Doom Patrol: Undead Patrol
October 1, 2021 7:46 PM - Season 3, Episode 4 - Subscribe
Our heroes become brain-hungry zombies, in what is very probably the most normal event to happen in this week's episode.
Pretty sleepy over here, but in brief:
*Michelle Gomez is pretty committed to this Peter Capaldi impression, and it's working for her.
*The Cyborg of the comics does eventually have his robotic parts replaced with less-obvious prosthetics and synthetic skin, at least once, in Tales of the New Teen Titans #57 (September 1985). Spoiler alert: it doesn't take.
*I feel like a little like the show is treading water here, as much fun as the zombie antics were. We've seen Vic and Silas fight about this stuff so many times we can basically recite the dialogue right along with them; Niles has been dying and coming back and dying again for like four hours now, and I fully expect to see him next week. Can we get to The Brain and Monsieur Mallah?
*If Larry is pregnant, this is literally the second time I have encountered mpreg in a TV show today. Today.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 8:06 PM on October 1, 2021 [3 favorites]
*Michelle Gomez is pretty committed to this Peter Capaldi impression, and it's working for her.
*The Cyborg of the comics does eventually have his robotic parts replaced with less-obvious prosthetics and synthetic skin, at least once, in Tales of the New Teen Titans #57 (September 1985). Spoiler alert: it doesn't take.
*I feel like a little like the show is treading water here, as much fun as the zombie antics were. We've seen Vic and Silas fight about this stuff so many times we can basically recite the dialogue right along with them; Niles has been dying and coming back and dying again for like four hours now, and I fully expect to see him next week. Can we get to The Brain and Monsieur Mallah?
*If Larry is pregnant, this is literally the second time I have encountered mpreg in a TV show today. Today.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 8:06 PM on October 1, 2021 [3 favorites]
The other being AHS?
posted by miss-lapin at 9:09 PM on October 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by miss-lapin at 9:09 PM on October 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
Loved this episode! So happy that after three episodes of morose coping with Niles’s death, it finds catharsis in such a bizarre and hilarious yet still touching way, with Niles imploring “Eat me! Eat me!”
So was the zombism caused by Night Nurse’s rain of vomit in the previous episode? Someone had best check in on the Dead Boy Detective Agency if so!
posted by ejs at 9:27 AM on October 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
So was the zombism caused by Night Nurse’s rain of vomit in the previous episode? Someone had best check in on the Dead Boy Detective Agency if so!
posted by ejs at 9:27 AM on October 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
Thank you! A while back in some other discussion here on MetaFilter, I mentioned that there was a Teen Titans issue where Vic had his obvious cybernetic parts replaced by a synthetic skin substitute. Somebody else who was reading the discussion chimed in to ask what issue. Do you think I could dig up the issue number? Of course not! I had to leave the MeFite hanging. And the issue you posted, kittens for breakfast was exactly the issue I was trying to recall. Now, I feel like I should dig through my past posts and see if I can dig up that discussion (because I really don't remember what it was about--although I suspect it could have been a Justice League movie discussion) and ping the poster with an answer.
Legends has already done mpreg with Mick Rory, so I'm not too interested in watching it again (and so soon).
Speaking of of DC properties, Solomon Grundy has not only been showing up on Stargirl (he had a major role this week), but he got name dropped here.
I'd be surprised if there were enough brains in one head for that many grabby, hungry zombies, especially if the goal was to get enough brains into the zombie victims to cure them. Also, how was Cliff able to absorb the brain matter and get benefit of the cure if he doesn't have a body?
I found it really odd that Rita didn't even turn around to look at the movie the time traveller was watching. Miss Hollywood herself surely would have had an interest in whatever film was in that canister, and that would be doubly true if Rita thinks they know each other.
posted by sardonyx at 6:02 PM on October 2, 2021
Legends has already done mpreg with Mick Rory, so I'm not too interested in watching it again (and so soon).
Speaking of of DC properties, Solomon Grundy has not only been showing up on Stargirl (he had a major role this week), but he got name dropped here.
I'd be surprised if there were enough brains in one head for that many grabby, hungry zombies, especially if the goal was to get enough brains into the zombie victims to cure them. Also, how was Cliff able to absorb the brain matter and get benefit of the cure if he doesn't have a body?
I found it really odd that Rita didn't even turn around to look at the movie the time traveller was watching. Miss Hollywood herself surely would have had an interest in whatever film was in that canister, and that would be doubly true if Rita thinks they know each other.
posted by sardonyx at 6:02 PM on October 2, 2021
I found it really odd that Rita didn't even turn around to look at the movie the time traveller was watching. Miss Hollywood herself surely would have had an interest in whatever film was in that canister, and that would be doubly true if Rita thinks they know each other.
Right? I was kind of confused by the whole movie (I mean, confused for reasons other than it was the Sisterhood of Dada), not least by why Laura saw herself in it and decided it must mean she could literally transform herself into a bird. Body elephant handwave handwave. (I was legit surprised by Rita, or whoever that was.)
I guess I assumed the butts were all kept in a dark room together at the Ant Farm because they roosted like bats but werebutts, no, that’s good too.
