TITANS season 2, episode 8 recap – “Jericho”

Welcome back to another recap of Titans on DC Universe! Last week we got to see the fallout of Conner’s involvement with the Titans, Jason reaching his breaking point, and Dick finally unloading some of the unreasonably heavy emotional baggage he’s been carrying around. Don’t even get me started on how much fun the subconscious ghost of Bruce Wayne is. Honestly if you didn’t see it, you’re missing out. But you’re not here to read about last week! You’re here to read about this week! So let’s get rolling on your recap of Titans season 2, episode 8 – “Jericho”.

And if you need to play catch-up, you can find last week’s recap right here!

---

The episode kicks off with Jericho — Deathstroke’s late son and Rose’s brother — walking through a rough neighborhood. “Five years” by David Bowie plays over a muted menagerie of people screaming at each other. Jericho tries to scream out but can’t, and wakes with a start; revealing that it had all been a dream.

When Jericho wakes, it’s San Francisco 2014, and he’s laying in bed listening to David Bowie because he clearly has good taste. He takes off his headphones, sends a text message, and tells his mother that he’s going out to meet with friends. She asks who he’s meeting and he tells her that it’s just some friends he’s made at the record store.

The scene cuts to Jericho walking up on the beach to the old group of Titans who are enjoying a bonfire. Dawn translates for him and he tells the group that he got caught up with schoolwork and that homework never ends. They all begin talking about new records that have come out, but end up tossing the football with Hank in the end. Jericho runs off with Hank to chase after the football, leaving Dick and Dawn sitting by the fire alone. She tells Dick that she “hates having to do this,” meaning befriending and tricking Jericho, but Dick tells her that when she feels guilty she should just think about Garth. They both admit that they feel bad because they really love Jericho, but he’s also Deathstroke’s son…and Deathstroke has to pay.

CUE THE EDGY INTRO MUSIC, MAESTRO!

The group is still sitting around the fire on the beach sharing fun stories about their past, but Dick chimes in to ask Jericho where he got the cool wrist cuff he’s wearing. Jericho tells him that his dad gave it to him for his birthday. He seems sad and Dick — who is now the official king of being unsubtle and asking rude-ass questions — asks him if his dad is still in the picture. He looks sad and doesn’t respond, but Dawn tells him that she understands and he doesn’t have to talk about it. That of course prompts Jericho to be comfortable talking more, and he tells the group that before he was born his dad used to be a war hero in the army.

The scene cuts to a flashback of Slade Wilson in an army medical facility run by the special forces group “The Hive”, and is injected with a red serum. There’s a jump to a different period where Slade is held captive with a bag over his head, which is then removed; revealing Slade’s blank eyes as he’s being interrogated about the whereabout of his comrades. Slade refuses to talk, but just as they’re about to kill him,  Slade’s eyes become clear once again and he breaks free of his restraints, kills the interrogators, steals their equipment, and leaves the room.

A toast! To murder-dads!

Slade returns home to the suburbs and gets out of a taxi carrying flowers. He walks up to door with his swanky new eyepatch and is greeted by his wife who accepts the flowers and gives him a kiss. He asks where Jericho is, and finds him mowing the grass in the back yard; but Jericho — who has a voice at this period in time — doesn’t seem too keen on talking to him. Slade apologizes for missing his birthday, and gives him the arm cuff that he never takes off. The father and son hug it out, and the scene cuts back to the beach where the group had been listening to Dawn narrate the story. Dick asks where he is, but Jericho tells him he hasn’t been around for a while; that everything changed when Slade retired from the military and went into business with a man named Wintergreen.

In another flashback, Jericho opens the door to find Wintergreen asking if his father is ready to leave. Slade comes to the door, kisses Jericho goodbye, and leaves. Jericho tells the group that everything changed, but then it changed even more. The flashback shows Slade entering the house and Jericho is held hostage with a knife to his throat by a masked man, as another man holding a gun approached Slade to ask how things have been. The men demand that Slade give them information on a job he had done, but Slade doesn’t take that lying down. He starts laying out each of the assassins, but finds Jericho with his throat slit.

The group on the beach looks sad and disquieted, and Jericho explains that when he came home from the hospital, his father had gone. The group rallies and toasts to having terrible families.

I’d still have a door if it weren’t for those meddling kids!

