Titans S02E13 Review: A Shitty Death

Titans, Season 2, Episode 13: Nightwing

Oboy, what an episode, huh? There are many parts of this that I liked, and an equal -- perhaps more -- that I disliked. And just as I feared, piling both the major confrontation between Dick and Deathstroke (and also Rose and Deathstroke, and also Jericho, and also Nightwing's debut) as well as the whole Cadmus/Superboy/Beast Boy storyline in a single episode leads to a very awkwardly paced episode. And so it's really hard to digest everything that's going on... especially when you consider the fact that those aren't the only 'big things' that happen in this episode.

And I say 'big things' disdainfully, because let's not mince words here -- Donna Troy's random death at the end of this episode? It was utterly terrible, came out of nowhere, and doesn't even have any sort of thematic significance that necessitated her to die like a bitch. She could've died rescuing other people in a different way than being electrocuted by a falling tower, really. You had two major villains running around, and, sure, maybe you don't want Superboy or Beast Boy, mind-controlled or not, have Donna's blood on their hands... but Deathstroke? Really? You couldn't have had Slade be the one to kill Donna, if you wanted to have a cheap shocking death at your hands? The fact that we talk immediately about potential resurrection later on is yet another narrative flaw, I feel, and honestly it really cheapens Donna's death. And, for me, highlights how little Donna does this season in the present day, mostly having the bulk of her characterization in the flashbacks. For someone who lost her loved one to Slade, she had scant little to do with anything involving Slade in this episode.

The first ten minutes of this episode wraps up the Deathstroke storyline. Except... it kind of really highlights just how little the rest of the Titans have any sort of stake in this. Deathstroke just shows up to interrupt the four Titan ladies (Starfire, Donna, Dove and Raven) on their car, and... none of them go out to fight. Sure, Kory's powers are fritzing out, but really? Donna Troy can't at least muster a token resistance with her magic lasso? Rachel can't summon her demon soul-self? It's all just there so we can have that admittedly very, very badass moment when Nightwing shows up in his full costume as the camera pans up on him. And I don't want to be that SJW guy, but the scene is kind of blatantly the dude hero showing up to save four women superheroes... all of whom have superpowers. And it would've been a lot less egregious if Dick simply told them to 'go, I'll handle Slade' or them realizing the Jericho situation or something like that, but no. All four of them just sit in the car watching the battle. Narratively, I do agree that it's Dick and Rose's fight. Slade has the biggest beef to pick with them. But the fact that the Titans just sort of act all panicked and then watched while Nightwing and Deathstroke took their time to fight each other instead of dog-piling with their weapons?

Throw in the fact that Donna doesn't even say a word at the sight of her dead boyfriend's killer, making that whole Aqualad thing earlier in the episode feel particularly empty. Throw in Rose's arrival, and... and, sure, last episode certainly tried to give her a motivation (said motivation is... Jason Todd, I guess?) but the confrontation here really felt like we're missing an episode or two. Rose tries to get through with Jericho despite the two of them never ever sharing a scene together on-screen. Dick also tries to get to Rose, and while we did get a bit of attempted mentoring from Dick early on in their meeting, I really didn't feel the same vibe of mentorship that Dick/Rachel or Dick/Jason had.

On the other hand... that fight scene is awesome. The Ravager suit looks cool, and the closeup with Nightwing's escrima batons and those lightning jolts dancing around and Deathstroke's twin swords... they're all very, very cool. But then the confrontation and the death (again, if it sticks) happens very abruptly. Dick and Rose just call Jericho's name a lot, Rose stabs Slade seemingly to death, and Jericho jumps into Rose and the two of them are sort of sharing a body. Ooookay. I dunno. I really felt we could've cut out that whole prison episode, moved everything up one episode, and have a proper sendoff for Deathstroke instead of this.

And then we just move on to the next fight, which is Cadmus. Mercy is trying to sell pre-programmed super-soldiers, and Superboy is her proof of concept. Okay, sure? I didn't quite realize that this was what 'Phase Two' or whatever meant, because all this while I thought that Cadmus/LexCorp were going to create their own army of superhumans to fight the Justice League or something. But nope, seemingly out of nowhere, Mercy sics Superboy to fight Beast Boy in a carnival as a demonstration, and poor Gar gets beaten up by Superboy.

The Titans then arrive, and... again, the action scenes are actually good, even if the Superboy fight lasted a lot shorter than the Deathstroke one. The banter between Dawn, Donna and Kory are neat, and eventually a combination of Donna and Rachel restraining Conner, and Dick going into Conner's mind to play therapist is pretty well-done. It is a bit cheesy, and granted, it fails a bit more since I don't think Dick and Conner even shared much screentime beyond their original introduction scene... but this one feels more like Dick is offering a hand out to Conner in the same way that he 'picks up strays'. Okay, sure. With Superboy on their side, they clean up the remaining Cadmus goons, Bruce Wayne hacks into the bidding, Kory socks Mercy in the face, and... that's it?

Oh yeah, there's that terrible Donna Troy death. Sure. Y'know, at least in the comics she went out fighting a fake robot with Superman's powers.

And this ending sequence is really just abrupt. Nothing is really said about how they handled LexCorp, or what happened to Eve Watson; or the fact that the public saw both Beast Boy and Superboy go on rampages multiple times. Gar got turned into a killer that murdered multiple people and ate them as a tiger, and all Dick gave him is the lamest pep-talk ever... and he's fine? The group, including Bruce Wayne, salute Donna. Bruce tells us that apparently the Bruce Wayne that showed up at the diner wasn't actually him, but another Rachel projection. Rachel goes off to help resurrect Donna in Paradise Island. I dunno. There are great moments here -- Dick and Rachel's goodbye; Dick and Bruce's father/daughter talk; the badass walk down the street of the full Titans team (including Krypto!), even the Blackfire cliffhanger is decent.

But ultimately? It's kind of a shame that the pretty poor pacing of the rest of the season results in a narratively very rushed ending that felt like a lot of its plot points didn't pay off, whereas the ones that got payoffs in this episode felt unearned. Jericho wasn't even mentioned after he jumped into Rose, was he? I dunno. I really do liked a lot of the parts of this season, and I did like this episode a lot, but throughout this season I really felt like I was reading a book with multiple issues missing. And it's not that there isn't a lot of things to like here, because there are... but I just feel like they need to step up their game significantly next season.

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• Dick Grayson, after long last, makes his debut in his most well-known persona as Nightwing. Introduced in the pages of New Teen Titans/Tales of the Teen Titans, Dick assumed the mantle of Nightwing during the Judas Contract storyline. His costume here is based on his most well-known 'modern' costume, however, introduced in the late 90's. 
• The idea of a brainwashed Superboy rampaging and attacking the Teen Titans takes place in the 2000's Teen Titans run, where Lex Luthor exploits the dormant commands in Superboy's brain to take control of him. 
• In the comics, a major storyline for Rose is having to choose between working with her father or working with the Titans, a decision that Nightwing had no small part in. 
• Donna Troy did die in the comics during the Graduation Day miniseries, killed off by a malfunctioning Superman robot, leading to the disbandment of Dick's Titans. (She would get better.)
• In the New Teen Titans series, it was Beast Boy that died at the hands of Deathstroke, and was sent to Themyscira for a resurrection attempt. In both this episode and the comics, Raven went along to assist with her magic.