'Titans' Season 2 Episode 5 shows Deathstroke presumably murder Jason Todd but the young Robin could still return from the dead
'Titans' Season 2 has been one tragedy after another. Last week's episode saw Garth/Aqualad (Drew Van Acker) murdered by Slade Wilson/Deathstroke (Esai Morales) and now another young Titan has been killed by the metahuman mercenary and the whole team, including a newly returned Koriand'r/Starfire (Anna Diop), are left powerless to stop him .
In episode 5, aptly titled 'Deathstroke', we see Jason Todd/Robin (Curran Walters) being held prisoner by Deathstroke. The cold-blooded killer murders his partner Doctor Arthur Light (Michael Mosley) in order to offer Dick Grayson (Brenton Thwaites) an exchange.
The mercenary offers to return Jason if Dick will give up Rose Wilson (Chelsea Zhang), Deathstroke's daughter who is being protected from her father by the Titans. After the usual amount of bickering and fisticuffs, the Titans decide they can't let themselves stoop to Deathstroke's level, even if it means endangering the life of a teammate.
Dick tries to approach the villain alone and unarmed, offering his life in exchange for Jason's. Deathstroke reveals he has Jason suspended on a high platform with explosives placed on the supports, ready to blow up and send the platform crashing down at the push of a button.
Dick tries to fight Deathstroke with help from Kory but though they manage to beat him back for a moment, the assassin triggers the explosives and causes Jason to fall, presumably to his death. It's a pretty tragic moment for the team and Dick especially is bound to feel extremely guilty about his younger adoptive brother's death.
However, Deathstroke did drop a clue in the episode that suggests Jason's story isn't over yet. "Death leads to purification," Deathstroke tells Jason. It might seem like just an offhand comment meant to terrorize the young hero but 'Titans' is usually very tight with its dialogue and every line is loaded with meaning.
Considering how Jason was killed and then resurrected as a weapon against Batman in the comics, it's possible Deathstroke's comment could be an allusion to Jason's impending resurrection. From what we know about the team's past, it looks like they recruited Deathstroke's son Jericho (Chella Man) and used him to get to his father.
It would make sense for the mercenary to pay Dick in kind by turning someone close to the Titans into a weapon against them. Of course, considering how headstrong Jason was in his first life, it's unlikely he's going to be any better at taking orders in his second and Deathstroke may have bitten off more than he can chew.
'Titans' Season 2 Episode 6 'Conner' will arrive on DC Universe October 11.