pieces. Jane's cathartic rage destroys him, and she and Cliff leave the Underground. Jane awakens in Doom Manor.
10 "Hair Patrol"
The Bureau of Normalcy tasks The Beard Hunter to locate Caulder. In 1913, Caulder and his partner Alistair are investigating a strange creature for The Bureau of Oddities. Alistair is seemingly killed by wolves. Caulder breaks his leg while fleeing, and is rescued by a primitive woman named Slava. Caulder falls in love with her, and discovers that she is immortal and controls the creature. Caulder stays with Slava for years, but Alistair reappears and says that the Bureau of Oddities is now the Bureau of Normalcy, with the new mission of killing any oddities they find, including Slava. Caulder kills Alistair to save Slava, and returns to the Bureau claiming she does not exist. In the present, Mr. Nobody offers Caulder the chance to save the team and be released if he reveals Slava's location, but Caulder adamantly refuses. The Beard Hunter infiltrates Doom Manor and consumes some of Caulder's facial hair from the sink drain as means to track him. Vic and Rita find and interrogate him, but he is able to get free and overpower Vic. Later, The Beard Hunter tracks down an effigy of Caulder, and Slava's creature appears and attacks him.
11 "Frances Patrol"
The team faces their shortcomings. Jane laments that they are unable to save Caulder. Cliff, accompanied by Rita, arrives at Bump's memorial service to reconnect with his daughter Clara. There, Cliff realizes how important Clara's adoptive father had been to her while he was gone and decides to affirm his love by retrieving a watch, treasured by Clara, from Frances, the massive alligator that killed Bump. Larry and John revisit their love affair through a shared dreamscape, as the negative spirit pushes Larry to reconcile with an aged John in the real world. Vic worries about his cybernetics' operating system Grid, over which he seems to be losing control as the cybernetics are slowly expanding throughout his body. Following the clue previously left behind by Danny the Street, Vic and Jane pursue a man called the "Hero of the Beach" who goes by the name of Flex Mentallo. Vic is captured by the Bureau of Normalcy during the search.
12 "Cyborg Patrol"
Silas arrives looking for a missing Vic, who the team soon realizes has been taken by the Bureau of Normalcy. Determining that Vic is being held at the Ant Farm, Silas devises a plan to rescue him, and enlists the others to help. At the facility, Vic is tortured and Grid reboots twice, further disorienting him. Silas and the team infiltrate the Ant Farm with Jane and Larry posing as agents of the Bureau bringing in Cliff as a prisoner. Darren and his team surround and subdue the team with specialized weapons, Silas having tipped them off in exchange for access to his son. Vic is furious at what Silas has done, but Silas's "betrayal" is part of the rescue plan. Rita, who has been hiding in her elastic form inside Cliff, sets him and then Larry free. Karen emerges in Jane, and uses her power to escape before Jane reemerges. They free all of the Bureau's other prisoners, creating enough chaos for them to flee. Silas and a confused Vic argue, and Vic beats his father senseless. Mr. Nobody appears, having orchestrated Grid's reboots, and taunts Vic that he has just killed his own father.
13 "Flex Patrol"
The team returns home with Flex Mentallo, who is suffering from memory loss. Silas is alive but in critical condition. In 1964, Flex is captured by the Bureau of Normalcy. Larry has a chance to help him escape, but is too afraid of the consequences. Flex is continually tortured but resists cooperating, until the Bureau threatens to harm his wife. In the present, Cliff, Jane, and Larry try to restore Flex' memories and abilities, eventually deciding to reunite Flex and his wife. When Dolores disintegrates in front of him during their reunion, Flex unleashes his powers in his agony, causing an electrical outage over a large region. Rita deals with her guilt over the suicide of a young actress who conceived a baby with a film producer after Rita arranged their meeting, and was left alone to care for it. With Rita's support, Cyborg decides to reinstall Grid, stay with his injured father, and leave the team. Larry decides to give a new chance at life to the negative spirit and releases it, but he is left slowly dying in the process. The negative spirit, however, returns to Larry. Mr. Nobody acknowledges that the team is ready to face him.
14 "Penultimate Patrol"
In 1946, Morden's girlfriend Millie leaves him after he is fired from the Brotherhood of Evil, calling him a nobody. In the present, the team's search for the Beard Hunter brings them to Danny the Street. Though afraid of Mr. Nobody, Danny reveals that Caulder is being held in a dimension called "the White Space". Vic apologizes to a recovering Silas for his attack, but Silas confesses that he altered Vic's memories of his accident. Vic's mother also survived the explosion, but Silas could only save one of them, and chose Vic. Flex transports the team to the White Space, where they each find themselves reliving the day their respective tragedies occur. Mr. Nobody offers to let them live out their lives differently if they give up their search for Caulder. They refuse, and Vic shows up and atomizes the villain. A year later, the team has become the next Doom Patrol, but they are caught in a time loop in which they keep dying. Mr. Nobody reveals this to be an illusion, and that they are all still in the White Space. He coerces Caulder to reveal the secret that Caulder is responsible for the events which gave each of them their powers.
15 "Ezekiel Patrol"
Caulder recalls the events that led to the creation of each of the Doom Patrol members and the personal toll it took on him. The team goes their separate ways and attempt to integrate into society, but are summoned to Doom Manor by Danny, who has been kidnapped by Mr. Nobody. Caulder reveals why he did what he did: he was desperately searching for the means to extend his own life so that he might protect his troubled, super-powered daughter as long as possible. The team steps through a painting to rescue Danny and Caulder's daughter, who has enlarged Ezekiel and Admiral Whiskers. The two creatures have forced Mr. Nobody out and are on a rampage. The team executes Vic's plan: Rita convinces Mr. Nobody to continue his narration, which exerts control over Ezekiel and Whiskers, and the team allow themselves to be devoured by Ezekiel. Larry unleashes a nuclear blast, killing Whiskers, trapping Mr. Nobody and the Beard Hunter in the painting and reducing Danny from a street to a brick, but the others are protected by being inside Ezekiel. Back at Doom Manor, Vic slices open Ezekiel's abdomen and they step out, including Caulder's daughter, Dorothy Spinner.
The Verdict
I'll start off saying that Doom Patrol was a pretty wild ride. I went into this from knowing next to absolutely nothing about these characters, outside of their cameos and appearances in the original Teen Titans animated series and in the other DC Universe live-action series, Titans. I admittedly read very little about them since they were part of what my favorite Amalgam comic series (X-Patrol) was based off, but that knowledge is limited to bare bones information at best just to see what the differences and comparisons were to X-Force, who they were mashed up with to create that series.
