What I’m Watching: Doom Patrol

Doom Patrol: Season 3, Episode 8 “Subconscious Patrol” (B+)

I don’t always remember that Brendan Fraser and Matt Bomer only provide the voices for Cliff and Larry in their present states as Robotman and Negative Man, and this was a cool opportunity to see the two of them opposite their physical portrayers as their subconscious states got a chance to be heard. It was especially entertaining to see and hear Cliff and Robotman interacting, while Larry and Negative Man were much sweeter in the way that they came to terms with what had happened to them and the choices they had made earlier in Larry’s life. Vic being trapped in a mirror while General Tony was the driven military presence within him was interesting, and the trippiest was Jane being in a Muppets version of the underground that featured far viler language than I think has ever been uttered with puppets, with the possible exception of “Team America: World Police.” This was a brief diversion that helped them to come to grips with themselves as a result of the extensive Dada influence and the Eternal Flagellation, but Rita came to an equally emphatic conclusion about someone else, seeing Laura for who she truly was as she became Madame Rouge. I don’t know what happens from here, but I imagine that her arc may be resolved within the final two episodes of this season, setting the stage for some new mess to be unfurled in the fourth season, which I was relieved to hear got commissioned a few weeks ago.