'Doom Patrol' Season 2 Episode 4 Review: A party at Doom Manor is the show at its wildest point ever
Spoilers for 'Doom Patrol' Season 2 Episode 4 'Sex Patrol'
In the space of an episode, Doom Patrol has resolved a lot of things in a very short time, leaving us all scratching our heads as to what could possibly come next. It pushes our suspension of good taste by cramming more tawdry jokes in an episode than... well, you can insert your own sex joke here. Underlining the humor with a bright red glitter pen is the extent to which they take all new heights of ridiculous seriously, playing things completely straight — or at least, as straight as things can get when the Dannyzens come to visit.
The joy of this episode alone might have been the reasoning behind releasing three episodes at once last week — had it come just a week earlier, it would have been the perfect episode to cap off Pride Month with — a celebration of pride, joy, respect and togetherness, along with at a condemnation of hate... and sex demons. Sex demons are bad. Thank the Dungeon Master the Sex Men are here.
In an attempt to resurrect Danny the Brick, the Dannyzens visit Doom Manor and throw a party, in the hopes that the celebratory psychic energy is enough to grow Danny back up from a broken brick to a street. It's the first time that Dorothy Spinner (Abigail Shapiro) gets to attend one of these parties, having spent nearly a century trapped beneath Danny the Street. In the meanwhile, Rita Farr (April Bowlby) attempts to gain control over her body in an all new way, using Flex Mentallo's (Devan Chandler Long) powers to help her orgasm long enough to empty her mind — an act that unfortunately attracts the attention of a sex demon that would end the world, were it not for the timely intervention of the Sex Men.
It's hard to imagine the show having any more fun than it does with this episode, but the series has proven that it's able to outdo itself again and again. The Dannyzens, led by the ever-fabulous Maura Lee Karupt (Alan Mingo Jr), manage to bring the pride and joy of Danny Street to a place that's as gloomy as Doom Manor. The Doom Patrol are nearly always subjects of the pain and trauma regarding how much they've become outcasts to society. This episode uplifts the outsiders in a way that is as inspirational as the episode is absurd.
The Sex Men deserve a special mention, mixing superhero stakes with a steady stream of innuendo that never stops being hilarious, somehow never once making a joke about "protection." Despite how brief a part of the episode they actually are, they're a shining highlight who quickly establish the stakes, help save the world and then clean up and go home, displaying the concise storytelling of the show.
The episode is a masterclass of concise storytelling, in fact. It gives a reason for Crazy Jane (Diane Guerrero) to stay at Doom Manor, it examines Larry Trainor's (Matthew Zuk/Matt Bomer) feelings of loneliness and Dorothy's fears of growing up. It draws emotional pathos from a sentient brick that can only communicate in words on banners or on a handkerchief, and it all culminates in an uplifting message of pride, and togetherness.
'Doom Patrol' has always been a show for the outcasts and the strange, and it has celebrated both. This episode makes that celebration literal and does so magnificently. It is 'Doom Patrol' at its best and most joyful. When the world is saved by a superpowered woman punching an apocalyptic baby into back into a sex demon's birth canal, it is astounding what the series has been allowed to get away with, and you come away from it spent, just like with every great party.
The next episode of 'Doom Patrol' airs on July 9 on DC Universe and HBO Max.