It should be noted that Doom Patrol exists in a separate continuity from Titans, despite using the same actors for Cliff, Rita, Larry, and Niles for their one episode appearance in that show. It's never specifically explained but something I had to gather as the season went on. Otherwise, it would have been a glaring omission to have all of this stuff going on and the Titans (or at least their allies in the Justice League that are referenced but never shown in that series) weren't involved in some capacity. It would come across as the same issue as the first season of Supergirl, whereas Superman is always mentioned but never seen until the second season where they finally got the legal rights worked out and actually cast someone to play the Man of Steel.
Characters
Timothy Dalton as Niles Caulder / The Chief
Right off the bat, Niles Caulder is established as the "Professor Xavier" for this group of freaks and misfits by taking them into his care to live in his home and serving as a therapist of sorts to these individuals who somehow survived the traumatic events that gave them each of their powers. The good doctor is abducted by Mr. Nobody by the end of the first episode and the rest of the season follows the Doom Patrol's efforts to follow the breadcrumbs that Mr. Nobody leaves behind to rescue him.
It's a darn shame that we don't get much to go on about the Chief until Episode 10, where most of his dealings with the Bureau of Oddities Normalcy that led to him meeting the Bigfoot-like creature named Slava and falling in love with her.
The beauty that is Pisay Pao.
FYI Slava was played by the amazingly beautiful Pisay Pao (Z Nation). That was one hell of a transformation, that's for sure.
The "good doctor" isn't so good when it's revealed in Episode 14 that Caulder staged all of the events that led to each of the members of the Doom Patrol to acquire their powers and/or become horribly disfigured. It was allegedly all for researching means to extend his own life for he can continue protecting his daughter.
Abigail Shapiro will portray Dorothy Spinner in Doom Patrol Season Two.
His daughter was shot from behind in the last episode, but she will be played by Abigail Shapiro in the upcoming second season.
That being said, I think Caulder should have been upfront with all of the members of the Doom Patrol right off the bat. He made them all into what they are today, but they would have continued with all of the internal trauma and mental anguish that they were coping with in their lives regardless. All of those "freak" accidents merely brought those issues to the surface instead of internalizing them. I genuinely believed that he was a good person from the start of the series to the end; it was just that his methods were questionable at best, despite having good intentions.
I'm glad that this version of Caulder distanced itself from the Doom Patrol's portrayal in Titans as he just came off as a senile old man that this group of freaks were taking care of since they didn't have anywhere else to go. That wasn't interesting at all - at least for me anyway. The "good doctor" with a "maniacal edge" was a better take on this character here. I'm hoping we get to see more "methods to his madness" in the second season when he has more time to explain himself.
See what I did there?
Brendan Fraser as Cliff Steele / Robotman
Like I said in my review of Marvel's Runaways Season Three, I thought it was pretty crazy that the two stars of Bedazzled have returned out of obscurity in the superhero genre. Elizabeth Hurley appears in that season as the titular antagonist, Morgan le Fey, while Brendan Fraser appears in a main role for this television series as Robotman. And here I thought both of those actors were blackballed from Hollywood or something at this point.
Fraser was a naturally good fit as Cliff Steel, bringing both Fraser's charm and humor to the character. When I commented on the Doom Patrol's cameo in Titans, I said that I felt that all of them represented a particular theme of body horror in some capacity. I still feel the same way here to an extent, even though it's not as extreme as it was in the first season of Titans. The viewers are still treated to the horrors of being separated from one's body - more importantly, their flesh - and merely existing as a brain inside an iron shell.
April Bowlby as Rita Farr / Elasti-Woman
Going into this, I was expecting a more "superheroine" version of Rita Farr instead of the puddle of goo that she would reduce herself into at the sign of any and every emotional instability. I was thinking she was going to gain some sort of control over this ability and become a Giganta/Ginormica of sorts. This iteration of the character was fine. Rita is so consumed with her past as an actress that even she doesn't know who the "real" Rita Farr is anymore after playing this role for so long of this prim and proper lady. The majority of this season is spent with Rita stepping off the stage of lies that she has been living so long and coming to terms with who she is when she's not being an actress.
I thought they only scratched the surface on Rita's psychology issues with her appearance and inner turmoil and I would love to see her character get some more development in the second season.
Matt Bomer as Larry Trainor / Negative Man
One of the biggest knocks against a lot of DC Comics' CW Arrowverse properties is how much they force LGBTQ themes and characters into their narratives. For Doom Patrol, I didn't feel that Larry's homosexuality was forced at all. I dare say that he has one of the most interesting journeys out of the main cast throughout the season. In his past life, Larry shuns his wife in favor of his tryst lover in an affair with one of his Air Force companions. After the accident that saw him permanently bonded and tied to an alien energy being, he ironically alienates both of his mates after seeing no means to be "normal" again. The season follows Larry's journey to not only understand himself, but his understanding of the alien being living inside him that allows him to relive the past within his own mind and come to terms with his homosexual identity and his mistakes in the past.
Much like his own homosexuality, the energy being within Larry is a part of him and doesn't take away anything from what makes him human, just like the various oddities and/or mutations that make up the rest of his fellow members of the Doom Patrol. Out of all of the DC Comics-related television shows that I have seen, I think Doom Patrol has handled that subject manner in a way that didn't feel forced nor distasteful.
Diane Guerrero as Kay Challis / Crazy Jane
I was skeptical about this character at first but really fell in love with this idea as the season went on. DC Universe could easily do a show entirely about Crazy Jane and exploring all of her 64 personalities, but I'm content with the surprise of the sheer randomness of which personality is going to come out to play at any given time. Jane is a damaged individual, easily portrayed by her multiple personalities that come out to "protect" her, but Diane Guerrero really makes this character her own with her performance with her range and versatility to make all of them stand out.
Look no further than the video below for a sampler platter of what Crazy Jane brings to the table.
Jane and Cliff end up bonding due to Jane's lack of a trusting father figure in her life while Cliff is torn up over being separated from his own daughter. Cliff comes on a little too strong at times, but by the end of the season, Jane warms up to him (along with the other members of the team) much more than she did initially.
Jovian Wade as Victor Stone / Cyborg
I liked Cyborg's introduction into this series. I have to say that he was handled here better than his origin in Young Justice Season 3, which was ironically airing at the same time on the DC Universe streaming platform. He was the only "established" hero among the members of the Doom Patrol that they could aspire to be like. When it was revealed that he wasn't as squeaky clean as he came across upon the surface, it opened up a welcome amount of depth to this character - at least for me. He wasn't the emo whiny teen like he was in Young Justice Season 3. Here, he is the one who urges the Doom Patrol to take action and solve the mystery of Niles' disappearance, even when the team is reluctant to take any action if any at all. He serves as a great moral compass for the group, even when he finds himself in fear of his own technology taking over his entire body.
