Following the events of Season 2, the Titans have grown to become a much stronger team, with Dick leading them as Nightwing alongside Starfire, Beast Boy, Superboy and Krypto. The Titans have become the heroes of San Fransisco. However, things take a dark turn as an unexpected family tragedy sends Dick back to Gotham, and reunites him with familiar faces.
Tropes featured in this episode:
- Abled in the Adaptation: While this Gizmo is an adult like in the comics, unlike his Teen Titans (2003) counterpart (and by extension, the one from Teen Titans Go!), where he was reimagined as a little kid, he also lacks the dwarfism of his comic counterpart.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Barbara is a brunette in this series rather than a redhead.
- Aesop Amnesia:
- In-Universe when it's noted that Jason made the same mistake when he went to take on Deathstroke alone. Kor urges the younger Titans to learn from this.
- Bruce is looking to recruit another Robin right after losing the last one.
- Angst? What Angst?: In-Universe, Dick and Barbara both discuss how Bruce brushes off Jason's death rather nonchalantly, then call him out for treating Alfred and Gordon's deaths in a similar manner. Them doing so leads Bruce to kill the Joker.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Discussed by Bruce after he kills the Joker, when he mentions that when he caved in the Clown Prince of Crime's skull he was cackling mad knowing full well he finally got Batman to do what he should have done long ago and end him.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Barbara dresses Bruce down pretty hard for sparing the Joker all these years (or at least not keeping him in a better prison) because she thinks he wants him to break out constantly for his own insatiable desire to keep his war on crime going. Bruce then kills Joker at the end of the episode.
- Death by Adaptation:
- Alfred passed away in between seasons, explaining why he was never seen hanging around the mansion.
- Commissioner Gordon died of a heart attack when he was freed from one of Mr. Freeze's ice blocks.
- The Joker bites the dust when Bruce finally gives in and kills the Clown Prince of Crime.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation:
- In the comics, Jason was killed by a series of heavy explosives placed by the Joker. This time, Joker just uses the crowbar.
- In stories where Commissioner Gordon died, he usually passed away from old age. In this series, he had a heart attack after being revvied following a freezing from Mr. Freeze.
- Disabled in the Adaptation: Downplayed, as Barbara spent many years in the comics in a wheelchair, but the disability in question was a spinal injury. This time, Joker apparently shot off her legnote .
- Fanboy: Tim Drake is a big Batman fan, evidenced by the sticker of his hero on his delivery basket.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Averted with the Titans who are praised by the Mayor of San Francisco and give media interviews. Kor points out to Dick that the bad publicity Batman and his sidekicks get might have something to do with their refusal to engage with the media. Sure enough a Gotham policeman refers to Batman as a sociopath in a rubber S&M outfit. Though Robin's death at the hands of the Joker is treated as a tragedy by the news rather than one criminal offing another criminal; it even has an effect on the stock market.
- He Who Fights Monsters: It turns out that Dick's criticism of Bruce's behavior in the first season wasn't that far from the truth, as Bruce nonchalantly dismisses the deaths of his closest allies outright—even Jason, who was just killed by the Joker—and then kills the Joker, making this trope come full circle.
- Hidden Depths: Jason apparently mastered chemistry in-between seasons. Dick lampshades this by noting that Jason would never read anything, not even the back of a cereal box.
- If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: Implied and then Subverted. When Dick mentions that Joker was immediately taken into custody after killing Jason, Bruce admits he's glad the police found the clown before he did. Later, he finally kills Joker.
- Improbable Age: Barbara is far too young to have gained the rank of police commissioner of a major American city. Of course, this is one job that nobody's going to be lining up for.
- Killed Offscreen: Alfred, Commissioner Gordon, and Joker are all revealed as dead by the end of this episode, though none of their deaths are shown onscreen.
- Leeroy Jenkins: Deconstructed. Jason hyping himself up on a special drug to track down the Joker gets him killed by the clown's crowbar.
- My Greatest Failure: Dick is driven by guilt after Jason's death. According to him, no one failed Jason more than his team and he regrets to not having reconcilied with his adoptive brother.
- Mythology Gag:
- The first villain to show up in the season is Gizmo, a prominent villain from the original Teen Titans animated series.
- Starfire's new outfit, though undergoing Adaptational Modesty, borrows from her outfit in Injustice 2.
- This episode serves as a combination of A Death in the Family and The Killing Joke: the former for having Joker kill Jason by beating him to death with a crowbar, and the latter for having both of its events play out in some way for Barbara and have Jason beaten to death at an old amusement park.
- Tim mutters under his breath that Batman's suit isn't made of rubber, much like the kid's dismissal of the Joel Schumacher description of Batman's suit in the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Legends of the Dark Knight".
- Speaking of which, Jason taking a drug that apparently removes his fears calls back to another Batman: The Animated Series episode, "Nothing to Fear".
