Tropes in this episode include:
- Artistic License – Physics: While it isn't shown until her next appearance, Poison Ivy survived being pressed through the rooftop of her giant greenhouse by a rapidly growing tree. Even ignoring the pressure should have crushed her body (remember, this was before she would be reimagined as a metahuman so she has no enhanced durability or healing abilities), the cuts alone from the glass would have caused her to bleed to death.
- Bespectacled Cutie: Ivy's sexiness isn't diminished by the glasses she wears as Dr. Demeter.
- Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Ivy is redheaded, of course, and her henchwomen Lily and Violet are blonde and brunette respectively.
- Body Horror: The episode has this in spades for the victims of the villain, Transflormation mixed with Taken for Granite (well, wood here) and And I Must Scream. Fortunately, it can be reversed before Ivy can spray them anymore.
- Bound and Gagged: Batman subdues Lily and Violet, ties them up, and gags them for good measure.
- Clark Kenting: All Ivy has to do is throw on glasses, tie her hair into a bun and wear a lab coat to prevent anybody from recognizing her, including Alfred who should recognize the face and voice of the vampy eco-terrorist his employer fights every so often. To Diane Pershing's credit she does slightly modify her Ivy voice when she's playing the part of Dr. Demeter, sounding less like a sultry, Old Hollywood bombshell and more like the announcer of an infomercial, which she did serve as alot back in the day.
- Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Poison Ivy has somehow managed to afford a gigantic mansion with its own power plant and extensive grounds in order to set up a fake health spa for one episode—complete with a staff of women loyal enough to kill on her part and try fighting the Batman, and a greenhouse full of extremely rare, nearly extinct, fully-grown trees found only in the depths of the Amazon. What's more, that growth formula she extracted seems to be an extremely effective reforestation tool, as seen at the end, and she could have proposed it as such to actually fix the precious forests she loves rather than exact horrifying revenge against the perpetrators.
- Day in the Limelight: Alfred has a much bigger involvement in this episode than most.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Poison Ivy runs a spa and sends out invitations to millionaires who have done some environmental wrong, turning them into living plants with her treatment. She targets Bruce when his company was planning on tearing down a forest for building space—except Bruce had found out and stopped the plans, although since the video inviting him to the spa came right after Bruce called off the plans, it’s possible she didn’t know that Bruce had nothing to do with the plans and in fact was not happy when he learned about it. What's more, when Bruce lets his butler Alfred and Alfred's girlfriend go in his place as a vacation, Ivy figures she'll make due with him because someone has to be punished.
- Dramatic Irony: Poison Ivy targets Bruce Wayne, due his company taking part in a tree-cutting operation in a rainforest as she explains to Batman. She is unaware that not only Bruce Wayne and Batman are the same person, but Bruce wanted no part in destroying a rainforest when one of his directors chose to take part in it and he ordered it to be shutdown.
- Foreshadowing: Ivy's alias at the head of the Eternal Youth Spa is "Daphne Demeter". "Daphne" is a Greek nymph who got turned into a tree. Guess what Ivy's plot consists of...
- Gilligan Cut: When Maggie tries to get Alfred to go to the spa, he absolutely refuses. Cut to the next scene where he's driving her there.
- Girl Posse: Ivy's two henchgirls Violet and Lily.
- Grand Dame:
- Mrs. Thomas, who we see at the beginning getting sprayed by Poison Ivy.
- The "willow" in Ivy's garden of Transflormation victims, who cut down "an ancient forest to produce cardboard".
- Innocently Insensitive: The episode ends with Bruce visiting Alfred and Maggie in the hospital… with a potted tree.
- Irony: Bruce orders one of his employees to shut down the tree-cutting at a rainforest, not caring how much money they'll lose. Then, Alfred gets the mail, with one that says Bruce won ten million dollars, which would likely cover the money loss.
- Longevity Treatment: Poison Ivy under the guise of Dr. Demeter offers this treatment to rich industrialists but in reality is turning them into trees as karmic justice for their environmental destruction. She has no qualms about going after their friends or loved ones as well.
