It’s Titans time again on DC Universe! And last episode we got to find out why Slade Wilson is considered “old titans business”. This week we’re back in the present where the Titans are going to have to make some sacrifices in order to save Jason Todd, who is still kidnapped by Doctor Light and Deathstroke. But enough of a recap of the recap. Let’s get moving forward on your real recap of Titans Season 2, episode 5 – Deathstroke.
But if you’re just catching up and want last week’s recap, you can find it right here!
It’s been 22 minutes since Jason’s abduction by Doctor Light and Deathstroke, and the scene opens with Jason hanging by his tied wrists from the ceiling of Doctor Light’s totally secret lair. Light is absorbing power from the many lightbulbs around the space, and Jason’s mouth doesn’t know how to stop running, so he starts talking trash; asking Light if he picked his dumb name or if it belonged to his parents. Jason is, if nothing else, amazingly annoying and continues to shit talk until Doctor Light approaches him. Aside from being annoying, however, Jason is also very strong and skilled; thus managing to wrap his angry boy legs around Light’s neck and choke him out. He struggles for a minute but eventually escapes his wrist restraints and makes a run for the exit before he’s stopped by Deathstroke, who points a sword at Jason’s face and asks if he has to be leaving so soon.
THIS LOOKS LIKE A GOOD TIME FOR A TITLE SEQUENCE BREAK
We come back to Kory driving through Chicago and listening to some legitimacy great music. She pauses and makes a phone call to Rachel. Rachel’s phone rings in Titans Tower, but she’s asleep; surrounded by the black morphing ooz that’s been showing up in previous episodes. At the same time as her phone ringing, Gar comes into her room to tell her about Jason being abducted and is taken aback by the mysterious detritus surrounding her. Reaching out, he tries to wake her but is slashed by the blackness. Rachel shoots up declaring that she’s awake, but is mortified to find that Gar’s arm has been cut. She begs him not to tell Dick, but Gar lets her know that what’s happening with Jason is way more important right now.
The scene cuts to Gar explaining to Dick what happened in the tunnels. Dick tries to find his tracking device, but with the computer saying the subject is offline, Dick has to find other ways to find Jason.
Gar and Rachel sit together in the kitchen and Rachel tells Gar that Jason will be fine if only because he can be annoying until people give up. Gar expresses how upset he is that they’re being left out of the decision-making process for everything — including Jason’s rescue; and that he wants Rachel to try and use her powers to make something happen. She explains that her powers don’t work like that; but especially because things have changed since her father gave her the soul gem in her head.
Meanwhile, Dick, Donna, Dawn, and Hank try to figure out where Jason could be in the many tunnels underneath the city.
See? No one likes a hissy fit.
The five of them return to the tunnels where Jason was snatched, hoping to finally get a hit on his tracking device. Unfortunately, the only thing the team seems to find are sewer water and rats…that is until Dick finds a head-shaped crack in one of the cement walls.
The team surveys the area and Dick concludes that Light is using Jason as bait to get the rest of the Titans to him. Hank doesn’t take too kindly to that idea and takes the opportunity to yell about how none of this would have happened if Dick hadn’t have started the Titans back up. Dawn says that it’s all of their faults and that it’s time to find Jason.
Somewhere within the sewers, however, Deathstroke and Doctor Light have Jason tied back up and restrained as they watch, and listen to, everything that the other team is doing in the tunnels. Light seems entirely nonplussed about Dick having a tracking device implanted in him; but just as he’s starting to really get upset, Dick spots the camera equipment and ruins it.
More angry than ever, Light takes it out on Deathstroke who has been silent the entire time. He yells, asking him why he’s just sitting there and why he wouldn’t do anything when four months of planning had gone down the drain.
Deathstroke just tells him that he may not be capable of understanding.
“If you’re looking for a result, I can provide one,” says Deathstroke. But Light is off like a rocket, saying that he’ll take care of the old Titans himself.
While Light storms out of the room, Deathstroke stands and approaches Jason. He waves a beeping device over Jason’s body until it comes to the loudest pitch around his knee. Before Jason can respond, Deathstroke tells him that while the Titans are looking for him, they will only find someone else, and begins to cut into Jason’s leg.
Doctor Light’s hissy fit is going super well as he leaves the building and gets into a van. When it starts up, the radio plays some really generic and terrible alt rock while he bangs his fists frustratedly on the steering wheel. Before he can do anything else though, there’s a sound of glass shattering and his head goes limp — the shot soon zooming past him to show Deathstroke holding a gun.
A Rose by any other name is seriously rude
Back in Titans Tower, Rose and Gar are in the kitchen where she inquires as to how the search for Jason is going, but mostly just wants to know if there’s any other cereal other than Wheaties. Gar gets angry that she’s asking about cereal so nonchalantly during such a stressful time, but she counters with the idea of sitting around with him and Rachel (“[his] girlfriend”) watching surveillance footage seeming ten times less appealing. Gar begins to storm off, but Rose apologizes and tells him that really, it’s Jason’s fault for this anyway.
Gar returns to the surveillance room to vent to Rachel, but she only tells him that she’s angry that he didn’t include her in their plans. That doesn’t go over very well with Gar, who tells her that she can’t even control herself; let alone the current situation.
Their fight get interrupted, however, when Kory triggers a security alert to enter the Tower.
