Recap / The Batman S 4 E 10 Two Of A Kind

After Punch and Judy get sent to prison, Joker's on the lookout for a new henchman, finding one in TV pop psychologist Harleen Quinzel.

The episode is written by Paul Dini (co-creator of Harley Quinn) of Batman: The Animated Series fame, and is a loose adaptation of his story Mad Love.

Tropes appearing in this episode include:

• Adaptational Heroism: Harley to a minor extent. Her comics origin involves her accidentally manipulating her college boyfriend into committing a Murder-Suicide, and blackmailing her professor to further her future Arkham career. While she is manipulative and shows a Lack of Empathy here, there's no indication that she went through such measures to start her career.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: In keeping with this version being more affable than most, the Joker's abusive traits are toned down considerably. The biggest thing is that while in other adaptations he'd manipulate Harley as his "get-out-of-Arkham-free" card, here he decides to indulge her on realizing she'd be vulnerable after losing her show. He still lashes out at Harley Quinn when sufficiently agitated, though, and doesn't bother helping her when she's trapped in a burning building.
• Adaptational Villainy: Zig-Zagged. Most of Harley's origins cast her as a relatively tragic villain only helping Joker out because of her Extreme Doormat personality; the DCAU is the most notable since it predates her comic-character tendency to sleep with professors for higher grades. Here, she starts out as a sadistic narcissist (she dupes Bruce Wayne into coming on her show for the sole purpose of humiliating him for laughs) and happily shacks up with Joker after getting a taste of the supervillain lifestyle.
• Adaptational Wimp: Unlike other versions that sort of dance around Harley being a normal civilian woman until well into adulthood, here she’s neither a trained combatant nor a criminal mastermind and is entirely reliant on Joker to keep her alive and out of jail. In a Surprisingly Realistic Outcome, she ends up nearly killing herself when attempting to deploy Joker’s gadgets in combat.
• Bad Bedroom, Bad Life: Harley lives in a spacious but disastrously messy apartment to highlight that she’s a loser.
• Bad Boss: Joker abandons Punch and Judy to the police because he doesn't want to be late for his favorite TV show. He later threatens Harley for giving him orders, and then abandons her in a burning building rather than risk arrest.
  Joker: You? Ordering me around?! Don’t go too far - I’ve only indulged you because it amused me!
• Bait the Dog: Joker takes advantage of Harleen after she loses her job, purely to have a night of laughs. He acknowledges as much when he sees her show cancelled, and Batman explains this to Batgirl and Robin when Robin is concerned that Harley left willingly with Mr. J. While she does enjoy herself, he also leaves her behind in a burning building.
• Berate and Switch: Joker points out everything wrong with Harleen and her show with apparent disdain, before he cheers "I LOVE this show! The girl's more screw-loose than me!"
• Big "NO!": Harley screams one when she gets cancelled, but it gets cut off midway through due to the television screen saying technical difficulties.
• Birds of a Feather: What ultimately attracts Joker to Harleen is the fact she's just like him, a crazed narcissist who loves to hurt people. He simply gives her one final push to become a full-blown supervillain, and the two go on a romantic crime spree.
• Bookends: The episode begins and ends with Joker abandoning his henchmen and fleeing.
• Bullying a Dragon: Even if she didn't know he was Batman, Harleen ought to have realized that heckling a multimillionaire philanthropist onscreen would be a bad idea. When Bruce storms out on hearing the Joker call, on the pretense of being offended by what Harleen did, she immediately gets the plug pulled on her.
• Call-Back: Batman easily unmasks and identifies Harley Quinn as "Dr. Quinzel". This isn't the first time he's done such an unmasking.
• Continuity Nod: The last time Joker knocked on someone's door, he broke in using a bomb. Here he actually waits for Harley to let him in before revealing his flowers and identity.
• Crime Spree Montage: Joker and Harley Quinn's first date is this: they're robbing a bank and random people, poisoning squirrels and making literally explosive pranks.
• Cringe Comedy: The entire Heart To Heart With Harley segment, holy cow.
• Designated Girl Fight: Subverted; when Batgirl arrives first on Harley's revenge show, Harley prepares to grapple with her. Joker then simply knocks out Batgirl with a bomb.
• Didn't Think This Through: Harley never considered the fact that trying humiliate Bruce Wayne wouldn’t make her look good in front of her boss, especially after he gave her a warning. This resulted in her show being cancelled.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Harley vows revenge against everybody related to her fall from grace, including the TV psychologist who replaced her and the news reporter that did a story on her escapades with Joker.
• Dramatically Missing the Point: When Harley's producer Jimmy Herbert calls her out on turning her show into a "circus" instead of actually helping people, Harley eagerly agrees because that's exactly what she's going for, while failing to realize that this is actually hurting her reputation and more likely to get her show cancelled.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Harley’s bemoans that everybody sees her as just a pretty face and not a serious, respected professional - given she’s not particularly intelligent or educated and is a huge Jerkass, she’s probably got about as much respect as she deserves. She ends up completely snapping and attempting to murder anybody who snubs her, including a random news reporter that gave her unflattering coverage.
