Titans Season 4: There will be Blood

In the beginning of season 4 of HBO Max’s Titans, Dick Grayson / Nightwing (Brenton Thwaites) sees the team enjoying some downtime and having fun on their way back home, but Conner Kent / Superboy (Joshua Orpin) is offered the chance to meet one of his fathers, Superman back in Metropolis.  The rest of the members also get some gifts from S.T.A.R. Labs.  Gar / Beast Boy (Ryan Potter) gets a suit that allows him to morph into an animal without losing his clothes.  Kory (Anna Diop) gets help in understanding her new powers and Tim / Robin (Jay Lycurgo) gets a special bo staff. Unfortunately, things don’t go as planned and Conner doesn’t get to meet Superman, but he does get the chance to meet his other father, Lex Luther, but that meeting ends badly as well and Conner ends up accused of a crime and arrested.  The Titans begin working on proving his innocence unveiling a magical plot working against them.

The Teen Titans was one of the first comic books I bought when I first started collecting and I was so happy when I was finally getting a live action series.  I have enjoyed the journey so far, although this is not anything like the comic book, it is far darker and grittier, with a lot of swearing.  Season 4 is no exception, but it did seem to cut back slightly on the overuse of the “F” bomb.  I am also happy, that so far, the infighting within the team has stopped and the members all feel more like a family again working together.  Raven is one of my all time favorite comic book characters and I wasn’t really satisfied with what they did to her character in the previous seasons, but now that she has had some training on Themyscira, Raven, played by Teagan Croft, is beginning to evolve into a better version of herself and appreciate the differences.  I do like the Brenton as Nightwing and how protective he is of the team, I also enjoy what Anna Diop brings to the alien Koriand’r.  She is also very different then her drawn counterpart, but it was easier to accept those differences and it has been good to see her change over the seasons.

The storyline for season 4 seems intriguing with a lot of mystery and suspense with little explanation as to what lays instore for our heroes. We get to explore more of the characters emotional sides.  Specifically, Conner’s disappointment in not meeting Superman, and his confusion over who he really is, having both the genetic material of Superman and Lex Luther.  We also get a little bit of an introduction to the big bad of the season, Brother Blood and the Church of Blood.  In the first two episodes, which were released simultaneously, Sebastian Sanger (Joseph Morgan) is portrayed as a mild mannered man who is just trying to change the world for the better, but both personal and professional tragedies begin to lead him astray and it appears that some of this is being nudged along by Mother Mayhem / May Bennett (Franka Potente).  Not too much has been revealed about what their true goal or plan is, but what we have seen so far shows power beyond anything the Titans have been up against to date.