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.
Titans follows the young superheroes of the eponymous team as they combat evil and other perils. Disbanded when the story begins, the series sees the team return when the original and new members reform the Titans. The Titans fight crime throughout various locations, with their base of operations in San Francisco.
In the first season, Rachel comes to Dick for protection from dangerous forces pursuing her, which leads to them meeting and teaming up with Kory and Gar. The heroes eventually learn that Rachel is being targeted by her demon father Trigon, who seeks to enslave the world. The season also depicts Dick's efforts to distance himself from his mentor and his Robin persona, while Kory struggles with a bout of amnesia that leaves her unaware of her true identity.
The second season focuses on the official reformation of the Titans as Dick leads a new team composed of Rachel, Gar, and Jason. The Titans' return, however, leads to the reemergence of feared assassin Deathstroke, whose prior conflict with the original team caused their disbanding. As Deathstroke attempts to eliminate the heroes, the original Titans are forced to face him again, while other threats emerge from the malevolent Cadmus Laboratories and Kory's younger sister Blackfire.
Rachel Nichols as Angela Azarath: Rachel's biological mother, secretly in allegiance with Trigon. Seamus Dever as Trigon: An interdimensional demon with the power to destroy worlds and Rachel's father.[27] Dever also portrays Frank Finney, a Gotham City police captain, along with an ice cream truck driver and a drug supplier in the illusions created by Trigon. Iain Glen as Bruce Wayne / Batman (season 2): A billionaire who moonlights as a feared vigilante in Gotham City and Dick's former mentor. The character was previously portrayed by stunt doubles Alain Moussi and Maxim Savarias in the first season. Michael Mosley as Dr. Arthur Light (season 2): A former physicist who turned criminal after gaining the ability to control light energy. Chella Man as Jericho (season 2): Deathstroke's mute son and Rose's half-brother, who has the power to possess other people's bodies through eye contact. Raoul Bhaneja as Walter Hawn (season 2): The vice president of special projects at Cadmus Laboratories. Natalie Gumede as Mercy Graves (season 2): The personal security specialist to Lex Luthor, assigned to oversee Cadmus Laboratories. Demore Barnes as William Wintergreen (season 2): Deathstroke's handler and friend. Mayko Nguyen as Adeline (season 2): Jericho's mother and Deathstroke's ex-wife.
Guest
Introduced in season 2
Drew Van Acker as Garth / Aqualad: A member of the original Titans from Atlantis possessing hydrokinetic and enhanced physical abilities. Robbie Jones as Faddei: A royal guard from Tamaran and former romantic interest of Kory. Ann Magnuson as Jillian: An Amazon monitoring Donna. Genevieve Angelson as Eve Watson: A scientist at Cadmus Laboratories who created Conner. Damaris Lewis as Blackfire: A Tamaranean royal and Kory's sister. Evan Jones as Len Armstrong: A prison guard at the Kane County Correctional Facility.
Orel De La Mota as Rafi: A Kane County inmate who illegally entered the United States after he fled Corto Maltese.
Julian Works as Luis: An undocumented immigrant from Corto Maltese detained in Kane County with Rafi and Santos. Rey Gallegos as Santos: Rafi and Luis's cellmate and fellow Corto Maltese undocumented immigrant.
McKinley Freeman as the psychiatrist: A psychiatrist who encounters Kory in Las Vegas. Currie Graham as Stuart: The creator of Dick's costume, posing as a shoemaker. Peter MacNeill as Lionel Luthor: A retired scientist and Lex Luthor's father.
Curtis Lum as Benny: A contact of Dick. Elizabeth Whitmere as Ellis' sister: The sister of Hank and Dawn's farmhand.
Drew Scheid as Faux Hawk: A teenager who poses as Hawk.
Patrick Garrow as cage announcer: The announcer for Hank's cage fights.
Hanneke Talbot as Selinda Flinders / Shimmer: A metahuman criminal with the ability to alter compounds and elements.
Sarah Deakins as Martha Kent: Superman's adoptive mother. Olunike Adeliyi as Mati Matisse: A burlesque dancer formerly in a relationship with Wintergreen.
Sydney Kuhne as Dani: A runaway fleeing from an abusive household. Ishan Morris as Caleb: Dani's abusive father.
Episode Summaries
(** SPOILERS!! **)
1 "Trigon"
Hank, Dawn, and Jason arrive at Angela's house, joining Donna and Kory in attempting to stop Trigon, but they all succumb to Trigon's powers. Trigon breaks Rachel's will by having the heroes seemingly beat Gar to death. With Rachel under his control, Trigon begins to destroy all life around him, starting with Angela. However, Gar survives and uses his friendship with Rachel to free her from Trigon. In turn, Rachel saves Dick before defeating her father and freeing the rest. Afterwards, the heroes go their separate ways, with Dick accompanied by Jason, Rachel, and Gar. Dick meets with Bruce to reconcile and reestablish the Titans at Titans Tower, their original San Francisco base. Bruce agrees to have Dick lead a new team under the condition that Jason joins. Meanwhile, Deathstroke comes out of retirement when he learns that the Titans have resurfaced.
2 "Rose"
Three months after Trigon's defeat, Dick continues to train his team in San Francisco where Rachel's powers begin to act strangely. Dick rescues a female metahuman on the run and attempts to recruit her into the Titans, despite her resistance to receiving help. Jason and Gar identify the young woman as Rose Wilson, Deathstroke's daughter. Hank and Dawn have retired to Wyoming, but tensions ensue when Hank discovers that Dawn is continuing to operate as Dove. In Chicago, Kory and Donna fight crime together and capture rogue metahuman Shimmer. Dawn, Hank, and Donna are forced to reunite with Dick when Dr. Arthur Light escapes from prison and begins targeting the Titans. Kory encounters fellow Tamaranean Faddei, who takes her captive.
