Titans season 3, episode 6 recap – “Lady Vic”

By Jonathon Wilson
Published: September 2, 2021
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Titans season 3, episode 6 recap - "Lady Vic"
3.5

Summary

“Lady Vic” delves deeper into some character relationships and brings a new villain into the fold.

This recap of Titans season 3, episode 6, “Lady Vic”, contains spoilers.


Batman and his associates are commonly referred to as the Bat-Family amongst comic book fans, which is concerning when you consider how many of them have romantic relationships with each other. “Lady Vic”, the sixth episode of Titans’ third season, is largely about one of those relationships, but the entire season has been about Batman’s unconventional, dangerous idea of family. The overall impression remains a bad one; hurt people hurting people at every turn. A new, mysterious sword-wielding assassin fits right in.

Titans season 3, episode 6 recap

Anyway, Dick – Grayson, that is, whose prior dalliances with Barbara Gordon, aka Batgirl, aka Oracle, have been hinted at before but are fleshed out here. When he was still Robin, she was a burglar trying to give her already overworked father something to do. You know how people are in the DC Universe. Everyone’s living in someone else’s shadow. At least Dick and Babs have that in common.

So, too, do Starfire and Blackfire. The latter is chilling in Wayne Manor, snapping her fingers are Conner and Gar, whom she assumes are servants, and antagonizing her sister about her perceived subservience to Dick. Everyone’s still a bit stressed out given the loss of Hawk and their combined inability to track Jason down, even if they’d like to believe, somewhat naively, that their friend isn’t capable of the atrocities he has committed thus far. They have a point, since he’s very much under the sway of Scarecrow and his serum, and since the new swordswoman is also one of his acolytes, we’re to understand that Dr. Crane can be persuasive. Even with that in mind, though, it’s hard to overlook all the stuff Jason has done, especially considering he was always characterized as being annoying and dangerous in the first place.

A massacre committed by this swordswoman gives the Titans something to do. Dick is even willing to overlook one of Barbara’s marksmen having shot him so they can get on the same page, mostly so he can use Oracle’s resources, which Barbara is skeptical about. In the meantime, an unlikely relationship begins to form in Blackfire and Conner, two outsiders who see a lot of themselves in each other. That’s something to keep an eye on.

“Lady Vic” boasts one of the more ridiculous scenes I’ve seen in a while. Dick, using an audio recording from the surgery crime scene, is able to determine the exact physical profile of the killer and the type of blade used just by the whooshing sound of the slashes – it’s like that bit in Fast & Furious when Vin Diesel puts a whole chain of events together from some tire tracks. Of course, Dick and Barbara have previous with Scarecrow’s new assassin.

This is all made doubly clear when the titular Lady Vic gets the drop on Barbara by feigning a call from Bruce Wayne asking her to meet; something she shouldn’t really be falling for, at this stage in her career, but it’s a good excuse for a nifty fight showing off Barbara’s capabilities, wheelchair and all. There aren’t too many fights in this episode, which is probably just as well. It’s a classic bit of development for the back half of the season, solidifying the villains and their motivations, teasing a possible redemption arc for Jason, and suggesting some intriguing new relationship dynamics for the main players. With Jason handing out Scarecrow’s anti-fear serum to a group of Gotham thugs, things are obviously going to get worse before they get better, but quality-wise, Titans Season 3 continues to find its footing.

You can stream Titans Season 3 exclusively on HBO Max.

HBO Max, Weekly TV
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