This show's perfectly capable of hitting sincere emotional beats when it wants to--like, you have a sense of what's going on in Victor's head when he hold the mirror up to his face, you know how he got there, and it does a lot for such a quick moment. I didn't need Niles' death to feel really sad, but it feels a little like this show would be allergic to playing it totally straight and when nothing happening makes a ton of sense and there's not a ton of plot to move forward, it kind of loses me. (Cliff complaining he couldn't taste the brains and Larry shoving them ineffectually into his bandages was pretty funny.)
posted by jameaterblues at 7:50 PM on October 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
Right? I was kind of confused by the whole movie (I mean, confused for reasons other than it was the Sisterhood of Dada), not least by why Laura saw herself in it and decided it must mean she could literally transform herself into a bird. Body elephant handwave handwave. (I was legit surprised by Rita, or whoever that was.)
I guess I assumed the butts were all kept in a dark room together at the Ant Farm because they roosted like bats but werebutts, no, that’s good too.
This show's perfectly capable of hitting sincere emotional beats when it wants to--like, you have a sense of what's going on in Victor's head when he hold the mirror up to his face, you know how he got there, and it does a lot for such a quick moment. I didn't need Niles' death to feel really sad, but it feels a little like this show would be allergic to playing it totally straight and when nothing happening makes a ton of sense and there's not a ton of plot to move forward, it kind of loses me. (Cliff complaining he couldn't taste the brains and Larry shoving them ineffectually into his bandages was pretty funny.)
posted by jameaterblues at 7:50 PM on October 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
So was the zombism caused by Night Nurse’s rain of vomit in the previous episode? Someone had best check in on the Dead Boy Detective Agency if so!
I don't think ghosts can get more dead.
posted by Pendragon at 1:21 AM on October 3, 2021 [1 favorite]
Oh right, I forgot that Crystal wasn’t on that boat with them.
posted by ejs at 11:33 AM on October 3, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by ejs at 11:33 AM on October 3, 2021 [1 favorite]
It turns out it was actually a thread about Cyborg not the Justice League movie. My part of the conversation starts here.
posted by sardonyx at 12:48 PM on October 3, 2021
posted by sardonyx at 12:48 PM on October 3, 2021
This was a little too gross for me! And didn't have a lot going on beyond the grossness.
The main "twist" of the episode was supremely spoiled by the title and synopsis, which is annoying because the zombie stuff really only kicked in about halfway.
I didn't remember who the guy from the Bureau was, though I certainly remembered the butts. Didn't need to see a big montage of our zombified heroes literally eating ass for who knows how long.
I feel like we've seen the chief die like three times by now, and I didn't really need to see his yucky head so much, or the gang all chewing on it.
posted by tjgrathwell at 7:21 PM on October 3, 2021 [1 favorite]
The main "twist" of the episode was supremely spoiled by the title and synopsis, which is annoying because the zombie stuff really only kicked in about halfway.
I didn't remember who the guy from the Bureau was, though I certainly remembered the butts. Didn't need to see a big montage of our zombified heroes literally eating ass for who knows how long.
I feel like we've seen the chief die like three times by now, and I didn't really need to see his yucky head so much, or the gang all chewing on it.
posted by tjgrathwell at 7:21 PM on October 3, 2021 [1 favorite]
Yeah, my apologies if the synopsis spoiled anything. When I saw the episode title, I was like, "Huh, interesting, is it vampires this week, or -- oh," because when I clicked on the episode, HBO gave me a big screenshot of the cast, zombified. So I figured it was safe to presume we all came into the episode on the same page.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 8:43 PM on October 3, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by kittens for breakfast at 8:43 PM on October 3, 2021 [1 favorite]
You didn't do anything the fine people at HBO Max hadn't done already!
posted by tjgrathwell at 10:36 PM on October 3, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by tjgrathwell at 10:36 PM on October 3, 2021 [2 favorites]
> I feel like we've seen the chief die like three times by now
I honestly expected Jane's wooden sculpture to be briefly animated by Caulder, who would then scream in the flames.
🎵 The butts are back in tooown 🎶
🎵 (The butts are back in town) 🎶
posted by Pronoiac at 10:29 PM on October 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
I honestly expected Jane's wooden sculpture to be briefly animated by Caulder, who would then scream in the flames.
🎵 The butts are back in tooown 🎶
🎵 (The butts are back in town) 🎶
posted by Pronoiac at 10:29 PM on October 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
I just find this show so delightful and funny. You guys seem to take it way too seriously. It's not dramatic realism, it's a comic book. It's sometimes funny and sometimes melodramatic. And sometimes characters from other stories show up. I like that kind of thing!
posted by bleep at 1:21 PM on October 10, 2021
posted by bleep at 1:21 PM on October 10, 2021
I really like Michelle Gomez' energy. She was great in 'The Flight Attendant,' too.
Loving the natural antagonism between her and Rita. I hope they become fast.
Hey, someone else actually saw 'Bubba Ho-Tep' too!
posted by porpoise at 7:32 PM on December 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
Loving the natural antagonism between her and Rita. I hope they become fast.
Hey, someone else actually saw 'Bubba Ho-Tep' too!
posted by porpoise at 7:32 PM on December 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
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posted by miss-lapin at 7:56 PM on October 1, 2021 [2 favorites]