Titans Season 3 finale recap: Who in Gotham will die?

In the Titans Season 3 Finale, “Purple Rain,” Scarecrow begins his secret attack on Gotham. The casualties will be high if the Titans can’t save the city first.

The HBO Max show has been nothing short of unpredictable this season. And that holds true for the finale. One would expect a climactic battle between Scarecrow and the Titans, but that’s not what happens.

As Scarecrow arms his bombs to destroy the people of Gotham, the Titans come together to save the city. But it’s going to take a miracle to decipher Scarecrow’s clues.

Unexpectedly, the Titans find a new ally in Margarita Vee (Karen Robinson), a new GCPD officer by Barbara Gordon’s side throughout the season. But there’s more to Vee than we initially realized, and for once, that’s a good thing.

Titans Season 3 finale – Gotham under siege

Last we saw Donna Troy, Tim Drake, and the Drake family, their plan to escape the city had gone sideways. In the Titans Season 3 finale, the group is pinned down.

Tim busts out some moves he learned on YouTube—because, of course, he did—to take down some of the GCPD, but they’re still overwhelmed.

Until something unseen takes them down, Rachel Roth/Raven and Gar Logan/Beast Boy thought they’d found Conner and Blackfire, but they actually found Donna and Tim. Just in the nick of time.

Together, they make short work of the villainous GCPD. Then, it’s time to help Dick Grayson/ Nightwing find the bombs.

Despite how much Tim wants to be a hero, he believes his place is with his family. He’s ready to go with them, but they stop him. No parent wants their child to walk into danger, but the Drakes know how much Batman and Robin mean to their son.

They set their concerns aside and tell Tim to stay back in Gotham and fight alongside the Titans. It’s a sweet moment, and one Donna saw coming, despite her insistence that Tim shouldn’t be running headlong into danger.

Meanwhile, Blackfire surprisingly forgives her partner Conner after he blew up her ship—and her only chance to return to her home planet, Tamaran. Starfire is angrier about it than Blackfire is.

Conner’s actions should be unforgivable, but somehow, Starfire is the one being yelled at in this situation. Blackfire is much kinder to Conner than he deserves. But there are bigger things to worry about.

Back at GCPD HQ, Commissioner Barbara Gordon can’t get Oracle back online, and the rogue GCPD officers are headed her way. Fortunately for Barbara, Vee takes down the last few rogues and rescues Barbara.

It turns out there’s more to Vee than meets the eye. Though she’s been with the GCPD a while now, Vee actually works for Argus, the same organization Roy Harper is with. Interesting name-drop there.

Vee’s been keeping an eye on all the super-activity in Gotham City, and she’s got Argus resources to help out, which is great, because the Titans will need it very soon.

Titans Season 3 Finale – Detonate

Scarecrow has no interest in dilly-dallying in the Titans Season 3 finale. He sets off the first of ten bombs in a heavily populated area. By morning, 500-2000 people are presumed dead. If Scarecrow sets off the other bombs, Gotham will be no more.

Dick rallies the Titans to examine Scarecrow’s favorite book of poems by WH Auden. Everyone’s got theories but nothing concrete. How are they going to find the bombs in time?

But Dick begins to realize something. This ploy that Scarecrow is using. He’s tried it before with Batman and Robin. He wants the Titans to waste all their time searching for the bombs instead of actively doing something to stop Scarecrow.

With the help of Vee’s Argus satellites, Dick, Barbara and the Titans hatch a new plan, one that Scarecrow won’t see coming.

Jason Todd/ Red Hood arrives at Wayne Manor, pretending to be afraid that Scarecrow’s bombs will kill him too. This is but a distraction for Jason to take down some of the GCPD guarding Scarecrow.

Gar manages to turn into a bat again and enters Wayne Manor from a window. But the transformation has taken a toll, and he’s wobbly, at best. He still tries to stay upright for his mission.

Dick talks Gar through deactivating Wayne Manor security while Jason holds more guards at bay. Gar isn’t happy about Dick keeping the alliance with Jason a secret, but things have been tetchy since the whole Jason-killing-Hank Hall thing. Still, Dick had promised no more secrets.

Eventually, though, Dick realizes he’s needed inside and gives Tim the reigns. There’s a security question that Gar stumbles on, but Tim’s intimate knowledge of Batman and Robin saves the day again. That Seline Kyle name-drop was exciting!

Scarecrow is furious at the intrusion and attempts to detonate all the remaining bombs. But nothing happens. The Vee and Barbara used the Argus satellite to hack into the Bat-computer and duplicate the screens. They were in complete control, not Scarecrow. Gotham is saved!

