Delayed Patrol

Wow! Two Good DC reviews in a row and neither are animated. 

Is the tide turning at last?

(Given last week's Warner's news...I guess not.

And now Henry Cavill's return as Superman isn't happening.

I mean, I'm no fan of the Snyderverse in general, but it had some great casting, 

and Cavil is at the top of that list. He was an amazing Superman and Clark with a good script.

Does this mean we lost him as the Witcher for nothing? Grrrr.)

Doom Patrol season Three finally came out on disk.

Which means for those of you not old farts like myself, and therefore not obsessed with having a "thing," Season Four is available on streaming.

Man, I thought the first two seasons embraced the constant and deep insanity of the comics.  They hadn't even gotten started!  It continues to not only pull weirdness from the Morrison run, but also Pollack's follow up, the Silver Age, Giffen's post 52 stories and Way's more recent stories.

It was clear the plague halted season two. The first episode of this season tied up all the loose ends and reset to multiple new status quo points. All the characters set out on new arcs after those stories were completed. (Yes, this is comics, and more importantly Doom Patrol, being dead is merely a new arc.)

Cliff is still bad tempered and self destructive but with a good heart, Rita lacks confidence and drive, but wants to be better, Vic doesn't know who to trust or what a being hero truly means but wants to learn, Dorothy doesn't know her place in the world but is still competent (and adorable,) Larry splits between leading with his heart and hiding it but we still love Larry, and Jane is internally divided between healing and keeping herself safe but is bonding with the team.

All the actors are as great as the other seasons. An extra shout out to Dianne Guererro who continues to add to the multiple roles she plays fantastically. There is also a very cool development due to the medium shift. In comics, Kay can stay at the age her personalities split, but with live actors, she has to age. They worked that into the story as an element of her healing.

Somehow this rag tag group always ends up being there for each other as both heroes and a family when things fall apart.

And OH BOY do things fall apart with alarming regularity and magnitude. 

Oh yeah, Willowby Kipling is still a tremendous hoot.

The new arcs build on what came before, but allow the characters to slowly inch towards being a superhero team. 

Very slowly. 

And they're still kind of terrible at it, but in an endearing yet hilarious way. 

There's new characters from the comics, including the triumphant inclusion of Monsieur Mallah and the Brain, because a genius French accented Gorilla in love with a disembodied mind in a jar is far from the strangest element of this franchise. There's also Garguax the Decimator from the early comics' days. Both of these highlight the idea that even supervillains can look towards a calm retirement with all hatchets buried. For extra fun, Garguax's assistant is the always hysterical Billy Boyd.

Joining the team...

(but which team?)

Is Michelle Gomez as Laura De Mille 

(sort of)

It's kind of a similar role to Missy, but far more unhinged, and with amnesia, profanity and super powers thrown in.

Woo!

Honestly, the show is so strange and surprising, I don't want to give anything away. They go new places, ranging from a near abandoned vacation lodge to other planes of existence and other times, all with their usual disastrous but silly, and occasionally even successful consequences. 

Danny's an Ambulance now, and the Dead Boy Detectives show up. Too bad they're on different services, a cross over with Sandman would be awesome

There are call backs, call forwards, fantasy, science fiction, horror, romance, and some truly heartwarming moments amidst the chaos. 

Looking forward to season four!