After a failed group therapy session, the Doom Patrol isn’t in the best shape. Jane has taken off, Cliff had a rat chewing around in his inner workings (at the behest of Mr. Nobody) and while everyone did manage to get some things off their chests, the team is just in a bad place. Despite this, there are still things that have to be dealt with. For Cliff and Rita, it means another on of Jane’s personalities while for Vic and Larry it means an introduction to what might be one of the more interesting characters in all of DC Comics: Danny the Street. As always, our recaps contain full spoilers so if you want to know what happened in this week’s “Danny Patrol”, read on!
Episode opens a guy named Agent Wilson discovering a random street in the middle of nowhere. He’s clearly looking for this street at the behest of some law enforcement-type organization trying to capture it. The Agent goes to the street and is greeted in a friendly way by its residents — and the street itself. When backup arrives, the street is mysteriously gone along with the agent.
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At Doom Manor, Vic and Cliff are dealing with the fallout from therapy. Vic in particular is having a hard time with the premonition painting that one of Jane’s personalities did that shows Vic killing the whole team. Elsewhere, Larry struggles with memories from his time at the “Ant Farm” back in 1963 where he is taken against his will by the Department of Defense for experimentation by the Bureau of Normalcy. As for Rita, a phone call from one of Jane’s other personalities sends her — and Cliff — off to deal with Karen, a 1990s rom-com obsessed personality with the ability to cast “love spells”.
A cake shows up at the front door from “Danny Cakes” on Danny Street. It has a note looking for Niles and despite the fact that there is no Danny Street, Larry decides to follow the cake and they end up on, well, Danny Street. However, it’s not the bright and bustling place seen in the opening. People seem scared, buildings are boarded up. Through graffiti and lights and signs, the street communicates with Vic and Larry. They end up going into the Perpetual Cabaret and are introduced to Mora Lee Corrupt, a drag performer who explains that Danny is a sentient, gender-queer street who travels the world and takes care of those who fall through the cracks. But Danny is in trouble and it’s explained that they are on the run from Darren Jones and his Bureau of Normalcy — the same people who tortured Larry in the sixties.
There’s an added issue as well: Danny is kept alive by the happiness of his citizens. They’ve been trying to keep the party going, but everyone is scared and if the happiness stops, Danny will die. Vic is up to help, Larry less so. He sulks in the cabaret where he is told he has to sing karaoke. We get a brief performance with an unscarred Larry singing and dancing and feeling free, but it ends suddenly. Larry’s not into it.
Elsewhere, Rita and Cliff show up at Karen’s. She’s gotten her ex, Doug, back but his family isn’t cool about it. Karen rejects Cliff and leaves him on the porch while employing Rita’s help to smooth things over. Hammerhead briefly wrests control back and asks for Rita’s help in stopping Karen, but Karen comes back quickly. She then proposes marriage to Danny and uses her “love spell” to convince his family to play along — later doing the same to Rita when she tries to stop things. Cliff meets a kid who later comes back dressed as a robot to dance with him.
Back on Danny Street, Mora Lee Corrupt decides the only way to save Danny is to go back to the Bureau. Dressed again as Agent Morris, he prepares to do just that but Vic is alerted that the Bureau is there. Vic and Larry decided to stand with the people of Danny Street in defiance of the Bureau. When Jones and his people show up, he’s met by the citizens along with Mora Lee Corrupt who soundly kick’s Jones’ butt. Larry tells Jones that Danny is off limits to the Bureau and when Jones threatens to add Larry to their list of people they’re hunting, Larry simply tells them he’s on it already and to tell his boss that Captain Trainor sends his regards.
With the Bureau stopped, everyone celebrates. Vic asks Danny for help with Niles but when he finds out Mr. Nobody is involved, Danny is unable to help save for a random comic book issue and then sends Vic and Larry back to Doom Manor.
As for Karen and her wedding, Cliff finally gets brought in to walk Karen down the aisle, but he’s worried about Jane. Karen tries to use her powers on Cliff to no avail. Hammerhead comes out, tries to kill Doug, Karen stops her, but suddenly Karen is dragged off into the Underground that makes up Jane’s mind and personalities. Outside, Jane is left in a catatonic state, no one at the wheel.
Doom Patrol is now streaming on DC Universe with new episodes arriving each Friday.
