Doom Patrol: The Complete Fourth and Final Season Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		4.0

Doom Patrol: The Complete Fourth and Final Season Blu-ray Movie Review

Time destroys everything.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III April 16, 2024

What's the most unlikely scenario: that Doom Patrol existed as a show, it was popular enough to last four seasons, or that all of them actually got released on Blu-ray? The answer, of course, is all three... but somehow here we are, again enjoying the last wild and weird TV adventures of a superhero team that pre-dates The X-Men. Available in this set or as part of a series-spanning collection, The Complete Fourth and Final Season wraps up Doom Patrol's logic-defying escapades in grand and glorious fashion. Simply put? If you've come this far, it's an absolute no-brainer.

Beginning with its first season, Doom Patrol quickly established that, despite the original concept dating all the way back to 1963 (when the comic was created by writers Arnold Drake and Bob Haney, with substantial creative input by artist Bruno Premiani), this TV series would rightly take most of its cues from its 1989 iteration by celebrated Scottish writer Grant Morrison in 1989 after his Eisner Award-nominated run on DC's floundering Animal Man. Morrison shook up Doom Patrol considerably in what could best be described as "a complete takeover", with his surreal campaign including bizarre new characters such as Flex Mentallo, Danny the Street, and Crazy Jane, whose multiple personalities each had their own unique superpower. The TV series followed suit, meaning that there was a lot to unpack and those unfamiliar with the source material likely spent the first few episodes scratching their heads in disbelief and confusion.

Yet Doom Patrol would remain largely compelling and surprisingly approachable after that initial learning curve, with each of its 15 first-season episodes and beyond either building upon the last or thumbing its nose at continuity. The initial team was composed of Cliff Steele AKA Robotman (voiced by Brendan Fraser, performed by Riley Shenahan), a former NASCAR driver and accident victim whose brain survived in a clunky, metallic shell; Negative Man (Matt Bomer), scarred for life after a cosmic entity entered his body during a flight mission; Rita Farr (April Bowlby), a former actress disfigured during an on-set accident who can't always keep her shape; Vic Stone (Joivan Wade), a technology-enhanced vigilante with a rich dad; and of course, Crazy Jane (Diane Guerrero, in top form), she of 64 distinct personalities and the chaotic powers that went with them. They were led by Dr. Niles Caulder AKA "Chief" (Timothy Dalton), the team's de facto father figure whose disappearance formed the basis of Season One's main story arc. Further weaving together the show's twisted narrative was "Mr. Nobody" (Alan Tudyk), a reality and fourth wall-breaking super-villain who was just one of the reasons by Doom Patrol's first season was almost inarguably its finest hour.

Later seasons introduced or expanded ideas and characters like then-new team member Dorothy Spinner (Abigail Shapiro), ape-faced daughter of the Chief, as well as the mysterious Brotherhood of Evil and one of its shape-shifting veterans, Laura De Mille / Madame Rouge (Michelle Gomez), while revealing clever narrative detours that were equal parts mind-bending and slyly subversive. Some episodes and arcs during Seasons 1-3 were notably better than others, but Doom Patrol's consistent ability to provoke and challenge its audience (test subjects?) while not taking itself too seriously made for quite the emotional ride during just 34 episodes between 2019 and 2021. Of course, a long-winded summary of "the story so far" could easily swallow up at least 3,000 words... so for my condensed but slightly more complete reviews of the first three seasons of Doom Patrol on Blu-ray, please visit the following links:

Season One | Season Two | Season Three

Season 4 ends the journey with a dozen episodes that, though not without a few noticeable missteps, reaches a few inarguable heights and ends on a fittingly satisfying note. Luckily, the brief dips in quality happen mostly early on, with some of the main characters' wallowing in past trauma -- which was kind of a turn-off in Seasons 2 and especially 3, quite honestly -- once again rearing its ugly head, and the main characters' general lack of ability to actually learn from their mistakes once again proves slightly frustrating. Yet other strong seeds keep it afloat as the season goes on, such as an unexpected curse that finds our heroes suddenly wrestling with middle age and beyond, as well as the continued appearance of new team member Laura De Mille / Madame Rouge (Michelle Gomez), a shape-shifter first introduced at the end of last season. And even with the occasional one-off dud like episode 9, "Immortimas Patrol" (a full-fledged musical that really should have been limited to one or two scenes), what Doom Patrol serves up as a conclusion makes the speed bumps well worth enduring; there's a potent amount of closure here and, while individually this isn't the strongest batch of episodes compared to earlier years, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Boasting the fewest new characters of the bunch, Season 4 nonetheless offers choice appearances by new faces like Bureau of Normalcy scientist Dr. Margaret Wu (Keiko Agena, Gilmore Girls), comic book villain Richard Frank / Torminox (Tyler Mane), fellow baddie Codpiece (Joseph Avail) and his henchman Stewart (Joseph Echavarria), twin were-butts (Dylan Saunders and James Smagul), psychic vampire Dr. Janus (Timeca Seretti), and more. Like most of Doom Patrol in general, these minor but colorful characters occupy that wild and weird little corner of comics alongside cult classics like The Tick and Flaming Carrot, skillfully toeing the line between sly parody and genuine reverence. While the fate of its titular team is rightly the focus of these final 12 episodes -- which fit four apiece on WB's three-disc Blu-ray set -- the additional flavor of its supporting characters is as much a part of this show as its more familiar faces.

