I believe this is a first for yours truly — a double feature review! I watched the Season 2 finale of Titans and the premiere of Harley Quinn and I have to say, one utterly outshined the other. Which one won? Read on to find out. WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.
TITANS
One titan will fall… one will rise…
Overall, this season of
Titans has been leaps and bounds better than season 1. The new additions of Esai Morales as Slade Wilson/Deathstroke, Natalie Gumede as Mercy Graves and Joshua Orpin as Conner/Superboy were all fantastic additions and great casting choices. Esai played such a great villain, never losing it Deathstroke. Chella Man as Jericho and Drew Van Acker as Garth/Aqualad did not get enough screen time at all which leads to my issues with this season…
Miscues range from Iain Glen as Bruce Wayne (sorry, not sorry; he’s a good actor, but he certainly was not Bruce Wayne) the killing of Aqualad in a flashback, really? That’s how you take out an Atlantean. And casting Michael Mosley as Dr. Light, then killing him off as well. Stop killing off great characters, DC. Thank you!
Now, on to the Season Finale. The Titans showrunners know how to wrap up a season with a nice bow and tease the next one. The return of Dick Grayson as Nightwing was a very welcome addition. His fight scene with Deathstroke was great. The stunt coordinator changed up Grayson’s fight style to lend more to his acrobatic skills, but having Ravager kill him by stabbing him? He has a healing factor, wouldn’t he heal from that? It seems as though the writers gave their characters fantastic abilities until they needed them to die and then POOF! That strength is gone.
Donna Troy goes toe-to-toe with Superboy and then goes out being electrocuted? There doesn’t seem to be any consistency with the show which could eventually be the series’ downfall. There have already been articles on how the story of Anna Diop’s Starfire has changed from Season 1 to Season 2. And just where was Jason Todd in the finale? Sulking? Curran Walters is a great Robin. What the hell was that about?
While I loved Season 2 over all, if this show is to survive it is going to have to become more consistent and stop killing characters off. Hopefully Raven will be able to bring back Donna Troy while on Themyscira like she plans too. We’ve all seen Donna die and come back before. Alan Ritchson and Minka Kelly as Hawk and Dove are great and need to be back for Season 3, as I’m not sure a spin-off is warranted and Conor Leslie needs to come back as Donna Troy. She is a fantastic as Nightwing’s counter balance.
Series Finale = 4/5
Season 2 Overall = 4/5 Bibles
NOW! The first episode for Harley Quinn was absolutely fantastic. I literally had to pause the show and rewind it a few times because I was laughing so hard. Kaley Cuoco is an absolutely hilarious Harley, but what makes the show amazing is the writing. The script is sharp, witty and fan-fucking-tastic! I haven’t laughed this hard in a long, long, long time. The voices are great. Lake Bell steals her scenes as Poison Ivy as does Alan Tudyk as the Joker…
https://youtu.be/_eGmCeidyH8
I really cannot wait to see where they take this season. Christopher Meloni as James Gordon is great. Jim Rash as the Riddler is hilarious and watching them make the Calendar Man a great side joke… the writers just get these characters.
The animation is BAH-RU-TAL! You see blood, guts and bones — aaaand you’re laughing the entire time. I cannot praise this show enough. This show really needs to be seen by everybody. 5/5 Broken Bones.
-Robert Bexar