This is a weird one. Well, they're all weird ones, but this one is really weird. The team falls victim to a "guru" who hypnotizes Cliff into being kind, Larry into being scared, and Rita into an infant. For...reasons.
Well, okay, he does it to distract the Patrol away from Madame Rouge so that he can undo the Chief's cure and return her to the Brotherhood. Again, because Brain and Mallah miss her so much, I guess?
This is an interesting take on the craze for gurus that seemed to sweep the late 60s in the US in the wake of Eastern philosophies making their way into the consciousness of Vietnam-era America. There was a lot of mistrust, with good reason, though I have to believe that there were some decent individuals out there who simply believed they'd found a better way to live. I keep looking for one!
It's at this point in reading through the series that I realized that the entire plot of the Chief curing Madame Rouge is set-up for the explosive finale of the series. I have to wonder if this had already been plotted and there was meant to be a follow-up, had the series continued, but that the death issue also made for a good final issue for a book with flagging sales. I wonder if Mr. Drake had any ideas for how the Patrol would have continued had sales improved. Would Rita have spent all those years dead?
"Me very little now...me just baby girl..."
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