The Doom Patrol encounter the Brotherhood of Evil in “Evil Patrol”
The Doom Patrol is back together and the action picks up a notch in “Evil Patrol,” the best new episode in several weeks.
Released from the spell of the Great Flatulation, the Doom Patrol now find themselves the targets of the Brotherhood of Evil, led by their recently returned member Laure De Mille, who everyone now calls Madame Rouge. Rita, herself recently reunited with the Doom Patrol, attempts to lead a counter attack, but the other members’ sudden changes leave them with few options.
All this and much more happens in “Evil Patrol.” Or maybe it just feels that way because of how dull recent episodes of have been, but at least things are exciting again. Part of that is the conflict between Rita and Laure. (I’m going to keep calling her Laure, it’s what I’m used to and I’m sure she doesn’t mind). They are really butting heads, and they don’t want to keep the fight between just them. Laura makes her way to the Brotherhood of Evil in their new base of operations (a retirement home in Boca Raton Florida) to convince the Brain that now is the time to crush the Doom Patrol. Meanwhile, Rita returns home to the manor to rally the Doom Patrol in defense.
That’s another thing I liked about this episode, and something I’ve been commenting on a lot lately. With Rita back from her time travels, the Doom Patrol are finally all sitting in the same room again, bodies and subconsciouses intact. I think each of them have a scene devoted to their personal storylines, but for most of the episode they’re working together.
They also face new obstacles. Vic and Larry find themselves incapable of holding their own in a fight, thanks to surgery and an alien space worm newborn respectively. Jane is in the same spot, with all her personas but Kay having abandoned ship. However, these are changes the characters made in search of inner happiness. This puts them at odds with themselves, each other, and especially Rita, who finds herself with a declawed team of heroes. It’ll be interesting to see how they cope. Through wit and ingenuity? A deus ex machina?
They had better think of something quick, because as they are now the Brotherhood of Evil has it all too easy. Laure successfully puts the Doom Patrol back in the Brain’s sights, and is sent by him to steal Nile’s greatest achievements. It all goes down in a pretty funny fashion. Laure disguises herself as the least suspicious being on Earth and makes away with Cliff. Oh, if only they had their superpowers. Anyway, Cliff must be rescued, and the Doom Patrol — more at odds than ever — make the long drive to Boca Raton. That also goes terribly, but I won’t spoil it because it’s another good sequence.
That’s the other thing; the action and montage sequences this episode are pretty nice. Laure disguised in the Doom Patrol manor is haunting; that had me gripped. Same goes for the episode’s end. This is the sort of stuff I think Doom Patrol does best, and I hope they do more of it.
The dramatic scenes still don’t do it for me. Maybe it’s because there are so many of them this season; the dialogue in those serious conversations always sounds the same. Like I said though, there’s less of that this time.
More fights, more absurd imagery, more musical montages. That’s what “Evil Patrol” had, and I’m asking for more.
Grade: B
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