3 "Ghosts"
Donna, Hank, and Dawn meet Dick at the Titans Tower, who notifies them that Deathstroke is in the city and pursuing Rose. Rose reveals to Dick that she is attempting to assassinate Deathstroke because he killed her brother Jericho. Working together against the Titans, Deathstroke tells Dr. Light of his plan to lure the heroes to them by separating the weaker members from the group. After Dr. Light escapes from the original team, Jason convinces Gar to search for him on their own. Jason defeats Dr. Light, but is ambushed by Deathstroke. Meanwhile, Faddei informs Kory that her sister Blackfire has ordered her return to Tamaran to become queen. A call from Rachel about losing control of her powers, however, prompts Kory to trap Faddei in her ship and travel back to her friends.
4 "Aqualad"
Five years before the present day, an assignment sends Deathstroke to San Francisco where Jericho and his mother Adeline are hiding. Assisted by new member Garth, the original Titans capture Dr. Light. Garth and Donna harbor romantic feelings for each other, but Donna has resisted Garth's advances because the Amazons require that she return to Themyscira. After the two ultimately have a sexual encounter, Garth learns from Dick that Donna will be leaving immediately. When Garth appears before Donna at an airport to persuade her to stay, he is shot by Deathstroke. The surviving members of the team identify Deathstroke as Garth's killer and dedicate themselves to hunting him down. A week later, Jericho is befriended by Dick, unaware that Dick seeks revenge against his father.
5 "Deathstroke"
Following Jason's abduction, Deathstroke kills Dr. Light and informs the heroes that he will release Jason in exchange for Rose. The original Titans explain their situation to Kory after she arrives, as Gar, Rachel, and Rose eavesdrop on the conversation. Rose attempts to escape when she learns that the team is considering surrendering her and is nearly killed by Rachel's unstable powers. After Dick tells his teammates that they will ambush Deathstroke under the guise of making the exchange, he secretly meets with Deathstroke in a skyscraper to offer his life for Jason's. Unmoved, Deathstroke reveals that he has bound Jason to a scaffold rigged with explosives. Kory intervenes, but she and Dick are unable to stop Deathstroke from activating the explosives, sending Jason falling from the skyscraper.
6 "Conner"
In Metropolis, Subject 13 escapes from Cadmus Laboratories with Krypto, calling himself "Conner" after the nametag on a uniform he takes. Memories bring Conner to Lionel Luthor's Kansas home before Mercy Graves' team, accompanied by Dr. Eve Watson, attacks him. Defeating the team, Conner confronts Eve, who reveals that she created him from the DNA of Superman and Lex Luthor. Eve takes Conner to the original Cadmus facility in San Francisco to help him better understand himself and the traits that he shares with his DNA hosts. Urging him to flee, Eve also warns Conner not to draw attention to himself by using his powers, but Conner disregards her warning when he sees Jason falling. Upon saving Jason, Conner is shot with kryptonite bullets as Graves' team recaptures Krypto.
7 "Bruce Wayne"
Dick leaves Titans Tower to search for Deathstroke while a hallucination of Bruce torments him over guilt that he feels. In Dick's absence, the team find items planted around the Tower that remind them of painful memories. Jason is accused by the other Titans of being responsible, until Dick's search uncovers that Deathstroke has infiltrated the Tower. With Jason contemplating suicide over the recent events, Dick admits to him that he is at fault for what has transpired because he killed Jericho. Eve arrives at the Tower after freeing Krypto, where she finds Conner dying from kryptonite poisoning. When Eve informs Kory that Conner can only be healed by solar radiation, Kory uses her powers to save him.
8 "Jericho"
In 2014, the Titans use their friendship with Jericho to obtain information on Deathstroke. Against Dawn's advice to leave him out of their battle, Dick recruits Jericho into the team upon discovering the powers that he possesses. Jericho agrees to join when Dick tells him the truth about his father and the heroes' search for him. Deathstroke learns of the Titans' contact with Jericho and after completing his hit on Jillian, severely injures Donna as a warning to stay away from his son. Dick responds by confronting Deathstroke amid a private meeting between him and Jericho, prompting a fight that ends in Deathstroke's favor. Before Deathstroke can kill Dick, however, Jericho jumps in front of his father's blade and is stabbed instead. Afterwards, the Titans disband.
9 "Atonement"
After Dick reveals the truth about Jericho's death to his team, all of the Titans except Gar leave Titans Tower. Jason and Rose depart together and Kory reunites with Faddei, while Rachel accompanies Donna before escaping to be on her own. Gar takes Conner out in public, which ends disastrously when Conner attacks a group of police officers. Dick encounters Deathstroke, who declares that their fight is over so long as Dick remains isolated from his friends and he will eliminate the Titans if they reform. Heeding Deathstroke's warning, Dick allows himself to be arrested. Believing that their presence together harms others, Hank breaks up with Dawn. Faddei informs Kory that they are being hunted by Blackfire, who became queen after murdering their parents. Kory is forced to kill Faddei when Blackfire takes over his body and vows to pursue her sister.
10 "Fallen"
Incarcerated at the Kane County Correctional Facility, Dick helps undocumented immigrants Rafi and Luis escape prison before they can be deported to Corto Maltese. Rachel joins a group of runaways led by Dani after she uses her powers to save Dani from her abusive father Caleb, unaware that she also caused his death. Conner is found at Titans Tower by Mercy, who convinces him to return to Cadmus by assuring him they can fix his personality shifts. Mercy takes an interest in Gar when he is brought to Cadmus with Conner and Krypto. Searching for Rachel, Donna uncovers the aftermath of Cadmus' assault on the Tower.
11 "E.L._.O."
While in isolation, Dick realizes that Jericho is still alive inside of Deathstroke's body. Kory, Rachel, Donna, and Dawn are lured to the Elko Diner by Bruce in an effort to reunite the team. Learning of Dick's incarceration, Rachel and Kory head off to rescue him, while Donna and Dawn leave to search for Gar. When they raid the prison, Rachel and Kory find Dick missing from his cell and a message about Jericho being alive. Rose, growing close to Jason, informs Deathstroke that she is done helping him manipulate the Titans. Mercy has Gar subjected to an experiment that causes him to involuntarily turn violent upon command.
