Doom Patrol Episode #2

Donkey Patrol

As offbeat and brilliant as the first episode of Doom Patrol was, the second episode, Donkey Patrol, took things to another level. Not only did it introduce us to Cyborg, it confused the audience even more (and I mean that in a good way).

Mild Spoilers Ahead!!!!

Yes, the donkey from the first episode is still hanging around and it’s driving Robotman crazy. He’s trying to figure out exactly what the creature has to do with the devastation to Cloverton and where exactly the entire town, the Chief, and Crazy Jane have been taken. Always connected to the web, Cyborg learns about the bizarre happenings in Cloverton and leaves Detroit to help his old friend, the Chief.

When he arrives in what used to be Cloverton, he finds Robotman attempting to catch the donkey. Rita has returned to the Doom Patrol’s home, fighting her inner demons and reliving her past, Negative Man is on the run, again, and Chief and Jane are missing……until the donkey coughs up Jane and Cyborg and Robotman get a crash course on many of the identities living inside of her head.

Eventually Negative Man returns home and he, Cyborg, and Rita attempt to figure out what exactly is going on with that donkey. They end up learning a lot about themselves in the process, but are left with just as many questions as they had prior to the encounter with the donkey.

Robotman attempts to make some type of connection with Jane on an almost father/daughter level and I can see this duo becoming strong friends in future episodes.

I want to point out the brilliant performance by Diane Guerrero in this episode. She works her way through a bunch of Jane’s multiple personalities and makes them all unique and yet the same. I see bigger things on her horizon (although she’s done pretty good already) and can’t wait to see her performance in the next episode.

Joivan Wade also gets a nod for bringing Cyborg to life. His version of the character has a more upbeat outlook than Ray Fisher’s Justice League film version and is almost a fusion of that character with the animated Teen Titans version.

The rest of the cast did great jobs as well and have shown that the series will not rely on the strength of just one or two actors to carry the others. It’s a true ensemble cast.

If you haven’t seen Doom Patrol yet, I highly recommend checking it out. It, along with Titans and Young Justice: Outsiders, are more than enough reason to at least get a trial subscription to DC Universe.

I’m going to continue giving brief reviews with as few spoilers as possible for the foreseeable future. This show is fun and I recommend it.

As always, thanks for reading. Let me know what you think about Doom Patrol, Titans, Young Justice, or any of the other DC Universe shows or the streaming service itself in the comments section.