Less a 'Titans' episode, then the continuation of the Nightwing/Dick Grayson story line, and a follow-up to Frank Miller's 'The Dark Knight Returns' series, this episode and the next two deal with death of Jason Todd, Tim Drake's assumption of the mantle, and Dick dealing with the fallout.
We get the return of Iain Glen as the older, not-very-wiser Bruce Wayne. As the older Bruce, Glen is seemingly miscast but does a good job as the Dark Knight Returns Bruce rather than the relatively younger crimefighter of the current eras. The episode does explore the twisted psychology that has made Bruce the obsessed warrior and weaponizer-of-young-children that he is often portrayed in the current comics, and more so in the Dark Knight Returns.
Savanna Welch as Barbara Gordon is... okay. Not bad, but nothing great, either.
The fact that Bruce kills Joker is a neat twist, given that it was his refusal to do in the comics that in part turned Jason into Red Hood. Which we'll get later. So part of the episode is transposing Red Hood's hatred of Batman onto the Titans. That is gaslit a bit, with Dick saying in this episode that the Titans failed Jason more than Batman did. So with Bruce having killed Joker, Red Hood doesn't have a reason to hate him. So RH turns his hate on the team that failed him.
There's not much else going on here other than the 'Death in the Family' storyline. Gar studies how to become other animals, and mentions that Rachel is gone. Kory has visions of... something. Involving experimentation on her by what are apparently human scientists, even though she's an alien princess come to Earth. Presumably it will be explained down the road.
Joshua Orpin as Connor doesn't have much to do as Connor. The brief bit with him, and not Gar, getting approaches for an autograph is cute. Krypto, as always, is adorable.
Essentially, 'Barbara Gordon' is a soft-entry into the 'Titans' series for newcomers, and for the viewers who have been away since the end of season 2. People might be puzzled by the emphasis on Dick Grayson: It's called 'Titans', not 'Nightwing'! But Brenton Thwaites is more than capable of carrying the centralized focus. The fight choreography, particularly in the opening fight Gizmo and his army of thugs, is good. The threads from season 2 (where are Deathstroke, Jericho, and Ravager?) are dropped abruptly, but the gap between seasons helps obscure that.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
We get the return of Iain Glen as the older, not-very-wiser Bruce Wayne. As the older Bruce, Glen is seemingly miscast but does a good job as the Dark Knight Returns Bruce rather than the relatively younger crimefighter of the current eras. The episode does explore the twisted psychology that has made Bruce the obsessed warrior and weaponizer-of-young-children that he is often portrayed in the current comics, and more so in the Dark Knight Returns.
Savanna Welch as Barbara Gordon is... okay. Not bad, but nothing great, either.
The fact that Bruce kills Joker is a neat twist, given that it was his refusal to do in the comics that in part turned Jason into Red Hood. Which we'll get later. So part of the episode is transposing Red Hood's hatred of Batman onto the Titans. That is gaslit a bit, with Dick saying in this episode that the Titans failed Jason more than Batman did. So with Bruce having killed Joker, Red Hood doesn't have a reason to hate him. So RH turns his hate on the team that failed him.
There's not much else going on here other than the 'Death in the Family' storyline. Gar studies how to become other animals, and mentions that Rachel is gone. Kory has visions of... something. Involving experimentation on her by what are apparently human scientists, even though she's an alien princess come to Earth. Presumably it will be explained down the road.
Joshua Orpin as Connor doesn't have much to do as Connor. The brief bit with him, and not Gar, getting approaches for an autograph is cute. Krypto, as always, is adorable.
Essentially, 'Barbara Gordon' is a soft-entry into the 'Titans' series for newcomers, and for the viewers who have been away since the end of season 2. People might be puzzled by the emphasis on Dick Grayson: It's called 'Titans', not 'Nightwing'! But Brenton Thwaites is more than capable of carrying the centralized focus. The fight choreography, particularly in the opening fight Gizmo and his army of thugs, is good. The threads from season 2 (where are Deathstroke, Jericho, and Ravager?) are dropped abruptly, but the gap between seasons helps obscure that.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?