Titans Season 2 Episode 12 Review: Faux Hawk
Paul Dailly
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That was a disjointed.
Titans Season 2 Episode 12 was another installment that threw a bunch of plots at viewers to see which would stick.
Dick's journey since Titans Season 1 Episode 1 has been about confronting the sins of the past and moving on with his life.
"Faux Hawk" shed light on his psyche following the dismantling of the Titans. He's back, and ready to take down Deathstroke once and for all.
It had to come together somehow, and it appears that Titans Season 2 Episode 13 will feature the deadly final battle between the two enemies.
The pace of the recent installments has been way off, and this installment would have been better as a standalone one with Dick making his way back from the prison after escaping.
The driving force for him right now is the knowledge that a part of Jericho is trapped inside his father's mind, but that leads me to question how he plans to get Jericho out of there.
Mercy: What happened?
Walter: I'm not exactly sure.
Mercy: Home invasion?
Walter: Uh, a brunette and a blonde. The delivered my sushi, they wanted to see my hydrofoil.
It was refreshing that Jericho did not blame Dick for everything that happened. It would have been predictable for him to return and be anti-Titans, but Jericho understands that his father is a piece of work.
Jericho felt at home at Titans Tower, hanging with the likes of Donna, Dawn, and Hank. He was a lost soul looking for meaning in life.
Dick manipulated him and brought him into the fold under false pretenses just to find out more about his father. It's understandable then that Dick would carry the guilt with him for what became of Jericho.
Now that Dick knows about Jericho's time in limbo, he's ready to move to the next phase of his life, and that includes suiting up as Nightwing.
Dick: Hey, Stu, how you been? I, uh, need a new pair of shoes.
Stu: Sorry, I don't make those anymore.
Dick: Look, I don't have a lot of time.
Stu: I'm in the fruitcake trade now. Just haven't had time to change the signage.
Dick: Okay. I need a new fruitcake.
Stu: The maligning of the fruitcake, I will never understand. Come here.
Dick: Look, I'm sorry.
Stu: Don't be sorry. Have a slice.
Dick: It wasn't personal.
Stu: Fruitcake is my life. My passion. I mean, if you don't like my work, you--
Dick: I love your work. That's why I came back here.
Stu: Would you like to put a match to this before you have a slice? Oh, wait, I should know. Sure, this should do it.
[Stu burns fruitcake.]
Stu: There, that's how Dick likes his fruitcake.
Dick: I'm sorry I burned your suit. I need your help, Stu. I need another one. Something different.
Stu: Well, Master Wayne said you'd be coming.
Dick: Of course he did.
Stu: Come on.
The true test will be whether he can get the family back together to take part in this final battle with Deathstroke.
Likely, killing Deathstroke will also result in the death of Jericho ... for good, this time.
Then again, there might be something Cadmus could do to make him a new body and transfer his consciousness.
Gar is going to struggle if he manages to survive Titans Season 2 Episode 13. His struggle with killing people, even if they deserve it, has weighed heavily on him.
Now that he's being controlled by Mercy Graves, a woman who will do anything for Lex Luthor.
We're still not clear on what the evil company plans to do with Conner. Will they even be able to change his frame of mind without Eve?
We've barely scratched the surface with Cadmus, and there's a good chance that the storyline will become more prominent on Titans Season 3.
Where does Hank fit into all of this, though?
Dick: Hey, Lily.
Lily: Hi ... Dick. Burning the suit?
Dick: I had a bad day.
Lily: Drama queen.
Stu: We're moving on, Lily. All behind us now. Let's show Dick what Master Wayne had us put together.
He's going through the motions of a breakup. Dawn was such a huge part of his life, but now that their relationship is over, he's questioning his purpose in the world.
He has a lot of built-up aggression, and that's likely why cagefighting appealed to him. He could get some of that out in a setting he liked.
The teenager stealing the Hawk suit was a contrived way of getting Hank to think about things differently.
Based on his body language alone, it seemed like he was bored of suiting up, but he also didn't want to put the superhero mantle on someone else.
Whether he will be able to make things right with Dawn, or even make his way back to the other Titans, I don't know.
Dawn and Donna working together brought delivered some good moments for them, but the show needs to stop relying on dynamic duos to give us some light in otherwise dark installments.
There has to be a way to get everyone together, and keep them together, or at the very least, trim the cast.
Servicing all of these characters is proving to be the series' detriment, and the producers should really think about streamlining the show if it wants to continue resonating with audiences.
Hank would be my pick to go if they do get rid of anyone, closely followed by Jason.
Jason is like a rollercoaster. One moment he's great, and the next, he's the most annoying character on TV.
His relationship (can we even call it that?) with Rose has been forced down our throats. In theory, it should work because they both have much in common.
But the execution of it has been lacking. Rose has been underdeveloped all season long, so it felt like an afterthought to give these exposition-heavy flashbacks.
They should have been part of their own Rose-centric episode, or not part of the narrative at all.
In the world of TV writing, saying what happened instead of showing it is frowned upon, but for this particular story, it could have been said without anyone bothering.
There's a lot of things up in the air as we approach Titans Season 2 Episode 13, the season finale.
Given the problems with Titans Season 2, it's time for the producers to assess what is and isn't working because the show is going in circles.
What do you think of it? Do you think there are too many characters?
What do you think Phase 2 is?
Hit the comments below.
Titans Season 2 concludes Friday, November 29.
Paul Dailly was an Associate Editor for TV Fanatic.Follow him on X.
