In Review: Titans (S4 Eps 1 & 2) Lex Luthor and Mother Mayhem

Synopsis: After Superman requests a meeting with Conner, the Titans travel to Metropolis for exclusive access to S.T.A.R. Labs. But when unexpected complications arise, including the re-emergence of Lex Luthor, Conner faces a tough decision.

The Story

Picking up from where last season left off. The Titans have been on somewhat of a road trip and thanks to Bruce Wayne they get to travel to Metropolis so that Connor can meet Superman who is one of his Fathers. However as they arrive they find that Superman has had to go off on some mission, which leaves Connor and the team in the hands of some Starlabs scientists to show them around. While on the tour various members of the team get given tech upgrades for their suits and whatnot. And all seems to be going well until Lex Luthor reaches out privately to Connor wanting to arrange a meeting.

As things develop Connor agrees to Meet Lex who is his other father given that it was Lex that created Connor from Superman’s DNA. We learn that Lex is dying and wants Connor to spend six months with him so he can teach him about Lex Corp. Unfortunately Lex does not live long enough to show Connor the ropes as his partners have betrayed him. When Lex dies suddenly. It is Connor who is blamed for the murder, which leads the titans into an investigation that involves supernatural and dark magic.

The Acting

Titus Welliver makes for a pretty good, but somewhat short-lived Lex Luthor who as far as this story goes is more of a plot device than the main villain. However, Welliver makes the most of his brief screen time and has some pretty strong scenes with Joshua Orpin’s Connor Kent.

We also get solid performances from Brenton Thwaites and Teagan Croft as Dick Grayson aka Nightwing and Raven. The supernatural elements of this story lend themselves massively to Raven’s character, which likely means that Croft is going to have a lot of character development, which is good given that her character has been somewhat neglected in recent years. We get an interesting villain in the form of Mother Mayhem who is played brilliantly by Franka Potente but this is not the main villain. I have a feeling the main villain’s storyline is being played out in tandem with this story as we seem to be witnessing the origin story of Brother Blood.

Overall

This is a strong start to another season of Titans, which seems to be giving us a slightly more cohesive team now that Dick Grayson has gotten over many of his issues. However, this does not mean that this season will be without its issues. As we have Kory Anders learning to figure out some newly acquired powers as well as Tim Drake trying to find his place in the Titan’s team. But its what the team is up against that will be really interesting to watch as things unfold.