History Recap / TheNewBatmanAdventuresE21MadLove

* NeverMyFault: After the Joker kicks her out for pestering him with her seduction attempts, Harley gives [[IgnoredEphiphany a fairly accurate description]] of what a mess her life has become. She then declares that it's all Batman's fault.

* AerEvoultion: The original graphic novel was made during the ''Batman: The Animated Series'' era and Bruce Timm sued those designs when he did the comics; the episode was made during the ''New Batman Adventures'' and no attampt was made to give Batman or the Joker designs in the modified style that harkens back to the ''B: TAS'' era during the flashback.

* AdaptedOut: Alfred appeared in the original graphic novel, where Batman [[MrExposition relayed]] the stuff mentioned in "Adaptation Explanation Extrication" to him. Harvey Bullock and Renee Montoya also appeared briefly, both in a scene where Gordon recieves a call about the Joker (racing on his way to Harley after she capture Batman) and being the ones who found Harley after the Joker knocked her through the window.

* MultipleChoicePast: The Joker has "a million" sob stories to tell to anyone willing to listen. As Batman notes in the graphic novel, like any professional comedian, he uses whatever material will work.

** After Harley calls him to come see her kill Batman, the Joker imagines Penguin, Two-Face, and Riddler mocking him as "the guy whose ''girlfriend'' killed Batman". This doesn't exactly improve his mood.

When the Joker arrives, Harley happily welcomes him only for him to beat and berate her, insisting the he wants to be the one to kill Batman. When she explains that technically he ''is'' killing Batman since the DeathTrap was his plan, he points out that her having to explain why it "works" means it's not funny and therefore not worthy of being one of his jokes. In a fury, he then slaps Harley around, sending her reeling out a window and taking a fall from several stories up into a pile of rubbish in the alley. Injured and barely conscious, she feebly groans at her mistake as the police arrive, blaming her self for not getting the "joke" in the Joker's methods.

* CerberusSyndrome: For the DCAU Joker as a whole, after this it was hard to see Joker as anything other than the soul-less monster that he is. The appalling and brtual domestic abuse shown here is still very hard to stomach.

* AdaptationExplanationExtrication: While she doesn't deserve how she ends up in either version, the graphic novel shows us several more of Harley's failings that aren't in the cartoon, attributing her tragic downfall more to the her being lazy and weak-willed than to the Joker's sociopathic superficial charm and talent for manipulation. In college, the graphic novel heavily implies, she was [[SextraCredit sleeping with at least one of her professors to get a better grade]] she didn't feel like studying hard to earn, and she only wanted a prestigious psychology degree in order to make lots of money selling fluff therapy books as a pop-psychologist quack.

* SextraCredit: In the comic, Harlene Quinzel is shown getting a bad grade on a thesis of hers, and then leaving one of her professors SexDressed in his office while she walks out with a much better grade on that same thesis.

-->'''Batman:''' She almost had me, you know. Arms and legs shackled, dizzy from the blood rushing to my brain... I had no way out other than convincing her to call you. I knew [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou your massive ego would never allow anyone else the honor of killing me]], though I have to admit she came a lot closer than you ever did... ''[[IShallTauntYou puddin']]''!

* NoOneCouldSurviveThat: The Gotham news thinks it unlikely that the Joker couldt have survived falling into that smokestack. As ever, [[JokerImmunity they're wrong]], since the Joker survived to give Harley another rose with a card.
* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Why the Joker is so angry at Harley for pulling off one of his plans.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Batman ''never'' laughs, thus Harley sees something is seriously amiss when he starts laughing.
* OutGambitted: Harley Quinn actually gets Batman to fall for one of her traps, but then he uses a [[BatmanGambit him gambit]] to exploit both her feelings for the Joker and how the Joker would react.
-->'''Batman:''' She almost had me, you know. Arms and legs shackled, dizzy from the blood rushing to my brain... I had no way out other than convincing her to call you. I knew [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou your massive ego would never allow anyone else the honor of killing me]], though I have to admit she came a lot closer than you ever did, ''[[IShallTauntYou puddin']].''
* TriangRelations: Type 5: Harley {{Mad Love}}s SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker, but the Joker {{Foe Yay}}s Franchise/{{Batman}}. Batman doesn't have feelings for either. Harley tried persuading the Joker to [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim just shoot Batman]]. It didn't work, so Harley being an AxCrazy ClingyJealousGirl attempts to MurderTheHypotenuse.

* SexForServices: In the comic, Harley would have sex with her professors to raise her abysmal grades.

