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#Doom Patrol Season 3 Premiere Review: Of Possibilities, Vacations, and Death

#Doom Patrol Season 3 Premiere Review: Of Possibilities, Vacations, and Death

In an impressive triple-decker premiere, Doom Patrol Season 3 Episode 1, Doom Patrol Season 3 Episode 2, and Doom Patrol Season 3 Episode 3 manage to successfully deliver an “Oh, yes,” an “Oh, shit,” and an “Oh, what?” respectively.

But first: Screw you, COVID-19. You robbed us of many things, not the least was a satisfying finale to the bonkers Doom Patrol Season 2.

Because of studio shutdowns, the second season was cut short, and Doom Patrol Season 2 Episode 9 left us in the worst sort of cliffhanger hell. LOL. See what I did there?

Dorothy Staggered - Doom Patrol Season 3 Episode 1

For the record: what a great finale the first premiere hour would’ve been. It had everything we needed for resolution.

Dorothy finds a way to embrace Candlemaker, despite his determination to destroy everything.

Dorothy: This isn’t fair!

Candlemaker: No, dear girl. Not fair, but fate.

Seeing Dorothy take control and own her power fulfills so much of the emotional investment we made in her character on Doom Patrol Season 2.

Candlemaker, on the other hand, sort of becomes less terrifying the more we actually see of him. To see him tamed by Dorothy’s patience is, in one sense, anticlimactic, but also, the perfect antithesis to the approach anyone else would have taken.

Dorothy proves with this solution that she is more her mother’s daughter than her father’s apprentice.

Bedside Vigil - Doom Patrol

Dorothy and Jane have always shared a bond in the way they contain so many different individuals.

So it’s only right that Dorothy tries to wait on Niles’s burial until Jane can say goodbye.

The entire resolution to the Miranda mystery has the powerful, over-the-top intensity such a fraught situation deserves.

I’m not Daddy. Or Miranda. I’m not even a persona at all. I’m the infection that’s been festering inside Kay since personas even existed. Every doubt, every fear, every hurt. I’m the wound you can’t help but scratch. Your scratching gave me life. Day after day, Kay’s pain made me stronger. Now, I’ve taken control.
Not-Miranda

The level of metaphor in Kay’s mind is boggling.

Not-Miranda is able to break every one of Kay’s personas, forcing them into despair comas as symbolized by them fixated on the jigsaws.

Taking the Leap - Doom Patrol Season 2 Episode 8

But because Jane survived the well and brought back the lamb doll, Kay is able to reach Jane and awaken the personas to fight Not-Miranda.

Even Not-Miranda’s transformation into the jigsaw Daddy is a cleverly layered metaphor and symbolism. To have Jane fly the plane through him to reach the surface is the triumph of hope over fear.

The best part was watching the personas chow down on those jigsaw pieces. Talk about eating what you fear, literally, in a symbolic way.

Jane can’t save you but I can end you. You can’t win.
Not-Miranda

I wonder if the personas will get much screen time moving forward. Kay had them en masse as her army of coping mechanisms, but, with Jane firmly reinstalled as the primary, they may become more like old friends you keep in touch with occasionally.

Beekeeper - Doom Patrol Season 3 Episode 1

Rita’s reveal to the cast and production team of Cloverton Players’ play, Our Town, finally strips away her last defense, her stage persona. She loses control of the polished veneer and promptly loses control of her form.

I don’t know what I’m supposed to do next. What does he want me to do? Carry on his legacy? Clean up his mess? Rewrite all this history? No! He turned me into nothing, and now he wants me to be something else? Well, I won’t. I can’t. And I hate him for asking. And I hate myself for hating him because I loved him too. And I never told him either of those things. And now it’s too late. There’s nothing left to say.
Rita

It actually starts with Larry’s blunt sum-up of the play and how it plays into her trauma. Real friends will speak hard truths when all you want to do is pretend.

Well, I think it’s great for you to perform in a play that debases you and everyone you know. Should be a terrific distraction.
Larry

So Rita returns the favor when Larry is looking to her as an excuse to stick around.

She gives him her blessing to travel to wherever the Negative Spirit is looking to take him even though she’ll be left with no supports for whatever challenges Niles’s legacy will throw her way.

A Final Farewell - Doom Patrol Season 3 Episode 1

Niles visiting Cliff as a ghost to ask a favor is probably the most Doom Patrol scenario of them all.

You took everything from me, Chief. Everything. And after it was all gone, the last thing I had was hating you. Now you’re gone too. So, what the fuck now?
Cliff

Cliff never fails to be Cliff in every fuckin’ situation. He is the blunt instrument that breaks all conventions.

His tremor, a sign that his last vestige of organic matter, his brain, is failing him, is all kinds of tragic considering he has just managed to connect with his daughter and meet his grandson.

The first hour wraps with all the team members — well, not Niles — in positions which, like the closing number of Our Town messages, are filled with possibilities. And that’s a nice change for as long as it lasts.

