The second season of DC Universe's Titans has come to a close.
While the finale episode, "Nightwing," doesn't end on the cliffhanger the first season did,
it also doesn't fail to raise more questions than it answers.
Kory's powers prove less reliable over the season's last couple of episodes, and by "Nightwing"
they disappear completely.
She's shocked to learn she's lost any immunity to bullets when Deathstroke shoots her early
in the episode.
She hasn't been able to use her energy weapons since the previous episode, and her brief
and embarrassingly futile attempt to put a dent in Superboy with her fists proves that
her abilities have completely left her.
So far, though, we have no idea what the cause of her power loss is.
Whatever has drained Kory's powers from her, Blackfire certainly seems like the most likely
culprit.
It isn't clear how Kory's sister could've made it happen, but evil alien queens aren't
known for their lack of resources.
The final scene of "Nightwing" - in which we see Blackfire arrive on Earth - suggests
she has big plans for her sister.
Another possibility is that her power loss is psychosomatic, like the fluctuation of
Spider-Man's powers in 2004's Spider-Man 2.
Since the beginning of Titans' second season, Kory has learned her sister has stolen her
throne, her family has been killed, and finally Kory is forced to kill a former lover.
Honestly, she probably has way more stress than Peter Parker ever did.
As soon as it was confirmed at the end of the eleventh episode that Jericho was alive,
we've wondered exactly how Dick Grayson planned on saving his old friend.
Killing Deathstroke would presumably kill Jericho as well, unless he had another body
to jump into.
Rose solves the problem in "Nightwing" by offering her body up to Jericho to inhabit
before finally killing their sinister father.
Now that we know how Jericho is saved, we're left asking exactly how this brother/sister
pair is going to live with their shared body.
From what little we see of Jericho's time in his father's body, it seems clear Deathstroke
never willingly gave up control to his son, whereas Rose lets her brother emerge right
away so he can talk to Dick.
This drastic shift for both characters isn't going to be easy.
For now, Jericho is likely grateful to have any time in the world at all, but soon tensions
are bound to rise between him and Rose.
One moment in "Nightwing" that likely raised a lot of questions for fans is the supposed
death of Slade Wilson, a.k.a. Deathstroke.
Rose runs her father through with her sword, and Dick confirms the assassin's death.
"Is he...dead?
Yeah."
Not so fast, Dick.
In season 2's penultimate episode we see the extent of Rose's healing powers.
She puts the muzzle of a gun to her hand and blows a hole through it, only to have the
flesh heal moments later.
Rose inherited these healing powers from her father, so you would think it would take more
than a sword to the chest to take him out for good.
Perhaps it's as simple as Slade's healing powers not being quite as powerful as they
are in the comics, but we're just not convinced that we've seen the last of him.
Remember, this isn't the first time the Titans thought he was dead.
"I thought he was dead.
Yeah, we all did.
But he's alive and well in San Francisco."
Maybe the Titans version doesn't have a healing factor as beefy as Wolverine's or Deadpool's,
but a sword through the chest still seems far too easy of a way to die for a man who
single-handedly killed a handful of Themysciran warriors before beating the tar out of Donna
Troy earlier in season 2.
Some of the most tragic circumstances to befall any of the Titans are forced upon Gar in season
2.
For the past few episodes, Gar's been suffering from a mental reconditioning courtesy of Mercy
Graves and Cadmus Laboratories.
When the right piece of classical music is played, Gar shifts into his tiger form and
kills anyone unlucky enough to be nearby.
In "Nightwing," Rachel is able to cut through Cadmus' conditioning with her powers and bring
Gar back to sanity.
But will it stick?
"Okay Gar that was not cool"
Gar's brainwashing wasn't the sort of demonic possession that many of the other Titans had
suffered at the hands of Trigon in the season premiere.
It could be that Rachel's powers healed the damage that was done to Gar completely, but
it could also be that she was only able to break him out of that particular violent episode.
It seems likely that no one will know for sure if Gar is free and clear from Cadmus'
conditioning until the next time he hears that same classical music.
Unfortunately, if Gar does still prove susceptible to the trigger, with Rachel in Themyscira
the Titans may find themselves unable to stop their friend from going on a rampage.
In season 2's penultimate episode, Jason Todd does not react well to the revelation that
Rose was originally meant to be Deathstroke's mole among the Titans.
In spite of Rose assuring Jason her feelings for him changed her loyalties, it's too much
for the already troubled young Robin to bear.
He leaves Rose and is completely absent from the two climactic fights in "Nightwing."
We don't see him until he appears on a motorcycle when the Titans transfer Donna Troy's body
to the Themyscirans - presumably both as a final show of respect to his former teammate,
as well as a way to let Dick know not to expect to see him any time soon.
But is he gone for good?
Jason Todd has a rocky history in the comics and animated films.
The second boy to wear Robin's costume eventually dies at the hands of the Joker and returns
years later as the Red Hood.
"Jason."
"Yes."
We have no way of knowing if Jason will go down similar roads in Titans, but while Dick
and Bruce might show the minimum of respect for his decisions, it seems unlikely they
won't at least keep tabs on him, if not outright try to bring him back to the fold.
