As the title suggests, a large portion of this episode focuses on the cliffhanger TITANS lefts us on, the discovery of Starfire’s true purpose on Earth. This episode acts almost as a Starfire backstory episode. The Starfire we’ve known all season is still there; the consciousness she has spent all of her time building is still present while she recovers her lost memories. Once she returns to the ship that brought her to Earth, she is greeted with the memory that if the prophecy that surrounds Raven and her farther follows through, then her home world, and many other worlds, will parish. The entire reason her mission was to kill Raven is because she was trying to protect her own people. This conflict rings in Starfire, but despite this, she still understands the horror that surrounds killing Raven for this reason. She now knows Raven, she cares for her and sees her as family, but now that she remembers her own family, Starfire’s role in the Titans becomes a little more challenging.
Outside of Starfire’s backstory, this episode also focuses heavily on developments in the progression of the looming prophecy. While Robin and Donna Troy follow Starfire, Raven and Beast Boy are left with Raven’s mother in their cabin hideout. As far as they know, they’re safe. However, as a book on the prophecy in Starfire’s ship reveals, Raven’s father, Trigon, already has the allegiance of another, someone who has stood by his side and has helped orchestrate everything that has happened so far. The book shows Trigon with an obeying Raven, but standing next to her is her own mother, someone who actually loves Trigon and wants to help him bring his darkness to the universe. This reveal genuinely shocked me, and yet it continues an ongoing theme in TITANS: that you can’t really know anyone’s intentions. This has been shown in so many different characters, each who reflect one idea and then show that their intentions are actually much different than originally shown. It also continues the tragedy that surrounds Raven, because now she has no family she can trust outside of the Titans.
Though this moment shocked me, it was followed by a moment I don’t think anyone was expecting in this episode. Raven’s mother, using a hurt Beast Boy as bait, convinces Raven that the only way they can save him is if they summon Trigon. Right in the middle of this living, in the middle of an already tense moment, Raven brings forth her father, fulfilling exactly what she was always meant to fulfill. The episode ends with Raven and her parents standing together, with the prophecy coming to light, all becomes Raven wanted to save her friend. She was manipulated, and has been manipulated during every step of the way, but in the end, she cares so deeply for her friends that she’s willing to do whatever it takes, even if it means falling into the exact trap that has been waiting for her all along.
Next week’s TITANS is the finale. It’s the big one, the one we’ve all been waiting for. It’s sad to see this show go by so quickly, but at the same time, I am so ready to see whatever TITANS has been building towards that I’m willing to forget the speed bumps along the way. There’s never been a show that has gone perfectly, especially on such a new platform in the world of streaming content, so TITANS, no matter the hate or the controversy surrounding the show, it will still stand tall as a monument in the history of streaming content. It’s DC Universe’s hook into the dark. Who knows, this upcoming finale may find all of us on the side of excitement and love for what the show has done. Or, we could all be sitting in our frustrations, remembering how many different episodes diverged from the ongoing plot and how many times the show has teased us with Batman with absolutely no payoff. Next week will answer all of these questions, some more so than others. So we’ll just have to wait and see.
Written by William Staton, TITAN Beat Writer
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