12 "Faux Hawk"
Gar is unwillingly used by Cadmus to violently unleash his powers in public, which Mercy plans to culminate with an attack on a carnival. Donna and Dawn plan to stop Cadmus when they learn about Gar's and Conner's brainwashing. Unable to find Dick, Kory and Rachel return to San Francisco to also rescue Gar, while Kory's powers begin to diminish. Rose admits to Jason that she had been helping Deathstroke, causing Jason to leave her. With the Titans reuniting, Deathstroke prepares to eliminate them and contacts Rose to join him. After Adeline informs Dick of Deathstroke's plans and asks him to save Jericho, Dick obtains a new costume. In Wyoming, Hank struggles with drug addiction while working as a cage fighter.
13 "Nightwing"
Rose helps Dick fight Deathstroke and kills him, while Jericho jumps into her body. Advertising him as a supersoldier to potential bidders, Mercy has the brainwashed Conner defeat Gar at the carnival before sending him after the Titans when they intervene. The team frees Gar and Conner from their brainwashing and defeats Cadmus, but Donna is killed when she prevents a damaged transmission tower from landing on civilians. In the aftermath, Rachel leaves for Themyscira with Donna's body in an attempt to resurrect her, while Jason departs by himself, and Dick, Kory, Gar, Hank, Dawn, Rose, and Conner form a new Titans team. Elsewhere, Blackfire arrives on Earth by taking over the body of an unsuspecting woman.
The Verdict:
While gathering my thoughts on the second season of this show, I went back and re-read what I felt about Season One to see if I felt the same thing here as I did with Season Two. Unlike most people who were covering the show online week to week, I did what I did with the first season and binge-watched it within a few days over the days I had off from work around the holidays.
Action & Visuals
The cosplay looking costumes was one of the highlights that I critiqued the initial season of this show for in my review of the first season, but I'm delighted to see that DC Universe went to back to the drawing board on a lot of the costumes. Dove's costume was a favorite of mine back in Season One, but it really stands out in this season when it's in one of the more well-lit scenes.
One of the main reasons that I loved the "Aqualad" episode so much was that all of the OG Titans looked pretty bad ass in their costumes during that episode. That was only the icing on the cake when the accompanying action was solid too.
Whoever is doing their fight choreography for this show needs to go over to the CW and give the bulk of the Arrowverse shows some pointers.
Trigon makes his appearance in the premiere episode of Season Two.
Trigon on the other hand? I'm pretty split on his look in this series. The CGI could have been a LOT worse coming from DC, with The Flash on CW's iteration of Bloodwork immediately coming to mind.
That being said, we still got some pretty darn good action sequences in this season, which was something that never was a negative in the first season. I'm just glad that things didn't take a nose dive in quality among all of the creative changes in the narrative direction for this season.
Narrative
The cliffhanger that they ended the first season with Dick Grayson being corrupted by Trigon and his looming threat didn't last much more than the first episode into Season Two. The rumors ended up being true with DC Universe getting cold feet and ending the first season initially where it was supposed to end at that point as Raven (with her "new" powers gifted to her by her father) defeats him with ease after breaking free from his influence and brought the team back to a sense of normalcy.
At this point, I really thought that this show was going to go in the direction that Young Justice has gone in their third season (also on the DC Universe streaming platform) with Nightwing acting as a mentor of sorts to a group of younger heroes in training while getting his old band back together to join them with Hawk, Dove, Donna Troy, and the newcomer Kory (Starfire).
Instead, we're saddled with a subplot that sees Dick reliving his angst and inner turmoil from his past relationship with Bruce Wayne (who actually appears in this season) that feels like a complete rehash of what Dick was dealing with in Season One. The only difference here is that Dick's inner turmoil derives from his own decision to manipulate a young metahuman named Jericho to get closer to his father, Deathstroke, that killed the original Titans' ally, Aqualad. Deathstroke was on assignment to assassinate Donna Troy's friend, but Aqualad got in the way and was gunned down instead. The original Titans vowed to avenge their friend's demise by taking down Deathstroke. Instead, Deathstroke proved to be a much more capable opponent than anything that they could handle and they were forced to disband after Jericho died saving Dick's life while he was the costumed hero Robin. Dick lied to his team that Jericho was already dead when he confronted Deathstroke on his own and kept it a secret all of these years.
I didn't understand why that was such a big deal to keep a secret. The OG Titans already knew that Dick (with their encouragement actually, especially with his then-girlfriend Dove saying "Be like Batman") was just using Jericho to get closer to Deathstroke and even came clean to the kid about their intentions. It was Jericho's choice to sacrifice himself to save Dick, even though they had all agreed to let Jericho confront his father on his own terms, but Dick followed him to the church anyway. Whether he told them the truth or not, the team still disbanded after what happened to Jericho. I could understand all of the secrecy if the OG Titans were still working together as a team collectively but they all went their separate directions and pretty much gave up on the costumed life for the most part up to this point. They only came back into the fold to help deal with whatever was going on with Rachel (Raven) back in Season One.
When the Titans start working together to first takedown Trigon and then Dr. Light shortly thereafter, it gets the ire of Deathstroke, who threatens to tear their "family" apart once again. This time, he has has a sleeper agent within their ranks as his daughter, Rose. I thought this was FAR too easy to see coming as anyone who knew who she was from the comics or got wind of the casting news when it leaked online that they were going with spin of this infamous story from the comic book lore.
I thought the on-screen chemistry between Rose Wilson (Chelsea Zhang) and Jason Todd (Curran Walters) was really well done from the scenes that they shared together, even though I don't like Curran Walters nor Jason Todd in the least. That kid just comes across as he should be in one of those Kick-Ass movies rather this show, especially when you look at him in costume. Chelsea Zhang, on the other hand, excels in most of the scenes she's in with the majority of the cast. There was one point where Jason was getting so much shit from his older mentors on the Titans to the point where that he was ready to jump off of the roof of the Titans Tower building that they were all living in. I understood that they were shooting for the audience to feel sorry for the kid, but I was sitting there going, "Go ahead and put the kid out of his misery. Maybe he'll come back with a better personality when he's revived as Red Hood." I honestly didn't give a damn about Jason Todd here since Season One. I know that I'm weird in that regard as he's a much more "likeable" Robin than Dick has been since the start of this show, but can't say that I ever was a fan of the character - pre-Red Hood anyway.
