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ramajmedia · 5 years

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Titans Season 2 Premiere Review | Screen Rant

When it first premiered, Titans, the flagship title of WarnerMedia’s super-niche superhero streaming platform, offered up a hollow exploration of grim and gritty vigilantes with a penchant for dropping f-bombs in relation to a top-tier member of the DC Universe who, at the time, may or may not have been too big to make an actual appearance on the show. The tale of former Boy Wonder, Dick Grayson/Robin (Brenton Thwaites), and his many grievances against his surrogate father, Bruce Wayne/Batman, was painted with the darkest brushstrokes possible, with the now-grown sidekick striking out on his own, apparently to stab bad guys with garden shears, right in their bathing suit areas.

The series went all-in on its oppressively heavy atmosphere. Dick Grayson’s Batman-level crankiness was matched at nearly every turn by the story of Rachel Roth/Raven (Teagan Croft), the would-be bringer of the apocalypse and daughter of an intergalactic demon named Trigon. In addition, there was Hank Hall/Hawk (Alan Ritchson) and Dawn Granger/Dove (Minka Kelly), a pair of aging, broken heroes with complicated pasts, and Koriand’r (Anna Diop), a super-powered alien on a mission to kill Raven before she can fulfill her father’s murderous agenda. Lastly, there was Gar Logan/Beast Boy (Ryan Potter), a seemingly nice boy with green hair who can turn into animals (provided the episodic effects budget can make that happen).

More: The Righteous Gemstones Interview: Comedian Tim Baltz On Being A Counterpoint To Chaos

The show’s inexplicable need to be as dark and gloomy (read: edgy) as possible was just one of the many faults on display during the first season that ended on a cliffhanger after watching Robin hunt his former mentor before stepping on his neck. That all turned out to be a dream manifested by the demon Trigon, though the evil being’s influence was far from over by episode’s end. As such, the season 1 finale delivered an unfulfilling, truncated story that finds an equally truncated resolution in the aptly titled season 2 premiere, ‘Trigon.’ As season premieres go, ‘Trigon’ feels like two distinct episodes roughly stitched together, rather than a proper start to a new season. The show’s simply carrying too much baggage at the start and is reaching for a conclusion too long after the ostensible end of season 1 to deliver much in the way of a fulfilling resolution or a promising new beginning.

The first half of the hour is spent with Dick chasing Rachel and Gar through a house literally haunted by her immensely powerful father. Dad/Trigon (Seamus Dever) has to break his daughter’s heart in order for him to be able to destroy the Earth. How any of this works is beyond Titans’ ability or ambitions to answer, so it settles for having the remaining heroes question the metaphorical nature of Trigon’s to-do list, with the implicit understanding that nothing makes much sense, but at least it sounds kinda good in an angsty teen poetry kind of way.

What follows is an extension of the season 1 finale, wherein the series aims to examine the various malfunctions of each character (i.e., their inner darkness). That decision more or less prolongs the inevitable. Rather than demonstrate the team's ability to act as a team, Titans luxuriates in demonstrating just how close to the people they’re hunting these heroes actually are. The scenarios vary in intensity, language, and violence, but they mostly arrive at the same conclusion: there is very little keeping these heroes from being what they’re going after. It’s clear the intent is to humanize these superheroes by dramatically underlining their biggest flaws, but that would require the characters to have had a human-like dimension to begin with.

Instead, ‘Trigon’ mostly peddles in third-rate “what if?” scenarios that allows Titans to be extreme without having to pay the price for its facile maximalism. Characters are charred, beaten, shot (and shot-up), but none of it matters. What’s worse, the series has already told the audience there will be zero consequences to what they’re watching, which makes each scenario painful to watch in a way that’s radically different from what the series intended. The descent into faux darkness is compounded by a deeply unsatisfying resolution to the Trigon threat that is absurdly simplistic and far too reliant on unconvincing special effects, further limiting any chance the show had at reaching a meaningful conclusion with this arc.

Though Titans begins by serving up reheated leftovers from season 1, it at least makes an effort to cook up something fresh for the second season. Much of that comes in the form of Dick’s efforts to clean up his act, and to deal with his emotions toward his dead family and the surrogate father he recently shunned. This brings Game of Thrones’ Ian Glenn into the fold as a surprisingly sedate Bruce Wayne. Though he doesn’t appear particularly weary, Glenn’s plays Wayne as a little older, a little wiser, and more open toward forgiveness and acceptance than viewers may be used to seeing from the Dark Knight.

It’s perhaps the most interesting thing Titans has done so far with its various re-imaginings of famous (and not-so famous) DC Comics characters. As an added bonus, this one actually delivers a substantial result by opening the door for Dick and the others to step out of the darkness and literally into a new home. There’s little doubt the series won’t darken again soon enough, as the hour also makes time to introduce Deathstroke (Esai Morales), after Jason Todd (Curran Walters) announces “Titans are back, b*tches!” on a local news station. But with any luck, Titans season 2 will find Dick and the rest of the new Titans responding to their foe’s reemergence by acting like heroes, rather than once again becoming what they’re fighting.

