Doom Patrol: The Fourth And Final Season (TV series blu-ray review).
It was only a couple of weeks ago that I discovered Doom Patrol: The Fourth And Final Season was now out on Blu-ray, although officially only available in the USA. Don’t let that stop you if you live elsewhere, as the discs are region-free. Someone, somewhere, will need to sort out the legality of worldwide distribution when everything is available if you know how to look for it.
The Doom Patrol is recovering after the last season. Cliff Steele/Robotman (body by Riley Shanahan, voice by Brendan Fraser) is nearly rebuilt. Victor Stone/Cyborg (actor Jovian Wade) and his dad, Silas Stone (actor Phil Morris), have improved Robotman’s finger a little with nanobytes so Steele can touch and feel until they spread to the other fingers. Rather than calibrate it, Steele wants the first thing he touches to be his daughter Marie and grandson Rory, so he covers it with an oven glove.
They have the means to get there—the giant head time machine saved from the last battle. Although Rita Farr/Elastic-Woman (actress April Bowlby) is in charge, she tends to go along with what the team wants, so they all go with Steele. As the giant head is a time machine of sorts, they all wear jellyfish on their heads to keep their memories intact. Reformed villainess Madame Rouge (actress Michelle Gomez) has resisted that until now, but she comes along, although Rita wants her gone when they return. They arrive in Cloverton, but in the future, and find the place mostly deserted except for an older Cyborg, who insists they should check their old rooms to see what happened.
Oddly, we don’t see them traveling through time between episodes, especially as they are back home in the second episode. Presumably, the production didn’t have enough jellyfish. They realize they missed one of the zombie-bums, and Rita faces a leadership revolt knowing that they have to change things now beyond clothes to prevent the future they saw. Since Madame Rouge wasn’t in that future, they think she would make a better leader, and she reluctantly accepts. However, without telling the rest, it’s only she and Cliff Steele who go after this zombie-bum. Meanwhile, Vic Stone discovers another venue, the Ant Farm, where there are zombie-bums, which we’ve already seen is a science facility. Although they love dancing, they are still dangerous.
There’s a somewhat abrupt jump from that to them resting back at the mansion, except Victor goes to see some of his university buddies and learns some home truths about his time as a superhero.
The fourth episode, “Casey Patrol,” ignores the team and focuses on Dorothy Spinner (actress Abi Monterey), living on Danny the Street where parties are regular, except they are suddenly possessed, with Danny helpless. She brings comic book character Space Case (actress Madeline Zima) to life when they face Torrminox (actor Tyler Mane). I’ve only skimmed the plot, but it is brilliant. It also looks like the introduction for the next episode—well, not quite.
Willoughby (actor Mark Sheppard) comes back in time to warn them that Immortus is after a crystal the Chief had broken up, giving long life to them, and the villain wants it back. They’re also pretty laid-back until Immortus turns them into children and takes a female possession.
It’s almost becoming mandatory to have a singing episode, although the ninth episode is more an Immortus manifestation. Interestingly, we get to see the real voice actor Brendan Fraser as Cliff Steele and actor Matt Bomer as Larry Trainer, albeit briefly without bandages and radioactivity. Can songs have too many swear words?
As this is the last season, there were only two ways they could end, and without going too spoiler-heavy, it really is the end of the Doom Patrol and shouldn’t be watched if you get easily upset, but it is done sensitively. Nothing is said about what happened to Dorothy Spinner?
Looking objectively at all the characters, the skill in making Larry Trainor as Negative Man and Cliff Steele as Robotman match their comic book counterparts with no visible mouth movement while making them outstanding is truly top class. It gives me high hopes that one day the Metal Men and even the Inferior Five might get a TV treatment. With lesser-known groups, there is more leeway to find new fans.
I’m still disappointed that, considering how many characters and plots come from Grant Morrison’s tenure on Doom Patrol in the early 1980s, he doesn’t get a creator’s credit.
There are three extras. The nearly 3-minute “Unsaid Heroes” is actually “Uncovering Negative Man and Robotman” and meets the two mime actors, Matthew Suk and Riley Shanahan, behind the costumes. The same time is given to “Transformation,” which covers how the members are aged in the last season. “On-Off Broadway” is nearly 4 minutes about the musical episode.
As you can probably tell by now, I’ve loved this series. The downside of being superheroes has always been a chief selling point ever since Watchmen. The Doom Patrol was never strictly a superhero team—more a bunch of misfits needing something to do with their time, especially since their late leader did so much to put them in this situation. It’s certainly ground-breaking. Other earthquake-making devices are available.
GF Willmetts
July 2024
(pub: Warner Bros/DC Comics, 2023. 3 blu-ray discs 12 * 50 minute episodes with extras. Price: varies. ASIN: 3000097245)
cast: Diane Guerrero, April Bowlby, Matt Bomer, Rily Shanahan, Brandan Fraser, Matthew Zuk. Jovian Wade, Michelle Gomez, Phil Morris and many more
