Doom Patrol's season 2 finale sets up an even crazier season 3
Doom Patrol season-two finale spoilers follow.
Doom Patrol is bleak at the best of times, but the final episode of season two ended with an even bigger helping of 'Doom' than usual.
All season long, the threat of the Candlemaker has loomed large, threatening to snuff out our loveable misfits for good. Of course, this being Doom Patrol, the team were more concerned with their own personal battles for the most part. Still, that didn't stop Dorothy's most powerful 'Imaginary Friend' from exploiting these struggles in the finale.
With the fate of the world at stake, each member of the Doom Patrol tries to put aside their problems and confront the Candlemaker, but he ends up using the team's own imaginary friends against them by tapping into their innermost childhood trauma.
Larry Trainor is waxed early on, which doesn't make sense because he has no imaginary friend to exploit, but since when does Doom Patrol play by the rules?
Cyborg's usual daddy issues take a surprising turn when the actor who plays his father transforms into Doctor Cowboy, a character Vic created to replace the love his father never gave him. Surprisingly enough, this encounter doesn't end too well.
Rita confronts parental trauma of a different sort, embodied here by a paper doll called Mademoiselle Roxie. This confrontation feeds into a revelation from earlier on in season two when Rita discovered what her mother did to ensure her success in Hollywood. Coming to terms with what happened empowers Rita to fight back with an unusual dance-off, but not even her elastic body can withstand the Candlemaker's wax.
Cliff has more to lose than most, skipping out on his daughter's wedding to save the world, but instead, he ends up fighting his own personal Jesus. Literally.
Back when Cliff attended Bible Camp as a kid, Jesus provided him with the kind of solace his father wouldn't, but he soon stopped believing upon returning home. Jesus clearly took this personally, and after one of the show's most eccentric fights yet, the Son of God proceeds to rip Robotman apart, leaving nothing but wax-covered pieces behind.
While the rest of the team battle their imaginary friends, Jane turns inward and tries to fix all the problems she's been dealing with in The Underground. Most of the finale explores this conflict via flashbacks where we discover Jane's origin story and what really happened to "Miranda".
That's right. The Miranda who seemingly brought peace to Kay isn't who she says she is. Towards the end of season two's finale, Jane discovers that Miranda actually died in the well she supposedly rose from. Kay realises this too when so-called "Miranda" appears to her in the form of their abusive father.
Presumably, this major reveal sets up whoever Miranda might be as the Big Bad of season three. However, things aren't quite that simple, because this ninth episode was never supposed to be the season two finale. While most of the tenth episode was filmed, the pandemic prevented it from being finished, leaving us instead with this makeshift ending.
Showrunner Jeremy Carver (via TVLine) says the team were forced to make "a bit of a pivot" to ensure a "satisfying end to the season." Unfortunately, the results are a mixed bag. Rather than bringing some much-needed closure to season two, the ninth episode ends with a frustratingly huge cliffhanger.
With the Doom Patrol defeated, it's up to Dorothy to save the world. Niles has no faith in his daughter, but that doesn't stop her from confronting the Candlemaker. Unfortunately, it looks like Niles might be right to worry, as the battle quickly ends with the Candlemaker snatching her away from the funfair, leaving the team all waxy and potentially dead. At least she has that giant sword still.
Presumably, this means that first episode of season three will essentially be the tenth episode of season two, reworked slightly to make sense as a new premiere. Bearing that in mind, it's safe to say that things will kick off with Dorothy's battle against The Candlemaker, and if anyone can defeat this imaginary creature, it's her, because she's the one who conjured him up in the first place.
Whether The Candlemaker is melted down to a nub or not, expect Jane's "Miranda" persona to play an even bigger role in season three regardless. Could she secretly be a new and more chill version of Mr Nobody? Probably not, but season two suffered in his absence, and the writers should find any excuse they can to bring Alan Tudyk back onto the show.
And the rest? Well, presuming that the Doom Patrol aren't really doomed, season three will have to pick up the legwork and develop each member's ongoing struggles further than these most recent episodes did. Not enough to miraculously fix their problems completely, but just enough to escape that feeling of treading water which plagued much of season two.
So, essentially, Larry has a lot more work to do when it comes to his own feelings of self-worth. Voice actor Matt Bomer told us that the Negative Man sidelined love this time round to focus on family, so now's it's time for him to find some kind of romantic love, or at least embrace himself with more kindness.
Don't be surprised if cosmonaut Valentina Vostok pops up again in season three either, as the pair physically bonded their negative spirits together in the comics.
Vic, Cliff, and Rita all have personal demons of their own to vanquish too. How this will play out remains to be seen, assuming they've even survived the Candlemaker's assault, but we'd bet money on them entering some kind of weird mind-space at the start of season three, working through their trauma while their bodies are still encased in wax.
Moving forward, it's also impossible to imagine another season without Danny the Street Tire, who now seems destined to evolve into Danny the time-travelling Ambulance, their most recent form in the comics.
That's a lot of plot threads Doom Patrol's season two finale leaves dangling. As Carver mentioned to TVLine, "no one likes to have unanswered questions," and he would "love" to have the opportunity to address them further, but that all depends on if season three even happens.
Right now, the future of Doom Patrol and the DC Universe app it airs on is even more confused than Jane's multiple personas, but if all goes well, expect to see a third season arrive late 2021 at the very earliest. Whether that appears on DC Universe, HBO Max, or somewhere else entirely, let's just pray that a season three is confirmed at all.
Maybe a bigger, and even more insane Arrowverse crossover could offset some of the show's bleakness and guarantee a third season...
Doom Patrol is available in the UK through Starz on Amazon Prime. US viewers can check out both seasons on HBO Max and the DC Universe app.
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