In a nice throwback to the comics, the Titans TV seres launched a poll after Episode 3 to allow fans to vote on Jason Todd's fate to see whether he lives or dies, despite already filming these episodes in succession. It's not like they were going to allow fan votes to sway the outcome of how the events of this season were going to unfold, but it was a nice little throwback regardless, even though that this is the second season in a row where they "teased" Jason Todd's demise for fun.
The way they handled the narrative with between the original Titans and Deathstroke throughout the course of this season was pretty muddled up, but we finally got the payoff to Dick's journey that should have been the climax to Season One with him putting his past behind him and becoming Nightwing.
I haven't seen enough of the Arrowverse version of Slade to have a concrete opinion on him compared to this one, but in terms of costumes, I'm digging the Titans iteration more here.
Speaking of Deathstroke/Slade Wilson, I didn't mind how he was used in this season. He quickly assumes the role of the main antagonist for this season, even though he's overshadowed by Cadmus' own machinations in the season finale, but exists as a constant threat to this team of young heroes in every scene that he appears in. I don't buy for a second that he's dead either. He will probably be back down the road in some capacity, especially since Jericho found the means to survive his own demise. Don't forget that Rose (who has the same powers as her father) survived being mangled by Rachel's powers in their brief skirmish too and healed back to normal without any repercussions.
My best friend gave me the season of Arrow where Deathstroke appears in that series on DVD, but I haven't had the chance to watch that in any capacity to compare that iteration with this one. I will just say that I was completely fine with how his character was handled here. Simply put, you don't fuck with a man's family and expect to get away with it. Slade Wilson had the Titans draw his children into the crossfire on two separate occasions and still came up short in their encounters with him. It wasn't until Rose (under her Ravager persona) teamed up with Dick (under his new Nightwing moniker and costume), that they were able to defeat him.
Dick's new costume looks like it was pulled straight out of the Batman: Arkham video games and that's a GOOD thing.
The season finale/payoff to finally see Dick Grayson put his past behind him and embrace this new costumed identity as Nightwing was well worth the wait, but goddamn was it frustrating that we had to endure an extended rehash of Dick's journey from Season One (along with Rachel's too with her struggles with her powers) to get there. Mind you, there were leaked set photos from the Season One finale that Dick was going to be Nightwing at that point before the various reshoots and rewrites that resulted in a lot of the Titans' backstories getting a soft reboot in this season.
I hate to saddle this show with claims that it was utter shit to start to finish like a lot of other reviews blasting it over the internet, but much like with Season One, I didn't think it was that bad. There's actually three episodes of note that I thought were really well-done.
"Aqualad" (Season 2, Episode 4)
The more that I think about it, the more I have to agree that this was the best episode of the entire season. Gone is the rough around the edges approach to the modern day format of Dick's Titans team of super-powered people and instead, we're treated to a look back in the past to a clever reboot of sorts to the original iteration of this team, consisting of Robin (Dick Grayson), Hawk (Hank Hill), Dove (Dawn Granger), Wonder Girl (Donna Troy), and Aqualad (Garth of Atlantis). This episode takes the complete "villain of the week" formula from the CW's Arrowverse, pitting this team against Dr. Light. I can't say that I was too crazy about Dr. Light's costume looking like he's going for some techno-steampunk hybrid version of Gladiator, but it worked for the most part. It wasn't that the team-based action sequences (something the CW Arrowverse really struggles with in their various team-up episodes and crossovers) in this episode clicked that made this episode shine. That was only a small contribution to the overall "reboot" of sorts to the Titans' origins here. The writers showed their ability to write multiple characters well in this episode too with the various revisions to the established cast. For example, Dawn and Dick were openly dating at this point instead of being insisted that it happened behind Hank's back as suggested in the first season. Donna Troy's insistence to not get attached with her return to Themyscira around the corner was tested as she struggled to keep her feelings about Garth under the surface. She thought that she could have a one night fling with him and leave all of that behind, but when push came to shove, she couldn't leave him (her heart in more ways than one) behind. Her world came crashing down when Garth is gunned down in front of her by Deathstroke, who was aiming for her Amazonian confidant, Jillian, instead.
Even out of context, this episode is just so damn good. If you don't watch anything else from Titans in Season 2, go out of your way to watch this episode. It's a perfect example of what this show could be going forward following the fact that this season got all of the messy tape of dealing with Dick dealing with his past out of the way.
"Conner" (Season 2, Episode 6)
This entire episode is a departure from the rest of the Titans team that we have come to know to date as it follows Subject 13 as he wakes up out of one of Cadmus Laboratories' facilities and breaks out with his dog that he appropriately names, Krypto. The episode serves as his origin story since this was pretty much a continuation of the brief teaser that we were given at the end of Season One that added in the revelation that Conner Kent is the genetic clone hybrid made from both Superman and Lex Luthor's DNA. When this season started, I figured he wouldn't have anything to do with the conflict with Trigon as Kryptonians are traditionally weak versus magical threats, so he wouldn't have been an asset to bring in at that point. I wasn't too particularly fond of the Cadmus scientist, Eve Watson (played by Genevieve Angelson), who was acting like his "mother" at first, but by the end of that episode I was sold on their relationship.
Ultimately, this episode stood out because it was such a departure from what we were used to with following the other heroes in this show up to this point and served as an excellent "hiatus" of sorts from what was going on in the current narrative with their ongoing conflict with Deathstroke.
