I'm as a much of a Batman fan as I am largely for what's been done in adaptations, my favorite actual Comic Book franchise has always been the Teen Titans. I have fondness for their Silver/early Bronze Age incarnation, I consider the Wolfman/Perez stuff from the 80s and early 90s among the most important ground breaking comics of all time, I like what I've read of the turn of the century run Linkara considers his favorite incarnation, but my personal Nostalgia is for the Geof Johns run of the mid 2000s.
This personal investment in the Titans and their lore has had me at times pickier about their adaptations then I am of any other Comic Book adaptations. Thus the 00s Cartoon so many people my age are nostalgic for I always resented and the DCAMU Titans aren't much better. Both have good qualities I can recognize but they don't speak to the Titans fan within me.
This Titans adaptation is still not the Teen Titans show I would have written. But all things considered, I love it, underneath everything that should at face value turn me off it has proven that it understands the heart of the Titans comics in ways none of those other adaptations have.
Look I get it, everyone hates DC stuff being dark and gritty now, and for the films I'm more inclined to understand. But on Live Action TV you have the CW shows that have a much more MCU tone, especially Legends which is practically Silver Age. So let these writers experiment with doing something darker then a big budget Hollywood blockbuster would ever be allowed to even when technically R rated.
I very heavily enjoyed season 1, but season 2 was even better. Though frankly I kind of think this show is better watched as if it were one 24 episode season. To everyone who has a Michael Baily attitude to edgy DC stuff, just grit your teeth and bare through it, trust me the pay off will be more then worth it.
The most important thing about the Titans is that it's about Family, a Found Family to be exact. That's the core that I feel is missing from every Animated property with the Teen Titans name. On this show that theme was becoming apparent in only 3 episodes and it really really earns it by the end, but it is a slow burn in a lot of ways.
Donna Troy was my original favorite Comic Book character. Sometimes I have trouble wrapping my head around the fact that the amount of time Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain have been about equal to her has now long dwarfed the time it was just Donna. And one thing that has repeatedly frustrated me is Donna not even being in Teen Titans adaptations because of weird complicated Copyright issues. A decade ago I never would have imagined that I'd get to see a proper Donna Troy in Live Action before Animation, but that's what has happened. And she was great, she was perfect, this is exactly the character I have been a fan of for longer then YouTube has existed. And in her I honestly think we have the best version of the Wonder Woman lore put to screen so far, I like Gal Gadot's movie and I liked Bloodlines but both are too New52 influenced for my taste.
Deathstroke has been adapted a lot, on prior live action TV shows and in animation and even has a Cameo on the Big Screen now. But the point of why Deathstroke works has been repeatedly missed time and time again making him just some generic mercenary. This Titans series in season 2 finally got Deathstroke right because it included Jericho and Rose and while there are deviations it ultimately does include them properly.
Another comic book element never seen in adaptations before is Dick Grayson's career as a Cop, whether you like it or hate it, it's interesting to finally see it inlcuded.
And I think there is plenty to enjoy about this show for people who aren't all that specifically into the Titans. KyleKallgreenBHH made that video with the segment where he via Civil War commented on how Superhero stories can bring together things from different genres in ways that would seem randomly nonsensical anywhere else. This show is also a great example of that, in season 1 the main plot is about Raven so it's an Omen/Haunting of Molly Hartly kind of story, but where else does that kind of story throw in urban crime fighting vigilantes, a space alien, a woman connected to the Amazons of Greek Mythology and a green haired were-tiger?
I hope we get a season 3 before 2020 is over.
Update: Binging
I think I enjoyed this show more then many partly because I binged it. Season 1 in particular seems like it was written under the pretense of following the Netflix model but then DC changed their minds on how they wanted to handle their streaming service. But even beyond that I think I'd have been less okay with how season 1 ended if I didn't get to watch season 2 right away, if I spent a year with that being where it ended I'd have felt a little annoyed.
A season 3 is confirmed already, should I wait and binge it too? I think sometimes the difference between binging and week by week viewing matters less once you're invested. Like with the Raildex Anime, those shows definitely work better binged so I'm glad I binged it all in November of 2018, but now that I'm invested I can follow Railgun T week by week pretty well.
A lot of complaints about this show are pretty silly.
Dick has had rage issues in the Comics, I've read scenes where he punches the dashboard of his own car. And like it or not there has been prior precedent for writing him as being more willing to let kill under the right circumstances then Bruce.
And the complaints about how little of the show is them actually doing traditional Superhero stuff and being apart so often, but that's frequently exactly what the Teen Titans comics are actually like, and generally what the ones I'm most fond of are like. I like that this show isn't forcing itself to follow a traditional formula.
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