Doom Patrol (2019) s04e04 – Casey Patrol

“Doom Patrol” has been having a fine season to this point; fine enough, one hopes they’re prepared for a non-renewal, but the series hasn’t been sublime. Every so often, “Doom Patrol” has a way of being sublime, where the story’s quirkiness, the characters’ humanity, and the Kevin Kiner and Clint Mansell music is just right, and the show transcends.

Hasn’t happened this season until now. And it’s not even with the regular cast or—until the finale—part of the season arc. There’s a reveal at the end to tie things together (but not too much of a reveal, of course) and raise the show’s aim for the season. It sure seems like they’re going to have one heck of a season arc.

Anyway. This episode features the return of Abi Monterey as Chief’s daughter, Dorothy. Is it as in Oz? I can’t remember. Chief was (will be?) played by Timothy Dalton in seasons one and two. He doesn’t come back this episode for a cameo, though we do hear—in the opening recap from Monterey—she’s seen him, spent a hundred years hanging out, and now she’s found peace with his death.

And him spending most of her life treating her like an apocalypse child just because she can conjure her invincible, sometimes uncontrollable imaginary monster friends into reality. So, they’ve got some unresolved baggage since he left the mortal coil.

Monterey departed “Doom Patrol” at the start of Season Three, after they resolved her leftover season arc from Season Two (Covid prematurely ended it), heading off with The Dead Boy Detectives in a back door pilot for another HBO Max/Vertigo show. When “Dead” went to pilot, however, Monterey (and the “Patrol” actors) weren’t part of it. So it’s nice to have her back.

For much of the episode, it again feels like a back-door pilot, but this time for Monterey, guest star Madeline Zima, and possibly returning guest star Alan Mingo Jr.

Monterey’s been hanging out in Danny the Street, who’s still providing a welcoming, safe space for those in need, but the world outside’s shitty, so Danny’s getting more and more to capacity. They’re set up as a campground where Monterey can mope in her Airstream, and Mingo can belt out a song whenever necessary.

As Mingo returns from a day out in the world full of shitty little bigots—specifically shitty little white skater bigots—a bunch of metal bugs invades Danny. Mingo’s character is a drag queen who knows a lot about the world not being the way it seems like it should. So Mingo and Monterey are having a heart-to-heart (well, more like Mingo’s trying to have one) as the bugs take out their friends.

Wait, I forgot. The episode opens with an animated comic sequence: Monterey reading her favorite comic, Space Case.

Okay. The bugs turn the people into space zombies right out of the comic; Monterey realizes it and, in a panic, apparently brings the hero (Space Case) out into the real world, where Zima plays her.

So it’s Monterey, Mingo, and Zima battling a bunch of space zombies; only Zima doesn’t know how to deal with the threat without destroying them. And the people they were before the bug bite, leading to a “real world” hero arc for Zima.

Further complicating matters is Zima’s comic book nemesis also showing up, played by Tyler Mane. They’ve got a lengthy backstory, which Monterey summarizes, and it becomes clearer why she’s such a fan of the comic.

It’s a mic drop great episode. Great performances from Monterey and Mingo, excellent writing (credit to Tom Farrell). Kristin Windell’s direction is strong too. “Doom Patrol”’s so good. I can’t wait to see where it all goes this season.

Doom Patrol (2019) s04e03 – Nostalgia Patrol

This episode leaves the butts behind—had to—and gets going with the other big bad of the season. The season premiere had special cameo guest star Mark Sheppard explaining he and the other wizards knew the Doom Patrol would have to fight the butts this season, but they’ve also got to fight someone or something called Immortus. This episode slowly introduces that villain to the team while letting everyone work through some unresolved issues.

Things pick up immediately after last episode; April Bowlby’s mad no one wants her to be team leader, Matt Bomer can’t convince his alien energy baby parasite to trust him, Michelle Gomez is sad she’s making Brendan Fraser be a super-powered weapon and not a person, Diane Guerrero’s floundering, and Joivan Wade wants to go hang out with old friends. He couldn’t before when he was Cyborg because… well, even though half the episode’s character development is in Wade’s subplot (Gomez gets the other half, everyone else is having a quirky superhero episode), the show passes the buck on letting Wade explain himself.

