My Review of Titans 2x13: "Nightwing"

Written by Richard Hatem & Greg Walker
Directed by Carol Banker

Dick: "What's next for us all, I don't know. It's a million dollar question. Anyway, to Donna Troy. Thanks for giving me a second chance at family and thanks to you guys for taking me back in."

Like I said in my previous review, I had not heard good things about this episode but I was expecting a lot worse than what I saw in this one. Still though, let's talk about the things that clearly generated a lot of disappointment from fans.

First of all, Deathstroke. He started off a brilliant villain with Esai Morales providing a great foil to the team themselves and then when the group split up, the character just petered a bit. Now that the team have reformed, Deathstroke decided to kill the lot of them, only for Dick, Rose and Jericho to team up and take him out in the least exciting way possible.

For a guy that was so instrumental in keeping our gang apart for too long in the season, he just got such a rubbish and rushed exit. As for Rose, she's now hosting her brother and has been taken in by the reformed again Titans, so it's somewhat worked out well for her.

Then there was the second problem of the episode - Donna Troy. The character lost her groove this season after being a fantastic recurring character last year and here she got electrocuted while saving Dawn. If the show was going to kill off Donna, couldn't they have found a more dramatically interesting way to do it? Then again, Rachel did leave with Donna's body back to Themyscira so there's a good chance that Donna might not remain dead next season.

As for the Cadmus end of things, well that also came to a brief ending. Clearly deciding to try (and not really succeed) in outdoing Shazam! the big-ish battle with Conner and Gar and the team took place at a funfair where both Rachel and Dick managed to undo Mercy's brainwashing on them while Bruce found a novel way to deal with some bidders for Conner.

Again, it wasn't the most satisfying way of resolving the Cadmus arc but at the same time, I guess Mercy could come back again next season. However she'll have some stiff competition as Blackfire has now made her way to Earth and seems a little keen on a reunion with her powerless sister, Kory. Given that Blackfire has her own planet to rule and Kory poses no threat to her, this seems a bit stupid on her part.

- Jason has abandoned the Titans and seemingly Bruce as well, but the actor will be back next season, so I'm sure him and Rose will patch things up then.
- Walter was the only other casualty of the episode where Mercy got Conner to kill him at the beginning.
- Really glad the show went with the blue bird look for Dick's Nightwing suit as opposed to the red one, which I've never really been too keen on.
- Chronology: From where Faux-Hawk left off.

For a finale, Nightwing wasn't that bad but it was undeniably a letdown in it's resolution of the main baddies and Donna's overall death. Now that the team have reformed for about the fourth time, it's time for some stability on that front and I do hope they can pull off Blackfire as an ongoing threat and that Koty gets her powers back earlier next season.

Rating: 7 out of 10