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Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
Are we at the end of what was? This week’s eighth episode of Jeremy Carver’s Doom Patrol Season 3 takes a journey into our titular characters’ minds. The episode is titled “Subconscious Patrol”. Story editor Tanya Steele pens the teleplay, while Rebecca Rodriguez serves as the director.
According to Warner Media, here is the synopsis of Doom Patrol Episode 308.
While the fog obscures more than just the air, Vic, Cliff, Jane, and Larry must relive their most shameful moments until a breakthrough occurs, and Rita begins to better understand Madame Rouge.
In this review, I will be discussing this past week’s newest episode. There will be spoilers to follow, as the title of this article suggests. Please read ahead at your own discretion.
Plot Summary
Following right after the events of the previous episode, the Doom Patrol enter their respective subconsciousnesses and switch places with the figurative figures who represent them.
Vic “Cyborg” Stone (Joivan Wade) sees a younger version of himself (Braelyn Rankins) get in trouble at a toy store with an employee named Colton (Matthew Wallace). Vic’s father, Silas Stone (guest star Phil Morris), tells the boy they aren’t allowed to make mistakes. Vic is then replaced with an action figure, General Tony (guest star Richard Gant).
In the Underground, Jane (Diane Guerrero) and the other personas have turned into puppets. Their host, Kay, has become an adult (also Guerrero) and soon disappears. The personas tear a puppet named Harry (Nik Shriner) to shreds.
Cliff Steele (Brendan Fraser and Riley Shanahan) and Larry Trainor (Matt Bomer and Matthew Zuk) switch places with the past human versions of their respective selves.
At the Bureau of Normalcy in 1949, Rita sees Laura De Mille (Michelle Gomez) speak with Monsieur Mallah (voiced by Jonathan Lipow) and the Brain. They discuss exacting revenge on Niles Caulder; they also give De Mille the name “Madame Rouge”. Rita then sneaks into the time machine and makes her way to the present. In doing so, her former memories flood back to her.
Subbing in the Study
In the mansion’s study, Rita Farr (April Bowlby) has arranged the switch as part of the Sisterhood of Dada’s plan for Eternal Flagellation. She sends the team’s subconsciousnesses out into the fog, but they reject the journey and flee back into the study. There, they hide inside a blanket-and-pillow fort and discuss whether they should wait it out.
The subs then debate on whether they should talk about what they’ve endured in the past. They discuss duty, and Larry’s subconsciousness (also Bomer) says that “[l]ife is about duty. It’s about what and who you serve”. Cliff’s sub (also Fraser) tells the others that he is dying and didn’t feel special until he became a racecar driver.
Patrol In the Subconsciousness
Larry’s mother, Debby Trainor (JoAnn Willette), wants him to be a heterosexual father to his offspring. When he tries to object, she will not heed.
In younger Vic’s bedroom, Vic – in General Tony’s action figure case – tells the boy that he is still a child and that being afraid is acceptable and necessary. However, younger Vic does not heed his words.
Cliff parties with Bump Weathers (Alan Heckner) and the rest of his former racecar pit crew. They treat him to a stripper named Jenny (Deborah Michal). She tells him that his daughter is outside in the backseat of his car. He abandons the party, which takes him out of his subconsciousness. He reunites with Larry, Vic, and Jane, and they return to the mansion, where they meet their subconsciousnesses.
The Return
Larry’s sub tries to tell him to make his duty worthwhile. Cliff’s sub berates him for neglecting the responsibilities of fatherhood. Although, Cliff himself denies his faults. General Tony tells Vic to live life for himself and not solely for others. Kay tells Jane that she prefers to be on her own after having been faced with trauma over the years.
The subs return to their rightful places. Jane tears down the fort, while her teammates return to where they were before. In the Underground, the personas have emptied out of Kay (Skye Roberts)’s mind. Cliff’s daughter, Clara (guest star Bethany Anne Lind), sees what his father has become and tells him their relationship isn’t working anymore. Larry treads back into the woods outside the mansion, where he locates his “sentient tumor”. Silas Stone wakes Vic at Orsus Labs, where his operation for synthetic skin has been a success.
Rita and Laura confront each other in the woods, and the episode cuts to black.
Support Patrol
Other actors not mentioned in the plot summary are as follows.
Stephanie Czajkowski and Catherine Carlen guest voice Kay’s Hammerhead and Dr. Harrison personas in puppet form, respectively. Micah Joe Parker appears as Malcolm.
Hannah Alline and Ana Aguilar voice the puppet versions of Kay’s personas, Pretty Polly and Balladeer, respectively. Erik Passoja returns as Shipley, a voice that narrates Rita’s journey via time machine. Corey Jung portrays a sub-newscaster.
Discussion
I found this episode to be rather slow-paced, which is not necessarily a bad thing. This allows time to showcase the characters in their psyches and display what they have been through. The pace does pick up in its last 10 to 15 minutes and by the time you know it, the episode is already beginning to wrap up. What I do find confusing, however, is the substory with Rita and Laura. Who is in whose subconsciousness? What is the reality here? Can this be better clarified? Surely, it could.
I felt like the narrative structure, with the specific way in which it was written, could have been tweaked a bit for the audience to better understand what is happening. The number of characters that the episode features also factors in on the storytelling but only to a degree.
Scott Peck returns as the director of photography. Marc Pattavina also returns as the editor for this episode, while Damian F. Gomez joins as the assistant editor. I liked these aspects of the episode, along with the visual effects. Most of all, I loved the costumes that Cliff, Larry, and especially Jane have. Carrie Grace and Laura Jean Shannon did laudable work on this part.
The fact that the subs create a fort comprised of blankets and pillows in the middle of the study indicates that they’re still childlike and therefore those that embody them are not yet prepared to develop as characters. This is confirmed in the final few minutes of the episode, where they are, indeed, as people say, “back on their bullshit”.
Performances and Character Developments
Fraser delivered a mighty fine performance as both the human and the robot versions of Cliff Steele. I loved him from the moment they first meet and towards the end when you see them together again, along with the scene when Lind’s Clara comes to break ties with her father.
Guerrero was splendid as both the puppet Jane and adult Kay. She exhibited emotions in the latter that we don’t see often as Kay. As Jane, she does just as great.
I personally want to see more of Wade’s and Bomer’s characters embracing themselves for who they are. The depictions of their past selves were written well, and I wanted more of that, even if the episode permitted for a few more minutes of runtime.
Bowlby and Gomez do great together in whatever was going on. I like De Mille’s argument (although I disagree) that “[a]rt is bullshit. Art is a narcotic you suckle while life, ambition, [and] purpose pass you by”. This further proves that she is totally unlike her former Sisterhood of Dada friends. I love Rita’s point that De Mille was playing god by sending metahumans out to war. This presents a disparity between the two, and it’s something I would like to see as the season closes with its final two episodes.
Final Thoughts
“Subconscious Patrol” requires more work because, like the intentional lack of development in its characters, it is a huge mess. There are parts that can be somewhat confusing to follow and would then need another rewatch. Of course, I am still curious as to discover how this season will conclude. Rather than developing the characters, it first shows their past shames, and I felt like this could be explored in more than 55 minutes. Nonetheless, I liked the episode for what it is, but that doesn’t mean the given issues should be ignored.
Doom Patrol Season 3 is available to watch on HBO Max!
Have you seen this series yet? If so, what are your thoughts on it? Let us know! For more adaptation, adaption, comedy, drama, superhero-related news and reviews visit and follow The Cinema Spot on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
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