"Aqualad" – Titans S02E04 Review

While I wouldn't call "Aqualad" a dud, I wouldn't call it a thrill per minute episode of Titans, either. Or even a thrill. The creative team and writer Jamie Gorneberg set out to tell us a story from the Titans' past. And they... tell us a story from the Titans' past.

Part of it is that there's no real connection to the other characters. And the connections that we've seen are primarily with the "new" Titans. Dick Grayson, yes. But Rachel, Gar, Kory, and to a lesser degree Jason have been the big focuses. "Aqualad" doesn't deal with any of them except Dick. It's mostly about Donna (Conor Leslie) and newcomer Aqualad (Drew Van Acker). Who is soon...

*spoilers*

Deadlad.

Along the way we don't find out anything about the Titans, old or new. We hear that Dick doesn't want to become Batman. But there are veiled references to Wonder Woman, and no mention at all of any Aquaman. Not the blonde-haired one, not the Jason Momoa-ish one. The creative team couldn't even throw in an in-joke about Alan Ritchson having once played Aquaman on Smallville.

What brought the Titans together? Where is the Roy Harper that they mentioned twice a couple of episodes ago? Is there a Kid Flash in this New Titans? Who is Jericho (Chella Man)? Why does Slade look all scowly when he runs surveillance on Jericho and his mother Adeline (Mayko Nguyen), and then take a shot at who might or might not be Aqualad?

Yes, some of us know from the comics that Jericho is Slade's son, Joseph. The one that Rose said Slade killed. But for anyone coming in cold, I'd think showing Jericho twice would be confusing as heck. Who is this guy and why is he important enough that we see him at home making lasagna for Adeline, and later having a meet cute with Dick? I don't know, and the script doesn't help us out. Yes, it tells us Jericho and Slade are connected, but if Slade wants Jericho dead, why doesn't he kill him? Adeline seems worried that Slade wants them dead. But... he doesn't?

So why is Slade watching Jericho? Glad you asked. The episode takes place "5 years later" in San Francisco. Robin, Hawk, Dove, Aqualad, and Wonder Girl are hanging out at Titans Tower, and patrolling the streets to beat up on low-life gangers who attack a family driving through the bad part of town in their SUV, rather than the Family Trumpster. It takes five superheroes, albeit three without any superpowers, to beat up on either three or four gangers. The fight choreography is a little confusing.

We also get introduced to Aqualad, who to his credit has a cool power--hydrokinesis—and a decent-looking costume. Wonder Girl is also present in her red onesie from the comics. Probably because they couldn't pull off the star-speckled black onesie.

Back at Titans Tower, the team are in their civvies celebrating Aqualad's birthday, and we find out his "real" name is Garth. Garth and Hank have a bantering relationship, and Garth's personality is a bit like Aquaman's in the animated Batman: The Brave & The Bold: blunt and grandiose. But while he's full of himself, Garth seems to have some self-knowledge of that.

We also get the central story of the episode, which is that Garth has feelings for Donna. Donna is on a mission to man's world from Themyscira, and doesn't want to get too involved. We don't find out much about Themyscira, except that it's connected to the Amazons and Wonder Woman. I don't know if it's connected to the movie Wonder Woman. Who is connected to the movie Justice League, which is connected to Aquaman. But Iain Glen isn't Ben Affleck, so I guess... the movie Wonder Woman isn't the Titans Wonder Woman?

Donna has suppressed feelings for Garth, and we find out they shared a childhood together because the Amazons and the Atlanteans have some kind of cultural exchange. And that Finding Nemo was a thing during their childhood because Garth got Donna a clownfish even though it was chilly waters. Which means the poor clownfish would have died, but as long as Aqualad got to first base.

During this, Dr. Light (Michael Mosley) is running around being all super-villainy. He tortures his former partner Jacob to find out where an activator is. It turns out the activator is a nuclear-missile laser-shooting system. Or the activator is the key part of it, and it's hidden in a safety deposit box. So Light breaks into a bank to get the activator. At least, I think it's the activator because later he finds the laser gun and slaps a piece in it. But how were the military going to use the laser gun if they didn't have activator for it?

