Titans - "Ghosts" - Episode 14 Review
OK, three in to the season, we're rolling right along, and I'm catching up. Titans time.
We start off where we left off, in the Titans computer room. The group is there and Robin plays coy when he's asked by Rachel if he knows who Deathstroke is. An interesting, quick flashback shows Deathstroke in action, taking up position and aiming at a plane in a hangar with a sniper rifle. Hopefully that is part of the Titans backstory with Slade Wilson and we'll see some more of that scene at another time. Dick playing coy here is so hypocritical. He should immediately show them all everything he knows, tell them he's a psycho killer bad guy and that they should all be quivering with fear. But he doesn't. Bad mentoring Dick... I love the H.I.V.E. reference here though, nice easter egg. Created in 1980 by the comic book masters Marv Wolfman and George Perez, H.I.V.E. originally was a terrorist organization that stood for Hierarchy of International Vengeance and Extermination. They were later retconned into more of a rogue science institution named the Holistic Integration for Viral Equality. They've been associated with Deathstroke and the Teen Titans forever and have many cool storylines to draw from. Especially being associated with another possible future Titans villain storyline, The Fearsome Five.
Donna, Hank, and Dawn arrive at the Tower and we see more flashbacks to previous Titans good times. The group hugs and gets together and asks about Kory. Donna tells them she vanished and that she may have gone to Florida. Dick clears the room of the kids to talk to his ex teammates. They discuss the Dr. Light situation and what they're going to do about it. They agree to take care of it and then bust up. And then Dick drops the bombshell, "oh yeah, I've got Deathstrokes daughter in the other room." He shows them some footage of the man in action and they all freak as they all thought he was dead. Well he's alive and well and in San Fran. The group does not take all this new info well, with all of them against Dick in the actions he's taken so far. He basically says kick sand, when Dr. Light is done, you guys can all fly away.
In Chicago Kory wakes up to her kidnapper watching a Daffy Duck cartoon. She tries to zap him but he has put techno-handcuffs on her and they cancel out her powers. He evidently is an inter-galactic messenger boy and serves her with a message that she has to come home. Her family wants her to wear the crown and take her royal turn. If she doesn't come quietly more will come for her. She regally demands to be uncuffed and the messenger bounty hunter acquiesces. Kory looks like she's going to kick his but then room service shows up.
Rose Wilson examines her empty eye socket as Dick barges in the room. He wants to know about her and Daddy and she defects a lot telling him she simply wants revenge on him for killing her brother. She claims it happened four years ago and that he told her that her brother fell into the wrong crowd. She asks about the new people and Dick tells her its nice to have friends, they come in handy some times. And then he throws her an eyepatch! Ahhhh. Brutal bluntness there Dick.
In the training room Jason, Gar, and Rachel battle each other blindfolded. They spin flip and fight in a very nice action sequence where the actual actors do quite a bit of their own stunts. Kudos. Jason ends up getting the better of the two(he has been trained by Batman after all) but Rachel flips out a bit and gets pissed. Her black magic unleashes and WOAH check out the red eyes on Raven. In the best look of Raven yet in my opinion she threatens Jason by flying up and grabbing him by the throat. She is almost going to launch a rack of swords at him when Gar yells her name and snaps her out of it. Jason is pissed but doesn't rat her out when Dick walks in. He grabs Gar and leaves with him. Jason politely suggests Rachel she should get an exorcism.
Kory and her warden are eating the room service together in the hotel room. He gives her back her clutch and phone and we find out he's served twenty years in the royal protection service. He lets her know he's set on taking her back home. She steps out to call Donna and she tells her that she knows the guy who's "interrupted" her. Donna brings her up to date on the Dr. Light situation and Kory tells her to keep an eye on Rachel because she needs "special" care. Understatement Kory. She returns to the table and finds out that her sister Blackfire sent him after her. Oooohhh. Name drop. Blackfire is Starfire's older sister and a major Super-Villain in the comic book world. Just by what the guard says she doesn't seem to be as homicidal as she is in the comics, but there's still time. :) We also learn that Kory and this royal guard slept together and that he volunteered to come after her.
Rachel meets Rose in the kitchen and they bond. Concerning her name, Rose says it might be too pretty now and the Patch has a nice ring to it. Dig at Marvel here? Wolverine famously went by Patch for a while. The two girls commiserate and realize they're both platinum members of the Bad Dad Club. Cute. Hey did you guys notice when they cut away from this scene they went to a title card for Titans Tower? I was like yeah, we know, we were just in the kitchen there. Makes me think they cut or rearranged some stuff in the editing room. Anyways, Dick sets Gar on computer duty monitoring for spikes as Dr. Light is going to need to power up. Dick asks if Rachel is OK as he saw a little something in the training room but Gar makes a mistake and doesn't tell him about her freaking out and losing control of her powers. Dick lets Gar know that the older Titans won't be hanging around and when Gar asks if something happened Dick makes another mistake and doesn't bring Gar up to speed on anything. So much for family communication. Or is it more realistic maybe? Keeping secrets and protecting one another happens in regular families too.
