#than expected

The outfall of the Titans was utter bullshit.

It was far too blown out of proportions. The writers should have gotten a more valid reason to justify this extreme outfall.

But... “instead of already being dead when I arrived, he only died later protecting me”, that... that’s a half-truth. Sure. But also a “it hurts me very much and I feel guilty since he died to protect me, personally” kind of excusable lie because well, that shit hurts.

Had the truth actually been something along the lines of... Dick directly causing some form of accident that led to Jericho’s death? But Dick had come clean to Jericho about everything, Jericho was there on his own account, had made an informed decision and a choice and he had died to protect Dick.

Like, Rose running out, being angry? 100% justified. He’s her brother, she has the right to be angry.

Hank, Dawn and Donna being angry that they had been lied to for years, additionally also having known Jericho personally? Absolutely understandable.

But Raven and Jason were just absolute bullshit and actually... contradictive to their previous behavior?

In fact, it was contradictive to Raven’s following characterization too.

She first and foremost latched onto Dick. Her three anchor points are Dick, Gar and Kory. They’re the people she knows, closely, and the people she trusts.

She did not know Jericho at all. And she left, angry, because Dick had never opened up and told them anything (calling out how Donna and the others at least got half-truths) but... this... how do you complain about someone not opening up to you and then leaving directly when he starts opening up to you...? That... doesn’t check out.

Neither does leaving with Donna, when all three of her primary people of reference - Dick, Kory and Gar - were still at the tower. She... doesn’t even know Donna? They only really met when everyone came to save Raven and they didn’t exactly get to talk a lot with each other and then Donna basically already fucked off again after and... we weren’t exactly shown big Donna-Rachel bonding when the old Titans returned to San Francisco.

What I’m saying is that if Kory had left first and Rachel had decided to go with her? Yes. Okay. Because Kory had become her main female role model and the slight feeling of betrayal from Dick would have pushed her toward picking Kory.

But when all three of her people are still present in the tower... there really was nothing to actually justify pushing Rachel into leaving the tower...? Sure, Kory ended up leaving too, but for her sister, not because of what Dick had just confessed. And Gar didn’t even consider quitting. Their reactions were proportional to the situation at hand; Rachel’s reaction was very oddly blown out of proportions.

And what even was that with Jason...?

Up until that very scene, Jason had been depicted as a... very invested Dick Grayson fanboy. He had been the one character most enthusiastic about becoming a Titan. He had... he had literally gone onto a dangerous solo mission, nearly getting himself, Gar and Dick killed on the way, mere days ago because he had decided not to communicate...?

But his... basically, his idol, opening up to him - especially first of everyone, Dick told Jason - and admitting how a mission had gone out of hand...? How is that a justification to turn your back on your idol, to turn your back on the whole team and to play angry, angsty, horny teenager for the rest of the season...?

Like, I understand why - from the overall meta writers perspective - it happened, because the writers wanted to isolate Dick to make him go to prison on his merry journey of self-discovery.

But you... you can’t just take the endgame and make up a flimsy way of getting there? You have to build a solid lead up to that. And... they really didn’t do that. They should have invested in a more believable reason for everyone to leave, not just a valid reason for half of them and uh I mean mmmh I guess Rachel is now a Rebellious Teen who is pouty with dad for not telling the whole truth and uuuuuuh yeah no I got nothing Jason just wants to fuck Rose let’s go with that is that enough...?

It’s... even more disappointing on Jason’s end, because at least Rachel came back around to status quo - being that she is incredibly emotionally invested in her family and especially in Dick and is willing to move heaven and Earth to protect them and keep them safe and together; you know, her entire characterization throughout the show aside from when she went pouty and ran away for a little bit there to allow Nightwing’s Origins to happen.

But Jason just... stays... away? Even after he gets texted from that the team needs him? And he somehow didn’t catch the news about, you know, Dick in prison and all that? Even Rose went “No the Titans need us”, but he, of all people, just fucks off like that...?

That just... That just contradicts the way they portrayed the character so far and sure, people change. But so sudden and over such a flimsy excuse...? It’d have needed a more solid foundation for this incredibly huge change of heart on his part.

This just makes me rather mad, particularly considering that Dick being “too good to majorly screw up” isn’t even a problem for the writers? Like, if they were to try and portray him in the light of a gloriously goody goody-two-shoes whose biggest misdeed is a half-truth about how a fellow hero sacrificed himself to save Dick’s life...? Oookay fiiine, but... that is literally followed by Dick just straight-up abandoning Gar and Conner, two minors to whom he had - willingly or not - become the primary caretaker, causing the kids to get abducted and brainwashed. Like. That. That kind of behavior would absolutely be a valid justification for Rachel, who loves Gar a great deal, to just walk out angrily and for Jason, who admires Dick a great deal, to feel let down by his hero. But! That is not the order things happened in! And that is the infuriating part for me. Because the writers prove to be capable of writing a huge fuck up scenario. So... why not come up with a properly huge fuck-up scenario to justify this incredibly important event?

And I’m not trying to down-play Jericho’s not-actually-fully-dead death here. That was... horrific and absolutely understandable that it led to the break-up of the original Titans and I completely understand why Dick not telling the original Titans the full truth about it all would leave them feeling betrayed.

But for the new Titans...? If they were now actually told the truth, the whole truth, how... how’s that a reason for them to leave? A guy you didn’t even know, who was fully aware of every aspect of what he was getting into, made the choice to sacrifice himself to save a person who right now means a lot to you and is part of your team and this sacrifice clearly scared the person you care about a lot. So... let’s just angrily leave now that he finally started to open up to you, huh.

Steve, choking on his drink: .-- .... .- -

Tony:

Steve:

Peter, coming through the window: -... .. --. / -- --- --- -.. --..-- / -- .-. / - --- -. -.-- --..-- / ... .. .-. --..-- / -... .. --. / -- --- --- -..

Tony: The only thing positive in my life is my blood group.

Steve, choking on his drink: WhAt?!

Tony:

Steve: