Titans brings the heat for its second Episode titled “Hawk and Dove”. The episode starts off by introducing us to the title characters as Hawk has been caught by a group of felons that are torturing him. Dove comes to his rescue and we realize soon after that Hawk has an injured hip but is trying his best to take down this one criminal group before retiring.

Titans does a phenomenal job in building the story of these two new characters, focusing the episode solely around them and the relationship between Dick Grayson. In fact, the other Titans don’t even make a sighting in this episode, yet the story still manages to progress beautifully.

The shocking part in the episode and much of the series that is to note is the stunning cinematography and visuals. Titans does its best to distance itself from any of the previous DC shows. Grounded to the core and in almost a movie-like representation, the show makes us wonder why they even released those dismal trailers which do it no justice. All the fears I and many had from the trailers was of no worry. The CGI is great, so are the costumes and the action is some of the best I have seen.

This episode shines when we see the turmoil Dick is under by having Rachel and realizing what he has become. Dick seems to want to pawn off Rachel to his friends which becomes an issue once Hank figures out. The dynamic between the pair is noteworthy as Dick had an affair with Dawn before Hank and Dawn got together. Apprehensive at first, Dick begins to open up more to his friends and eventually helps them escape deaths clutches from an impossible mission.

We realize that Dicks apprehension to help is not because he is afraid of the countless guns and enemies but he is afraid of himself. After spending soo much time with Batman, Dick has become almost psychotic in his methods of justice. Using shears to literally chop off a villain’s genitals and bloodying any person that is in front of him, we see a Robin pushed to the edge.

Due to his many issues, Dick feels like he is not able to work well with others and family. For this reason, he decides to leave Rachel with Hawk and Dove and never return. Striking a stark similarity between him and Rachel, it is evident Dick does not want to take her in because he fears he will do the same to her as Batman did when he took him in. Dick fears what he has become and that he may do the same to Rachel if he were to help her.

Again, we see the importance of Batman and the relationship of the pair delved further. Titans have great character development and are taking back layers of its characters like an onion, peel by peel.

Almost reminiscent of the Batman that is established by Ben Affleck, it would not be surprising if this Robin was the underlying of the DCEU Dark Knight. It is a fact that Batfleck is more violent and has turned to maim his criminals to instill fear. We see this Robin employ similar methods but taking it a step further. Brendon Thwaites perfectly plays Dick Grayson and is the Robin I have always wanted to see, so if this were to be true I would be more than delighted to see the connection.

The episode ended on a strong note as well. We see the family that was ‘activated’ earlier in the episode come to take Rachel from the group. Strengthed by these blue syringes they injected into themselves, we see this psychotic family beat the life out of the trio before taking Rachel. The family was another highlight point in the episode as they acted so well that they made you believe their sinister intentions. In the scene where they tortured Dicks partner for there whereabouts, it was chilling to see how much they enjoyed dealing with pain. We see no difference in this ending where they gladly beat everyone to a pulp and throw Dawn off the roof. The show ends with Dick crying over Dawn who is bloodied on the floor and seems to have met her untimely death.

All in all, this episode was a beautiful masterpiece and really got me looking forward to what is to come. With some of the best action and character development, Titans are looking to raise the bar when it comes to superhero television. They are able to seamlessly blend fiction with reality, making a story that is grounded even though most is not real. You truly believe the actors and each one makes the character there own in a non-gimmicky way. After such a bleak ending, Titans makes you wonder where the next episode will take you on this rollercoaster of action and death.

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