"Jericho" (Season 2, Episode 8)
This episode serves as a continuation of the flashback started back in "Aqualad" with the OG Titans befriending a young mute metahuman named Jericho. Dick and the other Titans are really going out of their way to hang out with the kid and welcome him into their circle, but it's quickly revealed that they have an ulterior motive - Jericho is Deathstroke's son. Following the death of Garth, Dawn haunted Dick with the words, "Be like Batman" - something that he hasn't let go of doing. I know a lot of people tend to harp on Dick's retreading the familiar territory of his stress of having to live up to Batman's high expectations from Season One in this season too, but I saw that mental wound being ripped open again from what happened to him in the dreamscape following what happened to the Titans after their run-in with Trigon at the start of this season, thus forcing Dick to relive that mistake again in this season until he could properly put those feelings to rest instead of just burying them in the back of his mind. In this episode, we see the start of Dick going down that dark path to "be like Batman" as how Dawn put it, as he sought the means to get close to Deathstroke by any means possible, even if it meant manipulating and using his own son to do - as long as it resulted in a victory for the Titans and revenge for their fallen ally.
This episode shines in multiple regards as we don't simply see how vulnerable and desperate the OG Titans are following the death of Garth in this flashback, but we see that Slade Wilson doesn't deny that he's monster for what he has done as an assassin; he just wants to be a good father to his son. The only thing he ever wanted was that his son saw that side of him, only to destroy the child-like fondness that his son had over his father prior to the Titans exposing the truth of Deathstroke's "work" to Jericho. This is a complete 180 from the ruthless antagonist that we have come to know Slade as up to this point.
(Laughs) That being said, it's even more crazy to me that this is the same actor that played Manny Lopez (George's estranged father) in George Lopez Show. I doubt I can go back and watch those episodes and not see Slade Wilson as George's dad now.
Characters
I'm not knocking on the cast this time around. I thought the returning and recurring cast members seemed much more comfortable in these roles this time around instead of the "growing pains" of sorts that they had in the first season. Their confidence shined through in a wealth of these scenes, especially with some of the newcomers who joined in Season 2.
The Bat Family (Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd / Robin)
Like previously mentioned, Dick retreads a lot of the familiar territory that we saw back in Season One, coping from his inner angst and guilt to lash out with violent tendencies. The same actions that saw Jericho lose his life due to his actions. There was one moment where I thought Dick was going to mature past that "angry teen" phase that he was ridden in for both seasons where he was the responsible adult leading this new generation of Titans, only to regress back into the same character that we saw back in the first season of this show. It was admittedly very frustrating to see him not return back to this by the end of the season, but at least we got some closure to his inner turmoil that saw him stop blaming Bruce Wayne for his personal darkness. Things seemed to look up in the closing moments of the season though as he's back in a position of leadership for the Titans going forward with a clear head and renewed purpose.
What the actual fuck... Seriously though, Bruce Wayne's "ghost" in Dick's head was worth a few laughs at times.
Having Bruce Wayne show up for the vast majority of this season as a hallucination was a massive disservice to that character, even though he did lend a hand to the Titans during the season finale. Hell, even that great pep talk from Bruce that saw him rally Dawn, Donna, Kory, and Rachel together to save Dick, Conner, and Gar wasn't even real. That ended up being a fabrication of Rachel's powers, subconsciously manipulating them to reunite after their falling out.
It didn't hit me until near the end of the season that Bruce is played by the same actor who played the doctor in the Paul W.S. Anderson-helmed Resident Evil movies. Couldn't we cast someone as Bruce who wasn't already balding his hair out? (Laughs) I'm just sayin'.
I have already expressed my distaste for Jason Todd / Robin in this series, but I'll give Curran Walters credit where it's due. The kid made the character work for him, even though it came off as a whiny bitch at times. His highlights for this season shine best when he is sharing screen time with Rose (Chelsea Zhang). I thought it was rather odd that he didn't have any major scenes with Bruce in this season either to say that he was recommended for Dick's new Titans' team by Bruce in the first place. The more I think about it, the more I think that the costumed life as a whole, especially those who surround themselves around Jason have a negative impact on his development as a character and as a hero. Dick thought he had it bad as Batman's sidekick, but imagine what Jason is going through? He has to deliver to somehow perform to Batman's high expectations as well as be deemed worthy of living up to the mantle that Dick wore before him as Robin, along with proving himself amongside so many established heroes among the likes of Hawk, Dove, and Wonder Girl. All of that pressure coming in from all sides is enough to make anyone crack. I can't blame him for getting to the point of having to be literally talked out of jumping off the roof of the Titans Tower.
Kory Anders (Starfire)
Her character arc in this season seemed all over the place with the stops and starts. I'm going to assume that she's going to get a little more depth in the third season with the arrival of her sister Blackfire arriving on Earth.
I did appreciate that she maintained the role of a "big sister" to Rachel to compliment the "big brother" role that Dick played in both seasons to her. Those were the moments that really shone bright for her in this season when she stood as the metaphorical "guiding light" to the other Titans' darkness.
It felt like the writers didn't realize that they wrote an almost identical path for Donna Troy and Kory in this season at one point. Both of them were women who were estranged from their homeland, only to be taking to costumed crime-fighting to "distract" themselves from their true callings. On second thought, that might have been on purpose, given their buddy cop pairing together for a few episodes.
It felt like they wrote her diminishing powers as a cop out to write off anyone other Donna Troy could save those innocent bystanders during the season finale while Superboy was in no condition to help following his battle with the Titans and waking up from Cadmus' control.
Hawk and Dove (Hank Hall and Dawn Granger)
I said it back during my review on Season One and I'll repeat it here, I think Dawn and Dick make a better couple than Hank and Dawn. I get it that Hawk and Dawn have the common ground from their shared experiences and trauma, but that doesn't tie them to the hip. Hank wanted to give up and just quit at least three different times now and almost seems to be dragged back into the fight kicking and screaming. Plus if I'm honest, his frat boy/macho bullshit is getting stale at this point. Dick is a dick at times from his past experiences from being Batman's sidekick, but he's not a flat out douchebag like Hank is. I can't think of any redeeming qualities of that guy at all.
