Doom Patrol season 4, episode 9 review: Immortimas Patrol

Doom Patrol continues on its hot streak and manages to do something most other shows can’t, a good musical episode and a good Christmas special.

After finally being celebrated for saving Isabel, Immortus blew a gasket out of jealousy and belief that the Doom Patrol was stealing her spotlight and exploded once again.

Did she kill everyone like the first time she did so? Nope, she sentenced them to a fate much worse. She sentenced them to a Christmas special.

“Immortimas is just another prison. Another lie.” Spoilers for Doom Patrol season 4, episode 9 follow.

A very Doom Patrol Christmas Special

It was bound to happen. We have a Doom Patrol Christmas special. Well, an Immortimas special. It’s a musical and everything. Should Doom Patrol, based on general narrative rules, be taking this amount of time in their fourth to last episode for musical numbers and a Christmas special parody? Absolutely not, but it wouldn’t be Doom Patrol if something like this didn’t happen, and that’s why it’s great.

Doom Patrol doesn’t care about the narrative rules that most other shows will follow and is perfectly capable of creating captivating television. Doom Patrol is focused on being as wacky as possible, even at the end of its run, and this episode showcases that incredibly well. It’s out there, and it’s incredibly fun because of that. Plus, it’s a musical episode in a non-musical show that’s actually good! That’s a miracle in and of itself.

But the ridiculous gives way relatively quickly as Laura soon realizes what’s wrong with their new reality and has to fight for them to leave it, which some of the Doom Patrol are loathe to do. Looking at you Cliff. As Laura begins to expose the rest of the team to this new reality, the unraveling of this new reality is naturally horrific and funny, in pure Doom Patrol fashion, with probably one of the funniest moments of the entire run occurring in this episode.

Plus, it’s always nice to see Brendan Fraser and Matt Bomer showing up and not just voicing Cliff and Larry. It feels like an obligatory once per season and, while Matt Bomer didn’t get much time, Brendan Fraser shined.

Songs

The songs in this episode are incredibly fun as well which is a rarity for musical episodes in non-musical shows. None of them are covers or explicit parodies (at least that this writer could tell) of other songs and are all very original. They feel like they would fit right into a normal musical, which is rare for episodes like this.

Plus, a lot of the cast members have unexpected pipes, Diane Guerrero and Jovian Wade in particular. Both of them, with Jane’s duet with Casey, and Vic’s ballad, showcased that they had singing chops that will catch you off-guard. Would it be funnier if everyone was a bad singer? Maybe. But the fact that some of them were actually good singers makes the episode feel more authentic.

Flirting

The constant flirting between Jane and Casey in this episode is also really fun. It starts with Casey trying to surprise Jane in the morning, to sly looks, and eventually develops to them holding hands for a brief moment after their duet together. Of course, this is a fake world, but it will be shocking if this thread isn’t carried on.

Then there’s Larry who, even for a brief moment, seeing him being excited is his boyfriend is coming over for Immortimas Day is cute to see. He doesn’t get much of the way of happiness on this show, so to even have it for a fleeting moment was nice.

Doom Patrol continues on its hot streak and manages to do something most other shows can’t, a good musical episode and a good Christmas special.