Im Really Hoping That Titans!Dick Saying That Jason Doesnt Read Is Going To Be Used As A Literary Device

I’m really hoping that Titans!Dick saying that Jason doesn’t read is going to be used as a literary device to show how little he knew him, rather than the slander it is now

So I think a lot of us can agree that Titans isnt a great show. But not just with their portrayals of the characters but also with the writing.

I personally can forgive what Titans has done with the different takes of the characters, don’t get me wrong it’s still shit but that’s not what this post is about.

The show is just packed full of bad writing. This coming from someone who has studied film for over 4 years. But anyone who knows anything can see how bad the writing is.

(I will be waiting to pass judgment on season 3 until the entire season is out, so this will be focusing of season 1 and 2)

Analysis under the cut

Firstly they will establish something, only for them to completely forget about that fact next episode. Case and point in episode 7 of season 2 Dick finds out that Deathstroke has been stalking them and is in the tower. After that he rushes back, visibly distraught with a gun in hand dramatically declaring that Deathstroke was there in the building. Only for in the very next episode for that fact to have been completely forgotten and now they’re all just leaving and it never gets brought up again.

This isn’t the only time something like this has happened but it’s the most glaringly obvious one.

Something that they also do which is most prevalent in season 2 is the spacing of the events between episodes. Titans will dedicate entire episodes just for one part of the story. This may work for some shows, specifically sitcoms that are aired on tv. Shows like The Big Bang Theory or Friends that viewers generally aren’t going to be watching in the correct order so they’re made to be stand alone episodes. But Titans isn’t a sitcom nor is it being aired on tv. What they really should have done is spread these scenes out over several episodes as flashbacks rather than to condense them down into one episode. Because by having the full flashback episodes it makes the show feel disjointed and they interrupt the drama and the suspense. It’s like getting to the climax of a film only to be interrupted by a 40 minute ad. You end up not really caring for the episode because you just want to know what happens with the cliffhanger from the previous episode. When really the events of these flashback episodes should be the most important and interesting part of the show. Where we get to see what happened between the Titans that made them brake up and character backstories and the like.

I think the most disappointing use of this is with the episode ‘Connor’. Rather than condensing Conners entire backstory up to meeting the Titans into one episode leaves a lot to be desired. I would have much preferred to have seen his backstory of escaping Cadmus and his relationship with Eve spread out over sever episodes in tandem to what was happen with the main cast. It would have created a lot more build up and anticipation for him finally meeting up with the rest of the Titans. Whereas what we got was one episode where we could easily guess exactly what was going to happen and where too distracted by Jason supposedly falling to his death to really appreciate the episode.

Secondly, is the shows pacing. It is all over the place. Season 1 was especially bad when it came to this and season 2 was only marginally better. Obviously I’m going to be talking about what happened with Trigon.

Fist of all the decisions for Trigon to be the big bad of the fist season was an interesting decision to say the least. But let’s forget about the comic book aspect and look at what made this season so bad writing wise.

Basically it all boils down to set up and pay off. The set up obviously being how the show sets up the climax, in this case the battle against Trigon. And the pay off basically being how rewarding the climax feels for the audience. With good writing you will have a pay off that is equal to or greater than the set up. If there’s not much set up then it’s easier for the pay off to be worth it for the audience. However in Titans case they set up the battle against Trigon right from the get go slowly building it up over the season, painting him as this neigh unbeatable force. Admittedly Titans was already of to a bad start with their decision to include Trigon in the first season what with the comic fans already knowing about his character and having to live up to the pre existing show Teen Titans as well as the animated movies. In a way they set themselves up for failure.

However where they really let themselves selves down was with the pay off. After having all this build up for the battle against Trigon, the final product falls extremely short. Where they really went off was not including the finale for the season in the actual season but instead moving it to the fist episode of season 2. I don’t know about any one else but when I went into season two after how season 1 ended I was expecting a majority of the episodes to be about the trying to defeat Trigon. But not even 40 minutes in and he’s defeated. This felt extremely unrewarding and underwhelming after waiting an entire season and the time in between to find out what’s going to happen next, only for him to be defeated almost immediately with little to no fuss.

This battle should have definitely been drawn out more. Taking place over several episodes or at least and entire one, where all of the Titans have to work together and struggle to defeat him. Rather than Raven just going out there herself and beating him instantly. There was no reward there. It was just over.

They had a similar problem in season 2 with Deathstroke, one of the Titans main villains. Going through all this build up and emotional turmoil only for him to just be stabbed and oh look he’s dead. You don’t just kill Deathstroke.

Side note: no one checked for a pulse, so I am personally of the opinion that he wasn’t actually dead but was just laying there playing dead hopping no one realised

Finally in this list of examples of bad writing is their tendency to introduce something new out of nowhere with no previous foreshadowing. The most obvious example being in season 2 episode 7 where out of no where we find out that Dick is hallucinating seeing Bruce. This came out of absolutely no where when there should have really been some build up to this. Maybe we could have seen Dick acting oddly, or Talking to no one or really anything. But we got nothing. It felt like someone had just come up with the idea on the day of filming with no previous forethought. Not to mention the fact that it basically only lasted the one episode, with it briefly coming back in episode 11.

Tl:dr: Titans had so much potential to be a great show but they just fell short with the writing. Everything just feels very rushed and not very thought over and they definitely could have done better.

P.S There is definitely still good writing in Titans however. Mostly to do with their portrayals of mental health. So don’t take this post as me just dissing on Titans. Maybe I’ll write another post about the good writing or analysing their camera usage, idk.

I mean yeah technically the characters can be as off as the writers want. And seeing as it’s a tv show it’s not going to effect anything in the main continuity anyway. However there comes certain expectations with the show being based of off events that happen in the comics, especially season 3 with the red hood storyline

Hot take: If Titans wasn’t based of off comics I would actually really enjoy it and so would a lot of other people

Jason: I hate Batman. I want him dead by my hand. I’ll kill him without remorse.

Batman: I care about you and I want to help you.

Jason:

It took me wayyyyy to long to realise the nightwings discowing suit is his disco-wing suit and not his dis-cow-ing suit. However I will continue to pronounce it my way as I’m too far in now to stop.

I also stand by the fact that it should have been called the discowl. Get it disco + cowl = discowl.

I’ll shut up now

And I would hate it if the show did follow the comics exactly. But if you look at shows like young justice that adapt storylines from the comics into their own context people love that. And I think the difference is that the characters are still true to who they are in the comics, you could look at the decisions that yj characters make and it would still make sense for their comic counterparts. You can’t do that for Titans.

I can also admit however that some of my distain for Titans probably comes from some internalised toxicity. I went into the show expecting it to be bad and therefore it was.

Hot take: If Titans wasn’t based of off comics I would actually really enjoy it and so would a lot of other people