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Season 1
Pilot
- The first episode emphasizes the horror of Cliff's condition, ranging from the discovery he no longer has a body to the physical therapy he struggles with. Combine with the discovery his daughter was dead but not really and you have a combination of Nightmare Fuel with Tearjerker.
- Rita's condition of being only able to hold onto her beautiful physical form through sheer force of will means she often looks like she's melting like a burning candle. This has even resulted in her becoming a blob monster or shoggoth with an eye or other parts sticking out.
- Larry has 3rd-degree burns that will never heal over the entirety of his body. We've seen his true form many times in flashbacks throughout the show as well as before he goes to bed. These injuries are also terrible because they're significantly closer to things that can (and have) happened to people in real life.
- Mr. Nobody induces this by his very existence as he's a person who has parts missing and is walking around as a Physical God.
Donkey Patrol
- Everything Mr. Nobody does to Cyborg, Larry and Rita in the second episode. Forcing them all to relive horrible scenarios while monologuing about how powerless and useless they are.
- Victor Stone's flashback to his origin story is particularly terrible as we discover that he caused a lab accident that killed his mother as well as blew off the majority of his limbs. We witness Victor struggling on the ground like he'd been hit with a mine and him monologuing through it. Then Mr. Nobody induces Paranoia Fuel by pointing out that Cyborg may not remember things the way they happened.
- Cliff is reviewing Jane's video sessions with the Chief. The first one seems to be a still image of Jane staring at the camera with a blank expression on her face. But, then she blinks. A weird start that can leave viewers unnerved.
Puppet Patrol
- Subverted this time when a poor customer is made into a hybrid velociraptor, tree, and has an additional head among other changes. He thinks it's awesome.
- Taking in account that the customer was crazy enough to take the procedure in first place, it's implied that Von Fuchs offered his services only to villains (or people wanting to become villains) and that the result of said transformation is clearly Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man (a notorious enemy of the original Patrol) that in the comics used to be a student of The Chief...
- Cliff's battle with Von Fuchs' henchmen/Hive Mind is this in spades. Cliff is a super strong robot made out of metal. Von Fuchs' henchmen... are not. Cliff's ability to tear through them with relative ease shocks even him.
Cult Patrol
- The beginning of the episode, while heartwarming, quickly descends into this once you realize that all of Elliot's cakes are decorated with that same creepy-looking eye. Then, on his 18th birthday, when his mom leaves the room to go get something, Elliot's father warns him that he isn't supposed to save the world, as he's been led to believe his entire life. He's supposed to destroy it. Then Elliot's mother slits his throat and acts like nothing's wrong as she tries to offer Elliot cake. Elliot's reaction? Run upstairs and lock himself in his room.Elliot's Mother: Sweetie? Come back down. This cake isn't gonna eat itself. Elliot? You get down here AND YOU EAT THIS FUCKING CAKE, ELLIOT!
- Elliot's parents were rewarded for their service by being made rulers of Nürnheim for the brief hours that remain until the world ends. His father was of course dead by then, but he was still dressed up in regalia and propped up on a throne next to his wife - who considers all of this to make perfect sense. It really brings home how deranged and inhuman the Decreator and its servants are in their thinking.
Paw Patrol
- A reporter doing a story on the huge eye in the sky suddenly asks, "Is it looking at me?" Without warning, she vanishes into dust, followed by numerous others, some in front of loved ones.
- As Rita tries and comforts the boy, by asking him what were things he wanted to do, just before he can answer, the Decreator puts its eye on him and he vanishes right in front of Rita's eyes. All she can do is sit there in shock before collecting herself.
- The Bedlam House Jane was imprisoned in the flashbacks is a smorgasbord of Creepy Orderlies, Psycho Psychologists, and Medical Horror.
Doom Patrol Patrol
- In the flashback, Mr. Nobody turns the cops into piñatas and then sets the frenzied civilians on them to tear them apart and gobble up the candy inside. That on its own is pretty horrifying, but remember that Arani and Steve are both Unreliable Narrators. It's possible that Mr. Nobody didn't actually turn the cops into piñatas, but still sent the crazed people after them...
- Mr. Nobody didn't send Jane and the others to find the Doom Patrol on a whim, but to show them what happens when people go messing around in his business.
