Stuck on Doom Patrol

Grab a cupcake and let me explain.

I am a new HBOMax subscriber. To be honest, years ago I had been a HBO piggybacker and I loved their array of original series. So when the pandemic hit, I had subscribed to several streaming networks just to keep the new stuff rolling in to keep the masses entertained. Color me surprised when I found out that the DC universe had combined all of its content into HBOMax. I was pretty excited actually. I had been wanting to finish the Harley Quinn cartoon series. (FYI, it's also pretty funny, awkward, gorey.)

So when I finally finished Harley Quinn and all of its fabulousness I was lost on what to watch next. I didn't want anything too drama or too serious. God knows that we have plenty of that in the real world right now. I wanted something uplifting and good vs. evil, but the average super hero stuff just wasn't appealing. I have watched Teen Titans cartoons off and on since I was in high school and it just wasn't piquing my interest. So whenever I came across Doom Patrol I was curious. I knew that Doom Patrol was a band of misfit heros by the what I could gather from the trailers that I had seen when DC Universe had its own streaming platform. But I had no idea what I was in for. I had not read the comics at all and thank god for that because it would've spoiled everything that this show is!

I mean something has to be said when a white donkey farts the words "The Mind is the Limit" within the pilot episode. That was the hook for me. I mean if it was going to be that quirky from the get go, I had to stick around and see what else this rag tag bunch of misfits came across.

And the series just keeps evolving into a total shitstorm from there, but in a good way. We meet these characters all of whom have had some sort of tragedy befall each of them that has led them to this point. Rita, the golden age film star, who now battles to keep herself from falling into a mass of shapeless human flesh. Larry, the bandaged man with the electrical being that lives within his radioactive body. Cliff, the former race car driver turned steampunk engineered Roboman. Jane, the woman of many personalities, each of which that have their own specific super power. And Chief, the cohesive element that brings the team together first by offering each of them a place to live and stay hidden from the world, and then secondly by helping them face every challenge together in order to rescue him from the infamous Mr. Nobody.

What I like about this show is just about everything and I could go on for hours detailing every episode. (In fact, it is really hard to write about it without adding spoilers.) The main thing that I absolutely love about these characters are that they aren't perfect. I think that a lot of super heroes are placed on a ridiculously high pedestal of virtue that makes them hard for most people to relate to, especially DC characters. Superman, Batman, Supergirl, Wonder Woman, the Flash, they are all super good people that have apparently never ever in their lives done anything wrong. They are just, they are righteous, and that is unrelateable and BORING! These characters are imperfect assholes in their own right and that is terribly relateable. They all have made a lot of mistakes in their pasts, they have a lot of guilt, issues, and trauma that they have to work through and they support each other through it for better or worse. I love that their unofficial motto throughout the first season seems to be, "You know, I was a horrible person/dad/husband/etc, but I choose to be better now and do the right thing...

Even though it sucks...

And I hate it."

My bad, Rita. Let me continue.

It is harrowing. It is uplifting. It is realizing that you are a work in progress and that's okay. It's gender queer empowering. It is NOT your average super hero show and it is chocked full of total "WTF" moments. Some parts made me tear up. Other parts made me flop over in hysterical laughter at the obserdity of the "WTF" moment. Two words... "Sex ghosts." Also, the below GIF. I won't tell how and where they fit into the series but they are there just waiting for you to tune in and witness all of their awesomeness.

It is realizing that you are a work in progress and that's okay. It's gender queer empowering. It is NOT your average super hero show and it is chocked full of total "WTF" moments.