Titans season 2, episode 12 recap – “Faux Hawk”

Hey hey DC Universe subscribers and welcome back to another recap of Titans season 2! Last week was full of Bruce Wayne attempting to bring everyone back together and — in a backwards way — kind of succeeding. Which is good considering that Dick has apparently just broken out of prison (under the assumption that Deathstroke’s son Jericho is still alive), and Gar is being experimented on over at Cadmus Labs. But enough about that. That’s in the past! We’re here in the now! So on we got to your Recap of Titans season 2, episode 12 — “Faux Hawk”.

But if you want to read about the entire mess going down anyway, you can read last week’s recap right here!

---

Our latest episode begins with a flashback to five years ago and Deathstroke is screaming out as he pulls his sword out of Jericho’s gut. He begs Jericho to stay with him; but just as he’s about to die, Jericho uses his powers and transports his consciousness into Deathstrokes body.

The timestamp pops up to let us know that we’ve jumped back to the present day where Jericho — red-eyed and otherwise monochrome — is in an all white room. He is trying to punch is hand through a black screen on the wall, but doesn’t succeed. From the other side of the room, Deathstroke asks him how many times he plans on trying to do that and Jericho tells him that he’ll do it until he finally gets out of Deathstroke’s head. Deathstroke seems amused and tells him that his friends (the Titans) can’t manage to stay apart, and that he has warned Grayson what will happen. Jericho doesn’t want to listen to him — even when Deathstroke reminds him that the Titans deceived him — and tells him that they admitted it and have moved on. His father tries to comprehend what he’s saying as he tells Jericho that there is still some good news — the pain that the Titans have caused has brought them together. Jericho sneers and makes a remark about how he thought jumping into Slade’s body would help save him; not be trapped for the past five years. Deathstroke responds by telling him that destroying the Titans has been his gift to Jericho, but the young man tells him that he’s grateful for the Titans because they helped him see him for what he really is — a monster. Deathstroke touches a nearby white lamp, and the room goes dark.

We jump back to the current day once again, but instead of being inside Deathstroke’s head, the camera pans out to show him standing at a busy intersection. There’s clearly something wrong though, as his legs seem to want to work without his knowledge by making him step into traffic. He catches his breath and murmurs “Nice try, kid” under his breath.

Elsewhere in the city, Gar enters a coffee shop where the barista says that it’s been a while since she’s seen him. He nervously responds by telling her that he went on a trip to get his head on straight. He orders his usual and is waiting for his drink when suddenly he begins to hear classical music. Gar’s eyes turn a bright shade of green as the music pipes through his head and he turns to the other barista who has his drink ready. Gar is spacing out and the man tries to get his attention, prompting Gar to grab him by the hair and throw his head against the bar. Other patrons try to step in an intervene but Gar is out of control — finally morphing into the green tiger before breaking out of the coffee shop and getting into a white van.

Inside the van, Mercy Graves is waiting for him. She wraps Gar in a towel as he sits there shaking and covered in blood. As Gar tries to process what’s happened, Mercy tells him to calm down and that everything is alright now.

OMINOUS TITLE SEQUENCE TIME!

Gar’s attack has made the news as the mayor chalks up all of the hurt and death to rogue vigilantes and scientists at Cadmus Labs. Watching from his home, Walter seems to have a bit of a panic. Luckily for him, the doorbell rings with his sushi order. Unfortunately for him, the folks holding the order are none other than Dawn and Donna. They talk their way into his home by flirting with him, but when the scene jumps we see that Donna has him trussed up in her trusty lasso. She starts to ask him about the attack at Titans Tower where he admits that he was there. Dawn also steps in to ask what Cadmus has done with Conner and Gar, and Walter tells her that they’ve done brain surgery on both of them so Cadmus has completely control of their actions. He also reveals that this is only phase one of their plan, but when pressed for the details of phase two Walter genuinely doesn’t seem to know. Donna lets go of the lasso and drops him to the floor before leaving the house with Dawn.

As they walk out they’re already discussing how they could use backup for a change; but with everyone else that’s stuck around out of the picture, the only option left is Hank. Dawn seems completely thrilled (read: not at all thrilled) about the idea and refuses, saying that she and Donna can definitely take them themselves.

We didn’t think Hank could get any worse and yet…

We jump to a small rural arena where a wrestling announcer is bringing out “the undisputed leader of the Titans” — Hawk. Hank is lowered into the fighting cage in his costume, and the crowd goes absolutely bonkers. This is most cringeworthy scene I’ve ever seen in my life because not only doesn’t Hank say “bring it bitches” to a massive wrestler’s face, but DMX is playing at the same time. Heaven save us.