Jason seriously just shut uuuuup
Back in the sewers, Dick gets a hit on Jason’s tracking device. When they finally reach the course, Doctor Light’s body is strung up with the tracking device laying in front of his feet. While the team are realizing that the device had been cut out of Jason’s body, a phone rings from inside Doctor Light’s pants. When Dick answers, Deathstroke tells him how happy he is that they’ve found his present. Dick demands to know where Jason is, but Jason gives him a clue by being literally the snarkiest tied-up hostage that has ever existed until Deathstroke starts beating on him. Hearing Jason’s cries, Dick asks what Deathstroke wants, but he only responds by telling him that he’ll have to hand over Rose.
Kory gives off Big Mom Energy
Kory and Rachel are in the suit room while Rachel catches her up on everything that’s happening with Jason being missing. The conversation quickly takes a turn though, and Rachel tells Kory that she’s scared of all the new things that are happening with her powers after her fight with Trigon.
“I changed. I turned into something different and something I can’t control,” says Rachel.
Kory explains to her that on Tamaran, there’s something called transfiguration, where powers can’t be contained. She assures Rachel that who she is and what she is becoming is who she’s meant to be, but that she has to decide to be good and trust herself.
How can you seriously not know that every room is bugged?
The old Titans team come back to the Tower, obviously defeated. They’re greeted by Kory, who quickly starts into what’s happened to Jason. The group takes her into the training room; leaving Gar, Rose, and Rachel to find other ways to figure out what’s going on.
In the training room however, Hank insists that Dick should have thrown Rose out the minute he knew she was Deathstroke’s daughter. Dawn responds and tells Hank that it’s not anyone’s fault and that the only realistic reason they’re all still alive is because Rose is with them.
In the surveillance room, the three younger members of the team are watching them. They turn on the sounds and listen in just in time to hear Hank being an asshole and going on a rant about how Jason’s life is worth more than Rose and that they should just hand her over, no question. Kory pushes back, asking Dick what his opinions are on what they do. While Dick stalls, the rest of the team (aside from Dawn) agree that Rose should be sent back to Deathstroke. Hank gets impatient and insists that he’ll take her back to him all by himself, but Kory steps in to tell him that he’s being a monster. Rachel and Gar turn around to see Rose’s reaction, but she’s disappeared.
Rose tries to escape, but Dick locks down the compound. She’s sent running all over trying to find alternatives until she’s met by Hank who tries to talk her down. Unfortunately, Rose is a badass who completely trounces him and escapes…until she runs into Rachel this time. They have their fight, but Rachel’s powers come to their peak with the dark cloud throwing Rose across the room. Thinking her dead, Rachel runs as the other Titans enter the room; but as soon as she leaves, Rose heals.
Queens, drama queens, monologues, and drama queen monologues
Donna and Kory sit down to have a drink once everything calms down and Kory finally reveals to Donna that she’s Tamaranian royalty. Donna is surprised, but is jealous that she has the option to leave when Donna says she’d rather be anywhere else.
Elsewhere, Dawn finds Hank to check on him. He tells her that he got carried away, and that he knows what it’s like to be in the dark praying that someone will come to help. Dawn holds him and lets him know that they can’t give up; but that they also can’t turn themselves into monsters in the process.
After talking to Hank, Dawn goes to Dick to explain that after taking out Deathstroke, the Titans need to stop.
“Reopening the Tower was a mistake. How many people have to die before you realize that? Whatever reason you did it — whether it was selfish, or if you wanted to paper over the mistakes of the past — it doesn’t matter. This isn’t about you anymore. Or us. End your experiment or I will burn this place down myself.”
Apparently Dick takes this monologue to heart because the scene cuts to all of the Titans (and actually all of them this time) gathered together while Dick explains that it’s time to save Jason for real. He refuses to give over Rose, but there’s a new idea in the works.
Dick Grayson: bad decisions done with heart
The Titans get themselves into position at the meet-up point with Deathstroke. It’s all planned out and they call out to make sure everyone is where they’re meant to be for the plan…except Dick is unheard from. We see him get into an elevator and say “Sorry guys,” before smashing his communication device and going up in the elevator solo.
He enters a seemingly empty room and asks to make a deal; holding his hands up and removing his bulletproof vest.
“You can have me instead of Rose or Jason. I’m pretty sure I’m the one you want anyway.”
Deathstroke fires warning shots and enters the room. He tells Dick that he will not be the one to dictate how the situation goes; that he is a con man and a martyr and that he can’t save everyone. He tells Dick to get up while he opens the door to a room that holds Jason. It’s not so simple, however, because Jason has been rigged with an explosive device.
Just as Deathstroke tells Dick to say his goodbyes to his friend, though, a fireball comes out of nowhere, and Kory tells Dick that she can’t believe that he’s listening to any of what he’s saying. Deathstroke fights back, firing at will, but Kory is too strong at deflecting. Luckily now Dick is free and both team up to take on Deathstroke. As Kory smashes him through a wall, Dick ducks out to try and save Jason who is still strapped to the explosives. It’s not quite fast enough though as Kory gets hurt and it’s up to Dick to fight one on one against him. Before Dick can take his victory, however, Deathstroke sets off a flash grenade and makes an escape just long enough to set off the bomb on Jason — sending him plummeting off of the building. Dick makes a leap and tries to pull Jason up, begging him not to let go.
Unfortunately for Jason, superhero gloves are slippery, and he falls; closing the episode on a silent scream from Dick as Jason falls faster and faster towards the ground.
FIN.
That’s all for this week’s episode of Titans season 2, episode 5! Make sure to come back next week to see the fate of Jason Todd, the fallout from the team, and the revenge of Deathstroke!