Alan Tudyk as Eric Morden / Mr. Nobody
Mr. Nobody is an unique antagonist in the sense that he's able to break the 4th wall and speak to the audience and comment on the ongoing narrative of the series from each episode as he serves as the narrator at the beginning of most episodes. I'm familiar with Alan Tudyk's work from the short-lived Powerless TV series that was set in the DC Comics universe as well, despite not tied to the films nor any of their live-action television shows at that time. He has a knack for playing these off-the-wall or rather unconventional characters and it really shines through his portrayal of this character. Mr. Nobody sees everything we, the viewers, see throughout each episode but he goes the extra mile by spreading breadcrumbs along the way to manipulate the Doom Patrol's actions (and more specifically their emotional state of being) to lead them to their final confrontation by the end of the season.
Totally off-topic, but Alan Tudyk is really shining as one of the shining stars for DC Comics-related television. From his portrayal of Van Wayne in the short-lived Powerless to his performance here as Mr. Nobody in Doom Patrol to even voicing The Joker and Clayface in the DC Universe exclusive Harley Quinn animated series, Tudyk is definitely a standout actor for the brand. He's no stranger to working with DC either, with his past of voicing Green Arrow for the Injustice: Gods Among Us (and its sequel Injustice 2) video game and for Identity Crisis and Young Justice.
Let's just face it. If you have a DC Universe account, then you're going to be hearing his voice a LOT. And that's absolutely not a bad thing.
Action
For the VERY few fight sequences that this series has, they are straight up brutal. I shouldn't be surprised in that aspect as this show is under the same production umbrella as Titans.
The Von Fuchs versus Jane and Cliff immediately comes to mind just from how brutal and visceral that fight scene was.
Narrative
It's hard to describe this series as the Doom Patrol's quest to rescue Caulder is swept underneath the rug so many times throughout the 15 episodes that it's not even the focal point of the season most of the time. Between each of the members of this team of misfits, they have their own emotional baggage that they are dealing with either mentally or physically in most cases that spirals out of control into a bigger problem that the group collectively has to deal with for the duration of an entire episode. That would range from Jane's ongoing struggle with any of her 64 personalities that could manifest at anytime, Larry's own self-loathing over his own homosexuality, Robotman malfunctioning or frustrations of being disconnected from his daughter, Rita's moments of weakness with her emotional stability that reduces her body into a puddle of goo, or whatever other roadblocks that Mr. Nobody lays in their wake as he purposely leads and guides them through the path towards reuniting with Caulder by the end of the season.
The best way to enjoy this show is just savor each episode one at a time. I binge-watched it over the course of an entire week earlier this year, but that was after the holidays without much else to do on my plate. I wouldn't go as far saying as each episode should be treated as a one-off, like most of the Arrowverse's "villain of the week" formula, but I suggest you just be ready for anything here. One episode has them fighting Nazis, then another has the team having a group orgasm in the middle of town, while another has them fighting a Godzilla-sized talking cockroach. This show seems to go everywhere and I love it for the randomness at times (especially after Flex Mentallo and some of the other minor/recurring characters are introduced), but having the maturity to know when to reign that content in and know when to be serious when it matters most.
"I think I flexed the wrong muscle..."
I will say one thing about what this show is NOT though. If you're going into this show thinking that it's going to end with a big superhero team-up like DC's Legends of Tomorrow or Titans, then you're going to be disappointed.
You're looking in the wrong place is if this is the Doom Patrol that you were expecting to get here.
Episode 6 ("Doom Patrol Patrol") focuses on the original iteration of Caulder's team of super-powered misfits, called the Doom Patrol. Mento (Steve Dayton), Arani (Caulder's "wife"), and Rhea, along with a man named Joshua Clay, consist of the team roster on this episode.
The "original" Doom Patrol with Niles Caulder.
For those craving traditional superhero team-up goodness, this is your treat as this original Doom Patrol are even rocking matching uniforms to boot for their appearance on that episode.
While there's some moments that see the Doom Patrol work together and use their powers together in creative ways, the charm of their story is the emotional journey that each character undergoes individually before coming to terms to their places on the team - or better yet, as a family. Over everything else, I think that's the most powerful message that this series provides where no matter how fucked up your problems may be nor matter what you look like or have done, your friends are there with you to ride out that storm and pick up when you're down and don't have the strength to go on. Bonds like that are stronger than blood and create a family nonetheless.
The portrait of the not-so-perfect superhero family.
Watch It or Don't Bother?
Surprisingly enough, this is a superb take on this team of unlikely heroes and misfits. While there's not much action littered throughout this series, there's a lot of great character development that serves as the meat and bones for this series. I was so intrigued into learning more about these characters and their motivations that their search for Niles Caulder taking the backseat in more situations than not wasn't seen as a negative in my eyes. I can understand for others that would be a problem though as most viewers aren't going to be that forgiving. In this unique situation it works for this series as these are a group of characters that are not widely recognized, despite their minor appearance in Season One of Titans.
One of the best things to come out of the Arrowverse Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event was the acknowledgement that this series exists in their shared universe, despite the fact that it exists in their version of the multiverse post-Crisis. The sad news is that Warner Bros. Media are more inclined to do more DC Comics-based shows like The Flash and Arrow rather than tackle subject manner more akin to this series and the cancelled Swamp Thing.
Even if you don't have a DC Universe streaming account, take a shot in the dark and check this out. I have seen it running for $10-20 brand new in Wal-Mart on DVD and Blu-Ray.
"Til Death Do Us Part" is the premiere episode of DC's Harley Quinn, a DC Universe Original animated series. The premiere episode follows Harley Quinn as she sets off to rule Gotham City and separate herself from being known as "The Joker's Girlfriend".
Harley Quinn is an American adult animated web television series based on the Harley Quinn character created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm that premiered on November 29, 2019 on DC Universe, and will initially consist of 13 episodes. The series is set to be written and executive produced by Justin Halpern, Patrick Schumacker, and Dean Lorey and will follow the misadventures of Harley Quinn and her partner in crime, Poison Ivy, after leaving her abusive ex-boyfriend the Joker.