- Among the numerous potential Robin replacements are Carrie Kelley from Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Stephanie Brown (the fourth Robin and fourth Batgirl) and Duke Thomas, one of Batman's newest partners post-New 52 called "The Signal".
- Like it's implied on Batwoman (2019), Bruce Wayne kills the Joker when he's responsible for the death of a family member.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Both Dick and Barbara try to reach out to Bruce when they notice he's acting awfully stoic for losing Jason, only to tear into him for his actions. All they do is eventually drive him into killing Joker, which leads him to leaving Gotham and putting the city in the criminal underworld's crosshairs.
- Noodle Incident: Some version of The Killing Joke occurred on Earth-9, but the exact circumstances played out a bit differently given that Barbara lost her leg instead of being shot in the spine. What went down exactly goes unrevealed.
- No-Respect Guy: A cop asks for Superboy's autograph, but not Beast Boy's. The poor guy is told he just can't top a Super.
- No Sympathy: Both Starfire and Barbara aren't really surprised that Jason got himself killed, and, though they mourn his death, are both furious that he acted so stupidly and got himself killed.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
- Bruce is acting very stoic in spite of his partner and adopted son being killed by his worst enemy. Dick actually gets worried he's being so chipper, and tries to get Barbara in to help him. Then it turns out he's trying to keep his cool so he doesn't kill the Joker. Guess what happens when he gets called out for this by Barbara and Dick.
- Dick is shocked that Jason actually studied a full-fledged chemistry textbook, especially since he never read a book in his life. He doesn't know it, but he has every right to be concerned.
- Passing the Torch: Bruce tells Dick that Gotham is his and to be a better Batman, then leaves.
- Porn Stash: Dick finds a racy magazine hiding in Jason's secret safe.
- Put on a Bus: Raven is still on Themyscira trying to bring back Donna, while Hank, Dawn and Rose/Jericho are absent in this episode, with no mentions to their whereabouts.
- Race Lift: Tim Drake, who's white in the comics, is of African-Asian descent.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Tim is caught out past curfew by a pair of new cops. When he mentions that he's just on a 24 hour delivery run for his family's business, the cops, rather than being the typical dirty cop Gotham is known for, just tell him to go home without any trouble.
- Though it's implied there would have been trouble if the police had thought he was backchatting them.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Barbara tears Bruce a new one for dragging Jason to his death in his crusade, treating everyone who died during his war on crime as nothing more than a sacrifice without actually considering what they meant to him.
- Samus Is a Girl: Commissioner Gordon is referred to a couple of times before the reveal that she's Barbara Gordon, and her father is long dead.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Bruce finally has enough of Joker's sick games and does him in, then handing the reins of Gotham over to Dick when he accepts he can no longer protect Gotham for crossing such a line.
- Spared by the Adaptation: All of Tim's family, his parents included, are still alive, whereas Tim had a Missing Mom and later lost his father in the comics.
- Stating the Simple Solution: When Dick chews into Bruce for getting a replacement Robin (and refuses to put on the suit again), Bruce begs Dick to consider that he can't wage his war on crime alone. Dick uses this trope by pointing out Bruce should just not do it at all anymore. Unfortunately for Dick, Bruce takes that advice by killing the Joker and handing the reins of Gotham over to him.
- The Stoic: Deconstructed. Bruce acting in this manner when Jason dies (and he's indicated to have done the same when Gordon and Alfred died) makes him come off as self-centered and acting very unusual in spite of this tragedy. He gets called out on it—and promptly kills the Joker in a fit of rage.
- Take That!: Tim mutters that Batman's suit is not made out of rubber. Funnily enough, those films and this series were both written by Akiva Goldsman.
- The Unreveal:
- It's never explained how Kory lost her powers last season or how she got them back now.
- The cellophane-wrapped murders get little to no clues as to who committed them.
- Aside from the effects of the drug apparently making Jason lose his fear, it's not revealed what sort of drug it is.
- Took a Level in Cynic: Barbara used to be Batgirl in this continuity, until the Joker shot off her leg. She mentioned that she was proud of the work she did as Batgirl, but over time realized that Bruce was pretty much using everyone in his life as allies in his war, giving little care if they actually died.
- Viewers in Mourning: In-Universe. Tim Drake almost tears up when he sees the news report that Jason / Robin was murdered.
- Wham Shot: Dick is sleeping when Bruce walks into his room to wake up him, dropping a bloody crowbar on the ground. He then admits he killed the Joker, and hands the reins of Gotham to his protégé.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Barbara chews out Bruce for refusing to properly mourn any of his allies, Jason included, instead treating his crusade as a war where the people who die are merely sacrifices.
- Dick chews out Bruce for searching for a replacement Robin just after Jason had died. That and Bruce asking him to be Robin again—something that has been established was not good for him.
