Titans season 2 finale recap – “Nightwing”

Well DC Universe subscribers, it looks like our time of coming together to talk about the Titans is coming to a close as this episode marks the last of its season! It’s been a wild ride as the team as been together and broken up more times than Fleetwood Mac. But if there’s one thing that really seems to be happening, it’s the team finally having some closure and growth. But with Gar and Conner still under control of Cadmus, it’s hard to say how it could end up! Enough teasing, though. Here’s your recap for the final episode of Titans Season 2, episode 13 – “Nightwing”.

And if you’re looking to catch up with last week you can find it right here.

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Our final episode begins with Mercy Graves talking to various world leaders about how good must always triumph over evil. I mean, she should know right? (Nope.) But to prove it, she offers them these words as a sales pitch for the perfect, fully-programmable “super soldier”; bringing the lights up to show Conner.

She tells the people that she wouldn’t expect any of them to put in a big without seeing a proper demonstration, and hands Conner a pistol. Conner crosses the room opposite to Mercy, and pulls the trigger while pointing right at her face. But it’s Conner. So as soon as the shot fires he has already crossed the room and caught the bullet before it could reach her. Everyone seems more than pleased with the demonstration and Mercy finishes the pitch before turning off the screen. Walter enters the room laughing and clapping, but Mercy interrupts him to ask Conner for a favor…and then Conner throws the bullet that he’d previous straight caught into Walter’s forehead. Mercy praises Conner as she stands over Walter’s lifeless body, saying “Welcome to phase two”. Well that doesn’t sound promising.

Back where we left off in the previous episode, the fair is finished being constructed and is teeming with people. The camera pans down on the crowds, rides, and bright lights and eventually focuses in on Gar, who is walking through the crowds holding a snow cone. However, as he comes closer to the camera, so the classic music grows and his eye become more visibly green. He drops his snow cone and walks away with the music coming to a crescendo.

Nightwing! King of Grand Entrances! Master of Whacky Bats!

It looks like we’re back in Titans Tower where Donna, Rachel, Kory, and Dawn have gathered. They’re discussing how crazy Dick seems for scrawling (lots of emphasis on this) on his cell wall that Jericho is alive. Not everyone thinks he’s nuts though, because Rachel reminds them that she’s been having visions about Deathstroke killing Dick. Everyone else concedes to the idea that maybe — even if they’re all crazy — they could be telling the truth; but Donna says that there’s bigger issues at hand first.

She pulls out a tablet that has a map of Cadmus Labs on it and the team starts discussing their security and how to handle it. Rachel doesn’t see the plan as being so nonchalant, but Donna points out that between her and Kory there’s enough firepower to get through. And sure, that may be a good point as a general idea…but Kory finally announces to the team that as of recently, her powers have vanished. Everyone is as knocked back as you’d expect, but Rachel says she’s still good to go…even if there’s no guarantee that her powers won’t get a little extreme.

Just as they’re hammering out the final details, a notification pops up on the tablet screen that reports a number of injuries at the fair across town from a wild animal. Knowing full well that it’s Gar, the ladies prepare themselves to go up against their friends and begin driving to the fair. Their trip is pretty abruptly interrupted, however, when Deathstroke starts shooting up their car. Everyone stays low and Kory makes a break for the door with a plan to draw his fire away from the rest of the team. As she gets out she takes a hit to the arm though, and finds herself right back in the backseat of the SUV.

Suddenly, the shooting stops. The whole team is looking, trying to see what would have made Deathstroke stop in the middle of a showdown. Sure enough, the camera pans to the top of their SUV, where Dick Grayson s standing in his new Nightwing costume.

Deathstroke tells Dick that he should have stayed home and begins to ready his next set of artillery, but Dick is stronger and faster know. He kicks the guns out of Deathstroke’s hands and manages to subdue him just long enough to ask who in the car got hit. While the team is trying to figure out “um…what the fuck, Dick?” he tells them to take care of her while he takes care of Deathstroke. Different costume; same savior complex.

