Season 4 of Titans sees the superhero team head to Metropolis and face new enemies of a magical nature, something they haven’t encountered much of so far. The episodes are now streaming on HBO Max.
Episode 1 recap: Lex Luthor
The Titans enjoy themselves when Dick gets a call from Bruce Wayne. Bruce tells him they have been invited to S.T.A.R Labs in Metropolis because Superman wants to meet Conner.
Lex Luthor arrives at the temple of Azarath which he finds with the help of an archaeologist named May Bennett. Now that he’s got what he wanted, he fires May which takes her by surprise and makes her feel betrayed.
A man named Sebastian Sanger is preparing for a pitch he’s supposed to make and practices his words in front of several taxidermied animals at his store.
A couple enjoying their dinner at home is attacked by a bone masked figure after they find blood in their food. The male is frozen in time and the female has her throat slit by the figure.
The Titans arrive at S.T.A.R Labs where they meet Bernard Fitzmartin who is the Director of Special Projects. He offers them a tour of the place and gets the chance to analyse their powers.
He tells Conner that Superman was called away on urgent business but he did leave a letter behind for him. Garfield gets a new suit that morphs along with his transformations but when he tries it out, he blacks out and destroys the room they are in.
Kory finds out that she’s only using a fraction of the power level she’s capable of but they’re still not clear on the fundamentals of her powers. Conner and Dick get to see Superman flying into space to save another galaxy.
After the tour, they’re on their way out of Metropolis when Conner gets a high-frequency message from Lex Luthor inviting him to meet. Dick and Kory don’t trust Lex but Conner says he at least wants the chance to meet one of his fathers.
Dick agrees on the condition that they do some recon first. Kory meets Lex while Dick and Tim observe from a building across. Lex knows a lot about Kory and is even aware that he’s being watched, so he sends a few ninjas to take Dick and Tim out.
Conner, Raven and Gar go to the Daily Planet to look up the records about Lex. Raven continues to have strange visions involving blood dripping from everywhere.
Dick and Kory find that Lex is dying and probably wants to use Conner to cure himself. Conner is insistent that he wants to meet Lex anyway. When Conner meets Lex, he asks him why he was created and gets an honest answer from Lex.
Suddenly, Lex begins to stumble and cough up blood until an entire snake slithers out of his mouth and he dies with Conner watching. At the same time, Sebastian Sangers also coughs up blood while Raven gets a terrifying vision and begins screaming.
May Bennett is seen near LexCorp, stating that Lex paid for the power he tried to claim with the Temple of Azarath.
Episode 2 recap: Mother Mayhem
A couple is talking in their kitchen while their daughter is upstairs when they’re visited by the bone-masked figure. Once again, the husband is frozen while the wife is killed. The young girl is trapped in a nightmare.
Conner is arrested because he was with Lex when he died and he’s the main suspect. Dick and Kory visit him where he’s being detained and he tells them about everything he saw.
Dick tells Kory that Lex was having her followed and researching her so she should check out an address while he takes Raven to check out the crime scene since he’s certain they’re dealing with magic.
Gar and Tim are training in the forest when Gar begins hearing voices. He tries to follow them but cannot find the source as the voices tell him to give up. He growls in despair and then passes out on the floor.
Kory goes to the address and finds a man scrambling to find something in there. She questions him and he tells her that he’s the last remaining member of the LexCorp inner circle with the rest of them dying along with Lex the previous night.
He also tells her that Lex had withdrawn since his diagnosis and gotten in with the occult in the hopes of fighting death itself rather than just his disease. Then the man dies the same way Lex did after hearing voices in his head chanting.
Rachel uses her powers to analyze the crime scene and sees the house of the couple from the beginning in a vision. She tells Dick that they need to head there.
Sebastian visits his mother at a care home and tells her about the meeting that he’s got coming. She tells him that he can achieve anything he puts his mind to.
Dick, Raven, Gar and Tim arrive at the house and eventually find the mother’s body. They find the young girl seizing upstairs and Raven says she can help her get out of the nightmare.
Raven goes into her mind and finds the little girl, who is named Aria. She also sees the bone-masked figure who attacks them and Raven tries to pull off his mask but cannot. She gets Aria safely out of the nightmare and then tells the others that the criminal is nearby.
Kory visits Conner who tries to help her learn more about Lex’s intentions by using the part of his brain that thinks like Lex. He tells Kory that if Lex was investigating her, he would have wanted something in return and she needs to find the connection.
Now joined by Kory, the Titans arrive at an abandoned warehouse where they find several tools and a blood bowl. The others find Aria’s father and other men who are strung up and being exsanguinated while Raven looks for the figure.
She finds him and succeeds in pulling his mask off but the figure burns himself alive to avoid getting caught. They call the authorities and Conner is freed after the evidence points towards Lex Luthor’s physician as the real suspect. He was the man behind the mask.
As they’re leaving Metropolis once again, they are interrupted by a woman who appears on the road. It turns out to be May Bennett but she looks different and has a magic staff. She manages to overpower them until Kory uses her powers to save them.
Sebastian fails his pitch and as he’s leaving, he hallucinates the people in the room with blood spilling over. He visits his mother and learns that she passed away that morning. The person who informs him turns out to be May who has something planned for Sebastian as he goes crazy with despair.
May is then seen chanting in the Temple of Azarath with several followers as the stone in her staff glows.
Review
- Season 4 of Titans explores the magical side of the DC universe and has a lot of interesting characters to draw from. The series’ darker tone means that there will be a lot of blood and brutality involved.
- The special effects which primarily include visuals of people with blood flowing from their mouths or pores are pretty impressive and look very real and practical.
- The character of Tim Drake was only recently revealed to be bisexual in the comics and the series has chosen to include that representation of the LGBTQIA+ community which is a nice touch.
- Conner Kent struggling with his parentage is another subplot that affects his development considerably and it will be interesting to see how it progresses now that Lex is dead.
Also Read: ‘The Sandman’ season 2 confirmed by Netflix