Some sarcasm from Nightwing and Beast Boy and a knock-out punch from Tim Drake are all it takes to finally take Scarecrow down.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Titans aren’t ready to give up on the dead. The Lazarus Pit brought Jason and Dick back and the Titans want to try the same for those killed by Scarecrow. It’ll take some ingenuity.

The Lazarus Pit brings people back from the dead, sure, but it’s a harrowing experience. It’s not just a life-giver, the Pit also houses the worst fears of the person submerged in it.

Raven has experience with darkness—her father was a demon, after all. She uses her powers to extract the darkness from the Pit. It’s a lot for the young hero, but she manages to do it.

Blackfire removes the life-saving water from the Pit, and Starfire uses her newly discovered shielding abilities to contain the water until they reach ground zero.

Then, Starfire sends the contents of the Pit into the atmosphere. Superboy cools the purple storm down enough for it to start raining, and Donna uses her Lasso of Persuasion to keep the lightning at bay.

As the purple rain falls onto the dead, they begin to awaken as if from a long sleep, having been spared the horrors that Jason and Dick went through.

Gotham really is saved!

Titans Season 3 Finale – All’s well?

In the end, nobody died in the Titans Season 3 finale, and that’s great. We really didn’t want anyone to die.

But the Titans do split up, which was sad to see. Vee offers Donna a new post at Argus, and she’s keen to take her up on the offer. But first, Donna needs to see Dawn Granger in France and deliver a message to her from Hank Hall in the afterlife.

Dick decides to move the Titans back to San Francisco and asks Barbara to join him. She, in turn, asks Dick to remain in Gotham. They’d rekindled their romance, but now that’s gone again. At least they’ve ended it as friends.

Bruce Wayne/ Batman returns to Gotham. Wayne Manor is a mess, and so is Bruce’s life, but he’ll take it. He says goodbye to Dick before Dick leaves, and he even patches things up with Jason.

It’s been a tough road for Jason, and he isn’t out of the woods yet. He forgives Bruce for his fatherly mistakes and is surprised that Bruce is just as forgiving.

Jason is also grateful that Bruce killed the Joker for him—which is such a weird thing to have to write—but that doesn’t mean Jason is sticking around. Where will he go? Will he still be Red Hood? We don’t know.

Conner, guilty about destroying Blackfire’s ship, shares the specs with Dr. Kind so he can rebuild it. Blackfire will soon be off to Tamaran to hopefully win back her people.

After a lifetime of fabricated animosity, Starfire and Blackfire are happy to be sisters at last. They won’t be the closest of siblings, they know that, but at least they don’t wish endless death and pain on each other anymore.

The Titans head to San Francisco, and they’ve got a new member—Tim Drake. The youngster has heart and brains, and with some training, he could make a great Robin. Road trip time!

But first, a pitstop at Arkham Asylum.

After all, that Scarecrow put the Titans and Gotham City through, he really thinks that he’ll be out and about in no time. Not if the Titans have anything to say about it.

Remember all that darkness Raven absorbed from the Lazarus Pit? Well, we can hardly have it stay with Rachel. Nope. She sends all that darkness right into Scarecrow. That’s more than adequate punishment, we’d say!

Final Thoughts – Titans Season 3 finale was nothing like I expected

This entire season has been unpredictable, so I wasn’t surprised that the Titans Season 3 finale would subvert expectations.

There was no flashy battle to end the story—just a simple punch from the team’s newest member.

I did love how all the characters patched things up—there’s been so much animosity between the heroes this season! But they’ve mostly all ended things on friendly terms.

The status of the heroes is something to ponder. Who will return next season? It’s hard to tell. I feel like the Red Hood arc was so easily resolved that we’ll need more, but it looks like Jason’s leaving town for good. Or is he?

The Titans being back in San Francisco means no more Bruce Wayne or Barbara Gordon. They will be missed, particularly Barbara, who brought a lot of history to the show. Her easy chemistry with Dick was soothing to watch.

But, this might mean that Dick and Koriand’r can resume their relationship again. That could have been what was hinted at in Dick’s journey through the Lazarus Pit.

There were a lot of DC Comics characters name-dropped throughout this episode and this season. Are we going to see more of these characters? I would love that but let’s see how things turn out.

I enjoyed this season, which somehow managed to work despite the pandemic restrictions. I feel like the stories took risks with the characters and the payoffs were generally good. Let’s see what happens next.

What did you think of the Titans Season 3 Finale? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Titans Season 3 is streaming weekly on HBO Max.