Warner Bros. Television
From the beginning of Doom Patrol and the arrival of Crazy Jane, she’s been one of the most enigmatic characters in the series (perhaps Rita is as equally enigmatic with very little of her background filled in for us) mainly because it’s almost impossible to know Jane and the 64 personalities within her. We’ve seen a few manifested already, including Baby Doll, Hammerhead, Silver Tongue and The Hangman’s Daughter, but who Jane is and why she’s created all of these parts has been a mystery. And, well, we know know that while Jane is the primary, she’s also just one of the 64 created to protect Kay Challis.
In previous episodes we’ve heard talk of The Underground, and during one memorable moment when Jane was visiting the location of the original Doom Patrol, she became engulfed by jigsaw puzzle pieces while a voice implored, ‘Sweet, sweet baby, please don’t keep me waiting. Come join me!’ And now with this week’s episode, all of those puzzle pieces have actually fallen into place, giving us a better picture of Jane/Kay. Last time we saw her, she had manifested Karen, a reaction to Cliff’s not-so-brilliant idea that group therapy would do them all some good. It just sent Jane running, unleashing this ‘Pollyanna’ character who lived life as if it were a romance novel or a Hallmark Channel movie who could mind control people to make them see things the same way she did. Except that didn’t work on Cliff and his robot eyes, and the result was that Karen was dragged down a train tunnel and Jane was left in a catatonic state.
Jane’s condition has made Cliff feel ressponsible and despite how some of her parts feel about him, he still longs to right any wrongs Jane feels may have occured because of him. And where Karen has gone is that place where all of Kay’s parts reside: The Underground. As we’ve seen when the various parts manifest, the brilliant Diane Guerrero plays everyone, sometimes within the same scene, with just subtle changes to her look, whether it be her hairstyle or eye color or a very subtle change to her makeup that alters her face enough to know something has changed. And Guerrero has given each character their own distinct personality, so when we finally see The Underground, it was a bit of a shock to see all of the parts, except for Jane, Karen and Driver 8, played by different actors.
The visit to The Underground gave us glimpses at 21 of Kay’s personalities: Jane, Karen, Driver 8, Kit W’the Canstick, Scarlet Harlot, Lucy Fugue, Silver Tongue, Jill-In-Irons, Mama Pentecost, The Nun, Pretty Polly, Flit, Baby Doll, The Secretary, Hammerhead, Penny Farthing, Driller Bill, The Sisters, Jack Straw, Miranda and Black Annis, each of them with a very specific function and each of them expecting Jane, as the primary, to return to the surface as she basically protects the others. But Jane doesn’t want to go back because the surface is a terrible, ugly place where she doesn’t know who she can trust. Let’s not forget, it wasn’t just the therapy session that sent her down this path. Rewatching the videotapes of her interviews with Niles and Mr. Nobody’s mental suggestion that Niles sees her as ‘broken’ have pretty much broken her delicate psyche.
Warner Bros. Television
And while she agrees to return to the surface, she strikes a deal with Driver 8, the train engineer, to delay the trip a bit so she can get to the bottom of what is holding her back. What she didn’t expect was pushback from Penny Farthing — who we met in Nurnheim — who urges her not to listen to The Sisters, a three-headed fortune teller, who tell her to go to The Well. Penny knows it never ends well for those who go there. And then there’s also the little matter of Cliff being zapped into Jane’s head thanks to the Negative Spirit. Jane really doesn’t want him there and his arrival only makes her more determined to forge ahead and see what awaits her at The Well. (And interestingly, when Cliff is zapped into her brain, he appears as Cliff, not Robotman.)
Jane finally makes her way to Black Annis, a sort of witch/demon/guardian, who allows her to pass through a door. Beyond the door is Kay’s childhood home, where those piece fit together. We’d already gotten a hint that Kay was abused by her father. Here Kay is putting a jigsaw puzzle together when he calls his ‘sweet, sweet baby’ to join him before her mother gets home. She wants to finish her puzzle but Daddy is insistent. But as Kay gets up from the floor to join him, this time it’s Jane who follows him. Cliff also encounters Black Annis who says he cannot pass because no man is allowed there … but he’s not a man. Black Annis slashes at his face with her talons, tearing off a piece of ‘skin’ and revealing the metal skull beneath. Cliff pulls off the rest, and Black Annis allows him to pass (after trying to grab his junk and coming up empty handed).
Cliff eventually finds Jane at The Well, standing on the edge as her father’s voice again calls for her to join him (interestingly, this location in Georgia was also used in the second season of The Exorcist). Cliff manages to grab her as thousands of puzzle pieces fly out of the abyss, forming a giant image of her father. As Cliff tries to intervene, Daddy grabs him and tears his legs off which is enough for Jane to finally find her voice, yelling at her ‘father’ that she hates him, he’s a terrible person who’s destroyed everything but she won’t let him destroy Cliff. Gathering all of her willpower she screams at him to go which causes the puzzle pieces to come apart and fall back into The Well. She does like Cliff after all. That becomes clear as the two silently make their way back to the surface. Once the Negative Spirit releases its grip on Cliff and Jane, they both wake up in the lab.
As Jane goes to her room, the others ask Cliff what happened but he says that’s her story to tell. At least she’s back and … better. Is she though? Laying on her bed, she’s hears her father’s voice yet again. Will she ever be rid of that nightmare? With that being the end of the episode, it may be important to mention so little aside in the lab that must have some significance. After returning from The Underground, Cliff sees a mess on the floor, what looks like broken glass, and asks what happened. Rita looks at Vic and they both just say ‘Long story.’ Whatever it was, it was not a result of Larry collapsing when the Negative Spirit left his body to bond Cliff and Jane, so whose story is that to tell?
What did you think of this episode? Sound off in the comments below!
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