Warning: Contains spoilers for Titans episode 9.
In a throwaway line in Titans season 3, episode 9, “Souls,” Donna Troy suggests that it would make sense for her to be reincarnated as a clownfish. While the line might seem silly or irrelevant, there’s actually a really good reason behind her wish. Donna Troy’s season 2 death upset a lot of viewers and her return honors some important elements of the character.
When Tim Drake (Jay Lycurgo) wakes up on a train in the afterlife after being shot by Scarecrow in Titans season 3, episode 8, his response is to panic and try to leave. Donna Troy’s (Conor Leslie) spirit is also on the train but seems much more at peace with the situation. However, when Tim leaves she goes after him to help protect him. They’re rescued by Hank Hall (Alan Ritchson) and he suggests that there might be a way to get all of them back to the land of the living. However, Donna pushes back on the idea suggesting that it might be better for her to carry on here saying: “Who knows, maybe I’ll come back as a clownfish. At least that would make sense.”
This line is not a random joke, but rather a callback to an important part of Donna’s season 2 character development. In a Titans flashback episode “Aqualad,” Donna and Garth (Drew Van Acker) reminisce about their youth when they had gone swimming together and Donna had been determined to see a clownfish. While they didn’t live in those waters, Garth used his powers to bring one to her to make her happy. Garth himself calls back to the moment later in the same episode when referencing his persistence in pursuing Donna, and the reference in season 3 is bittersweet as he was killed by Deathstroke shortly afterward.
Just as Garth used the line to highlight Donna’s persistence, her callback to it here does the same thing. Shortly before she brings it up, Hank invokes Garth’s name to emphasize that like Hank himself, Donna is not one to let things go as she was keen for vengeance against Deathstroke in the aftermath of Garth’s murder. While she suggests that she has accepted her death and is ready to move on, her reference to both reincarnation and the clownfish incident belies her true feelings and her underlying willingness to return.
Donna is struggling with the fact that her actions on Earth felt ultimately futile, emphasized by the way that she died in an unnecessary way at a carnival at the end of Titans season 2. Hank’s reference to Garth is trying to persuade that helping people and doing good in the world is still worth it. While it might be a small element, remembering that Garth used his powers to make her happy once seems to help her see a little bit of purpose and ultimately leads to her thinking it makes sense to help Tim escape death after all.
It is also important that Hank and Donna acknowledge Garth in this scene as he is the one ally that they have who has previously stayed dead. Donna’s grief over his death persisted and to spend time in the afterlife without raising his name would be strange. Ultimately, mentioning him without showing him highlights the fact that some people do really stay dead, and is a fitting setup to Hank’s failure to return to the land of the living at the end of the episode. While Donna probably wouldn’t want to actually be reincarnated as a clownfish, the suggestion indicates a lot about the character, remembers her Titans history, and set up her future as well.
Titans releases new episodes Thursdays on HBO Max.