Anyway. Hank takes down an entire cavalcade of other wrestlers and then makes his way backstage, where he rubs cocaine on his gums before heading back into the fray. More fights ensue until weapons are thrown to the other wrestlers from the balcony. Beaten with a baseball bat and some chains, Hank still refuses to stop because…cocaine.

The fights are over and Hank starts to head to his car before being approached by a woman. She asks him what he has in bag and he tells her that it’s his hazmat suit from working at the power plant. I kid you not, she asks if it’s true that power plants make things grow bigger, and he says that yes, they’ve done studies on it.

Cut to Hank trying to have sex with the woman. Let’s just say that he’s a bit sore and a bit coked up, so things are a wee bit difficult. He’s clearly having a rough time. Rough enough of a time that she is getting bored and he is…falling asleep. It’s all just a nightmare and we need it stop.

Thankfully, it DOES!

Somewhere in a parking lot, Kory is practicing with her powers that have been on fritz recently. She tries over and over with little yield, and start to look gradually more concerned until Rachel comes out from the gas station. Rachel asks if she’s alright, but Kory makes it clear that she’s not exactly thrilled to be chasing down a guy that doesn’t need to be rescued.

They get into the car and Kory glances at her phone before letting out a big sigh and telling Rachel that something has happened with Gar. As they begin driving off, Rachel asks where they’re going, and Kory lets her know that they’re heading back to San Francisco to help. Rachel is upset that they’re going back and she doesn’t get a say in it, but Kory tells her that it’s about time someone was the adult instead of believing every dream that a space witch has. They get into a fight over who the real space witch is before Kory pulls over the car exasperated. Rachel tries to apologize but Kory is clearly overwhelmed with her lack of control over her life right now. They end up making up and agree that going back to San Francisco is the best way to go.

Trouble in paradise

In a very swanky house, Jason is in the kitchen making food when Rose enters. She’s smiling and asks what’s he doing, and he says that he’s making her future…which is various kinds of hot dog, apparently. He says that him making her breakfast, lunch, and dinner is her future, and she smiles just a little bit broader. After finishing up, Jason comes around the kitchen island with the tray of food and drops to one knee, asking Rose if she would do him the honor of trying his all-natural onion-free hotdogs. She laughs and takes a bite before Jason’s phone pings and interrupts.

He tells Rose that it’s Rachel saying that Gar is in trouble and “all hands are needed on deck”. Rose looks perplexed, but before she can say anything Jason dismisses the message saying that they never wanted their help before this. We all know it’s not so simple though, and Rose agrees. She tells Jason that it seems like the team really need their help now, but Jason has made up his mind thinking that it’s just Dick playing a game with them. Rose gets worried and says that her father could be going after them if they’re getting back together, and Jason says that he’s probably busy killing other people by now. Rose pushes back and says she knows he’s not, and Jason makes a joke that they must be Facebook friends if she knows that for a fact. It’s not much of a joke, however, because Rose tells Jason that it’s time they had a talk.

Talk about some Dad issues, my lord.

There’s a flash back to a different time where Rose has gotten into an accident while on her bike. There’s a swarm of people around her telling her that they’ll get help, but Rose tells them to get off of her. As people start calling for an ambulance, Rose twists her broken foot back into place (much to the display of the onlookers), and rides off with her bike.

Back at her house, Rose is washing her wounds in the kitchen sink when her mother rushes in asking what happened. She’s understandably panicked when Rose says she was hit by a car, but Rose argues with her that she’s fine and doesn’t need help. More importantly, she asks her mom why — after so many accidents — she’s never hurt. Her mother is reticent to talk to her about who her father is, but Rose persists; prompting her mother to explain that her father is a man from another life that she hardly knew.

Three weeks later, however, Slade is walking into his home where Rose is standing with Wintergreen. She calls him dad and introduces herself, saying that she knew he wouldn’t be excited to see her. Slade asks Wintergreen to leave and Rose joins him in the kitchen. She begins playing with his gun and he says that shouldn’t play with that because someone could get hurt. But boy is he wrong when she up and shoots herself straight through the hand to prove a point. Slade, unfazed by the whole thing, hands her a paper towel to clean up the mess while Rose begins asking why she can heal the way she does. He tells her that at the time he was with her mother he was married and she was just a booty call from a bar. Rose tries to process this information, but Slade tells her to leave. More importantly, he tells her to leave and if he sees her again, he’ll hurt her. She gets up to leave and makes a point to tell him that she can hurt him too.

Flashing forward to ten days after that, Rose is standing in her mother’s living room wearing a beautiful dress. Her mom is thrilled, but Rose admits that she doesn’t feel as great as she looks. She asks her mom once again about her father, but her mom tells her to forget about him.