In Titans Tower the next day, the Titans are doing some research on Wintergreen. They find an address for him through Bruce Wayne’s recognition process, and Dick is gun-ho to get going. Hank pushes back and tells him that a little bit of recon might be a better idea considering who they’re dealing with. What’s more, Dawn says that if they’re going after Deathstroke, they should really cut ties with Jericho.

The group turns up at Wintergreen’s address and kick in the door, but the house is completely empty. Everyone seems pretty convinced that they must have known they’d be coming, but Donna beings to wonder if Jericho had sold them out. Dawn doesn’t buy that at all and reminds Donna that Jericho hates his father and Wintergreen; but Donna sticks with the idea that maybe they should try hanging out with him again to get more information. The rest of the Titans are concerned at the idea of pushing Jericho further into things, but Donna presses the issue; still fueled by her anger over Garth’s death.

In a car somewhere, Slade opens a folder full of surveillance pictures of the Titans at Wintergreen’s house. Wintergreen — who is with him in the car — tells him that he has a job to finish. The two of them lay out a plan when Slade finds out that Jericho has been hanging out with them. He tells Wintergreen to leave Jericho out of things, but Wintergreen is far more concerned about what information he could be feeding to the heroes.

Meanwhile at the large office building that Donna has escaped to before, Jillian her entourage informs her through video footage that Garth’s death was not Slade’s intended target — it was Jillian. She apologizes profusely to Donna and tells her that she only ever meant to keep her safe. Donna assures her that everything is alright, and Jillian tells her that she’ll be pulling rank and handling the Wintergreen situation herself.

Surprise!

At the record store, Jericho is listening in on one of the female employees being harassed by an ornery business man. He bumps into the guy who beings to raise his voice, but Jericho seems to have a secret: he has the ability to make people do what he wants them to. The businessman’s ever glaze over and he offers to pay for Jericho’s record and — while he’s at it — apologizes to the shop keeper, tips her generously, and tells her that he has a tiny penis. He gives the record to Jericho and his eyes return to normal. Jericho winks, mouths the words “thank you”, and the man leaves in a hurry.

As if the timing couldn’t be more perfect, Dick comes out of absolutely nowhere and asks Jericho what he just did to the man. He looks guilty, and the scene jumps to Jericho and Dick in the elevator of Titans Tower.

They enter the kitchen where everyone has gathered, and Dick announces the good news that Jericho has the power to control people’s actions. Dick asks him to show everybody, and Jericho chooses Hank. It’s quite the sight as Hank begins dancing and doing ballet across the floor. Donna admires him and asks if this is an Invasion of the Body Snatchers kind of situation, and Jericho — through hank — tells her that he can jump his consciousness into other people’s bodies and control everything they do and say.

Everyone seems mighty impressed, and Jericho gives everyone a big smile as he enters his own body again. Donna asks him where his powers came from, but he says he doesn’t know; he thinks that he got them because of the drugs his dad was given when he was in the military.

There’s a brief flashback to the first and only time that Jericho had told someone about his powers — to his father. He controls the body and speech of a man who is about to get in a scuffle with Slade, and tells his dad that he was the one doing it when they’re alone. Slade gets angry and upset and tells Jericho that if anyone knows that he has powers they’ll want to hurt him or experiment on him; so he can never, ever reveal them to anyone else. Because that tactic definitely works on teenagers.

Oh hey NBD but your dad is a trained killer lol

We come back to the present where Dawn is translating that the only person he has told besides Slade –up until now — is his mother. Everyone is still trying to understand what this means and Dawn pulls Dick aside to bring up the fact that Dick was meant to cut ties with Jericho. Dick says that he was planning on it up until he saw Jericho’s powers, but Dawn is more concerned about Dick’s selfish intentions at Jericho’s expense. After a lot of hashing it out over underlying relationship problems, Dawn and Dick ultimately decide to take Jericho on the team, but only with full transparency in mind.

Dick and Dawn bring Jericho into the costume room and the sense of awe is palpable as Dawn tells him that they’re the Titans. They invite him to join them on the team and Jericho starts dancing in celebration, but only before Dick tells him that they have to be clear about something first. He tells Jericho that he met him at the record store on purpose to get information about his father who is a professional assassin named Deathstroke. Jericho asks how he knows that and Dick tells him about what Deathstroke did to Garth. Dawn and Dick try their best to explain that there will be no more lies, and that they only lied until they got to know him for who he is. Jericho seems to stew on that a bit and points to Aqualad’s uniform, asking if he’s the friend that his father killed. Dick approaches him and tells him yes, and Jericho fervently insists that Dick and Dawn tell him the entire truth about who his father is.

