‘Titans’ S2, E1: ‘Trigon’ Spoiler Review – “A Phenomenal Season One Finale”

“The season premiere continues the apocalyptic events of last season as Trigon sets out to win the Titans over to his side by embracing their inner darkness.” – Titans S2, E1 ‘Trigon’ Synopsis

This is a spoiler review for ‘Trigon’, the opening episode of Season 2 of Titans. For those who prefer not to read any spoilers, we recommend you check out the non-spoiler review to get a more simple breakdown of the episode.

Simply put, ‘Trigon’ is the season one finale we needed from last year. In fact, the first 30 minutes or so are clearly remnants from episode 12 of Season One. In this section, we get to take a look into the core six’s minds as they have their hearts broken. The team finishes dealing with Trigon, with Rachel taking an extreme transformation from a scared girl into a confident young woman. She kills it in this episode.

From dealing with Trigon, we take a turn into the newer footage of the episode. The latter half makes me wish the full episode had been as well done. Morales is sinister in his role as Deathstroke, and we’ve only seen him for ten minutes. His footage could have made for a great cliffhanger for a season finale. Iain Glen does a fair job with Bruce Wayne. His English accent, however, is still there in the background. I hope that improves through the rest of the season.

The conflict between Trigon and Raven feels like nothing. There was no development in their relationship through the first season. It would have benefitted from some additional dialogue between the two in this episode. I do have a strong feeling we’ll see Trigon again, but I could be wrong. Titans feels determined to leave its middling season one in the past.

It was widely known footage got cut, but with a streaming service, the showrunners could have taken the platform to its advantage. They could have delayed the twelfth episode’s release, added additional cast members, reshot some footage, and then released this episode as the true season finale. Let it drum up hype for a second season. Morales was cast in March. There was enough time to shoot these scenes with him and release a final episode in June or July to start marketing up for the second season.

But now to the future full of hope. You can feel a shift in the cast, and in the cinematography in general. The horrendous color filter on the show has mostly disappeared. Hopefully, its appearance in this episode was a remainder from season one scenes, and we won’t see it again. The costumes look worlds better, and Croft is rocking a much better wig. As for the Deathstroke costume, the hype for that costume in photos was nothing like seeing it on the screen. Because the few glimpses we see of it are genuinely superb. In all honesty, I can’t wait to see it in action.

The cast feels friendlier. You can tell the chemistry has increased. Curran Walters being upgraded to a series regular is a huge plus, he’s an obnoxious ball of fun that gets the cast moving. I can tell that he and Alan Ritchson are going to make a great pair.

So what is the overall verdict? This is a messy episode, responsible for way too much in being a finale, yet also a premiere. But ‘Trigon’ has a lot of positives and showcases a new direction for the series. I’m excited to see where we go in season 2 of Titans.

Rating: 7/10

The second season of Titans is streaming on the DC Universe app now. Season 2 Episode 2: ‘Rose’ will be available on the application September 13th at 9 am EST.

The show stars Brenton Thwaites as Dick Grayson/Robin, Anna Diop as Starfire, Teagan Croft as Raven, Alan Ritchson as Hawk, Minka Kelly as Dove, Ryan Potter as Beast Boy, Iain Glen as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Chelsea Zhang as Rose Wilson/Ravager and Esai Morales as Slade Wilson/Deathstroke.