Titans - Together - Review
Alright fight fans, it is on! This episode promises to showcase some awesome comic book action and I can't wait. As the title suggests, and the preview showed, we are watching the formation of the titular group as we know it and the kicking off of the next phase of the television show.
The episode begins with Dr. Adamson making another omelette in his fancy Chicago apartment. He cracks an egg and notices that theres an unformed baby chicken in his bowl. After pondering it for a moment he whisks it up and prepares to cook it. Ewwwww. He's so creepy and weird.
The group pulls into the parking lot of a low budget motel. They're all inside a minivan as Dick traded in the Porsche for the family roadster. So does that make this the Titanmobile? Dick reasons hiding from The Nuclear Family is the best move right now so the motel is the best play. Dick and his rugged good looks gets flirted with by the motel caretaker and grabs a room for each Titan. Later on while chomping on some pizza together, Dick starts laying down the tactical plan for surviving the lunatics who are after them. It's nice to see some casual bonding over food by the squad and helps show them coming together. He tells them they are an alliance, born out of mutual need...to stay alive. And... that they need to train. Awww yeah.
The Titans are together inside an old barn on a farm somewhere in the country. Dick leads the lesson for the day and tells them they need to know what each other can do. He calls on Kory and we learn she feels her powers come from the sun. Interesting. She also tells us she's weaker at night and that she needs to recharge. Very interesting. Dick then gets her to demonstrate and she she misses the the targeted tractor but she focuses, turns orange, then shoots a flame burst that jets across the room and melts a metal container! Her smoking hot hand high fives Gar as she walks back to the group. Beast Boy is up next and he gets them to turn around so he can go get naked and transform. He roars and emerges from behind the bales of hay in his green tiger form. Kory thinks the wait was worth it. Gar climbs the bales and Dick seems a little freaked out. He can't believe that the green tiger is actually Garfield. The tiger boy transforms back into human and gives his new teammates a free full frontal show, much to the delight of Starfire. Dick thinks he sees some potential. He then tries to get Rachel to do her powers thing. She of course is hesitant, she doesn't want to lose control and hurt people. They tell her its OK, that they're there for her. She steps forward and Raven makes an appearance. She unleashes the darkness from within her and it impressively swirls around in the air above. It seems to start to grow out of hand and Rachel's not responding to their calls so Starfire steps in and fire blasts the darkness! Rachel screams and takes the swirling mass back inside of herself. She gets her head together and meekly declares she needs some more practice. They all then look to Dick to see what he can do. He tells them he can keep them alive. Ooooohhh. Dick is so tough.
Dr. Adamson makes his way through an asylum located in a southern Chicago suburb. There they create the subjects that are used in The Nuclear Family program. He isn't interested in their excuses only the latest Father figure they're creating for him. He watches as they cook the latest subjects brain with torture and hallucinogens.
Nuclear Father comes home to his awaiting family and introduces himself. He's all smiles and suggests they do the job right this time. The Family tracks down Dick's Porsche and threaten the car salesman to get information as to the sellers whereabouts. They evidently beat the info out of him and all get together to take their chemical injection "vitamins".
At the Motel Gar and Rachel hang out and talk. Rachel wants to know what its like to transform. Gar tells her its like electricity flowing through your body, making you strong. Connecting him to nature. Able to feel the whole world, and wanting to run through it. It makes him feel like he can do anything. He also wants to roar, so he can just get it all out and decompress. Rachel makes a nice feeble attempt at a roar and its cute, she definitely needed someone to relate to relax around. Kory and Dick watch the pair from afar. They talk and discuss how the two need to fight to survive. Dick's worried though of driving them too far, since of course he's now a Dark Knight trained psycho:) Love how his relationship with Batman was a civilian based combat contract.
Rachel is in her room watching Full House when her Raven persona makes an appearance in the mirror warning her that all her friends are going to die. She has Dick remove the mirror and turn it around. Dick tells her he believes in her and that he thinks she'll be able to control her powers. She takes the moment to tell him that he needs to reveal to the them what his special power is. Seems a simple case of we showed you ours, you need to show us yours but he deflects and blows her off.
Gar sits alone in his room playing a video game as Kory makes her way into a liquor store. Despite not remembering what her favorite drink is, she figures out her intentions and grabs a bottle of Tequila. She heads right to Dick's motel room and straight away tells him of her plan to get him drunk and seduce him to find out what his secrets are. He flips the script on her, drinks his shot, gives her the smolder and moves in for the kill. The two kiss and the fireworks go off. I can just see Teen Titans Go Robin's face and head exploding at the thought of making out with his super crush Starfire and it makes me giggle a little. The two bang around the room, ending up on the bed, with Starfire keeping her boots on. Holy Kink Batman!
