Titans Season 3: What We Have So Far

Like a lot of Titans fans, I eagerly hopped onto HBO Max today as we got the first three episodes from the series' third season. After the second season finale of the team reuniting to defeat Deathstroke (and then losing Donna, for the moment), it seemed like they were in a steady place to move forward with some more commitment to each other than ever before. New members like Conner aka Superboy and Dick Grayson's new emergence as Nightwing helped make that even more definitive. Now...now I'm not so sure. If you haven't watched the new episodes yet, I'd stop reading right about now.

The pilot episode this season is titled "Barbara Gordon," which had me excited for a number of reasons. Barbara aka former Batgirl and heartthrob of Boy Wonder Dick Grayson, is a powerhouse character all her own. She has the intelligence and temper to say what needs to be said at the time it needs to be said--even if others don't see it that way. True to form, Babs confronts Bruce Wayne in the wake of Jason's death, calling him "as crazy as the Joker." Not exactly consoling words there, but she's the one who's stayed in Gotham while Dick became his own man with the Titans out in San Francisco. She's the one who's taken her father's place as Gotham's Police Chief Commissioner. She's the one who's carried on since the Joker shot and paralyzed her, operating as Oracle (we assume) and now Commissioner. She's watched Bruce take on Jason and repeat the same patterns she saw harm Dick. And she's not impressed.

But this brings up some timeline questions already, so let's rewind a second.

Yes, this pilot episode dealt with the death of Jason Todd at the hands of Joker, as all fans saw previewed from the trailer. The show held back no punches and went right for it. Within the first fifteen minutes, Robin is dead, and we see the hints of Tim Drake, the future third Robin, as he grieves the loss of one of his two favorite heroes. Eventually, we will see Tim discover the identity of Dick, Jason, and Bruce as he proves his detective skills and forces his way into the Batfamily. If we can call it that at this point. Because there are a few key players missing.

Ever since seeing Bruce introduced in season 2, I wanted to know where Alfred was. I just assumed he wasn't going to be shown because of how little time we spent at Wayne Manor. Titans Tower was the show's setting, after all. But no. Turns out, Alfred is dead, which is definitely not something that happened this early in the Robins' development. Not only that, Commissioner Jim Gordon is also dead, which is why Babs has taken his place. Personally, I think both of these decisions are mistakes. Alfred is the soul of the Batfamily and the reason why things fell apart so quickly in this first episode following Jason's death. And making Babs the new Commissioner removes the chance for us to see her as Oracle, which is one of the most amazing roles she plays as the information powerhouse up in the Clock Tower. She's the Criminal Minds Penelope Garcia of Gotham, and we don't get to see that. Jim Gordon was also a steady ally for the Batman, and without him and Alfred, Bruce derails fast.

Now I will admit--I like the vulnerability that we see in Bruce following Jason's death. Dick sees it, like he sees everything. Bruce reminds him of this ability later, telling him that he saw Jason was struggling: "You see things I don't." Bruce is trying to bury everything. Like Dick sees, he's in denial and he's trying to move on. In a huge easter egg moment for fans, we see Dick pull up a file Bruce has of "potential recruits" for Jason's replacement--something Barbara accused him of already working on, while Dick denied it and took Bruce's side. Now, he sees the evidence. The first name on the list is none other than Carrie Kelley, who would be Robin in Frank Miller's amazing The Dark Knight Returns. And then we see Stephanie Brown aka Spoiler, who would also be Robin for a short time before taking the mantle of Batgirl from Barbara. (Cassandra Cain was also Batgirl for a time, but she was also Orphan and also Black Bat, and so it gets confusing. Don't worry.) Bottom line: we see Bruce becoming unhinged. Well, more than usual.

Dick confronts him about this new recruitment list and we see Bruce visibly shaken. Desperate, he asks Dick, "Do you want to be Robin again?" as casually and uncomfortably as if he's asking him if he wants a drink. Dick is so taken aback, he has no response--meanwhile, Bruce is trembling. "I can't do this alone," he says. "Then don't do it anymore, Bruce," Dick answers. He leaves Bruce alone in the Batcave. And normally, somewhere around this time, Tim Drake would be doing his research and would scout out Dick after he realizes he was the first Robin, and he would tell him Batman needed his help. They would go back and, after Dick would refuse to take up the Robin costume again, despite Tim arguing that Batman needs Robin, Tim himself would take up the mantle. This is all textbook, folks. A Lonely Place of Dying, right?

Nope. We don't get Tim at all yet.

