Doom Patrol “Orqwith Patrol” Review

Season 4 Episode 7 – While trapped in Orqwith, Jane ropes Cliff into hunting for their longevities, as Vic gives Deric his own superhero moment by taking on the Scissormen. Meanwhile, Rouge tries to convince a gloomy Rita into joining the rest of the team.

Please note, our reviews are based on likes and dislikes. These contain significant spoilers. If you haven’t already watched the episode, we recommend that you click off the article and come back once you have watched the episode. Enjoy!

What I Liked

1. We see Laura and Rita escape the Bureau of Normalcy’s headquarters by having the former turn into a suitcase while the latter hides in her.

2. Just when it seems like Laura and Rita will be caught by the Bureau of Normalcy death squad, they instead salute the suitcase, referring it to Colonel Samsonite and allow them to leave.

3. As Jane, Cliff, Vic and Deric are forced into a cell by the Scissormen, Deric attempts to come up with an idea, only to be scoffed at by Jane and Cliff to which Vic humorously points out to his friend just how much of their stupidity he’s forced to deal with every day.

4. Deric is able to get them out by drawing a giant Boulder that crushes the Scissormen. This earns him a modicum of respect from Jane and Cliff.

5. As Rita and Laura arrive back at the manor, Rita is unnerved that she killed the fake image of Wally Sage. Laura points out that there would need to have been blood for to prove that she killed him, to which Rita shows her a blue paint substance on her back.

6. When Rita and Laura discover that Cliff and Jane went to Orqwith (thanks to a hastily written sticky note), Laura attempts to figure out a way to save them while Rita decides to go to her room and sulk.

7. When Cliff and Jane attempt to get the letter’s longevity back from the Scissormen guarding it, Jane attempts to force them into giving it up by threatening Cliff’s exposed brain, calling him the “tin man.” When Cliff expresses his disappointment in the nickname, Jane tells him to shut up calling him “R2-Dipshit,” a nickname Cliff is much more happy with.

8. Vic and Deric fight off the Scissormen, with Deric using the Cyborg arm cannon while Vic uses a flaming sword.

9. Laura tries to cheer up Rita by bringing in a cart full of booze. An angry Rita initially brushes her off and forces her to leave, but starts to change her mind when Laura tells her that it’s much better to focus her anger on the Immortus cult rather than her, especially after the progress they’ve made.

10. Wally Sage reveals to Cliff and Jane (through a beautifully animated live drawing) that Niles was the one who approached him to create a creature to find Immortus and steal a piece of his longevity. Wally initially refused, but explains that Niles told him about Dorothy, making him much more receptive. Wally created Peanut Butter, the donkey from the first season that Mr. Nobody owned and it had found Immortus. Jane and Cliff are not shocked but rather annoyed that Niles is partly responsible for all of this and openly curse him for his shady deeds.

11. When Deric chastises Vic for abandoning his tech, Vic explains that being Cyborg physically was awful, as he could only think about everything he lost, including his friends, his football dreams and his mother. He reveals that he never went to see his friends because he was too ashamed of his appearance. He couldn’t look himself in the face, which made it all the more hard to do the same with his friends. A shocked Deric apologizes for his grudge and the two continue on their way through Orqwith.

12. Vic and Deric find Larry, who refuses to leave as he will become a huge nuclear bomb when his radiation gets too much out of control. Vic reasons that it may be Keeg’s wish to stay in Orqwith but it isn’t Larry’s wish for himself, nor is it his wish for Keeg. This convinces Larry to join them in leaving.

13. When building the portal to get them to Orqwith, Rita and Rouge become very drunk. Laura reveals that she did disgusting things to Rita’s toothbrush. Rita takes this in stride and in a drunken stupor reveals that she killed multiple people before the false Wally Sage, such as the perverted Hollywood executive and the Brain and yet she doesn’t feel bad about it at all. The two drunkenly joke about Rita’s body count and somehow manage to finish the portal to Orqwith.

14. Rita and Laura arrive in Orqwith with the cart of alcohol and are immediately captured. This doesn’t do much to discourage them as they are too drunk to understand their current and dire situation.

What I Disliked

1. Casey and Dorothy just show up at the end of the episode out of nowhere. It’s never explained how they even got to Orqwith. I really wish we were shown a scene of how the two got there (or how they even knew about it).

2. When trapped in bubbles as Immortus comes out, Rita and Laura drunkenly ramble and joke about the situation. Usually the humor never undercuts the serious moments in this show, but this is one of the few times where it wasn’t really the right time to do a joke.

3. The very last scene shows that Immortus is none other than Isabel Feathers, the actress who played Rita in the play about her and got lost in the time stream after Laura arrived. Maybe I would have felt differently if the break between these episodes wasn’t so painfully long, but I really wasn’t a fan of this reveal. I admit that I wasn’t expecting it, but I was hoping for the final main villain of the show to be a little more threatening and less of a joke.

Favorite Moment

When Cliff and Jane try to confront Wally Sage, he transports them into a vision within a grocery store. We see Cliff’s daughter Clara approach the two asking if they’ve seen Rory. As Cliff goes to search for Rory with her (despite Jane’s protests), Cliff sees that Rory is now older around the age of 6 or 7. A stunned Cliff can only stare in amazement as he ignores Jane and the hallucination of Clara chastising him. He takes off the oven mitt to hug his grandson only to end up back in Orqwith. Cliff willingly gives up his longevity and can only sit in silence as Jane looks at him with disappointment.

Standout Character

I have to give the MVP award to Cliff for this episode. His decision at the end of the episode will no doubt cause a massive amount of problems but you can understand where he’s coming from. His Parkinson’s disease is getting much worse and he’s running out of time either way. In his mind giving up his longevity may be the only way to see his family before he dies. In many ways his decision is selfish and shows a huge lack of discipline and caution, but he doesn’t have many options left and at the end of the day, Cliff is still human despite the robot body.

Verdict

After a needlessly long hiatus, Doom Patrol is finally back with such a great return. The Orqwith setting provided a very eery atmosphere that the episode fully used to its advantage. With Immortus stepping into the spotlight, it will be interesting to see how our heroes will stop this final threat before they themselves run out of time. I’m going to miss this show when it’s gone, but for now I’m going to savor every last one of these episodes before it all officially comes to an end.

Rating 10/10