After the two finish fooling around Dick blows off discussing such messy things like feelings and tells Kory he's going to check the perimeter and turn in for the night. Kory takes off and in between Dick is approached by the motel manager. She's smitten with him and has brought a bottle of wine to hang out party. Dick politely shuts her down and sends her on her way. Hey when you've got it you've got it right? A noise outside gets him to Father Nuclear and open the door again and BAM! he's attacked by the new Nuclear Father and Mother. The two have brought weapons this time and attack Dick ferociously. In some nice combat choreography Dick battles the two inside the small motel room. He kicks, spins, grabs, and defends against the two juiced up assailants.
Rachel hears a knock on her door and she sees that its Kory. She also sees Biff Nuclear swing a bat and nearly take off Kory's head! In a great addition to hallway fighting scenes Kory takes on Biff and Sis, getting Gar to grab Rachel and get her to safety. Dick fights the two parents using his Robin costume holding case as a weapon and a shield. A nice shot of Mother Nuclear popping her broken arm back into place is followed awesomely by Father Nuclear throwing Dick out the window and onto a car below in the parking lot.
Kory continues to fight the two youngsters and kicks their butts down the hallway. She knocks them down, only for them to both pop right back up. The fight continues and Kory punches and throws Biff and Sis around. In some great action Kory catches Sis' whip attack in her hand, tosses Biff, then pull slams Sis against the wall and takes off. She meets up with Gar and Rachel in the parking lot with Dick no where in sight. The Nuclear Family surrounds the group and Starfire can't burn them due to it being night and she's depleted. Father Nuclear awesomely rips a car door off its hinges and bashes Kory with it, knocking her back violently into the car behind her. Suddenly a smoke grenade lands! Awww damn, its on now people!
A grappling hook sticks into Nuclear Father and he's yanked back. A figure lands in the smoke. It's Robin. Rachel doesn't recognize him right away but Beast Boy sets her straight. It's Robin. So everyone basically knows about Batman and Robin. Cool. Robin then proceeds to kick the Nuclear Family's ass. In a sweet show of fighting and gadget using he mixes it up and brutally attacks the squad. He utilizes his bo staff nicely as he flings a Robin razor into Mother's head, causing no damage to the juiced up matron. Beast Boy transforms and flings Biff off high into the night sky. Raven unleashes her dark energy and batters Sis. The group heroically strikes a pose and Mother Nuclear realizes the fight is over. She and the family give up.
Inside one of the motel rooms Dick and Kory interrogate a tied up Mother and Father Nuclear. Mother points out she knows he's Robin now and reveals she's trying to take Rachel to her employer. Rachel and Gar have Biff and Sis tied up and grill them on why they want Rachel. The two are useless as well. Kory attempts to beat the info out of the two but Dick says he's seen this behavior before and violence won't help. He finds Dr. Adamson's location in their car as Rachel comes out to talk to him. He reveals he was going to tell her but that he was trying to leave the Robin persona behind. He doesn't like who he becomes when puts on the mask. He likes hurting people and Rachel can relate. The two bond some more in this shared feeling. Gar arrives and hilariously asks if Dick knows Batman. He also asks, and like all of the DC Universe audience I feel, and wants to know if we're going to see Batman? Dick says no, tells Kory not to kill anyone, then takes off in The Nuclear Family's station wagon to find who's behind all the attacks.
In Chicago Dick meets Granny in the lobby and takes a butterscotch before getting on the elevator and going up to Dr. Adamson's penthouse. The Dr. watches Dick and takes out his hand held detonator. He pushes the red shiny button on the top of it. Biff says he thinks they got in trouble. Suddenly red dots begin blinking from within each of the family members frontal lobes. Uh oh. Mother tells the kids its time to take a nap. The blinking increases until , SQUISH! Kory enters the room and finds the family members heads have all exploded. She amusingly is more upset that Dick is going to think she did it, but on the upside, now no bad guys know Dick is The Boy Wonder.
Dick finds the Doctor and demands answers. He gets none but is told the organization he works for is coming to kill them both in less than a minute. Dick wants to know if the organization works for Rachel's father, and I chuckled inside when the Doctor says "you could say that". We comic book fans know Dick is still way in the dark. The Doctor gives no answers as masked gunmen arrive and Dick launches into action! He beats and stabs them until they get the upper hand and beat him down. Out of nowhere a familiar smoke bomb gets launched. A familiar looking figure acrobatically beats up the gunmen and then moves to help Dick up off the ground. He introduces himself...it's the new Robin!
Woah what a great episode. Such awesome action and so fantastic to see the group finally brought together and witness the birth of the Titans. The training sequence stands out for me as a highlight, I always love seeing heroes flex their muscles and try to get a handle on their abilities. Shows how imperfect we all are, even gifted imaginary heroes. Having defeated their primary protagonists I can't wait to see what new story arc this launches the Titans onto. Keep it up DC Universe.
