Doom Patrol season 2 premiere: Where is the team now?

Doom Patrol season 2, episode 3: Pain Patrol

Larry’s been captured! Another one of Niles’ old enemies has strung up Larry and is using him as a ransom to get Niles’ attention. Unable to go alone, Niles pleads with Rita to join him in his rescue.

Dorothy remains in the manor playing with her imaginary friends. She’s enjoying herself till something terrible happens – she accidentally drops Danny the brick, breaking them in half. Can they be fixed?

Vic is also not on a mission. He and Roni decide to advance their relationship, and both must accept the other’s injuries. But, it seems like Roni has a secret she can’t hide. During the war she committed ‘voluntary manslaughter’.

She sends an image to Vic, who looks shaken. Vic has a strong moral core and I wonder if the showrunners plan on bringing Roni back for them to work through her past actions, or this was just another nail in the coffin that Vic is unlikely to find love.

Red Jack

Little Niles Caulder was alive in 1888 to witness Red Jack kill a woman. He was unperturbed by the horror and now Red Jack wants Niles to be his apprentice. We’re unaware of the rest of their history together, but Niles’ ears perk up when Jack mentions that the apprenticeship will result in eternal life.

Jack believes Niles is like him – he enjoys causing people pain, just look at Doom Patrol. But Niles has realized he has a soul and refuses to join the madman. While Jack tortures him, Rita finds Larry. She braves the possibility of radiation poisoning to rescue Larry just as the three members of the team start transforming into butterflies.

Niles sneakily stabs Jack and kills him, thereby saving himself and Larry and Rita. As the latter two leave, they free the thousands of butterflies trapped in Jack’s displays. All of them are Jack’s former victims.

When they return, Larry is despondent about how anyone near him is perennially in danger, but Rita stands by him. Over the course of the episode, we see how the two of them met and came to terms with each other, so there’s no turning back now. I love how Larry rushes to squeeze Rita into a bear hug. A lesser show would have turned their embrace into a kiss, but for now, at least, the showrunners remember that Larry is gay.

All this terror seems to be making Niles regret his actions towards the team. But does he have a plan to turn back the clock or make amends?

The Intervention

Meanwhile, Cliff decides to go and meet his daughter. This time he plans to introduce himself as her father, but that plan goes as well as can be expected. Cliff crashes Clara’s baby shower and terrifies her. She’s believed her original father to be dead for decades and only just bid farewell to her adoptive father. She shuts the door on Cliff and calls the police.

Jane, who joined Cliff’s crusade, has been trying to numb her pain with drugs and this has resulted in her other personalities being doped up in the Underground. Now they’re fighting back. As Jane falls asleep in Cliff’s bus, they stage an intervention and each takes a turn to explain how her actions are harming them.

But Jane’s had enough. Obviously, the fear that Dorothy will be locked away again is playing on Jane’s mind – as someone who suffered the same, Jane doesn’t want Dorothy to face that for another eternity.

There’s also something else. Jane would have bailed on Doom Patrol earlier, but now she feels like they have her back. She calls them her family. This isn’t necessarily an about-turn on Jane’s part, as we’ve seen her warming to the others and supporting them.

But this aspect of her character arc hasn’t been drawn out well enough for us to believe her. Jane is given an ultimatum to leave Caulder and Doom Patrol. She refuses. Instead, she wakes up, points out to Cliff that his tirade is upsetting his daughter and the two of them return home.

If only things were that easy. Jane falls asleep again and when she wakes up, she finds herself locked far away in the Underground.

What did you think about Doom Patrol Season 2? Are you excited about the story? Let us know in the comments.