TITANS
STARRING: Brenton Thwaites, Anna Diop, Teagan Croft
If you’ve caught kids’ show Teen Titans, this Netflix series deals with the same characters – Robin, Starfire (Diop), Raven (Croft), Beast Boy (Ryan Potter) – but Titans is not for children. That much is obvious from a scene in which Detective Dick Grayson ( Thwaites), who has hung up his Robin costume, spits “F--k Batman” after dispensing his own brand of vigilante justice. Yep, this is dark stuff.
The overwhelming darkness of the series – the tone, the violence, the literal darkness of the poorly lit visuals – is one of its defining characteristics. The other? Its slow pace. As an origin story of how the Titans band together, that team-up doesn’t happen in the 11 episodes contained in Season 1.
Instead, we dive deep into the backstories of the characters, spending the most time with Dick. Probably not one for casual superhero fans, this is likely to appeal more to the hardcore. (On Netflix from Fri., Jan. 11)