Disc One: "Doom Patrol", "Butt Patrol", "Nostalgia Patrol", and "Casey Patrol"
Disc Two: "Youth Patrol", "Hope Patrol", "Orqwith Patrol", and "Fame Patrol"
Disc Three: "Immortimas Patrol", "Tomb Patrol", "Portal Patrol", and "Done Patrol"

Doom Patrol: The Complete Fourth and Final Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Doom Patrol has stayed fairly visually consistent during all of its four seasons, primarily employing a dark, sometimes filtered, and generally low-lit atmosphere with occasional detours into vibrant, candy-colored territory, a juxtaposition that creates quite an interesting contrast. Normally this type of look might prove challenging to preserve on Blu-ray (and truth be told, would probably look even better on 4K UHD), but Warner Bros.' largely rock-solid 1080p transfer does the show's visuals justice. Expected problems like banding are kept to an absolute minimum but still make their presence known on occasion, especially on harsher gradients and in extremely foggy moments, while faintly subtle gradients are rendered more capably in low-lit areas like Doom Manor and nighttime exteriors. Fine image detail and textures have always been striking, especially in costume details and little details sprinkled throughout the set designs. It's yet another solid effort that looks about as good as Seasons 2-3, which featured a similar episode count per disc; here, it's four apiece, which seems to be more than enough real estate to fit everything comfortably.

Doom Patrol: The Complete Fourth and Final Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Doom Patrol's default DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix once again preserves the show's very tightly defined yet often unpredictable sound design, which occasionally ranges from quiet conversations in large rooms to occasional outbursts and full-on onslaughts of cataclysmic proportions. Somewhere between all that is where most of it lies, though: front-loaded dialogue simply mixed at normal speaking levels, with occasional echo and other discrete effects relegated to the rear channels. Music cues likewise sit largely in the rears with a full dynamic range, especially evident during Clint Mansell's gently propulsive opening theme. LFE is once again very well-represented during dangerous showdowns and infrequent trips to more supernatural environments. As always, Doom Patrol's more absurd moments also serve up a few sporadic sonic surprises that I absolutely wouldn't dream of spoiling, so die-hard fans can once again rest easy knowing that this well-designed surround mix is, once again, just as impressive as its visuals.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included during each episode and all applicable extras; these are formatted perfectly with no obvious sync issues and everything fits right within the 2.20:1 frame.

Doom Patrol: The Complete Fourth and Final Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This three-disc set mostly mimics past season released with a hinged keepcase, a matching slipcase, and an interior print that lists disc contents. No Digital Copy this time, but as usual the extras can be found on Disc 3.

• Unsung Heroes (2:52) - Executive Producer Jeffrey Carver and most of the key cast members, all recorded separately, offer their thoughts about the main characters and some of their intricate costumes.

• Transformation Patrol (2:43) - Several returning contributors speak about this fourth and final season's arc about rapid aging and death, both how it changed the characters and required extensive makeup.

• Off-Off-Broadway (3:52) - Another short interview-driven featurette, this piece focuses on the fourth-season musical episode "Immortimas Patrol" and the music and choreography rehearsal involved in its production.

Doom Patrol: The Complete Fourth and Final Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"What a short, strange trip it's been" might make a good tagline for Doom Patrol as a whole, a show that celebrated the absurdity of its source material while throwing in a few well-timed gut punches in the process. Season 4 offers a solid conclusion and even occasionally approaches the heights of its first year (despite my relatively consistent star ratings, I do prefer some years to others in hindsight), which makes this it easy to recommend either on its own or as part of the simultaneously-released complete series collection. Another reason is Warner Bros.' reliably good A/V presentation and reasonable price tag, which helps to offset the lack of meaty bonus features. Buy and enjoy for years to come.