* ShoutOut: The frame of Harley's backstory is almost identical to Clarice Starling's in ''Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs''. Young impressionable Psychiatrist/FBI agent in training is sent to psychoanalyse a psychotic killer and instead is disarmed and [[HannibalLecture psychoanalysed by the killer himself]]. Much like Starling, Harley is implied to be hiding her much lower class accent.
* SnapBack: Harley gives up on the Joker at the end, and then falls back in love with him just as the episode concludes. Entirely in character -- see ChronicVillainy above.
* StatingTheSimpleSolution: Harley asks the Joker "WhyDontYouJustShootHim" in regards to dealing with Batman.
* ThemedAliases: The Joker poses as "Dr. J. Reko".
* UnexplainedRecovery: This episode features Batman punching Joker off a moving track and falling directly into a factory's smokestack. He lives, [[JokerImmunity of course]], and by this point his ability to survive anything is so taken for granted not even a cursory attempt is made to explain it.

Comissioner Gordon goes to the dentist as part of a required health checkup, voicing his displeasure all the while, when it's revealed that SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker and Harley Quinn have taken the place of his dentist and the assistant in order to kill him. Fortunately for Gordon, Franchise/{{Batman}} busts in, revealing that he quickly worked out a clue with this latest plan with a chattering teeth toy, and Batman saves him. Seemingly just to rub it in, Batman tells the Joker the chattering teeth gag is rather lackluster for him. Annoyed but undeterred, The Joker tosses Gordon a grenade, keeping Batman busy so that he and Harley can escape.

Later, in his latest lair in an abandoned toy factory, Joker is trying to come up with a new plan. Harley tries to seduce him and feed him a few ideas of her own, but the Joker berates her for her lack of creativity (the chattering teeth clue was her idea) and angrily blows them off. The Joker then momentarily reconsiders one of his scrapped plans to kill Batman in a tank of piranhas, but suddenly remembers that he couldn't get the piranhas to smile, ruining the joke potential. Harley makes one last effort to seduce the Joker, but he kicks her out. She then laments her plight at not being able to advance her relationship with her puddin', and blames Batman for this.

* AdaptationExplanationExtrication: While she doesn't deserve how she ends up in either version, the graphic novel shows us several more of Harley's failings that aren't in the cartoon, attributing her tragic downfall more to the her being lazy and weak-willed than to the Joker's sociopathic superficial charm and talent for manipulation. In college, the graphic novel heavily implies, she was [[SextraCredit sleeping with at least one of her professors to get a better grade]] she didn't feel like studying hard to earn, and she only wanted a prestigious psychology degree in order to make money as a pop-psychologist quack.

* BatmanGambit: Batman escapes by getting Harley to call the Joker, as Batman knows only the Joker would want to kill him.
* BigDamnHeroes: Just another night of work for Franchise/{{Batman}}.
* BillBillJunkBill: The Joker rejects possible capers as being "Boring. Lame. Not funny. Been done. Too Riddler!"
* {{Bowdlerise}}: Harley's questionable academics in her college days aren't mentioned in the cartoon. There's also a pool of blood forming around Harley after the Joker throws her out the window in the comic; her injuries in the cartoon are all internal.
* ChronicVillainy: All it takes is a single rose and a note from Mr. J for Harley's brief attempt at redemption to fall apart.
* ContinuityNod: The Joker remembers his plan to feed Batman to smiling piranhas, which he had to scrap as he couldn't get them to smile, noting that they were even immune to his scheme from "The Laughing Fish".
* DontExplainTheJoke: Discussed by the Joker, "If you have to explain the joke, there is no joke!"
* EvilLaugh: From ''Batman'', since the idea of Harley being with The Joker is just that ridiculous to him. Harley's never heard it before, and tells him to stop, as he's [[NightmareFuel creeping her out]].

* FoeYay: InUniverse, Harley recognizes this as the reason why she must MurderTheHypotenuse: Batman.
* FreudianCouch: We see a montage of how Harley Quinn met The Joker while she gave him psychoanalysis. It starts with him on the couch, but as he twists her mind, later scenes have the Joker as the psychiatrist, with Harley on the couch.
* HeelFaceMole: Harley lured Batman into her trap with a message claiming that she's turned against the Joker because he's planning to kill everyone in Gotham City.
* IgnoredEpiphany: At the end of the episode, Harley realizes the truth about the Joker -- only to snap back to her old infatuation when she sees a flower and note from him.
* IgnoreTheFanservice: The Joker pays no attention to a hot blonde in a transparent negligee kneeling on the table in front of him, inviting him to "rev up your Harley."
* KirkSummation: Batman gives one to the Joker on top of the train, explaining that his BatmanGambit was the only way he could have escaped.

* MultipleChoicePast: The Joker has millions of stories to tell to anyone willing to listen.
* MurderTheHypotenuse: This is Harley's truly deranged goal: without [[FoeYay the Batman, the Joker]] could be hers at last!

