Marvel’s character Wade
Wilson (Deadpool) was
originally based on the DC
character Slade Wilson (Deathstroke)
as seen in Titans.REVIEWS TV
068 | W W W.SCI FI N OW.CO.U K
Titans
Season Two
Titans go!
Release Out now
Showrunners reg Berlanti, G
Akiva Goldsman, Geoff Johns
Cast Br enton Thwaites, Teagan Croft,
Anna Diop
Distributor e t fl i xN
Certifi cate 15
Format
There is clearly some unfi nished
business when old nemeses Slade
Wilson/Deathstroke (played with a
disarming charm by newcomer to the
series, Esai Morales) turns up in Season Two
of Titans, which rocks our superhero gang to
its very core. Season Two opens with Titan
originals, Kory, Hank, Dawn and Donna, going
their own ways and Dick deciding to bring
young Rachel, Gar and Todd into the fold to
continue doing hero work as a new generation
of Titans. However, that plan doesn’t last
long when Slade turns up, forcing the gang to
begrudgingly reform to take down the assassin.
There is a lot crammed into this season of
Castle Rock:
Season Two
Misery loves company
Release O ut now
Showrunners am Shaw, S
Dustin Thomason
Cast izzy Caplan, Tim Robbins, Elsie Fisher, L
Barkhad Abdi
Distributor STAR ZPL AY
Certifi cate 15
Format VODIn Season One of Castle Rock,
creators, Sam Shaw and Dustin
Thomason, introduced an audience to
their dark version of the Stephen King-
extended universe by taking elements of the revered
horror writer’s body of work and blending it with
themes of dementia and insidious evil to reveal a
disturbing portrait of modern America. Season Two
continues in the same vein, tapping into issues of
mental health and fear of the other by combining
elements of Misery with S ale m’s L ot.
Lizzy Caplan stars as a younger iteration of
Annie Wilkes, who is suffering with severe issues
of abandonment that are taking their toll on her
teenage daughter, Joy (Elsie Fisher turning a
discerning performance). Tim Robbins plays thelesser-known Reginald ‘Pop’ Merrill, who has
appeared in small roles in a couple of King’s titles,
and is here shaded in as an ex-soldier who served
in Iraq and has now set up shop in Castle Rock to
welcome in a Somalian community of refugees.
His generosity has extended to the adoption of two
Somalian children, Abdi (Barkhad Abdi) and Nadia
(Yusra Warsama), who now, grown up, have some
unanswered questions for their father.
The show switches between Annie’s childhood,
her devoted approach to motherhood, and the
lengths she goes to, to keep her mental health
issues under wraps in her job as a nurse. It’s a
clever way to show how we got to the point of the
older, iconic Annie played by Kathy Bates in RobReiner’s Nineties classic. Caplan sticks with that
version of Annie; giving her a pronounced limp
and a bubbling rage that comes to the surface
with a vicious act of self-defence that is gleefully
violent. Robbins’ narrative isn’t as engaging, but it
eventually takes fl ight in the fi nal episodes.
Castle Rock doesn’t pay fan service in the same
way that Stranger Things did with its heavy reliance
on nostalgia. It instead examines how tragic past
real-life events feed into current issues with a focus
on the dangers of history repeating itself.
Katherine McLaughlin
Titans – the return of Slade arouses fl ashbacks
to the Titans’ past and introduces more new
characters in the form of Slade’s daughter Rose
and son Jerricho. Adding to this, the characters
themselves are also going through a lot of
personal troubles, with Hank and Dawn’s
relationship hanging in the balance due to
drug and violence addiction, Kory dealing with
pressures from back home and Dick facing up to
a decision he made long ago. And that’s before
we discuss Superboy, Krypto the dog and an
ominous company run by Lex Luthor that is
trying to create a super soldier.
The dark tone from Season One is carried on
in Titans Season Two, with themes including
parricide AND fi licide, but none of these are
ever deeply explored due to the show trying
to squeeze too much in. The same goes for
the characters. Hardly any of them have the
chance to evolve much beyond what we know
about them from Season One, which is a shame
because these are all excellent characters just
waiting for some extra layers. The exception to
this is Brenton Thwaites’ Dick Grayson, who has
a great arc this season, going from bothered to
badass over the course of 13 episodes.Season Two does contain some gems,
though. The episode introducing Superboy is
particularly stand-out as is Iain Glen’s (Game
Of Thrones) intriguing take on Bruce Wayne.
Titans is entertaining enough and it looks great.
We’re looking forward to seeing more from the
characters in Season Three.
Rachael Harper