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Top 10 WTF Moments In Doom Patrol (2019)

To celebrate “Doom Patrol” – most offbeat, bizarre series of 2019 – here’s the best moments that defined its surreal vibe. Let’s get weird!

“Doom Patrol” is an adaptation of a DC comic book. The source material was way behind the brand’s leading titles, but the ongoing superhero fever let this third-leagues have their moment.

“Doom Patrol” follows five misfit superheroes – Robotman, Crazy Jane, Cyborg, Negative Man and Rita Farr – in their quest to stop a mysterious Mr.Nobody from destroying the world. Showrunner Jeremy Carver turned this motley of quasi-superheroes into one of the most likeable bunch of tv characters. The series has a charmingly just-for-kicks vibe to it, and it achieves it by throwing away all the superhero panache.

The series isn’t only praiseworthy for its light mood and enormous self-criticism. The thing that really fuels “Doom Patrol” were the bizarre, out-of-the-blue moments. Or how others would put it, mindfu***s.

And to celebrate those memorable bits, here’s a list of 10 most WTF moments of “Doom Patrol”.

Top 10 Weirdest Moments of Doom Patrol (2019)

donkey from dc comics doom patrol
That’s a very special donkey.

#10 The donkey blown up

Doom Patrol went through some truly Rick-and-Morty stuff, travelling through dimensions and witnessing all kinds of strange things, fighting cockroaches, rats and creeps who eat facial hair.

However, one of the earliest WTF moments included a donkey. This white mammal became a tool of destruction of Patrol’s nemesis, Mr. Nobody – the poor animal’s rectum became a secret portal.

Without going too much into details here, the scene in which the donkey blows up is one of the early WTF moments of “Doom Patrol”. As one can imagine, it is rather graphic, but still mild in comparison with other scenes mentioned below.

robotman aka cliff Steele from doom patrol
Cliff Steele a.k.a Robotman from “Doom Patrol”.

#9 “There’s a rat inside me”

Cliff Steele (portrayed by Brendan Fraser), rarely referred to as Robotman, is a brute who almost died during a car crash. Almost, because the only saved part was his brain. The guy’s clearly a wreck, a negligent father and even worse husband, and his new “me” is a sum of all his frustrations.

The rest of Robotman’s body is clanky and that’s obviously a topic of many jokes that paint “Doom Patrol” in its bright, light-hearted colours.

Being out of steel also means that Cliff doesn’t feel much. This trait is wickedly turned against the Patrol by Mr. Nobody. The dark character sends a malevolent rat called Admiral Whiskers to mess with Cliff’s robotic insides, thus causing Robotman to act completely bonkers.

alan tidy as mr nobody doom patrol
Alan Tudyk at his best.

#8 Mr. Nobody’s first white screen scene

Remember when Jack Sparrow ended up on in an all-white limbo in “Dead Man’s Chest”? Mr. Nobody made one for himself too.

This first scene in the blank space breaks the already broken fourth wall, but more importantly – it lets us see Mr.Nobody in his human form for the first time. Alan Tudyk, dressed in a vest and puffy pants (see above), looks nothing like a villain, and the entire vibe of the scene is like a behind-the-scenes blooper. The concept is brought several times, and each time it’s a delicious feast of Tudyk’s exceptional acting.

Rita Farr Doom Patrol

#7 Rita Farr’s Hollywood Career scene

Rita Farr (played by jaw-dropping April Bowlby) is one of the most bewildering characters from the series. A once-starlet turned into a dripping ooze, Farr’s character translates into hauteur that many superheroes nurture too. But in her case, it is just pathetic, as it’s a defence mechanism of a fragile woman whose beauty used to be her main weapon. And now, it’s her appearance that washed all that confidence away.

This isn’t a WTF moment in particular, though her story gives you goosebumps. In that short sequence, Rita reminisces her career’s absolute downfall, when she accidentally kills a depraved producer, who tried to rape her.

