A relationship of love and hate would describe how I feel about this series. Titans was one part of DC universe I actually liked along with Batman. I just do not dig the rest, you know? I think I am more of a marvel fan. Anyway, I always get scared as many others when Netflix announces its version of a story. This company always try to reinvent the wheel, and the result does not always convince enough. I started watching Titans out without expectations; it was my lunch brake entertainment. Some aspects of the show definitely hooked me while others were so bad I don't know how I continued watching. Let me explain.
The show tries to introduce titans as an old versus new generation of superheroes. The older try to guide and train the younger ones in their way of discovery while fighting for all that is good. That is the first noise this show produced in me as the age differences between certain character just didn't feel right. In this series, you will find two robins, a beast that can only transform into one animal (budget problems I guess) a raven learning to control her powers, a black and older koriand'r, a seasoned hawk and dove, a half amazon, and of course the not-so-innocent Super boy. Batman also makes some appearances in season two and the current. He is of course way older to pair up with the timelines.
In season three, Titans go to Gotham in an attempt to stop serious events going on in the city. A new villain appears, Red Hood. As usual, some heroes go and others come into the show. Being this city the main place of events' development, the storyline will be loaded of Batman/Robin problems. It gets dark, pretty dark. Another strong story line is of Koriand'r and her sister Komand'r (Starfire and Blackfire). Lastly, we can witness the outcome of Raven's travel in an attempt to save Donna Troy (Wonder Girl).
Hawk and Dove have a weaker participation this season, and an unfortunate even, Hawk dies. We come from the silliest of deaths of Wonder Girl only to encounter another one at the beginning of this season. Killing heroes gets frequent in this show. The moment it happened I was supper pissed off because there are better ways to bring strong emotions into the show without killing characters. I wanted Hank to stay, but Netflix always has other plans... The only good thing about this was seeing the storyline giving some closure about Hank's death around mid season. That calmed my anger, and allowed me to continue enjoying whatever was left.
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Now, The twisted sisters plot I did enjoy. Despise the twist they made on Starfire, I think the character develops in a sufficient interesting way, and the actress does a great job. Learning more about Tamaran planet and the past of this heroine was something I looked for in this season. Blackfire was portrayed as such a villain, and watching the show you even end up pairing with her and wishing her well.
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The power exhibition improves as well. Starfire and Raven have major moments for using their powers in the season. Warning, not all effects are top quality; some explosions, lightings, and such can look pretty sloppy. Starfire discovers a new power at the end that also explains much of her conflict with her sister, and this discovery ease things between them. Raven looks more in control of her darkness overall though her participation is not that long. Beast is the major underdeveloped character of this show in my opinion. He kinds of carries the heart of the team which is cute, but three seasons after, the storylines didn't involve him enough to flourish. He keeps transforming only into a tiger with the only addition of partial transformation, and a little, limited surprise near the end.
What about Super Boy and Krypto? well, they definitely changed. This pair was one of my favorite parts during season 2. I was looking forward how their story would be developed being a grown up innocent partly human boy with his powerful alien cute dog. In Season 3, super boy is suddenly more mature and serious. He even have strong experiences with blackfire that I didn't like much, but I ended up digging them. For some reason, he got ripped. Actually, many characters lost weight. They all look thinner. I don't know if this was due to production request, but I didn't like it. The actor playing Super Boy made a small critique about it, but he also stated he would do whatever necessary to keep playing the role.
The Storyline of Wonder Girl was something I was expecting. her death felt so ridiculous during season 2. The form she dies was trivial, stupid, meaningless, amateur, and frustrating. When it is mentioned in the show there might be a way of bringing her back, I was hoping to occur in this season. She does come back, and she helps the titans during the final moments of their fight in Gotham.
Dick, well, he keeps being Dick with all the conflict, bad decisions, solo-mode, misguiding advices, repentance, and comebacks. His hero mode of Nightwing is consolidated in this season. Yes, he gets killed too, but apparently resurrection in this series is quite easy (bring Hank back...). There is a point in this show you don't know which female character he is going to end up with. Dick just gets emotionally involved with all of them! I do have to say that in the end he has some kind of vision that might point out how his love life is going to truly end. We'll have to wait and see I guess. Aside from that, He will take the weight of the world in his shoulders to save Gotham.
Overall, The show gave good drama and decent action. Some stories I longed for were developed, and more character were introduced. I am happy they didn't kill all heroes lol. It is a nice show, and if you were ever fan of this part of DC universe go watch it, and try to make the best out of it.
