‘Titans’ Season 2 Premiere ‘Trigon’ Review: A Brief Conclusion

Death and despair await the Titans. When an interdimensional gate opens, hope arrives in the form of a group of seemingly retired heroes, an Alien, and a rookie. A being who conquers worlds begins his streak on earth. Still, the same person responsible for bringing him here has the power to banish him. Whatever the plans were, they end just as quickly as he arrived.

On Friday’s season premiere of Titans, Rachel Roth (Teagan Croft) saves Gar Logan (Ryan Potter) and Dick Grayson (Brenton Thwaites) before defeating Trigon (Seamus Dever). Now free of Trigon’s influence, Hank Hall (Alan Ritchson), Dawn Granger (Minka Kelly), Donna Troy (Conor Leslie), and Koriand’r (Anna Diop) part ways with Dick, Rachel, Gar, and Jason Todd (Curran Walters). A new future awaits them; so does a new villain.

The Darkness Within

DC Universe

Just like Dick, the rest of the Titans go through the same dark journey when they enter the house. Trigon took each of them to the darkest corners of their mind. In a flashback, Donna relives a childhood trauma: the death of her father. Jason, on the other hand, goes toe-to-toe with Dick in a collapsed Batcave following Batman’s death. Kory chooses to fulfill her long-forgotten mission to kill Rachel. Lastly, Hank and Dawn decide to resort to drugs to forget their problems. All of their journeys happen in brief sequences that none of them seemed to dare talk about once the battle ended.

The dreamlike sequences could be better. Some of which deserves a follow-up, much like Donna’s scene. Seeing that Jason is capable of killing Dick in his dream foreshadows to his future Red Hood persona. Kory’s scene took us back to her creepy alien self. Perhaps to continue the narrative of Hank and Dawn’s relationship, their shared dream took place in their apartment. It is also strange to note how they all seemed unfazed by what they just went through.

Hope

DC Universe

Much of the episode relied on Rachel, Gar, and Dick’s dynamic. On Gar’s end, the experience was brutal, but he showed much strength. After surviving a brutal beating from the Trigon-controlled Titans, he manages to morph to a snake and then morph back to his human form. It was admittedly cheesy to see flashbacks of his memories with Rachel as he tried to get her back to normal. Still, Gar’s presence did bring Rachel back.

Dick and Rachel’s sequence is one of the episode’s highlights. Getting through to him was not too easy, especially since she found him looming over a dead Batman. Eventually, Rachel brought him to where she first saw him: the carnival, the night of his parents’ death. Thankfully, Dick managed to overcome the darkness as he catches Rachel, saving her from his parents’ fate. To Rachel, Dick is the closest he has to a father, if not an older brother. Dick felt this, too, hence his care and concern for her. With that, Dick’s decision to take care of Rachel, Gar, and Jason could be the foundation of forming a new team from both old and new members.

Transformation

DC Universe

Rachel went through much changes in the episode, both literally and figuratively. She now has a magical crystal on her forehead, forged by Trigon after he rips her heart out. As a character, however, Rachel is now sure of herself, knowing what she can do and how she can defeat Trigon almost instantly. The latter parts of the episode mostly involve their journey to their new home as Dick reactivates the Titans. As it ends, we see that despite everything that happened, Raven is still a teenager. Luckily, she is in the hands of those who care for her the most.

Rachel’s easy defeat of Trigon is anti-climatic. The first season’s events lead up to what should have been the finale that became this episode. The Trigon storyline needed a better time allocation and a lengthier fight scene to justify the build-up to his character. Still, the writers did the best they could to compress the plot without sacrificing key elements. Hopefully, the creative team learned from this experience and would not make the same mistake twice. Much of the scenes in between the supposed finale and the felt awkward, notably in the goodbye scenes. Everything after that played out smoothly, though.

‘Titans’ Season 2 Premiere ‘Trigon’ Final Verdict

This chapter of Titans could have worked as an ending for the first season. New characters like Bruce Wayne (Iain Glen) and Slade Wilson (Esai Morales) make the possibility of having related characters join them is not unlikely. Also, their introduction makes the transition to Season 2 better. With the first season’s cliffhanger ending concluded, the Titans are now ready to face newer challenges.

Titans continues Friday, September 13th with ‘Rose’ on the DC Streaming Service.