Doom Patrol gets bit in the ass, bites right back in “Undead Patrol”

Brought back from the land of the dead, the Doom Patrol resolves to start getting help “with their shit,” but alas, there is little time for it when a mysterious time hopper arrives at the house demanding to see Niles. Bit late on that one, lady; Niles is dead, and it doesn’t look like the Doom Patrol is faring much better, as their adventures through the underworld quickly come back to bite them. We get all that and much more in the latest episode of Doom Patrol, “Undead Patrol.”

Where to start? Well, let’s begin with the easy stuff: I liked the episode. It starts off strong by updating us on what’s happened to Niles’ head since it was decapitated by Wailloughby at the end of the season premiere. We see him stitch a voice box into his mouth, perform a ritual, and boom, Niles is back!

Well, sort of. He’s just a talking head, but that’s good enough for Wailloughby’s purposes. It’s an effective scene. It re-introduces Wailloughby and Niles and builds up our expectations only to defy them to humorous effect, which I’m quickly learning is a tactic that Doom Patrol likes to a lot. And why not? I think they pull it off pretty well.

The latest episode of Doom Patrol changes the formula

“Undead Patrol” is structured a bit differently from the last couple of episodes. The core concept of this episode is that the Doom Patrol are turned into zombies. However, unlike “Vacay Patrol” or “Dead Patrol,” which got into their core premises pretty early, here the twist with the zombies doesn’t fully come to a head until halfway through.

Now, from one perspective this isn’t a bad thing, because instead of jumping straight into the zombification, the show is spending some time furthering the longer arcs in play this season. We see Chiff checking in on his health, Jane coping with Niles’ death, Larry dealing with the loss of the spirit inside him, and Rita trying to piece together the identity of the mystery shapeshifter (revealed to be Laura De Mille, nicknamed Shannon) even as she struggles with her own.

I understand the show needing to advance the wider themes of the season, but I think in this case it steps on the themes of the individual episode, especially in Vic’s scene with his father. The scene follows from the the last episode, where Vic learns from his mother that his father didn’t turn Vic into Cyborg out of necessity. The thing is, right at the beginning of this scene, right before his dad enters, Vic spots a rapidly growing bruise on his arm. This is part of the zombification we see affecting every character over the first half of the episode, and in my mind, a festering wound sort of takes precedence over drama with dad.

On top of that, Vic’s dad is only here because Vic called him to help repair Laura’s time machine, which is a little contrived, especially since after this scene he doesn’t show up for the rest of the episode. If he had stayed and played a bigger role in the plot, the scene would fit in more, but as it is, it felt like a moment that the writers shoehorned in without thinking of how to build on it or integrate it into the story of the week.

Verdict

Ignoring this though, this is still a fun episode. Some funny stuff comes out of the zombie idea. I giggled at the idea of a gargled moan being translated into a complex sentence, and the actors sell the comedy with their grunts and facial movements. Then there’s the absurdly hilarious villain of the episode, who transforms into a “Were-butt,” and the show ties it all up with a bow as Jane is able to speak to Niles one last time, getting closure and a free lunch too. A strong showing.

Grade: B

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