REVIEW: Doom Patrol – Season 3, Episodes 6 and 7, “1917 Patrol” and “Bird Patrol”

"'Friend' is only a nice word for 'opportunity'."

Television Reviews

*SPOILERS*

“1917 Patrol” finds Rita near the end of her journey in Laura’s time machine. Her memory is wiped by the time she arrives in 1917 Iowa. She encounters a farmer’s wife who calls the Bureau of Normalcy on her. The Brotherhood of Evil watches as Rita is taken away. Meanwhile, Larry cares for his son Paul after having found him in “Dada Patrol.” Jane helps Kay escape to the surface to buy shoes. Back in 1917, Rita is escorted into the office of one Laura De Mille. After being unable to find out who Rita is, the two do discover her abilities. Rita is enlisted to sort the Bureau’s mail. She soon realizes there’s a hierarchy in the Bureau and that her abnormality puts her at the bottom. In the present, Kay is distracted by a bicycle and rides it rather than buying shoes. In 1917, Rita finds a letter addressed to Niles Caulder. Laura introduces her to the Sisterhood of Dada, a society composed of her coworkers. Cliff makes a sale listing for time with Cyborg online to make some money. When Paul regains his senses, he tells Larry off for leaving the family so many years ago. Larry makes peace with his past, reaffirming that he loved his family and did what was best for them. He asks Paul to leave. Back in 1917, Rita defiantly sits in the lunchroom with the normal workers. However, she loses control of her abilities, to her shame and horror. Her friends from Dada comfort her and riot, turning the lunchroom into a 3-ring circus. Laura collects them and tells them they have to leave before the guards come. In the present day, Jane is criticized for letting Kay go up. Victor goes to a synthetic skin specialist. Larry’s mass reemerges. Laura is confronted by the Sisterhood of Dada.

In “Bird Patrol,” Larry coughs up a giant worm. Cyborg sees an old colleague of his parents’ about synthetic skin replacement. Jane pukes up a flyer for a Dada event as the same logo appears on Cliff’s shirt. Jane berates Cliff for selling her records, and when Flit discovers he sold her workout tapes, she sends him to Clara’s house. In the past, Laura begins to worry less about protecting the Sisterhood and more about the war. In the present, Kay’s bike is stolen, and she tells Jane she never wants to resurface again. Larry takes the worm out into the woods, intending to leave it for dead. He ends up feeling sorry for it, bringing food and a blanket as the Fog approaches. Vic contacts Roni to tell her about having his tech removed, but she encourages him to keep it. When Jane confronts the alternates about Kay’s bike, she finds only hostility. In 1949, Laura is forced to choose between her job and her friends. The Sisterhood plans an event called the Eternal Flagellation. In the present, Kay refuses to talk to Jane as the Patrol is overrun by the Fog. In 1949, Laura visits the Sisterhood for the first time in years. The Bureau attacks them in the past as they control Patrol the present. Laura’s memories finally return as her old friends confront her. In the past, Malcolm is killed defending the others. In the present, Rita is working with the Sisterhood. Laura escapes before the Sisterhood can get vengeance.

“1917 Patrol” shifts focus from Laura’s crisis of identity to Rita’s aspirations of time travel. I find it curious that the narrator (who sounds like Matt Bomer’s Larry) describes a lack of agency in Rita’s life up to this point. I like Rita a lot and consider her a sympathetic character, but I struggle to see how one could argue that she hasn’t made her own choices. In engineering Rita’s accident, it’s true that Niles subverted her free will and forced superhuman abilities on her. Likewise, I think we all agree that what her mother did to secure her future was disgusting and took some element of control out of Rita’s hands. However, everything else has been her choice, including the scene where the studio executive makes a pass at her. She could have chosen to reject it outright or even quit, but she went along with the advances for the sake of her career. This is exactly like what her mother did on her behalf when she was little. Does Rita really see herself as a hapless victim of fate and the people around her? I think she’s better than that, and I’m glad the episode doesn’t dwell on this for very long.

Another question I have involves Rita’s memory loss caused by the time machine. Once Rita arrives in 1917, she stays in the “past” for decades, seemingly right up to the present day. I wonder when and if her memory of Niles, Doom Manor, and her housemates was restored to her. And if so, why did she choose never to come back until now? Of course, the housemates barely notice her absence, which seems to take up less than a day of their time. But did she miss them? Does she feel greater kinship with the Sisterhood of Dada than with her makeshift family? Does Rita even have both sets of memories, and if so, how does she feel about that?