Sad Slade is Sad. He’s a Sad Slade. Slade’s Sad. SAD.

Back at Jericho’s house, he’s begun packing his bags to leave but is met by his mother —Adeline —  who tells him that his new friends shouldn’t be trusted. Jericho is so not having that and tells his mother everything, including that he can trust them more than he could trust her. She tries to defend her lies, but Jericho storms out.

Later, Slade and Adeline meet in a park where she tells him that not only does Jericho know all about him, but so do the people that he’s moved in with. Slade says that he knows who they are and promises to Adeline that he’ll fix it and then never show his face to them ever again.

Dick, you’re being terrible again please stop.

Jericho is hanging out at the record store as usual when Wintergreen walks up and startles him. He tells Jericho to shut up and listen because his dad wants to see him is regards to his new friends, The Titans. He also tries to convince him that they’re a bad batch by using some Greek mythology which is just wild, you guys. Anyway. Wintergreen tries to give him the address to where he can meet his father. Jericho begrudgingly takes it, but flips him off on his way out.

In Titans Tower, Jericho has clearly come to Dawn and Dick about the problem of his dad wanting to see him to talk. Dawn and Dick talk it over and she tries to tell a very unconvinced and nervous Dick that Jericho needs their blessing in order to go. She also says that it’s time for no more lies, but Dick is more than ready to continue to lie to Jericho and use his relationship with his father against him once again. Dawn tells him that she doesn’t like what he’s become and storms out.

Donna, you rube, this is obviously a trap because Bad Guys. Good lord.

In her room, Donna receives a text from Jillian telling her that she has to leave for Themyscira immediately. Obviously concerned, Donna replies to ask why and Jillian tells her that she needs to come to the gallery.

On the other end of the phone, however, Deathstroke — now in full costume — is the one who has been texting Donna as Jillian lies dead at his feet.

Of course, Donna goes to gallery; and upon entering finds all of the guards, employees, and Jillian littering the ground. As she looks round, Deathstroke approaches behind her. Luckily, Donna is quick on her feet and begins using her lasso as defense. The two fight and Deathstroke eventually rips Donna’s lasso from her hands and wounds her with a combat knife. That doesn’t seem to stop her much, though, as the fight carries on. Just when Donna starts to gain the upper hand though, Deathstroke stabs her in the gut repeatedly.

She tries to crawl away, but Deathstroke kneels on her back and puts a gun to her head; threatening her and telling her to stay away from his son. She’s conscious just long enough to send out an emergency beacon to the Tower, and Dick and the other Titans jump into action.

All are welcome at Slade Wilson’s Holy Church of Whoopass

At the same church we saw in the last episode, Jericho meets his father. He tells Slade that he wants the whole truth, and Slade is more than happy to finally fess up to everything. Jericho asks him if everything was worth it, and Slade tries to tell him that seeing him with the Titans made him see how much he had failed him as a father. He promises that there won’t be any more secrets, but just as the two are about to make up, Deathstroke senses Dick’s presence.

Dick reveals himself and Jericho steps in-between the two of them — signing angrily at Dick about how he promised that he wouldn’t intervene with him meeting with his father. At the same time, Slade tries to convince Jericho that the Titans are not heroes at all and that they had just been using him. Jericho tries to apologize to his father, but the standoff is inevitable.

Deathstroke and Dick come head to head in a fight to the death; both donning their standard weapons. They fight and flip all over the church until finally, Slade gains the upper hand. Dick uses a smoke grenade to distract him as he tries to recover, but Deathstroke is far too quick. He grabs ahold of Dick and head-butts him over and over until he’s half-conscious on the floor. And just as Slade is unsheathing his swords for the final blow, he turns and —without realizing — stabs Jericho straight through the heart.

One is the loneliest number.

The aftermath of the fight in the church shows Dick watching all of the other Titans leaving the empty Titans Tower. Dawn tells him not to speak to her as he leaves, but Donna tells him that she’ll be around in New York if he needs her.

Dick is left alone in the Tower with nothing but tarped-over furniture and the memories of spending time with Jericho.

FIN

And that’s all she wrote on Titans season 2, episode 8! Now that we’ve finally gotten some perspective on the Titans’ past, how do you think it’ll play out for their future?

Make sure to come back next week for another recap of the next episode!