Titans - "Bruce Wayne" - Episode 18 Review
GAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!! Been super busy raking leaves in the midwest and I haven't had time to review the latest episode of Titans but that changes now. Let's dance Bruce Wayne!
We start off with the newly saved Jason Todd standing before his apartment window reliving the hell of free falling from fifty stories up. Dick Grayson enters the superhero locker room and stares at where his Robin costume used to be. Mr. Bruce Wayne himself interrupts Dicks solitude and reminds him that he burnt that suit long ago. He continues to needle Dick, picking at him and reminding him of his failures. Gee, thanks Dad! Bruce goes on, picking apart Dick's plans, and dropping an F bomb in the process. Eh. Don't think Bruce would do that...but OK. Titans is its own special universe, and I've long stopped thinking,"they wouldn't say that" so I'm rolling with it. Bruce lays out that Dick is not as smart as Deathstroke and that basically he's been playing into the assassin's hands this whole time. Bruce chides him even more, telling him that he's failed these kids he says he wants to protect. By keeping them in the dark, they've made themselves easy targets. Bruce continues and berates the former sidekick for breaking Jason. Dick humiliated, rejected, and ignored the youngster and Bruce calls him out on it. Preach on Batman! Bruce reminds Dick that he knows what this is really all about, and then disappears as Dawn walks in, snapping the former Boy Wonder out of his stupor. Bruce has been a figment of Dick's imagination this whole time! Oh snap! She gets his attention and tells him he needs to come check out the Superboy they dragged into the infirmary because there are "complications". I'm sure there are with that kids DNA.
While Conner lies unconscious on a hospital bed, Kory and Dawn give Dick the update on clone boy. They've done some examining and realized the kid is special. Bruce pops in to ridicule Dick some more but Dick continues to ignore him. Dawn thinks he should talk to Bruce, doubly appropriate here, and Dick agrees to do it. I like how Dawn throws out there that she knows Bruce categorizes weird stuff. If you only knew. Dick finds Jason working out on the heavy bag and jamming some heavy metal. They chit chat while Bruce continues to throw those jabs in Dick's direction. Dick shows actual interest here, which is nice, but still doesn't come totally clean with the kid...and Bruce lets him know it. Dick leaves the 2nd Robin and meets his old teammates in the kitchen. They are eating take out and grill him on what the heck he thought he was doing by going after Deathstroke alone? Dick admits he made mistakes but the phantom Bruce Wayne continues to needle and needle, knowing that Dick's still not telling his friends everything. Ser Jorah certainly seems to be enjoying chewing up the scenery here.
Kory continues to care for the comatose Conner until he suddenly wakes up and grabs her arm. He begins speaking to her in an alien language until Kory yells back at him in the same language, causing him to relax and fall back asleep. Dawn walks in after hearing the commotion and we find out that Kory can speak Kryptonian! Cool. It sure is a dead language. Conner mumbles something about his mom Eve and we cut to her back at Luthor Labs, watching Krypto being put back into his containment facility. Mercy Graves appears and tells the Dr. that she shot her boy and left him to die. Mercy informs her Lex Luthor doesn't like failures and that means onto Subject 14 and that she's now fired. Hand in your ID kinda fired. Ouch. Eve turns into Jason Bourne on her way out and steals an ID card from a pair of clueless scientists. OK.
Dick heads out into the San Francisco night life and walks into a bar where he meets an old informant named Benny. They catch up, why yes it has been five years, but Benny claims he doesn't do that any more. The ghost of Bruce Wayne is here too and brings up Alfred in his chides at Dick. He seems to know Dick's secret and won't let the guy alone about it. He pesters and pesters until finally Dick can't take it any more and tells him to shut the fuck up. He's at that point now and it looks like its getting bad. Benny says Slade Wilson retired six or seven years ago, Bruce hilariously reminds us it's five years, but Dick isn't satisfied. He grabs the guy, and his gun, and holds his head to the counter. He spills that Slade's handler, Wintergreen, dates a woman who runs a burlesque club. Dick thanks his old contact and steals his weapon. Figment Bruce takes offense and shouts out "No guns!" but Dick counters with the basic fact that Deathstroke's a gun guy, Ahem, even though we've seen his sword quite a bit.
Hank has just finished showering back at the Titans Tower, when he finds a bottle of booze amongst his stuff. Needless to say he's a bit confused. Nearby Jason is still wigging out and is playing some nice heavy metal music on vinyl to soothe his fragile state of mind. Rose knocks on the door and questions his music taste. She walks into his room and starts an in your face therapy session. They bond over not liking the rest of the Titans and almost getting killed by Deathstroke. Rose closes the door and offers to DJ.
Dr. Watson uses her stolen pass to of course go and rescue Krypto. She frees him from his glass cage and amusingly gets him to zap off his Kryptonite collar. Alarms ring out and security forces run in and demand that the Dr. surrender. She puts her arms around the dog and tells him to go. And he does so by blasting off and flying the two of them off into the night!
