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The latest episode of Doom Patrol had a lot of little things going on as Cyborg finally motivated the group enough to get off their asses and try to find the Chief in Paraguay, but this week was really Larry’s story as he dealt with his feelings of being hated by the world now, and the notion that was planted in his head that he would be hated by the world of 1961 if people knew the real Larry Trainor.
I have to say that aside from the Larry business, this was an oddly written episode. Vic, still defiant of his dad, wants to use the STAR Labs jet and credit card to get the group to Paraguay to look for Chief. Dad says no, Vic is a grown man and he has to find his own way — which does lead to a pretty funny montage on the bus Vic ends up driving — but then suddenly Dad says he can have the plane and he’ll always have his back. Lesson learned? Vic and Rita didn’t get along, then they did. The Cliff/Vic rivalry was getting childish and it’s not really been explained why Cliff is being such a dick. Then Cliff found a phone number for his daughter … and eventually threw it away, like all of the other plot devices.
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Everyone got fed up with Rita, who spent too much time in the hotel room bathroom trying to coax her leg back to normal, and suddenly one of Jane’s personalities sprung into action and teleported her, Cliff and Larry to Paraguay. Now their whole reason for going to Parguay is rather tenuous. They know Chief went into a vortex with Morden, but Cliff found a photo of that albino donkey in Paraguay in the 1940s, so they figured that was the best place to look for the Chief? What did find was a bus stop and Steve (Alex Mapa), a guy eager to board a bus to Fuchtopia to have a process done called ‘The Morden’ … so at least they knew they were on the right track, especially once they got to Fuchtopia and were made to watch a very long puppet show detailing the work of Strumbanhfuhrer Von Fuchs, the unfortunate Nazi connection (‘that wasn’t in the pamphlet’), and the arrival of a man who nearly destroyed Von Fuchs’ work … the Chief. That certainly got everyone’s interest.
But back to Larry and the energy being inside of him. The being didn’t take kindly to Larry’s ‘ground rules’ note and was actually responsible for the group’s bus breaking down. Once at Fuchtopia, the trio had to come up with some way to pay for a procedure as a way to actually get into the lab to find out what ‘The Morden’ is and possibly learn more about where the Chief went. There was some clever business with the employees psychically connected to someone or something, and Jane’s multitude of apparently maxed out credit cards, but the promise of an exchange of some of her blood, which could yield a lot of interesting things with 63 different personalities, gave them the greenlight to proceed.
Jane was taken to meet the somehow still animated Von Fuchs (although as much a puppet as the marionette from the show) — who revealed that Jane may not actually be her core personality — and Larry found his way to the chamber which turned Morden into Mr. Nobody. The episode really delved more into Larry’s story through flashbacks that revealed his lover John was not going to re-up after Larry’s test flight because he knew he could not be himself and feared the worst if any of their friends and co-workers found out. Larry had his sights set on joining NASA’s Mercury program and felt a bit betrayed by John, especially dropping the news on him the night before the flight. John just wanted the two of them to leave together and make their fortune in the private sector. Harsh words were said but Larry asked John to just let him get through the flight and then he’d think about it. John said he was leaving with or without Larry.
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At home, Larry’s wife was giving him the cold shoulder, upset because he’d promised no more late nights drinking with the guys. Which, of course, was just a metaphor because she seems to know full well what Larry is up to and doesn’t know who to blame. Larry insists that he’s done and only she and the kids matter, but she’s not so sure Larry can ever change his spots as he’d made the same assurances with every city they’ve moved to.
After the accident, Larry was in isolation due to the heavy amount of radiation in his body, and could only receive visitors through a speaker. First his wife came to visit and told him it was over. Surprisingly she didn’t deliver the news with any malice and she actually hoped that he would find the love he deserved. Then John and some of the guys came and John revealed that he did re-up after all and that he’d be there for Larry however long his recovery took. Knowing John truly did love him to do something like that was too much for Larry to bear, knowing that his condition was never going to improve enough for them to have a life together and he simply told John to go. It was a truly heartbreaking moment.
But in the chamber, Larry suddenly found his bandages coming off and his burns healed. And the energy being was also removed from his body with no ill effects. Larry thought he was finally free of this creature and healed, but suddenly Cliff and Jane appeared and Larry discovered that nothing had changed. Jane transformed into the personality with the fiery globe for a head and destroyed Von Fuchs’ chamber, and as the three left the building … Steve emerged from another chamber in rather alarming condition with a dinosaur head growing out of his left shoulder and a right hand that looked like stalks of celery. And he wasn’t mad about it. Vic and Rita joined the trio just in time to leave but they’re no closer to finding the Chief.
This third episode wasn’t quite as good as the first two although it was nice to see more of Larry’s story. Some of the scenes in Fuchtopia were also pretty cool, particularly the fight with Von Fuchs’ mind-controlled henchmen. Oddly though, while Jane took out not only the gang attacking her but Von Fuchs as well with her various personalities, she seemed completely repulsed by the carnage wrought by Cliff, who at one point ripped a guy’s lower body off at the waist and used it to club another guy. It was just an uneven episode that perhaps would have worked a bit better with more narration by Morden as both he and Chief were absent this week. Shortcomings aside this week, Doom Patrol is still well worth the subscription to DC Universe even if it’s the only show you watch … but it has made me even more excited for the upcoming shows like Swamp Thing and Stargirl.
What did you think of this episode? Sound off in the comments below!
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