Rent Doom Patrol: Series 3 (2021)

Doom Patrol: Series 3 review by Mark McPherson - Cinema Paradiso

After the unexpected cliffhanger of Doom Patrol Season 2, cut off from its production due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I was incredibly excited about this daring DC Comics show to return. The third season continues with much of the same absurdities, wicked storytelling, and an open nature for being willing to run with progressive themes leagues beyond what other comic book shows are doing. That being said, a few arcs don’t pay off that much, making for a season that is still good but certainly the weakest one thus far.

There are a few stories followed, and the majority of them are good. Picking up from the Cliffhanger, Dorothy better comes to terms with the apocalyptic figure known as the Candlemaker. We also get the last gasps of Doom Patrol’s founder Niles Caulder, but not before some wild antics involving decapitated heads, zombies, and ghosts having sex. There’s a decent gag episode about how the Brotherhood of Evil member Garguax the Decimator remained too patient and missed his chance to be a more vital villain years ago. There’s some fun had with zombies, detective agencies, and a subconscious episode involving puppets. All of this comes on top of the continuing issues of the characters as Cliff learns he has less time to live, Larry bids farewell to the negative spirit for a new entity in his body, and Jane unearths the darker side of her buried psyche. Vic ditches his tech parts and Rita reconciles with her much darker past.

However, the longest thread of this season involves the Sisterhood of Dada. As a tie-in to an underground group known as Ant Farm, the Sisterhood was developed as a mutant weapons program that forced superpowered beings into working for the government. Rita becomes drawn into this part of her past due to a time travel ship and meeting the mysterious woman later known as Laura. There are some intriguing aspects of this plot. It mainly spins its wheels trying to find retro origins for Rita’s influence over what led to Doom Patrol. It also dabbles too much in the weirdness of dadaism that it’s enough to make even the most hardened fans make the wrap-it-up motion with their hands. Despite some neat aspects of building up this world, I’d much rather see more fun stuff with the safe space of Danny or the blunt honesty of emotions and coping in Jane’s underground.

Outside of the Sisterhood plot, season 3 is still pretty fun. I enjoyed it when the Sisterhood became more involved with the Doom Patrol, bringing their oddness into the more significant internal struggles. There are playful moments of Jane occupying a world of puppets and touching moments as Vic gives his final goodbyes to his late mother. There are also mixtures of the bizarre and the emotional, as when Niles’s last wish is that the zombie Doom Patrol eat his brains to be cured. Also, there are zombie butt monsters, which sounds about right for this show.

Even during its weaker moments, Doom Patrol still impresses for how much it covers and how beautifully it develops its ever-evolving characters. The casting is still brilliant, the special effects are decent enough to make this wild premise believable, and the writing is just as crisp and cunning with its direct dialogue. There isn’t any other show on any streaming service quite as daring as Doom Patrol. Whereas other shows will tiptoe around hinting at sex and queer characters, this show has ghosts having loud sex and queer spaces with out-and-proud characters.