Playing The Pompous But Fragile Rita is a Different Ball of Wax For April Bowlby in DOOM PATROL, Which is Back For Season 3

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede The last time viewers saw April Bowlby in DOOM PATROL, her character was in a sticky situation, literally and figuratively. Consider this a SPOILER ALERT for anybody who hasn’t seen Season 2 yet. But with Season 3 of the HBO Max series debuting Thursday, Sept. 23 on Crave and CTV Sci-Fi Channel, Bowlby was asked a direct question: Has Bowlby spent all her time in between seasons – more than a calendar year – frozen in wax, which is the way that her character, Rita Farr, ended Season 2? “Yes, I have,” said Bowlby, with a perfect deadpan comedic delivery. “And boy, it’s nice that it’s summertime.” After spending so many months sealed in wax but exposed to the brutal elements, did Bowlby at least get some medical attention prior to this interview? Was she even given a blanket? “I mean, they did their best – I have to say, they tried,” Bowlby said, again, with tongue firmly in cheek. “I’m not quite thawed out completely. But thank you for asking.” It certainly doesn’t take long for the story to warm up in the Season 3 premiere of DOOM PATROL. Without giving anything away, there are major developments almost immediately as the story picks up right where it left off, and the squad suddenly has to deal with a tragic loss that has far-reaching ramifications. DOOM PATROL, of course, is based on the DC Comics superhero team of the same name. Bowlby’s Rita  – a.k.a. Elasti-Woman – is a former Hollywood actress whose cellular structure was altered into a gelatinous state after being exposed to toxic gas. Her powers allow her to change her body shape, but sometimes she struggles with maintaining a solid form. Bowlby has tons of television credits on her resume, but prior to her role in DOOM PATROL, she probably was best known to TV audiences for her roles as Kandi over several non-consecutive seasons on TWO AND A HALF MEN, and Stacy for six seasons on DROP DEAD DIVA. DOOM PATROL certainly gives Bowlby a chance to stretch – get it? – her acting muscles. After all, Bowlby is an actress playing an actress who has a secret. Rita can be very pompous at times, but she also is extremely vulnerable and fragile. And what’s more, her pompousness is often played for comedy, when she’s taken down a peg. “We’ve got it all!” Bowlby said enthusiastically. “She is such a layered character. And also, what do they say, that sometimes the greatest humour comes from pain? I think that’s why she works so well, because she’s in so much pain, and it’s just so heartbreaking, and she really has no control over anything, but often with the way she responds to things, and the pompousness that you mentioned, you have to laugh.” For example, at one point in the Season 3 premiere of DOOM PATROL, Rita declares that the most recent personal crisis that she’s dealing with will not affect her performance in a local stage show: “I can’t mar the production with my personal drama,” she boldly states, but the way Bowlby delivers the line, you just know that the exact opposite is going to occur – and it does. In real life that never happens, right? Personal drama never affects actors’ performances, does it? “No! Come on!” said Bowlby, yet again with stellar comic earnestness. “We leave it all at home!” Thanks, April Bowlby, for not shattering anyone’s illusions. “My pleasure,” she said. billharristv@gmail.com