That episode "Faux Hawk" seemed completely out of place in this season - at least the part where Hank was working as a cage fighter. It seemed as if the writers wanted to have Dove move on and be her own heroine but went "OH SHIT WE FORGOT TO SHOW WHAT HAPPENED TO HANK!" after the fact when they started moving the other chess pieces to have the Titans reuniting for the season finale to confront both Deathstroke and Cadmus. To say that the guy sold his costume while on some drug addicted binge is just sad. Hank needs help and that's something that I felt was swept underneath the rug far too fast to wrap this season up in the final two episodes.
Dawn isn't without her own set of flaws too. Where as Hank is content with neglecting their costumed vigilante exploits in favor of his drug-addiction, Dawn is addicted to being a heroine - almost to the point of being a martyr. I felt that she could be punishing herself for pushing Dick down the path that he went with pursuing and manipulating Jericho and getting the ire of Deathstroke to come down on the Titans. I just know that her relationship with Hank is anything but good for the both of them.
Donna Troy / Wonder Girl
If I didn't love this character enough during her introduction at the tail end of Season One, I found a way to love her even more in this season, especially after being treated to more of her backstory following the "Aqualad" episode. Garth / Aqualad appears in a single episode and proves to be the heart and soul of this team, explaining why we found all of the founding Titans in such a dark place in the first season (or still are following those events). Garth's death explains why she was distant to coming back to the costumed life when Dick first contacted her for help back in Season One and why she reluctant to take it up again, despite being an advocate for justice. The heroic irony of her path in this season is that she's been running from her destiny all of this time, only to meet her demise embracing it in the season finale. The closing moments of the season saw Rachel accompanying the Amazons to take her body to Themysirca, but I selfishly hope they don't revive her in the third season (something her actress already teased for Season Three) as it would cheapen Donna's sacrifice here.
Instead, they have left the door wide open to have Cassandra Sandsmark be the new Wonder Girl in the future. Fans of Young Justice should be familiar with that iteration of the character that debuted in Season Two of that animated series.
Rachel (Raven)
Following the defeat of Trigon, it felt like the situation with the changes to Rachel's powers was being vastly ignored by the other Titans in favor to what was going on with Deathstroke over the course of this season. We never got to find out what happened to that piece of dark magic that splintered off of her and brought that gargoyle to life that killed her friend's abusive father. That was one hell of a plot hole that was left out to the wild. That being said, I found myself always intrigued with what was going on with the evolution of her powers. I would like to assume that will continue being a focal point going forward, especially in the upcoming third season.
It's a rather silly at times that Rachel has like full mastery over these powers at the most convenient times of the plot. I swear, her powers are more of a plot device than the Sword of Omens in Thundercats ever was in this show at times.
Gar (Garfield Logan / Beast Boy)
Just like in the first season, Gar was easily forgettable in this season. He got a lot of screen time following the team disbanding following Dick's "truth bomb", but ultimately didn't do anything of note in this season outside of becoming another one of Cadmus' pawns. I have to wonder if anyone removed whatever Cadmus inserted into his brain following the events of the season finale. He was just sitting around at the dinner table like nothing happened by that point. I know it was Rachel who "woke" him up, but
Superboy / Subject 13
I loved that they went with the New 52 iteration of Superboy with his ties to both Lex Luthor and Superman as a clone of the two. To say that he (along with Krypto the Superdog) was teased all the way back in the finale of Season One and had to wait until six solid episodes into the second was a bit poorly planned though. His introduction episode, appropriately named "Conner", was pretty much everything I had hoped for his origins into this continuity, even though I wasn't too crazy at first about his surrogate mother (Eve Watson) who turned her back on Cadmus' goals and ambitions in favor of allowing Conner to escape and establish his own identity. Conner is much like how the scientists at Cadmus described him as "child-like, with a sense of wonder and curiosity about where he belongs in this world." For his role in this season, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Further explorations about his origins and establishing his own identity from his "fathers" can come in due time.
The Wilson Family (Rose, Jericho, Slade / Deathstroke)
From the moment that she was brought into Titans Tower, I pegged Rose to be this iteration of Titans' "Terra" from the popular mythos (both comics and animated media). It seemed like that was where they were going with her casually flirting with Gar before settling for Jason Todd as he was easily the most vulnerable out of the new generation of Titans. In the back of my head, I couldn't ignore the fact that she was Slade's daughter and I already knew that she had a history in the comics continuity of being aligned with her father before going off on her own devices. I was glad that they didn't make her character arc this season that predictable, but it was pretty silly - or rather fucking careless - that the Titans allowed her to be on her own so much in their home, especially when they were supposed to be keeping tabs on her.
Seeing Jericho's story play out here is interesting as I was positive that's what the next string of Teen Titans-related DC animated films (those within the same canon and continuity as Justice League: WAR) were going to be about, especially following the tease at the end of Teen Titans: The Judas Contract. Jericho was the focus of about two different episodes in this season but despite from the little screen time that he shared with the rest of this cast of characters, I definitely left an impact on this show as a whole. Jericho brightened the mood of this show that was so accustomed to being as dark and brooding as the DC Extended Universe with a much lighter tone. Where Garth was the OG Titans' heart and soul of that team, Jericho came in shortly thereafter as their mortal compass. You could easily say that Jericho served as Deathstroke's "conscience" as well. He was something that buried deep within him (literally) that was crying out for him to do the right thing, only to be ignored time and time again as Deathstroke completed his contracts, causing Jericho to be an unwilling witness to his father's vile and heinous acts. I thought it was pretty odd that Rose would be so open to allow Jericho to jump into her mind and body without question following Deathstroke's demise, especially we didn't see any of their history together from the flashbacks this season.