• Easily Forgiven: When Harley sees Joker left a nice note for her and pranked the policeman taking her to jail to cheer her up, she immediately forgives him for leaving her to die in a fire to save himself.
• Entitled to Have You: Harleen gives this advice to a guy nervously phoning in for dating advice: "Flowers, flowers, flowers. And never take no for an answer."
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • At first, Jimmy Herbert only chides Harleen during the commercial break because he doesn't want to cancel her show just yet. When does he get on-camera? When Harleen humiliates Bruce Wayne, who was trying to promote his charity for crime victims, and he seemingly walks off in a huff. Jimmy intervenes as Harleen tries physically force Bruce to stay by blocking his path. Then he apologizes to "Mr. Wayne" in Sincerity Mode before canceling the show and firing her.
  • Batman is horrified when he sees Harleen going along with Joker's crime sprees and trying to defend him. So is the rest of the media, judging by the news coverage.
• Forgiveness: Despite the fact that Harleen Quinzel tried to humiliate Bruce Wayne, Batman tries to reason with her about going out with the Joker. He doesn't bear any malice towards her and keeps attempting to talk her down.
• Freud Was Right: Invoked when Batman points out the reasons for Joker's interest in Harley.
  Batgirl: And join us next week, when Batman analyzes the Freudian implications of Penguin's umbrella.
• Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: Robin is confused that anyone would willingly go with the Joker, and what the Joker would want with a random talk show host. Batman explains that right now Harleen is vulnerable following the loss of her show, and thus easy prey for someone like the Joker who enjoys a laugh.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: In a literal example, Harley ends up getting knocked out by one of her own bombs.
• Ignored Epiphany: In the end, getting arrested seems to shake Harley back to her senses, and she mopes at how the Joker used her. Then she sees the card from him, as well as a whoopie cushion, and she starts Laughing Mad in the paddy wagon.
• In-Series Nickname: "Harley Quinn" is a nickname Joker gave Harleen Quinzel when she joined him.
• Jumped Off The Slippery Slope: Harleen started out as a bully with an online psychology degree but "evil" would be too cruel to call her. When Joker convinces her to spend a night on the town with him, however, she goes along with all of his escapades: robbing a bank and leaving the staff Bound and Gagged, drugging squirrels with Joker venom, filling a fountain with explosive foam, and destroying one of Bruce Wayne's banners in the city. Even Batman asks What Were You Thinking? when he catches up to the pair.
• Jump Scare: The episode begins with a closeup on a painting of a screaming face, complete with a Scare Chord.
• Karma Houdini: In a very rare occurrence, this is one of the few times Joker doesn't get caught for his crimes. He gets away, and Batman has to stay behind to rescue an unconscious Harleen.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Harley thinks just because she's got an online psychology degree means she's a master in her field and fully qualified to give psychiatric help. The "help" she provides on her controversial talk show is questionable at best.
• Lack of Empathy: Harleen genuinely doesn't think she did anything wrong despite that she was using her show as an excuse to bully and humiliate people under the guise of "psychological help."
• Laser-Guided Karma: Harley sets up a trap to humiliate Bruce on her show and damage his reputation for the ratings. This causes her producer to immediately cancel her show and call her a joke on live television, humiliating her and damaging her reputation.
• Mad Love: Naturally, but with some twists. One notable thing is that Joker doesn't rely on Harley to bust him out of Arkham, as he did before; he indulged her simply because he could.
• Mama Bear: Monica's mother calls to berate Harleen Quinzel for telling her daughter to sneak out with a boy her parents didn't like. Harleen quickly hangs up on hearing the call.
• The Masquerade Will Kill Your Dating Life: When he is on Harley's show, one of Bruce's prior dates says they were having dinner, and then he suddenly left, citing that he had “important business,” presumably because he was needed to save the day elsewhere. Sticking her with the check is still a bad look though.
• Mythology Gag: While calling Harleen during her show, Joker refers to himself as "Mr. J", Harley's Affectionate Nickname for the Joker in the DCAU and in the comics.
• Never My Fault: Harley blames Bruce Wayne and her former producer, Jimmy Herbert, for her show getting cancelled instead of admitting that it was her own fault for giving people crappy dating advice and setting up a cruel prank to humiliate Bruce on television.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: When Bruce realizes that Joker is calling the show, he quickly makes an excuse to leave, likely hoping to try to trace Joker's phone signal. Unfortunately, his method of doing so, being offended at Harley's antics, along with the show being on its last legs, results in it being cancelled mid-broadcast, and allows Joker to convince Harley to become Harley Quinn.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: The guy who replaces Harley's show is one of Dr. Phil, accent and all.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Joker claims this while giving Harleen a therapy session. After she tells him that her producer called her a joke, he tells her that he’s been called worse things, and she admits they seem to have a lot in common.