After an unsuccessful robbery on a yacht, Harley Quinn, henchwoman and girlfriend to the Joker, is once again shipped off to the Arkham Asylum while Joker evades custody. Harley remains confident that Joker will break her out, but she waits a whole year before Poison Ivy helps her escape and tries to convince Harley that Joker does not love her. Despite Ivy's support, Harley's attempt to break up with Joker fails as he convinces her that they should stay together. Later, when Harley goes to kill Riddler on Joker's orders, she is captured alongside Batman and Riddler forces Joker to choose who to save and who will die. Because his obsession with Batman outweighs any attachment he has to Harley, Joker chooses to save Batman. It turns out, however, that the entire ploy was set up by Ivy in collaboration with Riddler, to drive the point home that she means nothing to Joker. Finally convinced, Harley dons a new costume and officially breaks up with Joker, declaring her independence and ambition to rule Gotham.
The Verdict:
The first episode premiered on DC Universe last week before Thanksgiving and since a lot of my friends have been asking me my opinion on it, I figured I would offer a quick take on it. To be honest, I wasn't planning on talking about it until the entire season finished airing but I got enough to get the cogs turning from this pilot episode.
At first, I was laughing at the extreme violence of this for the sake of comedy but when it kept on being gruesome just to be gruesome, it was beginning to be a turn off in a sense. In a lot of ways, I see this show like SuperJail on Adult Swim where they used extreme violence in a similar manner for their adult comedy, but here it seems a bit excessive.
I was more entertained a Commissioner Gordon coming off like a crazed drunk, playing with the Bat Signal, than anything else in this pilot episode. Poison Ivy being the voice of reason was laughable at first, but then I had to remind myself that she was the one who pointed out how toxic The Joker was to Harley in Batman: The Animated Series too. After all of these years, that pairing just works and I can see why the comics made them officially a couple. I don't see this show jumping into that territory right off the bat, but it should be a slow burn after all of the mischief that Harley gets herself into after distancing herself away from The Joker. Speaking of which, I'm glad to see Alan Tudyk continue to get work with DC Comics-based properties following the cancellation of Powerless. He's a great fit for this iteration of The Joker, even though he impressed me a lot as Mr. Nobody in Doom Patrol earlier this year. Joker loving anything else but his obsession with Batman is nothing new in regards to the traditional Batman mythos, but I do applaud Ivy's manipulation of The Riddler to open Harley's eyes to the fact.
I can't say that I'm 100% sold on Kaley Cuoco's iteration of Harley Quinn, but ask me again about her performance after a few more episodes. Unlike most people, I didn't have a problem with Melissa Rauch's Harley Quinn in the Batman & Harley Quinn animated movie. I thought she was major step up from Tara Strong rehashing and recycling the same voices she's done since the Beetlejuice animated series to God knows whatever else she's currently working on (probably that horrid reboot to Ben 10 on Cartoon Network), while coming off as a cheap knock off of Arleen Sorkin. If it were up to me, I would get Sheri Moon Zombie to voice Harley Quinn. She would be a natural fit in an adult comedy like this, since it's in the same vein of The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, where she voiced Suzi-X.
Maybe there was an audio issue on DC Universe's app, but when Harley was talking to Harleen Quinzel, Harleen's voice would playback almost to a whisper to the point I had to double the volume on my TV to hear what she was saying. I don't know if that was intentional or not, but it came off a little annoying in that regard. The few times where I did enjoy reading her comics that are best described as being "really out there in left field", they were insights into who she was before being manipulated by The Joker into being his sidekick and her striving to be her own individual who was addicted to their abusive relationship. Even her short, but extremely lacking solo DLC campaign in Batman: Arkham Knight briefly touched on Harley's damage psyche where she would constantly have to internally debate her actions with her former self. That's something else that I hope isn't lost at this show's attempts to flood the runtime for this season with senseless violence just for the sake of their mature rating with little thought for character development. I loved SuperJail for it's over-the-top violence, but underneath all of that they had a story that carried it forward for it's four seasons. That's what I hope to see from DC's Harley Quinn over the course of this season. Don't fall into the trap of glamorizing that psychopath The Joker anymore than people already get off on that. The live-action Joker movie did that enough this year. We don't need to see that on the other end of the spectrum with Harley Quinn. Now is the opportunity to open a lot of people's eyes on how much of a piece of shit he is in his relationship with Harley Quinn and how he damaged her - physically, mentally, and emotionally - and show her road to recovery. It made for great reading in her comics over the recent years and it would make for great television too that's for damn sure.
Watch It or Don't Bother?
If you're a fan of The Joker or anything Harley Quinn or Batman, you're going to watch this regardless, but this definitely isn't for the faint of heart or squeamish. The violence is rather extreme in some sequences - definitely NOT for kids in any shape or form. Also, this proves to be another DC Universe Original following the trend that DC's Titans started where it that feels like it has to throw out every extremity/curse word like a sailor, with the word "fuck" littered into every bit of dialogue. I'm currently playing it by ear, much like Young Justice Season 3, where I doubt I'm going to cover all of it or any of it at all before I see all of the season in its entirety. For the initial pilot episode, this isn't a bad start, but at the same time, I can't see myself going out of my way to watch this every week.
I wrote about what I thought about the Doom Patrol's first appearance(s) in my review of Titans' first season and I thought their cameo appearance there served to the body horror motif that they were going for in the early portion of that season. Here, it seems like they are going for a more light-hearted and family vibe with the team and I don't know what to think of this yet, especially after they've added Cyborg (WTF?) and Crazy Jane to the roster.
I guess that's where those set photos of people claiming that Cyborg was in the first season of Titans came from when DC Universe were obviously holding him out for this. Seems weird that he would be in this series instead of Titans.
Much like Titans, I'm not going to go out of my way to watch this, but if I come across all of the episodes uploaded somewhere, I won't be opposed to binge-watching it if I have the spare time.
Good Lord, Brendan Fraser looks bad. No wonder he doesn't get much work from Hollywood anymore.
By the way, this series premieres today (February 15, 2019) exclusively on DC Universe's streaming service.
A live-action series based on the Teen Titans entered development in September 2014 for the cable channel TNT, with Goldsman and Marc Haimes writing the pilot. The pilot had been ordered by December 2014, but never came to fruition, with TNT announcing in January 2016 it would no longer be moving forward with the project. In April 2017, it was announced that the series was being redeveloped for DC Comics' new direct-to-consumer digital service, with Goldsman, Johns, and Berlanti attached. Brenton Thwaites was cast as Dick Grayson in September 2017, and other series regulars were cast between August and October 2017. In May 2018, the spin-off series Doom Patrol was announced, which will pick up after the events of Titans.
