Titans season 2, episode 6 review: Conner

Escapee Conner Kent a.k.a. Subject 13, in self-discovery, seeks out Lionel Luthor for the truth about his existence. Spoilers lie ahead.

Instead of continuing right where we left off with last week’s cliffhanger showing the current Robin (Curran Walters) falling to his death, we are introduced to a new character in the Titans universe.

Escape from Cadmus Labs

We open with Subject 13, who escapes from a Project Cadmus facility somewhere in Metropolis, as seen from a mid-credits scene from the first season’s finale. Subject 13 picks up a dog, a Labrador Retriever, that had been locked up in a cage, and happens to have glowing, red eyes.

Upon seeing a commercial for Cadmus Laboratories, Subject 13 chucks a security guard over to a fitted, flat-screen TV playing the ad. The nude test subject grabs some clothes from a nearby security post and decides to name himself “Conner” from a name tag. The newly-dubbed Conner frees himself and “Krypto,” the Super-Dog, and they head to the outside world.

“S” stands for “Hope.” Enter Mercy Graves.

The following day, VP of Special Projects, Walter Hawn (Raoul Bhaneja), and a woman in a red dress and dark sandals, Dr. Eve Watson (Genevieve Angelson), chat on their way to the testing bay at Cadmus Labs. Hawn berates Dr. Watson about her non-communication with him about the incident from the previous night.

Hawn explains what happened during Connor’s escape, which resulted in a lot of scientists and security personnel being put in the hospital. But Dr. Watson is in disbelief, as she cannot figure out what went wrong. But as the two continue to talk, Mercy Graves (Natalie Gumede) appears right behind them.

“That’s what you’re supposed to tell us. Looks like someone got off on the wrong side of the glass tube,” Graves says.

Graves explains why she is present at Cadmus Labs, as Lex Luthor has sent her to organize a way to recover their experiment. Dr. Watson explains that their specimen has been released too early. Despite the success in creating Conner, his memories of two individuals (presumably Superman) and his first-time experiences in the real world are bound to emotionally and mentally confuse him.

Meanwhile, Conner sees a black T-shirt with the House of El “S” symbol at a nearby stool. Conner reaches for it before a cantankerous shopkeeper attempts to grab the black shirt from Conner. However, the conflict jumpstarts his memory of an older man, which scares Conner. Later, he stops a thief from robbing an elderly lady and gets money from her, as she feared he might harm her.

Search for Lionel Luthor, Boy of Steel takes flight

With a taskforce set up between Dr. Watson, security specialist Graves, and a team of commandos, they have an idea of how to locate their living, breathing Superboy.

Elsewhere,  while evading capture from a black ops team, Conner’s memories of Superman’s childhood as Clark Kent lead him to Kansas, but he ends up at the residence of the Luthors. There, Conner meets Lex’s father, Lionel Luthor (Peter MacNeil) a partially blind senior citizen.

Seeking company, Lionel discusses the Kent residence where Clark and the Kent family lived. Lionel informs Conner that Kent was friends with Alexander “Lex” Luthor. Over a meal, Conner’s triggers with Lex’s own memories continue to give him more anguish.

Both Lionel and Conner then debate Lex’s behavior and discipline. Lionel also reveals he was a scientist like the genius, Lex, over a drink of brandy after dinner.

“As a child, he was beyond anything I could hope to be,” Lionel says.

“Then why did you beat him?” Conner replies.

“Has anybody told you? Cuz’ it’s a godd**n lie.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“I don’t know who you are. What you want in coming here.”

Before Lionel can get Conner to leave, a group of armed black ops forces storm the residence; they reside and knock Lionel to the ground. One of the guards attempts to do the same to Conner.

Like with episode 4, “Aqualad,” the writers and producers did well to introduce a new character to really line up a thread with the central conflict at hand so that their character is fleshed out. The same can be said for Conner in this episode. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said about the execution.

More from DC Universe

• James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy casts more major DC characters
• New Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom trailer pushes Arthur to his limits
• 7 actors who could replace Ezra Miller as The Flash in the DC Universe
• Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will have a battle pass (and that’s a bad sign)
• Harley Quinn renewed for a fifth season on Max (and it’s well-deserved)

What’s great about this episode is the story explains what happened between the time of Connor’s escape up until now. The strengths were in the interactions between the characters, which is where Richard Hatem’s writing excels, and the inner conflict between Lex and Superman’s impulses.

Gumede’s Mercy Graves was quite the imposing femme fatale, who is confident in her ability to get things done. Gumede really embodies that cunning and deadly aura very well, and Joshua Orpin’s depiction of the lead’s hormonal and misguided soul was touching.

As we have pretty much hit the midpoint of this season’s arc, it already feels like there’s a lot going on, and this is a growing problem.

While pacing was not so much a problem here, the direction is. Although this could be the fault of showrunner Greg Walker as, despite the main cast growing on fans, the plot is at risk of imploding due to the growing number of characters.

Although the craftsmanship of the visuals in this episode was very efficient (including cinematography, production design and VFX) and Alex Kalymnios’ direction is strong, the ending felt anticlimactic, as Conner merely became a plot-device.

Titans Takeaways:

• Subject 13/Conner Kent/Superboy is finally introduced along with his dog and trusted companion, Krypto.
• Lex Luthor is consistently mentioned, leading us to believe he may appear.
• Gumede’s Mercy Graves, Lex’s second-in-command can pose a problem for the rest of the Titans.
• This Lionel Luthor appears to have been an abusive alcoholic, as well as a failed researcher/scientist.
• Jason Todd/Robin II is rescued before the other Titans can get him to safety.