* NoOneCouldSurviveThat: The Gotham news believes the Joker couldn't have survived falling into that smokestack. [[JokerImmunity They're wrong]], since the Joker survived to give Harley another rose with a card.

The Joker, meanwhile, is just about to release Batman, hoping to put this whole embarrassing incident behind him, when it occurs to him to try shooting Batman after all while he still has him at his mercy. Batman, however, is no longer incapacitated and escapes by breaking the tank open and getting hold of his belt while the Joker is distracted so he can pick the padlock on his chains. The Joker makes a run for it and escapes on a train, only to find Batman has caught up with him again. Rubbing it in, Batman explains that his BatmanGambit of getting Harley to call him was his only hope for escape, and that Harley came closer to killing him than The Joker ever did. Furious at his humiliation, the Joker attacks, trading blows until Batman knocks him off the train and into a smokestack.

Back to Harley, she is injured and incarcerated in Arkham, the very place she interned at. She thinks to herself, in her old voice, that she sees the Joker for what he really is, and wants nothing more to do with him. But in her cell she sees a rose with a "Feel Better Soon" card from him, revealing that he survived the fall, and she falls in love with him again.

This episode was adapted from an Eisner Award-winning issue of ''ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures'', the tie-in comic of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''.

* AdaptationExplanationExtrication: While she doesn't deserve how she ends up in either version, the comic starts off by showing character flaws of Harley's that aren't shown in the cartoon, which make it seem like her fall was in part due to her own weak will and character and not just the Joker's manipulation. In college she would [[SextraCredit "improve" her grades by bedding her professors]] and was only trying to get into the psychology field to make money as a quack pop psychologist.

Batman wakes up hanging over a tank of piranhas just as the Joker plotted, except hanging upside down so that the fish look will seem to be smiling. Harley tells Batman that successfully killing him will be a testament of her love to the Joker, meaning the two can finally settle down. Upon hearing this, Batman first reacts with disbelief and then, surprisingly, laughs at the idea and tries to convince Harley that the Joker lied to her and used her. The story he told her was just one of several he's used. Harley, angered by Batman's arguments, tries to drop him into the tank, but Batman convinces Harley to call the Joker, saying that he won't believe Batman's dead unless he sees it.

When the Joker arrives on the scene, Harley happily points out how she modified his plan to make the fish smile. The Joker reacts by angrily beating and berating her, reminding her that he wants to be the one to kill Batman and that she shouldn't explain the joke or else there is no joke. Harley is then thrown out a window, and she lands in a container. Injured and barely conscious, she feebly cries that it is all her fault for not getting the joke. The Joker starts to release Batman, then realizes that he should take advantage of this opportunity himself, and drops him in. Batman escapes by breaking the tank open and quickly grabbing his belt, picking the lock and escaping. The Joker makes a run for it, and Batman then chases him to the top of a train, explaining that his BatmanGambit was the only way to get out, and that Harley came closer to killing him than The Joker ever did. The two then fight on top of the train, ending with Batman hitting the Joker off the train and into a smokestack, causing him to take a seemingly lethal fall.

* ActorAllusion: SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker says to Franchise/{{Batman}}, "[[Creator/MarkHamill May the]] [[Franchise/StarWars floss be with you.]]" A double allusion, as Hamill's wife is a dental hygienist.

Comissioner Gordon goes to the dentist as part of a required health checkup, voicing his displeasure all the while, when it's revealed that SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker and Harley Quinn has taken the place of his dentist and the assistant in order to kill him. Fortunately for Gordon, Franchise/{{Batman}} busts in, revealing that he got a clue with this latest plan with a chattering teeth toy, and Batman saves him. Seemingly just to rub it in, Batman takes the time to tell the Joker he finds the chattering teeth gag uncreative. Regardless, The Joker distracts Batman by throwing a grenade, allowing him and Harley to escape.

The Joker is later seen at his lair in an abandoned toy factory trying to come up with a new plan. Harley tries to seduce him and give her own ideas, but the Joker angrily blows them off. The Joker then finds one of his scrapped plans to kill Batman in a tank of piranhas, but he then remembers that he couldn't get the piranhas to smile, ruining the joke potential. Harley tries one last attempt at seducing the Joker, but gets kicked out. Harley laments her plight at not being able to have a relationship with her puddin', and concludes that Batman is responsible for this.

Harley then flashes back to the time when she was just Dr. Harleen Quinzel, an intern at Arkham Asylum. The Joker left a card and rose in her office, so Harleen went off to see him. The Joker's initial attempts at courting Harley were unsuccessful, until he offered to tell Harley his biggest secrets. Harley then set up an appointment with the Joker, confident that his tricks wouldn't work on her. But the Joker's [[FreudianExcuse sad story about his past]] was enough to win her sympathy.

