Doom Patrol Season 4 Blu-ray Review
“Doom Patrol” closes out its run with season 4.
In the fourth and final season of the Max series, “Doom Patrol” bids farewell. The 12 episodes pack a lot in with plots involving time travel gone awry, the big bad Immortus (who possesses an actress named Isabel), the return of the Were-butts, Madame Rouge becoming the team leader, Vic’s friend Deric, the team being transported inside a movie, Space Case, Mister 104, aging and de-aging, the world of Orqwith, the return of Dorothy, a musical episode, Vic living life without being Cyborg, time portals, and Jane’s personas.
Through four seasons “Doom Patrol” was far and away the strangest series based on a DC comic book. It embraced the weird, was unafraid to be edgy or crude, and told stories that most other series would definitely not. After all, where else are you going to see butt creatures? The series was at its best in season 1 as the world was introduced to this dysfunctional team of heroes led by The Chief (played by the always brilliant Timothy Dalton) facing off against the show’s best villain Mr. Nobody (played by the equally always brilliant Alan Tudyk). After season 1, the show fell victim to circumstances that hampered its run. The pandemic occurred and shortened season 2, Timothy Dalton left the series as a main cast member, the WB and Discovery merger happened, and the DC movie and TV universe went through a complete rehaul leading to the show’s cancellation. Despite all of that, however, the writers and the excellent cast (more on that in a bit) carried on and managed to tell more wild and wacky stories involving Negative Man, Robotman, Jane, Rita, Madame Rouge and Cyborg.
To be fair, the creative team does attempt to provide a curtain call here in season 4 that ties up loose ends. As with any series ending, not all fans will be happy with the results or the fact that there are still some lingering storylines floating around (what exactly happened with Dorothy?). There’s certainly a lot going on in season 4, but at the same time, it does feel rushed with the SPOILER ALERT team disbanding and characters going their own separate ways END SPOILER ALERT. On one hand, it’s good to see the character arcs wrapped up, but it also felt like a lot of scenes between characters were missing given how much of a journey they’ve been on together (ala Negative Man and Rita).
Another aspect that didn’t quite gel this season was the tone. As odd and comedic as the show would get, it would also become rather dramatic as it dealt with character traumas. Obviously, the show thrived on unpredictability, but the tones don’t always mesh well together.
The one consistent aspect throughout the entire series (and indeed in season 4) is the cast. Everyone is pitch perfect here. Diane Guerrero showed so much range as multiple characters. April Bowlby deserves way more attention in Hollywood due to her performance as Rita. Veteran actors Matt Bomer and Brendan Fraser brought so much to the roles of Negative Man and Robotman. Fraser in particular made the foul mouthed Robotman his own. Joivan Wade showed viewers different sides of Vic Stone/Cyborg. Michelle Gomez (of “Doctor Who” fame) continues to be one of the most interesting actors in the genre world as Madame Rouge.
Overall Thoughts: “Doom Patrol” was hit-and-miss, but it was always admirable. It took risks, was unabashedly its own thing, and delivered deep characters that people truly cared about. In the end, that was enough.
Video/Audio:
Presentation: 2.20:1 1080p. How does it look? Viewers can expect crisp hi-def transfers of the episodes.
Audio Track: 5.1 DTS-HD MA. How does it sound? The 5.1 doesn’t hit a false note.
Extras:
* “Unsung Heroes”- A featurette on the actors who physically play Robotman and Negative Man.
* “Transformation Patrol”- A featurette on the aging make-up and character arcs.
* “Off-Off Broadway” is all about the musical episode.
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