After his accident in high school—ten years ago—he ditched his friends and hasn’t seen them since. “Doom Patrol” has always had problems with years. Most of the regular cast literally sat around the mansion for decades, waiting for the show to start. Wade hanging out with pals Elijah R. Reed, Zari James, and Moses Jones at an early eighties sitcom pizza parlor (where they go on to play LaserTag), it feels more uncanny than the team trying to save Bowlby from being trapped inside her old movies.

Where the episode stumbles with Wade, it excels with Gomez. She’s the new team leader, and instead of being a ruthless hard-ass, she tries to be more empathetic, which disappoints the gang. Then things go wrong on the mission, and Gomez is forced to become a leader right fast. Unfortunately, she drinks her way through instead, leading to a phenomenal drunken monologue from Gomez. Kristin Windell’s direction is solid throughout, but that scene with Gomez is spectacular. Great editing from Brian Wessel too. And then Gomez. So good.

Despite ending on a precarious cliffhanger, lots of the episode is for laughs. Given the amount of f-bombs throughout, they could’ve called it Phucked Patrol instead of Nostalgia. The script, credited to Tanya Steele, is good, with some of the Wade stuff a little thin, but then leading in hard on the f-bombs—at least one cast member a subplot (save Wade) gets to do an f-bomb string. It’s hilarious, especially since Bowlby complaining about the cursing was a plot point in a previous episode.

The quirky superhero action is good. Guerrero, Fraser, and Riley Shanahan are trying to find Bowlby in a sixties horror movie while talking about Guerrero’s out-of-nowhere potential romance (or potential for romance). Shanahan has some excellent humor body work while Fraser’s making Guerrero (and the audience) uncomfortable with his willingness to discuss her love life. Then Bomer and Matthew Zuk make a new friend in the old movies while not paying enough attention to the warning signs.

Sendhil Ramamurthy—a returning DC Comics adaptation actor (he was on “The Flash” one season, and terrible)—plays the new friend. He seems like he’ll be back, along with some more new characters.

It’s a good episode. Lots of showcases for the cast—Bowlby in the old movies is great—and it’s too bad they couldn’t crack the Wade storyline. It’s just too forced. But, otherwise, “Doom Patrol”’s sailing smoothly into the season.

Legends of Tomorrow (2016) s07e04 – Speakeasy Does It

I don’t know what other time period “Legends of Tomorrow” could get trapped in for a season—which presumably keeps costs down (as does no one really having any expensive superpowers anymore)—but the twenties is working out. Especially with Tala Ashe getting to directly address the racism, sexism, and homophobia they’re all now experiencing. Well, except Nick Zano. And she calls him out for it too, which is great (especially since the show did an “it’s okay, it’s not your fault for being a white man” on Zano a few episodes ago).

This episode has the Legends stuck in Chicago and getting involved with Hamza Fouad’s speakeasy troubles. Fouad runs an unsegregated speak, which—historian Zano explains—the mob didn’t allow, making it an extraordinary spot. The team’s running low on funds thanks to Adam Tsekhman’s overtipping (one of the episode’s many great quick details), and so they team up with Fouad to replenish their coffers. Likewise, Foaud’s running low on booze, and they just happen to have a magical inter-dimensional mansion with an endless supply of whiskey.

Except they don’t account for Foaud’s mobbed-up landlord, Sage Brocklebank, taking issue with the replacement booze. So all of a sudden, the Legends—led by Ashe—have to find a way to help Foaud.

Meanwhile, Olivia Swann, Lisseth Chavez, and Amy Louise Pemberton are on their way to Chicago from Texas. They’ve just hooked up with Aubrey Reynolds’s girl band, and they’re trying not to disrupt the timeline, which isn’t easy with Pemberton blurting out future facts to the various people they meet and Swann refusing to let men push them around.

When they get to Chicago, they find themselves between a rock and a hard place because Reynolds’s boyfriend turns out to be very bad guy Brocklebank, who Swann knows from her time in Hell.

There are many good moments for Swann, Chavez, and Reynolds in that plot; ditto Ashe and Fouad in the other one. Plus, a great “action” sequence for Jes Macallan and Caity Lotz, with a great punchline. And then there’s this bonding C-plot for Tsekhman and Zano.

