DC Universe’s Titans season 1, episode 8 recap: Donna Troy

Dick Grayson leaves the Titans to reconnect with an old friend, Donna Troy. While Starfire gets flashes of her past, Rachel bonds with her mother, Angela.

The latest episode of DC Universe’s Titans introduces a new character from the comic books. Donna Troy, aka Wonder Girl, has been a long-time Titans member, but on the show, it appears the character has hung up her boots to be a different kind of hero.

At the safe-house, Rachel’s (Teagan Croft) mother Angela (Rachel Nichols), who the team had rescued in the previous episode, suggests the Titans re-locate to her old house. Everyone agrees, but Dick (Brenton Thwaites) has to go his own way. He’s closed the chapter on Robin, but he’s uncomfortable not being a superhero. He needs some help.

The recurring theme of Dick leaving Rachel behind continues on the show with a light-hearted moment between them. Rachel has grown in confidence and Dick has finally let his hair down. The team and Angela board a train to her home in Ohio, while Dick arrives at Donna Troy’s (Conor Leslie) apartment.

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Dick tells Donna that he’s ‘quit Robin’ because he couldn’t get a handle on the violence. Donna is sympathetic, but explains she didn’t quit being a superhero – she ‘just stopped’. She reassures Dick that he’ll understand what to do but he needs to give himself time. In the meantime, she has a couch with his name on it for Dick to crash on. ‘Oh, I’ve missed you Boy Wonder.’ I like her!

Donna invites Dick to an exhibition of her photographs where he can hang out with some normal people. She reiterates that he should try to have a good time even though he’s not very good at small talk. That becomes painfully apparent when a fellow patron attempts to converse with Dick (or flirt with him?) but Dick is enamored with the art and the medium he doesn’t let the other guy get a word in. I really like how Dick Grayson has become funnier and likeable over the past few episodes. Should have opened with that characterization, Titans showrunners.

We see Donna getting a text with an address and she leaves the gallery. A car pulls up and some thugs place a hood over her. Donna is calm throughout, but unknown to her, Dick is watching from afar. What if she was simply going off on a date? Would Dick have followed her then as well? I guess he’s trying to be protective, but it comes off as creepy and controlling in this instance.

https://twitter.com/ConorLeslie/status/1066877548838248453

On the train, Gar (Ryan Potter) asks Kory Anders (Anna Diop) if she thinks Rachel is mad at him after he killed a doctor at the Asylum. Kory believes it’s Gar who is struggling with his actions, not Rachel, and that he shouldn’t feel guilty for attacking in self-defense. Gar also feels like he loses some amount of control when he shape-shifts, a common factor between both him and Rachel. Kory keeps shipping Rachel and Gar, and that makes me so uncomfortable. Why didn’t the producers cast an older actor for Rachel if they wanted to go down the romance route?

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After the ministrations at the Asylum, Kory keeps getting flashes of herself aboard a spaceship and it’s taking a toll on her. She looks worn and tired, and it doesn’t help that there’s this one guy at the bar who keeps looking at her. When she confronts him, he insists that he was only staring because he found her attractive. Of course, he’s lying. He’s a US Marshall and he’s after Kory for attacking the cops at Rachel’s home a few episodes ago.

Rachel is mesmerized by her mother and Angela seems happy to be back with her daughter. She rues the years they have lost together, explaining that because Angela knew Rachel’s father would never leave them alone, she asked her friend Melissa (Sherilyn Fenn) to take Rachel away and never reveal the identity of her real mother.

Rachel’s father saw her power and he wanted to exploit it. He gathered a cult of followers – the people chasing Rachel so far this season. Angela believes Rachel’s father and his followers are gone and can’t hurt the girl anymore, but we know that The Organisation is intent on bringing Rachel’s father to Earth. Can we trust Angela?

Donna is taken to a warehouse where she meets a South African poacher. He wants to give his boss some bad press by bringing down the illegal animal trade business. Donna photographs the goods, but in yet another Dick-ruins-the-day moment, Dick arrives and punches the lights out of the poachers. Donna is understandably mad – her photographs would have shut down the entire operation instead of taking out just one poacher. Thankfully, she thinks fast on her feet. To save the situation, she asks Dick to take pictures of her ‘unconscious’ with the rest of the poachers.

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Unlike most of the characterisations on Titans so far, Donna reacts calmly to every situation. She chastises Dick for doubting that she had a plan, but also understands why Dick has trust issues. When Diana took Donna in, she instilled love and a feeling of family in her; but Bruce encouraged violence and rage in Dick, something he hasn’t been able to shake.

‘Wonder Woman was born to protect the innocent; Batman was created to punish the guilty.’

Donna didn’t quit being Wonder Girl, instead, she realized she could do more good as Donna Troy. She and Dick aren’t their mentors. Donna doesn’t want Dick to be Batman or Robin – he needs to be something else; someone else. Wait, haven’t I heard that line before?

As Donna looks through Dick’s phone, she finds the pictures Dick took of Kory’s bunker in episode 3, ‘Origins’. Donna recognizes the language and believes she can translate it. They drive to Angela’s place as Donna realizes that Kory Anders is Starfire and she has been sent to kill Rachel.

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The train is stopped and tons of officers surround it. Kory tells Gar to get Rachel and Angela off the train. When Kory is attacked by a bunch of officers she fires, blowing up the train. They drive the rest of the way to Angela’s house. When Rachel sees Kory struggling, she offers to heal her brain in the hopes that it might bring Kory’s memory back. At first, it doesn’t seem to be working, then Kory gets another flash of memory and she attacks Rachel.

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