Great Scott, Rita’s climbed on into Laure De Mille’s time machine! With a few clicks, she transports herself to 1917 Iowa, then is quickly seized by agents of the Bureau of Normalcy. Captive in the Bureau’s base, Rita meets a past Laure as well as members of the Sisterhood of Dada, still in their origin story phase. Back in the future, the rest of the Doom Patrol deals with some heavy stuff. There are storylines aplenty in “1917 Patrol”.
Time travel plots. Yikes, amiright folks? That’s my usual reaction to them, but Doom Patrol adds a little spin with Rita getting amnesia from using the time machine. Her blank state of mind carries over to the audience, I think; it’s like we meet Laure and the Sisterhood of Dada in their past forms for the first time.
The amnesia also pushes Rita’s arc in an interesting direction. She’s been having an identity crisis this season, so a chance to start anew with a new team and no memories means she can recreate herself from scratch.
The clever setup aside, the main storyline this week is a pretty good bit of fun. Rita finding her way to another oddball group of superheroes is heartwarming. I like them all, mostly as a collective. When they’re dancing and passing joints, they’re great. However, I don’t think the show focused enough on them individually. We know as a group they’re in a bad spot, but what is going on with them separately? The only person explored at satisfying length is Agent !. He and Rita are able to share some sweet moments together, laying a strong foundation for a coming love story. Their scenes felt well paced, and his bird cage chest is great.
The other half of the episode takes place in the present time with the rest of the Doom Patrol. None of them interact; they’re basically all playing out individual stories based on what happened to them last episode in the fog. Some of them get taken care of in two scenes, but all of them feel rushed. Which is too bad, because the concepts — Larry with his 70-year-old son, Jane letting Kay take control — could take up their own episodes. Rita’s storyline is the main act this week, and I think the episode would have been better off excising everything else and just bearing down on it. It would leave more time to expand on Laure and the others.
The other characters’ stories just feel like they’re laying track for the future. Larry’s dialogue with his son is lame and emotionally dry. Cliff’s thing is just sort of … eh. Vic hardly talks to anyone this episode; his conflict is all internal and ends up feeling empty. Jane is given the most time, but still not much. If Rita’s story in 1917 couldn’t fill the whole runtime, then Jane’s should have been the one side story, and the other characters could have sat out the episode. In “1917 Patrol”, they are given too little time, and half the episode feels unsatisfying.
But half of the episode is solid. And the ending promises some action to come.
Grade: C+
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