- Made of Iron: Ivy's last scene in this episode shows her being slammed against the greenhouse roof by the rapidly growing tree. The pressure upon her body could easily have killed her, but yet, she survives.
- Male Gaze: Right after Alfred and Maggie are gassed we're treated to a shot of Poison Ivy, still in the process of removing her hair scrunchie, come sauntering into frame, showcasing her delicious backside.
- Meaningful Name: Ivy's alias is "Daphne Demeter", after two ancient Greek goddesses with connections to nature and plants. Daphne is a nymph who got turned into a tree, and Demeter is the goddess of harvest, agriculture, and earth's fertility.
- Misplaced Retribution: A rare double helping. Poison Ivy targets Alfred and his girlfriend in a Revenge by Proxy to Bruce Wayne for his company's involvement in tearing down a rainforest... who himself had nothing to do with it; a greedy director of his was the one who made the deal, and upon finding out about it Bruce angrily forced the director to shut it down under threat of a firing.
- Mythology Gag: When Alfred debuted in the comics, he was fat and clean-shaven. In order to match him with the Alfred from the first movie adaptation, it was explained that he lost weight and grew a mustache at... a health spa.
- No-Sell: Ivy has her henchwomen spray Batman with a concentrated version of the gas she used to turn her other victims into living trees. They get confused when it was doing nothing but loosen the ropes binding Batman, allowing him to free himself. Being Crazy-Prepared, Batman revealed that after analyzing her plant enzyme, he had created an herbicidal antidote to counteract it, which he coated on his costume.
- Noodle Incident: There's apparently always someone in Wayne Enterprises who tries to slip under Bruce's radar.
- Out-of-Character Alert: Alfred putting extra plants around the house and Batcave tips Batman off that something is wrong.
- Pursued Protagonist: The episode begins with an heiress who cut down a forest being chased through the wilderness by Poison Ivy while showing fright about ending up like “the others.” She ends up being temporarily turned into a tree.
- Revenge Myopia: Ivy. Not only is killing plants not tantamount to killing humans, but also Wayne was only distantly in charge of the operation for which she tries to punish him and was not any more pleased about the ecosystem damage (when he heard of it) than she was.
- Say My Name: "Alfred? Alfred! Alfred!! ALLFREEEEEDDD!!!!!!!!"
- Speak in Unison: Violet and Lily, as Alfred points out while watching the video.
- "Take That!" Kiss: "This dog of a dogwood leveled enough trees to shade a small state," and Ivy mockingly gives him a kiss on the cheek. Had it not been for Batman he would've died.
- The Glasses Gotta Go: "Dr. Demeter" ditches her bookish spectacles right at the end of act two, having changed into her far racier Poison Ivy costume off-screen.
- Theme Naming: Poison Ivy's henchwomen, Violet and Lily, are also named after plants. The names are likely aliases, though this is not made quite clear.
- This Cannot Be!: Uttered by Batman when he sees what Poison Ivy has done to all the industrialists.
- Transflormation: What Poison Ivy does to industrialists, Alfred, and Alfred's ladyfriend, Maggie Page.
- Villainous Crush: This episode provides the biggest hint Poison Ivy has one towards Batman, previous signs being purely subtext in nature. It's easy to imagine their proposed partnership evolve into far more had Bats actually accepted.
- Villain Has a Point: Ivy isn't incorrect in pointing out that Batman goes after the wrong people, considering all the times he's nearly died because of it.
- Villain Respect: Initially, Ivy acknowledges that Batman is as devoted to fighting injustice as she believes herself to be in his own way, and even appears to try impressing him with her "turn people into trees" plan in a seeming attempt at We Can Rule Together (not knowing his personal connection to two of her victims and previously Harvey Dent, or the fact that he was one of her self-acknowledged targets as Bruce Wayne). However, when he declares her a "fanatic," she concludes that "if he is not part of the solution, then he is part of the problem."
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Even Wayne is concerned about the effects of corporations on the environment, but Ivy takes it to an extreme level.
- You're Insane!:Ivy: I have the patience of a redwood.Batman: And the convictions of a fanatic!
