TV Review: Titans Season Four - Full Circle

 

"Titans" has always been a hit and miss kind of show. Character depictions, costumes, and story arcs have ranged from well done to questionable since the beginning. Then there's the gritty tone where it either works to the show's advantage or come off as trying too hard. Personally, season two remains the high point of the series where they got it mostly right, especially after a rough first outing. As we reach the fourth and final season of the show, it seems "Titans" has come full circle.

In many ways, season four is a return to form from the first, for better (another Doom Patrol guest appearance now with Joivan Wade's Cyborg) and for worse (an uptake in f-bombs that seem to be there for the sake of edginess). The biggest callback to season one though is that we once again deal with a supernatural threat and a horror tone throughout. Unfortunately, this leads to an overuse of the horror trope of blood coming from places or items it shouldn't, whether the character's hallucinating or it's magically appearing. It was used so much that I was pretty much desensitized to any blood being shown for the rest of the season, even during fights or character deaths. And don't get me started on all the terrible CGI snakes from the first half of the season.
For a final season with supernatural tones, it seemed fitting that the return of Trigon would be the big threat. And he does return in the finale in glorious fashion...only to get killed and have his power stolen by this series' incel version of Brother Blood (played by Joseph Morgan). Brother Blood started out as someone you could sympathize with but he just became insufferable by the finale with his "the world treated me badly so I'm gonna destroy it" mentality. And despite the fact that he was shown genuine kindness in his life, it pretty much boiled down to him brushing that aside so he can keep playing the victim until he had the means to lash out. The moment we lost Trigon for his whiny demon spawn was when I pretty much checked out for the rest of a lackluster finale (much like season one's).

I have to say that the best of episode of the season was "Dude, Where's My Gar?" It's a nice little break from the main action with a focus episode on Ryan Potter's Beast Boy. Tying into the supernatural theme of the season, there is some New 52 influence brought in as we learn of Gar's connection to "The Red" (similar to "The Green" from Swamp Thing but with animals) and his importance to the multiverse. We also get to see his full potential as he finally switches between different animals during a single fight; it only happens the one time so enjoy it while you can.

There were three stand-out performances to me this season:

* Lisa Ambalavanar as Jinx was a fun character. An old frenemy of Dick's, I got the sense of her being the Catwoman to his Batman. She also seemed to be on the same wavelength as Gar, both being able to find some levity in the serious situations and share in a laugh. It was just a shame she wasn't in it as long as she was.
* Joshua Orpin is able to bring a new side to Superboy after the character goes through some traumatic experiences in the beginning of the season and decides to take some drastic measures. To this end, Conner starts to embrace the Lex Luthor side of him, right down to shaving his head. It's about as edge lord as you'd expect and it felt kind of rushed to me, but it was definitely entertaining. His performance reminded me of a mix Jesse Eisenberg's and Michael Rosenbaum's depictions of Lex Luthor; play AFI's "Prelude 12/21" when he walks out fully shaved for the first time and it wouldn't have been out of place.
* A big part of the season is the journey of Jay Lycurgo's Tim Drake in his training to become the new Robin. I think we get a satisfying payoff as the character is able to hold his own in the field by the finale and sporting probably the best live action Robin suit and most comic accurate since Burt Ward's. In addition, I really enjoyed the chemistry between him and Bernard (played by James Scully) and how their relationship develops.

With all the similarities to season one, season four does get bonus points for more comic accurate costumes, which I know was a big problem a lot of people had in the beginning. We certainly came a long way since then. And at the very least, we do close out the series with a happy ending for our characters. My only wish is that we could have seen Dawn and Donna, given they were part of all the previous seasons; the show didn't go into this knowing it would be the last season, but still.
When it comes to "Titans" as a whole, I think there's a lot to enjoy through some of the muck, but I know it's not for everyone. Still, I'll take this over the original animated series' finale and "Go!" as a whole.

Movie Review: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 - Swan Song

 

Since their first movie in 2014, the Guardians of the Galaxy went from C-list Marvel heroes to household names as the characters would continue to entertain movie audiences with their subsequent sequel and team-ups with the Avengers. Outside the MCU, an animated series that would last three seasons and two video games would come about and resemble the films' style; and with the music being a prominent part of the franchise, I have a playlist of nearly a hundred songs that were used across the different mediums mentioned. But all good things come to an end as we see the release of "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3", James Gunn's conclusion to the trilogy and his final Marvel project before taking over DC's film universe. For the last adventure with our favorite space outlaws, they certainly pulled out all the stops to deliver a film on par with "Endgame" and "No Way Home" for a proper send-off.

Gunn brings everything we've come to love with this franchise and then some. Characters with heart, hilarious comedy, amazing visuals, and entertaining action; on the action front, a real stand out was when they went full Daredevil with a one-shot hallway fight that gives each Guardian a shining moment. And of course there's the music; Gunn packed more songs in here than the previous two films and yet he still finds a way to make them fit well into the story and worthy of an Awesome Mix. I'm going to be emotional for awhile listening to the soundtrack after watching this movie.
Where things differ from the previous films is that Vol. 3 is the darkest of the trilogy, with the opening scene's somber tone giving you an idea of what was to come. There were several moments that had me tearing up. Admittedly, there are some tonal whiplashes where after those emotional moments that the next scene starts off with a pretty good joke; it makes it a little conflicting where I'm laughing while still processing something heart-wrenching. This film also has some of the most graphic imagery I've seen from a Guardians or MCU film while still keeping it PG-13. It's similar to Gunn's work on "The Suicide Squad", not to mention we get the MCU's first f-bomb. I get the feeling that since Gunn was on his way out anyway that he wouldn't have to worry about much pushback from Marvel; not like they can fire him again at this point.

What's great about these characters is that even after all this time, we're still seeing new sides to them. It makes them feel like genuine people, learning from their pasts, growing, and taking left turns in their lives. Quill and Rocket stand out for their character arcs, reaching pivotal parts in their lives as our main protagonists through these films. There's also great dynamics such as the comedy between Drax and Mantis and how the personalities of Nebula and Gamora have kind of switched around compared to the first film.

Chukwudi Iwuji is great as the High Evolutionary, the film's main antagonist. He really sells it as a megalomaniac with a god complex. Crazy as this sounds, it kind of makes me wish either the High Evolutionary was our new saga spanning big bad or that Iwuji was playing Kang; he was that good. The only fault I can find is that after Ego and Thanos, this is the third villain the Guardians have fought who has this vision for the universe they're determined to make a reality. Still, I feel we got the second most satisfying villain defeat of 2023 after Belos on "The Owl House".

The character of Adam Warlock has been somewhat teased since the first movie with the real set-up coming in a Vol. 2 mid-credits scene. Vol. 3 brings our golden boy to the big screen with Will Poulter in the role and he's...there. Okay, Poulter delivers a good performance, goes through a character arc and has some pretty cool moments from the minute he literally explodes into the film. The problem though is that with everything else going on in the film, he feels kind of like an afterthought and gets lost in the story; there were some moments where after not seeing him for awhile, I thought to myself "Oh yeah, he's here."

Overall, "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" is a near-perfect sign off from James Gunn and everyone who had a hand in crafting this journey. The ending does leave things open to explore interesting new directions for the characters should the MCU decide to look in on them again. In the meantime (wink, wink), see the film and bid farewell as soon as you can. And check in on your fellow Guardians fans; we're definitely not okay at the moment.