‘Doom Patrol’ Recap With Spoilers: The Team Learns Heartbreaking Truths in “Doom Patrol Patrol”

Last week the Doom Patrol saved the world with a little help from Mr. Nobody by unleashing the Recreator. However, the villain also planted a seed in Jane’s mind that has finally bloomed, leading the team to try to find out exactly who or what the Doom Patrol really is. That’s where things kick off in this week’s “Doom Patrol Patrol” and, as always, there are full spoilers below.

Rita continues to struggle with Elliot’s death and the episode flashes back to 1956. Loretta meets with a producer. She wants a lead role in a new film, but her terrible reputation for being mean precedes her. If she wants the role, she’ll have to give him sexual favors, but she gets all melty and accidentally kills him. The sympathetic secretary covers for her. In the present, it’s clear she still blames herself for both Elliot and the director.

Cliff attempts to find his daughter on social media, but her profile is private. He takes Jane sandwiches, she refuses. Locking herself away, she watches videos of her interviews with The Chief. In one, he mentions the Doom Patrol. Still seeking help with the social media thing, Cliff approaches Vic, still upset about his arm because he’s in “safety mode”.

Jane tells Cliff and Vic about the Doom Patrol and asks for help. They locate a news record of them but little else. Rita, however, knows about them. She was in a relationship with Mento, Steve Dayton, but they had a bad breakup. The Chief introduced them. Jane takes Rita and Larry off to locate them. Where are they? A school for kids with special abilities. Turns out that The Chief created the school — and Jane has a room there.

Vic’s dad shows up to work on him and he’s just as dismissive as ever. Cliff watches news and Animal Vegetable Mineral Man is on it! Turns out his dinosaur head attacked him while he tried to rob a convenience store, but Cliff’s news time is interrupted because Vic’s finger is literally embedded into Cliff’s robot arm.

While Rita waits at the school, we flash back to her meeting with The Chief, seeking his help for her condition. He introduces her to Mento thinking he can help her because of his psychic ability. In the present, Rita and Mento reconnect, but something isn’t quite right about the school. The same weird glitching happens while Larry goes on a tour and it’s revealed that The Chief is married to one of the original Doom Patrol members.

Vic and Cliff agree to help each other — Cliff will figure out what goes on while Silas reboots Vic and Vic will help him with social media. While Vic is rebooting, Silas tries to fix up Cliff and gets a lot of information from him about the blast. When Silas crosses the line, Cliff tells him off. When Vic’s reboot is done, Silas leaves after making peace with Vic.

At the school, the Doom Patrol tells Larry, Rita, and Jane that they actually fought Mr. Nobody in their last battle which contained a truly brutal and weird moment where Nobody turned the police to pinatas, and people smashed them and ate the candy inside. While Arani tells Larry about this battle, The Chief rolls in with no awareness of the current situation. Turns out, he’s a hologram. The whole thing’s a hologram. The school is actually run down with no students. As the aged former team melts down, Jane, Larry, and Rita are tortured by their past, but the Negative Spirit ultimately saves them by disabling Mento.

Joshua tells the truth. The Chief created the Doom Patrol as part of a government program, but when they fought Mr. Nobody, they lost. It ruined them, mind and body, which resulted in them being sent to the “school” where a group delusion kept them calm. Arani isn’t married to The Chief. There’s no real joy there. Rita is able to restore things, admitting to Mento that she no longer wants to be the terrible person she was. Jane realizes that The Chief may consider her broken.

Back at Doom Manor, the team goes to their own spaces and tries to deal with everything they’ve learned — and Cliff discovers that his daughter calls someone else dad.

Doom Patrol is now streaming on DC Universe with new episodes arriving every Friday.