Titans Season 1 Episode 6 Review: Jason Todd
Paul Dailly
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You know what's excellent about Titans?
It's surprising.
Titans Season 1 Episode 6 put Kory, Rachel, and Gar on the periphery in favor of some character building for Dick, and it was needed.
The story is mostly told from Dick's perspective, so there will be some viewers who will not be a fan of the way "Jason Todd" was executed.
We needed to learn more about Jason and his link to Bruce Wayne to allow Dick to realize that his former mentor is even worse than he thought.
Jason is a fun character, but he's far too confident, and maybe that will be his undoing.
He's not lacking in the charisma department either, but what we have here is a kid haunted by his humble beginnings who wants to get his own back on the world because it wronged him or something.
The similarities between Dick and Jason were striking, and that's likely what rubbed Dick the wrong way. He was replaced by someone younger and given a better costume to boot.
Dick saw a lot of himself in Jason when the latter went to town on the cops. Jason's actions were brutal, and he was generalizing all cops as the same because he had issues with some in Gotham City.
Part of being a crimefighting vigilante is that you fight crime. You don't attack the people who are trying to stop the death and destruction.
Jason: This is awesome! Robin and Robin in action.
Dick: Who the hell are you?
Jason: Jason Todd, the new Robin. Robin 2.0, right?
I doubt we've seen the last of Jason, and I'm okay with that. There's a lot of ground there left to cover, and I wouldn't be opposed to the two Robins suiting up and fighting alongside each other again.
Despite the younger one taking things way too far, they actually functioned well as part of a team.
The GPS chip in Dick's arm didn't surprise me, but it must have hurt that Jason was the one to tell him about it. Dick's relationship with Bruce fizzled out, and we really need to start getting answers about it.
There had to be a turning point that made Dick realize he was being used as a weopon.
What we do know is that Bruce was the one who took him in when his parents died, presumably because they both had something in common.
But now? There's a whole lot of animosity between them. Dick is salty as hell, but he's still using Bruce's resources to keep his people safe.
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Oh, and we can't forget him reaching out to Alfred for the hand out either. But Bruce is equally as bad. He knew what effect it would have on Dick by replacing him, and shutting him out of the safe house.
All those years Bruce was helping me? He was turning me into a weapon. His weapon.
Dick
Bruce is this omnipresent character that I don't want to meet on Titans. Hearing about him is one thing, but I'd rather he didn't show up and take over the show.
It's far more exciting following the trail of breadcrumbs that have been strewn across the series.
The surprising thing here was that there was a villain of the week thrown good measure. Having it linked to Dick's past was a great move.
Nobody can deny that Titans is up there as one of the darkest superhero shows on the air, so I fully expected every last member of the circus to be killed off.
Gar: Wait, you're Robin too?
Rachel: I thought you were Robin?
Dick: I am.
Jason: Was.
Gar: How many Robins are there?
The editing was on point as Dick looked at the corpses of those who were part of his childhood. The mission became personal for Dick real quick, and I'm glad he managed to save the person he wanted to raise him.
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It sucks that we never learned much from Adamson. He better have been gathering his thoughts during that long ass nap.
There was something chilling about the way he said he would only speak to Rachel in that final scene. It leads me to believe he's going to hold a lot of answers and be able to sway her judgment with them.
This is all assuming Kory allows the pair to speak to each other. Kory has taken on a mother role to Rachel, and I'm quite enjoying it, but there's also a lot of things we don't know about Kory.
Why was she tracking Rachel down, to begin with? Was she trying to prevent the prophecy from becoming a reality, or was she playing another angle entirely?
So. Many. Questions.
However, my one true hope is that our Titans stay together for the rest of the season. It took so long for them to become a team, and all I want is for them to join forces and lay waste to the villains.
"Jason Todd" was an exposition-heavy episode that laid the groundwork for what's to come.
What are your thoughts on the episode?
Hit the comments below.
Titans continues Fridays on DC Universe.
Paul Dailly was an Associate Editor for TV Fanatic.Follow him on X.
