WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Titans Season 3, Episode 10, "Troubled Water," available now on HBO Max.
Season 3 of Titans has pushed Dick Grayson to the limit. as Nightwing quickly finds out how tough it is to fill Batman's shoes. He's short of ideas to combat Scarecrow and Red Hood's tightening grip on Gotham, leaving him with a Hail Mary play. Unfortunately, Dick's plan backfires terribly and lands a hero in jail.
Scarecrow makes it clear it's time for Red Hood to take the city, seeding out a propaganda video after poisoning the populace, knowing fears are heightened. It's Jonathan Crane's forte, and the bit of fake news pits the Titans as lawless vigilantes and oppressors, causing the public to turn on them.
The clip pushes Red Hood as Gotham's new spiritual liberator, leading to mobs attacking the Titans. Dick calls them home and decides it's time to turn themselves in. It's a media war, and they need optics to swing in their favor. While it seems like a specious argument at first, all ideas and backup options are conflated, as they need to trust their leader.
Dick brokers a deal with Barbara, as the PR from this arrest will quell the citizens, then the Titans can get bail and go back to the shadows to clean the place up. However, by the time the heroes get to the precinct, it goes awry, and some of the guards get too aggressive. It gets very violent, as they try to sedate Gar in his tiger form, while a stray bullet catches Blackfire.
Superboy goes into his angry-mode quickly to nullify the threat as they scatter, but a corrupt cop paid off by Crane pulls a gun to shoot Nightwing. Barb fires at him, hitting the rogue policeman, so the vigilantes can escape. This turns out to be her downfall, as her own team turns on her. Admittedly, the arrest is not really because Barb's a tyrant; it's just procedure. Sadly, seeing as she aided and abetted the Titans, when it's time to prosecute, it won't look good.
Barb's left with a saddened look, but she'd do it again because she knows the truth about the Titans. Although, it leaves Dick mad, as he can't stand Scarecrow making one of them sacrifice their livelihoods. The former Oracle was a powerful ally, helping them evade jurisdiction and getting key intel, so it's a massive blow. Nightwing feels responsible, but he warns Superboy they need to be level-headed, as the team's split all over as official felons.
The first 10 episodes of Titans Season 3 are available now on HBO Max. Episode 11 releases Oct. 7.