The Best And Worst Episodes Of Doom Patrol

Jeremy Carver's "Doom Patrol," adapted from the DC Comics of the same name, gives audiences a rare treat: A snarky, character-driven series with a meta tone about a group of super-powered misfits — banded together by Dr. Niles "Chief" Caulder — who all continue to struggle with their own personal traumas while attempting to avert bizarre apocalypses, battle omniscient villains, and try yet often fail to find a little bit of happiness in their strange corner of the world. 

The show's made a name for itself with its quirky plotlines and sharp attention to character, earning a lot of praise from critics and fans alike, but that doesn't mean everyone agrees on which episodes are the best and which are the worst. While the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer has inched up with each new season, indicating an improvement in quality, the IMDb ratings tell a different story, indicating a gradual decline. 

According to those ratings, the show is at its most successful when presenting us with tightly-focused character studies that use all that wonderful weirdness and humor to balance and anchor the complex explorations of Dissociative Identity Disorder, addiction, internalized homophobia, body horror, and more. Only when the show starts to focus more on plot in lieu of character and offer up random weirdness for the sake of random weirdness do the ratings dip — but even then, not by much. As many fans will argue via Reddit, and as you'll see from this IMDb-based article, even the worst-rated episodes are viewed pretty favorably.

Season 3's penultimate episode enjoys a respectable rating of 8 on IMDb, but for a show that boasts such consistent praise for its weird and compelling storylines, even that 8 places it right in the show's bottom tier. While Tell-Tale TV's Sarah Fields acknowledges the work that "Evil Patrol" does to set up the finale, she also points out this story arc's biggest issue: it's largely a disjointed affair stitched together by some impactful moments — most notably Vic's striking confrontation with his father, Silas Stone, regarding his desire for synthetic skin and his resentment toward being turned into a weapon. Silas' motives — fueled by his paternal desire to protect his son from the callous racism of the world — hurts because we understand his drive just as much as we understand Vic's struggles with survivor's guilt and sympathize with all of the body horror he's endured. 

When Laura De Mille/Madame Rouge tracks down the Brotherhood of Evil at a Floridian retirement facility and voices her desire for continued membership, the Brain tasks her with completing a mission to earn her place in their villainous ranks. Meanwhile, Rita tries to convince the others to go after the Brotherhood, but with Vic powerless post-surgery, Jane/Kay's personas lost in the ether of her subconscious, Larry occupied with the parasite he's just birthed, and Cliff consumed with repairing his broken relationship with daughter Clara, the Doom Patrol is in no state to take on evil of any kind.

Technically bottom of the barrel according to IMDb (even with a solid rating of 8), "Sex Patrol" embraces the party vibe with sex, booze, drugs, and dancing. The gang throws a lively soirée for Danny the Street in an attempt to revive the sentient thoroughfare who's currently a broken and inconspicuous brick. By everyone's estimations, Danny needs joy, love, and laughter if they're ever going to get better. During the evening's festivities, Rita asks Flex Mentallo for help in learning how to control her powers, which are affected by her shaky self-esteem and self-image. One orgasm later, Rita's still not much closer to gaining control over the shapes she takes, and their private session causes a sex demon to manifest. The sexually-charged activity even brings a paranormal unit from the Pentagon straight to Doom Manor. 

Thankfully, Hammerhead succeeds in sending the sex demon, Shadowy Mr. Evans, back to his dimension before he can use all the hypersexual energy in the air to birth a baby who will silence all the children of the world with its fatal cries. The episode offers some chaotically fun times as Cliff delights in his new mental state via the "love" drug, courtesy of the Chief, and the Doom Patrol relishes their night of revelry with the Dannyzens while simultaneously halting an apocalypse. At the same time, its hyper-fixation on the strange happenings and weird plot points might be why it pales in comparison to other more character-driven "Doom Patrol" narratives.

In "Wax Patrol," we're introduced to the Primary who came before Crazy Jane: Miranda. 

Through a 1969 flashback, we see Miranda fall in love and move in with musician Johnny. But her happiness shatters during their housewarming party when she learns of his intention to have a lot of intimate relations with a lot of their guests in a very open way. The heartbroken Miranda falls even deeper when she loses her Primary status. Shattered and alone, she throws herself into the Well that dwells in the depths of the Underground, prompting Jane to take over as the dominant persona. 