A horn honks from the driveway and Rose’s boyfriend pulls up in a nice car. She leaves the house and gets in, but Todd is nowhere to be seen. Instead, Rose finds that the person driving the car is none other than Slade. She tries to leave but Slade calmly tells her that he’s sorry for the way he treated her when she had come to visit. He continues by telling her that he thought distance between them was what he thought was best for her because his job is “irregular”, and there are people who would want to kill her too if she came with him. Rose argues that she never claimed to want to come with him, but Slade counters that she is more like him than her current family because she’s altered just like him. He offers for her to come live with him because he can make her life feel normal. They continue back and forth for a while before the real Todd shows up in his car and honks the horn. Rose thinks about it for a while before telling Slade to drive.

Back at Slade’s house, there’s a large box with a pink satin bow waiting for Rose. She opens it and finds her own costume, almost identical to Deathstroke’s.

The scene jumps to the future where Rose, clearly injured and wearing her suit, follows after Slade who is yelling for her. She walks out to the training room of a large facility where she and Deathstroke begin sparring. He bests her and removes his mask to taunt her before she lays back into him again.

After their sparring session, the two are dressed normally and sitting at the dining room table for dinner. Rose asks Slade the purpose for her being there and training with him, and Slade reveals to her that she had a brother named Jericho. He also reveals that Jericho had been murdered by “a gang of highly trained psychopaths called the Titans,” and that she is the only family he has left to help take them out. Rose tells him that to help she’ll need new clothes and essentials and Slade slides her a credit card and tells her to rest up.

Breaking news: Jasons trust issues get worse!

We come back to Rose having explained all of this information to Jason, and telling him that she’s the one who helped Deathstroke break Doctor Light out of prison. Jason looks bewildered before the scene jumps back to three months prior where Slade is praising Rose for how well she took out the prison guards. She thanks him and he continues on to explain that the next step involves breaking the Titans family apart in the same way they broke his; and with Rose as his scout from the inside.

She pokes fun at the idea that she can just waltz in and join the Titans, but Slade tells her very frankly that he’ll be cutting her eye out first and that Dick Grayson has a soft spot for strays.

Back in the present day, Jason can’t see to believe what he’s hearing. Rose says that if she could take it all back she would, but she’s tired of seeing her father hurt people, and she’s tired of hurting Jason. Jason, understandably, doesn’t take this too well and starts to cry as he yells at her to maybe underline the parts of their relationship that haven’t been a lie. He grabs his bag and prepares to leave but Rose is desperate to stop him and grabs his arm, begging him to stay. He throws her off of him and says not to touch him, so Rose punches him in the face and through teary eyes tells him to fight her if that’s what he wants. Jason wipes the blood from his nose and asks if she’s done before walking out the door. As a last ditch effort, Rose reminds him that the Titans need them right now, but Jason says “fuck all of you” as he slams the door.

Left to deal with her decision, Rose walks through the house alone to answer her rising phone. When she picks up, Slade tells her that if Jason has gone to rejoin the Titans then maybe it’s time they get their team back together, too, and to get to San Francisco.

Dick Grayson: Master of Disguise

In San Francisco, Slade is already meeting up with Wintergreen who tells him that while Donna and Dawn are in town together, the rest of the team is still scattered. Slade makes a point to ask about Dick, but Wintergreen says that he hasn’t shown up yet, but that the feds are still looking for him after his prison break. Convinced that the police can’t catch him, Slade tells Wintergreen that he’ll be coming to look for his friends in no time. Wintergreen has an extra special present for Dick when he arrives it seems, and reveals a trunk full of weapons.

Elsewhere in the city, Dick Grayson — donning the best disguise of a baseball cap — enters the home of Adeline. She offers him some water, which he takes, as she explains that she knew he’d be there after seeing that he’d escaped prison. Dick asks where Slade is and Adeline tells him that Slade knows that the Titans are getting back together and that he plans to kill all of them. As if that’s not already enough to stun Dick, Adeline also tells him that he left that morning after calling Rose, whom he had been working with for some time. They get to talking more as it all unfolds, and Dick tells her that it was Jericho that was trying to talk to him when he met Slade in her living room. She admits that she didn’t recognize the signs for so long either, but that she knows he’s in there. Dick offers to help, and Adeline sternly asks him to bring her son back to her.

OHHH BOY IT’S HAPPENING FINALLY

Suddenly we’re back in the fighting cage of the small arena where it’s Hawk vs. Dove. Hank asks her what she’s doing there, but she merely says she paid her money to be able to fight. They kick the crap out of each other as they argue about Hanks love of drugs versus his love of her. And just as she’s about to drop a knee straight into his face, Hank wakes up in his hotel bed.

