Doom Patrol: The Complete Second Season Blu Ray Review (Warner Bros)

Doom Patrol follows the unlikely heroes of the eponymous team who all received their powers through tragic circumstances and are generally shunned by society. Most members of the team were treated by the Niles “Chief” Caulder (played by: Timothy Dalton from Hot Fuzz, Flash Gordon, The Living Daylights, and Licence to Kill), a medical doctor who gave them residence in his mansion to help protect them from the outside world. Their name derives from an earlier Doom Patrol team that was formed by the Chief. The members of the Doom Patrol include dissociative identity disorder case “Crazy” Jane (played by: Diane Guerrero from Superior Donuts, Orange Is the New Black, Justice League vs the Fatal Five, and Killerman), former actress that can’t control her body Rita “Elasti-Girl” Farr (played by: April Bowlby from Two and a Half Men, Sands of Oblivion, The Slammin’ Salmon, and How I Met Your Mother), cursed with an entity of negative energy living inside of him Larry “Negative Man” Trainor (played by: Matt Bomer from American Horror Story, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, Chuck, and White Collar), former race car driver that had his brain transplanted into a robot Cliff “Robotman” Steele (played by: Brendan Fraser from The Mummy franchise, Airheads, Crash, and The Passion of Darkly Noon), and the former Justice League standout Vic “Cyborg” Stone (played by: Joivan Wade from The First Purge, Doctor Who, EastEnders, and The Weekend).

It tells the backstory of Niles “Chief” Caulder’s daughter Dorothy (played by: Abi Monterey from Broadway Kids Against Bullying: I Have a Voice) who looks a little different from everyone else. She is performing at the circus when one of her dangerous imaginary friends massacres everyone there except for the Chief. “Crazy” Jane, “Elasti-Girl”, “Cyborg”, and “Robotman” are all trapped in a shrunken miniature state. “Negative Man” desperately tries to bring them all back to normal sizes during his variety of experiments. They meet people from the past including affiliates of the their leader the Chief. The Candlemaker (played by: Lex Lang from Star Wars Resistance, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Transformers: Robots in Disguise, and Power Rangers franchise) gets inside of the mind of  Dorothy and her powers become more dangerous under it’s influence. They take a dangerous journey into the unknown and space. Can this team survive all of these problems????

Season Two tries to be a little different compared to the first season. It puts the team in a variety of crazy situations. I think some of them were too random and unnecessary for the show to be honest. The writing is all over the place for Doom Patrol’s return but I will say it got weirder which is always a plus. This season is a little shorter compared the original. A new main character is introduced here, Dorothy. I thought she had some really cool powers but she was annoying for the most part here. I wasn’t a big fan of her addition and it kinda took away from some of the older main roles at times. This one didn’t have a great villain like the last season so that caused some problems for Season Two when it came to tension and suspense. Don’t get me wrong, The Candlemaker is a decent role but no where close to the previous one. Personally, I wish there was more Red Jack (played by: Roger Floyd from Swamp Thing) for this series besides one episode. That villain was much better and looked really creepy. It felt a little empty in that department. Brendan Fraser continues to steal the show as Robotman in Doom Patrol. The former James Bond, Timothy Dalton actually had lots more to do in this follow up. His character has so much going on and his past is very questionable. He was amazing here as the conflicted leader dealing with his own issues and sacrifices. The supporting cast that includes Diane Guerrero, April Bowlby, Joivan Wade, and Matt Bomer makes Doom Patrol better every time no matter what. I think comedy took over a little more here which isn’t a bad thing. Doom Patrol is still one of the best superhero shows on television but I do hope Season Three is more like One rather than Two. RECOMMENDED!!!!

Let’s talk about the high definition presentation from Warner Bros! These 1080p (2.20:1) transfers for Doom Patrol’s 9 episodes look stunning on blu ray. Season Two has a little bit of everything when it comes to it’s production design and the stylish cinematography. The English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track sounds great here! The action has a killer boost to it and the soundtrack/music is elevated here. These two really shine on this and it’s one of the better sounding superhero shows out there right now. All of the dialogue is crystal clear. It has English SDH subtitles. It only has a few extras on this two disc set. “Doom Patrol: The Magic of Makeup” is a little over 9 minutes. It has interviews with FX designer Bill Johnson, special FX makeup artists Derek and Eric Garcia. They chat about trying to stay close to the original comics but sometimes that isn’t possible when it comes to live action. They talk about their work on the Dorothy character for this season. It has behind the scenes footage showing them transforming the actress into her. They go over Larry and a few other roles for the show. “Come Visit Georgia PSA” is a little over 2 minutes. It has interviews with production designer Carey Meyer. A chat about Georgia. A talk about a variety of shooting locations there. It’s a nice little inside look into the show and it’s very similar to the original one that was on Season One. It does come with a slipbox and an episode guide.It’s available everywhere right now, It’s also available on streaming on HBO Max. CHECK IT OUT!!!!