Making an Entrance - Doom Patrol Season 3 Episode 1

Then we get the teaser we should have had at the end of Season 2.

In fact, we get two.

There’s the mysterious drill woman, portrayed by the incredible Michelle Gomez and named in promotional materials as Madame Rouge.

She’s every bit as intriguing as the farting donkey but way nicer to look at.

Also, she disposes of the annoying Isabel Feathers tout suite, which is aces in my books.

Taking a Squat - Doom Patrol Season 3 Episode 1

And then, after watching a few seconds of the closing credits and asking, “Wait, I didn’t see Mark Sheppard. Where was he?” we get a thrilling stinger scene with Kipling digging up Niles’s head and stowing it in a bowling ball bag. Oh, the ignobleness of it all!

But you’re forgiven if you missed that scene because it doesn’t pan out anywhere in the following two hours of the premiere.

Obviously, it will eventually, but meanwhile, the team moves on without Niles, and things get just as crazy as you would expect.

Rita’s burden of being Niles’s chosen heir crushes her both emotionally and physically.

Rocky Road Retro - Doom Patrol Season 3 Episode 2

Who knew she’d go all Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Odo and end up sloshing around in a plant pot? I guess it’s more dignified than just pooling on the ground but not by much.

Between Codsville Mountain Resort and the Underworld, the team puts a lot of miles in as they try to reconcile their lives with their realities now that their nominal team leader is gone.

Initially, they’re all cut loose of their moorings.

Rita is trying to escape responsibilities and guilt from wanting to escape those responsibilities.

Vic’s been locked out of his cyber access.

Cyborg Offline - Doom Patrol Season 3 Episode 2

Jane isn’t sure how to move forward and is scared that any move she makes might cause Kay harm.

Cliff is terrified that the happiness he’s found with Clara and his grandson is fleeting.

Vic: You going to get that checked out anytime soon?

Cliff: Jesus Christ. You sound like my daughter. What the hell’s the point in getting me checked out?

Vic: So you can find out what’s wrong?

Cliff: And then what? Sink into another twenty year depression when I also find out that there’s nothing I can actually do about it?

Vic: Well, maybe there is.

Cliff: Right. Cause I’m that lucky.

And Larry… Larry flies into deep space, is dragged into a nebula, then seemingly abandoned by the Negative Spirit, and zapped back to the mansion, only to find it completely empty.

It’s easy to see how our intrepid heroes can feel like rejects when they’re constantly being rejected.

Lonely Larry - Doom Patrol Season 3 Episode 2

But we also have some fresh faces thrown into the mix.

Of course, there’s the mysterious Madame Rouge who makes it a habit to only ever show her face (or whatever face she’s wearing) in the last minutes of any respective hour.

Then there’s the Dead Boy Detectives, Edwin and Charles, and their living psychic associate, Crystal. I’d very happily watch a spin-off of their exploits, including any run-ins with Death since she’s the Neil Gaiman Endless version.

Edwin: I get that you’re doing the very adult thing of using humor to hide anxiety, but you’re a tourist here. Right? Death is no joke.

Charles: Death’s quite nice, actually. And she is super fit. It’s the things that work for her you’ll have to worry about.

Let’s not forget that Samuelson is still running around with his nasty weapon. Will there be any repercussions for killing his boss?

Also, there’s the mysterious disfigured man in the Underworld who rescued Rita. He might be gone since Vomit Lady had a bone to pick with him. Possibly his bones. But it didn’t happen on-screen, so the possibility remains.

Together Again - Doom Patrol Season 3 Episode 3

The most interesting scenes for me were in the various purgatories.

The origin of Jane’s name was such a lightning bolt moment, but every moment where Kay could just be happy and childlike was heartwarming.

Cliff and his dad were exactly what we’d expect. Well, maybe not the pegasus hunting, but we knew something beautiful was gonna get killed and gutted, didn’t we?

Vic’s mother leaves his story a lot of avenues to explore upon his return to the living. Not sure how that’ll dovetail with Roni, but my Spidey Senses predict it will.

Dorothy - Doom Patrol Season 3 Episode 3

Of course, Dorothy’s departure, knowing what we know about the state of Niles’s eternal rest, means Kipling may have a very irritated but powerful teenage girl to deal with soon.

I can’t wait to see how he handles that.

Dorothy: Larry, why did you arrange our dead friends at the dining room table?

Larry: Because living them jammed into shipping boxes was weird and morbid. Seriously, Dorothy.

Dorothy: And they don’t look weird and morbid now?

So, Patrollers, how did this premiere hit for you? Was it out of the ballpark? An inside-the-park home run? A bunt to the pitcher? Maybe a foul ball?

As Charles pointed out repeatedly, America is the baseball nation.

Slide into the home plate (i.e. our comments section) with your call!

Diana Keng is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.

For forums sites go to Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com

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