Review: Doom Patrol season 3 ends on a solid if unremarkable note

Doom Patrol closes out its third season with “Amends Patrol,” which brings things to a satisfying conclusion while setting up an intriguing season 4.

Doom Patrol season 3 comes to a close with “Amends Patrol.” Does the season end in a bang or a bust? Are all the loose ends tied up, or are they left to dangle ahead of season 4? Let’s get into it.

I’ll start with the good stuff. I think this is a pretty good episode. All the members of the Doom Patrol are together, and they have more than enough to occupy their time, including giant robots, the return of the Fog, and Larry’s space worm baby. A lot happens, and it puts some pep in the step of every Doom Patroller.

However, while “Amends Patrol” is more interesting than past few episodes, I’m not sure it’s the best finale. I actually had no idea that this episode was the last of the season while watching it. It seemed just like any episode of Doom Patrol, with weird plot twists and all the rest. It wasn’t until maybe the last or next-to-last scene that I realized, “Oh, I guess this is the last episode and now they’re just setting things up for next year.”

Frankly, I felt like this episode lacked the big conflict that a finale requires. I should be able to tell, because of the buildup through a season and the high stakes, that I am watching a finale. This is where all the problems come to a head. And we get some of that. Rita and Laura finally clash, but it’s underwhelming.

That said, it does get the characters to a better place. For instance, Rita has been dealing with the fear of committing to heroism, and was accused by Vic and Larry of being too focused on revenge against Laura. In this episode, even though she’s given the opportunity to exact revenge, Rita makes the selfless choice, thereby completing her arc. She’s a hero after all!

I like that a lot because it bookends the season. I just wish there was a little more…I don’t know, danger. I wanted things to get even messier and complicated. For all the time we spent on the Brotherhood of Evil and the Sisterhood of Dada, I was hoping they would be involved than this.

Leave it to me to complain about what a show doesn’t have. Even though I think Doom Patrol could have gone bigger with the final conflict, it still leaves the characters off in interesting spots and feels like a conclusion to the season while promising changes to come. I talked about Rita already, but another change for her is that she seems in better control of her powers. Larry does as well, with his space worm baby at last ready to shed its hardened skin and grant him some kind of ability, although it’s still volatile. And of course there’s Vic and Cliff and their new drips. There’re a lot of shifts to the dynamic.

So a good episode this, but a bit lacking for a finale. Looking forward into season 4, I am hoping Doom Patrol moves away from the character drama and goes for more action, more absurdity, and more episodic stories. Season 3 had some of that, but not enough. I think those things are what Doom Patrol as a show does best.

Grade: B

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