Troubled Waters
Episode 10 of Titans Season 3 begins with Gotham on the verge of descending into all-out chaos. It would seem almost half of Gotham have been affected by Crane’s serum already. With National Guard arriving to seal off the city, Barbara is left with little other choice but to shut off the water supply. This also has the knock-on effect of plunging Gotham into a panic-stricken state for at least five days. Unfortunately, Crane uses this fear to turn the people of Gotham against the Titans, claiming Nightwing is a terrorist. And if that wasn’t bad enough, he also turns Red Hood into a savior – the new savior of Gotham to be precise. Dick is adamant they can still fix this though, determined to do his best to prevent Gotham being controlled by this pair. Part of that comes from Dick watching the monitors from the Manor while Gar, Conner and Kory head out into the streets to try and find any of the infected. After dispatching the worst offenders, the Titans are forced away by the angry and frightened mob, calling them out for being terrorists. Elsewhere, Donna Troy (Wonder Girl) arrives at the outskirts of Gotham where she’s cornered by Lydia, one of the women from Paradise Island last week. The two fight, with Lydia trying to work out exactly how Donna has managed to return from the dead. Well, to figure this out Lydia hits Donna in the chest and transports her to the “training grounds” where she’s forced to fight her in the woods. Donna bests Lydia but she’s told she’ll die again if she doesn’t learn to do things differently in the future. She implores Donna to rise up as a leader, eventually ending up back outside Gotham. A group of soldiers show up to stop her but are clearly no match, as she effortlessly dispatches them and continues on. Back in Gotham, Dick decides to stage a coup with Barbara, publicly ousting himself to the GCPD and calming down the mob. After this, the Titans will slowly turn the public’s favour on their side, regardless of how crooked or deceitful this plan may be. Eventually the Titans are in agreement that this is the best thing to do, following Dick’s lead as a family. Unfortunately everything goes awry en-route to the GCPD. One of the officers fires, prompting Conner to dodge the bullet, and as it deflects off his hand and hits Blackfire in the stomach. Conner loses his temper, knocking the soldiers back as the Titans fight their way into bringing Blackfire to safety. The waves just keep on coming though, and while Kory takes Blackfire outside, she reaches out and takes Kory’s powers for herself. Kory is convinced this was her plan all along, refusing to believe her sister when she tells her it’s not. Unfortunately, Barbara shooting one of the officers in the middle of this skirmish sees her badge taken away, as Gotham loses one of its best soldiers. Meanwhile, Raven returns to find Gar, who’s looking the worse for wear after transforming. With the whole city turned against them, Raven steps up and questions where the other Titans are, dead-set on bringing them all together again. While all this is going on, Crane and Jason break into Wayne Manor, where Crane continues to use Jason’s own anger and fear against him. Crane pours himself a stiff drink and chuckles, “Welcome to Crane Manor,” as Jason slashes wildly at a portrait of Bruce and his parents.
The Episode Review
Titans returns this week with Gotham succumbing to the effects of Crane’s fear serum. It’s something that’s been delayed somewhat after last week’s detour to Paradise Island, but there’s a decent chapter of action here that sees Gotham slip deeper into chaos as Crane uses their own fear against them. With Rachel back in the show and Donna joining the fight, it’s going to take a lot for these guys to overcome the combined threat of Red Hood and Crane. This third season has been pretty good so far though, with plenty of action and drama – with this episode serving as the perfect example of this. With everything looking desperate for those stuck inside Gotham, what next for our characters? We’ll have to wait and see!
