Titans
DC Universe
Season 1, Episode 9
“Hank And Dawn”
Set before the rest of the show, “Hank and Dawn” explores the events that led to the two teaming up as Hawk and Dove.
All the wasted potential in this episode was astounding. In theory, an episode focused on two of the best characters in the show so far sounds amazing, but when you do it as one of the last three episodes of the season, it doesn’t work. There are far too many plot lines left to be resolved to do a filler episode this far in. It felt incredibly out of place and killed the momentum from the last episode.
That being said, Alan Ritchson and Minka Kelly deliver masterful performances given the material they had to work with. Hank’s backstory was heartbreaking and it really helped to show why he behaves as he does. Dawn didn’t get as much of a spotlight, but the connection she had to Hank was one of such pain that it only made sense they would end up together. Sadly, the scene that brought them together was atrocious. The CGI looked like something you would see in a PS2 cutscene, not what you would see in a big budget superhero show. The montage of Hank and Dawn growing closer was so cheesy I thought I was watching a rom-com. Another big issue I had was Hank and Dawn undressing in front of each other. It was completely unnecessary and felt forced and out of place in a show like this, almost as if fanfiction suddenly sprung to life.
Instead of watching ‘Titans,’ I felt as if I had been tricked into watching an R-rated Lifetime movie disguised as a comic book series. The only redeeming qualities were Hank’s tragic backstory and Alan and Minka’s performances.