Written by Tom Farrell & Tamara Becher-Wilkinson
Directed by TJ Scott
Mr Nobody: "Finally, a superhero team I can actually get behind. A superhero team I can actually use. Took you emo navel gazers long enough to work through your bullshit."
Let's just say the rest of that speech comments on the amount of episodes we've sat through and ended with the promise that the two episodes remaining will actually deliver on the action, while at the same time also benching Cyborg for a bit. Mr Nobody is nothing if not petty and prepared.
I should've guessed that seemingly nice old man that Rita was chatting to and unburdening herself of a past shame was actually Nobody but the reveal came as a pleasant surprise and it was great that it kicked Rita into action as well. It seems like she's taken on the leader role with the rest of the team in Victor's absence and who better for the job to be honest.
Rita is without a doubt one of the most complex DC characters out there and this show has done a consistently excellent job with that. She's made some terrible mistakes in her past and hasn't always atoned for them but she has been trying to learn from them and prioritizing Victor and Silas (the latter isn't dead) over the Chief made sense in the context of her scenes this week.
As for Nobody - he's been resting on his laurels for too long and with the Bureau of Normalcy being used quite a bit in the last few episodes, it'll be nice to see Nobody actually spring into action as the Doom Patrol try to get the Chief back once and for all. Not that the show really needs the chief at this rate.
Of course, this episode wasn't just about the team finally coming together - they also managed to save themselves a hunk of the beach, better known as Flex Mentallo (Devan Chandler Long) when escaping the Ant Farm. From the previous episode we knew that bearded bloke was him and it didn't take long for Rita to make the same deduction and for Cliff and Jane to give him a makeover again.
Fkex's flashbacks to his relationship with his wife Dolores, being captured by the Bureau and trying to make friends with Larry were nicely explored in flashbacks and present day scenes while Jane resorted to bringing back Flex's elderly wife to jog his memories.
It wasn't surprising that their reunion was tragic and short lived but on a positive note, at least Flex might have found himself a home with the team as he's in the next two episodes. The episode also had a lot of fun with Flex's soap opera addiction and how Cliff once had an acting credit to his name. Needless to say both Jane and Larry's reactions to this were delightfully funny.
- Nobody's scene got too meta with him having a show mug, blanket and poster where he rather vindictively removed Cyborg from.
- This week, Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man got himself shot by a follower of Von Fuch.
- Larry came pretty close to death in this episode, only for his negative spirit to be persuaded to bond with him again.
- Chronology: 1964 for Flex's original capture as well as the present day for everything else.
Flex Patrol was a hunky, soap opera watching delight with some beautifully poignant character moments, a delightful snarky closing monologue and the promise of some proper action for our remaining episodes. I'll be a little disappointed if Flex himself doesn't become a regular next season.
Rating: 8 out of 10
No comments:
Post a Comment