The Chief is still missing as we head into Doom Patrol‘s third episode and it’s the search for the missing scientist-slash-paternal figure that our misfit heroes embark on this week. If you haven’t caught up with “Puppet Patrol” yet, be aware there are spoilers below.
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The episode starts with the team attempting to find The Chief in their own ways. Jane hangs up missing person flyers around town where she’s followed by a screaming mob blaming her and the “freaks” at the manor for all the mess. At the manor, Cliff and Rita search the office for clues, coming across a photo of the donkey from Paraguay 1948. Cliff finds his now-adult daughter’s phone number in a file. Vic finds information that ties Morden to Mr. Nobody.
Vic calls a meeting, revealing Mr. Nobody to be Eric Morden, a member of the old supervillain group the Brotherhood of Evil. Vic thinks they should head to Paraguay for answers, but the team isn’t quite on board until Vic reminds them that they owe The Chief for saving them. So it’s off to Paraguay, but when Vic’s father cuts him off and denies him use of the private jet, it’s a very, very, very long bus trip from Ohio to Paraguay for the team. What could go wrong?
That bus trip is cut short, though, when Larry and his negative spirit end up fighting, the negative spirit disabling the bus out of spite. The whole episode’s subplot is tied to Larry’s origin as well as his complex and painful relationship with the negative spirit. After a night at the hotel — and Larry asking Jane how she controls her various personalities — Jane’s Flit personality has had enough and teleports herself, Larry, and Cliff right to Paraguay leaving Rita and Vic behind.
In Paraguay, the group comes upon Fuchtopia, the freaky “med spa” type of facility for those seeking to be given metahuman powers by a dubious figure. It’s Von Fuchs’ lab, just modern and in an orientation for Fuchtopia, the gang is subjected to a puppet show highlighting the mad scientist’s work, including his Nazi past, his creation of Mr. Nobody, and that The Chief stole whatever it was that Morden paid Von Fuchs with. It’s a big clue and the gang decides to stick around and figure out more. While Jane tries to make a payment deal, Larry sneaks off to the interdimensional chamber that made Nobody in order to find his “better” self. Ultimately, he discovers that he is, in fact, the source of all his own failure and pain.
Jane meets Von Fuchs. Turns out the old Nazi is being kept alive in what Jane calls a “janky” iron lung and he taunts her about how her personalities split due to trauma inflicted by dark scientists. While she is one body with many personalities, he is one personality with many bodies. Yep, everyone working at Fuchtopia is him. And now they’re attacking. Jane and Cliff fight the clone drones with a huge, bloody body count including Von Fuchs. Larry is saved from the chamber by Cliff before one of Jane’s personalities torches it. Vic, having finally been given the jet by his father, arrives in Paraguay with Rita to collect the group. Horrified by the death and destruction at the lab, Cliff seemingly destroys the paper his daughter’s number is on. Jane scribbles on the plane window. Larry seems sobered by his revelations and Vic cuts his father’s call short as the team makes their way back to Ohio with new burdens and only a puppet of The Chief to show for it.
Meanwhile, in the remains of Fuchtopia, the tourist — Steve — the group encountered emerges a chamber having been transformed into Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man.
Doom Patrol is available on DC Universe with new episodes arriving every Friday.
