Titans preview: Hawk and Dove might not quench our suspense from that cliffhanger

Titans episode eight, “Donna Troy,” made us an anxious mess — for Kory, but especially for Rachel — and the next episode might not ease our apprehensions.

On episode 8, “Donna Troy,” the DC Universe Titans continued to follow Rachel, Garfield, Dick, and Kory as they attempted to recuperate from the trauma they experienced in “Asylum.” The torture from The Organization also prompted Dick to seek guidance from his old friend and pseudo-sibling, Donna Troy. During Dick’s absence, a lot happened with the remaining Titans and Angela. While we were expecting episode 9 to give us some closure from the cliffhanger in episode 8, Titans is apparently going to continue to toy with our connection to our favorite DC Universe heroes.

If you watched “Donna Troy,” then you probably don’t need a refresher on the ominous cliffhanger we keep referring to. However, we’re going to give a quick recap anyway because we’ve been thinking about Starfire a lot lately (granted, she’s always on our minds).

After we finally hear Kory’s other moniker, Starfire, spoken aloud in the DC Universe, Kory starts to strangle Rachel the second she helps her gain access to her memory. Simultaneously, we learn from Donna’s translations of the “offshoot Sumerian” language, which we can assume is probably Tamaranean, that Kory’s mission is to kill the destroyer of worlds, Rachel.

Instead of expanding on the potential homicide that episode ends in the middle of, episode 9, “Hank and Dawn,” focuses on Hawk and Dove’s origin story and how they met. You’d think this would be anticlimactic, but it’s the opposite.

Titans — Ep. 109 — “Hank and Dawn” — Photo Credit: Ben Mark Holzberg / 2018 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.  All Rights Reserved

The DC Universe knows we want to see how Kory’s fight with Rachel ends, and the Titans writers aren’t just going to give us what we want so easily. Even though the writers are the unconfirmed villains of this season, we can assume they aren’t going to kill Rachel, one of the main Titans character, so quickly — particularly since she’s been confirmed for the next season.

Hank and Dawn’s origin episode could give us a necessary distraction from the ever-prevalent drama in the series; however, we’re not sure if episode 9 will only focus on Hawk and Dove’s past. The upcoming episode could lead us back into the conflict at Angela’s house.

Given how extra the series has been, Titans episode 9, “Hank and Dawn,” will wait until the final minutes of the episode to revert back to the central storyline (if the episode does focus on any other character beyond the ornithological-themed duo).