Doom Patrol preview: Preparing for the end of the world 101
The fifth episode of Doom Patrol gives the team a vague but narrow amount of time to stop the end of the world, along with an unexpected comic arc.
This isn’t the Doom Patrol‘s guide to surviving the end of the world, at least not officially. With the eye in the sky, the Decreator is preparing to decreate people, animals, and life itself. Willoughby and the Doom Patrol team don’t know when the decreation will commence or complete, but time isn’t in the team’s favor. As the newbie heroes who still haven’t accepted their heroic roles attempt to stop the Decreator, “Paw Patrol” hints at another minor comic book arc in the background of this week’s episode.
Our overwhelmed living Halloween costumes are going to get even more overwhelmed before they can finally refocus on their mission to find Niles Caulder. Seeing as the biggest staring contest in Doom Patrol lore could also lead to the annihilation of existence itself, the Doom family, Willoughby, and a pawfect companion will have to find a way to stop the Decreator and reverse the now-written book.
Though the Decreator and the Cult of the (Un)written Book might be the main enemy for the next episode at the least, the trailer for Doom Patrol episode 5 suggests that we’ll get some interesting backstories about Crazy Jane — some of which seem inspired by a Doom Patrol (2016) narrative.
The part of the dysfunctional family that didn’t get transported to Nurnheim is still equally confused about the end of the world. However, the apparent flashback to Jane’s time in a mental health facility suggests that the Decreator’s cult isn’t the only cult “Paw Patrol” will feature.
Jane telling the fellow patients that they “can change the world” sounds reminiscent of the time a new alter developed in the Underground, and then that alter created an entire cult known as the Church of the Multiform in Gerard Way’s Doom Patrol (2016) run. While Jane’s apparent flashback could depict her alter’s reign as a cult leader when she tried to get manifest the other alters into her followers’ bodies, which would kill the cultists in the process, “Paw Patrol” could use Jane’s sort of experience as a cult leader to stop the Decreator.
Sure, Jane wasn’t the alter who led her own cult in Janestown or in the show’s flashback. Plus, Jane is currently taking a break from her duties as the main alter. Since Cliff and Jane are still stuck in Nurnheim and thus the “snowglobe,” Cliff could travel to the Underground to help Jane talk to the cultist leader personality (i.e. The Multi-Mother or The All-Jane or Harrison), gather some helpful intel, and also reconcile with Jane in the process.
While Cliff’s comic counterpart usually gets some help syncing up to Jane’s mind whenever he needs to go to the Underground, Jane or one of the other alters might help him tap into the Underground. Regardless, it seems like Cliff and Jane are on their own, and they might also be the world’s best chance at stopping the Decreator.
In Grant Morrison’s Doom Patrol (1987) run, the team had the advantage because they had the Chief’s guidance as well as Willoughby’s interdimensional expertise. Because the team was more experienced in that iteration, they were also able to crack the mystery behind the snowglobe. Now, Cliff and Jane might resolve their situational dilemma, while resolving their friendship, and accidentally save the world in the process (if they manage to escape and damage the globe, of course).
Also. Matt Bomer talks representation in Doom Patrol. light
There’s still a lot of the world the Decreator could decreate, and a lot that the team needs to figure out. We might be happy to re-appreciate some comic arcs in a new form on Doom Patrol, but we’re still slightly concerned for our less than experienced heroes.