Scenes like this excavate the true nature of “Doom Patrol”, which builds a facade of light action comedy outside a serious story about bad life choices and people making them.

The Beard Hunter Doom Patrol
The portrayal of Beard Hunter was quite different from the original source…

#6 The Beard Hunter’s role

The Beard Hunter pops into the universe to hunt the creator of Doom Patrol, Niles Caulder. It’s a very descriptive name that should be taken literally. The man, a chubby guy who lives in his mother’s basement, has a distinct skill of tracing down bearded guys. And all he needs is a piece of their facial hair.

Call him hideous, disgusting and all kinds of repulsive, because The Beard Hunter is all of that. But this dude (kudos to actor Tommy Snider) deserves credit for his short appearance which beautifully fits the bizarre shape of “Doom Patrol”.

Larry Trainor from Doom Patrol

#5 Larry Trainor meeting the love of his life

Larry Trainor’s entire arc is just straight-out heart-breaking. An exemplary pilot, a family man, but deep inside – an insecure homosexual, scared of his own identity. Trainor is the part of “Doom Patrol” that doubts his skills, and the grandeur of whatever he’s designed to achieve.

A substantial weight of the character is placed on the unfulfilled, secret love of his. Trainor made a choice and abandoned his lover years ago, but gets to finally meet him – an old, atonic man, whose whole life was filled with bitterness and longing for his lost love. Their last meeting melts the coldest of hearts and is just another brilliant moment of “Doom Patrol”.

Crazy Jane Doom Patrol
Party!

#4 The trip to the underground and the “boss” fight

Developing around forty personalities is something that James McAvoy’s character from “Split” and “Glass” could only dream of. But in the world of superheroes, anything’s possible.

Jane (Diane Guerrero) switches her personalities in a split second. And her head is like whole separate universe, where one of her Patrol friends accidentally lands. At the end of that crazy episode, which takes the audience onto a journey into Jane’s mind, she needs to fight a childhood trauma. The scene turns into a typical boss fight, giving it a ridiculously entertaining , kinda gaming vibe, which helps to process the actual weight that it symbolises.

Ezekiel the giant cockroach - doom patrol by hobo
Ezekiel from “Doom Patrol” by HBO.

#3 Ezekiel and Admiral Whiskers making out

“Doom Patrol” was never particularly scary of going sexually weird, but I can’t imagine any other film or TV series that included a gigantic cockroach making out with an equally oversized rat.

It’s the kind of stuff you could possibly find in a deeply independent stuff during Sitges Film Festival or some other indie film festival that celebrates bizarre above everything else. But here we are, discussing an HBO series with that exact concept included.

While this scene’s genesis still seems shady to me, I gotta say that’s the icing on a cake I expected after 14 twisted episodes.

Timothy Dalton as Niles Caulder
Timothy Dalton as Niles Caulder in “Doom Patrol”.

#2 Getting all warm and fuzzy with a cave lady

The Chief, marvellously played by Timothy Dalton, had little craziness to portray, but when he’s finally given the time, it goes full-on bonkers.

This one moment arrives when Dalton’s characters is left stranded in a dusky forest, left to die. He’s saved by what seems to be a cave woman – a powerful being capable of shapeshifting (in a way). The wounded Chief, without an option to escape, stays with the creature for years and eventually – develops feelings for her.

If that wasn’t enough, their relationship is consummated on-screen, with the cavewoman mounting Dalton in a rather straightforward way. If any series could pull off a scene like that and still keep it within its own borders, it had to be “Doom Patrol”.

doom patrol orsgasm scene

#1 Coming together scene

Did you expect anything else to top the ranking?

This scene is just straight-out a middle finger to anything a superhero movie or series used to be. All of the characters brought to a climax, in a surreal street that’s a ghost (or a person, nobody knows), with a super-muscled guy dressed in a leopard pants who makes them come.

It’s the scene that captured that charming weirdness of “Doom Patrol”. And frankly, it is probably the one scene from the show that you will remember forever.

What were your favourite scenes from “Doom Patrol”? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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