Titans - Season 1 Episode 2
The first season of the American superhero streaming television series Titans premiered on DC Universe on October 12, 2018, and concluded on December 21, 2018, consisting of 11 episodes. It was executive produced by Akiva Goldsman, Geoff Johns, Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, and Greg Walker, with Walker serving as showrunner. Created by Goldsman, Johns, and Berlanti, the series is based on the DC Comics team Teen Titans. Featured in the main cast are Brenton Thwaites, Anna Diop, Teagan Croft, and Ryan Potter. The season also introduces Alan Ritchson, Minka Kelly, Curran Walters, and Conor Leslie, who would join the main cast in the following season. The first season marks the live-action debut of the Teen Titans, as well as the launch of DC Universe's original scripted programming.
Titans - Season 1 Episode 2
In the first season, vigilante Dick Grayson (Thwaites) leaves Gotham City for Detroit in an effort to distance himself from his mentor Bruce Wayne. When the mysterious Rachel Roth (Croft) comes to Dick for protection from dangerous forces pursuing her, Dick finds himself thrust into action as he struggles to distance himself from his Robin persona and control his violent urges. Joined by Kory Anders (Diop), an amnesiac woman with solar-based powers, and Gar Logan (Potter), an animal shapeshifter, the four battle a threat that puts the entire world at risk.
Development of a live-action series based on Teen Titans began in 2014 when the project was picked up by TNT. A pilot written by Goldsman and Marc Haimes was ordered, but never filmed, and TNT passed on the project in 2016. The following year, Warner Bros. announced that the project would move forward in 2018 as the first scripted series for DC Universe. Initially planned to comprise 12 episodes, the original finale would be removed and the intended penultimate episode became the season finale. The season's story was primarily inspired by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez's The New Teen Titans comics from the 1980s.
The season received generally positive reviews, with praise for the story, characters, and performances. Criticism was directed towards the violent tone and the finale's cliffhanger ending. The second season, which was announced ahead of the first season's premiere, would use the original finale as the basis for its premiere episode.
In addition to being the first live-action adaptation of the Teen Titans, the season serves as the live-action introduction for the DC Comics team Doom Patrol, who appear in the self-titled fourth episode. The characters introduced would later be featured in an eponymous series on DC Universe, with April Bowlby, Matt Bomer, and Brendan Fraser reprising their roles as Rita Farr, Larry Trainor, and Cliff Steele, although it occupies a separate continuity from Titans.
Body double Brooker Muir portrays Subject 13 in a post-credit scene. Stuntmen Alain Moussi and Maxime Savaria make uncredited appearances as Batman, while an uncredited actor portrays the character's alter-ego Bruce Wayne. An uncredited actor provides the voice of Alfred Pennyworth. Maisie Williams and Rory McCann appear in archive footage from the Game of Thrones episode "First of His Name" as Arya Stark and Sandor Clegane.
In April 2017, Warner Bros. announced that Titans would debut in 2018 on DC Comics' own direct-to-consumer digital service. The series was created by Goldsman, Johns, and Greg Berlanti, who wrote the pilot episode.[10] Showrunner duties were given to Greg Walker.[11] Goldsman, Johns, Berlanti, Walker, and Sarah Schechter are also executive producers of the series through Goldsman's Weed Road Pictures and Berlanti's Berlanti Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television.[10]
Though 12 episodes were initially announced,[12] the 12th episode was removed and the 11th episode became the season 1 finale.[13] The intended 12th episode served as the basis for the season 2 premiere.[14]
Johns said the series was inspired mostly by the Teen Titans comics of the 1980s, since that comic's run "had so much drama" and "was so revolutionary for its time". He added, "We really wanted to lean into the idea that every Titan of these Titans is a doorway into another genre. With Rachel [a.k.a. Raven], it's the supernatural and the horror, and the first season really focuses on who Raven is and how the Titans galvanize around her." Johns also felt the series would be "a little more adult" than the television series Riverdale, calling it "not necessarily a teen drama, [but] more of an adventure piece".[15] He said that tonally, "We wanted to do something different from everything else out there. We wanted to arrive at a tone that wasn't as welcoming as some of the DC shows have been, nor as nihilistic as some of the films have been."[16] Goldsman said that as the series continues, it will ask "How are these broken people going to cohere? Or will they?"[16] Johns noted that Robin's controversial "Fuck Batman" line in the pilot was a late addition to the script.[16] Dick's actor Brenton Thwaites said of the line, "I thought it was perfect ... This is not a show about Batman. It's a show about Dick."[16]