Dick goes to find Wintergreen's ex? girlfriend at her club and catches a bit of the dancing girl's routines. He tells her he'll take care of business blah blah blah holy shit is the ghost of Bruce Wayne doing the Bat-tusi? Why yes he is, they actually have Ser Jorah dancing like Adam West from the 1966 Batman TV show. So so awesome. I like to think they came up with this scene just to throw that dance sequence in, thank you DC Universe!
At the Tower Donna finds a bottle of orange soda by her bed. Hmmmm, somebody is messing around at HQ. Oh and speaking of messing around, Rose has found some R&B and pulls Jason out of his stupor by dancing around and getting him to join in. I like how she equates it to being just like fighting, but without the blood. Alright Jason and Rose, get your groove on! The two share a kiss until Rose wanders over to the LP's and finds her brothers old record. Uh oh. Things turn tense with Jason professing that he doesn't know anything about it. Those were Dick's records. She rightfully freaks out and figures out what happened. Dick used her brother to get to Deathstroke and thats why Slade killed him.
Dick and Bruce walk down the street and argue with each other over the plan and whats going on. Bruce keeps sticking it to him, reminding him over and over that this is all his fault and that he doesn't know what he's doing. Would probably look Fight Club hilarious if you saw it yourself, out in the world. Dick enters the penthouse and kicks out a couple of Wintergreen's topless girls and proceeds to threaten the middleman to no avail. After knocking him out the phone rings and of course its Deathstroke. He is playing the former Robin like a fiddle and gives him a place to meet.
At the Tower Dawn gets the secret admirer treatment with a moved photo and the former Titans come together to discuss. They want to know who is pranking them and it looks like its a zombie Jason Todd because he is standing in front of his window again and is totally spaced out. It looks like he's being programmed by some subliminal matrix code and has been responsible for the mischief. Deathstroke is a step ahead once again.
Kory continues her Florence Nightengale treatment by cleaning Conners wounds and talking to him, giving him a direct order not to die. Meanwhile Beast Boy is answering the doorbell where Dr. Eve Watson and Krypto are on the other end. She tells him she was led there by a dog and Kory says to let her in. Dr. Watson cries and tells her she doesn't think she can save her baby. The fully informed Kory is incredulous since part of his DNA is super-juiced. We learn the only way to save him is to give a solar radiation jumpstart, and Kory has a plan for that. Nice head tilt by Krypto there. They grab Rachel and Kory becomes a walking tanning bed. I kid. Kory has Rachel unleash her darkness and use it to contain the Starfire she unleashes upon Conner. I must say this is some of the most impressive special effects in the show so far and I totally agreed with Dr. Watson's "holy shit" moment. Conner stands up, healed, and naked. Ha! But not Kory? OK whatever. Later on Conner and Eve talk and she tells him she was wrong and that he should definitely continue being a hero. In an actually sweet and funny moment he calls her mom and she nods approvingly. They have some resolution together with her declaring she'll be fine on the run from Lexcorp, whatever, and then she takes off, allowing for Krypto to jump on his buddy and get some cuddles.
Dick arrives at an old church and meets the specter of Bruce Wayne inside. Bruce keeps giving tough, but good, advice and informs Dick that Slade has been playing him. Toying with him while plans upon plans unfold. He reminds him of he and Deathstroke's hidden past and that he is still afraid to confront it and deal with it. Oh and he calls him son, awwwwww. Dick doesn't want his friends to find out and Bruce tells him the only way forward is by telling the truth. That's the only thing that will get rid of him. Dick says it's too hard, but in a nice, quiet moment of acting between the two performers, Dick comes to a silent resignation that there is really only one way to end his persecution. And then he notices the photos.... of all the Titans, taken from within the Tower! Dick leaves in a rage and motorcycles back to HQ.
Rachel walks into her room and finds crosses drawn all over the walls and windows. This upsets her and she heads right to Jason's room to confront him. He stands before the window in his familiar stance of programming and denies having anything to do with it. Rachel demons out a bit on Jason, causing him to walk out. She follows him into the kitchen, yelling at him along the way. The other Titans appear and confront him about their admirers gifts and want to know why? He continues to deny having a part of any of it and everyone is instantly distracted by the arrival of Dick Grayson, gun toter. Ghost Bruce points out Jason has vanished. Dick takes off running. He finds Jason on the roof, standing on the edge of the Tower. Jason thinks he's messed up too bad but Dick knows the truth. Dick tries to get him off the edge, but instead ends up joining him. Bruce vanishes as Dick completely resolves to tell the truth. He breaks down and tells Jason what really happened, he killed Deathstroke's son. Bam.
Ok this was an middle of the road episode for me, kind of a filler. The best scene was easily Kory recharging Conner, followed by the Bat Dancing ode in the strip club. Can't wait to see how Jericho comes into play. I'm off to watch the new episode now so we can talk about it soon.