Keto Shimizu and Emily Cheever get the script credit; it’s got some very strong moments. Kristin Windell directs, getting some excellent deliveries from Swann and Chavez in particular. Ashe’s fantastic, but she’s always great, no matter what the show throws at her. But Swann and Chavez finally get to deliver on the potential the show usually screws up for them.

And Pemberton is getting comfortable on screen as well. She’s still a little awkward—some of it’s obviously the character—but she, Swann, and Chavez are delivering an excellent “B” team.

“Legends” obviously can’t go on forever, but it easily has a couple more seasons in it. This episode showcases how well the actors keep the characters going no matter what budget, cast departures, or worldwide pandemics throw at them.

Doom Patrol (2019) s03e05 – Dada Patrol

“Doom Patrol” has a standard plot structure for most episodes. With another show, I’d call it concerning, but with “Doom Patrol,” the show’s able to utilize and achieve with that structure, so it’s a have-at-it situation. Especially since they’re constantly reminding each other they’re not a team; why expect team dynamics.

The structure is a split-up one, where each member goes off on their own personal adventure. While they’re all separate, they’re all full of anger, danger, and sorrow. The split-up structure is familiar from comics when you’d have regular pairings of team members. So, for instance, Robotman and Jane go to save a nuclear power plant while Negative Man and Cyborg go to do something else. I never read Doom Patrol so I’m not sure how the split-up structure worked there, but in the show, instead of pairings, everyone’s on their own. Except for April Bowlby and Michelle Gomez, who sit around the mansion getting hammered on gin and making bad decisions.

This episode’s mission involves Gomez’s newly discovered old gang (from the 1920s, the Sisterhood of Dada—some great jokes about Dada throughout) trying to bring about the end of the world. Maybe. The team—minus Bowlby—goes out to see if they can get some answers, only to discover the Sisterhood’s got the upper hand. One thing about the season I’m underwhelmed about—through future streamers aren’t going to care—is how it’s a sequel to the first season, not the second. The Sisterhood were some of the prisoners the team freed at the end of season one. They just haven’t been mentioned until now, a season and a few episodes later.

It’s a slight peeve and doesn’t affect the episode’s quality. Brendan Fraser and Riley Shanahan have the most physically and comedically involved adventure because Robotman gets super-high, leading to hilarious dialogue for Fraser and some excellent bodywork from Shanahan. It’s Shanahan’s most impressive episode this season. But the writing is also just fantastic (Shoshana Sachi gets the credit). Not just when they’re on mission or when Fraser’s tripping balls, but also when Fraser’s playing on the internet. It’s all great.

Diane Guerrero’s adventure involves her and little girl inside her Skye Roberts interacting with the outside world again. Or at least outside elements, which leverages Guerrero’s effectiveness as protector. She’s funny when she’s bantering with Fraser; she’s sincere with trying to protect Roberts. Here, Guerrero and Roberts both find themselves seduced—appropriately, I’m just flexing on the vocabulary—by guest star Wynn Everett. Guerrero and Roberts’s arc this season is by far the most affecting, even though Guerrero’s the least capable regular cast member.

Jovian Wade’s got a Black man in America arc with a little dad issues with Phil Morris thrown in. It’s good. Morris only appears in a FaceTime call where no one thought about how he was sitting in relation to the camera, but Rona, right? While all of the arcs feel interrupted, only Wade’s feels like it won’t get explored later, which is too bad. I’m probably wrong, though. “Doom Patrol” consistently pleasantly surprises.

Matt Bomer’s got the smallest arc, involving his missing extraterrestrial symbiote, old man son John Getz, and a giant, moving zit. It’s good but set up.

Meanwhile, Bowlby and Gomez are back at the mansion talking about time travel, revealing all their secrets—which is incredible—and, again, making some bad and predictably drunk decisions.

It’s nice having someone opposite Bowlby who’s always making an excellent acting move. Gomez can keep up with Bowlby, something no one else really can, not when Bowlby lets loose.

“Doom Patrol” is, as ever, fantastic.

Doom Patrol (2019) s03e04 – Undead Patrol

It took me a second to realize returning guest star Jon Briddell is not Robert Carradine. It took another second to remember the last time Briddell was on the show—they quickly remind the audience, but it was still the first season; it’s been a while. The keyword there being but. Or butt, as it were.