• Oh, Crap!: During her show, Harleen is talking to a woman on the phone about how she told a girl named Monica to go behind her parents' back and date a boy they didn't like, only to find out that the woman she's talking to is Monica's mother.
• Out-Gambitted: Joker calls out Harleen for attempting to use him to write a tell-all, when she honestly tells him she wants to use him to get her show back. She doesn't deny it, but seems to win him over by ordering his hyenas. Come to their next scene, he convinces her to go on a rampage as "research for her book" and has her under his thumb. She and Batman lampshade that she was outsmarted and manipulated after she gets arrested.
• Paint the Town Red: Verbally invoked during the opening fight in the art museum, where Joker invites Batman to check out his "latest piece," Bat Bits on Canvas before lobbing a grenade at him.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Averted; Harley's disguise completely covers her eyes, skin color, and hair. Even so, Batman immediately recognizes her when he unmasks her.
• Parasol Parachute: Joker and Harley escape from Batman with one of these. He mentions borrowing the trick from Penguin.
• Periphery Demographic: In-Universe, Heart To Heart With Harley is a relationship advice show that's presumably aimed at teenage girls, but at least one adult male supervillain counts himself a fan. Though it's maybe not too surprising, since it veers close to being a Point-and-Laugh Show.
• Point-and-Laugh Show: Poor Bruce gets duped into showing up on Heart To Heart With Harley (he's told he'll get to talk about a charity drive). Harley invites one of his jilted exes who spends a minute roasting him, before opening the phones up for callers to insult him.
  Batgirl: He's faced some pretty nasty sneak attacks, but nothing like this.
  Robin: We have to save him.
  Batgirl: It's too late, Robin. There's nothing we can do.
• Put on a Prison Bus: Punch and Judy get taken down by the Bats, but unfortunately Joker has better things to do (watch TV) so they get hauled off, opening up a henchman position for Harley.
• Rage Breaking Point:
  • Subverted. Bruce at first seems to hit this when he hears "Mr. J." calling and making a death threat against him. He actually realized it was the Joker and wanted to change clothes to hunt him down.
  • Played straight, however, with Jimmy Herbert. He's already mad at Harleen, but is furious when she humiliates Bruce Wayne, who came onto the show to promote a charity. Jimmy intervenes and gets on-camera to apologize to Bruce and tell Harley she's cancelled and call her a joke.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Harleen's producer, Jimmy Herbert. He comes during the commercial break to warn Harleen that her show is on its last legs, and she needs to shape up. Even so, he gives her a chance to do so, and only pulls the plug after she ignores his warning and humiliates Bruce Wayne.
• Rhetorical Question Blunder: While Joker and Harley are escaping Batman:
  Harley: Has anyone ever survived a night out with you?
  Joker: There's a first time for everything!
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Bruce leaves the show when Joker calls; he recognizes the man's voice and pretends to be upset at what Harleen is doing. When she tries to stop him, her producer immediately pulls the plug and apologizes to Bruce for the humiliation.
• The Shrink: Harley is a psychologist, albeit a distressingly incompetent one with questionable credentials.
  Joker: Pop Psychology at its worst! That girl's theories are unfounded, her professional manner's a joke, and her training, if any, is shoddy at best! (Beat) I LOVE THIS SHOW! The girl's more screwloose than me!
• Silly Love Songs: Harley and Joker sing Setting the Woods On Fire while wreaking havoc in Gotham. Take notes, edgelords: Joker doesn't listen to Nu Metal, he likes Hank Williams.
• So Bad, It's Good: invokedJoker's opinion on Harleen's talk show.
  Joker: Pop psychology at its worst. That girl's theories are unfounded, her professional manner's a joke, and her training, if any, is shoddy at best! I love this show!
• The Sociopath: Joker, of course (Batman even calls him a psychopath outright) but Harley as well, which is fairly unusual for the character. Even before she becomes a supervillain, she's clearly a sadistic, shallow creep with a gigantic ego.
• Talk Show: Harley is the host of Heart To Heart With Harley, a disastrous primetime talk show where she dispenses terrible relationship advice (such as telling a man to "never take no as an answer" or advising a girl to go behind her parents' back to date a boy she wasn't allowed to see) and harasses guests.
• Valentine's Day Episode: The episode takes place on Valentine's Day. Joker steals Harley a huge diamond as a Valentine's gift, and Harley makes a point of attacking the show that replaced her Valentine's Day special.
• Villain Has a Point: Joker has a point when he calls out Harleen for obviously trying to use him for publicity. Even so, he rolls with it since it's all fun and games to him, and Harleen never gets the chance to write her book anyways.
• Villain Respect: When Harley first makes her offer of splitting profits on a book deal, Joker sics his hyenas on her. When she cows them into obeying her, he's genuinely impressed.
  Joker: You're good.
• Villains Out Shopping: Before it was cancelled, Joker was revealed to be the biggest fan of Harley’s show, he is revealed to a frequent watcher and caller under the name “Mr. J”. The reason he abandoned Punch and Judy was because he didn’t want to miss the show.
• Wolf Whistle: This is Joker's reaction the first time he sees Harleen in her full "Harley Quinn" ensemble, complete with panting like a dog.

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