Sorry in advance for this praise fart that's totally gonna stink like hyperbole: this is--E A S I L Y--the best live-action superhero media existing in our universe. Strike a match or spray some Febreze because I'm gonna keep talking out of my ass about this magical bizarrity. Legion walked [off of a cliff] so Watchmen could run [into a wall] and WandaVision levitated off the ground but Doom Patrol soars above it all. It kicks ass, plays grab-ass, and even eats ass.
A friend and I had a dual-epiphany that Superhero Movies are action movies with superheroes in them - they're not Comic Book Movies, which are more idiosyncratic and ambitious, especially for TV. Doom Patrol is a Comic Book Show and a fucking great one at that. It's so confident and aware of its strengths that its own weirdness is the gas in its tank; if you don't vibe with it it'll keep on truckin' because its audience will follow the freak flag - like a big gay Food Truck with a rockin' menu. It has an enviable, stupid, impressive, unpredictable, terrifying, irreverent, sexy, funny, raunchy, intelligent, horny, wise, immature, and unfettered imagination - all cultivated by immaculate tonal shifts, thematically dense plotting, mounting and confounding mysteries, and character-driven momentum. There is absolutely nothing else like it.
The characters rarely do anything heroic; nearly every episode is an aggressive character study A-story with a stumbling-onto-a-half-assed-solution B-story about some new problem facing them, the universe, or existence itself. Some episodes are literal group therapy sessions; these freaks have a lot of shit to work through and lip service isn't gonna cut it. DP takes the extra time and care for its characters that every listless, plot-dominated weekend box-office smash doesn't. Hey, look, it's Robotman! He's a brain inside a hunk of metal and has the strength of an unassailable machine! ...now, let's talk about his Daddy issues and crippling gambling addiction amplified by his loss of sensation. Hey, it's Negative Man/American Icon/Pilot Larry Trainor! He has a spirit living inside of him that can do miraculous things! ...but what about his closeted gay lifestyle and gaslighting his Wife?? Let's unpack that shit before Larry's stable enough to save people - and so on.
They never become a real superhero team until the finale of s3 when they're better mentally but in different places, Superly. And it's the VERY last scene of s3, it cuts right as they take off to be Heroic™ - 33 episodes from the Pilot. So if you're tired of superhero content then I highly recommend thissuperhero show.
The characters rarely do anything heroic; nearly every episode is an aggressive character study A-story with a stumbling-onto-a-half-assed-solution B-story about some new problem facing them, the universe, or existence itself. Some episodes are literal group therapy sessions; these freaks have a lot of shit to work through and lip service isn't gonna cut it. DP takes the extra time and care for its characters that every listless, plot-dominated weekend box-office smash doesn't. Hey, look, it's Robotman! He's a brain inside a hunk of metal and has the strength of an unassailable machine! ...now, let's talk about his Daddy issues and crippling gambling addiction amplified by his loss of sensation. Hey, it's Negative Man/American Icon/Pilot Larry Trainor! He has a spirit living inside of him that can do miraculous things! ...but what about his closeted gay lifestyle and gaslighting his Wife?? Let's unpack that shit before Larry's stable enough to save people - and so on.
They never become a real superhero team until the finale of s3 when they're better mentally but in different places, Superly. And it's the VERY last scene of s3, it cuts right as they take off to be Heroic™ - 33 episodes from the Pilot. So if you're tired of superhero content then I highly recommend this
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