I'll admit the costumes here look great in these promotional shots/posters, but look like utter shit in the actual series.
Following her mother Melissa's murder at the hands of a mysterious assailant, troubled teen Rachel Roth exhibits telekinetic powers and flees town. Detroit detective Dick Grayson fights crime at night using his vigilante persona, Robin. Rachel is picked up by Detroit police, recognizes Dick from her nightmares, and asks him for help. By the time he realizes that she was telling the truth about her mother, Rachel has been drugged and abducted. Meanwhile, in Vienna, Austria, Kory Anders awakens in a bullet-ridden car wreck with no memory of her identity. She finds her way to gangster Konstantin Kovar, whom she has apparently betrayed in her search for a certain girl—Rachel. When Kovar attempts to shoot her, she releases a fiery power that incinerates him and everyone else in the room. About to be ritually slain by the man who killed her mother, Rachel blacks out as a dark version of herself emerges and kills her would-be murderer. Dick arrives, and takes her off to safety.
In Covington, Ohio, a green tiger is on the prowl in an electronics store at night and transforms into a human boy.
2 "Hawk and Dove"
Dick takes Rachel to Hank Hall and Dawn Granger, masked vigilantes known as Hawk and Dove with whom Dick fought crime years earlier. Though Hank and Dawn are in a committed relationship, Rachel senses that Dick and Dawn were previously involved, and still have unresolved issues. When a jealous Hank fights with Dick, Rachel's dark self manifests to stop it. The Nuclear Family is "activated" to retrieve Rachel, and they torture Dick's new partner, Detective Amy Rohrbach, to find him. Hawk and Dove take down an arms dealer with Robin's brutal assistance. Rachel is upset to discover that Dick intended to leave her with Hank and Dawn and not return. The Nuclear Family defeats Dick, Hank, and Dawn, capturing Rachel and leaving Dawn gravely injured.
3 "Origins"
Kory tracks down Rachel, and watches the Nuclear Family abduct her. Rachel's dark self refuses to help her, but Kory arrives, incinerates Nuclear Dad with her powers, and convinces Rachel to leave with her. Rachel and Kory find their way to a convent where Melissa had supposedly hidden from Rachel's father when she was a baby, and which Kory had visited in search of Rachel a year before. Dick recalls learning that his parents' death was not an accident, and being taken in by billionaire Bruce Wayne, who offers to teach Dick "another way to deal with the pain." Rachel meets Garfield Logan briefly, and Dick arrives. After Rachel's dark self manifests again, Dick and Kory take her back to the convent, where the sisters secretly lock her in the basement. Kory discovers that before her memory loss she was researching various doomsday prophecies concerning the advent of an apocalyptic "raven". Rachel's dark self taunts her and then manifests, leading to an explosion that allows Rachel to flee.
4 "Doom Patrol"
Rachel comes across Gar, in his tiger form, as she flees through the woods. Gar takes Rachel to his house, where she meets Cliff Steel / Robotman, Larry Trainor / Negative Man, and Rita Farr / Elasti-Woman. Dr. Niles Caulder / The Chief arrives, furious with Gar for bringing a stranger to their home—where they are living in secret—but interested in running tests on Rachel. She agrees, but then demands to be unstrapped from the table. Niles refuses, and shoots Gar with a tranquilizer dart when he tries to intervene. Rachel's dark self emerges and attacks Niles. Meanwhile, Dick and Kory find the convent in ruins, and track Rachel to the Caulder house. Dick calms Rachel down and promises he will protect her. He departs with Rachel and Kory, and Gar goes with them, encouraged by Cliff to live his own life.
5 "Together"
Dick makes the alliance with Kory, Gar, and Rachel official, and they all demonstrate their powers. Rachel and Gar connect, and Dick and Kory have sex. Dr. Adamson sends a new Nuclear Stepdad to the family. The Nuclear Family attacks, but together the group is able to subdue them. Dick also reveals himself as Robin to the group. Dick visits Adamson, who kills the family via a remote detonator. When a strike team comes to kill Dick, the new Robin appears and saves him.
6 "Jason Todd"
Dick and Jason Todd, the new Robin, take Adamson to one of Bruce's safe houses in Chicago, where they are later joined by Kory, Rachel, and Gar. Learning that Bruce implanted a tracker in his arm at some point in the past, Dick removes it with a scalpel. Jason tells Dick that someone is murdering everyone who worked with his parents at the circus. Dick seeks out Clayton Williams, the only performer still alive and the likely next target. Clayton is abducted by Nick Zucco, son of Tony Zucco, the mobster who killed the Graysons. Nick wants revenge against Dick, who he blames for the Maronis' murder of his entire family. Jason helps Dick neutralize Nick, but Dick is disturbed by his needless brutality. Meanwhile, Adamson tells Kory that he will only talk to Rachel.
7 "Asylum"
Adamson slashes his own throat to force Rachel to use her empathic powers to revive him. He then informs Dick and Kory that Rachel will "purify" the world. Adamson tells them about Angela Azarath, Rachel's birth mother, who is being held at an abandoned asylum. They are captured when they arrive at the asylum, and Dick, Kory, and Gar are subjected to torturous examinations. Adamson promises to end their suffering if Rachel calls to her father, but Rachel kills Adamson instead. Rachel finds Angela, showing her birthmark to prove she is actually Angela's daughter. Taking Angela with her, Rachel frees the others, although Gar is traumatized by having killed an asylum doctor. They escape; Kory burns the asylum down, and Dick burns his Robin suit.
8 "Donna Troy"
While Rachel, Kory, and Gar accompany Angela by train to the house she owns in Ohio, Dick goes off on his own to reconnect with an old friend, Donna Troy. The FBI stops the train in search of Kory, but she and the others escape after she causes a train car to explode. While Rachel uses her powers to unlock Kory's memories, Donna translates text that Dick photographed in Kory's storage unit. Donna's interpretation of the lost ancient language is that Kory's mission is to kill Rachel. Kory has a flash of memory, and grabs Rachel by the throat.
9 "Hank and Dawn"
With Dawn still in a coma, Hank remembers his childhood, when he allowed himself to be sexually abused by his football coach to save his little brother Don from molestation. In college, Hank and Don become vigilantes, Hawk and Dove, to punish sex offenders. An unconscious Dawn remembers her life as a ballerina, and the last time she saw her mother. Dawn's mother and Don are killed in the same accident, and Dawn and Hank get to know each other in grief counseling. Dawn discovers Hank's past as Hawk. He tells Dawn about his abuse, but admits that he never sought retribution against the coach because he could not face what happened to him. Dawn finds the abuser and demands that he confess; when they have beaten each other brutally, Hank arrives and finishes off the coach. Hank and Dawn sleep together. In the present, Dawn awakens, and tells Hank they need to find Jason Todd and help Rachel.
