Titans 2×02 ‘Rose’ introduces us to everyone’s new normal — just to have a new recruit and an old enemy completely disrupt it.

After last week’s half finale, half premiere, this week’s Titans smooths out its pacing issues by keeping itself firmly in season 2 storylines.

We’re treated to a three month time jump, which has given both the old and new Titans team members time to adjust to their new realities.

Hank and Dawn are off in the rural backcountry, enjoying a well-deserved retirement from the superhero lifestyle (for the most part), while Donna and Kory have channeled all that superpowered energy into stakeouts in a van and successfully taking down bad guys.

As for the kids, they’ve been spending the last three months under Dick’s tutelage — who seems to have taken a page right out of Bruce Wayne’s book of teenager rearing. It’s been nothing but three months of constant training and healthy eating for the teen (members of the) Titans and they’re getting understandably stir crazy.

However, everyone’s new normal is disrupted with the return of Doctor Light and the arrival of Rose Wilson, who Jason and Gar find out at the end of the episode is none other than Slade Wilson’s daughter.

Hank and Dawn in retirement

I haven’t always been the biggest fan of Hank, but it turns out all I needed to like him was for him to retire from the super stressful, super painful superhero lifestyle that was bringing out the worst in him and driving him to addiction.

Here, we see him at three months clean and sober — far enough along to help other individuals who are new to recovery. And even though Wyoming is much slower paced than Georgetown, it seems to be just the thing for Hank and Dawn’s relationship, which — at first, at least — has hit a new level of stability and happiness.

But of course, stability isn’t the thing that drives stories forward, so we very quickly see that stability interrupted by the revelation that Dawn is still going out and taking down bad guys. It leads — as you would imagine — to a pretty intense argument between the two, and brings to the forefront how difficult it is to be a superhero and maintain any sort of normal, healthy relationship or even life.

In general, though, their part in this show was another momentum killer to me. While I’ve always liked Hank and Dawn as characters and found their storylines interesting, I’ve often thought that both they and Titans might be better served as being their own spin-off show.

However, that doesn’t seem to be changing any time soon, so we have to make do with what the show gives us. I’m at least glad that we won’t have to watch their own self-contained story for very long, given that they’re meeting up at Titans Tower by the next episode.

Plus, I will say that I’m looking forward to seeing Hank and Dawn interact with the kids — especially now that we’ve seen how good Hank can be in that mentor role.

Also, I’m never going to say no to more Hank and Jason interactions.

The Titans team up

Seeing Donna and Kory interact and play off one another as friends and allies felt like the writers paid attention to many of our complaints about their interactions from last season and worked to rectify it for this season.

Their team-up to take down Shimmer — who I’m nearly positive we’ll see again later this season — was one of my favorite parts of this episode.

I loved their friendly banter and conversation, which not only allowed us to how they’ve grown closer during the three month time jump, but likewise allowed us to learn more about Kory’s backstory on Tamaran and how she feels about being on Earth now.

In fact, while last week I mentioned wanting a web series of Hank and Jason’s misadventures, this week I formally request a web series centered on Donna and Kory’s superpowered adventures for the last three months.

My only complaint about their interactions was how short it was (I mean, could we not have cut out some Hank and Dawn scenes to get more Donna and Kory?). And, given that Kory has been taken captive by the Tamaranians, means that we won’t see them back together again for at least an episode or two.

However, Kory’s kidnapping does seem to signal that she’ll be getting her own, juicy, Tamaran-centered storyline of her own, which is another complaint from season 1 that I hope the writers listened to.

Anna Diop does fantastic work as Kory and as her own solo episode from season 1 was frustratingly light on actual Kory-focused storytelling, I’m hoping the writers make it up to us by giving her a solo adventure that runs through the season.

Just not too long through the season! The kids at Titans Tower miss her and so do I.

Introducing: Rose Wilson

Rose wasn’t on our screens for very long, but what I did see was enough for me to want to stan her for life.

Rose appears — sans an eye — as a young woman on the run. She steals a car, then fights a whole bunch of cops before jumping seven stories through a window and then walking away.

It’s all very mysterious to the point of being suspicious. If you’re on the run, why steal a car or involve yourself in a police chase and a police brawl? It’s almost as if she wanted the attention — which leads me to think that the attention she drew to herself was deliberate. A way to get her invited to Titans Tower by Dick, so that she could infiltrate the team and give her father, Deathstroke, an easy way in.

In fact, this episode made me more convinced of the popular fan theory that this season’s major plot arc will be Marv Wolfman and George Perez’s The Judas Contract, with Rose taking on Terra’s role as the betrayer of team Titans.

Of course, the bump in this plan is the fact that Jason and Gar obviously found out who she really was by the episode’s end, making it easy for the Titans to be suspicious of her. However, I can totally see Dick convincing himself and others that it isn’t fair to judge someone because of who their father is (which is true, by the way), and still welcoming Rose into the fold anyway.

We’ll have to see what the next few episodes bring. For now, though Rose was set to go, Doctor Light’s light bomb cut those plans short — either by design or by accident.

Big Brother Dick Grayson

While I of course loved seeing Donna and Kory team up to take down bad guys, by far my favorite parts of the episode were with Dick Grayson and the Titans 2.0 team.

Dick Grayson’s identity crisis in season 1 was necessary work, and a storyline I’m glad that we got to see. However, as with real life identity crises, I’m glad it’s over. Big Brother Dick Grayson is the best version of Dick Grayson, and his scene with Jason at the beginning of the episode was favorite scene.

Because I don’t think that Jason is at all the leader of the group, but it was just the thing that he needed to hear to get him back on board and to make Jason a better Robin. You could see the pride in Jason’s eyes when Dick referred to him as the team leader, and also the personal growth in Dick himself — who had no qualms in telling Jason he was the Robin now.

This episode really highlighted how much Dick has made peace with himself and who he is, so that even if he is no longer Robin, he’s still confident in being Dick Grayson.

I liked that we saw him struggling to figure out what it means to be a leader and a mentor, and going to Bruce for advice on what to do. Just as the weight of being Robin no longer haunts him, the specter of Batman no longer does either. Here we see him taken Bruce’s advice into consideration, and then find his own path.

I know that there’s a lot of people out there who find Iain Glen horribly miscast, and, truthfully, I like what Iain’s performance represents — the changing relationship between Bruce and Dick — rather than the casting of Iain himself. Like the inclusion of Hawk and Dove into Titans, I’ve had to make peace with what we’ve gotten rather than rejoicing in getting what I wanted.

Still as a big batfam fan (and I totally get that not everyone is — and that’s totally valid), I’ve really enjoyed the interactions between Bruce and Dick, and am fond overall with what they’re doing with both characters this season.

In fact, this season overall has been much more focused on character and relationships, which is to Titans benefit. The show seems much less concerned with proving itself and more focused on telling a good story about characters we love, and I’m increasingly excited about where it takes us.

Stray Thoughts and Lingering Questions