Pain Patrol
Episode 3 of Doom Patrol Season 2 begins in Whitechapel London 1888, with Niles walking through the streets and seeing a strange apparition called Red Jack stabbing a woman. After laughing maniacally, this man projects forth a horde of butterflies from the victim’s body. Back in the present, Dorothy cooks for Niles but their breakfast is interrupted by Red Jack, the surreal spirit who’s kidnapped Larry. As butterflies surround the house, Niles and Rita head out together to try and save one of their own. At the same time, Cliff and Jane head out for a road trip. En-route to Cliff’s daughter’s house, the Underground yank Jane down into an intervention about her behaviour and endangering Kay. Cliff makes it to his daughter’s house but she rejects him. Even worse, she calls the police to escort him off the property. Meanwhile, Larry wakes up and finds himself caught by Red Jack, strung up to the ceiling.While Rita sneaks off to try and save Larry from his fate, Niles is forced to endure torturous moments as a point of view shot shows him in Robotman’s suit, waking up. As things reach their dramatic crescendo, Larry, Rita and Niles all begin growing wings. However, Red Jack lets his guard down long enough for Niles to overcome his foe and stab him in the throat. After saving Larry, they team up together and begin smashing the glass to free the butterflies caught within. With Larry saved and the butterflies free, the group head back to the Manor. While all this is going on, Dorothy undergoes a game of hide and seek around the house but unfortunately breaks Danny’s brick. In the wake of this, Niles looks over the files of his different failed experiments and starts drawing up plans for Robotman 2.0. As the episode closes out, Jane is taken down to the Underground and locked up. With a change now imminent, who will take her place? With some fantastical ideas throughout and a nice juxtaposition of the butterflies and grotesque lair of Red Jack, Doom Patrol delivers a really good episode here. Alongside these surreal elements is the conscious effort to inject the series with a lot of bubbling character drama that’s been simmering for quite some time now. Each of the characters have a really compelling arc too and it’s great to see the show taking the time to intertwine these various characters together to add more depth to proceedings. Quite what next week’s episode has in store for us though, remains to be seen.
