Doom Patrol is back! At the end of last season, the team managed to defeat Mr. Nobody and save Niles by getting eaten by the apocalyptic giant cockroach Ezekiel and escaping a magical painting. The process trapped Mr. Nobody and the Beard Hunter, but freed Niles along with his daughter, Dorothy. Yes, that was wild (and if you need a refresher you can check out the Season 1 finale recap here) but what’s next for the Doom Patrol now? The series jumps right back in with the Season 2 premiere “Fun Size Patrol”. Want to know more? Read on for our spoiler filled recap.
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Warning: Spoilers for the Season 2 premiere of Doom Patrol, “Fun Size Patrol”, below.
Season Two kicks off with a flashback to London, England in 1927 and a travelling circus. A young girl is being kept in a cage and it’s soon revealed that she is the “Ape Faced Girl” who was captured in the Yukon and is now forced to perform as part of a freak show by conjuring creatures. However, things go a bit awry when the creature is distracted by someone in the audience and lashes out. An ominous voice tells the girl he can help if she makes a wish. A candle appears in her hand, she makes a wish, blows it out and chaos ensues. When it’s over, everyone is dead except the girl, her creature, and Niles Caulder.
Present day. A happier Dorothy wakes up and instructs her imaginary friends about how they’re going to have a good day and say hello to their new friends. It’s then revealed that Dorothy, Niles, Cliff, Vic, Jane, and Rita are still tiny size and are living on Cliff’s racetrack setup while a full-size Larry tends to their needs and tries to find a way to return them to normal size. There have been multiple attempts to return them to normal, but all have failed and this latest one is no different.
In The Underground, Jane and the various other personalities are hanging out by a lake when Hammerhead confronts Jane. A sign appears that reads “Time For a Change” that deeply upsets Jane. She wakes up and it turns out that she’s been drugging herself and Dorothy took the needle out. Dorothy connects to Jane a bit about them both having “friends” inside their head. Niles interrupts as he wants the serum she’s been using so he can use it for Dorothy. Jane says she’s used it all.
Larry has a flashback to California, 1961. His young son Gary brings his dad a model version of the plane he flies that he’s made himself and he’s so proud of it, but Larry finds fault with it and tries to correct the placement of a part. He deeply hurts the little boy’s feelings. In the present, Larry is later taken to his son Gary, now an adult suffering from depression. He’s preparing to kill himself. On the racetrack, Rita is trying to learn how to control her powers and train with Vic, who is himself seems fixated on ensuring that Mr. Nobody and Beard Hunter are trapped in the painting.
Another flashback, Florida, 1984. Cliff’s pregnant girlfriend makes Cliff disinvite his own father to their wedding. It doesn’t go well and it’s apparent that he didn’t have a great relationship with his father. In the present, Dorothy tries to spend time with Cliff who has been “feeding” the rats they end up taking one of the cars around the little race track. For Cliff, it triggers flashbacks to his accident and causes him to freak out and one of Dorothy’s “friends” to come out — Darling. Cliff loses it and a heartbroken Dorothy runs off. Later that night, Niles summons Willoughby Kipling to get his help in restoring everyone to full size, but Willoughby wants something from Niles he’s not willing to give up.
Cliff asks Jane about her drug use and while they are talking, they also end up mocking Dorothy and her imaginary friends. Niles shows up to tell them that Dorothy is missing, and they realize she’s gone to feed the rats, which is a problem since Cliff’s been killing them. They have to go save Dorothy. Vic freaks out along the way so Rita deals with him while Cliff and Jane go find Dorothy who has discovered that one of the rats had babies, but when the mommy rat destroys a weak baby, Dorothy freaks out. The ominous voice tries to get Dorothy make a wish, but Niles is able to shock Dorothy out of it.
Suddenly, everyone ends up normal size and it’s revealed that Niles ends up giving up the necklace keeping him alive to Willoughby to make that happen. Rita discovers that Vic has left. Cliff makes peace with the rats. Jane gets high once again. Larry learns his son killed himself and after she’s tucked in for the night, the dark voice tells Dorothy that her father is dying and tries to convince her to make a wish. She refuses but is clearly rattled.
New episodes of Doom Patrol land Thursdays on both DC Universe and HBO Max.