10 "Koriand'r"
Donna stops Kory from killing Rachel. Dick and Donna follow a remorseful but confused Kory to an abandoned warehouse, where a spaceship uncloaks itself for Kory. She is Koriand'r, from the planet Tamaran, on a mission to destroy Rachel before she brings about the destruction of Earth and Tamaran. Rachel's father is Trigon, a being from another dimension who devours worlds. Rachel is both Trigon's doorway back to our dimension, and a means to destroy him. Dick, Donna, and Kory realize that Angela is assisting Trigon. Gar begins seeing apparitions in Angela's house, and collapses. With Gar dying, Angela convinces Rachel to call Trigon to help her. She does, and Trigon and Angela are reunited. Trigon heals Gar, and tells Angela that they can begin destroying the world once Rachel's heart breaks. Dick, Donna, and Kory arrive, but only Dick can pass through the mystical barrier that now surrounds Angela's house.
11 "Dick Grayson"
Five years in the future, Dick is living happily with Dawn and their son John, with another baby on the way. Rachel and Gar are at college. A paraplegic Jason asks Dick to stop Bruce, who is intent on killing the Joker. Dick travels to Gotham and is reunited with Kory, who has joined the FBI. Batman kills the Joker in cold blood, as well as every patient and staff member at Arkham Asylum. Dick feels compelled to reveal Batman's secret identity to the police so they can apprehend him. A SWAT team raids Wayne Manor, but Batman slaughters them and kills Kory. Dick demolishes the mansion with explosives, and when he finds Batman alive but trapped in the rubble, Dick kills him. In the present, Rachel is horrified to see Dick enslaved by Trigon's power, and the dark future and Dick's murder of Batman is revealed to have been a fantasy created by Trigon to lead Dick to embrace darkness. Later, somewhere in Metropolis, a man designated as "Subject 13"—and bearing a Superman logo tattoo—escapes containment in a laboratory. He also frees a Labrador Retriever, whose eyes glow red.
The Verdict:
I binge-watched this entire series over the course of the two weeks that I was off from work for the holidays leading up to the New Year and I have to admit that I'm honestly dreading writing this review.
Costumes and Casting
Seriously, what the HELL is Starfire wearing? It looks like she got dressed out of Kelly and Peg Bundy's wardrobe from off the set of Married...with Children.
Right off the bat, I have to bring up the backlash that Anna Diop got from the casting as Starfire in this continuity. I honestly didn't have a problem with her being black playing the character. My issues came from her being dressed like a Russian hooker related to Foxxy Cleopatra for the bulk of this season. It didn't do the character any favors, especially in the post-New 52 landscape where most comic book fans regard her as a bimbo for sleeping around with most of the Titans anyway. This series seemed to be trying to draw from that with her characteristics at times. The clear clue was her and Robin's random as hell booty call encounter that was immediately brushed underneath the rug a few episodes later once Donna Troy came back into the picture.
How can anyone NOT like Conor Leslie as Donna Troy in this series? She's easily the best character in this show once she's introduced.
Speaking of Donna, boy did this show did a 180 in terms of the tone once she was introduced. Conor Leslie is arguably the best actress/actor in this show (behind Minka Kelly's Dove though) if you ask me and the most believable in terms of performances. Everyone else just seems to be going through the emotions on the fly, but Leslie and Kelly were at least able to get some decent performances out of Brenton Thwaites in the scenes that they shared together.
Brenton Thwaites is a believable Robin/Dick Grayson. I didn't mind him for the most part, even though his acting came off a little dry at times (a common theme across the board with a lot of these actors and actresses here...). To be fair, it wasn't as bad/cheesy as that dude playing Black Manta in Aquaman though...
I remember going to see Aquaman in the movie theater after binge-watching this series for the better part of a week and going, "If DC and Warner Bros. have so much money to burn/waste on this universe, then why would they go from this film looking absolutely gorgeous from start to finish to stuff on their streaming service looking like utter shit?" The costumes in this series, even from as far as the premiere trailers, look like bad cosplay outfits. Everyone in this series (outside of maybe Dove's outfit) look like they are going trick or treating on Halloween or made their costumes on a low budget for a small town comic book convention. If that wasn't bad enough, the special effects look equally bad if not worse in some cases. It wouldn't be so bad or glaringly noticeable when this show takes itself FAR too seriously at times (something that we'll get to in the narrative department shortly), but you can't take it serious when the costumes look like absolute dog shit. It's baffling when almost every other thing in this show looks laughable in terms of costumes and special effects, but when Donna Troy shows up and uses the Lasso of Persuasion, it looks as good if not better than Diana's Lasso of Truth in the Wonder Woman live-action movie from 2017. If everything in this show had that level of detail and attention to it, then we would've had quite the marvel (no pun intended) to behold here.
I think the bulk of the production budget went into adding all of the effects and what not to Raven's powers, even though I wasn't too impressed by them by the 3rd or 4th time she spazzed out and kills someone with would be best described as the power of the anti-Christ. Teagan Croft isn't bad in the role as the character. She doesn't come off as easily forgettable like Ryan Potter's Gar. I honestly forgot that he was there most of the time. They could have CGI'ed him into the background of most episodes and I probably wouldn't have seen a difference. While we're on the subject of that, boy did his "transformations" look bad. They must have taken that same course The Walking Dead did on Poorly Animated Computer Generated Animals 101 in that regard.
Action
There's a few fight sequences that look straight up amazing but for every great sequence there's some bad CGI to hamper down what this series does right. Can't forgot to mention how the costumes drag things down too. Some of the hand-to-hand combat sequences are straight up brutal, especially those involving Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Hawk & Dove, and later Batman (or who we're led to believe that's him in Dick's dreams). I dare say Robin kills more people here than Batman does in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.
When the Titans get on the same page and actually work together to save/protect Raven throughout the course of this season's narrative (like the scene against the Nuclear family shown above), it's quite the sight to behold and I wish there were more moments like it, instead of the narrative introducing so many characters but most of them barely sticking around long enough to hold your attention.
Narrative
The pivotal words to come out of the first few trailers and teasers for this series was "Fuck Batman" and I can see why. This series wanted to hit the nail on the head to emphasize the fact that this wasn't a Batman-oriented story, but one focused on tormented mind of Dick Grayson instead.
