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Doom Patrol yet again proves that it is the most original and creative series on television, and we have to hope that the suits at Warner Bros. Discovery can see this because it has to be an expensive show to produce and we know CEO David Zaslav is doing all he can to slash costs at HBO Max. So if you’re a fan, tell your friends to watch the show too. Or if they don’t want to watch, just tell them to play it while they do other things so at least it looks like people are watching! We need to keep original series like this on the air!
This week’s episode, ‘Youth Patrol’, gives several members of our beloved misfits some clarity about their lives, where they’ve been and where they may be going … and that last part is not what any of them expected. The main plot of this episode involves the entire group except for Larry who, fortunately (for the moment), left to find Keeg. Rita was still unconscious from their trip through her cinematic catalog so he wasn’t able to give her a hug goodbye, but Vic told him he could hug her when he got back. The question is will she be there, or anywhere, when he gets back?
Larry has been having odd flashes, visions or perhaps memories but he’s not sure what he’s seeing but he believes it has something to do with Keeg. As he makes his way through the forest, calling out to Keeg, he has more visions that takes a toll on him, causing him to collapse … but there is someone else in the forest with him. Larry finds himself back at the Bureau where he was once experimented on and sees Mr. 104 undergoing the same kind of interrogation/experimentation. Larry seems to be getting some clarity on his visions as he sees Mr. 104 being forced to ‘augment’ some test subjects — but he’s really just killing them with his powers. He seems to be drawing all of the liquid out of their bodies. The Bureau agents are also fascinated that he sincerely believes he moved to London from India to study organic chemistry. Larry is so horrified by what he sees that it jolts him awake in a cabin with Mr. 104. Keeg lights up in 104’s chest but Larry is prevented from approaching, being thrown back and held against the wall by Mr. 104, who tells Larry he’s been trying to get Keeg out but he won’t leave. Keeg does burst out of 104, enters Larry for a split second and returns to his new host.
Larry is again at the Bureau but this time he’s in the chair, reliving the trauma, the same trauma that Mr. 104 experienced as Larry is forced to kill volunteers so the Bureau can see the extent of his powers. Me. 104 watches and is moved by Larry’s emotional reaction to the process, and after the subjects die horrible deaths — bleeding from their eyes, noses, ears — 104 transports himself into the room. A panicked Larry doesn’t want him to die too but Mr. 104 assures him that with his abilities he can change his skin to lead and Larry can’t hurt him. That calms Larry and almost seems to make him think that perhaps he can finally have some type of human contact. After all, when the two first met Mr. 104 was very intrusive when asking about Larry’s lack of human contact, and in the real world both of them are unconscious on the floor of the cabin, their hands barely touching. When they both come to, 104 tells Larry it’s not the first time he’s seen a piece of his past, and that Larry has a little guardian angel but it’s not Keeg, it is the spirit that previously inhabited him. 104 also admits that he joined Dr. Janus to stop causing suffering and now he’s a beacon for it. He’s trying to reverse his condition but the things his body can do is taking a toll and one day he may not be able to control it. Larry asks what happens then and the reply is chilling — a mass extinction event. The only way he can stop it now is to fulfill his promise to Immortus and return the ‘longevity’. Larry has no idea what he’s talking about but he knows a ‘Devil’s bargain’ when he sees it. 104 tells Larry that what they were forced to do at the Bureau, and the memories they are forced to live with, aren’t right and Immortus can make that all go away but Larry isn’t sold on the idea, asking 104 to let him help him because he knows what his new ‘friend’ is going through. Larry believes there is another way to fix things that doesn’t involve a pledge or violence. He finally introduces himself to 104, and 104 introduces himself saying his name is Rama. And that is all that was needed for Keeg to return to Larry. Larry asks Keeg if that was his plan all along, to unite these two men who can give something to each other, but before anything more can happen a pair of scissors appears and cuts open a portal sucking him in with Rama jumping in after, not ready to lose someone he’s just made a connection with.