Dick’s car pulls up to a small shop called Stu’s Handmade Shoes, and he goes inside to ask Stu himself for a new pair. Stu, not looking up from his work, tells Dick that he “doesn’t make those anymore”. Dick says that he doesn’t have much time, and Stu tells him that he’s in the fruitcake business now and just hasn’t had time to change the sign outside. Dick understands what he’s trying to do though, and desperately asks for a fruitcake. Stu finally gives in and invites Dick over to the counter where he does, in fact, have some fruit cake in a tin.

Dick profusely apologizes for what happened (to what he did to his old Robin suit — catch up), but Stu makes a mockery of him by lighting his perfectly good fruitcake on fire with a blowtorch. He tries to apologize further and begs Stu for one last shot, and something different. This seems to catch Stu’d attention. He says that Bruce had called ahead and said he’d be coming, and presses a button which leads them down to a secret basement under the shop.

Dick is met with yet another person who seems angry that he burnt his last suit, but Stu assures everyone that they’re moving past it. They walk through the laboratory where Stu explains exactly what they had built up in mind for him, and Dick actually look excited for once.

And lo and behold there it is. While we don’t get to see it ourselves just yet, Stu clearly unveils what is inevitably going to be the Nightwing costume.

Ohhhh, I get it now! Faux Hawk!

In his hotel room, Hank is listening to a news report talking about “a man in a bird costume robbing a laundromat.” He comes out of the bathroom with a bloody nose, confused, and checks his closet. He yells, and the scene cuts to the same laundromat in question.  There’s a man walking around in his underwear that seems totally like the right person to talk to, and Hank asks him if he saw the robbery that went down. The guy says no, but that it’s a shame because Hawk had always been his favorite Titan. Hank gets a bit touchy at the subject and says that it couldn’t have been Hawk, but the guy says that it was definitely him; and no wonder Dove left him.

Hank’s temper starts to get the best of him and he yells that Hawk is the one who left Dove, and that Hawk isn’t a saint but he wouldn’t just run around stealing laundry detergent. Underwear guy says that it had to have been him, but it’s nonetheless depressing because he’s “just another addict with an instagram”. Hank has no idea what he’s talking about, but quickly gets the idea when the man pulls up photos and videos of someone in Hank’s old costume making instagram videos.

Somewhere in a hotel room there’s a man wearing Hank’s costume, holding a box of laundry detergent, and making an instagram video laughing about how the laundromat was actually a money laundering front for a meth lab. He finishes his video when there’s a knock at the door. He answers to find Hank…and also Hank’s fist.

Next thing we see is Hank packing up his costume into a bag and a young man — who says he’s going to be 17 next summer — holding a rag to his bloody nose. Hank asks if he lives around there and the guy tells him “sort of” on account of his mom’s new boyfriend doesn’t like him very much, so he chooses to stay away. Confused, Hank then asks him if he was going around robbing places to help pay for his rent in the hotel, but the young man is totally convinced that he was laying out some Titans law. Hank explains what being a Titan actually means, but is interrupted when the guy asks for his money back. Taken aback, Hank tells him that he can’t have his money back because he stole his suit; but the guy tells him that Hank, while asking where to buy cocaine one night, asked the guy if wanted to buy it from him for $200. Hank accuses him of lying, but the guy swears that he’s not. Before Hank leaves, the young man makes a point to tell him that wearing the suit was a privilege and made him believe he could do anything. Yikes.

Returning back to his own hotel room — suit in hand — Hank lies on his bed and stares at the lines of cocaine on his bedside table.

Well this just sounds festive!

Hey, remember Walter from the beginning of the episode? Well Walter has apparently been taped up to a chair for a while, and Mercy has finally come to rescue him. She asks him what happened and he explains how Donna and Dawn (or as he knows them — “the brunette and the blonde”) delivered his sushi. Mercy pulls up pictures of the two of them on her phone and Walter confirms that it’s them. Mercy, looking particularly exasperated with Walter, tells her henchmen that Phase Two of their project is being moved up.

Elsewhere in the city, a carnival is being set up. Merry-go-round, Ferris wheel, you name it. And just outside the carnival is a van. Inside the van, Gar lies passed out on his stomach. The sound of classical music swells in the background as the camera pans closer to him and finally, after the music reaches a crescendo, Gar opens his eyes — bright green and angry.

FIN

---

And that’s all she wrote for Titans Season 2, Episode 12! Make sure you come back next week to read about what happens when a big ol’ green tiger gets let loose on an entire carnival.