[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Director: David Frazee
Writers: Richard Hatem & Marish Mukerjee
Starring: Brenton Thwaites, Teagan Croft, Anna Diop, Ryan Potter and Conor Leslie
Summary
In Batman’s safe-house in Chicago, the team get to know Rachel’s mother. She tells them she has a house in Ohio that they can all stay in. They all agree and are excited about it until Grayson tells them he is leaving the team.
While they hop on a train to head to Ohio, Grayson looks up his old friend Donna Troy. Donna Troy is an Amazon from Themyscira that Grayson has known since childhood. They talk about Grayson not only leaving Batman but also leaving Robin and what it is he is going to do now.
Donna Troy takes him to an art show featuring her photography until she is called away on business. Grayson follows her and sees her get blindfolded and put in a van.
Donna is taken to a poacher that sells the skins of hunted prey. She takes photos hoping to topple the business but as the poacher is leaving their peaceful meeting, Grayson comes in blazing. Donna explains that he could’ve ruined her entire plan.
On the train, Kory realizes they are being watched. But while she thinks they are from the asylum, they end up being federal agents that are looking for her for attacking the officers in Detroit.
After escaping, Rachel offers to use her powers to revive Kory’s memories.
Positives
They really use this episode to build up the anticipation of what Grayson will become now that he has given up being Robin. Any comic book fan will know what he becomes and that makes this very exciting.
We also get to see glimpses of Kory’s past. This is also exciting because once she realizes she is an alien, that opens up a whole new set of possibilities for future seasons.
Negatives
This was a slower episode, which would normally be okay if the story is enough, but I feel this episode lacked in areas. It felt like half an episode or the first half of a two-parter even though it isn’t. They brought up this entire poaching enterprise and they never gave closure to it. They simply implied Donna was successful.
Past episodes did a great job of introducing new characters such as Doom Patrol and Hawk & Dove, but this episode does a poor job with Donna Troy. Donna Troy is a significant character, she is also an Amazon like Wonder Woman and they didn’t show her do anything. It felt like such a missed opportunity.
Finally, when the Feds approach Kory, it isn’t clear whether or not she killed them all. But if she did that is horrible. They were Federal agents doing their jobs. They were trying to take her in for attacking police. This means she attacked police and FBI now. The more she hurts law enforcement that isn’t even corrupt, the more they are painting her as a villain.
Verdict
This has been an excellent series so far, but this is easily the weakest episode of the series. It does little to introduce Donna Troy but it does well in advancing Grayson’s character. I’m looking forward to the next episode, but it feels there is no closure with this one.
