Doom Patrol review: 5 Best Moments from Cult Patrol

The team meets a drunk magician and a Singing Horse Oracle predicts the end of the world on this week’s Doom Patrol. Is it even worth debating that Doom Patrol is most definitely the weirdest superhero show on television right now?

Any superhero show can’t spend its entire runtime devoted to a single storyline. Sure, the backbone of this show will see the Doom Patrol hunting for The Chief while trying to stop Big Bad Mr. Nobody, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be side adventures. In it’s fourth episode, titled “Cult Patrol,” the quest to find The Chief is largely pushed to the side to focus more on introducing a magical new world-ending threat, as well as push a few of our leads toward the heroic future we all know is coming.

Although maybe a slight step down from previous episodes, Doom Patrol still manages to deliver a fun, gleefully weird episode that sees the team fighting off an evil cult who wants to bring about the end of the world. Although it’s a shame not to continue the story of the fight against Mr. Nobody, there’s enough good stuff in this episode to hold us over until next week! Check out the list below for the five best moments of “Cult Patrol”

5. The worst birthdays ever

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In a brilliant opening scene, we meet Elliot as he goes through multiple birthdays throughout the years. It doesn’t take a party expert to realize something’s not right here. Instead of party decorations and a clown, his birthdays consist of a scary eye plastered everywhere.

As the years go on, more and more strange writing starts appearing on his body and he thinks he’s destined to save the world. By the time his 18th birthday comes around, his father tells him that it’s his destiny to destroy the world, not save it. Before he can be told more, his mother slits his dad’s throat with no hesitation, forcing Elliot to run. He didn’t even get to try any of his cake…

4. Meet John Constantine… I mean Willoughby Kipling

The best part about Doom Patrol is its ability to bring in really odd comic book characters without them feeling out of place. Last week was Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man, and this week we got Willoughby Kipling, a sorcerer that looks like John Constantine’s less successful drunk cousin.

He’s played with snarky perfection by Mark Sheppard (aka Crowley from Supernatural) and comes with his own set of quirks like Knowing Gum and the tendency to chant classic songs backward to cast spells. I don’t know how long he’s going to stick around for, but his presence is definitely a highlight.

3. “Nurnhaim sucks”

When Robotman and Crazy Jane are sent to seal up a gate to Nurnhaim, a ghost city, to stop the end of the world, things don’t go as planned. Instead of closing it, the pair get sucked in and are trapped by the slightly clownish members of the cult. Of course, this leads to the best part of any episode: meaning Brendan Fraser cursing at his predicament.

This nightmare world does lead to some great character-building moments though, as the twisted leaders (the mom and dad from the birthday party…even though the Dad looks like he’s still a corpse) change reality to make Robotman and Jane see themselves as they see each other. Jane sees Robotman as a bloody monster, while Robotman sees Jane as his surrogate daughter. It’s a tough moment to watch, even amongst all the craziness.

2. Science vs. Magic Debate aka Sonic Cannon vs. Flaming Sword

What happens when you put Cyborg, the character most firmly rooted in science and technology and partner him up with a drunk magician? A fierce debate about science vs. magic. It’s always great to see characters with two different perspectives discuss their best approaches toward life and the great debate of Science vs. Magic is very prominent throughout the episode.

Of course, when you’re facing a horde of paper people, sometimes you’re forced to let bygones be bygones. The best sequence in the episode saw the forces of science and magic combine as we saw Cyborg fight with his sonic cannon and Willoughby uses a flaming magic sword. Did I mention how awesome this show is?

1. “Maybe I should’ve done a Hard Day’s Night”

With all that happened in this episode, perhaps it was a good thing to end on a cliffhanger. It allows for more of the story to be told and highlights how patient Doom Patrol is with its storytelling. Having the cliffhanger be the Decreator being summoned with the purpose to destroy the world just makes us all the more excited to see what happens next. But whatever the next episode brings, we’re pretty sure Brendan Fraser is going to swear at it.

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.