Doom Patrol
I thought I would take this moment to recommend some "Doom Patrol" comics to people. The most famous "Doom Patrol" run is Grant Morrison's. Grant Morrison is a renowned comic book writer and he is known for being weird. And as you probably gathered if you've watched both episodes, weird is the Doom Patrol's stock in trade. You can pick up Morrison's whole run in The Doom Patrol Omnibus. If that's too rich for your blood, it's divided into three smaller volumes: Doom Patrol Book One, Two and Three. If you're looking for a more modern take on the Doom Patrol, former My Chemical Romance frontman, Gerard Way, tackled the team back in 2017 when DC launched it's Young Animal imprint. If you've read Way's first venture into comic writing, "The Umbrella Academy" or watched the Netflix series it's based on, you know that he also has a penchant for weird. You can pick up Way's "Doom Patrol" run in the graphic novels, Doom Patrol, Vol 1: Brick by Brick & Doom Patrol, Vol 2: Nada.
Episode 2: "Donkey Patrol"
The Chief: "Who are you talking to?"
Mr. Nobody: "Grant Morrison fans, Reddit trolls with DC subscriptions, and the three new fans who stuck around after the donkey fart."
The team confronts Mr. Nobody and it doesn't go great. The entirety of the town is pulled into the portal along with the Chief and Crazy Jane. The disappearance of Cloverton catches the eye of Detroit based superhero, Victor Stone aka Cyborg. Vic has a relationship with the Chief so he goes to investigate where he finds Cliff chasing after a donkey. The donkey spits out Crazy Jane. Cyborg and Cliff try to get answers from her about where the Chief is, but she's not helpful. Cliff finds videos of the Chief meeting with Jane's many personalities and they mention The Underground. Katy, one of Jane's most volatile identities is who saw the Chief and she doesn't love being questioned. After vowing to stay out of it, Larry and Rita agree to investigate the donkey with Cyborg when they find out it's a doorway. Once inside the donkey, Mr. Nobody tortures the three. Will they be able to escape Nobody's clutches and get back to the real world?
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| Go team. |
I'm all in. A good pilot can be a trick. It can make you believe that the series is a going to be good, but a good pilot can just be a fluke. I've found that it's best to judge a series by it's second episode and if that test holds true we are in for a treat.
The episode begins right where the pilot left off. The Doom Patrol are getting ready to face the portal and they royally fuck it up and it's glorious. It circumvents this trope of heroes coming together and saving the day, even though they have no experience. It should be a shit show and it definitely is. It helps set up a conflict that will unfold as this first season progresses. Larry and Rita running from danger, while Cliff, Vic and Jane all seem like they want to be heroes.
Speaking of heroes, Joivan Wade joins the cast as Victor Stone/Cyborg. He does an amazing job. This is how I picture Cyborg, not the dour, non-entity of Zack Snyder's, "Justice League." He's charming and a bad ass. You know he's going to be the person to shepherd the team to becoming some semblance of heroes.
Diane Guerrero is stepping up as Crazy Jane. She has a Herculean task in embodying these different personalities and making them all unique. So far, she's doing a great job. Each personality is coming through as it's own thing and she's tossing in subtle touches to really sell the transformation.
The show is doing a great job of balancing the absurdist comedy with drama. We get a scene of Vic foiling a robbery through an ATM or Cliff chasing around a donkey, but then there is Nobody's torture of Cliff, Rita, and Vic within the donkey pocket dimension. I was squirming a little bit watching Vic crawl across his lawn, eye missing, leg amputated, his mother's smoldering corpse a few feet away.
I have to give it up for the effects here. The budget can't be too crazy, but I feel like they are using it well. My favorite visual element in this episode was Silver Tongue's abilities. Her words coming to life as razor sharp knives? So freaking cool. Honorable mentions to the whole opening and Rita, Cliff and Vic being sucked into a donkey.
This episode also sets up a lot of personal drama for the show to explore and all of it is really compelling. What's the deal with Rita and the baby? Is Vic being told the whole truth about how he became Cyborg? What's the deal with Larry's inhabitant? It's good stuff and what the show needs to do to remain as insanely watchable at has been over the course of 15 episodes.
I'm ready to see where all this goes. "Titans" was not a great opening salvo for DC Universe, but "Doom Patrol" proves they can make shows that are worth subscribing for and I'm excited to continue this journey and check out what they have to offer in the future.
Grade: A-
Are you guys loving "Doom Patrol?" Did it entice you into subscribing if you were just free trial-ing it? Who's your favorite Doomer? Let me know in the comments.
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