Titans – Lady Vic review S3 E6
Titans Season 3 has reached the point where it’s desperately in need of a course correction. Lady Vic was littered with puzzling character choices, frustrating decisions and some bizarre twists that make no sense within the framework of the existing continuity of the series.
Is there a way to give villains credibility behind having them kill some random innocent people? Lady Vic’s (Kimberly-Sue Murray) big intro scene finds her pissed at a pair of state troopers celebrating their anniversary so naturally she kills them. This doesn’t make Lady Vic come off like a bad a$$. It’s just lane and a hack to show that the villain of the week is formidable by killing a bunch of unsuspecting state troopers. Sigh.
Through some bizarre flashbacks, we learn Barbara was basically the Catwoman to Dick’s Robin six years ago. She was actually stealing artifacts and valuables from museums. This is an unexpected twist for Barbara that’s so surprising because it’s stupid. Dick joining Barbara’s little crime spree also seems decidedly out of character for Grayson. Brian Michael Bendis didn’t write this episode did he?
The intent was to show Barbara had a little wild side to her, but it just served to make her anti-vigilante stance even more ludicrous. Another flashback attempts to make sense of it all by showing Dick and Barbara trying to steal something else only to get theft-blocked by Lady Vic and her boyfriend/husband. Barbara stops Vic from slinging a knife at Dick only for it to kill her boyfriend/husband instead.
Lady Vic is back in town on Crane’s prompting to finally get her revenge. And to serve as a reminder to Jason that he’s replaceable as Crane’s resident psychopath.
It’s always amusing how little time Dick actually spends in a given season with the Titans. Kory and Gar chew him out for trying to go solo to take down Jason so his immediate next response is to go after Jason alone. Because of course it is — that’s what Nightwing does.
This clicked better last season when Dick felt super guilty for his role in Deathstroke’s vendetta, but this feels like the writers really just wanted to make a Nightwing show and the Titans are just there to spend a little bit more time together.
Jason is itching for the rematch too, but Crane isn’t interested in Jason’s ego.
MORE:
- Marvel Fan First Thursday reveals Excalibur box set, SHIELD, Skrull army builders
- He’s All That review
- Cinderella (2021) review
- DC Comics reviews 8/31/21 – Batman Fear State Alpha #1, Infinite Frontier #5
The episode’s best sequence had Dick and Gar determine Lady Vic’s identity thanks to some borrowed files from the GCPD and Gar matching the sounds of her blades. Barbara gets a message from Bruce that might as well just end with a send off that this is a trap.
“Bruce” was actually a recording and it was the spot for Lady Vic to try an ambush. Barbara has some staffs and manages to hold her off. That felt very unlikely given how adept at killing from various angles we’d seen from Lady Vic.
So far the writers have not made a convincing argument as to why Kory brought Komand’r back to Wayne Manor to hang with the Titans. Sure, the bickering siblings and Blackfire’s thought that Conner was her man servant was amusing, but this feels so contrived and goofy.
Some of this is just basic disappointment with how Blackfire is being portrayed. Damaris Lewis is great in the role, but Blackfire is a toned down threat who was built up like some major threat last year only to be an easily disregarded nuisance this season.
Kory and Conner find a doctor with an association with Crane with a Hank bomb attached to her chest. This time, Conner knows what to do do and whips up a defibrillator with seconds to spare. And while she bailed on riding back, Blackfire got some leads of her own. At least Blackfire is pulling her weight as a houseguest for a superhero team.
Jason is back on the street selling Crane’s drug. He doesn’t care about Crane’s desire to wait until it’s perfected. Jason wants it out on Gotham now. He sells the drug to some random guys and one goes into Tim’s parents’ restaurant and seemingly kills Tim’s father. This would have so much more impact if this wasn’t the second time we’ve seen Tim this season. This was a bad shortcut to bring Tim back into the fold without properly establishing the build he had with his father.
Since Hank’s death, Titans has been flailing along trying to gain some solid footing. This episode wasn’t it as it keeps making the same mistakes as other installments this season. Better pacing and more consistent character portrayals are desperately needed at this point to get it back on the right track.
Rating: 5 out of 10
Photo Credit: HBO Max
Grab the McFarlane Toys Nightwing vs. Red Hood figure set from Amazon.