Warner Bros. Television
After the total insanity of last week’s ‘Sex Patrol’ episode — and it seems there are still some sex ghosts haunting Doom Manor — this week’s ‘Finger Patrol’ slows things down a little and breaks everyone up into their own little groups of two, aside from Niles, to do their own thing. This week didn’t really serve to advance the overall plot for the season, which is Niles trying to find a cure for his mortality, but it did give the characters a few nice moments to shine outside of all the craziness.
Cyborg & Cliff
Vic is having regrets about ditching Roni back in Detroit, and Cliff reveals to Vic that Niles is planning to give him an upgrade so that he has a sense of touch again. But knowing it could take decades, something a dying man does not have, Cliff asks Vic to see if his dad would do it since Vic is able to feel with his hands. Unfortunately, Silas Stone wants no part of what he considers Niles’ criminal activity for what he did to Cliff and his family. Striking out, Vic and Cliff park outside of a building and Cliff thinks they’re on a stakeout but Vic admits he’s there to see Roni. And his idea to woo her back is to bring her a sandwich … which Cliff promptly tosses out the window. Formerly being a man who had no trouble scoring with the ladies, Cliff tells Vic to knock on the door and say, ‘I’m stupid, I fucked up, and I’m sorry.’ Vic does and it works! Vic also learns that Roni at one point had some kind of enhancements, which may explain some of her more serious scars, but he wants to convince her that she is not a bad person for anything she did in her past, and the records she gave to him mean nothing in the present. We’ll see.
But that leaves Cliff to sit in the car alone to daydream about what could have been if they were on a stakeout, which gave us the hilarious 1970s Starsky & Hutch inspired ‘Stone & Steele’ buddy cop TV show opening title sequence which also included Niles as ‘Chief’ complete with an afro. It was pure perfection, but Cliff was shaken out of his daydream by a couple of guys attempting to steal a car. Still feeling like a cop, Cliff tries to stop the pair but his arm gets stuck … and then unstuck, slamming the car door on the guy’s hand, severing his finger in the process. Thinking this may come in handy for Niles’ experiments with touch, Cliff deposits the finger in his pants pocket.
Larry & Rita
Rita has the acting bug again and wants to be in a local play but she missed the auditions by a day. She attempts to sway the writer/director of the Cloverton Players with an audition at the garden center where she works but it does not go well, although Rita did start off pretty strongly. Too many distractions shook her confidence and she felt humiliated. At least she didn’t turn into a blob.
Larry is having his own existential crisis after the death of his son and decides to go help his other son Paul clean out the house and invites the despondent Rita to accompany him on his road trip. Larry meets his grandson and great-grandson and the little family reunion seems to be going well, until … in the garage Paul shows Larry a box that they’d kept in the hopes that he’d come home one day. In the box was the cardboard rocket his son had made and that Larry had said was made wrong, but they were surprised that he had kept it after all. Larry told Paul it was made perfectly, he was just an asshole. Then he found a piece of material that belonged to John, and Larry came out to Paul. He said his wife knew but never said anything and Paul said she had never said anything to either him or his brother, but she would lay on the floor crying from time to time. But Paul’s demeanor suddenly changed, and on the porch Rita could see a line of black cars heading in their direction. Paul had ratted Larry out and said he was going back to where he belonged. As the situation escalated, Larry released the Negative Spirit which took out all of the government agents, but during the gun fire Rita was able to protect Larry’s great-grandson. Unfortunately, Larry’s grandson was not so lucky and as he lay bleeding out on the lawn, the Negative Spririt picked up Larry and Rita and flew away.
Dorothy & Jane
Warner Bros. Television
Dorothy is bored, and Niles is hoping to start over with Jane, drawing up a new map of the Underground. But suddenly Baby Doll takes over so Niles thinks it’s the perfect time to introduce her to Dorothy. Dorothy is thrilled to have a new friend, but Baby Doll is a bit too much for the girl, her hyperactivity wearing her out physically and mentally, with the Candlemaker whispering in her ear again. Baby Doll catches Dorothy talking to herself and asks if she can meet the friends in her mind so Dorothy obliges by bringing out Nanny, the wendigo, but makes Baby Doll promise to be polite. Baby Doll promises but she gets a little too frisky and grabs Nanny’s nose causing the creature to evaporate and angering Dorothy who stomps away and goes into hiding. Niles intervenes and tells Baby Doll that Dorothy was so tired she fell asleep in his bed but she doesn’t seem to be buying it.
In the Underground, Jane is getting an ear-full from Hammerhead but she said she wouldn’t be there if at that moment Baby Doll wasn’t needed to run and spin and play. When Dorothy returns to her room, she can see Baby Doll is angry so she decides to play a game of hide and seek with her, taking the game to the basement of the manor. Hiding inside one of the furnaces, Dorothy jumps out and scares Baby Doll, causing her to fall. Angry she traps Dorothy inside the furnace and turns it on. Terrified, Dorothy conjures up Nanny again and Baby Doll, or one of the other more dangerous parts, kills the beast. Now furious, Dorothy hears the Candlemaker telling her to make a wish, something Niles has warned her to never do. But Dorothy holds out her hand as a candle appears and the words ‘make a wish’ are repeated until she does and blows out the candle.
In the Underground, the train conductor sees something terrifying ahead of her, and outside the tunnel all of Kay’s parts hear something coming towards them. From out of the tunnel comes something they’ve never seen before — the Candlemaker. How this creature got into the Underground is unknown but its appearance leads to disaster as several of Kay’s parts, including Baby Doll, are brutally murdered. The Candlemaker vanishes and Jane looks at the destruction in horror … and leaving us with jaws on the floor wondering how Niles will react to this turn of events. Baby Doll tried to tell Dorothy earlier that Niles was a bad man who hurt her and Hammerhead told Jane that if it came down to it, Niles would always choose his daughter over her. But that may not be the case after this. Stay tuned!
Doom Patrol streams new episodes each Thursday on DC Universe and HBO Max.
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