The bulk of the story focuses on Raven and her mysterious powers as it seems like one set of weirdos after another are after her and her powers. For anyone who was a fan of the Teen Titans cartoon in the early 2000s, this rings of familiarity from her storyline in that series where her origins are tied to the hellish demon called Trigon. In that series, she was regarded as the living "portal" that grants him entry into our world since he was banished from it otherwise. Here, we don't get much about Trigon's origins other than he's forbidden from our world and Raven has to "willingly" invite/summon him to Earth, ushering in a prophecy of the end of the world.
Titans excels at one major thing and that's expressing how each of the four core Titans of this impromptu team fit into a classic genre/theme that identifies with something that each of them are struggling to cope with. Raven fits the classic horror motif as she fears being alone. Beast Boy, much like the bulk of the Doom Patrol, represents the body horror/carnival motif as he fears truly becoming one of the monsters that he transforms into - inside and out. Starfire represents the fear of the unknown and fear of one's self. Robin/Dick Grayson represents the fear of losing your own identity. This distinction between each of the Titans creates some rather interesting beads to explore in terms of character development over the eleven episode season.
From left to right: Gar/Beast Boy, Robotman, Elasti-Woman, and Negative Man.
Speaking of the Doom Patrol, I have to say that their introduction here really fell flat. If they are supposed to be getting their own spin-off series from their minor appearance in this series, then I honestly don't see why anyone would bother with the lackluster effort put into their appearance in this series. Robotman looked like something straight out of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, while Elasti-Woman and Negative Man weren't that bad; they just didn't scream anything compelling to make me want to see more of them in this universe.
At the same time, I can't fault this show for at least getting the essence of these characters down for the most part. That whole second episode focused on them really hit that theme of body horror and carnival oddities down to the tee though. If I were to check out their upcoming spin-off series, it would be out of morbid curiosity to see how the writers transition from their appearance here to their own series.
I liked Dove's costume a lot more than Hawk's if I'm perfectly honest. Hawk's just looks like something cheap/homemade that you'd see in Kick-Ass or something.
Right off the bat, I was ready to write off Hawk (Hank) and Dove (Dawn) as merely adrenaline junkies that got off on the sheer amount of danger that they got themselves into. In that regard, I felt it was a huge disservice to those two characters from the first few episodes. As the season rolled on, it's later revealed that Hawk had to deal with sexual abuse from his coach as a child and bottled up his frustrations with that ordeal and feelings of helplessness for the bulk of his life. It wasn't until after he met with the woman, Dawn, who would become the second Dove (the original was Hawk's younger brother, Don) after her mother was killed in the same "accident" that took Hawk's brother from him. They found some common ground in their grief and it really hit home when Dove was inspired after seeing what Hawk and his brother had started from their YouTube antics into vigilantism. She went out and targeted the coach that abused Hawk as a child and they issued their own string of "justice". This led to their pending romance and I'll be lying if I didn't admit that I found this hooking up after this ordeal to be rather odd. The last thing on my mind would be an awkward sexual encounter after beating the holy shit out of the dude that sexually abused me in my childhood, y'know? But to each his/her own... That being said, this revelation added some much needed depth to both Hank and Dawn's characters. Hank wasn't the stupid, dumb jock that I had him pegged out to be and Dawn wasn't just random hot chick just having pity sex with him. Hank and Dawn rely on each other as their own sources of strength to overcome their own personal pain. I can only imagine that Hank and Dawn went to serve justice to the man who was abusing Dawn's mother that was hinted at in their conversation shortly before she was killed with Don in their accident. Dawn is a woman who wants to heal the wounds in the hearts of these damaged men and that's why I feel like she's drawn to men like Hank and Dick.
I'm not going to even talk about how bad this moment was setup in this episode with Starfire just buying a bottle of alcohol and suggesting that they "unwind" and get to know each other better before screwing each others' brains out. That whole exchange there didn't do Starfire's portrayal in this series any favors at all.
It's crazy too that even though it's expressed in the tail end of the season that Donna Troy is seen as Dick's childhood best friend, he sees Dawn in his dream during the season finale as his beloved companion and bearer of his children. Donna's not even mentioned in that dream (at least I don't remember her being mentioned if not at all), but Kory is (sporting a much better look here no less...), despite their only attachment outside of protecting Raven was their one sexual hook-up.
One thing that I felt was a slight surprise here was the appearance of Jason Todd in this series. I seriously doubt that they are going to explicitly display his demise at the hand of The Joker, so it was a bit of a head-scratcher to see him in this series. On the other hand, I guess people would have complained if they skipped over him and went straight to Tim Drake without any explanation as timeline-wise in order of events of the Bat family, Robin was already Nightwing by the time Drake came around. This narrative is clearly setting Robin up to become Nightwing by the early part or tail end of the next season as his own "graduation" of sorts as his final departure from separating himself from Bruce Wayne/Batman. I think that fact is so obvious that even a blind man can see it from how the narrative here has been leading viewers along with the breadcrumbs from the start of the season to the finale. We start with Dick dreading even putting the costume on period to finally crossing a line that he promised himself that he wouldn't cross until he finally burns the Robin costume for good after ordering Kory to burn down the asylum that tortured the four heroes until Raven killed that whack job who was in charge. It looked like he was going to leave that life behind completely until getting caught up with Donna Troy again and found himself drawn back into protecting Raven once more as a surrogate father figure.
Conor Leslie's Donna Troy is truly a gem and a saving grace in the tail end of this season. I cannot rave about her enough here.
Let's talk about the finale though, shall we? The whole episode is tailored around the warped idea that Dick Grayson has finally found some semblance of a normal life as he's married to Dawn and they have a son together with her pregnant with another child on the way. Dick found himself visited by a wheelchair-bound Jason Todd, who informs him that Bruce Wayne has finally gone off the deep end and is going to kill The Joker. Dick is then urged by his friends to go back to an overrun Gotham City to attempt to talk some sense into Bruce. It turns out it's too late as he finds out that Batman has killed all of Arkham Asylum's staff and patients as well as The Joker himself. Dick has no choice but to spill the beans that Bruce Wayne is Batman. A SWAT team storms Wayne Manor, including special agent Kory Anders. The attack goes sour as Batman is killing everyone left and right until Dick issues the order to blow the mansion with C4 after Kory's killed mercilessly by Batman. Dick goes into the mansion to survey his handiwork and finds Batman pinned underneath the rubble and issues the fatal blow, killing him in the process and succumbing to his inner darkness. It's then revealed that this was a ploy by Trigon to manipulate Robin to do his bidding. The episode ends with a teaser of someone (clearly Kryptonian and obviously Superboy) breaking out of confinement and rescuing a dog with glowing red eyes.
