The fifth episode of DC Universe’s Titans series, ‘Together’, finally saw the team begin to bond - but how will they handle one another’s deepest, darkest secrets? It also dropped some more tantalizing hints about Raven’s enemies - who may be even more formidable than we had previously been guessed.
Titans is definitely a slow-burn series, in that we’re five episodes in before a traditional Teen Titans training montage in which the heroes learn one another’s powers. Naturally, Dick Grayson chooses to remain secretive, but the return of the ill-fated Nuclear Family forces him to suit up. The rest of the Titans watch in awe as he tears the villains apart, and only gradually remember they’re supposed to be fighting back as well. By the end of the episode, though, there’s not one Robin but two - as Jason Todd, Dick’s successor, unexpectedly turns up in Chicago.
Why didn’t Dick know about this new Robin, and why isn’t Jason Todd in Gotham? Does Doctor Adamson work for Trigon, as seems to be hinted in ‘Together’? And just what would Dick have said if Garth admitted he’s eaten people while in tiger form? It’s time to look at all this week’s unanswered questions.
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9. What Was With The Chicken’s Egg?
‘Together’ began in a very strange way, with Doctor Adamson breaking an egg - and discovered a chicken embryo inside it. While it’s not uncommon to find spots of blood in organic eggs, it’s far more unusual to find a chicken embryo, as store-bought eggs aren’t fertilized. Titans made quite a big deal of Doctor Adamson’s discovery, complete with sinister music, although it’s not entirely clear why. Given Adamson’s motto about being unable to make an omelette without breaking eggs, it may have been intended to foreshadow his fate. Either way, it was creepy and gross.
8. What Would Dick Have Done If Beast Boy Said He Ate People?
The training sequence in this week’s episode of Titans is tremendous, and it’s great to see the team begin to trust one another. Beast Boy’s transformation into a tiger is largely played for laughs at first, particularly given his embarrassment because he has to strip off before shapeshifting for fear of ruining his favorite jacket. But the Titans are nonetheless impressed when a bright green tiger emerges from the shadows, slinking towards them. When the demonstration is over, Dick - clearly fascinated by the question of whether Beast Boy loses himself in his animal form - asks if he’s ever eaten anyone. It’s amusing to wonder just what Robin would have done if Beast Boy answered “Yes.”
7. How Familiar is Dick Grayson With Metahumans?
As exciting as it to see the Titans demonstrate their powers to one another, there’s something very strange about Dick’s reaction to it. On the one hand, he seems to have worked with metahumans before, and adapts his “combat training” to suit the Titans with ease. On the other, though, he seems absolutely mesmerized by the power sets on display, watching Starfire’s Starbolts with wide-eyed wonder, and expressing incredulity when he realizes Beast Boy needs to strip for fear of shredding his clothes. This seems at odds with the fact that Titans takes place in a world where Batman has been an active vigilante for quite some time, and there’s already been a hint that Superman exists in some form.
Page 2 of 2: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Robins
6. So Why Did Dick Grayson Suit Up In The First Episode?
Dick Grayson’s character arc in Titans really doesn’t quite make sense. In ‘Together’, Dick explains to the Titans that he headed to Detroit in the hopes of leaving his vigilante life behind him. Unfortunately, that sits strangely with the premiere. There, one of the very first things we saw Dick do was suit up as Robin for the first time in a year. Meanwhile, if Dick is so determined to move on from his superhero career, why does he still carry the Robin case with him everywhere he goes? He’s like an alcoholic who wants to prove his resilience by keeping a fully-stocked wine cellar.
5. How Did The Nuclear Family Find The Porsche?
The episode opens with the Titans driving around in a minivan rather than a Porsche, a decision that evokes memories of the far more lighthearted Teen Titans Go! As ‘Together’ continues, it’s revealed that they traded in the Porsche at a used-car dealership, in part because Dick figured it was a good idea to drop such a distinctive car while they’re being hunted. Unfortunately, this doesn’t delay the Nuclear Family for long. They somehow track the Porsche to the right car dealer within just a few hours - and it’s unclear just how they achieved that.
4. What Happened to the Woman who Runs the Hotel?
‘Together’ reinforces a classic comic book trope - that Dick Grayson is quite the ladies’ man. In this case, not only does he sleep with Starfire, no sooner has he gone than the hotel owner is knocking on his door. She’s lonely, she has a bottle of wine, and she hopes her new guest will be receptive to her charms. Oddly, she doesn’t seem to care that she’s just seen another woman walking out of his room late at night. Dick turns the hotel owner down, but no sooner has he closed the door than he hears signs of a scuffle - the Nuclear Family have arrived. We’re clearly meant to assume that the poor woman was killed simply because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but the Titans don’t seem at all concerned about her death. Nobody suggests calling the police, and they continue to use the hotel as a base of operations. That’s just cold.
3. Why Did The Titans Leave Their Prisoners Unattended?
With the Nuclear Family defeated, the Titans follow a very strange interrogation routine; Dick and Starfire talk to the parents, Raven and Beast Boy to the children. It’s not particularly clear why Dick thought the two teenagers would be useful in an interrogation; it would surely have been more sensible for him to talk to the parents, and Starfire to the kids. Matters become even stranger when Dick heads out to check the Nuclear Family’s car; he’s soon joined by Starfire, which means the parents had been left alone. Even weirder, moments later Beast Boy and Raven gather round as well. For some reason, the Titans decided it was fine to leave their prisoners unattended - and, bizarrely, it turns out they were right. The Family doesn’t even seem to attempt to escape.
2. Does Doctor Adamson Work For Trigon?
It’s amusingly easy for Dick to follow the trail back from the Nuclear Family to Doctor Adamson - he simply checks their phone’s GPS. The brief conversation between Dick and Adamson isn’t especially illuminating, with the supposed medic hinting that he may well work for Raven’s father - “in a manner of speaking.” He then counts down the moments until a strike team will break in to kill himself and Dick. It’s the first real suggestion that there’s a larger organization behind Adamson and the Nuclear Family, but strangely it’s one that Dick ignores. In spite of the fact he was forewarned literally minutes before the strike team arrives, he’s taken by surprise.
1. What’s Going On With Jason Todd?
It’s exciting to finally see Dick Grayson meet his successor to the Robin mantle, Jason Todd, but this in itself raises some very strange questions. The first, of course, is why nobody knows there’s a new Robin - remember, back in the premiere it was confirmed that Gotham hasn’t seen Robin in action for a year. The second is just why Jason is in Chicago, not in Gotham, and how he knew to intervene at that precise second; hopefully, next week’s episode will answer that question. It’s also interesting to speculate whether or not he’s there with Batman’s permission; does the Dark Knight even know what his sidekick is doing or where he is?
In the comics, Dick Grayson and Jason Todd built up a firm friendship, bonding in part because Jason had respect for the legendary hero whose name he had inherited. The sparse dialogue between the two suggests the same will happen in Titans.
