Young heroes come of age in dark times
DC Comics’ younger superheroes and vigilantes get their chance to shine across these uneven but entertaining two seasons.
Robin (Brenton Thwaites), Rachel Roth (Teagan Croft), Wonder Girl (Conor Leslie) and Superboy (Joshua Orpin) are among those in action but don’t be fooled into thinking this is the junior brigade on jolly escapades.
Titans is a darkly toned show where our heroes’ morals are often compromised, and they curse like troopers, while bones are broken and blood is splattered.
The first season is the best of the two as we meet the main players, learn their back stories and follow an intriguing mystery involving Rachel.
Thwaites is the show’s anchor – and the closest thing the group has to a leader – and his murky decision making is influenced by a troubled past.
Some of the younger cast members, like Croft, Curran Walters (Jason Todd) and Ryan Potter (Gar) struggle with their characters’ more emotion-heavy scenes.
But there’s a sweet bond between Alan Ritchson’s Hawk and Minka Kelly’s Dove.
The fight scenes are more brutal and hard-hitting than other DC TV shows and most of the special effects stand up to scrutiny.
Strangely, there’s a crossover episode featuring the Doom Patrol with a couple of different actors portraying the roles cast in the latter troupe’s own television outing.
Though inferior overall due to a series of meandering episodes in its second half, season two does have the best villain with Esai Morales’ chillingly composed one-man army Deathstroke.
It also surprisingly introduces Bruce Wayne (Iain Glen), although we don’t get to see him suit up as Batman, and hints at Walters’ comic book incarnation’s doomed future.
Titans is more in keeping with Arrow than shows like The Flash or Supergirl and while this young bunch never quite earn their spurs over their better known older counterparts, they are endearing enough to welcome the incoming third season.
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