Doom Patrol Season 1 Premiere Review: 7 Ups & 2 Downs

1. The CGI Is A Mixed Bag

One of the most consistent issues with superhero TV shows is the tendency not to spend enough money on the visual effects, and the result is that the overwhelming majority of these CGI-heavy shows end up looking embarrassingly cheap and tacky.

And though Doom Patrol is one of the better-produced recent superhero series, it does also feature some gaudy VFX work that drags the entire production down.

From Cliff Steele's (Brendan Fraser) wonky opening NASCAR accident to Larry Trainor's fateful plane crash, Rita Farr's (April Bowlby) blob effects and Mr. Nobody's (Alan Tudyk) surreal, shadowy composition, the CGI mostly ends up looking a bit chintzy and rushed.

It's telling that the show didn't start shooting until late last August, which is an extremely fast turnaround for such an ambitious project.

The visual effects certainly aren't on the lower end of the spectrum for the genre, but given the polish present elsewhere, it's a shame it's so frustratingly inconsistent throughout.

But with those bugbears out of the way, here's everything Doom Patrol gets right...