With his guns no longer an option, Slade wields his katana and starts to come at Dick. Dick flips away because he’s a Flippy Boy; and once he’s got some distance, he calls out to Jericho.

Looks like someone finally Rose to the occassion

The camera pans to the white room inside Deathstroke’s mind where Jericho can clearly hear Dick calling out to him. From the outside, however, Deathstroke is not down with Dick trying to talk to his son again. He throws everything he’s got at Dick and the fight rages on as Rachel heals Kory inside the SUV — telling her that she didn’t even think that Kory could bleed. But wait…what’s that? Oh nothing just Dick’s new electric-tipped whack-y bats raining down on Deathstroke. The new equipment really seems to work and Deathstroke is once again slowed down just long enough for Dick to call out to Jericho, who is trying his best to push his way out of Deathstroke’s head.

Just as there’s some headway being made, Deathstroke seems to get the leg up on Dick and is ready to kill him; but out of nowhere, Rose — wearing full costume — calls out to her Dad. He turns, happy to see her, and tells Dick that it’s thanks to Rose that he knew that the Titans were getting back together in the first place. Knowing that was supposed to be the big reveal and total burn, Dick slugs admits that he already knew. Rose, recognizing Dick’s voice, asks if that’s him. Deathstroke, ready to finally have his daughter fighting the Titans by his side, expresses how glad he is that Rose has finally learned who her real family is. She agrees, and joins Dick’s side of the fight — saying that the Titans are her family now.

The three begin to fight and eventually — once Deathstroke has Dick on the ground — Rose distracts Slade long enough to stab him through the chest with her sword.

He gasps for air and removes his mask to look her in the eyes. She removes her mask as well and speaks softly to Jericho, telling him that if he’s still there that he knows what to do. And from inside Slade’s mind Jericho ones again presses his hands against the wall, this time succeeding in jumping from Slade’s body to Rose’s. Rose pulls the sword out of Slade body and he falls to ground dead.

Once Rose regains herself, she tells Dick that Jericho wants to speak to him. Dick watches as Jericho clearly overtakes Rose’s body; elated and excited to be in control of someone else’s body again. Dick asks if it’s really him, and Jericho says “what’s up” while flipping him off…so yes, it’s clearly him. Dick laughs and the two begin to have a heart to heart about what how sorry Dick is about what happened and — more importantly — how Jericho has always been a part of their family.

Coming from the car, Donna asks if Deathstroke is really, finally dead. Both Rose/Jericho and Dick confirm that he’s gone for good, but Donna reminds them that the night isn’t exactly over just yet.

Mercy is exhausting and ridiculous, part 2958928533

Back at the fair, trash and food and bodies litter the ground. All of the stalls have been abandoned as we see a police officer yelling “shit!” Over and over as Gar (now in green tiger form) is stalking him along the thoroughfare. The officer calls for backup just as Gar is about to pounce, but before he can make his move, the vans bearing the Cadmus Labs logo pull up and Mercy announces over the loudspeaker that help has arrived.

As she finishes her announcement Conner steps out the van and begins walking toward Gar. Back inside the van, however, Mercy has turned on cameras and linked to all of the previous executives bidding for Conner, telling them that the bidding itself can begin.

Conner approaches Gar who has got him in his sights, and the two come to blows.

Well, kind of. Conner lands a single blow on Gar that knocks him vertically into the air. Luckily for him, cats land on their feet. Not so lucky for him, Conner is able to throw a hell of a lot harder than Gar expects.

After being thrown across the faire, Gar lies passed out at the bottom of a ride. Mercy is looking particularly smug and happy with herself until a pained looked of worry comes over her face. From across the fairgrounds walks Donna, Kory, and Dawn, who approach Conner and call out his name.

On the other side of the thoroughfare, Rachel approaches Gar’s body. She calls him by his name and the tiger springs to life, growling and purring as she kneels next to him. Rachel calmly tries to explain that while she knows Cadmus did something to him, they need his help right now. She reaches out her hand to touch his paw, but Gar lunges for her.

