"Danny Patrol" - Doom Patrol S01E08 Review

Yes, "Danny Patrol" is revolutionary and sends a message to non-binaries, and goes against all the norms of television. It's also based on a story from 1990, so it's only 19 years old. Whether that means Hollywood is behind the times, Grant Morrison was ahead of the times, or Morrison's message about Danny is more needed than ever, take your pick. Maybe it means some of all three.

So the whole thing is... not exactly boring to me, since I read the story in 1990 and it's a good adaptation. But it's not as new as a lot of reviewers claim, either. Maybe they weren't reading comics in 1990.

For those not in on the character background, Danny the Street is a sentient, trans-queer, teleporting street. It "jumps" around the world, blending into cities. talking through newsprint and patterns formed in leaves and mist, and picking up people who have fallen between the cracks of society: "Danny-zens". While Danny has no gender, being a street, in the original stories it was portrayed as an extremely camp homosexual male in its dialogue (including a lot of Polari slang) and how it decorated its streets. It being 2019, the emphasis is on Danny being trans-gender, or non-binary, or whatever.

Darren Jones is also a character from the Morrison Doom Patrol comics. The man was obsessed with "normalcy" (his 1950s version of it), and led the Men From N.O.W.H.E.R.E., not the Bureau of Normalcy. In "Danny Patrol" he's reduced to nothing other than Evil Government Man in Black Black Guy. The backstory of the Bureau of Normalcy is incorporated into Larry's background as to what happened to him after he first gained his powers.

How does Danny get involved with the Doom Patrol? It needs Niles' help, and sends a cake to Doom Manor. Cliff, Rita, and Jane are busy in Subplot B, so Larry and Vic figure Danny knows something about Niles and go to investigate. They end up on Danny and greeted by Maura (Alan Mingo Jr.), who, as we saw in the prelude, was Morris Wilson, a member of the Bureau sent to find Danny. As we'll find out, Darren (Jon Briddell) is still searching for Danny and intends to eliminate the "aberration".

We find out in flashbacks the Bureau of Normalcy took Larry after he became irradiated, carted him off to the Ant Farm, and hit him with electric prods to get the Spirit to emerge. The officer in charge, Forsythe (Ethan McDowell), wants to use Larry as a weapon against the Commies, and informs Larry he's been recruited whether Larry wants to serve or not.

In the present, Darren eventually finds Danny and comes for him. Morris is willing to give himself up, claim he was working undercover, and destroyed Danny, but Vic is having none of that. So Maura and the other Danny-zens confront Darren and his men. Maura kicks Darren's ass, Danny teleports Darren's agents away (why didn't it do that in the first place?), and Larry gives Darren his name and tells him Danny is off-limits. Danny refuses to help find Niles when it hears Nobody is involved, but it does give Vic a comic book as a clue before teleporting him and Larry back to Doom Manor.

In the B plot, another persona of Jane manifests. It's Karen, who is blonde, loves 90s romcoms, and obsessed with a schmuck named Doug (Brent Bailey). She's dumped him (presumably as any of the other 63 personas take over) and linked back up with him dozens of time, thanks to Rita who knows all about it. Rita seems to be a more omniscient narrator than Nobody is.

Karen invites Cliff and Rita to Doug's home, but then shuts Cliff out because he looks abnormal. Rita doesn't have any troubles holding her form this week, so she's okay as far as Karen is concerned. Karen has the power to cast a "love spell" which keeps enthralling Doug to her, and convinces his family it's okay to let him marry her. When Rita objects, Karen casts her love spell on her, and Rita is soon giggling and gushing like Karen. Basically, Karen has a limited version of the Dr. Harrison persona's mind-influencing powers.

Cliff is immune to the love spell, which presumably either affects the human body and he doesn't have one, or works on human eyes and ears and Cliff doesn't have those either. He tries to carry Karen out, and she reverts to Hammer Head, almost kills Doug, and Karen ends up cast into the Underground of Jane's subconscious. Which leaves Jane in a state of catatonia.

In the C plot, Larry is having trouble accepting himself for who he is. He goes to Danny's Peeping Tom Perpetual Cabaret, and imagines himself in a human body performing a musical number with Maura. He walks out, and as noted, later rejects the Bureau. Although he had presumably already rejected them. There's a scene we don't see where he's in the cabaret singing with the Danny-zens after they defeat Darren. Unfortunately, Danny teleports Larry back to Doom Manor and we only see Larry in the middle of singing.

In the distant D plot, while Cliff waits out on the porch, a young boy seems him, dresses up as him, and befriends him. He dances the Robot, Cliff displays his own dance moves, and then talks about his experiences in the 80s that the boy has no idea what he's talking about.

The overall message of the episode is acceptance: Maura accepts who she is, Larry accepts who he is, Vic kind of accepts who he is, Cliff finds someone who accepts him for who he is, Karen uses her power to force people to accept her as Doug's bride-to-be. We get Matt Bomer as the human Larry performing a musical number, and it's a great one as the entire cabaret comes to life as he sings. Since the Danny-zens have to "keep the party going" to keep Danny alive. Which raises the question, if he was always like that, how did it survive before it started collecting Danny-zens? Or did Danny evolve to have a symbiotic relationship with its Danny-zens?

The climactic battle is a bit too... gender-oriented compared to the original. Which had Danny cross-dressing Darren against his will. The episode has the battle be a basic fistfight with Maura punching out Darren. You also wonder why Vic and Larry were necessary. They don't really do anything: Maura and Danny are the ones who save the day, and save Danny. It does give us the opportunity to see Matt Bomer sing.

The B plot with Karen gives Diane Guerrero another major acting opportunity. It doesn't tie much into the acceptance theme. It gives us a brief glimpse of Jane's Underground, more of the over-used Hammer Head, and the opportunity for Cliff to meet a fan. Brendan Fraser and Riley Shenahan as the voice/body of Cliff are still hilarious. Even if his characterization arc still consists of him looking for Jane, trying to apologize to Jane, and having Hammer Head (and Karen) telling him to bugger off.

Overall, "Danny Patrol" is a great episode because it gives us Danny, another wacky Morrison creation. Like "Cult Patrol" and "Paw Patrol", which gave us Willoughby Kipling and the Ghost City of Nurnheim and the Cult of the Decreator. Its sexual politics are new, if you didn't read Morrison in the 90s. It doesn't advance any of the storylines already in place. The team is still looking for Niles, Larry is still bothered by his past, Cliff is still trying to take Jane under his wing, Jane doesn't want to be taken under his wing, Vic is still trying to whip the team (or at least Larry this episode) into superheroes.

And thematically it's a bit like current fare such as The Greatest Showman. We get a music number and a major character telling people to accept her for who she is. Maybe that's why "Danny Patrol" doesn't seem that innovative to me. Not only was the story told a little better by Morrison himself working with his own creation, but it's not as new and unique now as it was back in 1990. It's still a great story and everything is well acted and well scripted, it's just not as new as some viewers and reviews claim. Either that, or they haven't experienced all of the things that have been done in 1990 and beyond.

But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?