After an eye-opening and traumatic trip to Fuchstopia in search of anything that might help them save The Chief, things get religious in the weirdest of ways this week on Doom Patrol. But this isn’t some spiritual journey. There are seriously apocalyptic consequences. So, as always, there are spoilers below. If you’re cool with that, brace yourself it’s time for “Cult Patrol”.
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The episode kicks off with a baby’s first birthday, just weird. Instead of clowns everything is decorated with a creepy eye and as we progress through further birthdays the kid keeps having more and more weird writing show up on his body. His 18th birthday comes around and his father tries to tell the kid he’s not meant to save the world but end it and creepy mom slit’s dad’s throat. Elliot — the kid — flees. In a grimy hotel, a semi-crazy guy notes that the “Cult of the Unwritten” book is active again while a priest in Spain suddenly has weird stigmata with light blasting out of it.
Back at Doom Manor, Robotman has weird dreams about being human only to wake up and discover that Jane’s childlike personality fell asleep on him. She wakes, but Hammerhead is in control. Elsewhere in the house, Larry comes to and sees video of his intake playing — the negative energy had set it to play. No one is okay after the trip to Paraguay, but Cyborg is determined to operate as a team and save Caulder — though he’s excluding Rita. Then the guy from the hotel shows up.
The guy is Willoughby Kipling (played by Mark Sheppard from Supernatural), a Knight Templar there to get a penny that Caulder took from him. Kipling, or Kip as he calls himself, explains that Cult of the Unwritten Book will attempt to read this mystery book, summon the Decreator, and unmake the world. He wants to find the book — which is a person — before the cult does. They summon an oracle who sings the location: Elliot in Salt Lake City, Utah. The team decides to help, they go through a portal, collect the kid.
When Kip wants to kill the kid to get rid of the book, they team objects which leads to plan B: they have to close the gates at Nurnheim — a ghost city — to stop the cult. That leads them to the stigmata priest in Spain. Jane/Hammerhead and Cliff go. Those left behind prepare for potential attack from those trying to get to Elliot. In Spain, Jane and Cliff find the priest, but Jane has a bad experience and they end up getting sucked into Nurnheim. Jane swaps personalities and we meet Penny Farthing and the pair are quickly captured.
Back at Doom Manor, Cyborg and Kip have fundamental differences in how to deal with Elliot, though Kip does prepare things to protect them all. Elliot starts trying to come to terms with the reality of his existence while talking to Larry, something that ends up with Elliot wanting to end his own life. Rita is the one who talks him down. In Nurnheim, Cliff and Penny Farthing meet the high priests of Nurnheim who turn out to be Elliot’s parents who have now ascended though the dad is still dead. The other residents of Nurnheim go to collect the book — and they descend on Doom Manor. What ensues is a really cool and creative fight scene, but the cultists manage to get Elliot and read him. Enter the Decreator — literally a giant creepy eye in the sky.
Other noteworthy bits from “Cult Patrol”:
- Nurnheim may sound like it’s in Germany, but it’s really contained in a snow globe sitting on a table in Doom Manor.
- Kip uses Beatles lyrics (done backwards) for his protection spell.
- While in Nurnheim, the High Priestess forces both Cliff and Jane to see themselves through three lenses: as they see themselves, as they see each other, and as they really are.
- Larry learns more about the energy inside of him — including that it apparently sustains itself through torture, presumably Larry.
New episodes of Doom Patrol are released every Friday on DC Universe.
