Doom Patrol is the hidden gem of the DC Universe that reminds people that DC’s Television Shows have always been better than their movies. A superhero team made up of outcasts from the society may resemble X-Men, but Doom Patrol is far more complex and intimate.
Doom Patrol is one of the best things from DC Studios, with its unapologetic focus on the emotional and mental trauma of the superheroes. The absurdist humor, which creates crazy situations, and high-concept superhero storytelling make it a thrilling watch.
1. Quick Review
Doom Patrol has plenty of humor and absurdity, which it establishes early on. With a villain that continually breaks the fourth wall, the show has many witty retorts and situations.
It is also a show about superheroes that are more common than super. Each of their arcs is connected to some past trauma that is fully explored as the season goes on.
Doom Patrol balances the superhero side of the team with the emotional arcs and character development with colorful worlds and original characters. It gives us complex characters that the cast embodies perfectly, and the show is paced well.
2. Is It Worth Watching?
Doom Patrol focuses on how memories and repressed trauma can help shade and shape a character and their personalities. When an accident leaves a group of people with strange powers and no control over them, one man brings them together to train them and form the Doom Squad.
I. Plot
Doom Patrol is the story of a group of people who acquire superhero abilities after an accident. They are shunned from society, and a medical doctor named Chief gives them sanctuary in his mansion. He trains and helps them to develop their powers.
When Mr. Nobody, an omnipresent supervillain, kidnaps the Chief, the group starts on a rescue mission to save their mentor. Along the way, they come to terms with their identities, discover new things about themselves, and form new relationships.
II. The Superheroes
The characters in Doom Patrol don’t feel like the supernatural godly beings we have come to expect. It’s an incredible rag-tag collection of humans that has been shunned by society after acquiring powers.
Diane Guerro plays Kay Challis, a woman with 64 distinct personalities. When a chemical experiment went wrong, her childhood memories and trauma morphed into different personalities, and each of them gives her some power. Her dominant personality is known as Jane.
April Bowlby plays Rita Farr, a Hollywood actress who was exposed to a toxic gas that altered her molecular integrity. She has trouble maintaining a solid form and often becomes gelatinous.
Brandon Fraser and Riley Shanahan together portray a former NASCAR driver named Cliff Steele whose body was completely wrecked in a car crash. His brain has been transplanted into a cyborg body, hence the two actors and voices.
Similarly, Matt Bomer and Matthew Zuk are Larry Trainor, arguably the best character in the series. HE is a former USAF pilot, who has a dark Negative Entity living inside him. Jovian Wade rounds up the team as Vic, the Cyborg whose gather gave him robotic enhancements.
III. Detailed Review
Doom Patrol is a show that represents and tackles a lot of cultural issues and highlights the problems in our society. In doing so, it manages to be entertaining, witty, action-packed and humorous, not forgetting that it’s a superhero show. This balance and this new, dynamic style of storytelling are what make the show so good.
Each character validates their partners’ struggles. The show spends quality time showing us the backstories and traumas that shaped them and influenced their abilities. Cliffe immediately accepts Crazy Jane gives her the strength that she is the only one who can get her life back on track.
Larry was a gay man living in America and hiding his sexuality. His combination with the Negative Spirit embodied the struggle that had to face every day and the things he now had to hide from his family. His disfigurement made hiding a literal barrier, forcing him to run and hide from his lover. Facing his fears and accepting his identity and the Spirit inside him lead Larry toward reconciliation.
The show also highlights how the Patrol’s members were termed freaks and shunned from society. They are expected to conform to normal standards and are viewed as military assests by the government. It is a show about people with mental health issues and disabilities and has an actual group therapy session in one of the episodes.
Doom Patrol is also not afraid to embrace the chaos. It churns out insane new dimensions, characters, and monsters for the team to tackle and fight with. A donkey that farts words, a beard-hair eating fortune teller and an episode inside a snow-globe are just some of the highlights. It makes you love the characters with their flaws and makes you laugh and cry as they go about trying to save the Chief
3. Final Thoughts
Doom Patrol is a select show in which emotions and pathos have a central role. The characters’ journey makes the search-and-rescue mission feel secondary, and the humor flows freely. The actors do a great job of personifying the struggles that their role has been through.
It also has some characters from the DC show Titans and manages to re-create the grim, dark setting Titans was famous for. Doom Patrol is an excellent show by DC and one of the best on-air superhero TV shows.
4. Overall
Story: A
Cinematography/Animation: A-
Acting: A
Music: B+
Direction: A
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