Titans review: DC Universe’s entertaining TV show is slightly marred by over-the-top violence

21 January, 2019

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Titans is not buried in misery like Batman v Superman and balances the darkness with humour and some good character work to craft a surprisingly engaging superhero TV series.

If there was one lesson to be learnt from this DC Universe TV series, it is that one should never judge a TV show or a movie by trailers.

Titans, based on the superhero team of the same name in DC Comics, was marketed in a tacky way, and the infamous “F*** Batman” line spoken by Robin in the trailer attracted more attention than anything else about the show. That may have been what the marketing and promotion team wanted, I doubt the writers were happy about that.

Looking at the ineptly edited trailer, it seemed as if DC had not learnt anything from the failures of recent so-called self-serious dark and gritty films like Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad and was going with a dour tone again.

Well, Titans is not terribly different in terms of look and feel, but it is not buried in misery and balances the darkness with humour and some good character work to craft a surprisingly engaging superhero TV series. It is, simply put, better than it has any business being.

Developed by Akiva Goldsman, Greg Berlanti and DC Comics veteran Geoff Johns, this series does superhero team-up stuff better than both the Justice League in DCEU (DC Extended Universe) and The Defenders in Marvel-Netflix universe.

The main characters are your usual suspects — Dick Grayson / Robin, Koriand’r / Kory Anders / Starfire, Rachel Roth / Raven, Garfield Logan / Beast Boy. Cyborg is not here, and he is strangely a part of another DC Universe series, Doom Patrol, a spinoff of the series. Note that these characters apart from Robin are not called by their comic-book identities in the show, at least till now.

The casting is on point, and it is the biggest reason the show is so entertaining. Brenton Thwaites is an excellent Robin, the former protege of Batman, with whom he has had a falling out, the reason of which is revealed piecemeal over the season. We do not see Bruce Wayne, but Dick’s relationship with him remains crucial to his character and affects his motivations right until the finale. He tries hard to not do it the way Batman does it — by giving in to all the anger and darkness.

It is not very original, but Titans has executed well. The “F*** Batman” scene, which comes in the first episode itself, is less scandalous than you think and the words are said more in irritation than shallow bravado.

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