Doom Patrol Season 2 finale recap: An abrupt and underwhelming end

What happens in the Doom Patrol Season 2 finale? 

The Doom Patrol Season 2 finale is an abrupt end to a lackluster and confusing season of the show. Dorothy’s imaginary friend, the Candlemaker, had caused havoc on a fairground, and now the rest of the team come together to save the girl. Do they succeed?

Content warning: Assault and suicide

Well, not really. Or at least, not yet. This finale looks like a makeshift one, seemingly since the season couldn’t be completed because of the global lockdowns.

For the team to save Dorothy, Cliff has to miss his daughter’s wedding. He leaves a message for her before Flit takes them to the fair. There, they find Kipling battling a puppet – the Candlemaker has unleashed projections of their imaginary friends to manipulate the team.

Doom Patrol Season 2 finale: The Imaginary Friends

Aside from Miranda, the other members of the team actively search for Dorothy at the fair. Larry has never had an imaginary friend, so he isn’t waylaid by any. Instead, he discovers Kipling encased in wax, before falling prey to the wax himself.

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Rita’s imaginary friend is Roxy, an assemblage of image cutouts that informed Rita’s final look as a screen star. The creature coaxes Rita into a dance-off while chastising her for forgetting about the creature. Rita explains that Roxy’s eyes are the same as her mother’s and Rita was unable to face her friend or her mother after finding out what her mother was doing to get Rita her role.

Elsewhere, Vic is confronted by Dr. Cowboy – a smarmy version of his father. The projection leans into Vic’s own feelings about forgiving Roni and reuniting with her. He doesn’t give Vic the practical advice he needs.

Cliff encounters his one-time imaginary friend from Bible camp – Jesus Christ. No, really. Cliff had a terrible father who left, and six-year-old Cliff turned to the person he was taught to trust. The moment his father returned; Cliff forgot about his imaginary friend.

The projections are there to subdue the characters. When they’re docile, the Candlemaker turns them to wax. Cliff, for some reason, gets blown to pieces and then turned to wax.

Niles is the only member of the team still conscious and he calls to Dorothy, who is hiding in the hopes that she can control her power and extinguish the Candlemaker. When she hears her father’s voice, she runs to him, but she’s stopped by her mother Slava.

I can’t make out if Slava is also a projection, or she’s immortal like Dorothy. She instructs Dorothy to take on the Candlemaker. As the little girl conjures a weapon of her own, she runs into a pyre ready to battle, leaving her father in tears.

Doom Patrol Season 2 finale: Miranda’s Story

Miranda’s been particularly unpredictable since her arrival. While Jane drowns in the well in the Underground, we visit the lead up to Miranda’s ‘death’ in the Doom Patrol Season 2 finale.

She met a singer in 1969 while working as a waitress and he swept her off her feet. Miranda convinced the Underground that being with this man was good for them all. He seemed nice and understanding of her inconsistent moods and the fact that she talked to herself.

All that changed when Miranda and her boyfriend threw a house-warming party. This dude took free love to a whole new level and convinced Miranda to join in. So, basically, a character who suffered childhood abuse endured the same as an adult.

This betrayal by the man she loved caused Miranda to throw herself in the well. Out popped Jane, the strong primary who ordered the women stuck in this ‘free love’ hell to think for themselves and not fall prey to manipulative men. Maybe some of them were happy to be there? And with that, Jane walked out a new woman.

In the present, Jane finds Miranda’s dead body in the well. Meaning Miranda’s body is being controlled by the Underground version of Kay’s abusive father. Now, he’s out and he’s got Kay in his clutches.

Doom Patrol Season 2 finale: Final Thoughts

While I really want people to recognize Timothy Dalton’s outstanding performance throughout this season, I don’t think the show’s sophomore season has built on the foundation of its premiere season. The writing has been contrived, directionless, and worst of all, unimaginative.

It’s almost as if the showrunners’ only takeaway has been that shock value sells. It doesn’t. The best part of the first season of Doom Patrol was the incredible character development. There’s been no growth in that department this season, and whatever we’ve been given, has been awful.

I am so angry with the writing in the finale. In Season 1, the showrunners deftly handled Jane’s past trauma; they tried not to be triggering and were as subtle as possible. In the Doom Patrol Season 2 finale, we witness an assault, suicide, and the age-old trope of women characters being strong only after being subjected to gendered violence. We are all so over this trope and I’m appalled that Doom Patrol used it. If this is the quality the showrunners are aiming for, we don’t need another season.

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