Dick Grayson is still off in search of something and it leads him to seek the console of a longtime friend and one-time fellow sidekick in the latest episode of TITANS.
Enter Wonder Girl! Just when you think that the DC Universe Original Series Titans couldn’t get any better, it does! The premiere season has mostly focused on the mystery surrounding an apparently supernaturally charged Rachel Roth (played by Teagan Croft) who finds herself on the run and under the watchful eye of beat detective Dick Grayson (series regular Brenton Thwaites) who is battling his own demons, especially since striking out on his own away from the mean streets of Gotham City.
Rachel or “Raven” has also attracted the attentions of a fire-starter named Koriand’r or Kory Anders (Anna Diop) and made an indelible impression on Beast Boy, Garfield Logan (Ryan Potter) a misfit among outcasts, who has now found himself a new family. It isn’t long before the quartet learn of Grayson’s alter-ego; Robin the boy wonder and one-half of the Dynamic Duo that includes the near-mythic Batman. Once again evading their captured, the four friends help in locating and freeing Rachel’s real mom, Angela (guest star Rachel Nichols) from an asylum and are again trying to pull things together.
That’s just the short of it, as the season of Titans based on the DC characters made famous by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez is not only proving “must see” DCTV, but is perhaps one of the best adaptations ever of a comic book series to live-action. Rescued from the constraints of commercial television network, deputing on the DC Universe subscriber service, Titans may have profoundly altered the way consumers digest their entertainment. With new episodes released every Friday, Titans has put the DC Universe app on the map!
Conor Leslie joins the cast of “Titans” as Wonder Girl, Donna Troy.
She’s a Wonder!
On the latest episode of the series appropriately entitled “Donna Troy” Dick leaves the rest of the group in the hands of Kory. Now that Angela has offered Rachel and the rest of the group a home, it appears that Grayson can take care of some loose ends — namely what to do with himself, especially now that he’s been replaced as “Robin”. Dick seeks the advice of his dear friend, Donna Troy perfectly played by Conor Leslie. Even with the above title intro that establishes the two “sidekicks” have been friends for years, the chemistry between Dick and Donna is ideal.
Donna immediately takes to Dick’s arrival and invites him to her latest photo gallery opening; she’s aware of Dick’s uncomfortable ability to casually engage and hopes the party will break him out of his shell. It isn’t long before the pair find themselves taking on a criminal animal poacher, unfortunately Dick’s impulsively cavalier intersection may have complicated Donna’s scheme to bring down the entire organization, but it is incredibly gratifying to see these two characters interacting in the flesh and in such an authentic way.
Back at Donna’s apartment the pair recount their evening and Donna comes across the cryptic writing he found on the walls of Kory’s storage unit. Donna is able to translate some of it after identifying it as a type of ancient Sumerian writing. If Donna interprets the message correctly it identifies Kory as the “Starfire” sent to secure the “Raven” — secure or rather, kill the Raven! Dick and Donna are now making haste to rendezvous with the rest of the group which has made it to Angela’s farm in Ohio, just as Rachel taps into Kory’s memories unleashing her fury!
The “Original” Titans
With a shared history that extends more than 75 years, the sidekicks of the Silver Age heroes established an entirely new fraternity for themselves, but Robin, Kid Flash, Speedy and Aqualad would soon find their lives upended with the induction of Wonder Girl into their ranks. Dick Grayson and Donna Troy immediately take a unique liking to one another, even as the rest of the boys vie for their new recruit’s affections. Robin and Wonder Girl have the unique shared experience of being the wards of two of the “big three”.
Dick Grayson comes to live with Bruce Wayne after his family is murdered in a mob hit on Haley’s Circus. The young boy’s world is shattered and Wayne takes to tempering Dick’s rage and turns him into his partner, Robin the Boy Wonder. As a baby, Donna is rescued from a house fire by Wonder Woman and takes the orphan to her paradise island, where she is raised as an Amazon and soon proves herself as gifted by the gods as her sister. Donna decides to return to Man’s World and fight alongside Diana.
In the episode of Titans the pair shared adventures together and also with their mentors. After a caper that pitted Batman and Robin against the Joker, he returns home to find Donna waiting. Dick confides in Donna and feels validated by her understanding. Clearly they had continued to work together and were perhaps part of an “original” team of teenage Titans. Now as adults, Dick has retired his alter-ego, unable to complement the dual-nature of his vigilantism; Donna admits she still has her uniform hanging in the closet.
Dick and Donna are back in the latest episode of Titans and appear as formidable as ever.
Titans new episodes premiere every Friday on the DC Universe subscription service.
