Doom Patrol - Paw Patrol - Review

Doom Patrol returns with another visit from the floating blue horsehead, a magical pug, and a mystical stare-off in the sky between two all-knowing eyes! Par for the course on this show (which may officially be my favorite superhero show ever).

We begin in the immediate aftermath of the De-Creator appearing overhead. In the style of Thanos, from Avengers, people begin disintegrating, as if the rapture has finally arrived. The only person who has the capability to end this apocalypse is Mr. Nobody and Niles Caulder. Nobody agrees to help because this wasn't part of his master plan (and he wasn't in the last two episodes). He sends Niles back to the Doom Patrol to execute their plan.

Photo Credit: Bob Mahoney/Warner Bros.

Everyone is happy and thoroughly confused to see him. Especially since he's no longer wheelchair-bound. The only catch is, Niles only has a limited time before he must return to Nobody's strange void. His esophagus is booby-trapped to react if anyone says Mr. Nobody too, which is an unpleasant surprise.

The plan is for Nobody to comb through Jane's memories to find the perfect moment to insert an idea. We meet another alter, Doctor Harrison, a mysterious blue-eyed, grey-streaked, therapist of sorts who has powerful persuasive abilities. She manifests during a routine torture session. The exploration of Jane's backstory is a heartbreaking one. Brutalized by all the men and doctors in her life, it's no wonder her personality splintered to cope with the trauma.

Photo Credit: Bob Mahoney/Warner Bros.

Harrison is the perfect set-up to start a new cult, a rival cult. (Side-note to say Diane Guerrero is truly killing it on this show). The rival cult will worship the Re-Creator. By creating this new religion, they set a plan in motion to have the Re-Creator summoned in the present to destroy the De-Creator.

In search of another boy with the sacred text inscribed on his body, the group tracks it to a nearby house. Willoughby realizes the actual "book" this time around is inscribed on a pug instead of a human being. Except the text is invisible until someone rings a bell in Nurnheim. This was part of the plan devised by one of the patients at the psychiatric hospital where Harrison recruited her cult members. Her name was Marilyn and she returns years later, hooked up to an oxygen machine, to track down Harrison all the way in Nurnheim where she is still trapped with Cliff.

Photo Credit: Bob Mahoney/Warner Bros.

Fending off the hoodmen and Mother Archon, Marilyn gives Harrison time to run to the belltower and ring it. Back in reality, Willoughby reads the sacred text as it becomes visible and they successfully summon the Re-Creator - a second massive eye in the sky. The being returns everything the De-Creator had vanquished and the two eyes begin a stare-off before both blink out of existence. The world has been saved! For now.

With the mission complete, Niles is forced to return to Nobody before he can even give his team (and a tearful Jane) the a proper goodbye. Victor tries to prevent this from happening and gets himself seriously injured in the process.

Photo Credit: Bob Mahoney/Warner Bros.

As for Doctor Harrison, we see how she and Niles met all those years before. He saved her from getting a lobotomy and took her to the mansion.

Though Nobody wasn't through messing with her memories either. He tells her, one day, she'll receive a message about something she needs to seek out. Flash-forward to Jane painting one day when she hears something and whispers, "What the fuck is the Doom Patrol?"

Outside all the insanity of cults and giant omniscient eyeballs, Larry and Rita had some quiet, character-building moments this week too.

Photo Credit: Bob Mahoney/Warner Bros.

Larry got the chance to talk to Niles about the spirit inside of him and its intentions. He tells Niles he saw the video where the spirit described the torture it feels and how he believes the spirit is trying to punish him. But Niles points out that it may only feel that way because Larry is constantly punishing himself. Towards thee end of the episode, this is shown by the nightmare he has of his wife being harmed. Larry curls into the fetal position.

As for Rita, she is genuinely morose about Elliott's death by the De-Creator. She has a clear maternal pull towards the boy and feels guilty she couldn't save him. She rushes off to find him again once the Re-Creator has shown up, in the hopes he might have been returned to life too.

New episodes of Doom Patrol are available to stream every Friday on the DC Universe app.