Donna Troy's death after the battle with the brainwashed Superboy in "Nightwing" came as
a surprise for everyone, although it's fair to say that nobody was more shocked than Donna
herself.
But what we've seen from Donna would suggest she should be able to survive the injury that
kills her.
Moments before, Donna proves to be the only member of the Titans able to actually trade
blows with Conner.
Though she clearly doesn't win the fight, a person surviving even a couple of unrestrained
blows from someone with the power of Superman would suggest they don't die easy.
It could be that Donna's death is a set up for the character's return sometime in season
3 or beyond.
Rachel leaves for Themyscira specifically with the goal of finding a way to bring Donna
back, and it wouldn't be the first time the character was rescued from the land of the
dead.
The Donna Troy of the comics was believed killed in the 2003 miniseries Titans/Young
Justice: Graduation Day, only for that to be a fake-out.
She came back to the Titans in a 2005 series whose title might very well end up being the
name of a season 3 Titans episode - The Return of Donna Troy.
Throughout Titans' second season, we see Rachel's powers manifest in lots of unpredictable ways.
We see her unintentionally hurt both herself and Gar in her sleep with it.
Perhaps most shockingly, in "Fallen" Rachel's abilities - without her knowledge or intent
- bring a stone gargoyle to life that hunts down a new friend's abusive father.
By the end of "Nightwing," we learn the summons that Rachel, Kory, Donna, and Dawn received
to meet Bruce Wayne at a diner in Nevada didn't come from the real Bruce, and everything Kory
has seen leads her to believe Rachel somehow unconsciously made it all happen.
At the same time, the season 2 finale sees Rachel's powers evolve to the point where
she can use them to heal.
She wakes Gar from his mental conditioning, and with the touch of her hand heals Kory's
gunshot wound.
She seems to think she may actually be able to bring Donna Troy back from the dead, and
boards the plane to Themyscira in hopes of doing just that.
So, what's going on with Rachel's powers?
All we know for sure is that Rachel's father is defeated long before she has a chance to
learn the true limits of her abilities.
Themyscira might be the perfect place for Rachel to learn more.
In the flashback episode "Aqualad," the OG Titan Aqualad dies at Deathstroke's hands.
In "Jericho," we learn that Aqualad wasn't Slade Wilson's real target.
It's revealed that Jillian - the older Themysciran museum curator who seems to be part benefactor
and part mentor to Donna Troy - was Slade's quarry.
Before his fateful battle with Dick Grayson that ends with Jericho's presumed death, Deathstroke
makes good on his contract and gets rid of Jillian.
What we never learn is exactly why Jillian's head was on the chopping block.
It isn't difficult to imagine that a Themysciran like Jillian has made enemies over the years,
but we don't get any specifics.
What's even more curious is that when Wintergreen first gives Slade the details of the contract
in "Aqualad," he describes it as "easy."
The idea of targeting any Themysciran and describing the job as "easy" is insane.
Lex Luthor has yet to make an appearance in Titans beyond pictures of him as a child,
but Superman's arch-nemesis still has a powerful presence in the show's second season.
In the episode "Conner," Superboy learns his DNA is a combination of Luthor's and Superman's.
The young hero visits Luthor's elderly father in Smallville, and it doesn't take long before
we learn Luthor is behind the experiments that created Conner.
Toward the end of "Nightwing," Mercy Graves is more than a little concerned to learn Luthor
is on the phone waiting to hear about her failure.
"It's Mr. Luthor."
It seems like Lex Luthor has been groomed to be for season 3 what Bruce Wayne was to
season 2.
While there's been no confirmation as of yet that Luthor will appear in Titans' third go-around,
it doesn't seem likely that the billionaire would allow his creation, Superboy, to remain
in the company of his greatest enemy's allies.
Obviously, Titans is about the Titans and the integrity of the show would suffer if
suddenly Aquaman and the Flash started regularly showing up on the series.
Still, considering the events of season 2, the question has to be asked - exactly where
is the Justice League and why aren't they getting more involved?
"OH, NO."
By the end of "Nightwing," the history of the Titans has seen the deaths of two sidekicks
- Aqualad and Donna Troy.
Another sidekick, Jason Todd, is off the grid.
Wonder Woman must be well aware that the same Deathstroke the Titans struggled with this
season is the one who murdered her Themysciran sisters for money years earlier.
And then there's Superman, who by now must know that a young man who is a merging of
his DNA and Lex Luthor's exists and has gone on a number of rampages in San Francisco.
So where are they?
At the very least how could Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Superman not get more involved
in the lives of the Titans?
Maybe Bruce Wayne acts as a buffer between the League and the Titans, and off-screen
he might be urging his fellow Leaguers to not interfere.
But particularly with what we know of Wonder Woman's warrior sense of honor, the notion
she would allow so many fellow Themyscirans to fall without getting involved more directly
seems strange.
Eh, you know what?
Maybe Dick just told them all to stay away.
You know how he can be.
"F--- Batman."
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