“Bird Patrol” makes it pretty clear that the Sisterhood of Dada isn’t evil, or at least it wasn’t at first. The revelation that Laura sold them out to the Bureau is gutting, mainly because I’ve liked Laura so much this season. I had hoped Niles’ assessment of her would end up being off the mark. After all, he’s been wrong about much worse things than this. Regardless, it’s difficult to justify Laura’s choice to throw her friends under the bus for her job. Depending on what the Eternal Flagellation entails, the Sisterhood may end up being allies of Doom Patrol. Thus far, all they’re guilty of is messing with Laura and trying to force her to release Malcolm’s spirit (if that’s what was happening; the whole ending was unclear). I wish we could have seen more of Rita’s interactions with Malcolm, but what they did show was effective. The only apparent oddity about Malcolm is his heart, which is a canary in a cage. This explains why Rita’s head is in a birdcage on the season poster and other promo materials. Rita and Malcolm have good chemistry, and I found their relationship believable, even in such a short time. Their romance apparently lasted decades while Rita was with the Bureau, but I assume these two episodes will be the only ones to feature Malcolm unless there are more flashbacks.

On that note, it’s genuinely sad seeing the Bureau of Oddities transition to the Bureau of Normalcy over the years. It had already been stated that they initially specialized in the weird rather than eradicating it, but seeing that shift is different from just hearing about it. The Sisterhood may still end up being evil, but after seeing what they endured at the Bureau, it’s hard not to feel bad for them. The Brotherhood of Evil makes a brief appearance in “1917 Patrol,” and I wonder what that means for the rest of the season. They’ve only had a significant role in “Vacay Patrol” so far, despite being teased as major villains for the season. If the Sisterhood of Dada really is a force for good (or neutral), the Brotherhood will have to provide an ongoing threat.

It seems like Cliff’s medication is making him moody and unpredictable. He snaps at Cyborg and Laura and nearly goes over the edge at Clara’s house. He’s also become addicted to buying time with a cam girl named Ginger. This has prompted him to max out his own credit card and sell various items belonging to his friends. I was afraid he would ruin his blooming relationship with his daughter by using her card in this manner. It seemed like a recipe for disaster when she gave it to Cliff and left him alone with Rory. Clara and her wife (whose name I always forget, if they have said it) got back before Cliff could do any significant damage. I assume this will be an ongoing problem with him. You can see the growing tension with her wife, who has consistently been unimpressed with Cliff’s antics.

I think we all know Cyborg isn’t going to replace his tech with synthetic skin. I don’t necessarily have a problem with this plot point, but I don’t see him making this choice. It wouldn’t be the best thing for the character, making him irrelevant to the show’s main story. He could even become a liability, a “regular person” whom his friends always have to look out for. Previously I thought Larry’s tumor-like lump was a manifestation of the Negative Spirit, or even a different spirit. As such, I wasn’t expecting him to vomit up a giant worm. I’m very curious about what exactly it is and how this will play out. I really like the scene where Larry finally stands up to Paul. It’s a tricky situation, and I would typically be on the side of Paul. He was just a kid when Larry left him, and a lot of the resentment he bears is on behalf of his brother Gary. Gary never gave up hope that Larry would come home, but he never did. Larry’s involuntary detainment for much of this time and his radioactivity mitigate his guilt in the situation. It is a complicated issue between him and Paul, though, and I wonder if forgiveness and reconciliation are really off the table.

I’m so tired of Jane’s alternates. Not only do they not want to help Kay get better, but they’re also actively hurting her progress and stealing from a child. I understand that the personas are only real in Kay’s head, but they make me so mad. They don’t even really exist, but they’re so selfish and worried about their “lives.” What kind of a life is it to exist only internally and only as part of someone else’s story? I hate the personas except for Kay and Jane. The show isn’t doing much to humanize them here, although they have with a couple of them in past seasons. Therapist just keeps stating that there’s a delicate balance in the underground. That sounds like a cop-out, an easy way to forcibly maintain the status quo without meaningful conversation or introspection.

“1917 Patrol” and “Bird Patrol” are good episodes of Doom Patrol. The past sequences do a lot of heavy lifting, granting insight into Laura’s misdeeds, the Sisterhood of Dada, and yet another heartbreak for poor Rita. I’m somewhat frustrated by the narrator’s bit about how little choice Rita has had in “1917 Patrol”, but overall I enjoyed both episodes.