Briddell’s back with another scheme to destroy the Doom Patrol, with the team not in the best shape to deal with the threat. They’re recovering from their trip to the afterlife and coping with an unexpected and unknown houseguest. Ostensibly time-traveling Michelle Gomez has finally arrived in the mansion—she’s been on her way there since the season premiere end credits scene—and the team has questions for her. Gomez, however, doesn’t have any answers. Time travel gives you amnesia it turns out (something ever-welcome guest star Phil Morris confirms). All she remembers is she wants to talk to Timothy Dalton.

Too bad he’s dead.

So April Bowlby keeps an eye on Gomez—Bowlby’s pretty sure they’ve met even if Gomez is cagey about it—and they try to figure out what around the mansion might give Gomez some clues into her identity. Gomez doesn’t appreciate the help, which leads to Bowlby bitching to a surprisingly unsympathetic Matt Bomer. They hash out that hostility in an absolutely fantastic scene, juxtaposed against Diane Guerrero getting life advice from Brendan Fraser (and Riley Shanahan). Mostly it’s just Fraser (and Shanahan) bullshitting, but it’s an outstanding conversation performance. Shanahan doesn’t have an action sequence, just a fantastic “talk with his hands” sequence.

The team’s got Joivan Wade fiddling with the time machine, which is where Morris shows up for an impromptu argument. Wade confronts him with the things he learned from his dead mother last episode, and Morris has a volatile reaction. The show does just shoehorn Morris in—how does he get to the mansion so fast; he’s got to have a STAR Labs transporter—but it’s a great little scene thanks to Morris’s phenomenal performance.

However, all of this angst is just the beginning because Mark Sheppard needs the team’s help. And in return, Gomez might get the chance to talk to obviously dead Dalton, who Sheppard reveals is dead but not comic book TV show dead. The show hinted at Sheppard’s return at season premiere end credits cutscene along with Gomez’s, but it didn’t seem like he’d be back so soon. It ends up being a very good outing for Sheppard, as unexpected events foul up everyone’s plans.

There are a lot of laughs and a lot of gross-out gags in those unexpected events, with the show ending up with three profoundly, delightfully disgusting moments. The grossest might not even be the most visually icky. It’s an absolutely inspired episode, with great performances from the main cast. Even Guerrero, in part thanks to the plot.

It’s one heck of an episode.

Too bad he’s dead.

It’s one heck of an episode.

Doom Patrol (2019) s02e06 – Space Patrol

I thought last episode was good, this episode’s even better. In fact, it might fully realize translating comics to film, with Dorothy (Abi Monterey) running as far away from dad Timothy Dalton as she can. Keep in mind dad Dalton has various space ships sitting around the property, which surprises the other characters a little too much. Dalton and Robotman (Brendan Fraser, who gets to do the hard scenes this episode and make them work, and Riley Shanahan has some giant steps to take) have to track her down, leaving Matt Bomer in charge at the mansion.

Now, Bomer’s bent out of shape because of the recent family troubles and he doesn’t really want to entertain returning astronauts Mariana Klaveno, Derek Evans, and Jason Burkey—they want to see Dalton–but then it turns out Bomer and Klaveno have a whole bunch in common. So Bomer gets a great character arc here. Klaveno’s great too. Kristin Windell’s going to do some strong direction throughout, between the big effects location and the various performances—we’ll get to Diane Guerrero in a second here—there’s something really nice about the Bomer and Klaveno arc, giving him someone not on the team to interact with is good.

Same thing goes for Joivan Wade and Karen Obilom, who spend the day swapping stories about cybernetic enhancements.

April Bowlby’s got an arc with the community theatre, which gives Bowlby some good material while still just being the C plot.

So then the other big plot is Guerrero. Things are in trouble down in the Underground, which is the place where Guerrero’s personalities hang out and stuff—now, this season they’ve got Guerrero playing even less of the personalities, which is whatever—and there’s a big political thing going on. The most interesting part—besides it being directed for horror but not played for it (it’s not bad, just like, why does it look like Rob Zombie’s Halloween)—is finally realizing Jackie Goldston is playing “Secretary,” not Miss Harrison, the only persona where Guerrero does a good job.

There’s great final twist and cliffhanger. “Doom Patrol”’s got some fantastic momentum this season.