'Titans' Season 2's flashback episodes are becoming annoying distractions from a plot that's already too slowly paced
DC Universe's 'Titans' has a reputation for generating mixed reactions from its fanbase. On the one hand, the show is pretty well-written and most of the plot lines are neatly tied up by the end, however, the pace of storytelling can get quite frustrating when the show is airing weekly.
In general, an episode of 'Titans' spends a good 45-50 minutes creating build-up before dropping a major reveal in the last ten minutes. This isn't a problem when you're binge-watching the season on Netflix but for a weekly show, it's not an ideal format.
You'd think that considering how each of the episodes has at least one major cliffhanger at the end, the writers would choose to create more of a flow between episodes. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to have occurred to the 'Titans' writers room yet as they keep interrupting the greater narrative to tell flashback stories like the ones in Episode 4 'Aqualad' or even the latest episode 'Jericho'.
Flashbacks, in and of themselves, aren't necessarily a bad thing. In fact, the first season did have a few flashback sequences thrown into the episodes that worked really well by contrasting the past and present lives of the Titans but Season 2 keeps leaving fans unsatisfied and frustrated by doing full-length flashback episodes that often don't really move the plot forward.
To be fair, Episode 6 'Conner' was relatively better for a flashback episode because a) it didn't take the story all the way back to five years in the past and b) the way it tied into the greater narrative was actually quite satisfying. Similarly, Episode 8 'Jericho' was also a somewhat justified detour from the main plot because it examined the circumstances of the titular hero's death, which was the cliffhanger reveal in the episode that came immediately before.
However, we can't help but wonder if the season wouldn't have been better if the flashbacks were more integrated into the main story like they were in Season 1. Starting next season, 'Titans' desperately needs to either pick up the pace or just drop all its episodes in one go like it does for its Netflix release because the current format of the series is starting to get really irritating.
'Titans' Season 2 Episode 9 'Atonement' will arrive on DC Universe November 1.