One day, when Batman dragged the Joker back to Arkham beaten and bruised, Harley lost it. After going off on Batman for his "brutality", she decided to steal several pieces of merchandise from a novelty store. She adopted these paraphernalia as part of a new supervillainess identity and broke the Joker out of his cell, adopting the name Harley Quinn as suggested to her earlier.

Back to the present, Harley plots to get rid of Batman so she can finally be happy with her puddin'. She sends a tape in order to lure Batman so he can be captured, and she succeeds.

Batman, captured by Harley, wakes up above a tank of piranhas, just like the Joker plotted. Harley had the idea of hanging the victim upside down so that the fish look like they're smiling. Harley tells Batman that successfully killing him will be a testament of her love to the Joker, meaning the two can finally settle down. Upon hearing this, Batman first reacts with disbelief and then, surprisingly, laughs at the idea and tries to convince Harley that the Joker lied to her and used her. The story he told her was just one of several he's used. Harley, angered by Batman's arguments, tries to drop him into the tank, but Batman convinces Harley to call the Joker, saying that he won't believe Batman's dead unless he sees it.

* AdaptationExplanationExtrication: While she doesn't deserve how she ends up in either version, the comic starts off by showing character flaws of Harley's that aren't shown in the cartoon, which make it seem like her fall was in part due to her own weak will and character and not just the Joker's manipulation. In college she would [[SexForServices "improve" her grades by bedding her professors]] and was only trying to get into the psychology field to make money as a quack pop psychologist.

When the Joker arrives on the scene, Harley happily points out how she modified his plan to make the fish smile. The Joker reacts by angrily beating and berating her, reminding her that he wants to be the one to kill Batman and that she shouldn't explain the joke or else there is no joke. Harley is then thrown out a window, and she lands in a container. Injured and barely conscious, she feebly cries that it is all her fault for not getting the joke. The Joker then unhangs Batman from above the tank, just before he realizes that he has the opportunity to kill Batman. Batman then escapes by breaking the tank open and quickly grabbing his belt, picking the lock and escaping. The Joker makes a run for it, and Batman then chases him to the top of a train, explaining that his BatmanGambit was the only way to get out, and that Harley came closer to killing him than The Joker ever did. The two then fight on top of the train, ending with Batman hitting the Joker off the train and into a smokestack, causing him to take a seemingly lethal fall.

* EvilLaugh: Surprisingly, Batman gives one out, since the idea of Harley being with The Joker is just that ridiculous to him. Harley's never heard it before, and tells him to stop, as he's [[NightmareFuel creeping her out]].

* FoeYay: InUniverse, Harley recognizes this as the reason why she must MurderTheHypotenuse Batman.

* EvilLaugh: Surprisingly, Batman gives one out, since the idea of Harley being with The Joker is just that ridiculous to him.

* IgnoreTheFanservice: The Joker to Harley.

Harley then flashes back to the time when she was just Dr. Harleen Quinzel, an intern at Arkham Asylum. The Joker left a card and rose in her office, so Harleen went off to see him. The Joker's initial attempts at courting Harley were unsuccessful, until he offered to tell Harley his biggest secrets. Harley then set up an appointment with the Joker, confident that his tricks wouldn't work on her. Unfortunately, the Joker's fabricated sob story was able to win her sympathy.

One day, when Batman captured the Joker after one of his capers, Harley decided to steal several pieces of merchandise from a novelty store. She adopted these paraphernalia as part of a new supervillainess identity. She broke the Joker out of his cell, adopting the name Harley Quinn as suggested to her earlier.

Back to the present, Harley plots to get rid of Batman so she can finally be with her puddin'. She sends a tape in order to lure Batman so he can be captured, and she succeeds.

Batman, captured by Harley, wakes up above a tank of piranhas, just like the Joker plotted. Harley had the idea of hanging the victim upside down so that the fish look like they're smiling. Harley tells Batman that successfully killing him will be a testament of her love to the Joker, meaning the two can finally settle down. Upon hearing this, Batman first reacts with disbelief and then, surprisingly, laughs at the idea and tries to convince Harley that the Joker lied to her and used her. Harley, angered by Batman's arguments, tries to drop him into the tank, but Batman convinces Harley to call the Joker, saying that he won't believe Batman's dead unless he sees it.

* SexualExtortion: In the comic, Harley would have sex with her professors to raise her abysmal grades.

* AdaptationExplanationExtrication: While she doesn't deserve how she ends up in either version, the comic starts off by showing character flaws of Harley's that aren't shown in the cartoon, which make it seem like her fall was in part due to her own weak will and character and not just the Joker's manipulation. In college she would "improve" her grades by bedding her professors and was only trying to get into the psychology field to make money as a quack pop psychologist.