The trailer for the final episode of Titans, which is centered around a battle between Batman and Robin, accidentally exposes the fatal flaw of the DC Universe series. The first season of Titans has been largely focused upon the story of Dick Grayson and his efforts to build a new life for himself free of Batman's influence. While this trailer suggests an explosive resolution to Dick's story, it also points to the show's continual problems in developing any of the subplots devoted to its core characters apart from Robin.
The first episode of Titans opened with Dick Grayson working as a police detective in Detroit. His work brought him into contact with a teenage girl named Rachel Roth (Raven), whose mother was murdered by a man who spoke about Rachel's destiny and how it tied to her sinister father. The search for answers brought Dick and Rachel into contact with Kory Anders (Starfire) - an amnesiac woman, who remembered little beyond the fact that she was also searching for Rachel. They were later joined by Gar Logan (Beast Boy), a young man who developed a crush on Rachel and helped her out after she was forced to flee the convent which she had been sent to for safe-keeping.
Related: Why Robin vs. Batman On Titans Has To Be A Dream
It took Titans four of its first ten episodes to bring its four main characters together. It then took another five hours for the series to start addressing the mysteries involving Rachel's father and Kory Anders' identity; until the penultimate episode of the season, "Koriand'r", virtually nothing happened that advanced the plotlines for Kory or Rachel. Even then, three of these episodes - "Jason Todd", "Donna Troy" and "Hank and Dawn" - were devoted to exploring the backgrounds of previously introduced supporting characters or introducing new characters. To make matters worse, all of these introductions to new characters came about while Dick Grayson was away from the rest of the team, dealing with his own business.
Titans' biggest problem is that it is not truly a show about the Titans - it is a Robin series that just happens to feature some of the Titans as supporting characters. Raven's story - nominally the focal point of the first season - goes largely ignored outside of the context of Dick's journey of self-discovery. Even the seventh episode "Asylum", which was meant to be focused on the team's effort to rescue Rachel's biological mother from the clutches of "The Organization" - devoted more time to Dick's hallucinations and his decision to burn his Robin costume than it did to Raven's reunion with her mother and the subsequent rescue.
Beyond being overly focused on Robin, another key complaint about Titans' first season is how many of its episodes seem to be devoted to characters outside of the core four Titans. The fourth episode, "Doom Patrol", was hailed as a wonderful back-door pilot for the upcoming Doom Patrol series, but the episode's stellar treatment and development of the titular team only showcased how badly handled the Titans themselves had been in the three preceding episodes. Similar complaints were leveled against the episodes "Hawk and Dove" and "Hank and Dawn", which many felt seemed like episodes of a Hawk and Dove series crossing over with Titans rather than actual Titans episodes.
Thankfully, an episode summary released after the trailer was posted online confirmed that the trailer is showing scenes from a dream sequence in which Trigon manipulates Dick Grayson's mind. Given that, it is hoped that the rest of the cast will be given a chance to shine outside of the hallucination. Even if the episode does wind up being mostly about the former Robin's baggage regarding Batman, it will hopefully bring about a resolution that will result in more time being devoted to the rest of the team in Titans' season 2.