In early August 2017, Teagan Croft was cast as Rachel Roth,[17] followed by the casting of Anna Diop as Kory Anders[18] and Brenton Thwaites as Dick Grayson the same month.[19][20] Ahead of the series premiere, Diop reduced her presence on social media because of racist attacks towards her casting.[21][22][23] The main cast for the first season would be rounded out by Ryan Potter as Gar Logan, who was announced in October 2017.[24]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season holds a "Certified Fresh" approval rating of 78%, with an average rating of 6.66 out of 10 based on 46 reviews. The site's critical consensus states, "Despite a few tonal growing pains, Titans does justice to its source material and truly shines when its titular ensemble finally assembles."[39] Metacritic gave the series' first season a score of 55 out of 100 based on eight critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[40]
The season finale "Dick Grayson", which was originally intended as the penultimate episode, drew criticism for its cliffhanger ending and not resolving the main storyline of the season. IGN's Jesse Schedeen gave the finale a 4/10, writing that after "Titans got off to a surprisingly good start this year, especially considering all the baggage the series was carrying when it first debuted", the episode "manages to derail that momentum and goodwill with a head-scratching and extremely unsatisfying final chapter".[49] Den of Geek's Mike Cecchini called the episode's cliffhanger "anticlimactic and feels like a cheat".[50] Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Christian Holub said, "The journey to Nightwing is gonna take a lot longer than I thought. But I was really impressed by this season overall, and I'm excited for season 2".[51]
The second season of the American superhero streaming television series Titans premiered on DC Universe on September 6, 2019, and concluded on November 29, 2019, consisting of 13 episodes. It was executive produced by Akiva Goldsman, Geoff Johns, Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, and Greg Walker, with Walker serving as showrunner for the second consecutive season. Created by Goldsman, Johns, and Berlanti, the series is based on the DC Comics team Teen Titans. Brenton Thwaites, Anna Diop, Teagan Croft, and Ryan Potter return to the main cast from the previous season, joined by season 1 guest stars Curran Walters, Conor Leslie, Minka Kelly, and Alan Ritchson and series newcomers Chelsea Zhang, Joshua Orpin, and Esai Morales. The season also introduces Damaris Lewis, who would join the main cast in the following season. It is currently the only season to feature Zhang and Morales.
The season sees Dick Grayson (Thwaites) form a new Titans team comprising Rachel Roth (Croft), Gar Logan (Potter), and Jason Todd (Walters) in his original San Francisco base. Concurrent with the Titans' return, an old enemy resurfaces in the form of Deathstroke (Morales), whose past conflict with the original Titans team of Dick, Donna Troy (Leslie), Dawn Granger (Kelly), and Hank Hall (Ritchson) caused them to disband. As Deathstroke looks to eliminate the Titans, with his daughter Rose Wilson (Zhang) also taking part in the fight, the heroes face another threat from Cadmus Laboratories when they encounter runaway test subject Conner (Orpin). Meanwhile, Kory Anders (Diop) discovers she is being hunted by her sister Blackfire (Lewis).
A second season of Titans was confirmed in 2018 prior to the premiere of the first season. Filming began the following year and 13 episodes were announced, two more than the 11 episodes of its predecessor. The season was originally planned to feature H.I.V.E. as the Titans' enemies, while Dick would operate under his new mantle of Nightwing after assuming the identity in the initially intended season 1 finale. Before the start of filming, however, the original season 1 finale would be removed and reworked into the second season, which provided a new resolution to the previous season's story in its premiere episode. The second season was subsequently re-envisioned to depict Dick's gradual transformation into Nightwing, with Deathstroke replacing H.I.V.E. Its story was influenced by the 1984 comic arc "The Judas Contract" from Marv Wolfman and George Pérez's The New Teen Titans and the 2003 Teen Titans comics by Johns.
Critical reception to the second season was generally positive. While episodes in the first half and the early 2nd half of the season received positive reviews, the premiere and later episodes were met with a more negative response for the plot, writing, character arcs, and story resolutions. The second season was the last to release on DC Universe following the repurposing of the service into comic distributor DC Universe Infinite and HBO Max's acquisition of its original programming. 041b061a72