Next: Mayans M.C. Season 2 Review: Sons Of Anarchy Spinoff Can’t Let SAMCRO Go

Titans season 2 premieres Friday, September 6, exclusively on DC Universe.

source https://screenrant.com/titans-season-2-review-dc-universe-robin-batman/

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ramajmedia · 5 years

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Mayans MC Season 2 Premiere Review | Screen Rant

At the end of Mayans M.C. season 1, Ezekiel ‘EZ’ Reyes (J.D. Pardo) learned the identity of the man who killed his and his brother Angel’s (Clayton Cardenas) mother. As it turns out, that man was none other than SAMCRO member Happy Lowman (David Labrava), though he wasn’t wearing the SAMCRO cut at the time. It was a huge moment that season 2 is all too eager to remind viewers of, though getting to the matter at hand comes in the sometimes painfully circuitous way this franchise likes to deal with exigent circumstances. Nevertheless, one thing is made evident: Mayans M.C. may have had a successful first season with a new club and mostly new characters, but, for better or worse, it is far from done with the legacy of Sons of Anarchy.

There’s a certain pattern or rhythm to how an episode of either biker drama plays out. Like Sons before it, Mayans revisits familiar beats and frequently hits the same highs and lows. In just about every episode fans can expect there to be plenty of coarse language, an action scene or two, a chase sequence, and then a big reveal or twist at the episode’s end that typically induces a lengthy montage set to a slightly somber piece of music usually sung by a gravelly voiced performer. It’s a successful formula, if the viewership numbers of either show is any indication, but the degree to which Mayans is determined to stick with the prescribed program is also indicative of just how reliant this prospect continues to be on the series that came before.

More: The Righteous Gemstones Interview: Comedian Tim Baltz On Being A Counterpoint To Chaos

It’s not an especially good or bad thing that co-showrunners Elgin James and Kurt Sutter (the latter will be exiting his show-running duties at the end of this season) are increasingly interested on weaving the ongoing narrative of EZ and the Mayans in with the post-Jax Teller world of SAMCRO, but it does imply where the spinoff’s presumed strengths lie. That is, in the ever-twisty and complicated (but not particularly complex) world that continues to be inhabited by Jax’s former crew. It also provides Mayans with an opportunity to upend what viewers thought they new about some of the Sons, while pointing to a potential protracted conflict between the two clubs that would end the tenuous peace they brokered during the original Sons of Anarchy run.

Potential for future conflict aside, the inclusion of Sons characters and references to certain past storylines — Chucky (Michael Ornstein), a callback in and of himself, not only name-drops Jax at one point early in the season, but also reminds viewers that SAMCRO was working to get out of the gun-running business — is clunky at times, and the retro-engineering of Happy’s past (or what the audience knew of it) to fit into the Reyes brothers' story is more obvious that it should be. The emphasis on callbacks and series integration slows the progression of Mayans’ main plot (or plots) early on, and to make up for it the series resorts to a familiar strategy of extreme violence, duplicity, and secret-keeping among the brotherhood that sows the seeds greater conflict and drama, with an implicit understanding that the resulting crop won’t be harvested for weeks to come.

The season 2 premiere, ‘Xbalanque,’ mixes seeding future plotlines, moving characters around, and giving the audience what they tune in for — i.e., bloody violence and motorcycle chases. Much of the hour is told from EZ’s perspective, illustrating the lengths he’ll go and the humiliations (good natured and otherwise) he’ll endure to get that patch. Angel, meanwhile, still wants nothing to do with EZ or his father, and the rift between the brothers has not gone unnoticed by Bishop (Michael Irby) or the rest of the club. If EZ wants to be a full member, the vote must be unanimous, which means fixing his relationship with Angel is now at the top of the list. Surprisingly, Mayans wants this particular box checked too, and it takes the necessary steps to make it so. Pardo and Cardenas offer Mayans one of its best and most rewarding relationships (the other being that of EZ and his father Felipe (Edward James Olmos), regardless the secrets the old man is keeping), and as such, getting the two back on speaking terms is essential to the show’s continued success.

It’s also a sign that the Mayans writers’ room is still figuring out what works and what doesn’t. The emphasis on EZ, Angel, and Felipe means less time for the troublesome love triangle among the younger Reyes, his former flame Emily (Sarah Bolger), and her husband Miguel (Danny Pino), as he tries to angle his Galindo cartel toward legitimacy. With the potential for romance essentially off the table, both Emily and Miguel become more interesting characters. Their wants are now entangled in and around one another (and Miguel’s sometimes troublesome mother), and Mayans is eager to see how the shifting power balance between husband and wife will impact a storyline with considerably more potential this season.

In all, the season 2 premiere is more or less what viewers have come to expect from the ongoing SoA franchise. There’s a great many pieces being moved around the board, but none of them are too surprising. The series continues to rely too heavily on late-episode reveals that inevitably must tread water for weeks before they’re properly — if ever — resolved. Still, the premiere packs a considerable punch in the action department, and that will likely be enough to keep viewers coming back for more adventures with the Mayans, with or without the seemingly inescapable influence of SAMCRO.

Next: Dog: Impossible Interview: Matt Beisner Explains There’s No Such Thing As A Bad Dog

Mayans M.C. continues next Tuesday with ‘Xaman-Ek’ @10pm on FX.

source https://screenrant.com/mayans-m-c-season-2-review-sons-anarchy-spinoff/

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