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Notes on - Doom Patrol: Vacay Patrol

 

Vacay Patrol notes

Brain and Monsieur Mallah!  They’re prefect!

Brotherhood of Evil, 1949

Niles has taken out their man in Paraguay along with Eric Morden

*** Je m’en fous!

The intercom gag is priceless.

It took me half the episode to recognize Billy Boyd

Garguax the Decimator!

So why did brain want Rita eliminated?  Who cares.  Maybe to keep her from joining the team?

Samuelson

Codsville Mountain Resort?

The over the top deployment of weapons followed by decades of waiting.

Samuelson miming firing the big gun was cute.

*** In the meantime, our presence here will go completely unnoticed.

And yet he still has himself announced in the dining hall.

That gramophone announcer is brilliant

The use of silence in the comedy is fantastic

Love that Garguax doesn’t hesitate to shake Jim Thompson’s hand and then is immediately accepted as 50s guy

Garguax:  Ever vigilant.  Garguax.

Nice touch of the newspaper article showing the original DP.  Week 326, what is that – about 6 and a quarter years?  So we’re around 55

Week 2189.  Nice montage of the utter boredom of time passing.  That’s 42 and a bit years.  ‘92?

Rita’s eating ice cream and still thinking about not having answered that phone call

Quick checkin via newspaper article to remind us that Madame Rouge showed up last episode

And the guilt of not having done so makes her go complete Odo and have to hide in a pot.  That’s a bit of a plot contrivance, but the ep relies on it, so why not.

Meanwhile, Larry is at what appears to be the negative spirit’s home.

And it appears that all its energy friends are coming to penetrate Larry

Also meanwhile, Cliff is way overcompensating with Clara and the grandbaby.  Clara’s wife is being really understanding.

Clara has noticed the hand tremor and had legitimate concerns about it endangering her child.

They’re touching pretty sensitively on a real thing about when you have to choose between your parents’ feelings and your kid’s safety.

The FBI is still investigating Vic’s interference in Roni’s escape.

Wait, STAR can just shut off GRID?  Isn’t GRID super motherbox power tech?  They just have an off switch?

Why does Vic even still have his flip phone from middle school?

Cyborg let a criminal go free.  That’s a legit PR concern

They’re used to just running Rita through the sump pump.

Getting out of that house while mourning Niles makes sense

We’ve never seen the Secretary in control before have we.

Secretary:  Codsville Mountain Resort. It satisfies all the requirements I assume you’re looking for.  All-inclusive, inexpensive, remote, quiet, cable TV, and bottomless mimosa brunches every day in a place called the ‘Bing-Bang Room’/

Rita: Sold!

The Scretary wants to go to Dollywood.  That’s a fun detail.

Jane is currently unavailable.

Kay is taking a much more active role in tending to her alters.  Should that be happening in DID?

Kay seems to actually wan to go on vacation

Jane still has secretary’s outfit on.  Should that have changed?

Cliff is doing classic serious illness denial.  And freezing up more and more.

Clara’s pretty quick to pick up on the tremors.

Mel’s mee-maw had parkinsons.

Interesting – if Parkinson’s is a disease affecting the brain, the fact that his body is a robot wouldn’t matter, would it.

Like most people, Clara’s accent grows more pronounced when she’s under stress.

Clara telling Cliff she loves him was sweet.

Jane:  Not a suitcase.  A useless sack of shit.

Rita:  I heard that.  It’s me Cliff.  Rita.

Jane:  Like I said.

No WiFi – a rotary phone in the lobby for $2.99 a minute.

This really is a ghost town 50s resort.

The backbone looks cool.  I’d climb it.

What is actually happening with Larry’s on again off again face?  Is this entire plotline metaphorical?

Nice transformation effect

And now he’s back home, or is this a simulacrum of Larry’s room at the house to make him feel comfortable.

The negative spirit isn’t in him at the moment.  That backs up simulacrum

Ah, the old days of lifting up your phone to find a signal.

Cliff just fell from space, he has literally nothing to fear from the backbone

Vic is now trying to deny that he loves Roni.

 

It’s nice that Vic and Cliff each have someone to identify with being mechanical problems.

Jane’s been feeling off lately – understandable.  She’s right, that’s not how alters are supposed to function

Rita’s happy to just be goo because she’s tired of failing.

Jane:  Wait.. who the fuck is the Beekeeper?

Jane:  He really was a rat bastard, wasn’t he.

Rita: What a cruel thing to say about rats.

They’re all trying to convince themselves that they hated the Chief so that they can avoid feeling the pain of his loss.

Cliff in the sauna wearing a towel for no real reason is a beautiful sight gag.

The contrivance that Garguax hasn’t sensed Rita because she’s in blob form should be agonizingly convenient, but doesn’t bother me at all.

Damn, Garguax is built!

Garguax:  First time at the resort?

Cliff:  Yeah, you?

Garguax:  Technically, sure.

I did not expect this to end with Cliff and Garguax bonding in the sauna over their mutual good old days.

Crawl out from under the wreckage is a Grant Morrison

Farce rules apply here.  Cliff and Garguax both cursing out Niles and discovering their mutual hatred of him is an example

The resort has really gone into decline.

And Samuelson is still doing the official announcement at the start of each dinner

Garguax:  Hey Cliff.

Cliff:  Hey Garg.

Vic:  Um… Who the hell is that?

Cliff:  Who?  Garguax?  Oh, he’s my new resort buddy.  Nice guy.  You know, you always realize what a small world it is when you go on vacation.

Garguax thinks Cliff is good people.

Vic can’t let a possible supervillain go by because he’s compensating for dropping the ball on Roni

Samuelson is touchy, but Garguax just wants to relax and have dinner.

Intuitive for Cliff to pick up on the fact that Vic is compensating for letting Roni go.

Jane and Cliff are kind of a team making fun of others

Rita confesses to not answering the phone, and admitting that allows her to take her her real form

Kind of cool how the bag turned into her dress

April Bowlby is breaking my heart.  Rita wants to go hide again

Jane is leaning heavy into them not being a superhero team

Cliff:  I got my own shit to deal with.

Vic: You mean avoid.

Cliff: Oh, fuck all the way off, dude.

Cliff is being such a guy about not wanting to see a doctor.  Although his point about nobody being qualified to check himn out is valid.

Their personal issues are bouncing off each other nicely

Why didn’t the Rita alarm go off?  It fell to Garguax happening to see her.

LOVED the rug pull that Garguax doesn’t have any interest in it anymore since Niles is dead and Rita is already suffering.

Samuelson – B villain stepping up to the A

LOVE Garguax’ decision that missions should serve a greater cause.

Do places really have mazes without walls?  Neat.

Is the theme escaping the things caging you?

Kay is worried about Jane

So… Is Larry actually back at Doom manor, or is this a space illusion?

Aw, Larry wants to be one with negative spirit.

Slightly weird that they’re all back in the bing bang room after the big blow up just not talking.  But the transition to dancing and embracing the moment is nice.  Did Kay make that happen for Jane?  Is Kay in control right now??

Jane and Rita’s dance is just wonderful

Ah, the alarm is a call to action sent by the brain, is that it?

And here’s Mme Rouge, is this later in her time stream?

So nice that Garguax died trying to save them.

And only Rita is left to save them

Wait, why did Madame Rouge just trap her in to die?

Jane froze because the girl was in control and didn’t know what to do.  Cliff froze because of his brain issue, cyborg froze when he realized being of f line meant that he had no defenses.

Why bother arranging their bodies on the dance floor?  Does Samuelson think he’s killed them?

 

 

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