Then, there's the fact Light wears a clunky gladiator-like costume is gaslit here. It's never explained why he's dressed like a gladiator. His first name is Arthur, not Joey, and we never find out if he likes gladiator movies.

But in any case, the Titans catch up to Light and his thugs at a military base. Hawk and Dove beat up the thugs, while Robin, Wonder Girl, and Aqualad take on Light. Aqualad can cross his arms and block light beams, and I'm not clear if he has laser-deflecting bracers, or if he's just that tough, or what. Aqualad's light beam-blocking buys the rest of the team enough time for the other Titans to take down Light.

During this, Donna has been meeting with an art gallery owner, Jillian (Ann Magnuson). Jillian is either a secret Amazon, or has connection to them. Although she originally tells Donna she can stay in the "real world" for another few months, Donna is soon telling the team that she has to leave immediately. Aqualad is giving up on his romantic efforts, and Donna throws him onto her bed and they have sex.

Then Donna tells Dick she's leaving and goes to the airport to leave with Jillian. When Aqualad learns what's going on, he goes there and professes his true wuv to Donna. She hugs him, and Deathstroke aims a shot at one of them. The bullet takes Aqualad in the chest, killing him, and Deathstroke gets away. At the end, the remaining Titans identify Slade and vow to make him pay. A lot.

During this, we get Slade (Esai Morales) killing a judge at a Federal building, along with everyone in his way. His buddy, Wintergreen (Demore Barnes), gives him a new assignment. Then we see Jericho and Adeline at home, Adeline telling Jericho to be careful, and Slade watching them.

Later, Jericho is at a record store and meets Dick. The two of them bond over British bands.

And... that's it. The fight scenes are so-so: mostly they're Hawk and Dove doing a lot of hand-to-hand fighting and Dove cutting open bad guys with her sharp cape. Aqualad has a couple of decent water-blasting scenes. Wonder Girl flips her lasso around a bit. Superpower-wise there's not much. But I suppose there's not supposed to be: Titans, and the DC Universe Channel so far, are pretty low on the special-effects totem.

As a one-off, "Aqualad" is okay. It's mostly carried on the strength of Van Acker's shoulders, and he does a decent job. It's hard to feel too much about Aqualad's situation, because he's sharing scenes with Donna. They make a good couple, but we don't know enough about Donna to care about her or her romantic situation, or her conflict between her "destiny" on Themyscira and her staying in man's world. How that all ties in with her life as a bounty hunter-type in the modern day, I don't know. Is she still hunting Deathstroke to get revenge for Aqualad's death? There's been no mention of it so far, or any sign that she's vengeance-driven.

Hank and Dawn are pretty much non-entities. We get a bit with Dawn as Dick's at-the-time girlfriend. Why she's partnered with Hawk, I'm not sure. Robin & Dove? She does all of her fighting with Hawk, which I would think would be kind of awkward.

None of the actors are bad in it. Van Acker is pretty good, Leslie is pretty good even if the sudden stab at character development is out of left-field and doesn't seem reflected in the character's modern-day actions. Ditto for Deathstroke killing Aqualad. Nobody on the old team seems too concerned about it in the modern day except about Rose's connection to Slade. Jason of the New Titans is the one who identifies Slade as Rose's father, and seems to be the only one who recognizes Slade initially.

It's just that the story is kind of blah, other than as a "Here's the Old Titans that the old team members keep talking about!" extended flashback. It feels like there are several pieces missing: what happened to Donna in the last five years? Why is Slade so interested in Jericho? Why does Jericho matter to anything? There are good set pieces, like Deathstroke killing the Federal Building members as jaunty music plays in the background. But it doesn't contribute anything to the main storyline, except as an introduction to a character who we haven't seen in the modern day and probably won't.

So A for effort, but "Aqualad" seems to steal some momentum from the current modern-day storyline. But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?