Doom Patrol season 4, episodes 7 and 8 review: Orqwith and Fame Patrol

“Gone to Orqwith for Kay’s longevity, and to rescue Larry. If there’s time.” Spoilers for Doom Patrol season 4, episodes 7 and 8 follow.

Doom Patrol has finally returned to kick off what is being billed as its final episodes. The show was midway through airing its fourth season when it was announced that it and fellow DC series Titans had been cancelled by Max, meaning that the second half of its season were the only remaining episodes left.

Those episodes have begun streaming on Max (after an unexpectedly long wait), beginning the final chapter for the beloved DC show.

Here is everything that went down in Doom Patrol season 4, episodes 7 and 8.

Doom Patrol season 4 episodes 7 and 8 review

Orqwith Patrol

It’s been a while since we’ve seen the Doom Patrol in action. 9 months and 1 week to be exact. But the episode picks up right where the previous one left off, with Cliff, Jane, and Vic in Orqwith, captured by scissormen. Meanwhile, Rita is still dealing from the fallout of killing Wally (who is not dead) by blobbing out. Does it take a few minutes to get your bearings? Absolutely it does. This episode was clearly developed, written, shot, and edited to come out immediately after episode 6, but Max made the weird decision to split the season into two parts.

But once you get your bearings, the show is right back into being great once again, especially when its being incredibly weird. Vic fighting scissormen with a firey red sword that he pulled from his imagination? Yes please. Thank you very much. Cliff and Jane listening to weird story about a farting donkey making its way down from North America to South America from a cultist? Check. Drunken character interactions and confessions? Absolutely. But at the end of the day, the characters are what make this show.

The crux of this episode is based entirely around Cliff being tricked into giving away his longevity in order to get some semblance of normality with his grandson. Jane screaming for him not to give in and the silence that comes after he does so, its haunting. We’ve been with these characters for four seasons and we’ve seen these two grow immensely together, so to see that silent betrayal in Jane’s eyes and Cliff’s body language, it hurts so much to see.

Fame Patrol

Immortus has been revived and, to the shock of literally everyone, it is Isabel Feathers, the woman who played a fictional version of Rita in the play a few seasons back, but fell into the pit that Laura’s time machine created as it appeared for the first time. Surprising is the least of it. To be fully honest, it felt like Immortus would appear like the comic book General Immortus at first, as an old man, and be like Benjamin Button as the episodes go on. So, now that Immortus is back, and in Isabel’s body, twelve people are dead and the Doom Patrol are following her as she wanders aimlessly.

Eventually they’re found and Isabel is immediately brought onto a talk show and Immortus shines through, scaring the entire audience. Turns out though, she has the ability to literally turn back time to repeat what she’s able to do, so no one expects her villainy. Honestly, the sudden bit of rewinding time, and how it’s shown in here fits perfectly for Doom Patrol. It’s clear that Immortus isn’t stable as the anger repeatedly keeps exploding even worse than before, but in the meantime, Isabel will keep rewinding time to keep appearances up.

Meanwhile though, everyone is still angry (and blaming everything on him, much to his chagrin) at him for being the final piece of longevity that Immortus needed to return to the material world. Really, the only one that wants anything to do with him is Dorothy, and he treats her with nothing but contempt because he’s punishing himself for what he did and, in turn, punishing Dorothy by revealing he talked to Nile’s ghost. Really, the only one’s attempting to even try and help the others with their ever-growing pain are Dorothy and Casey, yet, no one wants to listen to them. Cliff and Jane’s frustration is understandable, but it still hurts to see them treating Casey and Dorothy so poorly.

Eventually though, the Doom Patrol makes their way to the town for a superhero parade in celebration of them finding Isabel. Nevertheless, Isabel thinks that this day is about her, so once she realizes that it’s not she explodes again, just like she did when she first was released from the cage, making way for the final episodes of the series.

Doom Patrol season 4 makes its return after a long hiatus in an excellent manner, paving the way for the final our episodes of the series.