‘Titans’ Season 4 Part 2 Review

This review was made possible by screeners of Episodes 7-12 of Titans provided by HBO Max  for review purposes. Titans releases HBO Max on April 13th. New episodes release every Friday

It’s a bit bittersweet, while we can’t help but be excited for what comes in the future for DC, seeing the current universes reach their end is an odd feeling as we all had our unique takes on each and every film and series. When it came to Titans, however, it was rare that you’d find a positive take on the series. While the first part of this season was some of the better stuff put out by the series, it’s sad to say the final part crumbles as they completely destroy the momentum built up into an upsetting and gratifying ending, because it’s finally over. 

“Titans Together” or Whatever…

It’ll all end in blood they said, they didn’t specify whose but it ended up being their own! At the tail end of the first part of this season, we saw the Titans fail at the hands of Sebastian and Mother Mayhem as the blood ritual is complete and Brother Blood rises…sorta. The second part of this season doesn’t live up to the hype built in the first part at all, it sucks, its momentum sliced at the heel. Joseph Morgan’s performance is severely undercut but a downright awful pivot to his past gaming endeavors as a way to distract him but it doesn’t work, it’s just downright goofy in the worst way possible and just feels like such a cop out from what could’ve been. 

At Least there are a few great performances this time around, I am mostly talking about Jay Lycurgo as Tim Drake, such a great performance by Lycurgo, It’s such a shame to see these talents and this TIm Drake wasted here, it never feels like he actually gets to be a Robin, you blink and it is over. Ryan Potter, of course, really kills it in his time here, actually getting an episode to himself to really explore what it means to be Beast Boy, finally getting the respect he deserved over these last few seasons

Character Arcs and Development are an Option

Throughout these four seasons of Titans one constant issue has been that of doing absolutely anything with their characters, besides eventually giving them a suit and just having them sit there and look pretty. In those four seasons, the character to get shafted the worst was one of everyone’s favorites, Garfield Logan, aka Beast Boy, who by far has one of the best episodes of Titans yet. The only good episode in this second part is the one solely centered on Ryan Potter’s character as we’re finally given a deep dive into who and what unlocked the abilities of the animal kingdom within Gar. Perhaps the most infuriating character decision this season was the choices made with Superboy, if it wasn’t popular in the comics why would you ever think sending superboy down this hilariously corny path would work better here, was it the hideous blue filter that they thought would help sell it. This just isn’t who Conner Kent is at all, a massive mischaracterization of the superboy we’ve come to know these past two seasons and the cast that is so rapidly thrown off the edge into a canyon of baldness and drakkar noir is so laughably bad. 

As touched on a bit earlier, this show has a massive character problem, and the bulk of that problem is that there are just way too many characters on this damn show. Season 1 had a good balance of the core four but would introduce a character here or there to take a bit of the spotlight for one episode, and it was cool, it worked. That was until the series decided to make all of those characters we meet into mainstays that would end up just taking away from the characters people actually cared about. Jinx, introduced this season, solely to help deal with the magical threat that the Titans couldn’t handle on their own is so utterly wasted, the character didn’t even need to be there and once again just wasted time. The series takes a “Window shopping” approach to many of its characters, you can look at it and admire it and it may look cool but in the end you’re going to get nothing out of it.  They’re all just parts in a car going nowhere, you’re barreling down the highway and you have zero clue where you’re going and someone is in the backseat throwing up. 

Is No One Going to Question the Underage Romance? 

Tim Drake has been a fun and charming addition to the series, with Jay Lycurgo really nailing it as the third Robin, and even gets a great looking suit! (that he wears for two episodes) but we gotta address the elephant in the room, the 16 year old having a relationship with the grown man. Titans season 4 picks up close to where we left off, road tripping through the country to get back to San Francisco but its not specified just how long it has been. The second part of season 4 just fully goes in on the Tim/Bernard relationship without even confronting time’s age.When we first meet Tim, he’s still living with his parents and still in school, and confirmed to be “no older than 17”. Bernard is a full on scientist working at star labs, a grown man who is now in a relationship with a 17 year old who may or may not have turned 18 in the time we didn’t spend with the characters. What I am getting at here is that, while this representation is great and it’s awesome that Titans was fully ready to adapt Tim’s recently revealed bisexuality into the series, Tim’s actual relationship with Bernard can’t help but feel a bit shoehorned in like “hey this just happened in the comics and its happening here!”. They easily could’ve adapted Bernard into being a Metropolis teen who may have fallen in with Mother Mayhem’s cult and with that we could’ve actually explored the cult and mayhem just a bit more, actually adding a bit more stakes. It just screams further incompetence and laziness from those involved with the writing of this season. 

To praise anything in this show is to applaud the incredible costume work done in this show by LJ Supersuits. We’re treated to quite a few new looks this season Including Tim Drake’s Robin suit, Brother Blood, Jinx and the long awaited Beast Boy suit. Sadly a lot of these suits aren’t worn for too long so admire them while you can. Thankfully you’ll get to enjoy that incredible Robin suit for at least two episodes in this final chapter, as it looks as if it was peeled right off of a page and brought to life with such perfection.  

‘Titans’ Season 4 Part 2 – Final Thoughts

Titans has been on an increasingly bumpy road, and while the first part of this season showed some promise, old habits die hard, and in the end the Titans couldn’t even save themselves. Thank god the changes at Warner Brothers have brought some good change, as its time for this dog to hit the farm upstate. 

Titans releases on HBO Max on April 13th, with new episodes streaming every Thursday. Check out the trailer below