'Doom Patrol' Season 2: Cliff Steele is at his lowest point since waking up from his accident
Spoilers for 'Doom Patrol' Season 2 Episodes 1-3
No one on the Doom Patrol has it quite as bad as Robotman aka Cliff Steele (Riley Shanahan/Brendan Fraser) and it's time for him to deal with things on his own. Where all of them have had their lives manipulated by Niles Caulder (Timothy Dalton), Cliff is the only one whose family was deemed expendable by Niles. What makes it worse, Cliff had come to see Niles as a savior figure, the one who brought him back to life after a terrible accident. Cliff is still reeling from that revelation and it's made worse by one simple fact — Cliff has nowhere else to go.
Cliff's few forays into the normal world have not worked out well. While nothing is quite as disastrous as the show's pilot episode in Cloverton, he has nonetheless found no place for him in regular society. His only home is Doom Manor, a place that he now is forced to share with the man responsible for his misfortunes. Cliff has a lot of justified rage and very little outlet for it. He tries to rally his team against Niles, but for their own reasons, his team has not thrown their support behind him. Some leave Doom Manor and others are finding a way to help Niles instead.
Desperate, Cliff is turning to his one surviving family member, his own daughter. His rage and desperation have taken the place of his courage, as he goes up to her door, turning out horribly once again. While Cliff may have learned to accept himself, his daughter has had no time to do the same and having a robot appear at your doorstop with proof that he's your long lost father is just a little too much for anyone to take.
What's more, Cliff has just lost the one ally he thought he had. Crazy Jane (Diane Guerrero), who has been imprisoned by her other personalities in the Underground. Cliff has been leaning on the people around him for a while, but one by one, Cliff is learning that for now he needs to find a way to stand up on his own. For a season that's themed around growing up, this might be Cliff's greatest challenge. But one that's needed to happen and one that he will hopefully come out the better for.
The next episode of Doom Patrol airs on July 2 on DC Universe.