The Doom Patrol is definitely one of DC's lesser known super teams. The most they've been seen outside comics are guest appearances in animated series like Teen Titans and Batman: The Brave and the Bold. After their debut appearance in an episode of "Titans", I was really looking forward to their forth-coming spin-off series. While I thought "Titans" was just okay, "Doom Patrol" shows the true potential of the DC Universe streaming service, giving characters who have had little to no spotlight shined on them.
In comparison to "Titans", "Doom Patrol" is so much better in terms of structure, from story pacing and character story arcs. I was immediately sucked in with the first episode just from the opening credits alone. The main characters and tone are firmly established in that you connect with them and know what to expect for the rest of the season, and what you can expect is weirdness. Lots of weirdness from start to finish. So much so that you'll be quoting Cliff's unofficial catchphrase "What the fuck?" throughout the series. Story wise, we're given a lot more time to breathe with some smaller subplots throughout that allow us to get to know the characters better. And while the season does wrap up quite quickly and has set-up for a season two, you can still watch season one by itself with no worry of being left on a cliff-hanger.
While it shares the same mature nature of "Titans", "Doom Patrol" is able to make use of it in a way that isn't distracting. The constant f-bombs in "Titans" came off as juvenile and trying to be edgy for the sake of it; it's equivalent to Fant4stic in attempting to make lighthearted characters more gritty. "Doom Patrol" is like the Deadpool movies in a way, as its mature nature is prominent, but the weirdness of everything else happening helps balance things out.
But what really makes this series so great are the characters. Because initially, these characters are not heroes. A good way of looking at it is that Doom Manor is kind of a halfway house for super people. Even before their accidents, these were not good people. A major part of the series are these initially selfish characters trying to find closure for their past mistakes and traumas in an attempt to become better people.
I don't think there's one bad actor on this show. Even characters like Cliff/Robotman and Larry/Negative Man, whose faces are covered up in some way, shine thanks to their voices and the subtle facial ticks coming through; and going off that, I applaud the character designs and costumes on the show with a good mix of practical and special effects.
My favorite character of the series is probably Cliff Steele, the Robotman, played by Brendan Fraser. This is probably Fraser's biggest role in quite some time and it's nice to see he hasn't lost his touch. Cliff's origin story is the most heartbreaking of all the characters in my opinion, and Fraser's performance, even through his voice alone, tugs at the heartstrings. I think I also like him because he's pretty much the most open out of all the characters. He's quick to point out how weird something is (usually cursing while doing it) and tries to get the others to talk about their own problems as well.
My second favorite is Crazy Jane, played by Diane Guerrero. Jane has multiple personalities, each with a different super power. Guerrero shows she has great range as she pulls off many different character types, from the hot-tempered Hammerhead, the child-like Baby Doll, and the hopeless romantic Karen, just to name a few.
Jane and Cliff share my favorite relationship of the series where we see a budding surrogate father-daughter dynamic develop, as the characters attempt to fill voids left from their old lives.
Joivan Wilde is our second live-action Cyborg in the last few years, and no disrespect to Ray Fisher, but Wilde is the better between the two. Cyborg's strained relationship with his father and his balance struggle of man and machine are much more prominent in this series, and honestly, Wilde offers more emotion in his performance. There's just more character to connect to here compared to the movies.
The show probably has the some of the strangest villains you will ever see, from Ezekiel the Cockroach, Admiral Whiskers, the Beardhunter and the Decreator. But none of them are quite as entertaining as our big bad of the season, Mr. Nobody, played by Alan Tudyk. Tudyk has done voice work for a number of projects for both DC (like Green Arrow in both "Young Justice" and "Injustice") and Disney (like Alistair Crei in "Big Hero 6" and King Candy in "Wreck-It Ralph"), and you would recognize him in real life from roles such as Steve the Pirate in the movie "Dodgeball." Tudyk has this eccentric personality that shines through in all his performances, and Mr. Nobody is no different. Nobody is able to warp reality, which allows him to do things like create a donkey that sucks up an entire town into a pocket dimension inside its stomach (and that's just the first two episodes). He also constantly breaks the fourth wall, sometimes providing narration, so there's a lot of fun and meta-humor to be had with the character. As you'd expect, a character like that can be pretty unhinged, so it's really hard to picture anyone else by Tudyk in the role.
"Titans" may not have been the best original series to kick off DC Universe, but any room for improvement was proven and accomplished with "Doom Patrol". It's unlike any superhero movie or show before. The Doom Patrol's first appearance in the comics billed them as the "world's strangest heroes" and I feel the show captures that sentiment.
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