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Here we are at the penultimate episode of the season (there were supposed to be ten episode but the finale was not completed before the COVID shutdown), and daddy issues are plaguing almost all of our heroes in one way or another, either their own fathers or the fact that they are fathers causing their children daddy issues.
Like Cliff. He finally got what he wanted when Clara showed up out of the blue in the last episode, and now he’s doing his best to make up for lost time, gleefully showing her around Doom Manor, telling his very pregnant daughter that he can help her because he helped deliver a litter of rats when he was miniaturized, showing off his race track (where he and the others lived while they were teeny tiny), and cooking her breakfast — and inadvertently cooking the finger he’d been holding on to but finding it before he served the plate to Clara. She was a bit unsettled by everything but she made Cliff’s day by inviting her to her wedding, even though she’s unsure it’ll even work because the Steele family doesn’t have the best track record with marriage. But Cliff actually put on his dad blazer and told her she would be the one to break the curse … and they both actually had a good day in the end. So something terrible is bound to happen.
Vic has some peripheral daddy issues because of what his company did to Roni, and now she’s out to exact revenge, murdering someone within Silas Stone’s circle. Vic drags Rita along to Detroit to see what he can find and Rita — whose mommy issues don’t come into play at all — is thrilled to start breaking in her Beekeeper persona while assisting Cliff. But he ends up ditching Rita to track down Roni and learns that she stole some of the Uma jelly and it’s given her a whole new perspective on life … and Vic had better not get in her way. She made that point very clear by tossing him across the space of their favorite diner.
Larry is still trying to reconcile his own terrible fathering skills while also trying to come to terms with the Negative Spirit like Moscow told him she has done with hers. But before he can really make sense of any of it, Jane tells him they’re going back to Kay’s childhood home. As the episode opened in 1954, we saw young Kay — who we’ve seen only as a child but must really be in her late 50s / early 60s by now — being put in a bucket and lowered into a well as punishment. During one of these torture sessions, Kay dropped her stuffed toy into the water, losing her only friend in the world. In the Underground, Kay came to Jane and the others telling them she wanted her toy, and Jane insists that she is the only one who can get it for her. But Jane is really concerned more about the others who have disappeared and why. Miranda suggests that Kay is finally healing and doesn’t need those parts anymore, so Jane needs to get the toy to prove she’s necessary and doesn’t just fade away.
At the house (which, by the way, was the same location used in the second season of The Exorcist), Jane was hesitant about going into the well and Larry offered to go, but Jane had to be the one to get the toy. Except by this time the well had dried up and it was nowhere to be found in the muck. But Jane spied a rock that seemed out of place and behind the rock was the toy and a note from a teen-aged Kay who had also been put in the well but managed to climb her way out and get away. Back in the Underground, Miranda confronted Jane at their well and wasn’t too thrilled with Jane’s attempts to prove her worth, so she pushed Jane into the well with Baby Doll and the others. But what exactly does Miranda have up her sleeve?
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Niles is being suspiciously generous with Dorothy, taking her on a road trip and giving in to her heart’s desire. But for him this is actually a goodbye because Kipling is just waiting for the right time and the right place to take care of Niles’ little problem before she matures. Except Niles has been dragging out this long goodbye and while at a gas stop, Dorothy gets a visit from Aunt Flow and totally freaks out. The nice lady at the gas station helped her out with some much needed items and a new pair of pants, but the voice of the Candlemaker began to speak, telling Dorothy that it’s time.
But she brushes it off and Niles says they can do anything she wants, unaware that his little girl has just grown up and they head to a carnival. Everything is going well as Dorothy wins a toy for Jane, but Dorothy keeps having a vision of her mother holding a pair of red boots. And the Candlemaker’s voice is getting stronger, terrifying the girl inside a funhouse. Niles, suddenly not well and coughing up blood, keeps acting as if nothing is wrong and wants to find a ride the two can do together. They hit the ferris wheel and Niles send Dorothy to get herself a giant lollipop. Kipling shows up to perform whatever duties he’s been tasked with as far as ‘taking care of’ Dorothy, but he notices things are beginning to melt around them, angry at Niles that now it’s pretty much too late for him to help now that Dorothy has matured.
Panic ensues at the carnival, Niles falls out of his wheelchair and Dorothy panics as the lollipops begin melting in her hands. The Candlemaker is on his way and there is nothing that can stop him. Will this be the event that finally brings the group together as the Doom Patrol?
Doom Patrol streams new episodes each Thursday on DC Universe and HBO Max.
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