DISCLAIMER: This recap of Doom Patrol Season 4 Episode 7, “Orqwith Patrol,” contains spoilers. Proceed at your peril.
Welcome back, Doomies. Doom Patrol has returned to make our Thursdays as weird and fever-dream-esque as possible. I’ve missed this show so much. Its strangely surreal, out-of-the-box narrative continues to push the storytelling envelope. I no longer question why there are sentient butts with teeth or why there’s a farting donkey that’s actually a portal. It’s all par for the course.
“Orqwith Patrol” delivers on the performance front and blesses us with beautiful character moments. Rita and Laura trying to save their friends while drunk is a highlight for me. They’re hilarious. Plus, that ending certainly raises the stakes for the rest of the season. Make way for Immortus.
Ready to delve into “Orqwith Patrol”? Let’s get to it.
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We open with The Ant Farm, wherein Rita (April Bowlby) and Laura (Michelle Gomez) reel from the aftermath of Rita killing Wally Sage. While Rita looks gobsmacked, Laura tries to scoop up Wally’s Immortus drawings for research. We hear alarms blare as The Ant Farm goes into lockdown and, based on the mention of a “death squad,” self-destruction. Laura has an idea of how they can escape undetected. Laura transforms into a suitcase while Rita, aka “Bendy,” stuffs herself inside the former. God, I love this show.
DOOM PATROL Season 4 Episode 7, “Orqwith Patrol.” Photo courtesy of Max.
Thankfully, the armed officers running through the corridors pay them no mind. In fact, one of them salutes and addresses Laura the Suitcase. Meanwhile, in Orqwith, the Edward Scissorweirdos escort Cliff (Brendan Fraser/Riley Shanahan), Jane (Diane Guerrero), Vic (Joivan Wade) and Deric (Elijah R. Reed) to a bone-like prison cell. Deric attempts to rally the group to brainstorm ideas. He has his magical pencil and paper at the ready. Cliff and Jane urge him to leave the superhero-ing to the superheroes.
When they can’t drum up anything substantial, Deric draws a massive rock, crushing the Edward Scissorweirdos outside their cell. Rock beats scissors. The quartet escapes, with Vic and Deric continuing their search for Larry while Cliff and Jane try to find Jane’s stolen longevity. Rita and Laura return to Doom Manor, where they discover a note from Cliff and Jane about going to Orqwith. Naturally, they have no idea how to get there. Laura wants to save the team. Unfortunately, Rita’s all superhero-ed out. She heads to her bedroom.
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Next, Jane and Cliff find the headquarters after noticing a lavender glow from afar. They spot Jane’s longevity in a bone-like cage, with Wally Sage (Daniel Annone), Dr. Janus (Timeca Seretti) and Torminox (Tyler Mane) standing before it. Jane contemplates how they steal back her longevity. Of course, more Edward Scissorweirdos stand guard. Jane pushes Cliff into the room, holding a bone to Cliff’s brain and threatening to destroy it. Cliff’s the only one with his longevity, after all.
DOOM PATROL Season 4 Episode 7, “Orqwith Patrol.” Photo credit: Zac Popik/Max.
Wally wants to show Jane and Cliff the “potentialities” Immortus has to offer while waiting for the mysterious, immortal entity to appear. Cliff believes they should hear him out. Jane reluctantly goes along with it. Meanwhile, Vic and Deric encounter more Edward Scissorweirdos. Deric decides to draw a weapon to fight them off. He sketches Cyborg’s arm cannon, which he tries to give to Vic. However, Vic insists that Deric use it. He has something else in mind.
Then, Laura barges into Rita’s room with an alcoholic beverage cart. The conversation takes a turn for the deep as old wounds reopen. Rita reminds Laura that she’s now in charge of the Doom Patrol. Rita doesn’t feel like being a hero anymore. She’s also feeling down on herself, blaming herself for things going pear-shaped. Laura wants Rita to help her construct a portal so they can hop on over to Orqwith, save their friends and then figure out how to stop Immortus from rising. It’s all so simple, really. But Rita’s not in the mood for portal building.
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Rita orders Laura to leave, claiming she cannot control her emotions. She might transform into a giant skin blob and kill again. Who knows? Laura leaves her alone. In Orqwith, Wally explains he teamed up with Niles Caulder (ah, good ole Chief) for the Immortus Project. Niles wanted Wally to create a creature to sniff out a piece of an ancient, immortal being. Niles hoped to utilize a fragment of this entity to protect Dorothy. In an animated image crafted by Wally, we see Peanut Butter, the farting donkey, traveling from America to South America. Hey, we know that little fella.
DOOM PATROL Season 4 Episode 7, “Orqwith Patrol.” Photo courtesy of Max.
Anyway, PB found something on his journey — a piece of Immortus. Wally saw all the possibilities from that fragment, and they were endless. Wally hopes Cliff and Jane can see that for themselves. Naturally, Cliff tells him to f*ck that sky high.
