'Titans' Finale Prooves an Explosive Episode Without Much Closure

Welcome Back to another edition of Comic Relief! where we talk about all the goings on in the world of nerd!

So I need to first apologize as this post is a bit delayed, however, I wanted to make sure I got to watch the Titans finale a few times and make sure that I hadn't missed anything.  The final episode of the first season puts the series protagonist, Dick Grayson, in his biggest test yet. Trapped in a dreamscape created by Trigon, Dick must face his own personal darkness in the form of his old mentor Batman.

Throughout the series, Dick has often criticized Batman for his methods. Dick believes that Bruce didn't actually care about him because Bruce never actually helped Dick cope with his trauma, which to be fair Bruce's catharsis for his own trauma is dressing up as a bat and beating up criminals so I wouldn't really expect his methods would really be helpful to a 10-year-old kid who just lost his parents. Dick believes the only thing Bruce has done for him was turning him into a weapon that Bruce could use in his fight against crime. However, there is a lot of blame that Dick rests on Batman's shoulders that is misplaced and in fact, is Dick's own fault. Either way, the series has been building up to a confrontation between the two and in this finale, we finally get it: Robin vs Batman.

Now before I go any further, I want to inform you that I am going to be delving into SPOILERS as I break down the events of the finale. If you don't care about spoilers, go on ahead, but if you do, you can skip ahead and there will be another disclaimer for when the spoilers end.  Now then, let's get started. The story starts off and it appears to be taking place several years after Dick had met the Titans. He's retired from the cape life as an LAPD detective. He's married to Dawn, the iteration of Dove from the current Hawk and Dove duo, and they are both very happy with a five-year-old son and another baby coming around very soon. Rachel and Gar at college, and while there are no signs of Kori at the beginning, everyone seems to be very happy and living their best lives. However, this all changes as a wheel-chair bound Jason Todd shows up to the Grayson household, and his purpose is to plead Dick to return to Gotham and save Batman.

According to Jason, Batman has been in a downward spiral and it all started when Dick left (a fact that Jason claims even Superman can attest to). However, it has recently gotten so much worse. Alfred has passed, Barbara is missing, and with the latest brutal death of Jim Gordon at the hands of the Joker, Batman is broken and is on the verge of breaking his code. Batman is going to kill the Joker, and Dick is the only person who can stop him. After much deliberation, Dick reluctantly decides that it's the right thing to do, to go and save the soul of his former mentor the way that the Titans saved him, and so off to Gotham Dick goes.

Gotham with a broken Batman is a scary sight. In addition, with no Gordon to keep the police force on the straight and arrow, criminal activity has run rampant. Dick tries reaching out to Bruce on the phone and has no luck. Just when Dick is about to give up, however, the dreamscape is manipulated to ensure Dick stays. A loud crash is heard nearby and Dick finds a crime scene where the Joker has been thrown off a building and has landed on a car, face through the windshield. Dick approaches the lead Detective at the scene and gives him clues on where they should be looking, and as a result, the detective deduces that Grayson knows more about how to find Batman. Grayson decides not to give up his mentor's identity because the Joker is revealed to be alive. Dick instead goes back to his old home of Wayne Manor and tries to gain entry through the iconic clock entrance of the cave, however, Bruce prevents the clock from opening. Since he knows Bruce is watching, Dick tries to reach out to his teacher, explaining to him that there is still a chance for Bruce to turn away from that darkness, and that Dick knows that Bruce can do it because he hasn't compromised his moral code since the Joker is still alive. Bruce is revealed to have been watching the whole thing and while we don't see his face, his body posture reveals that he is less than pleased and that Dick's words have had the opposite effect of their intent.

Just to be safe, Dick goes to the hospital where the Joker is being held/treated. Shortly after arriving he meets up with Kori, who is now an FBI agent and has been called to Gotham due to the continued escalation of the Batman situation. During their exchange, Kori and Dick have an amazing dialogue regarding Batman's 'conscience,' to which Dick relays that Bruce has never had one, that he instead had a code and a sense of Justice. Kori eventually tells Dick that he should return home, that he isn't the guardian of Bruce's soul, but before Dick can leave, the dreamscape is manipulated again and Batman shows up, killing the Joker with a Batarang through the heart. That's not all though, with Bruce's moral compass broken, Batman goes on a rampage. He goes to Arkham and massacres all the members of his rogues gallery that are being held there, some guards, and even the warden of the facility. With no other choice left, Dick reaches out to the GCPD Detective from earlier and reveals Batman to be Bruce Wayne.

Dick Grayson accompanied by Kori, leads a GCPD SWAT team on a raid of the Batcave. Dick tries to reach out to Batman one last time, begging him to come in quietly, but the Bat is too far gone. With an explosive Batarang, Batman leaps into action butchering the GCPD SWAT team in a fight sequence that really does capture the nightmare of an unhinged Batman. Kori eventually goes down there to take on Batman herself, but Bruce is prepared and brings out Freeze's cold gun. With Kori firing off her flames and Batman firing the cold gun, an explosion goes off that kills Kori and leaves Batman pinned under the rubble. In the anger of Kori's death, Dick submits to "what Bruce had always planned for him" and kills Batman. It then cuts to the actual reality where Rachel is trying to wake up Dick, however, his eyes are now black like the Demons on Supernatural. This is where the finale ends, with things looking pretty bleak as Dick Grayson has been lost to his own darkness. In addition, they also have a post-credit tease that reveals Superboy breaking out of his Cadmus cocoon and has him rescuing Krypto the super dog.

Spoilers End Here

Titans finale is probably the best episode of the series, however, I feel like I have honestly said that about every episode since the first one has come out. As a show, Titans has done an outstanding job of outdoing itself. It may have started off on shaky footing (click here for my review of the first episode), but it has finished quite spectacularly and honestly, that's what counts in the end. That being said, as great of an episode as the finale is, I feel like it was not an especially strong finale. While I understand that Titans is billed to be a multi-season show, closure is important for any finale. The narrative of a story follows a fairly basic structure: setting, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. While I understand the idea of ending things bleak-looking in the wake of Avengers: Infinity War, there still has to be a level of finality to the episode, and this episode just doesn't have that, in other words, this episode feels like we just got left in the falling action of a story. It feels hollow and honestly, it feels like there should have been one more episode, and what's worse is that very much is the case.

It has been recently reported that Titans was initially billed for 12 episodes and that they did, in fact, have an episode 12 ready to go. However, the showrunners decided to cannibalize that episode for the second season's premiere. Part of me gets the logic, they are hoping to retain the audience for a second season, and a frustrating cliffhanger like this could do it. However, it's sad that they didn't think the show's quality writing and performances were enough to have their audience's investment. Between the show's narrative the writers have weaved for these characters, and the expanded universe they have built (throughout the show they have confirmed the existence of Wonder Woman, Justice League, Superman, and so much more) that makes the cinematic Universe pale in comparison, there is more than enough to return to without such a cheap cliffhanger. That being said, the episode is still too good to be completely ruined by the lack of closure it provides as a finale. I would give the episode "Dick Grayson" an 8 out of 10 and I would give the entire a series Titans a rating of 9 out of 10.

This has been another edition of Comic Relief! I hope you have enjoyed and we will see you again soon!