Doom Patrol: Season Three, Ep. 6 ”1917 Patrol” Review

This new episode waits for no one and starts right where we left off the last episode, with Rita stealing Laura’s time machine and going back in time. But while the main focus seems to be with her, this episode manages very well to balance the storylines of everyone in the cast, feeling like a real milestone for everyone. But let’s start with her for simplicity’s sake, shall we?

We see the journey in time and witness the same thing that happened to De Mille, happen to her, as she loses all memory of who she was before that. She gets captured by the Bureau of Normalcy, where she meets with the real Laura De Mille. This confirms that Rita is, in fact, not Laura, as a lot of people theorized. But let’s get back to business, as then she meets with the Sisterhood of Dada: a group of outcasts forced to work for the Bureau, only saved by Laura, a meta-human pretending to be just another fascist scientist.

I’m a big fan of how they’re approaching the Sisterhood. There were tons of ways they could do it, but it seems they’re going for a comic-accurate route where they’re not even villains. In Morrison’s run, the Doom Patrol agree with them and has to question (Just Cliff, actually) why they want and need to see them as villains. The scene where they dance together in the Fog’s mind and when they decide to go against the Bureau’s rule that set them apart like pariahs are some incredible scenes that perfectly encapsulate everything this show is, in my opinion.

While Rita (Or Bendy, as they call her) becomes a member of the Sisterhood and helps develop what they would later be, we’re taken to the future to explore the rest of the cast. At this point, seeing Cliff is more painful than anything else. We see him be irrationally aggressive towards Vic and Laura and get addicted to a browser game, talking with a cam girl and betting. We see him behave in a way close to his personality and do things that would normally make us laugh, and maybe they do this time too, but then you realize that his behavior is just a product of Alzheimer’s taking over him rapidly over time. I have no idea where this will end. We know that he will meet with The Brain, so maybe something will happen there that will cure him, but I have no idea.

On another note, Jane dares to help Kay take control of her body despite the rest of the Underground’s opposition. It’s a heartwarming sequence where we see her experience the real world after 70 years of guarding herself against it, and surprisingly, everything goes great. While seems like there’s gonna be some consequences for Jane, for now, it’s just a gigantic and happy milestone for Kay. Very appreciated between all the depression.

But she’s not the only one who takes a step towards getting better, as both Larry and Vic progress so much in this episode. After talking with his son, Larry is finally able to forgive himself for not being there for his children after his accident, no longer asking for forgiveness on his son’s part, but letting him feel whatever he feels, even if that’s not what he would want.

Lastly, there’s Vic. What Lloyd said in the previous episode makes him realize that despite all he has done as Cyborg, he still doesn’t know who he is. Vic decides to go to a clinic that specializes in synthetic skin, and it’s honestly impressive how amazing Joivan is here. He already proved he’s an amazing actor, but the way he successfully conveys the hopefulness intertwined with a bit of fear Vic is feeling in that moment is subtle but impactful. I’m extremely curious to see what’s next in Vic’s life.

This may feel repetitive, but this is, once again, an amazing episode and one of the bests of the show. With every week that passes and the more we see, I’m more convinced this is the best season of Doom Patrol so far.