My Review of Doom Patrol's 2x09: "Wax Patrol"

 

Written by Chris Dingess & Tanya Steele

Directed by Christopher Manley

Candlemaker (to Dorothy): "Come girl and meet your fate."

And we have a cliffhanger on our hands. Given that we're down an episode, I guess it was to be expected and this episode definitely had enough to wax lyrical over considering that all our main characters were left in quite the position.

First of all, there's Dorothy. She's been fighting all season to keep the Candlemaker at bay and the events of a carnival saw the latter wreck the most havoc as he managed to take out Willoughby and the majority of the gang before grabbing Dorothy and disappearing by the end of this one.

As usual, Niles seemed torn between wanting to protect his daughter but still failing as a father with Slava turning up at the last minute to try and help Dorothy against the Candlemaker. Ultimately it's Dorothy who will have to take out the Candlemaker and quick before the latter completely destroys the world.

As for the gang themselves - Rita, Cliff and Victor all had confrontations with their imaginary friends before succumbing to the wax. Even having an imaginary friend didn't stop Larry from also sharing the same fate and Kay herself looked she was about to be in the same predicament too, considering the Candlemaker took over Miranda.

Speaking of Miranda, the flashbacks focused on her working as a waitress before meeting a busker who seemed nice at first before being revealed as a toxic asshole. The flashbacks were pretty strong and they did a good job of explaining Miranda's current mentality while Jane herself managed to pull herself out of the well. It'll be Jane who end up helping Dorothy with the Candlemaker. 

- The imaginary friends included Imaginary Jesus (for Cliff), Roxy (Rita), Doctor Cowboy (Victor) and a Punch & Judy doll (for Willoughby).

- How come Niles wasn't turned into wax? Surely the Candlemaker would've done it to him before going after the other members first?

-  Standout music: King Harvest's Dancing In The Moonlight and The Cure's Picture Of You.

- Chronology: 1969 Milwaukee during the Miranda flashbacks and the present day for everything else.

Wax Patrol definitely ended on a solid cliffhanger for next season (and given that it's doing well for HBO Max, this should be coming back). I do feel they'll use next season's premiere/the intended finale to quick wrap this up ala Titans before moving on to the next story. 

Rating: 8 out of 10