Thursday, January 5, 2023

Titans - The Complete Third Season

The Third Season of Titans is centered around the resurrection of Jason Todd (Curran Walters) as the Red Hood and the temporary relocation of the Titans to Gotham City to fight him in Batman's extended absence (which doesn't make a lick of sense). Todd's return relies on the Lazarus Pit but with a switch being the Scarecrow (Vincent Kartheiser) is the person responsible for his resurrection and his dependence on an anti-fear drug that leads to a more deadly path for the Red Hood.

There's also the resurrection of Donna (Conor Leslie) who for some reason the show continues to under-utilize. We get less of Raven (Teagan Croft), the addition of Barbara Gordon (Savannah Welch), another Titan dies, and Superboy (Joshua Orpin) gets a girlfriend.

In the comics, the return of Red Hood gave us an older and deadly Jason Todd. Here the transformation is so quick he's basically the same brat he was in the show's Second Season, just with a new costume (and I've seen far better Red Hood cosplay masks than what Titans saddles him with). He isn't given a chance to come back as a new character since he never really leaves nor is there any real surprise who is behind the mask with the way the episodes are laid out. The Scarecrow's gaslighting is an interesting idea that works up until a point but does grow tiresome before the finale as his craziness becomes irritating.

The show makes it through most of the season without Dick (Brenton Thwaites) making a dick move for someone else's own good (this time dousing Superboy with Kryptonite). Koriand’r (Anna Diop), who is haunted by blackouts and visions throughout the season, makes a disturbing discovery about her sister (and not just that she's bonking Superboy). And although he doesn't have any on-screen time with Batman, the show does introduce Jay Lycurgo as Tim Drake who plays a catalyst on a couple of fronts while bringing some of his early comic history with him (about as much as that of Red Hood).

Like the previous two seasons, Season Three of Titans has its ups-and-downs. This version of Red Hood (who looks like a kid playing dress up) and Scarecrow (who is really smart until he's just crazy) don't work as well for me as Deathstroke did in Season Two. We don't get nearly enough Donna, Kory having another memory-related subplot feels a bit too familiar, and I had a very mixed reaction to younger flashback Barbara not as Batgirl but as a thrill-seeking cat burglar (and isn't she a little young to be police commissioner?).

  • Title: Titans - Season Three
  • wiki: link

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