And I —OOP.

After getting Conner’s attention, the three superwomen debate on who should be the one to try and talk to Conner. It eventually lands not he shoulders of Donna, who approaches Conner and introduces herself in the most awkward way possible. Conner doesn’t say anything, so Donna steps it up and gets serious; asking him to dig deep and find the Superman Half of his DNA for a little while until things after finished.

That ask falls on deaf ears, however, as Mercy Graves gives Conner the command to eliminate the Titans. Conner throws a punch at Donna and the official Kryptonian vs. Themyscrian fight breaks out with both heroes meeting each other blow for blow. Well, that is until Conner finally knocks Donna into the electrical pole of one of the rides.

With Donna now unconscious, it’s up to Kory to step in. She tells Conner, in Tamaranian, that she doesn’t want him to make her regret saving him. But after a few good throws, it’s clear that Kory regrets it plenty. But what do you know! Here come Hank donning his Hawk costume to save the day! Except Hank is entirely useless! Conner holds both Kory and Hank in his fists and is ready to blast them with his laser eyes, but Dawn calls his name as she holds up a mirror; causing his laser to deflect back to him, hitting him in the chest.

Conner is temporarily down and Hank and Dawn see that as a prime opportunity to talk about their marital issues. Luckily Donna and Kory are back up just in time to mention that this is absolutely not the time for all of that as the heroes all ready themselves to face Conner as a team again. Meanwhile, back in the van, Mercy is admiring the bidding process for Conner almost reaching one billions dollars, when suddenly the feed begins to cut out one by one. Mercy’s minion tries his best to get the feed back up, but the voice of Bruce Wayne pipes through their headsets to let them know that there’s been some technical difficulties.

From the luxury of his Batcomputer, Bruce pours himself some tea and watches Mercy’s face drop as he tells her that bidding is suspended for the foreseeable future. And as if that wasn’t enough of a problem for Mercy, it seems that there’s a phone call from Mr. Lex Author coming through as well.

Dick reminds Conner that he’s a Real Boy(tm)

Conner has rallied once again and is headed straight for the Titans. But as he runs towards them, he holds up his hand and catches something. The object explodes into a massive flash of light, and when it lifts Conner is gone and in his place is Dick wearing his new Nightwing suit. The other Titans remark on how it’s about time that he showed up, and Dick and the rest of the team start devising a plan against the very angry Superboy. But they’re going to need Rachel.

Rachel, however, is still working on Gar. Kneeling once again next to the growling tiger, Rachel tries to remind him what he did for her in the fight against Trigon when she touched him. He lets him know that she’s going to reach out and touch his paw and show him who he really is. He growls and tries to lunge at her, but Rachel reaches his paw just in time. Gar’s time with the Titans flashes before our eyes and soon Gar has returned back to his normal form; looking so very happy to see Rachel.

With that taken care of, the Titans have banded together and seemed to have made a plan. Conner comes lumbering back into the fight, but Donna is quick to rope him with her lasso. Not able to hold him for much longer, Dick calls out for Rachel who ropes him and tries to overcome him with the black void of her powers. Over the speaker, Mercy can be heard telling Conner to take them out; but it’s too late and Rachel has linked herself —and her powers — to both Dick and Conner.

As Rachel’s powers come over Dick, the camera switches to Dick’s face — sans mask — inside the void of Rachel’s powers. Among all of the black, Conner sits in a huddle on the floor; flashing in and out of all the horrible things that he’s been made to do because of Cadmus Labs. Dick approaches him and tells him that he’s not alone and that it’ll be okay. Conner begins to tear up as explains that Mercy’s voice comes from everywhere and that it feels like there’s nothing he can do to stop from doing what she tells him to. Dick asks what she wants him to do, and Conner says that she wants him to “kill them all”. He kneels next to Conner and asks what he can do to help him, but Conner is at a loss; saying that he doesn’t know how to find the light anymore.