Slade's relationship with his children seems to stem from the overarching theme from this series as a whole, the struggles of dealing with having to live a double life to protect those you care about. Slade thought he was protecting his family from his work by keeping it a secret when that merely made them even bigger targets when Garth was caught in the crossfire during one of his assassination contracts. You would think that Slade would have learned his lesson after the accident that resulted in Jericho becoming mute due to the severe injuries suffered to his throat. I thought it was pretty baffling that Slade wasn't aware of Jericho's presence in his own body all of that time. I couldn't imagine how fucked up it could have been for him in the years that followed as an unwilling passenger to Deathstroke's various assassination contracts.
Mercy Graves & Cadmus Laboratories
I don't know what they were going for with Mercy Graves in this continuity. I'm always intrigued to see her pop up in new mediums following Superman: The Animated Series with Lisa Edelstein's voice behind the character. Wasn't too surprising to see her in a lesbian couple, given her comic book counterpart was regarded as having Amazonian origins in that continuity. I didn't see what was the point of showing her as a wife and mother to two disrespectful children when it didn't contribute anything to the villainous persona that this season was craving out for her. It just came off rather odd given everything else she would do later involving her machinations with Cadmus. I suppose that one could convey that as a tad bit of depth in terms of characterization, showing that she has two sides of the same coin that can be described as her life that she deals with, much like the costumed heroes of the Titans and Deathstroke too.
They tried with Mercy here, but she's definitely not the villain that people are talking about after this season made air. Without a shadow of a doubt, Deathstroke is the talk of the town in this season while Mercy was regulated as a minor inconvenience in the Superboy/Cadmus subplot. It's a darn shame too as I thought Natalie Gumede looked stunning in the role and put her own unique take on the character for her live-action television debut.
Watch It or Don't Bother?
Annoying in the sense that this season recycles Dick's journey and Rachel's complications with her powers from Season One, only to muddle up what is ultimately a better season than the first. Most critics are blinded by that fact and can't see what is good here beneath the surface.
I feel like I'm having deja vu here as I wrap up this review. Much like my thoughts on Season One, there's a lot of potential for greatness going forward. Hell, we even saw evidence of that in three of the episodes that I mentioned, along with some of the episodes scattered throughout the season. I'm going to do a rare "Give it a fair chance" about this season. Who knows, you might see something you like and makes you want to come back for more. I'm definitely sticking with this for Season Three.
This film marks Ferrer's final performance before his death from throat cancer at age 61. It had its world premiere at WonderCon on March 31, 2017. The film was released through digital download on April 4, 2017, and will be released through home media on April 18, 2017 by Warner Home Video.
Five years ago, the original Teen Titans (Dick Grayson as Robin, Speedy, Kid Flash, Beast Boy, and Bumblebee) rescue the Tamaran Princess Starfire from her captors sent by her evil sister, Blackfire. As she is no longer able to return to her planet, the Titans offer her a home on Earth.
In the present Dick Grayson (now Nightwing) rejoins the Titans to track down a terrorist cult led by Brother Blood, who plans on capturing the team to absorb their powers with a machine that he has tested on Jericho (whom his assistant, Mother Mayhem, quickly shoots afterwards). Blood hires the mercenary Deathstroke to deliver the Titans to him, which he obliges to do for both the money and the chance to get revenge on Damian Wayne. Deathstroke monitors the Titans through his double agent that joined the team a year prior, Terra, whom he rescued after her parents turned their whole village against her and tortured her. When Damian grows suspicious of Terra's behavior and starts tracking her, he is captured by her and Deathstroke.
Terra acts cold and distant towards the other Titans despite their welcoming attitude, but eventually warms up to them over time. During the night celebrating her one year anniversary with the Titans, she shares a tender moment with Beast Boy and kisses him. The next day, Deathstroke kidnaps Blue Beetle at the soup kitchen he works at, Beast Boy at a convention where he thought he would do a podcast with filmmaker Kevin Smith, and Starfire at the apartment shared by her and Nightwing. Dick discovers what happened to the other Titans and is attacked by Deathstroke at his apartment. He manages to escape by faking his own death, while Terra captures Raven.
Deathstroke and Terra bring the Titans to Brother Blood, but since the machine cannot operate properly without a sixth Titan (as Slade failed to capture Nightwing), Slade offers him Terra instead. Blood starts draining the Titans of their powers, but they are rescued by Nightwing. Nightwing and Robin fight Deathstroke while the rest take on Brother Blood (whom has absorbed all of their powers). The two villains are stopped by the intervention of Terra, who is enraged at Slade for his betrayal. Blood is depowered by Raven and killed by Mother Mayhem while Deathstroke is buried underneath multiple rocks thrown by Terra. Too ashamed to face her former friends/allies after betraying their trust, Terra decides to bring down the entire area. Beast Boy attempts to assist Terra in escaping the crumbling fortress, but Terra pushes him back and is buried underneath multiple layers of rubble. Beast Boy digs her up and she dies in his arms.
In the epilogue, Beast Boy goes on Kevin Smith's podcast and talks about the Titans with the host. He mentions that the team has a "wonderful" new member and that he will miss Terra. In a post-credits scene, Jericho is shown to have survived the bullet Mother Mayhem shot at him earlier.
The Verdict:
Pretty awesome shot of this new team of Titans here, even though Cyborg is missing from the party.
Continuing the trend from their continuity established in Justice League vs. Teen Titans and everything going back from Justice League: WAR (Son of Batman, Batman vs. Robin, Batman: Bad Blood, Justice League: Throne of Atlantis, and Justice League Dark), DC Comics and Warner Bros. brings us a mature adaptation of the popular Judas Contract storyline from DC Comics' Teen Titans comics. I thought it was pretty cool that they started off with a flashback to the young days of the Titans with Robin (pre-Nightwing Dick Grayson) and Beast Boy sporting their vintage costumes - who are joined by Speedy (Roy Harper), Kid Flash (Wally West), and Bumblebee (Karen Beecher). If I may add, most of those previous members of the Titans are voiced by their respective voice actors from Young Justice. I thought that was a nice touch to say that the same animation studio is behind this stuff so that was a nice nod to that show.
