Watching this episode, I have no idea that it was the season finale and didn’t find out it was the finale until hours after I watched it. It turns out that the season was supposed to have 10 episodes, but the pandemic ended filming prematurely and “Wax Patrol” unexpectedly became the season finale.
But you know, in a weird way, it works. Does it leave the story up in the air? Undoubtedly, but I guess if you’re going to abruptly end a season, a cliffhanger is the best place to do it.
The Candlemaker has escaped Dorothy’s imagination, Miranda’s backstory is finally revealed, a new threat appears on the horizon, and the Doom Patrol is probably…. well, doomed.
Obviously, this story is a weird one and how could it not be? A wax demon, a cavewoman mother returning from the dead, and a drama played out inside of the head of a superpowered girl suffering from multiple personality disorder? This episode is as bananas as you would expect.
Beyond that, though, “Wax Patrol” is also a story of sadness as we see the story of Miranda and what ultimately broke her. It was staggeringly frank and an unapologetically brutal story of betrayal and abuse, bringing a heavy air to what could have normally been a goofy, scary episode.
And it was scary, yes it was. While the attack of the Doom Patrol’s imaginary friends was as silly as one would expect, the result and setting were positively malevolent. Candlemaker has such a heavy presence in the show despite the fact that he’s had less than a minute of screen time all season and has mostly appeared as a disembodied voice.
It’s unfortunate that the story of the second season will go unfinished until the next season as I am a fan of stories being wrapped up by the season finale, but I really can’t complain about something that was beyond Doom Patrol‘s or anyone else’s control. As a season finale, no matter how unexpected it was, “Wax Patrol” wasn’t bad and I guess that’s a fortuitous happenstance in of itself.
Jason Gaston 