Dick stands and presses his hands against the dark walls of their collective mind. He thinks for a moment before looking back at Conner, and proceeds to punch the wall. A portion collapses and lets a swath of light flow in from the hole. It shines on Conner’s face as Dick continues to punch the walls open. Conner looks more and more hopeful as he reaches out towards the sunlight, and soon breaks out from the dark room.

Well that was….sudden.

From there he finds himself in a massive field next to Dick. He says that he recognizes him, and Dick assures him that Conner is a part of their family. Conner thanks him and throws his head back; absorbing the positive energy from being out of the hole he’s been stuck in. He smiles and tells Dick that he might want to stand back. Dick obliges and Conner launches himself into the sky, where the scene shifts back to a much less angry Conner back at the faire, and Dick standing there in front of him with the rest of the Titans. Dick calls out for Conner to check on him, and Conner asks to be let go so that he can end things. Rachel and Donna let him go and Conner thanks all of them before heading out, with a very determined face, toward the van holding Mercy Graves.

The guards surrounding the van try to shoot him away, but it’s no use; and before they know it, Conner has cornered Mercy who is trying to sneak away. Before he can do anything, though, Kory comes up from behind her and knocks her out while telling her “that’s for Lex Author”.

UM.

With that taken care of, the Titans gather up around Conner who is looking upon the damage and carnage at the fair. He remarks in a sad voice that this is all his fault. More specifically— that it wasn’t him, but that it’s his fault and that he’s sorry. They all acknowledge him and say that it’s okay as fair-goers start coming out from their hiding places and cheering for the Titans.

Donna walks over towards a ride where a little girl’s doll had been blown back and gives it back to her. But before any more celebrating can be had, the electric pylon holding everything up begins to fall down on the crowd. Dawn rushes to get everyone out of the way, but as the pylon comes down, Donna is the one who catches it and suffers the full shock. She screams as it finally falls, and Donna is left lifeless on top of the wreckage.

The team begins to rush towards her as the sound goes quiet, and Dick holds her lifeless body in her arms.

The scene jumps to Hank carrying Donna’s body into Titans Tower followed by the rest of the team. Bruce Wayne’s voice carries over everything, saying how whenever someone goes into battle, they leave a little piece of themselves there. As he continues to talk, Dawn is seen placing Donna’s utility belt on her costume stand.

Back in the training room, gar is clearly trying to come to terms with everything as he sits alone, crying. Rachel comes to comfort him, and puts her arm around him as they sit together.

WHY DID DONNA DIE? CONNER WAS RIGHT THERE? AND WOULDN’T HAVE EVEN GOTTENA SCRATCH? WHY DIDN’T FITBOY VON SADHIMBO DO IT?!

There’s a jump to three back SUV’s pulling up to a jetway, and out of the back of one the them the team pulls Donna’s casket. Dick hands over Donna’s golden lasso as a final act of respect, and her casket is prepared to be transported back to the sacred grounds for Themyscerians. Rachel remarks to Dick that she should be going with Donna’s body because her powers are changing and morphing into something stronger, and that if there’s anyone who can try to help Donna, she can. Dick finally agrees and lets her know that her room will be waiting for her when she gets back. Rachel checks in to make he’ll be alright without her and gives him a hug before she boards the plane.

The remaining Titans, all clad in black, form a line as they watch the plane take off for Themyscera; but there’s something that catches Dick’s eye. Off in the distance, a black motorcycle rider is watching the plane leave, too; zooming in to show Jason putting his helmet back on and racing off before anyone else can notice. Dick smiles a bit to himself before turning his attention back to his team.

UGH. But also AWWW!

In Titans Tower, Dick is looking contemplatively out the window as Bruce Wayne enters the room. Bruce apologizes for what happened to Donna as Dick begins to tear up, saying that the only reason she came back was because of him. Bruce reminds Dick that there’s nothing in the world that could make Donna Troy do something that she didn’t want to do in the first place, which finally gets a smile from Dick before he begins to think about what could happen to the Titans next now that one of their cornerstones is gone.

