Doom Patrol “Dead Patrol” Review

Season 3 Episode 3 – After waking up in the tunnel of souls, the Doom Patrol must confront their own personal purgatories. Back at the manor, Dorothy and Larry consult a highly specialized detective agency to help reach their friends.

What I Liked

1. The episode opens on a very creepy note where Jane, Vic, Cliff and Rita wake up in the afterlife on a boat where they are captured by demons and hung on hooks. The opening scene perfectly sets up the dark atmosphere for the episode.

2. Larry receives a shipment of boxes each containing the remains of the other members. It’s both a hilarious and terrifying moment due to the bizarre nature of this very grim situation.

3. Larry’s mental breakdown immediately after is quite humorous but also very heartbreaking as this might be the most emotional we’ve seen of him while he starts to lose it when seeing his dead friends.

4. Dorothy returns to the manor and is caught off guard by the corpses of Jane, Cliff, Rita and Vic sitting at the table wrapped in bandages. Larry’s odd behavior caused by his grief only adds to her confusion.

5. It’s very easy to tell that Dorothy has matured a great deal since her father’s death as she is far more confident, well-spoken and helpful, making her more equipped to deal with the grim situation at hand than Larry.

6. We are introduced to the Dead Boy Detectives Charles and Edwin, two teenage ghosts who investigate the paranormal and supernatural with their partner Crystal, a human girl who is apparently the only person with the ability to see them. The three do a terrific job of adding to the episode’s gothic and haunting atmosphere while still fitting in to the bizarre world of the show. Their interactions with Larry and Dorothy are a delight to watch in particular.

7. We see Jane, Cliff and Vic taken to their purgatories where they are each greeted by a person greatly important to their lives.

8. Cliff’s meeting with his deadbeat father is both extremely tragic and hilarious as he at first tells his him off for what a horrible father he was while the latter nonchalantly guns down a Pegasus for sport. Cliff then becomes shocked to discover that his father reconciled with Clara after the accident that Niles caused. It’s a very surprising revelation as Cliff’s father had previously been shown to be a very selfish and unpleasant individual up until this point.

9. Vic is reunited with his mother and gets a great deal of closure with her. This is a very rewarding moment as much of Vic’s story during the first three episodes of this season has been filled with him dealing with so many hardships. As a result, it’s very easy to feel happy for Cyborg when this happens.

10. Jane meets Kay’s grandmother who was far more close with the girl than her own parents. We get a very sweet scene in which Kay happily greets her grandmother in the afterlife while Jane gets to know more about her.

11. When Kay’s grandmother starts to feel guilty about Kay being left with her abusive father after her death, Jane comforts her and assures her that it was not her fault. This was a very surprising moment as Jane is the absolute last person who would provide empathy to someone else out of all the main characters. It just shows that while Jane is definitely not the warmest person, she is clearly not void of emotion and is able to show it to those who she thinks truly deserve it.

12. We get a terrific scene in which Larry talks to Edwin about the latter’s feelings for Charles and his reluctance to admit them to him. Larry is normally unable to connect with anyone aside from the Negative Spirit and Rita so this was a fascinating dynamic.

13. Dorothy and Crystal connect with each other while Larry and the Dead Boy Detectives go to the afterlife. It is very nice to see Dorothy bond with someone other than her father as her relationship with the other main characters had always been distant due to their resentment towards Niles.

14. The deformed man we see throughout the episode sacrifices himself to save Rita. We are not told who this man is, which leaves a very intriguing mystery to be explored in future episodes.

15. After escaping the afterlife and waking up back in the manor, the group discovers that Dorothy has decided to leave with the Dead Boy Detectives. Her goodbye with the others is very sweet while still not overly emotional. If this is truly it for Dorothy, then this was a very satisfying exit for her character.

16. Madame Rouge finally meets the team, setting up a very interesting dynamic moving forward.

What I Disliked

Nothing to report this week.

Favourite Moment

Jane finds out that Kay’s grandmother has the same name as her, meaning that she was named after her by Kay. It is a terrific reveal and shows why Jane was chosen by Kay to be the primary. The reveal is both empowering and heartwarming as Jane has often been a character who we were told the least about, so the answer as to how she got her name was absolutely stunning.

Standout Character

I would have to say that Kay’s grandmother is the standout character of the episode. Not only does her presence bring a great amount of warmth and comfort to the atmosphere, but the reveal of her being the reason Jane got her name was a fantastic scene and develops Kay as a character phenomenally.

Verdict

This was a chilling, fascinating and exciting episode of the show. The Dead Boy Detectives and Crystal were great new additions to the show and their dynamic just makes the thought of their upcoming spin-off even more exciting. The episode also does a terrific job at setting up the story of this season with Madame Rouge and the mysterious man connected to Rita.

Rating 10/10