Penultimate Patrol

"Penultimate Patrol" is the fourteenth episode of the first season of Doom Patrol. It premiered on May 17, 2019.

Synopsis
The Doom Patrol finally lands on the threshold of rescuing the Chief from the clutches of Mr. Nobody; with help from Flex Mentallo and Danny the Street, the group enters the White Space, where Mr. Nobody offers a chance to start again.

Chicago, Illinois: 1946
Millie is at a restaurant reading a newspaper article about how the Brotherhood of Evil threatened the city. Eric comes in and tells Millie that the Brotherhood didn't like his presentation. He explains that they fired him despite all of his plans. The Brain didn't think Eric had enough zip, so he replaced Eric with an intelligent gorilla. Millie tells Eric to go back and make the Brain rehire him, and Eric tells her that he got off evil and can't do it without getting killed. He's only a threat because they don’t' consider him a threat physically or mentally. Millie says that she can't do it anymore and starts to go. Eric insists that it's a minor setback, but she doesn't believe it and just follows him around even though he's a failure. As he follows her out, Eric insists that he'll be a somebody but Millie tells him that he's a nobody and always will be.

Now
The group drive to the location they found for Beard Hunter, where he's been for over a week. They wonder how much use Flex will be to them, and Larry apologizes to Flex about Dolores. Flex says that what happened to Dolores is his because the device went off once he and Flex recognized each other. Larry insists that the Bureau is responsible for Dolores' death and once they get Niles back, they'll make the Bureau answer for everything they've done.

There's a street in the middle of nowhere, and Larry explains that it's Danny the Street and he forgot to tell them. Cliff drives the bus onto Danny and Danny "greets" them. Flex recognizes Danny, and Danny asks how Dolores is doing. The hero says that she's gone, and Danny offers its condolences. As Flex and Danny mourn, Rita tells Danny that she hates to interrupt but they're looking for Beard Hunter. She sees Earnest walking down the street and runs over to him. He says that he doesn't hunt beard anymore, and Rita demands to know where Niles is. Earnest says that Niles wasn't there but Danny was, and it got him off of the beard eating. Hammerhead threatens to ram bananas up Earnest if he doesn't give them answers.

Danny says that it knows where Niles is, and that it didn't tell Larry because it's afraid of Mr. Nobody. Rita convinces it to tell them Niles' location, and it says "White Space". Flex knows what it is and how to get there.

Vic looks at his injured father and remembers how he attacked him at the Ant Farm. Silas wakes up and Vic hugs him in relief.

Flex uses a comic book to explain that the White Space is the border where there's no story. He has a flex to get them there. Rita wonders what happen when they get there, and Larry figures that they need a strategy. They figure Nobody will separate them and use their past to torture them, and they haven't been able to do anything. The three of them argue until Cliff yells at them to knock it off, He admits that their win/loss relationship is shit, but they're past that and now they're there to save Niles.

The loin-clothed legend tells everyone to focus on the White Space and subsequently flexes. Nothing happens at first, but then everyone but Cliff and Flex have orgasms. Flex realizes that he flexed the wrong muscle, and Cliff tries to play along. Once everyone is done, Flex apologizes and tells everyone to take as much time as they need.

Vic makes Silas comfortable, and Silas confirms that his son reinstalled Grid. When Vic admits that he screwed up, Silas assures him that it's all right. Vic explains that Nobody got into his head and twisted his mistrust, and Silas says that he knows what Vic was thinking and he was right not to trust him. He explains that not all of Vic's memories are real.

Meanwhile, the group agrees to let Flex try again, and Jane realizes that Cliff faked an orgasm. He finally admits that he didn't want to feel left out. Flex tells them to focus, and flexes, but nothing happens at first. Larry suddenly finds himself in his human body seated at the breakfast table with his family.

Rita is in her tent getting ready to film the scene where she fell into the African river.

Jane is in a barricaded asylum room, and the orderly outside knocks on the door and says that she has to go to bed.

Rita finds herself back in his human body. All while Mr. Nobody boasts that they walked into the trap they all hoped to avoid. He says that each of them is on the day that their origins began. Nobody offers them their old lives back minus the tragedies that destroyed them. Their lives can be whatever they want, and all they have to do is stay where they are and stop looking for Niles. They won't worry about Niles because to them, they will have never met him and he'll fade from their memories with time.

Larry tells Nobody that they're stronger now, but Nobody points out that they've sat in a circle and whined to each other.

The first assistant director tells Rita that they fired the focus puller who was distracting her.

Larry washes dishes and Sheryl joins him.

Cliff has sex with a mistress.

Larry wonders what Sheryl is going to do after his test flight.

Cliff says that sex doesn't feel right.

The FAD assures Rita that people across the world adore her.

