This week's Doom Patrol is another emotional entry into the season and a step up from last week's episode about the strange (and disgusting) Beard Hunter. Finally we get to see a little bit of closure between Larry/John and Cliff/Clara.
For Larry, he is having a fantastic lucid fantasy about his previous life with John but he is pulled out of it by the spirit in the aftermath of Cliff's journey into the Underground from two episodes ago.
He begs the spirit to bring him back and he does, though not to the point in time Larry was hoping for. There is a greater purpose, however, which is to get Larry to understand where the real John is. He's on his death bed in Erie, PA. John and Larry do get to see each other to say their final goodbyes and I think Larry may actually be at the point where he can move forward in his life instead of being held back by his self-loathing and misery over events that happened in the past.
As for Cliff, he convinces Flit to bring him to the place he knows where his daughter, Clara, is. Rita joins him and while they visit her they find out that her foster father, Bump, has died. At first, Cliff is clearly operating under the idea he can somehow get his old life back. Then he decides to fight the giant alligator that killed Bump to get back his gold watch since it was precious to Clara.
Ultimately, he leaves the watch behind and doesn't actually tell Clara who he is. This is an obvious moment of growth for him as he finally realizes that the best thing for Clara would be for him to let her go and allow her to carry on her life without him in it.
Back at the manor, Jane and Vic team-up. Vic is struggling to understand what is happening with his Grid as it appears to be acting of its own accord, upgrading his cybernetics without his consent and beginning to manipulate his body. Cyborg is obviously rattled by this because of Jane's painting.
By episode's end, he has been kidnapped by a man who tells him, "Welcome to the Ant Farm." It looks like next week's episode will consist of the team trying to rescue him.
New episodes of Doom Patrol stream on the DC Universe app every Friday.
