DC Universe’s Titans: Episode 11, Dick Grayson Review

WELP, I gotta tip my hat to DC Universe and eat crow (but not raven), as I take back every skeptical or bad thing I ever said about Titans. Well, that’s not entirely true, because those first three episodes of the show were a slog. “Dick Grayson” isn’t just the series’ best episode thus far, it was damn fine television. No caveats needed, either; it was a really, really good.

Dream a Little Dream

I was concerned, after last episode, how they would proceed having just unleashed the ultimate evil upon the world. Imagine my surprise when the episode opens in sunny California, with Dick Grayson floating in a pool. It is immediately clear that this is a dream world, as he interacts with his son Johnny, and his beautiful, pregnant wife Dawn. Their idyllic life includes video chats with a healthy, happy-looking Rachel and Gar who are at college together, and are close family friends to Dawn and Dick.

The dream begins to crack as Jason Todd enters their life in a wheelchair, after being shot through the spine by the Riddler (yes, this bears more than passing resemblance to The Killing Joke). Jason Todd proceeds to warn Dick that Batman has gone to a dark place, that he wants to kill Joker, and that Gotham has fallen even further.

Guilt, Memory, and Dark Desires

A constant theme throughout the episode is Dick wrestling with the hero’s journey. There are several points, throughout, in which Dick attempts to refuse the call to action, but ultimately finds himself pulled further and further within. Initially, he says he doesn’t want to go to Gotham at all, but he is goaded to action by a talking stuffed animal (nope, not a joke, GO WITH IT).

Once in Gotham, we are presented with a fascinating version of the city through Dick’s own warped reality. The city is a hellscape with prostitution, violence, and murder literally on every corner and in the streets. It’s a telling display of his guilt of leaving the city “unprotected,” and possibly his own dark hope that Batman is unable to control the city without his Robin.

As Dick sits in the seediest hotel imaginable, he again struggles with just walking away from it all, only to fall in deeper again. Viewers can already infer this is Trigon’s doing, but when Trigon appears as a friendly police detective who so desperately wants to help clean up Gotham, the show goes very dark, very fast (this is the “crossing the threshold” portion of the journey).

The Grimmest of Grimdarks

Titans has spent a lot of time pondering the nature of costumed super heroes. Dick has wondered, aloud, about his violent tendencies and his fear that he will eventually go too far. It’s no wonder, then, that this fear is reflected in his dream world’s version of Batman. Batman begins by throwing the Joker from a rooftop, but then escalates to killing every inhabitant of Arkham. Batman goes from shadowy vigilante to boogeyman who kills without pause and cannot be stopped.

Again, it’s an interesting view into Dick’s psyche. As much as Batman is a dark reflection of Dick’s fears, it’s also very clear that Dick worries for his ex-mentor. He worries his mentor will become unhinged without Dick there to balance him. He also worries that no one is able to communicate with or stop Batman except Dick. Read that sentence again because it’s a very important concept in the episode: the idea that Dick’s concern is laced with a fair amount of arrogance. Dick doesn’t think he needs Bruce, but he wants Bruce to need him.

It’s possible this is Trigon’s influence, but he states later in the episode that this darkness was in Dick the whole time. As Dick beats Batman (literally), his eyes begin to darken like Rachel’s, a sign he has embraced this awful side of himself.

Dick, Jason, and Rachel

You may recall, in episode 9, Dawn awakens from her coma and tells Hank they need to find Jason Todd. It’s unclear what roll Jason will play in this, but it is Jason Todd who first approaches Dick in his dream world and initiates the call to action. Can he not do so if Dawn and Hank intercept him? Is it possible that Trigon was merely showing Dick a glimpse of a not-to-distant future, and Hank and Dawn need to intercede? Is there, in fact, some truth to the whole dream?

The episode ends on a cliffhanger, with Dick smiling in his newfound darkness, and Trigon being pleased with his new solider. Rachel alone is horrified by what she sees, which I have no doubt will be of great importance later. Thus far, Rachel has been trusting of her mother and now Trigon, but this might be the final straw that helps her find herself, and learn to fight back.