In Review: Doom Patrol (S2 – E8) – Dad Patrol

Synopsis: While Jane sets out to prove her worth in The Underground, Cliff goes into “dad” mode and Niles devotes a day to Dorothy, who’s finally growing up.

The Story

Cliff gets to spend time with his daughter as the two finally get to know each other. Elsewhere, Niles takes Dorothy on a day trip, but while taking a toilet break the young Dorothy has her first period and gets help from a kindly woman who tells her not to tell her father. Willoughby Kipling warns Niles about Dorothy and says she is a danger if she is allowed to grow into a woman due to Candlemaker being able to get free once Dorothy crosses into womanhood.

Elsewhere, Crazy Jane goes on a trip into her past in an effort to prove her worth to The Underground, which is a construct within her mind that houses all of her other personalities. Negative Man tags along with Jane to help her.

Meanwhile, Cyborg and Rita go off on an adventure of their own when Vic learns that his girlfriend has murdered a renowned scientist in order to obtain something from him to ease her pain.

The episode closes out on a cliffhanger as Candlemaker begins to stir.

The Acting

Timothy Dalton and Abigail Shapiro put in an awesome performance this week as Niles and Dorothy who have a fantastic day trip as they go to the fair and partake in the rides and attractions. Shapiro is absolutely brilliant. Especially when it comes to the scenes where Candlemaker is tormenting her. The scene where Dorothy has her first period is handled really well.

Also, great this week was April Bowlby and Joivan Wade as Rita and Vic. There’s a brilliant scene where Rita tells Vic about her heroic deeds as the Bee Keeper, and this is followed up by a brief dream sequence in which they spoof the Classic Avengers series (Not the superheroes), but the cult sixties show with Steed and Emma Peele. Only this version features Cyborg and Bee Keeper as played by Victor Stone and Rita Farr.

Overall

With four individual story arcs running concurrently. This has to be one of the biggest episodes of the season to date. The main storyline features Niles and Dorothy, which I think will be the lynchpin that will bring the team together so that they can deal with Candlemaker and save Dorothy and maybe even Niles who is suffering from ill-health due to the deal her brokered with Willoughby.

We get a nice sequence of CGI this week as we see Candlemaker chasing a very scared Dorothy through the woods. It’s a spooky scene and is perhaps a warning shot for what is to come.

Overall. A solid episode with a lot happening.