Here's my problem with all of this... I get that they were going with a possible mindfuck for this finale, but it just doesn't really stick nor hit home with not that much weight behind it. Throughout the entire thing, I was rolling my eyes waiting for Dick to wake up from this obvious dream sequence. The whole "special agent" gimmick for Kory Anders didn't stick from her alien origins being revealed in the episode prior, so that was another dead giveaway that this was a dream. The main thing that frustrates me with the writing on this episode is that it attempts to rip off one of the best episodes of Batman: The Animated Series, "Over the Edge", where Batman is being hunted down by the Gotham City Police Department for the possible murder of Barbara Gordon/Batgirl. The war between Commissioner Gordon and Bruce Wayne/Batman ends up costing them their lives until the whole ordeal is revealed to be dream from Barbara Gordon/Batgirl's damaged psyche after being exposed to Scarecrow's fear toxin. In the case of this series, the whole Batman at war with the police subplot comes off as a cheap imitation without any of the emotional weight behind it that Over The Edge had for that series. They merely pulled what they wanted from it that benefited for this mock dream sequence and muddled it all up. Dick desperately wanted to distance himself from Bruce Wayne - this dream gave him that. He got to settle down and have a family. He was able to put the cape and cowl days behind him and actually do something that Bruce Wayne hasn't ever been able to do - have a life outside of crime-fighting and his endless devotion to avenging his parents' deaths. This whole episode was done at the detriment of the other ongoing plots. I'm finding it hard for myself or anyone for that matter is going to remotely care what is going on to maintain interest whenever the next season starts.
I read that there were some odd cuts/edits and reshoots for this season finale (along for the season could end in a similar "cliffhanger" of sorts that The Walking Dead tends to do to attempt to keep their viewers invested. If Trigon's plan was to find a hero to corrupt to do his bidding then why waste his time with Dick Grayson of all people? Look, I get it - his whole world domination plan hinges on the fact once Raven's heart is broken, but he could have killed Gar instead of healing him for the same result. Trigon and Angela are making this world domination/destruction plot with Raven far too complicated than it needs to be. On top of that, if you need pawns to do your bidding wouldn't it be more proactive to have Kory Anders (who already proved that she's clearly a threat to Raven's powers) and Gar under his control over someone who doesn't even have any powers to begin with? Let's not forget that they ended this season with the reveal/teaser that Superboy exists in this continuity so that just diminishes any real threat of having the Boy Wonder under your control has in the pending battle. He's going to be as helpful as Robin was in that Family Guy cutaway gag...
I'll admit that having Superboy in this is quite the revelation though as I wouldn't have pegged him to be in this show, especially when the CW had to bend over backwards to get Superman in Supergirl. I guess his origins and partnership with Krypto the Superdog will be highlighted in Season Two, whenever that comes to fruition. With Young Justice back for a third season, fans will want to see more of that character, especially one with the darker origins that he had in that show with ties to being a clone created from the DNA of both Superman and Lex Luthor.
At this stage, I honestly don't see what their endgame is outside of Robin's transformation into becoming Nightwing. Other than that, there's not really much here to sink your teeth into in terms of plot. There were some promising questions and threads started throughout the season, but they are either never mentioned again or picked up so far later in the season that you completely forget that it was a thing to begin with. I doubt the Trigon/Raven dilemma is going to last the bulk of the next season with Superboy wondering around in this continuity along with the two other most powerful characters in this series, Starfire and Donna Troy, ready to pounce on Trigon the second he steps out of his barrier. It merely brings up the question of "Why should I care? And why should I keep watching this?" I'll watch out of morbid curiosity to see where it ends up, but I can't see the vast majority of fans having that much patience from what was presented here in this first season.
Watch It or Don't Bother?
That's probably going to be the exact same question your friends and family will ask when they catch you binge-watching this show...
This is a rather tough sell for both DC Comics fans - old and new.
Currently, the only way to watch it (legally) in the United States is to subscribe to the DC Universe streaming service. Alternatively, most countries outside of the United States will be able to watch the full first season in its entirety on Netflix as crazy as that sounds to say that DC Universe's selling point is that their original series on the service would be exclusive to that platform.
I wouldn't say this series is necessarily awful. It's better than a wide margin of the crap that the CW puts out on their DC Comics-based shows on a regular basis (I know, that's not saying much...), but I think the mature take on the violence wasn't necessary to tell the story that they were going for. Let me put it this way. When I go to watch something from a grittier comic book-based character, such as The Punisher, I'm going in expecting the violence cranked up to eleven, not for something like the Titans here. Before anyone goes ham in the comments or on social media, I'm aware that some of the George Perez era stuff for the Titans was pretty out there in terms of content and most of those stories would require a mature rating to fly nowadays with most audiences (i.e. like most of the DC direct to video animated films, Justice League vs. Teen Titans and Teen Titans: The Judas Contract immediately come to mind). This show seemed like it was written by teenagers who learned their first curse word and just wanted to say "Fuck fuck fuck fuck" in every line of dialogue. People have come to respect Marvel Comics' "mature" narratives on Netflix because those stories were justified. Here, it just seems like the violence and vulgar language are there as a gimmick instead of enhancing the product.
A better way to describe this series is that there's a lot of potential to be good, given the possibility that the writers capitalize on the good that this series does and negate the bad. Dick Grayson's journey is worth the watch alone, despite the fact that it takes a backseat to some of the other weaker subplots far too frequently. For example, Kory Ander's alien origins could have been saved for the next season after how little effort was put into that revelation once it had little to no impact on the season finale. On the other hand, I wish they put more attention to Gar's struggles to distinguish himself from the beast(s) that he transforms into instead of brushing that topic under the rug as quickly as they brought it up. The same goes for the history of Hawk and Dove's personal demons that brought them together being revealed, only for them to have a very minor role in this season, outside of Dawn playing a pivotal role in Dick's dream during the finale. There's a lot of potential for this show to be good in time, but it's a shaky foundation to start off with.
With so many live-action comic book-based shows on television, it's hard to recommend this when there's many other (much better if I may add) options out there. (Coughs) Like Marvel's Runaways Season 2... (Coughs) If you've exhausted yourself with everything else that CW's DC Comics-based properties have put out leading up to their current midseason breaks, then this is worth a look. Otherwise, I can't recommend going out of your way to check this out. It's definitely not worth justifying the purchase of the DC Universe streaming service to check out.