Dr. Light and Deathstroke are hanging out at evil HQ pounding brews when the Doc asks what Slade's plan is to take out the Titans. Deathstroke coldly lays out how he plans to cull the herd and force the Titans to come to them. Doc is in, as long as they suffer. He wants some payback. They banter and Slade shows he has a sense of humor.
Dawn finds Hank in the costume room and they discuss their former life. Hank thinks things could maybe be different this time but Dawn doesn't think they are those people anymore. He sees heroing as a higher calling but Dawn thinks putting the suits back on full time is stepping backwards, not forwards. Hank sullenly agrees to give horse maintenance another shot.
Kory and her guardsman walk the streets of Chicago. He is amazed at the human race and they discuss our flaws and idiosyncrasies. Kory loves the freedom here and tells him her family politics is a swampy mess that she doesn't want anything to do with. He's set on bringing her back but marvels a bit at the idea that here the could be together with no issues from their society back home. She plays hard to get and gets him to act rashly by "proving himself" in committing grand theft robbery by performing a smash and grab at a jewelry store for her.
In the kitchen Donna and Dick have a heart to heart about the new Titans and what's going on. Donna thinks, correctly, that Dick should be upfront with them all and tell them what happened to the old team and why they all split up. Dick thinks that the people and circumstances have changed and that he can handle it all. Gar comes interrupting with news that he found something. He shows Dick where he thinks Dr. Light might be and they deduce he's going to use a stadium to repower himself. Jason comes out in his Robin outfit ready to go with all the old Titans, but he gets shut down by Dick.
At the stadium Dr. Light has his power outfit on and he goes to work absorbing the light energy from the grandstands lights. He knows they are all there and begins blasting energy at Dick. In the chaos Dr. Light escapes and the Titans chase after him. Following some more energy bolts being shot at them, the Titans are down. Hank gets hurt but Donna tracks the good Doctor down and uses her magic lasso to bad assly slam a motorcycle on him! Suddenly Dick is there as well as a bus full of civilians. Dr. Light uses a light blast and POOF he's gone. Titans struck out.
Faddei the royal guard and Kory drive in the rain discussing their past. Kory liked him because he broke the rules, he liked her because he thought she would make a great Queen. She reminds him that him volunteering was not a great idea because if he returns without her, he will be put to death. He seems to think she's worth it. He reminds her again, he won't be the only one coming after her if she doesn't come back.
Back at the Tower the beaten Titans limp back home. Hank and Dick argue about wether or not Dick still has the stuff for Titan work. Dawn splits them up but then Jason and the others come up and Jason has a whole bag of attitude for Dick. He mocks him for not having Dr. Light and then he gets all up in Dicks face. Jason foolishly takes a swing at Dick and the former Robin forcefully throughs the new Robin to the ground. Jason resentfully storms off and Dick goes to train. He beats up the wooden dummy Kung Fu Panda style until Rose storms in, grabs a sword and learns that Dick doesn't teach kill shots, only defense. She asks for a demonstration. Dick grabs a bo staff and strikes a pose. They battle for awhile in a sweet little action scene. Sword vs Staff! They converse as they fight and Rose and Dick get a little therapy as they go. Dick gets the upper hand and shuts down the session.
At the warehouse where Kory left her spaceship, Faddei parks the car and Kory takes a call from Rachel. The girl is worried about losing her friends and turning into a horrible demon monster. She just wants to be normal but doesn't know how. Kory decides to go help her and tricks her one time boytoy into getting onto the ship without her. He tells her legions will come for her but she defiantly says to let them come. Oh she is in so much trouble.
Dick walks up to Hank and apologizes for earlier in the evening. Hank says no big deal and the two fellas laugh it up remembering the good times, free booze, and two drummer jam bands from the previous years. Hank tells him he doesn't want to disappoint Dawn so he can't stay and fight bad guys like the good old days.
Gar and Jason search for Dr. Light on the computer and they find him. Jason convinces Gar to help him go look for the Doc. Robin and Gar head down into the tunnels and instantly split up. Jason finds Dr. Light and quickly gets his butt kicked. He readjusts, hears Dick's teachings in his head and turns the tables on the Doctor. He spins and kicks and leaps off the walls in delivering some nice action sequence payback. He gets Dr. Light on the ground when the villain begins to laugh through the blood in his mouth. Jason looks up and holy shit its Deathstroke. Gar hears Jason's and my screams from far away. He races back but can only find a trail of blood leading off...
This was a fun episode and the first steps toward us getting a Titans vs Deathstroke battle. Old friends came together, royal princesses turned their back on their old family for their new family, and Rachel revealed a lovely new demon persona. Things look like they are getting more and more interesting.