The rest of the team find themselves in a giant pickle — not literally although on this show it isn’t out of the realm of possibility — when Rita wakes up to see that she’s aged a bit, and Willoughby pops up with some very bad news: Immortus is rising and, surprise, it all leads back to them. Jane also decided to try to recreate that feeling she had when The Fog, aka Shelley, appeared and found herself dragged to the Underground. But she wasn’t brought there, she came all on her own … no pun intended. But she returns, a bit sweaty, and joins the others in the kitchen as Willoughby begins to lay out the end of the world scenario. Cliff thinks he’s talking about the zombie butts and those asses were kicked so they saved the world. But this isn’t about the butts, it’s about Immortus and the end of reality as they know it. Laura does recall the Immortus Project but says nothing ever came of it. Willoughby assures her that is not the case and the Doom Patrol is the Immortus Project — minus her and ‘Track Suit’ (Vic). Turns out that necklace Niles wore to keep him alive for more than a century was a piece of the ancient deity, and he acquired it from Eric Morden, aka Mr. Nobody, after Niles shot him. All was well and good until the DP got shrunken and he needed small pieces of the artifact to bring them back to normal. Have they never wondered why they’ve looked the same for decades? They have longevity, a la Immortus. But the necklace was stolen — and as we saw last episode Dorothy had it then was forced to hand it over to Torminox who gave it to ‘the artist’ — and Immortus needs the rest of the pieces to rise … and yes, those pieces can be extracted from the Doom Patrol members. Like a blackhead. But as long as they don’t lose their longevity, the necklace cannot be reconstituted and Immortus cannot rise. The question is posed if longevity could be extracted by, say, being drawn into a catalog of your past filmography or confronted by someone named Dr. Janus, but Willoughby dismisses the question wondering if their stupidity has no depths. Of course that is exactly what happened to Rita. The necklace wasn’t taking her emotions, it was taking her longevity, and that was also handed over to ‘the artist’.
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But Rita isn’t going to let a little aging stop her, rooting around in Niles’ office to see if she can find something to reverse it. The worst place to look is in a box labeled ‘Experimental. Untested. Dangerous.’ but she finds a vial that she believes will help … and then she’s startled by Cliff, who is startled by her face, and she drops the glass vial which causes the liquid to turn into a smoke and they are all de-aged, except for Laura. Rita is thrilled but she hasn’t worn glasses since 1937. Vic is unhappy to find he has braces, Cliff is dressed like a cowboy and Jane looks like she just shopped at Hot Topic. Willoughby looks like a squire from the age of Shakespeare, yet they all look the same which suggests it was clearly not a good de-aging spell hence it being locked in a box with the warning labels on it. But Willoughby does have one as yet unseen change which he reveals: a full, flowing head of hair as chaos magicians are follicly gifted. Laura explains her unchanged appearance as her Bureau training kicking in: ‘If you see a cloud of smoke, don’t breathe, don’t choke.’ Simple. Unfortunately, the spell Rita broke was a ‘kepriax’ (sp?) and it’s really bad. How bad? It’s a curse, actually, that will continue to de-age them to … nothing. To before they were a glimmer in their fathers’ eye. Willoughby’s old mentor Miss April may be the only person who can help them but he can’t seem to get his powers up to full speed to find her. Laura asks if the rumor is true that chaos magicians don’t get their full powers until they lose their virginity, and Cliff is wondering if Willoughby got his V-card unpunched by the spell. Willoughby isn’t happy with the jibes but the powers kick in and he locates Miss April’s traveling tea room in … Toledo. Well, it’s just two towns over so into Cliff’s beater they go.
With time of the essence, Cliff and Jane manage to get hooked up with some high schoolers at a gas station, Jane referring to one of them as ‘Euphoria’ (hey, some network cross promotion!). One of them loves Jane’s Woodstock vibe, and another says Cliff looks like his racist grandfather … but fresh as fuck. The kids will share their weed with them if they buy them a six-pack and a bottle of brandy which of course they agree to. Rita and Laura go to the ladies room and Laura tries desperately to talk to Rita now that they are alone, but Rita is not going to discuss anything while she’s being stared at by a used condom on a broken diaper changing station. She is sure, however, that once they find Miss April, everything will be back to normal but Laura isn’t sure Willoughby said Miss April could actually fix them and that Rita needs to lower her expectations. If there was a perfect de-aging spell, Niles would have found it, no? Rita wants to remain in denial and leaves Laura alone, talking to herself. But she chases Rita through the parking lot and tells Willoughby they’ll catch up later.
Jane and Cliff bring their new friends to the car because they’ve been invited to a party. Umm, have they forgotten they’re on a mission? Jane, Cliff and Vic ask why is saving the world always on their shoulders, like stopping the Eye in the Sky or it will delete everyone on Earth? One of the kids notes that all happened during their homecoming. Willoughby has had enough and tells them to get in the car without the cast of ‘Freaks and Geeks After Dark’ so he doesn’t have to return to his father’s ‘hairy goosh’. Well that’s a lovely picture, innit? Cliff starts mocking him, and Vic calls him a ‘square’, which they all begin chanting before Jane changes the chant to ‘virgin’. Willoughby gives in and says they can go to the party — for five minutes. The party appears to be at the high school pool. Cliff is a hit, helping kids do keg stands, and Vic isn’t sure this is legal (who’s the square now?). Jane tells him to loosen up and he does, taking off his shirt and cannonballing into the pool. In jeans. Even Willoughby is starting to have a good time.