Instead, Bruce wakes Dick up in the middle of the night by dropping a blood-stained crowbar on the floor, announcing that he's killed Joker and that it's over for him. "Be a better Batman," he tells Dick. Wait, I'm sorry. What? This goes against the entire premise of Under the Red Hood, where Jason confronts Bruce as Red Hood and is ready to kill the Joker himself, asking Batman how he could have possibly let the scum live after what he did to him. Batman's answer is everything: that he dreams every day of ways to kill Joker and wants nothing more than to do it, but that if he crosses that line he'll never return. It would be too easy to kill him, he argues. And that's the whole point.

Jason isn't pleased with this answer. But the Jason in this pilot episode didn't get that conversation with Bruce. Because Bruce is on the run, and we still don't even know how Jason is alive. Well, we know from the comics that Ra's Al Ghul resurrected him in the Lazarus Pit, and Dawn even offers this as a possibility when they discover Jason alive and try to formulate answers. But no, Dick says, Ra's is out of town. Really? Okay. But more frustrating than even this is what they turn Jason into in episodes two and three.

Now, I get it. Jason had issues. And Red Hood personifies those issues. But part of the reason that happens is because of the effects of the Lazarus Pit, which turns the newly resurrected temporarily insane. But if there was no Lazarus Pit, then the show is basically saying that Jason was always this unhinged. And he's not. The Red Hood does not take over Gotham for spoil, as the show is depicting so far, with that horrendous detonation device that killed Hank at the end of the third episode. No. That's not the real Red Hood. In some comics, like The Battle for the Cowl where he kills (or thinks he has) Tim Drake as Robin, and then Nightwing, he's pretty psychotic. But overall, that's not what the real Red Hood is about.

So far, Red Hood has faced serious disservice because his whole mission is about taking over the protection of Gotham. Yes, we have that scene from Under the Red Hood where he interrupts a meeting of drug dealers and drops the duffle bag of heads. But it's not to get in on the deals, like episode two shows. It's to basically tell them to shut it all down, or he'll shut them down. Red Hood kills the criminals in Gotham, not the innocents. He does what Batman never could. And, despite all the hard feelings, he's still part of the Batfamily in many of the comic issues. Batman and Robin Eternal and Robin War and even his own Rebirth series, Red Hood and the Outlaws, he remains close(ish) with Dick and Tim and Damian, and even Bruce. His dry wit and sarcasm rivals Alfred's, and he's honestly one of the funniest characters in the Batfamily because of it. So this type of behavior from Jason that we've seen in the first three episodes? It's a cheap move.

Now this could all be premature. There could still be some twist coming that explains and rights everything. DC is no stranger to multiverse play, but I hope this isn't it. The other characters are flailing a bit in the wake of all this. Poor Conner is only a few months old still, and now he's speed-manufacturing detonation disarming devices. (The look on his face when he rushes to Hank's room with the finished product only half a second too late as the hall erupts in flame and Krypto walks out covered in ash--that was a gut punch. The poor guy is losing family as fast as he gains it.) Gar is struggling with Rachel's absence, and Kory is in a whole place of weirdness so far with these subconscious memory episodes. We know her sister Blackfire is showing up soon, so I can only speculate that as the reason.

And then there's Dick. With Barbara pouring salt in the wound for Bruce, she's kind of drudging up old memories for Dick too. And with the Titans now living in Wayne Manor, they too see the legacy of the toxic parenting Bruce had on Dick. Talk about the real guy who never catches a break--he can't escape the family drama, even on the opposite coast of the country. "Home sweet home," he says sarcastically as he pulls up to the Manor. In his old bedroom, Kory finds a contract Dick signed when he was young that states he would never let himself succumb to fear, basically. Just the sort of thing to make a new orphan sign. We all know Bruce was never going to win Parent of the Year Award, but we see more of it now in the way he devolved after Jason's death. We see Dick carrying the weight and shouldering the burden.

So look. I'm not going to critique anything in stone right now since we are only three episodes in. They're changing the storyline. They're trying something new. I won't fault them for that. But we expect things for a reason, and this isn't something to diverge from in the first real live-action representation of it. Somewhere, Jensen Ackles is scratching his head at this Red Hood. I know I am.

We'll see if the next episodes clear any of this up the way it needs to be. I'm going to keep watching, because I love it regardless. I love that these characters are getting attention and that DC is slowly clawing its way up. The Suicide Squad is helping things over on the DCEU end, not to mention upcoming projects like Batgirl with Leslie Grace. There's even talk of a Nightwing film project, and I'm holding out hope that there may be a cameo in Matt Reeves' The Batman.

Until then, more Titans season 3 will be released on HBO Max next Thursday, Aug. 19 with episode 4, "Blackfire." Talk about more family drama...