Titans, Season 1, Episode 6: Jason Todd
(Whoops, my computer ate my review for Elseworlds #2. Have a Titans review while I reproduce it)
A pretty... interesting and solid episode. This episode ditches the other members of the Titans almost entirely in favour of starring the two Robins -- Dick Grayson and Jason Todd, and for sanity's sake I'm going to refer to them exclusively with their real names for the duration of this review. Starfire, Raven and Beast Boy barely appear for a brief scene when they relocate to the Bat-Penthouse, and we barely get any progression on the Adamson subplot.
Ultimately, though, I'm such a huge Batman/Robin/Teen Titans geek that giving an entire episode devoted around Dick Grayson's backstory, with an updated Jason Todd along for the ride, to be a very, very welcome detour from the whole Raven-Doomsday-Cult storyline. Again, just like the Doom Patrol episode, I'm not sure if sneaking it halfway into the season is the right thing to do, but the execution is honestly pretty spot-on. Jason's update as a 'radical' teen in the '10's is actually relatively well done, realistic without trying too hard, and I absolutely love how he spends almost the entire episode as kind of an annoying, but ultimately likable fanboy to Dick even if Dick acts... kind of like a dick at times. It's not until the end that Jason's more angrier side comes to light.
And as much as we learn about Jason Todd in this episode, the star of the show is Dick Grayson... and I have no idea how much I needed this in my life. Dick's been one of my hands-down favourite characters in the DC comics, and exploring the psyche of this angrier, soul-searching Dick is definitely a very welcome one. We get to see different aspects of Dick's life, including a question that he asks one of the members of Haly's Circus, the strongman Clay Williams... is living with Bruce Wayne and all his money, in fact, what is best for Dick Grayson?
And we get to learn, increasingly, all of the things that Batman did to Dick that both violated his privacy (albeit with justifications) and how Batman's all too willing to swap him out for Jason. Sure, Jason is nice and respectful to Dick, but seeing how Batman implanted a tracker on both of them (something Dick digs out almost immediately), how Bruce changed the locks for the Wayne Tower's Bat-penthouse... and, hilariously, the indignation of Batman allowing Jason to drive the Batmobile... it's all shown well. Dick is trapped between the desire to cut himself completely from Batman due to their conflict, but also feels sad when he realized how quickly Batman replaced him with Jason.
We get a fun little argument between Dick and Jason. Dick is in full Anti-Bruce mode, snarling that they are not "animals in Bruce Wayne's private zoo", while Jason is far more willing (or is blinded by fanboyism) to see past that, noting that Bruce did all of these protective measures for them. Jason is even happy to note that the Robin costume is deliberately bright to draw attention and fire while Batman swoops in and kicks ass.
Of course, all of the Batman/Robin dynamic discussions come to a halt when Jason shows Dick about a series of photographs sent to Gotham PD addressed to Robin, which are the dead and disfigured members of Haly's Circus, killed by someone called the "Melting Man". And as the two Robins go off to hunt down the final member of the Circus, former strongman and big-brother-figure Clay Williams (played by the gloriously likable Lester Speight), we get a very well-done reunion between Dick and Clay in that bar, before the Melting Man captures Clay and holds him hostage.
Via flashback, we learn of Dick's dark past, where, after the arrest of the man who murdered his parents, Tony Zucco, the FBI cuts Zucco a deal and allows him to be free in exchange of taking down a whole lot of other criminals. Of course, Dick throws a huge tantrum over this, and as Robin, later attacks the police convoy and beats the ever-loving crap out of Tony Zucco. And while Dick stops short of killing Tony Zucco himself, he also doesn't help Tony from being gunned down by the Maroni gang's acid bullets. It's this encounter that led Zucco's own son, Nick Zucco, to don his own personal vendetta, blaming Robin for causing the FBI to withdraw their protection from his family, all of whom gets killed by the Maroni gang.
It's actually a pretty sad fate for the Melting Man, and kudos for the writers for making what's otherwise a disposable villain-of-the-week feel so broken and hollow with his description of how his family "melted" because of what Robin has done, and whatever Dick's intentions were, as far as he's concerned Dick was the cause of his father's death. Thankfully, Clay didn't get killed, and Jason Todd's surprise entrance allowed the two Robins to take down the Melting Man.
However, with this conflict done, we get to see how Jason 'deals' with the policemen who arrive to inspect the gunshots fired in the place... which involves an insane amount of brutality that involves a back-breaking move. So far, throughout the episode, Jason's antics of picking a fight in a bar, dissing cops and going "that's so cool!" when Dick tells of something that isn't quite superhero-friendly is actually hiding a gigantic resentment for the police and authority, telling Dick that he can do "whatever the fuck [he] wants, because Batman isn't here." The argument between the two escalates, with Jason noting that he loves being Robin and kicking ass, and asks Dick a very valid question -- who he is. It's a question that Dick can't really answer. He's not Batman's sidekick, and he's made his distaste with that clear. It's, of course, all building up to a 'new superhero identity' moment, and the way this is done, and the incorporation of Jason, is pretty damn great.
Also great? Clay's later discussion with Dick. "Does Bruce know that you work with Batman?" God, that cracked me up.
Ultimately, and this is a statement I make 100% because of my own fanboying for Robins in general, this is easily one of the best episodes from DC-based superhero TV I've seen in a long, long while.
DC Easter Eggs Corner:
- Jason Todd notes that he meets Batman when he tried to steal the hubcaps off of the Batmobile, which is exactly how he meets Batman in the comics.
- Haly's Circus (sometimes Haley's Circus), which features strongly in Dick's origin story, is, of course, the name of the circus that the Flying Graysons were part of.
- For a relatively brief amount of time in the comics, the whole Batman operation did move out of the Batcave underneath Wayne Manor to be based on a penthouse on top of a Wayne Enterprises building.
- "Boss" Tony Zucco is the mafia boss that attempted to extort money from Haly's Circus as part of Dick Grayson's origin story, and arranged for the sabotage and death of the Flying Graysons, an event that orphaned Dick. In post-Crisis retellings of the story, Zucco is retconned into being a member of the Maroni crime family, and while his motivations are different between retcons and retellings, his role as the one that killed Dick's parents is consistent between all of the different continuities.
- The Melting Man, a.k.a. Nick Zucco, is an original character to Titans. Tony Zucco never had a supervillain son in the comics (the closest is a daughter called Sonia in the New 52 series), while the title "Melting Man" was attributed to a member of the Sinestro Corps. Melting Man's appearance seems to be based at least partially on classic Batman villain Two-Face, though.
- And that whole Two-Face lookalike might be a reference to the old movie Batman Forever, where Two-Face replaces Tony Zucco as the criminal that killed Dick Grayson's parents.
- Harvey Dent is briefly name-dropped by Jason as one of the victims of the Maroni family, who apparently in this continuity straight-up use acid bullets as their calling card. Harvey Dent, of course, is better-known by his villainous alias, Two-Face. In the comics, a member of the Maroni crime family threw acid at DA Harvey Dent's face during a trial, scarring half of his face and eventually causing him to snap and become Two-Face.
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