The Joker is dead. Gotham's most notorious super criminal is in the ground thanks to Batman, who's now fled the country and is nowhere to be seen. Dick only has one mission now: be a better Batman, and calls in the Titans to help him keep Gotham safe. Meanwhile, a mysterious new player, clad in a red hood, has entered the fray.
Tropes featured in this episode:
- Beware the Silly Ones: Dr. Jonathan Crane is deliberately high off his rocker and is locked away in Arkham to do work for the GCPD, mostly giving Dick the runaround. Then he turns around and reminds everyone that he's a dangerously intelligent psychologist by giving Dick the missing piece of the puzzle he needs, all with a cold and sadistic tone befitting the Scarecrow.
- Broken Pedestal: Gotham PD are shown pulling a tarp over the searchlight used to project the Bat Signal after Batman is identified as the Joker's murderer.
- The Bus Came Back: Hawk and Dove are shown to have moved to Washington DC, where the former has joined the police force there while the latter continues to operate as Dove. Both of them come to Gotham at Dick's request.
- Consulting a Convicted Killer: And worse, it was Batman's idea.
- Hidden Depths:
- Beast Boy turns out to be pretty good at playing chess.
- The Red Hood too appears to have picked up skills he didn't appear to have as Jason Todd. He hides clues in chess gambits and constructs a subdermal injector that even Crane finds ingenious. This points to a science or military background that Jason doesn't have.
- Invasion of the Baby Snatchers: Red Hood kidnaps the kids of three parents to force them to work for him. Subverted when it turns out he kidnaped the parents too.
- Killed Off for Real: All parties confirm that Joker, the man who invented Joker Immunity, was found dead with his skull bashed in, confirming Bruce wasn't lying about taking him out.
- Mercy Kill: The mother coerced into becoming Red Hood's messenger is in such pain when the subdermal drug injector activates she snaps her own neck.
- Mythology Gag:
- Kory cites A Death in the Family as what's been keeping her busy.
- Jason's voice modulator as Red Hood calls to mind Ben Affleck's Batman, who used a similar modulator in his outfit.
- When Red Hood bursts in with a duffle bag full of the heads of the criminals's second in commands, informing them he'll be keeping them safe, it calls to mind Batman: Under the Red Hood.
- Dick mentions that Joker, as with his comics counterpart, used to be the Red Hood before he transformed into the Clown Prince of Crime.
- Like with the comics, Dick and Barbara had a relationship before they broke it off.
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore: With Joker dead and Batman in the wind, the Titans find themselves in an entirely new territory as Gotham finds itself in the Red Hood's crosshairs.
- Sarcastic Confession: When his fellow police officer keeps pestering Hank about his Mysterious Past, he says he used to dress up in a bird costume.
- Smart People Play Chess: Red Hood leaves a clue in the Bird's Opening, or rather the moves you can make in response.
- The Stoner: Scarecrow is shooting himself up full of pot, but he justifies it by pointing out that it keeps him relaxed so he can focus.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: As the Red Hood, Jason's opening gambit is forcing a mother to act as a terrorist bomber, then a human bomb, purely to get Dick's attention and screw with him.
- Wham Shot: Dick manages to get a lucky shot on Red Hood and break off a piece of his helmet. He picks it up and turns around to reveal that Jason is still alive and the one beneath the mask.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Barbara chews into Dick for asking her to stand down and let the Titans handle the bank robbery, not knowing that it was a trap. This leads Barbara to kick Dick off the police investigation.
- Working with the Ex: Hank with Dove, and Dick with Barbara. Hank lampshades the difficulty of this to Dick.