Sheryl tells Larry that he should go on his flight.

Cliff considers how life would turn out and moves away from the mistress.

Larry figures that he should go.

Rita checks her makeup in the mirror, and Nobody tells her that she'll become a monster if she leaves the tent. She says that she became a monster long before her accident.

Cliff figures out that he's still a piece of garbage.

Larry tells himself that he was selfish and dishonest and he ruined the family long before the day he's in.

Rita tells Nobody that she's become a better person and her stay with Niles has been a big part of it.

Cliff goes to find Niles, and Nobody tells him that it's all real and he can save his family.

Nobody asks Larry about John, and Larry says that John has lived his life and he should as well.

Jane stays in her ward room, and Mr. Nobody praises her as "Sensitive Jane". She screams in rage, reverts to Hammerhead, unbarricades the door, and yells in defiance at Nobody. Jane briefly switches in and says that they're safer there, but Hammerhead tells her that it's safer for others but not for them. The two selves argue with each other, and Hammerhead says that she's supposed to protect the girl.

Vic tells Silas what he remembers after the accident, and Silas says that Vic's mother was still alive. They rushed both of them to STAR's surgical experimentation center, but Silas could only save one of them. Niles argued that Vic was the better physical candidate to accept the biotechnology, and made Silas realize that saving Vic was the only choice his wife would let him make. He told Vic the same story until that was what he remembered. Vic says that he carried it for years, and Silas admits that he was afraid that that Vic would hate him for letting his wife die. His son gets up, saying he has friends that he can actually trust, and leaves.

The group find themselves in the White Space as Nobody narrates that they gave up the happy endings that he gave them. Now they're lost and alone with nothing but Nobody's narration to keep them company. Rita takes over, narrating that deep down she knew everything was fine. Nobody wonders what she's doing, and Rita says that she'll narrate her own story despite Nobody insisting that she can't. She narrates how the group finds each other, and Larry and Cliff find her.

Niles appears and says that they shouldn't have come there. Nobody appears and says that they'll have to go through him to get Niles. He takes on his Nobody form for the showdown, and Jane appears in her Dr. Harrison persona and asks what Nobody is overcompensating for. Nobody insists that he can control the streaming service if he wants to, and Harrison tells the others that Nobody is delusional because of his lifetime of inferiority. She points out that Rita took control, and Mille appears and says that Mr. Nobody is just that, a nobody. Millie walks away and Nobody reverts to his human form, and the group dismiss him as someone basic and sad.

Nevertheless, Mr. Nobody insists that he has power and it's time to fight, but the group feels bad about fighting him now that they know him. He says that he's going to fight them whether they want to or not and Vic arrives and blasts him apart. The group figures that's it, and Cliff warns Niles that they trashed Doom Manor. He figures that they’ve found much more than him.

One year later
At the manor, Niles summons the group for the morning briefing. Larry serves breakfast and Niles tells them that the Brotherhood of Evil is on the move again in Brussels. The alarms go off and the team head to the nearby city. People are running in panic, and Cliff points out the giant robot marching across the field. Niles tells them to try talking to it, and Cliff asks the robot if it's friend or foe. The robot throws a tree at them and then disintegrates them with its eyebeams.

Again
Niles summons the group for the morning briefing. As Larry serves breakfast the alarms go off and the team head to the nearby city. People are running in panic, and Cliff points out the giant robot marching across the field. Niles tells them to try talking to it, and Cliff asks the robot if it's friend or foe. The robot throws a tree at them and then crushes them with a giant foot.

Again
Niles summons the group for the morning briefing once again. As Larry serves breakfast yet again, the alarms go off. Niles realizes that everything seems familiar and tells the team to be careful. Niles tells the team to run, but the robot fires missiles at them and they are blown up in the process.

Again
On repeat, Niles summons the group for the morning briefing. As Larry serves breakfast the alarms go off. At the park, The robot crushes them with a giant foot. The sequence repeats over and over, the team being killed each time. Niles finally tells the team to stop as they respond to the alarm, and says that it's a trap and that Mr.Nobody is the one doing it. He explains that Mr. Nobody is making him watch them die again and again, and he should have known that they didn't beat him afterall. Thus, the real Mr. Nobody arrives, and the fake Vic says that Niles finally figured it out and reverts to his real form of Nobody.

The group appears in White Space, and Nobody tells the team that there's no beating him ever. They can be free of him and turns to Niles, asking for the truth. Niles realizes that's been all about getting him to tell the team the truth, and Niles says he can't. The group tells him that he can tell them anything, and Niles finally says that he caused all the "accidents" that afflicted them.

