Titans: Season 1 - Review

Context time! Titans was initially pitched quite a few years ago to a few different TV Channels stateside before being morphed into a DC Universe original series - exclusive to DC's streaming service in the US, and streaming on Netflix internationally. It's a bit of a weird production because its essentially the first of its kind, trying to compete with Netflix but to a much more niché crowd. It's a re-imagining of DC comics' Teen Titans (comprised of Batman's sidekick Robin, Raven, Beast Boy and Starfire in this iteration) for a more adult, comic book-enthusiast audience and produced on a relatively low budget. Essentially, the makers of this series had absolutely no template to go off of, and thus have made DC's answer to Marvel's Netflix shows (which have ironically ended in the time its taken them to put Titans together).

Because of this, Titans' first season feels awkward, clunky and demonstrates a lot of growing pains. The original run of episodes was cut down to eleven, and it ends on a bit of a weird note, mostly because a second season was going to happen regardless of how well or poorly this season was received. DC Universe are basically under obligation to keep this thing going until they simply can't anymore, which leaves Titans in a bit of a weird place. Season One doesn't feel like a complete story, and more like Chapter One of a greater whole, but in such a way that makes a second season a welcome relief.

The story follows Detective Dick Grayson - adoptive son of Bruce Wayne/Batman - who patrols the streets as his alter-ego Robin. He meets a girl called Rachel Roth, who seems to have strange abilities, and is being pursued by both a mysterious organisation and a woman named Kory. As Dick, Rachel and Kory come together, they also meet Gar ("Beast Boy") and work together to try and solve the mysteries surrounding them. Who exactly is Kory? Who is Rachel's father? And who are the mysterious group of people pursuing her...?

For those wondering, these mysteries aren't entirely resolved by the end of the season, even if certain questions begin to be answered. The whole season feels like a mystery-box narrative, and this does make it much more engaging as a binge-watch, even if the season also tries to tackle adventure-of-the-week-style episodes. One week, the Titans will meet the Doom Patrol, the next they'll work with Jason Todd, etc. However, it does all weave together into one grander picture. Titans is clearly set in a Universe of DC characters, and functions as a doorway into an interesting world of gods, demons, vigilantes and aliens. Despite what the trailers tease, this series isn't nearly as "dark" and "realistic" as it might seem, and occasionally verges on the ridiculous. There's definitely some dark, adult moments in the show - and some do feel oddly gratuitous - but there are sprinklings of warmth and humour in the series as well, which I hope to see developed further over time.

The issues tonally arise from a mix of muddled writing and cinematography. The first few episodes try and shock the audience with bloody violence, swearing and sex, but this is handled much better as the series goes on and finds its feet. The cinematography meanwhile favours the infamous cold blue tint - a key trope of any self-serious film or series, which really drowns-out the colour from the series. In some scenes, such a look works, but the show needs a more vibrant colour palette to show off the colourful elements of this world; I'm hoping this is corrected in the next season.

The characters are all handled very well, however. Dick Grayson is a very troubled character when we first meet him, and his arc over the course of the season is handled very well; he's a man struggling with the expectations of his parental figure (Batman) and trying to grow to become a better man - and ultimately a father figure to Rachel, who too suffers from  ye olde troubled superhero duality issues. She's trying to deal with the monster inside of her and the person she wants to be, although this is much more literal than Dick's arc, and becomes a key element of the plot. Her dynamic with Dick develops into something quite nice over the course of the season, as does her romance with Gar - who is simply the comic relief, but a welcome element of humour to the season. He's a nice, quirky, lovable character who hides his issues (duality between man and beast, because this show loooooooves these sorts of themes). Kory, meanwhile, is trying to remember who she is, and while people familiar with the Teen Titans will know where its all going, she too has the element of duality between past and present (and...other things I won't spoil here). These characters are a good mix, and they have interesting backgrounds for the show to explore.

There's plenty of guest and recurring characters throughout the season who help to keep things fresh, and I think that on the whole the show has a lot of potential moving forward. The writing is often quite clunky, and its clear that the show is figuring itself out as it goes along, but if the writers keep learning from their mistakes and trying to improve the show moving forward, there's a lot of hope for future seasons. Unlike some of the Arrowverse shows (Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl), this series is less focused and more easily able to adapt as it goes along. They have the freedom to tell this story over however many episodes they want, and hopefully this will give the writers more creative freedom as the series progresses. Titans isn't perfect, but like its protagonists, it seems like it might become something better over time.