This turns into a conversation between him and Bruce about how he now understands why Bruce took him in as a child — to give them both what they didn’t have anymore: a family. Bruce says that the Titans has become quite the family itself, and definitely something to hold onto; but that Dick needs to stop looking for the impulse to turn inward when things get hard. If he wants to be a part of a team, then he needs to treat everyone else like they’re a part of it, too.

It’s the guilt of the tiger, it’s the sad from the fight

In Donna’s room, Gar is crouched on the floor reading her Frida Khalo book. Dick enters and tries to talk to him and comfort him, but Gar is still very shaking; not just from Donna’s death, but from how many people he had hurt while under control of Cadmus. Dick explains to him that it’s not his fault, and that Dick never should have left him by himself, and that he let him down. Dick leaves the room, but Gar remains by himself to process.

Elsewhere in the Tower, Dawn is packing up her costume as Hank comes into her room. He asks how she’s doing, but Dawn is not ready to talk; telling Hank that Donna died while saving her life, so how does he think she feels. And for once, Hank has a big moment where he admits that he never was good a comforting her because it always ended with her comforting him instead. Dawn brings up to him what he said about them only brining pain into the world, but Hank tells her that after being away he had so much time to think about the good that they do together, too, and asks if they can get back together. Dawn tearily says no, and that Hank and Dawn are done; but Hank doubles down to ask if Hawk and Dove are done, too.

We are faaaamily. I got all my Titans with me! -Dick Grayson

Later, around the dinner table, the Titans are sharing a meal and talking about memories that they have of Donna when Rose enters the room. She’s silently nudged to come sit at the table and join everyone, and does so with a smile.

On the other end of the table, Kory is giving her thanks to Bruce for his scheme to get all of the remaining Titans meeting up at the diner in Elko, Nevada. Bruce tells her that she has no idea what she’s talking about and that he’s never been to Elko in his life. Kory, taken aback, smiles and looks at Dawn. The two begin whispering about who it could have been if it wasn’t Bruce himself, but no conclusion is made.

The room goes silent as Dick starts to make a speech about Donna. He explains that he and Donna were two strays who had been subjected to living with parents who dressed up and fought crime for a living. More importantly, that Donna was excited to make a family with the Titans, but that Dick’s view of family was too skewed — at the time — to appreciate it. More than anyone else, Donna knew that throwing a bunch of strays together built a stronger family than anything anyone else has, and that what’s next for their family now is unknown, but that it’s a question to look forward to. He raises a toast to Donna and the rest of the Titans, and the entire table shares a cheers over Donna’s favorite orange soda.

The festivities are a cut a bit shit, however, when Gar sees a notification that there’s police and a bomb squad in a Mission District and asks the team what they should do. Every goes silent as they consider what’s happening, but Dawn is the first to get up and get herself prepared to suit up. One by one each one of the Titans leaves the table and begins to get ready.

Welp, there it is. Happy Season 3 setup, everyone!

Somewhere else entirely, a woman wheels a shopping cart full of children and groceries back to her mini van. She loads her kids into their car seats, buckles them in, and closes the doors before loading up the trunk full of the shopping bags. But before she can finish getting the bags in the trunk, a glob of purple sludge jettisons itself at her necking crawls its way into her ear. She drops her shopping bags and begins walking away from the car as her cart rolls into someone else’s vehicle. Her face glows purple as a man approaches her to let her know that her shopping is rolling away, but she punches him out. The camera jumps back to show her face as someone entirely different: Blackfire.

FIN

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And that’s everything for Season 2, episode 13 of Titans! The show has already been confirmed for a third season coming in 2020, so we have that to look forward to in the future. But in the meantime, I hope you’ve enjoyed the recaps of season two. Make sure to check out more of your favorite shows recapped here at The Beat!