In present times, Dorothy Spinner's imaginary spider friend Herschel recruits our heroes to help take down the Candlemaker, but they soon find themselves battling their own imaginary friends — and losing. It's also in this action-packed episode that Jane discovers Miranda's corpse in the Well, revealing "Miranda" as an imposter. 

Rated 7.9 on IMDb, this episode wavers largely because it feels like a penultimate episode rather than the season finale that it is. There's a lot going on, and there's little — if any — time for character growth. It's all about the fight against the Candlemaker and the revelation that "Miranda" is not who she says she is. Despite the steep stakes, Redditors took to the forums to express their disappointment over the season's lackluster conclusion.

"Bird Patrol" chronicles Laura's betrayal of the Sisterhood in 1949, an act that leads to Malcolm's death, the metahuman misfits of the past being classified as weapons for war, and the birth of Rita's feud with Madame Rouge (Michelle Gomez). 

In the present day, Larry's painful alien tumor transforms into a larva that he pukes up and tries to leave in the woods, Cliff struggles with his gambling addiction (which he funds by selling other people's things), Jane tries to get access to Kay (but the alters are starting to fret over what Kay's healing means for them), and Vic prepares for his synthetic skin surgery. Rita, among the ranks of the Sisterhood of Dada, uses the Fog to summon the team and Laura for the Eternal Flagellation. The team's then presented with a gilded bird cage harboring a wacky bird-like thing with the nose and mouth of Rita's lost love, Malcolm. Rita begs Laura to set the nightmare fodder free, but Laura refuses. The Malcolm-bird bursts into tiny little versions of himself, and the individual creatures teleport each team member away. Well, except for Laura, who takes advantage of the confusion and manages to escape her confrontation with Rita by turning herself into a bird. 

Rated 7.6 on IMDb, "Bird Patrol" falters because it tries to roll too much character growth and too many plot developments into one 45-60 minute time slot.

In "1917 Patrol," Rita travels through time, finding herself in 1917 with no memory of who she is or why she's there. All she knows is that the name Niles Caulder feels important. Her amnesia makes her easy pickings for the Bureau of Normalcy, who promptly take her into custody. Her powers aren't up to snuff for a metahuman Weapon of War, though, so they put her to work in the mailroom. 

As she settles in, she befriends a few other metahuman workers and joins the Sisterhood of Dada. At Doom Manor, in the present, Laura researches the Sisterhood as Cliff's desperate search for a distraction from his failing health develops into a gambling addiction. He starts selling everyone's stuff to fund his habit, at a certain point even agreeing to pawn the blueprints to his own metal body. Meanwhile, Jane gives Kay a taste of the surface, and Larry endures the agony his alien tumor causes him while attempting to take care of his ailing son, Paul. But the old wounds between them continue to fester. 

This episode hovers around a 7.5 on IMDb, and while it offers some compelling insight into Rita's relationship with Laura, the plot and the focus on Dadaism swallow those right up. As a result, the episode doesn't quite hit its mark in the same way that top tier "Doom Patrol" entries do. Even with the decent IMDb rating, it earns its place as one of the show's worst.

Even with its 7.5 rating, "Dada Patrol," the midpoint of Season 3, lands dead last on IMDb's list of "Doom Patrol" episodes. This marks the group's first encounter with the Sisterhood of Dada, the metahuman team once contained by the Ant Farm that Laura tries to rally our heroes into killing. The amnesiac woman still can't remember much about her life or herself before her time machine crash-landed (a pesky side effect of time travel), but she believes she's destined to destroy these Bureau of Normalcy fugitives. Only after our band of misfits realize this is the best opportunity to get Laura out of their lives do they agree to infiltrate the Dada ranks. 

In terms of plot and character, there's a lot going on here. Rita's embracing an exciting new role as a potential time traveler, Cliff's overloading his brain with questionable Parkinson's meds he ordered from a pop-up ad, Vic's already frail relationship with his father is fracturing further, Larry finds his own estranged son wandering the forest, clearly unwell, Jane clashes with alter Dr. Harrison because Kay wants to go to the surface for new shoes, and Larry's tumor is moving — and glowing. The storyline favors a growing list of unanswered mysteries and weirdness for the sake of weirdness over the rich character development "Doom Patrol" is known for, but even given this episode's status as the worst of the worst, many still find it solidly enjoyable viewing.