Therapy Patrol
- Cliff going crazy in this episode, believing he's seeing visions of Bump calling him out as a failure of a father.
- There's also his very fear - that Bump doesn't really care about Clara and only adopted her as some sort of revenge against Cliff and Kate.
Danny Patrol
- The idea of Karen - a Yandere who is obsessed with 90s rom-coms and has used mind control powers to force an innocent man and his family to repeatedly act out the plot of every cheesy rom-com in existence - is pretty scary. When Rita calls her the worst of Jane's many alters, you initially think Rita just dislikes her because she's perky, but after seeing how much she manipulates Doug and his family, and how little Karen actually cares about any of them, it becomes clear that Rita might be onto something.
- Karen getting dragged back into the Underground, where she screams as unseen forces pull her off screen.
Jane Patrol
- This episode is perhaps one of the most disturbing hours of television ever created. In no particular order...
- The entirety of the Miranda scene. We see her in a classroom where her teacher is giving a blatantly false lesson on the United States Civil War (she says that Lincoln was an evil, godless monster who tried to steal the land from hapless southern farmers- this is a very unfortunate case of Truth in Television. Even today, some schools in the southern United States teach about the "War of Northern Aggression"). Then Penny Farthing goes to open the exit, and memory!Miranda starts whispering, "Don't open the door" on repeat. Then, the actual room on the other side contains hanged and mutilated corpses. Lots of corpses...
- There's a scene where Cliff, inside the Underground, tears off his skin, revealing Robotman beneath. For just a second the show became The Terminator.
- Every implication is that young Kay was sexually abused by her father and created the alters to deal with that trauma.
- When Jane goes to The Well, she finds Kay still putting together her puzzle. At first it seems like just another memory- until Kay suddenly switches places with Jane, revealing her to be the real thing, and Jane gets dragged out to suffer the abuse for her...
- The climax of the episode, where Jane and Cliff face off against a monstrous version of Kate's father formed from a whirling cloud of puzzle pieces. Mostly because of what the father represents, but also because he presents a very real danger to them both- he rips Cliff in half. If he had done that to Jane, it would've been a lot more permanent.
- Even though this was a huge victory for Jane, when she goes to rest and closes her eyes, the faint sound of her father's voice echoes in her head and her eyes snap open once more. She may have been able to face him and drive him away, but that doesn't mean all the trauma he put her through will immediately go away.Jane's father: Sweet, sweet, baby...
Frances Patrol
- After Victor found out from his program that he's 64% Cyborg, he cut through left arm with a knife to check and see if he's at least still partially human, only to find a bone inside of his arm. However, after looking away for a second, he takes another look and sees nothing but metal underneath. Jane's painting just got a lot more feasible...
Cyborg Patrol
- Thought the writers were playing the butts off as a joke? Wait 'til you see them charging towards the agents of the Bureau and then open their maws full of razor sharp teeth, easily shredding the people to bits while dragging off Darren into a dark room. After that scene, one butt is seen walking off chomping on an arm.
- These butts are treated as The Dreaded by the Bureau, and once the commander gets word that the butts were free, he thanks the soldiers, tells everyone that it was an honor serving them and prepares to shoot himself. Even at the beginning, the commander tells the others that they must not at any cost upset the butts. Have fun trying to see butts as normal after this.
- Vic ends up almost killing his father, convinced of what Grid was showing him in his head about his father knowingly changing his son for his own benefit and not thinking of Vic. He then proceeds to beat him to death with his fists. However, the worse part is is that a victory jingle plays and an icon of Mr. Nobody shows up with confetti. This was all part of his plan, and he was delighted to see how easily Vic played into his hands, when most of the memories he made him see were fake.Mr. Nobody: Poor Silas Stone, really loved his son. He only wanted, the best for him. (beat, begins laughing darkly) Whoops. (continues laughing)
- This means that, hadn't Silas been lucky, the visions Jane's personalities saw of Vic would've finally come true: "Dead in his arms."
- The Bureau of Normalcy's Operators. Everything about them is pure freakiness.
Flex Patrol
- How did the Bureau of Normalcy keep Flex Mentallo under control? By threatening to burn his wife alive while all he watched.
