Doom Patrol Episode 7 RECAP (VIDEO SCRIPT)

Therapy Control

• So if I were to give a summary of this episode, I’d have to say it's a mix of Reservoir Dogs and the last two episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion
• I say Reservoir Dogs because the majority of this episode plays out the same way it did in regards to us seeing everyone’s personal actions over the course of the day before they all intersect with one moment
• And its the last two episodes of the original Evangelion anime, because the subject of the episode and how it plays out is showing us some very ince introspection for everyone in Doom Manor.
• Speaking of Tarantino, the episode starts off with a time jump to the end of the day
• /Where Cliff is trying to convince everyone in the team to talk about the greivances that Mr. Nobody is trying to use against them after what they experienced from the original Doom Patrol in the last episode, so that they can stand a chance of not having what was done to previous team done to them./
• And I’m just gonna keep it real with you guys; this is the SMARTEST THING he’s done in the season so far
• Like, yes; he did stand up for Vic when Silas was being a shit in the last episode, but that was more of a REACTION than a conscious decision.
• Not to downplay that at all, mind you; that was just as important to his character as the actions in this episode
• But when we get further in this episode and we see the utter ridiculousness that plays out, the fact that he was able to make that conscious decision holds a hell of a lot more merit.
• So with that being said, let’s start off with Rita’s point of view
• /We see that ever since the events of the Doom Patrol Patrol episode - and rightfully so, mind you - Rita’s mantra in order to “keep herself together” isn’t necessarily working like it used to./
• This gives us an interesting introspective on how she sees herself, especially since we’ve gotten bits of pieces about what Mr. Nobody is torturing her over in episodes 2 and 6.
• There’s also the fact that because of said stuff attached to her “stage name,” Rita is having a bit of an identity crisis, which factors into why she’s having a hard time staying solid lately
• Then there’s Larry, who has the most Shinji-ass revelation about himself out of all of them, thanks to the Negative spirit
• /I say that because the spirit is literally forcing him to re-live a memory he has of his lover the day before the accident. He’s constantly trying to fight it, but he just keeps being put back in it until he comes to a very important realization/
• (play clip)
• Out of all of the ways the spirit has tried to get Larry to heal and work with him, this is actually my favorite one.
• Like, yes, he still has that “Fuck you; I do what I want” mentality when it comes to getting Larry to cooperate, but this is done in a way where the brashness is subtle, yet still annoying enough for Larry to want to re-examine himself in order to understand and come to terms with things
• Soon it’s Vic’s turn, and can I just say that I appreciate how...NORMAL his reflection is? Y’know, as normal as a cyborg teenager can get...
• Which is funny, because that’s the entire realization of his segment in this episode
• Now that his software is absolutely free of his dad’s meddling, he finds out that he had the DC equivalent of a Tindr account back when he was completely human
• /So while waiting for the rest of the gang to get up for a meeting he planned, he goes through all of the profiles that are just fangirling because they know him as Cyborg up until he finds one who’s genuinely interested in him. Y’know, until she finds out that he’s A cyborg/
• So despite the social media jab, I really dig this deconstruct of Cyborg in this episode.
• It shows that despite wanting to be the hero he wants to be versus the hero his dad wants to be, there’s also a desire deep down inside him to just...want to be a normal guy again.
• Yet despite said desire, there are things about him that are different now. He can never truly go back to that again and has to make the best out of the situation that he has in front of him. Using “Tinder” to get the point across was a pretty nice touch
• Then we have Jane, who we don’t get as MUCH introspective as I’d like, but I do find out something interesting about her during her segment that confirms my overall feelings about her character. Characters. Anyway
• /Rightfully so, Jane’s alter Hammerhead is a bit sore at the Chief after finding out that he had a room reserved for her at the “retirement home” for the original Doom Patrol. So sore, that despite main Jane’s attempts and pleas for her to stop, that Hammerhead goes on an emotional tirade and destroys nearly all of her taped sessions with the Chief!/
• And after seeing the way these scenes played out while taking into consideration all the development and focus Jane had in the previous episode, I finally realized that it’s not Jane that I hate. It’s Hammerhead
• She’s the most emotional. She’s the most volatile. Every action and decision that was made over the course of this season that I had problems with was made by Hammerhead, while Jane and the other alters have been reasonable and understanding.
• Which sucks, because from what I’ve seen, Hammerhead is like, the main enforcer out of all the alters Jane has. She’s like a more disorderly version of Patricia from Split and Glass
• /Also from what it looks like in said scene, Jane may be losing control of Hammerhead,/ which...*huffs* I am NOT looking forward to that episode...
• And then there’s Cliff, and HOLY SHIT...
• So as I expected, Cliff going through his daughters social media page in the last episode doesn’t turn out too well
• Because he finds out that I guess his best friend became his daughters guardian after he and his wife were “indecapitated.” Too soon?
• /So coupled with his recent realization that he can’t taste or feel anything - that he’s just a brain in a jar basically - he snaps and travels to a trailer park where he THINKS he’s confronting his best friend about his daughter. But in actuality, all he did was walk outside, is fighting Cyborg, quickly gets snapped out of it and immediately gets into the fetal position and proceeds to have a breakdown./
• So yes, Readers. The smartest thing Cliff has ever suggested the group do was brought on by a mental break
• /Yet while the team eventually does decide to share, confide and talk to each other, Cliff’s still an anxious and neurotic mess/
• He’s like this up until Hammerhead is being antagonistic again and threatens to leave because of the confrontation between her and Cliff, where he has ANOTHER mental break soon afterwards and his body shuts down after he’s pinned to the ground by Cyborg and Negative Man
• That’s where we find out that the real cause for Cliff’s recent episodes was a fucking rat inside his body
• But not just any rat.
• A rat...that was influenced by Mr Nobody to sabotage Cliff’s hardware after witnessing him run over his rat mother in episode 1 in the bus when the gang went on the field trip to Hollywood Backlot Town USA. WHAT THE FUCK??

So now you understand why I said what I said about this being the smartest decision Cliff’s ever made, right?

Despite having a fucking rat named Admiral Whiskers in his system clawing away at his brain, he still had the conscious effort to realize that one of the best ways to fight Mr. Nobody was to take away his most lethal ammunition he had against them, so he DEFINITELY deserves props there.

So it's possible that Cliff’s gonna be incapacitated for at least the first half of the next episode, if not the entire episode

Because Niles isn’t around and because he DID say in the previous episode that he would’ve built Cliff a BETTER body, Vic is probably gonna take him to see Silas’s punk-ass to get an upgrade and that’s probably gonna be the B-Plot

But considering the trailer that I just WATCHED for episode 8, I CLEARLY don’t know what the fuck to expect...