Doom Patrol Season 3 Episode 4 Review: Undead Patrol

Spoilers

There’s a lot to discuss about Doom Patrol Season 3 Episode 4, but I’m at a bit of a loss on how to start.

There’s the zombification of the team. There’s the return of Agent Jones, the world’s worst butthead, now made literal. There’s the mystery woman’s identity and abilities. There’s the eating of NIles’ head.

And, of course, there’s Larry’s baby(?) bump. I mean, seriously. WTH?

Friends Together - Doom Patrol Season 3 Episode 4

Doom Patrol is, and always has been, a world of weird far beyond the mainstream DC series.

So we go in expecting the language, the farting, the vomit, maybe even the sex ghosts.

But every once in a while, we get a scene like the were-butts attack that just defies one’s ability to process.

Good shitting Christ, we’re all the way through the looking-glass now.

Kipling

It’s gross and violent and so very, very disturbing.

In short, pretty much why any of us tune in to watch Doom Patrol.

Kipling and Rita - Doom Patrol Season 3 Episode 4

I’m always happy to see Willoughby Kipling back on the scene. His infatuation with Baphomet aside, I think he’d make a good substitute Chief on a rotating responsibility schedule with, say, Silas, Dorothy, and maybe Danny?

Regarding the zombification, he was so quick to diagnose upon arrival, well, DUH. When a crazed minion of Death projectile vomits on you very much ON PURPOSE and with great enthusiasm, chances are pretty much certain that it’s for a reason you’re not going to like.

I wondered at Larry’s inclusion at first because I thought it was happening to those who’d been hung up in the Tunnel of Souls, forgetting that he’d also been hit by the vomit at the end of Doom Patrol Season 3 Episode 3.

I assume because the Dead Boys are, well, dead, they weren’t affected.

A New Member - Doom Patrol Season 3 Episode 4

The gradual process was sneaky. Since its effects were more evident to viewers than players, it did a lot to ramp up the feeling of unease.

But then, once they were fully zombies and their grunts were all subtitled (and color-coded!), the surreal ridiculousness was perfect.

It was an excellent balancing element to the surreal horror of Jones and his butt brethren.

(Honestly, I’m coming up with phrasing I never thought I’d use. Thank you, Doom Patrol, for pushing me to the limits of my language.)

Pouring a Cuppa - Doom Patrol Season 3 Episode 4

The fandoms (and HBO Max) have already identified Michelle Gomez’s mystery time-traveler as Madame Rouge, a DC supervillain with a split personality, professional links to the Brotherhood of Evil, and romantic ones to Niles.

Portrayed by Gomez in the first live-action representation, we can assume her amnesia results from her personalities switching primary controls.

I’m not a bad person. Am I? I don’t feel like I’m a bad person. Surely that’s not the kind of thing that can be erased with one’s memory. Deeds have a way of leaving indelible marks on the soul.

Rouge

Combined with her shape-shifting abilities, she seems like a hybrid of Rita and Jane’s M.O.s.

Her ottoman transformation was a thing of beauty, by the way.

Not sure how Kipling thought basing a plan on a shapeshifting ability that she hadn’t remembered would work, but they were pivoting pretty fast.

Ready for Action - Doom Patrol Season 3 Episode 4

I love Gomez from her work on Doctor Who, and chances are very good that I will grow to love her as Madame Rouge, but I’m not sure how she fits into Doom Patrol quite yet.

Historically, we’ve had our villains pushing in from the outside, whether that’s outside Time or outside Reality, or outside Consciousness.

Rouge is sitting in the mansion, eating Rita’s cookies, without a clue as to what she’s meant to do next.

Rita: How can you possibly know what to look for when you don’t know what you’re looking for?
Rouge: The mind may forget but the gut may not. It is the elephant of the body.

So will one personality be a team member, and the other be a dangerous new foe?

I suspect that the disjointed glimpses of her we’ve seen so far are moments in our future being carried out by her in the past. Time travel’s tricky that way. And, on a show as wacky as this one, it makes the most sense. It’s like Doom Patrol’s take on the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Rouge and Rita in the Library - Doom Patrol Season 3 Episode 4

I’m as confused as Cliff on how he could eat Niles’s brain as a cure. Weird logic hole. Along with how he was even affected by the vomit. And why he appeared in his purgatory scenario as Robotman and not Cliff.

But since no one wants to talk about it, that effectively kills any satisfactory answer.

Speaking of plot shenanigans, what is UP with Larry? Is it a Negative-Energy baby? Or did Negative-Energy spirit die when they were in space and regenerate by implanting in a host? And why would that cause morning sickness? Oh my god, my brain is going to explode.

I will say this, the one up-side to being a zombie was the only thing I worried about was finding brains. It was sort of, I don’t know, peaceful.

Larry

Oh, for the bliss of being a zombie.

They're at the Door - Doom Patrol

So, Patrollers, what was your biggest jaw-drop moment?

Was it Larry’s bump?

Was it Jane’s effigy of Niles?

Jane: You made me feel like shit for not honoring our stupid pact or whatever, so I tried making something out of my pain like Abuelita told me to, but it didn’t work. And now I feel like an even bigger dick, so I’m gonna get high as fuck and then light it on fire. Wanna watch?
Cliff: Definitely.

Was it Cliff Zooming with a doctor? It was such a great scene.

It was the were-butts, wasn’t it? It just HAS to be the were-butts. I think that scene may become the highwater mark of Doom Patrol WTF-ness.

Rouge and Kipling - Doom Patrol Season 3 Episode 4

I still liked the ottoman moment, but I could probably be convinced to vote were-butt.

I’m looking forward to exploring the Sisterhood of Dada and wonder how it meshes with the Brotherhood of Evil.

Will Kipling be back? Is Niles truly gone now? Who holds the secret of Madame Rouge?

Float your best theories into the comments! Try to keep the F-bombs to a minimum, eh?

Diana Keng is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.

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