Ezekiel Patrol
- You know something's really fucked up or shit hit the fan if Mr. Nobody is running away from something.
- If you don't like cockroaches or rats, this episode might not be kind as there as these two creatures are now proportioned to gigantic size. And we get to see them making out.
Season 2
Fun Size Patrol
- In the opening scene, a flashback to the early 1900's, all poor Dorothy wants is for Manny to do his dance for the audience so that her act can be over quickly and people will leave her alone again, but something goes wrong, Manny suddenly stops obeying her, and her irate boss starts brutally whipping Manny hard enough to send him sprawling to the ground, and all Dorothy can do is watch and plead for it to stop... and that when a voice suddenly appears in her head, promising that he can make it all stop if she just makes a wish, and so she does... and he makes it all stop. Sweet merciful Jesus, does he make it all stop. When she finally summons the courage to step out of her cage, the entire tent is filled with mangled bodies.
Tyme Patrol
- From Niles' perspective, it was revealed the massacre was done by one of Dorothy's most dangerous imaginary friends, the Candlemaker. Even Niles is terrified of his appearance and it makes sense he doesn't want his daughter to summon him again.
- The Doom Patrol's mission to retrieve Dr. Tyme's helmet takes a grisly turn when they discover that said helmet is actually Tyme's head. How do they learn that, you ask? By Rita knocking him over, causing his head to burst and his brain to spill out.
Pain Patrol
- Red Jack is a Humanoid Abomination who periodically enters our realm to feed off human suffering and agony. First encountered by Caulder as Jack the Ripper, Red Jack has been many serial killers since, including the Monster of Florence. Kidnapping Mr. Negative and torturing him while using his radiation to torture others, Red Jack tries to sway Caulder to be his apprentice, deciding to torture him and his allies eternally as one of his collection; rows and rows of people turned into butterflies and kept in horrific agony so he may feed on them for all time. We get to see the beginning of the process too, and it's pure unadulterated Body Horror as huge blood-soaked butterfly wings erupt from Niles, Rita and Larry's backs as they scream in pain.
Sex Patrol
- If Shadowy Mr. Evan's baby form cries, it would have wiped out all children's existences. Without children, humanity will go extinct with no way to re-populate the world.
Finger Patrol
- Dorothy makes a wish for the Candlemaker to kill Baby Doll, and he follows her into the Underground and succeeds with ease.
Dumb Patrol
- The Candlemaker's increasing autonomy in and of itself, but also when he confronts Niles and implies that he was actually created by Dorothy's mother for unspecified reasons.
Dad Patrol
- The origins of "the Well" in the Underground are explored. Turns out when Kay was a child and she disobeyed her father he would put her in a bucket and lower her down a well and just leave her there. On top of all the other abuse we already know he inflicted on her, this serves to make Kay's father even more despicable.
Season 3
Possibilities Patrol
- Daddy takes control of Jane's body while Dorothy is still cuddled up to her. She manages to throw Dorothy clear across the hallway, easily punches Cliff away, and almost manages to make Jane kill herself. And while she's doing all that on the Surface, she is simultaneously fighting off the entire Underground.
Dead Patrol
- On their way out of the afterlife, the Patrol encounters the Night Nurse, a creepy matronly figure with a weirdly distorted voice and a face that splits open.
Undead Patrol
- The entire gang going full Zombie Infectee is bad enough, but then we're treated to some Nausea Fuel closeups of Rita's flesh going rotten and Jane puking up maggots.
Bird Patrol
- Pulled into The Fog's salon, Laura begins having flashbacks to her Start of Darkness - the day that she sold out her friends to Bureau of Normalcy to try and get a promotion. The Sisterhood forces her to re-enact her betrayal, while her head is suddenly filled with memories of how the salon was stormed by the Bureau, who beat up her friends and killed Malcolm."There's no need for force! They won't fight back! They're pacifists! Please..."
- The Sisterhood unveils the Dada Bird, a giant, monstrous winged creature whose body consists of a giant replica of the bottom of Malcolm's face, made out of what looks like plaster, and giant moth wings. The thing lets out horrible shrieks and keeps angrily smashing itself against the walls of its cage before finally busting out and turning into a whole flock of smaller Dada Birds.
