Doom Patrol recap: 5 best moments From Season 1, Episode 3

The gang takes a road trip and a Nazi Scientist puts on a special puppet show on this week’s Doom Patrol. With three episodes under its belt, it’s safe to say Doom Patrol is definitely worth the price of DC Universe, if you weren’t already convinced that is…

The most impressive aspect about Doom Patrol is how confident it is in its storytelling. A lot of television, superhero shows in particular, tend to need some time to figure out the best dynamics and how each character fits in the show. Most require some adjustments, but Doom Patrol is so self-assured with its characters and tone that it doesn’t seem to be suffering from the normal ‘growing pains’ a lot of shows undergo.

The third episode of Doom Patrol, titled “Puppet Patrol” (we’re really sticking with this strange title technique, aren’t we?), saw the gang attempt to travel to Paraguay to fight a Nazi while also exploring Larry’s messed up backstory. With all the craziness in the latest episode, I’ve gone ahead and compiled a list of the five best moments, below:

5. The gang takes a road trip

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Taking control of the not-yet-named Doom Patrol, Cyborg insists they use his private jet and travel to Paraguay to search for answers regarding the Chief and Mr. Nobody. Unfortunately, things don’t go as planned as he’s cut off from all of his corporate and superhero funds and therefore can’t use his private plane.

Instead, they decide to take a massive, two-week road trip that finds them bickering all the time, getting turned around, and having to deal with Larry’s ‘Other Guy’ breaking the bus. It’s these character dynamics that help endear us to these characters and will make the show remembered as time goes on.

4. Larry Trainor faces himself

This week, the flashbacks gave us a peek at Larry Trainor’s backstory and although we didn’t learn anything substantial that we didn’t already know, it was still a great dive into one of the more complex characters in the show. It gave him some much-needed depth after two episodes focusing on more important things. It looks like Larry’s battle with the being inside him is his season-long arc and I can’t wait to see what understanding the two come to.

3. A puppet show explains everything

Doom Patrol has proven so far it likes to do one really weird sequence per episode that Brendan Fraser can yell obscenities at. This week, that delightful puppet sequence really stole the show and got the best reaction out of heroes. In a clear homage to Jurassic Park, Robotman, Crazy Jane and Negative Man had to sit and listen to the Nazi scientist who gave Mr. Nobody his powers put on an extravagant puppet show that explained his history and what he was doing at the facility. It was the perfect amount of weird and funny.

2. Doom Patrol’s first real fight scene

Can you believe it’s already Episode 3 and we still haven’t seen our heroes fight anything? The use of powers in town in the first episode was more like a reaction, and trying to subdue Jane in the second episode was more comedic than an actual fight.

Things really changed this episode where we not only saw the return of Jane’s best power so far, the Silver Mouth power and so her use it against a bunch of evil, brainwashed German henchmen, but also saw Robotman unleash his rage by ripping off a dude’s lower half and beating someone else with it. It’s the most shocking act of violence we’ve seen so far in the show and I doubt it will be the last

1. They forgot about Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man

Steve, the enthusiastic man who just wanted superpowers of his own, emerges from the chamber at the end a completely changed man. Instead of simple magnet feet like he wanted, Steve finds himself with a weird hodgepodge of new body features including an additional dinosaur head, a crystalline left leg, and tree-like right arm and leg, and a broccoli-like left hand. It’s the weirdest ending and I hope the show does more with Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man (his actual name in the comics) than just a one-off gag.

What were your favorite moments from this week’s episode? Be sure to let us know down in the comments and we’ll be back next week for another review.

New episodes of Doom Patrol air Fridays on DC Universe.