'Doom Patrol' Season 2: Why Crazy Jane is the most important among all of Kay's 64 personalities
Spoilers for 'Doom Patrol' Season 2 Episode 9 'Wax Patrol'
The last few episodes have given us unprecedented insight into the inner workings of Crazy Jane's (Diane Guerrero) mind — and for a mind as complicated as Jane's, that's invaluable information. In the latest episode of 'Doom Patrol,' we see Crazy Jane's true origins. Not how she got her powers, but how her personality was first formed, how she became the primary in Kay's body and what makes her the most important persona of them all.
While we haven't met all of Jane's personalities, the ones we have seen all seem to have superpowers of some sort, apart from Jane herself — and now, Miranda. The power of the primary appears to be the one who pilots Kay's body for the majority of the time and protects all the others from emotional harm — it's up to the superpowered personas to protect Kay from the more physical harm. Up until now, it appeared that Miranda was even better than Jane at handling all the craziness that life threw their way but we've just learned that this was not always the case.
Miranda was the first primary, born to keep Kay safe from the horrors of the well. She was the strong voice needed to break away from Kay's abusive father. However, when it came to actually living in the outside world, Miranda proved to be less than able. She was shy, afraid and naive — none of the personas had much in the way of real-world experience, but for the primary, this becomes a major liability.
Miranda's need to place her faith in someone outside of herself proved to be her undoing. Her boyfriend's insistence on sexual exploration without first discussing it with her nearly broke Miranda down and traumatized all the other personas looking out through her eyes.
Jane, on the other hand, was able to give Miranda's boyfriend the dressing down he deserved. Jane has a shrewder eye and is less willing to trust those around her. She questions things that the other personas tend to see as binaries — either trusting or fearing; Jane explores middle ground. As we've seen this season, she asks questions and seeks deeper insight, where the other personas are more reactive, constantly flipping between flight and fight. Jane doesn't just stand up to those who have wrong her, she understands just why they did so.
Jane is not a focused personality, like the others in her head, who all have very limited purposes. In lieu of superpowers, Jane is given a fully rounded personality, capable of compassion, rage, regret, and most importantly, the growth that Kay Challis was denied. With the reveal that Miranda is dead, and that someone more sinister has taken her place, it's obvious that Jane is the best person to have control over Kay's body — at least, until the day that Kay herself is ready to face the outside world again.
All episodes of 'Doom Patrol' are now available to stream on DC Universe and HBO Max.
