Doom Patrol: Subconscious Patrol
…with some major developments for a few characters, events that should affect the team from this point going forward, and some really good writing and character exploration.
…with some major developments for a few characters, events that should affect the team from this point going forward, and some really good writing and character exploration.
Caulder seems to actually be gone, although I wouldn’t bet against his return from the dead. Now, with their new mystery guest, the team has a new threat to handle in their own, bizarre way, in “Dada Patrol.”
Dying and coming back is a trope in superhero stories. The list of heroes who haven’t died and returned is probably a lot shorter than the ones that have.
Now, they deal with versions of the afterlife, strange magic, really weirdly expressed grief, and get some guest stars from one of the greatest comic book series of all time. “Dead Patrol” is a really busy episode.
The Patrol veered into the land of the surreal when Grant Morrison got his hands on them, and they’ve pretty much stayed there ever since. Things get even odder than usual for them in “Vacay Patrol.”
The holidays are coming as the Young Justice crew deals with assorted problems in various locations. We see domestic developments in Star City, problems with the new meta-kids in Taos, and an unexpected attack with some great misdirection.
Like many shows in 2020, the Doom Patrol had to change things around a lot due to the COVID pandemic. What was supposed to be ten episodes became nine, and there was a lot of scrambling to wrap up the season.
After the mid-season break, Young Justice goes on with their story. They have a lot of moving parts, and the settings range from a few familiar places on Earth to distant planets and space stations. The conspiracy against Earth’s metahumans, aided by villains and alien gods, gets deeper and more complicated, and they even work in a really obscure DC Character, as we see the spread of the bad guys’ “Influence.”
A lot of the time, the titles of Doom Patrol are a stretch, or just don’t make a lot of sense. That’s not the case with this one. “Dad Patrol” does have a recurring theme of fatherhood, although, since it’s this crew of odd characters, none of them exactly distinguish themselves.
As the end of season two approaches, the Doom Patrol is, somehow, managing to get even weirder. This episode sees the return of an old enemy, a new status quo for one of the characters, and a lot of strange events.