After some dancing, Jane sits at the edge of the pool smoking a joint, and Vic joins her. She notices he’s actually … smiling? Guilty! And to prove he is cool, he takes a hit and starts coughing, confirming to Jane that he was indeed a teenage nerd, captain of the sports teams, Mr. Goody Two-Shoes. For her, Miranda was the teen, so Kay shipped her off. This is her first experience with teen-hood and it’s like that janky carnival ride that makes you want to puke but also don’t want to get off of. The experience is reminding Vic of his high school friends in Detroit, but things are different now. But why do they have to be? If Jane could have the smallest chance of that kind of connection with people, she’d do everything she could to get it back. Vic reminds her that he has a few things on his plate, but she tells him the world is always going to need rescuing, and when you’re out there saving the world who in the fuck is saving you? That was deep … and she is pretty lit. But she’s right. Vic excuses himself and she takes another hit, exhaling a large cloud of smoke. Everyone around her fades away and the cloud produces a light show while colorful blocks appear on the surface of the pool. She decides to walk across them, and midway she finds Kay sitting there, arranging other blocks in the air. Jane gets very emotional and apologizes to Kay for using her body as if it were her own but it’s always been Kay’s. Kay smiles, touches Jane’s face and tells her it’s their body. Everyone fades back in and Jane is still at the edge of the pool, realizing she is super high. She looks across the room and sees a much younger Willoughby and he looks and sees a much younger Jane as they hit the next stage of the de-aging to pre-teens.
Laura and Rita are at a bus station, presumably getting tickets to Toledo, but Rita is now much younger as well. Laura joins her on the bench and admits that the spell did work on her, but she didn’t like what she saw as a teenager and used her powers to look like herself, but underneath the facade she isn’t okay at all. Rita calls her out for just being a typical control freak and if she had Laura’s powers she’d be anything she wanted so no one could find her. Laura says it’s not that simple. When people found out about her powers, many of them she thought mattered to her left her. Her teenage years were full of heartbreak which her mother said stained her soul. For her the heartbreak was a void, a chasm that kept her from finding any true connections, maybe that’s why she’s the way she is, maybe she has become the chasm. But weren’t she and Rita friends? Laura was the one person who made Rita feel like everything was going to be okay and she misses that. She misses Laura but Laura hurt her and she’ll never have her best friend back ever again. Laura misses Rita too and has never stopped thinking about how she hurt Rita, what she did to Malcolm and the Sisterhood. She is so very sorry but doesn’t feel she deserves an ounce of forgiveness. Laura begins sobbing and has revealed her true, now younger self. Rita seems moved by Laura’s genuine emotion and moves over on the bench to give her a hug.
Back at the party, Jane and Willoughby now sense the urgency to their mission and try to get Cliff — who looks the same but has obviously mentally de-aged — to come with them. Cliff, however, is enjoying the time with his new friends and tells Jane that if she and the others were truly his friend then maybe once in a while they’d ask him if he’s okay, which he clearly is not. He’s got a fucking over mitt taped to his hand! Having had enough of them, he moves the party to a new location But where is Vic now? He’s somehow made his way back to Detroit, knocking at his friend Derek’s door. But when Derek opens the door he sees the Vic from his childhood.
Willoughby and Jane finally leave the party but he’s having a tantrum about not wanting to die like this. Jane just wants him to shut up so she can turn into a pile of goo in peace. The Knights Templar appear, and one of them tells Willoughby he’s been a naughty little boy but they are there to rescue him. He brings out Bunbury who tells him that if he wants his magic back, he’d better get in line. The generous offer doesn’t come without a bargaining option so do not test the guinea pig’s patience. Willoughby approaches Bunbury, who blows some powder in Willoughby’s face, returning him to normal. Bunbury calls Jane to him to have a chat. Jane, however, panics and runs but before she takes more than a few steps a blue-pink cloud of smoke appears and she runs into it. When it clears she’s a baby on the ground. The Knight puts Bunbury on the ground and he approaches her. Baby Jane starts crying and Willoughby tells Bunbury to just take when he needs and be done with it. Bunbury raises his paw over Jane’s face, his eyes light up and it looks like he may be extracting Jane’s longevity. But we’re left to wonder is it for safe keeping, or are the Knights working with Immortus? And if that’s the case, was Willoughby simply attempting to extract everyone’s longevity?
Only one more episode left until the mid-season finale!
New episodes of Doom Patrol premiere Thursdays on HBO Max.
What did you think of the season premiere? Sound off in the comments below!
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