A dinner at Jada Jet's home turns into a battle for survival when a disgruntled former employee shows up.
Tropes:
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Renee Montoya and Pamela Isley (aka Poison Ivy) were old lovers back in the day, before the latter turned into a supervillain.
- Adaptational Villainy: The Whip is listed among the Rogues Batman stopped when he was active. In the comics, she was a member of the Seven Soldiers of Victory and descended from the original Whip, a member of the All-Star Squadron.
- Alone with the Psycho: Ryan, after she sneaks out of the panic room to get the adrenaline.
- Ascended Meme: This dialogue when Renee and Alice are examining the whip:Renee: So she doesn't think it's a trophy?
Alice: Hmm, that's the thing about Batman and Catwoman between the sheets. Personally, I didn't think heroes did that sort of thing
, but what do I know? I'm a villain. - Attack the Injury: When Pyg attacks Ryan as she's trying to get to the basement, she manages to grab a frying pan and hit him in the left leg, the same place she stabbed him earlier, causing him to collapse to the ground in pain.
- Buried Alive: Renee reveals that Isley should be buried beneath the sewers, because she asked Batman to perform this trope on her so Poison Ivy wouldn't harm anyone else.
- The Bus Came Back: Renee Montoya shows up (outside of recaps) after skipping the last couple episodes.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday:
- Invoked by Marquis when Pyg complains about Jada firing him years ago. Marquis snaps that Jada probably never even knew the guy's name; she just complained to her staff his food was bad and they dropped him, with Jada brushing it off as an inconvenience.
- Sophie tries to invoke this on Jada by revealing she is Jordan's sister, but Jada genuinely had no idea that her men were responsible for that incident.
- Continuity Nod:
- Marquis encountered the Joker as a child when the villain hijacked his school-bus in 2003...this is almost certainly the same incident that led to the death of Gabi Kane and the disappearance of Beth Kane.
- When Montoya hands over files on all the Rogues in order for Alice to find who is imitating Catwoman, Alice name drops Magpie and Talia Al Ghul.
- Pyg claims to be from Metropolis (as a cover).
- Convulsive Seizures: Marquis gets this inside the panic room.
- Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: Jada tried to push Ryan away to protect her from her brother.
- Dinner and a Show: It's not surprising that the dinner Jada invites Ryan to devolves into this, especially since Marquis shows up unannounced, making things even more awkward.
- Doesn't Like Guns: Jada reveals this after Sophie requests one inside the panic room. Needless to say, Sophie isn't too happy to hear that.
- Foreshadowing:
- Jada actually looks remorseful during Ryan's You're Not My Mother speech at dinner, contrasting her past cold dismissiveness, hinting there's more to the story of her abandoning Ryan.
- Marquis antagonizing Pyg despite being at the latter's mercy indicates that something might be wrong with him.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: Sophie and Alice are watching a movie at the beginning.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Once more, the Joker is responsible for the creation of another psycho, Marquis in this case.
- Hates Their Parent: Both Ryan and Marquis despise Jada, though for very different reasons.
- Impeded Communication: Pyg installs some kind of jammer around the household, thus not allowing Ryan and Sophie to contact Luke for assistance.
- Improvised Weapon:
- Ryan uses a serving dish as a shield and a frying pan as a weapon after being discovered by Pyg.
- Pyg himself resorts to this once Ryan and Sophie regain their strength, though he is soon after stabbed by Marquis.
- In the Back: How Marquis kills Pyg.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: What Mary describes Alice's worsening delusions as. She's no longer in control of her life and is being confronted with all the pain and suffering she wrought during her villainous crusade.
- MacGyvering: Pyg builds a bomb to try and blow into the panic room.
- Made of Indestructium: Catwoman's whip has Batman's nanotech woven into it, making it as tough as the Batsuit. The fact that the replica Ryan and Alice find looks to have been cut with a common knife makes it unlikely to be the real one.
- Mask of Sanity: Marquis, who seemed like a Nice Guy beforehand, is revealed to be a deeply unstable, sociopathic man.
- Mythology Gag: When Alice is looking through the files of Gotham's Rogues, one of the names she comes across is Shelly "The Whip" Gaynor, who is actually a hero in the comics (and more closely related to the characters in Stargirl (2020) than Batman).
- Oh, Crap!: Alice, of all people, when she realizes Mary was infected with Poison Ivy's vines. That said, she sports a Psychotic Smirk after learning from Renee that Mary is becoming Poison Ivy's new host.
- Out of Focus: Luke only appears near the beginning to give Ryan an update on Wayne Enterprises' stock falling and is unable to help during Pyg's home invasion. Mary also only appears in that scene and one later on with Alice that foreshadows her becoming Poison Ivy. And while not specifically a character, the Batwoman suit only appears in the cold open.
- The Reveal:
- Montoya's interest in Poison Ivy specifically is because they used to be close prior to her transformation.
- Jada has been keeping Ryan at a distance because Marquis might have harmed her if she became close to the family. As a child, he was attacked by the Joker, who zapped his head with his electric joy buzzer. Ever since then, Marquis has exhibited sociopathic behavior, such as deliberately triggering his father's peanut allergy for a laugh. Jada commissioned the freeze serum in an attempt to put him on ice until a treatment could be found.
- Self-Made Orphan: Marquis killed his own dad by feeding him peanut butter, which he is allergic towards.
- Ship Tease: Many between Ryan and Sophie, who pose as a couple to do recon at Jada's dinner. Several characters liken the situation to a date where Ryan is introducing Sophie to her mother. The two really get into it when describing to Jada how they "met" and by the end, Ryan and Sophie both joke how the mission felt like a date, sharing a Longing Look.
- Shout-Out:
- Alice name drops Indiana Jones and Jack and the Beanstalk.
- When Ryan and the others lock themselves in the panic room, Pyg shouts "I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house down!"
- Spotting the Thread: Alice quickly notices how Mary keeps mentioning plant life.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Ryan stabs Pyg in the leg soon after the latter reveals his true colors. Not being used to pain, he is on the ground for a long time, and even after tying off the wound to stop the bleeding, he spends the rest of the episode with a notable limp, allowing Ryan and the others to hide.
- Later, when Ryan is trying to get the EpiPen, she finds it on the top shelf of a bookcase. Given that she's hampered by the drug and significantly shorter than Marquis, her attempts to climb the bookshelf result in it collapsing right on top of her.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: Professor Pyg drugs all the drinks with a combination paralytic/poison that will eventually cause heart failure.
- Title Drop: Pyg says the title of the episode when chasing the group up the stairs.
- Thrown Down a Well: Poison Ivy was buried somewhere she could never reach any sort of nutrients, and only Batman knows where that is.
- Twofer Token Minority: Aside from being black and lesbian, Ryan also mentions that she is a vegan in this episode.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Marquis's acquaintance Zoey only has one short scene at the dinner table, before she is murdered by Pyg in the bathroom.
- We Need a Distraction: Jada lures Pyg away via the panic room intercom while Ryan sneaks into the kitchen to grab a weapon and stop the bomb.
- Wham Line: When Alice hands over a dead cutting of Poison Ivy's vines, Montoya explains that they wouldn't be dead unless there's a new host, suggesting Mary is becoming the new Poison Ivy after being attacked.
- Wham Shot: The final scene has Marquis spreading blood across his lips like a giant smile, in a blatant homage to the Rogue who made him the way he is now.
- Worf Had the Flu: Professor Pyg drugs the drinks at Jada's dinner, leaving Ryan and Sophie severely hampered and only barely able to keep moving. However, even afterwards he puts up a good fight until he gets taken out by Marquis from behind.