Starring

 * Diane Guerrero as Crazy Jane,Hammerhead, and Doctor Harrison (inhabiting Kay Challis's body)
 * April Bowlby as Rita Farr
 * Joivan Wade as Vic Stone/Cyborg
 * Alan Tudyk as Eric Morden/Mr. Nobody
 * Matt Bomer as Larry Trainor
 * Brendan Fraser as Cliff Steele/Robotman

Special appearance by

 * Timothy Dalton as Dr. Niles Caulder/The Chief

Also starring

 * Riley Shanahan as Cliff Steele/Robotman
 * Matthew Zuk as Larry Trainor

Guest starring

 * Phil Morris as Silas Stone
 * Devan Chandler Long as Flex Mentallo
 * Tommy Snider as Ernest Franklin
 * Julie McNiven as Sheryl Trainor
 * Victoria Blade as Millie

Co-starring

 * Ashley Dougherty as Giselle
 * Todd Allen Durkin as Charles
 * Swift Rice as Ferdinand

Trivia

 * This week's episode began with Mr. Nobody getting dumped…. twice. That’s right folks, even super-villains know the pain of rejection. First, he was kicked out of the Brotherhood of Evil, then his girlfriend brushed him off. Before giving the pre-Nobody, AKA Eric Morden, the cold shoulder, his date mentioned his giant robot, and held up a miniature model of it.
 * Thanks, to the power of Nobodyvision, we got to see the giant robot destroy the Doom Patrol dozens of times... That robot was first seen in 1964’s Doom Patrol #86 (written by Arnold Drake and Howard Purcell, penciled by Bruno Premiani and Howard Purcell) and was named Rog. He was piloted by Eric Morden, who had stolen the robot from Niles Caulder. This does raise a question -- was the screen version of Morden taking credit for Niles' work or did he actually build Rog himself? Either way, Rog proved quite effective as a Doom Patrol destroyer.
 * During Morden’s disastrous date, he told his girlfriend that the Brotherhood of Evil replaced him with a talking gorilla. That gorilla’s name is Monsieur Mallah, and he was first seen in 1964’s Doom Patrol #86. In the comics, Mallah wasn’t Morden’s replacement, he was one of the members to initially welcome him into the group. Either way, Morden’s tenure in the Brotherhood didn’t last long, while Mallah thrived. For a deep and compelling look at the partnership between Mallah and the love of his life, the Brain, check out 1990’s Doom Patrol #34 (written by Grant Morrison and penciled by Richard Case).
 * This episode saw a heartwarming reunion between Flex Mentallo and Danny the Street, which surprised the Doom Patrol, who were unaware the two knew each other. In the comics, the Doom Patrol first met Flex on Danny the Street, but his shaggy appearance gave little hint of his muscular nature. Readers learned the story behind Flex and Danny’s friendship in 1991’s Doom Patrol #42 (written by Grant Morrison, penciled by Richard Case and Mike Dringenberg), through a series of flashbacks that revealed how Mentallo found his way onto the sentient thoroughfare. It turned out that, after he was imprisoned for an extended period of time, Danny's jovial vibes gave Flex his first real sense of comfort.
 * If you’re a vintage comic collector, you’d probably love living on Danny the Street. Last time the group was there he gave Victor an issue of My Greatest Adventure, and this time he had a whole rack full of Silver Age classics. Among these titles was Mystery in Space, DC’s science fiction anthology book that became home to Adam Strange. The title also briefly chronicled the adventures of Hawkman, the winged Justice Leaguer whom Cliff playfully mentioned later this episode.
 * If you’re curious about which issue Flex transported the team inside, it was Mystery in Space #30, the cover of which featured Dwight D. Eisenhower. This issue also contained a Space Cabbie adventure. Space Cabbie (who first appeared on screen in the 2016 animated series Justice League Action) is exactly what he sounds like -- an Uber driver in space.
 * In Mr. Nobody’s mind-bending dreamscape, viewers got to see the Doom Patrol gather for a team meeting. Rita, who'd thrown herself into her superheroine role, arrived ten minutes early, complete with her own team uniform. It makes sense that Rita was the first person to sport the classic Doom Patrol outfit, since she herself designed it -- in 1964’s Doom Patrol #89 (written by Arnold Drake and penciled by Bruno Premiani).
 * Later versions of the team abandoned the red-and-white look, but Beast Boy continued wearing it for decades as a tribute to his adopted mother Rita Farr. The outfits were also a favorite of the Chief, who tried getting the group to wear them once more in 2017’s Doom Patrol #7 (written by Gerard Way, penciled by Michael Allred and Nick Derington). But the move weirded the team out, and they soon discarded the classic uniforms in favor of their more casual attire.
 * This isn’t the first time the Doom Patrol’s classic uniforms have been referenced in live action -- Beast Boy was seen wearing a variation of it in Titans episode 3 “Origins” and Rita herself wore a version of it in Titans episode 4 "Doom Patrol".