Doom Patrol: Dead Patrol

September 25, 2021 10:17 PM - Season 3, Episode 3

Dorothy and Larry come home to a problem they can't solve alone. But not to worry! The Doom Patrol makes new friends, who are obviously not in any way there to lay the groundwork for a spinoff series, clearly.
posted by kittens for breakfast (11 comments total)

Random Notes:

*Last episode saw the introduction of Garguax, a relatively minor villain from the original Doom Patrol comics series of the 1960s. I don't remember shit about Garguax, but I'm pretty sure he was nothing like the character seen here. His stirring intro music is "Siegfried's Funeral March" by Richard Wagner (known best to admirers of great films everywhere as the music at the end of John Boorman's Excalibur), which is I guess what one might call Foreshadowing.

*The Dead Boy Detectives debuted in an issue of The Sandman by Neil Gaiman and Matt Wagner (#25, circa April 1991), and they've gone on to star in a few series that I haven't read and know nothing about, so maybe Crystal and her backstory are original to this show? I'm sure we'll all get the chance to find out more about these guys, as this was perhaps the most blatant backdoor pilot since, um, the Doom Patrol appeared on an episode of Titans "cough.*

*I have no real idea how the fuck our heroes came back from the dead, and I'm not sure if this is one of those things where it all makes more sense later, or one of those things where it never makes that much sense but it's okay because the point is Cliff vowing to fuck his dad in the forehead by being the best grandpa of all time, Jane meeting her grandmother, Vic meeting his mom, etc.

*I really enjoyed this episode, but I'm eager to see what's going on with Michelle Gomez already.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 10:34 PM on September 25, 2021

I'm all in on these goofs by now (and I've never read the comics, though i can definitely see what the umbrella academy tried so hard to be), that everything Larry was doing made perfect sense. What a shock, considering he's also reeling from losing the Negative Spirit.

Also, looking at the aesthetics of DBD, and also Books of Magic, there's an unfinished thought I'm having about the same well of aesthetics that Potterverse later dipped into. (Though I'm probably being too kind to describe it as such?)
posted by cendawanita at 3:27 AM on September 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

Certainly no one who'd read Books of Magic in the early '90s could have overlooked similarities between it and Harry Potter when the latter debuted, but it's easy to see how the concepts could have come into being independently. I'm not sure "nerdy British kid who gets into magic" is the most original idea. At this point, though, I think it would be impossible to adapt either property without thinking about Harry Potter at least a little.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 6:32 AM on September 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

it's easy to see how the concepts could have come into being independently

oh yes, certainly, that's part of where my thoughts were getting at. i was raised on british boarding school stories, so I'm familiar enough with those tropes, but i was less familiar with the magical user ones. (less of a diana wynne jones reader than i was with enid blyton and the like). it's only with these stories that i was getting slowly clued into them. lol, and watching the DBD in this episode certainly reminded me!
posted by cendawanita at 9:42 AM on September 26, 2021

Has there been any official talk of a Dead Boy Detective Agency show? I’ve seen talk elsewhere of this seeming like a back-door pilot, and wonder if there’s some rumor behind it, or if people think so because the three characters are so fully rendered in this episode. But that’s something I love about this show—just think about how well we got to know Beard Hunter. in conclusion, I would definitely watch the DBD show.

Just as the final episode of season 2 gave us more insight into the characters by having them confront their imaginary friends, it was great seeing Cliff, Jane, and Cyborg meet and reconcile with their departed relatives. Finding out that Jane was named after Kay’s abuelita made me cry.

Bye Dorothy! I liked you (and think your actor does an amazing job), but I think this is a good place to end your storyline.
posted by ejs at 10:56 AM on September 26, 2021

HBO Max has ordered a Dead Boy Detective agency pilot. It could be fun, but looks like it might be recast, which makes it more of a risk. I hope they keep the character of Crystal.
posted by See you tomorrow, saguaro at 9:40 PM on September 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

Huh! I’ve heard of the Dead Boy Detectives and read Season of Mists but I never knew it was the same kids.

Larry’s whole meltdown is right on the edge of being played for comedy, but Dorothy trying to calmly make pancakes for the last person she knows who isn’t dead in a kitchen that is slightly too large for her kind of breaks my heart.

It was nice to get a chance to see Vic with his mom, they so clearly adore each other. Jane being named for Kay’s grandmother is a really lovely touch. I was whatever on Cliff’s dad but I can say with confidence I’ve never seen a winged horse field-dressed on TV before.

Three episodes a week feels like a lot to keep up with, but on the other hand, I don't know if I'd have more tolerance for this Michelle Gomez mystery if I had to wait three weeks for it.
posted by jameaterblues at 6:30 PM on September 29, 2021

It seems like they're going to a normal weekly release schedule for the rest of the season. I'm a little disappointed, but mostly relieved.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 6:44 PM on September 29, 2021 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I suspected Dorothy didn't have a lot of time left on the show when I noticed her facial prosthetic didn't have quite as much range of expression as it did last year, so I suspect they had to take a new mold and went a bit cheaper. (She had weird lines along her chin when she fully closed her mouth this season that I never saw last season, and if last season her chin and cheeks were different parts, it seems like they'd have a proper place to crease. But if it's just a single piece? hmm.)

I'll miss her, actually, I thought she added a bit of an attempt at normalcy compared to the rest of the team who could sometimes get a little too deep into their own navel gazing for their own good.
posted by Kyol at 12:54 PM on September 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

For some reason, I bounced off the first episode but hard.

Gave this another shot, and I'm glad I did. Great episode.

Rita's dig about Niles' "flophouse" stung, though.

I enjoy how Cliff's nascent self examination just went straight out the window.

Rita literally makes a sack look good.
posted by porpoise at 9:55 PM on December 2, 2021

I didn't make the connection until the boys referenced Death as "she", which led to "oh, I guess we're running on that universe, huh?" followed by "oh shit are those the kids from Season of Mists?!?!" Nice to see they're doing okay.
posted by Pope Guilty at 6:49 AM on January 4, 2023