Things fast forward to present day with the same team of Titans (sans Cyborg) are led by Nightwing and Starfire on a raid on Brother Blood's HIVE facility. What's jarring here is that they already have Terra on their team and have accepted her into their ranks without any questions. It just seems odd right off the bat - even more so that Terra's voice sounds a lot older than what she looks like, thanks to Christina Ricci providing her talents to that role, but we'll get back to that subject later. Between Terra's sarcastic remarks and Starfire and Nightwing's obvious flirting and sexual humor between each other makes this a joy to watch in these opening moments.
No lie, there were tons of moments like this in the film where I had to pause just from laughing so hard.
Don't worry Starfire and Nightwing's relationship becomes a recurring joke in this film - along with the recurring theme that somehow, someway that Nightwing gets his arm broken in ALL of these Bat-family-featured animated films in this continuity. Sadly, Damien (Robin) doesn't get as much dialogue as I was expecting here, but I guess a bit less of the kid being a dick was a good thing when we already had Terra filling that role with her sarcasm and attitude.
As much as the original Teen Titans cartoon is beloved for their adaptation of this story arc with Terra and Slade/Deathstroke, I felt that it was VERY rushed here. How did they expect audiences to care about Terra when it was clear cut from right off the bat that she didn't even like them or even tried to fit in? The partnership with Deathstroke was revealed a bit too early for my taste. Even though I knew it was coming but this film suffers greatly from its pacing. Damien is captured early into the film and the Titans don't really bat an eye about that (despite Slade's douchebag texts as filler) until they were reunited at the film's climax when they were all captured by Brother Blood.
Yeah... they went there in this film...
Even though Terra and Beast Boy's relationship doesn't hit off as well as it did in the original Titans animated series, I still
felt like he said some deep, meaningful stuff to her that really hit home.
I can't really fault them for trying to recapture the magic that was between Terra and Beast Boy like it was presented in the original Titans animated series on Cartoon Network, but it was lost here when they already established that Terra had a thing for Deathstroke. Without making it seem creepier than it was on paper, I think that's why DC/WB cast Ricci for the role here with an older/mature voice for Terra to give off the illusion that she's older than she actually looks, but it's hard to buy into that when she flat out says that she wants to have sex with Deathstroke before he turns her down. I know that DC/WB are going with a more mature direction with these films, but didn't they get enough people frowning on them about how they portrayed women in the animated adaptation of The Killing Joke? Yes, yes... I'm well aware that story isn't kind to women at all but the "extras" added to it didn't really do it any favors, so I'm just saying here.
Changing gears a bit here, let's talk about how flawed her, Deathstroke, AND Blood's plans were... Okay, Blood wants the powers of powered people and he just settled for the Titans when the Justice League exists in this continuity. If you're going to hire someone as expensive as Deathstroke on the mercenary market, why not go after the Justice League and get your money's worth? Instead, you're going to settle for a team of kids, mostly with 2 out of 5 projected members not even having fucking powers (Robin and Nightwing)? What was even more stupid was that the whole point of having Terra deceive everyone was lost when she really didn't deal with the Titans herself. She helped Slade take out Damien, but everyone else was taken out by Deathstroke himself after her recon and research on all of their powers and weaknesses. I felt like Slade was just too lazy to do his homework himself (something Batman would have had no problem doing...) and it came off that he was just using this girl (Terra) to do what he didn't want to do to fulfill his contract with Blood. To say Beast Boy is supposed to have the entire animal kingdom at his disposal, it seemed pretty stupid that he couldn't hear Terra calling Slade flat out during the middle of the Titans' meeting before they were all being targeted.
Don't even get me started on how the finale of the film tried to act like Blood's combined powers were beating the Titans no problem until Terra went apeshit. They are really downplaying how powerful Raven is - especially after the events of Justice League vs. Teen Titans, but I'm guessing the excuse they want to throw out there between the lines that her focus is divided between controlling her powers and making sure her father stays imprisoned. That being said, she still was able to tap into his powers to land the finishing blow on Blood, so I don't get why she didn't do that in the first place. Once again, it just comes off as rushed storytelling - same issue that Justice League Dark's finale had. I think we can all agree that Blood was just an afterthought when it came to a main villain here in this film. It could have came down to the Titans facing off against Terra and Deathstroke.
What was really missing here is that killer edge the Titans had against Terra after her deception in the original animated series.
I was left wondering why should they still care after all of this? She didn't like Beast Boy here since Day 1 here, even though she caved for that kiss as part of her "cover" but she managed to keep pushing the rest of the Titans away when they got close. That was apparent at the party when she was barely even into it. She saved the pictures on her phone, but it was obvious she was all in for Slade until it was too late. Call me ruthless, but she got what she had coming and I didn't see a reason for the Titans to pity her. Goddammit, they missed the golden opportunity for Damien to say something savage as fuck at that moment when Beast Boy dug her body out of the rubble. Damien let me down in that department.
One thing I'm left wondering at the end is that why did the film gloss over the fact that Jericho (the guy who Mother Mayhem killed after the experiment) is Deathstroke's son? Well, I only know that since I'm familiar with this storyline from the comics, but it just seemed odd not to mention that at all here. I guess whatever is the next Titans-themed animated film after this will address that then.
Gotta admit, I'm looking forward to Donna Troy/Wonder Girl on the team for the next go 'round.
Last but not least, what the hell at Kevin Smith being in this as a legitimate character? Who thought that was a good idea? I get that he's a fan of this storyline but the brown nosing for Kevin Smith has to end at some point. He's a cool dude, but damn, I don't want to see him involved with everything DC related.
Watch It or Don't Bother?
Much like the rest of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies in this continuity, it doesn't hurt to check this out if you have been keeping up since Justice League vs. Teen Titans or Justice League: WAR. I can recommend this if you have been a fan of the Titans since the Cartoon Network original cartoon or Young Justice, but don't expecting too much out of this in terms of a great story outside of a few good laughs. It's not a bad story, but I was a little let down that they didn't go all out with this adaptation, especially when they had so much to work with here in terms of material.
