“Hawk And Dove”
Writer: Akiva Goldsman
Director: Brad Anderson
Starring: Brenton Thwaites, Anna Diop, Teagan Croft, Ryan Potter, Alan Ritchson, Minka Kelly
The first episode of the series started with a bang. We were all introduced to the main members of the Titans team. They’re all some distance away from each other, spread out across the world. Viewers will wonder just how the team will come together and become the force we all know and love. As for right now, the story is focusing on Robin and Raven. With the full extent of Raven’s powers becoming clearer, Dick Grayson decides to take her to see some old friends.
It’s great to see Alan Ritchson living up to his destiny of being built for characters in the Superhero genre. We all remember him alongside Tom Welling’s Superman in Smallville. He does a great job as the deeply angry Hawk here. Minka Kelly’s Dove perfectly calms the environment and keeps the peace in what appears to be a tense environment between the bird-themed heroes.
The world of the show is gritty and lived in. Hawk and Dove are clearly world-weary. At the same time, we get the kind of realism not always seen from characters in the Bat Family. It’s great and fun detail to show all the names Dick Grayson has in his phone contact list. Most of them are presumably people from his office, but names like ‘Bruce Wayne’, ‘Alfred Pennyworth’, and ‘Donna Troy’ remind us where we are.
Conclusion
The first episode of Titans had the specific task of putting all the characters into the audience’s focus and set them up for the many trials they will no doubt endure as the series progresses. In this episode we see more of the world the show is set in; the people that inhabit this, very realistic, DC universe are a lot more fallible and broken. The villains in this episode are a whole new level of disturbing! This raises the stakes so much higher, as we have the right to fear our heroes’ well-being, as the show progresses.