Doom Patrol “1917 Patrol” Review

Season 3 Episode 6 – Plunged back in time, Rita attempts to navigate the Bureau of Normalcy with help from an oddly familiar group. Meanwhile, Jane gives Kay her first taste of freedom, while Larry finds closure with his son.

What I Liked

1. Rita travels back in time to 1917 and loses all of her memories in a fascinating scene where her traumatic past is wiped away from her mind.

2. It is confirmed that time travel is what caused Madame Rouge to lose her memories and forget who she is as the same thing happens to Rita when she arrives in 1917 and is confronted by the Bureau of Normalcy.

3. We get another brief look at Monsieur Mallah and the Brain as they spy on the Bureau of Normalcy agents who are arresting Rita. The banter that the two have is hilarious as Mallah starts to become annoyed by the Brain’s arrogance.

4. Rita meets a past version of Madame Rouge, who goes by her real name Laura De Mille and works at the Bureau of Normalcy. The Madame Rouge we see here is very friendly and warm. She is still similar to the one with amnesia in the present but much more outgoing and personable.

5. In the present, Vic is shown to be haunted by the Sisterhood of Dada’s taunts of him not being a real man. It is heartbreaking to see Vic in this vulnerable state and the fact that he tries to get artificial skin only proves that he won’t be the same after his encounter with the Sisterhood.

6. Cliff has become addicted to the various false ads and scams on the internet, to the point that he even hugs his computers in a funny but still somewhat unsettling scene.

7. Jane secretly allows Kay to go up to the surface to buy the shoes that she likes despite being forbidden to do so by the other personas. Jane is not one to show kindness that often but her relationship with Kay shows a much sweeter side to her. The two feel very much like sisters despite the fact that Jane is more or less a creation of Kay.

8. While watching Kay on the surface, Jane gets nervous when she sees Kay run into a man on her bike (that she stole). However, the man simply tells her to be careful and moves on showing that there was nothing to get worried about. Despite Doom Patrol being a far from a normal show, I really appreciate how real the scene felt. Not everyone is looking to take advantage of people. Some can just give friendly advice before moving on with their day. Any other show would make this man a jerk or someone even worse and I almost thought they would go that route. I am very much relieved that they didn’t.

9. Rita meets and befriends the Sisterhood of Dada who give her the name Bendy and invite her into their group. The Sisterhood in this time period are shown to be a friendly group of people despite being the outcasts at the Bureau of Normalcy.

10. Without her traumatic memories to hold her back, Rita can easily use her powers. It’s a very interesting reveal that Rita’s physical limits were not holding her back but rather her own emotions instead.

11. Madame Rouge is shown to be a member of the Sisterhood of Dada and more or less serves as their leader. The group seems to almost be a mirror of the Doom Patrol with Madame Rouge as their version of Niles Caulder. It becomes very clear of that being the case during a very entertaining scene in which Rita joins them at their party.

12. During their weird game, the song Poker Face by Lady Gaga starts to play while the Sisterhood continues to have fun by being weird. The fact that a modern song is playing while we see Rita in 1917 was beyond funny and something that only this show could come up with.

13. Rita forms a special bond with one of the members named Malcolm, with a romance looking like it’s starting to form. Knowing this show, it is more than likely going to end on a sad note.

14. Rita soon becomes fed up with how the Bureau of Normalcy treats the Sisterhood and leads a revolt in the cafeteria where she and the others stand up to them and continue to act weird while shouting their catchphrase of “Piffle Paffle.” This all culminates in one of the members turning all of the Bureau members in the room into clowns.

15. After hiding her affiliation with the Sisterhood, Madame Rouge swears her loyalty to them and promises to always stand by her side. Seeing how the Sisterhood is shown to hate her in the present day, it seems likely that she will break her promise.

16. The other personas begin to conspire against Jane after discovering that she let Kay go to the surface. While this will ultimately cause problems, it is still understandable as to why they are doing this, as Kay had not gone up to the surface before and even then she showed that she still wasn’t ready due to the fact that she stole a bike and nearly crashed into someone.

17. The Sisterhood warns Madame Rouge that they are coming for her by sending an ominous message through a fire with their catchphrase and symbol written in the flames.

What I Disliked

1. During the opening in which Rita travels through time and loses her memories, a narrator is heard explaining what is going on. Doom Patrol can be a weird show but this felt very out of place. I wasn’t sure if the time machine itself was talking or if Mr. Nobody returned and was voiced by an actor who was stepping in for Alan Tudyk.

2. When Madame Rouge tells Cliff that Rita took the time machine and disappeared he simply states that he doesn’t care and tells her to leave him alone. Cliff can be rude and selfish at times, but it felt very out of character for him to ignore the thought of Rita being in trouble. Even though Jane isn’t the one in trouble, Cliff still cares for the other members. Cliff really did not have an excuse here. He wasn’t hypnotized by his computers. This was just him being a jerk.

Favourite Moment

After his son recovers and starts claiming that Larry ruined his life by being gone, Larry fires back by stating that he never wanted what happened to him and is finished feeling sorry for how things went before ordering his son to leave the manor. It is such a powerful scene and one of my new all time favorite moments with Larry. Both Matthew Zuk and Matt Bomer absolutely sell Larry’s emotional yet passionate speech.

Standout Character

The standout character for me this week was definitely Rita. After sitting on the sidelines for the majority of last week’s episode, she took center stage and brought us on a fascinating look into Madame Rouge and the Sisterhood of Dada’s past. Her relationship with Malcolm is also very interesting as to see, even though their blooming romance might end in heartbreak.

Verdict

Despite my issues with Cliff and the out of place narrator at the beginning, this was a fantastic episode of Doom Patrol that gave a fascinating look into what seems to be our main group of villains for the season. Like always, April Bowlby did a great job at taking the lead role for this episode as Rita. Her chemistry with Madame Rouge is impeccable. This is also the best episode with Madame Rouge thus far. Michelle Gomez has been a fantastic addition to the show and a worthy successor to fill Timothy Dalton’s shoes.

Rating 9.6/10