Meanwhile, Vic makes a flaming green sword for himself, which is badass. Deric uses the arm cannon as the Edward Scissorweirdos approach, but the powerful blast knocks him backward. Vic fights off their enemies while Deric recovers. Then, we return to Cliff and Jane. Wally holds up Niles’ necklace, which contains that piece of Immortus. He encourages them to touch it. Once they do, they wind up in the aisle of a grocery store. They’re obviously there for some snackies.
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Vic helps Deric to his feet and gives him some pointers regarding the arm cannon. Next, the besties fend off the Edward Scissorweirdos together. I love this scene. At home, Laura struggles to assemble the portal. Right now, it looks like a creepy skeleton from my nightmares. Rita emerges, plopping down in a chair behind Laura. She already has a martini in her hand. Laura gives Rita a pep talk about how she’d rather fail while trying to save their friends than succeed at doing nothing. It’s a lovely speech.
Rita reminds Laura that the latter didn’t save her when she was stuck in that film. Laura tearfully admits she had a few drinks to get the creative juices flowing, and then she chickened out. Michelle Gomez is so adept at emotional scenes. Rita acknowledges that the universe has incessantly conspired to keep them at each other’s throats. Perhaps it’s time to work against that. They clink their glasses to “F*ck the universe” and decide to be friends. I love this pairing. Bowlby and Gomez are great together.
DOOM PATROL Season 4 Episode 7, “Orqwith Patrol.” Photo credit: Zac Popik/Max
Meanwhile, Cliff and Jane run into Clara (Bethany Anne Lind), who’s searching frantically for little Rory. Jane reminds Cliff that this is a simulation; it’s not real. In Orqwith, Vic and Deric continue on their mission to track down Larry after defeating the Edward Scissorweirdos. They have a heart-to-heart. Vic admits that he didn’t like having his Cyborg tech. It made him feel bad about his body. He couldn’t look at himself in the mirror. How could he expect his friends to look at him?
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Vic emphatically states that he needed his friends, but his low self-worth became a barrier. Deric apologizes. He didn’t know about any of this. I love how this series tackles real-world issues like body image and mental health by channeling them into these characters’ powers. It makes for an intriguing examination. Eventually, they find Larry (Matt Bomer/Matthew Zuk). He looks worse for the wear. Deric says something he’s wanted to declare his whole life: “Come with me if you want to live.” Larry refuses. Uh-oh.
Drunk Rita and Laura giggle while admitting to past mistakes. Whenever Laura was angry with Rita, she transformed into a tiny beaver and stuck Rita’s toothbrush up her beaver’s beaver. Rita confesses that Wally wasn’t her first murder. She’s also killed multiple times, like Laura. They’re more alike than Rita wanted to admit. Our fave inebriated girlies get the portal up and running. As they walk through it, Rita stretches her bendy arms to take the beverage cart. They might need martini refills over there!
DOOM PATROL Season 4 Episode 7, “Orqwith Patrol.” Photo credit: Zac Popik/Max.
While in the grocery store, Cliff and Jane overhear Rory singing over the speakers. Cliff finds his grandson and is taken aback by how big he’s gotten. Clara discovers her son and scolds him for leaving her. Cliff removes the oven mitt from his hand, noticing he’s not shaking from Parkinson’s. Suddenly, Wally pulls them out of the simulation.
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Wally reveals if Cliff accepts Immortus, this can be his future. No more Parkinson’s. Cliff can hold his grandson and watch him grow up. Cliff agrees to sacrifice his longevity, much to Jane’s dismay. The Edward Scissorweirdos restrain her while Wally removes Cliff’s longevity from his brain. He’s about 10 seconds from chanting for Immortus like Dr. Janus and Torminox.
Meanwhile, Larry explains that Keeg saw the future, and it wasn’t pretty. Keeg wants to stay in Orqwith because of it. Vic understands Larry’s desire not to fail Keeg as a parent. However, they’ll all die if they remain in Orqwith. Resigned, Larry reaches out to Keeg to break the news. After Cliff’s switch to Team Immortus, Rita and Laura burst into the room with their alcoholic beverage cart. They saved the day! Too bad nobody looks happy about it.
DOOM PATROL Season 4 Episode 7, “Orqwith Patrol.” Photo credit: Zac Popik/Max.
Hot on their heels is Casey, aka Space Case (Madeline Zima), who reunites with her father Torminox, and Dorothy (Abi Monterey). Wally recognizes Dorothy as Niles’ daughter, who has similar powers to him. Jane, Space Case and Dorothy attempt to leave, but the Edward Scissorweirdos stop them. Suddenly, bubble-like force fields form around our heroes, from Rita/Laura and Cliff to Jane/Dorothy/Space Case and Vic/Deric. Then, Immortus finally rises, no thanks to Cliff’s longevity sacrifice. We see it’s none other than Isabel Feathers (Charity Cervantes). She smiles and waves at the group. She lets out a deafening scream. Immortus hath risen, y’all.
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Is Isabel Feathers really Immortus? Will our heroes leave Orqwith at some point? Will they regain their longevity? Only time (and more episodes) will tell.
Doom Patrol drops new episodes every Thursday on Max.
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