Doom Patrol Season 1, Episode 13 “Flex Patrol”

After the events of last episode, the Patrol escapes from the Ant Farm with an extra passenger, Prisoner/Subject 722.  Of course, 722 turns out to be Flex Mentallo, who the team had been looking for to help them find The Chief.  One of the most interesting things is that Flex can understand the Negative Man.  Unfortunately, he has a very short-term memory, and no knowledge of who he used to be.

Once again, the lack of aging is shown.  Jane mentions that she has known The Chief for over 50 years.  Also, Flex hasn’t aged a day while in captivity, but his wife has.  Makes very little sense to me.

We are shown in flashback that Negative Man gets weaker, even to the point of fading away, the longer he is separate from Larry.  There are also hints that Larry gets sicker when they are separate; perhaps the radiation sickness catching up with him.  Yet, neither seems to recognize this symbiotic relationship.  Of course, Negative Man does come back at the end.

We are shown some more character development and motivations with flashbacks to Larry’s time at the Ant Farm as well as Rita opening up to an elderly gentleman in the hospital.

Finally, Mr. Nobody pops up, breaking the fourth wall, at the end of the episode.  He voices complaints that I’ve had about the series.  Mostly about the lack of a team mentality or team efforts.  But with only two episodes left, perhaps we will see the team accomplish something special.