A clown comes to Gotham, just not the one you're thinking of.
Last time on Batman: Caped Crusader,
the Police began a Batman hunt. It goes about as well as you think. Gordon is
forced to form a taskforce to hunt Batman, much to his own irritation. It’s led
by detective Montoya. They try to stage assaults to draw him in, but he doesn’t
fall for it. And then they stage a car chase, but he plows right through their
fake runaway car. Montoya then taps Barbara’s friend and expert psychology
witness Dr. Harleen Quinzel for tips. Harleen analyzes the Bat and realizes the
cops aren’t his focus, but criminals, so deduces that the best bait for Batman
would be another costumed criminal like Penguin, Clayface or Catwoman. Corrupt
cops Flass and Bullock release and arm, covertly, a costumed crook to do just
that, a pyromaniac named Firebug. Firebug starts the Eastside Flats, a low rent
apartment complex, and the place goes up fast. Batman busts in to try to get
the tenants out and the cops go in to chase after Batman. Flass and Bullock
corner Firebug and Flass has Bullock execute Firebug to cover up their actions.
Gordon chase Batman to the top floor of the building and gets him at gunpoint but
finds him saving some kids. Gordon helps and they all escape down a laundry chute
back to the ground floor, Batman escaping when Gordon’s back is turned. Gordon
had every intention of firing Flass and Bullock for this, but they made the front
page for their ‘heroics’ taking out Firebug. So, Mayor Jessup orders Gordon to
put them in charge of the Batman taskforce. He does say that for Gordon’s own
heroics for saving some kids that his job is safe for now. Afterward, Gordon,
Montoya and Barbara have a drink, and Gordon tells Barbara that he’s not licked
yet. Enough recap. Let’s get to it.
Ep 5: The Stress of Her Regard
The episode opens with a break in
at Gotham bank. Batman has the thief tied up outside the bank and he’s trying
to convince Batman to split the money with him. They’re both distracted by a
man dressed up as an Egyptian Pharoh walking down the street and spouting insane
nonsense. Batman stops him from getting run over by a truck and the man insist
that he’s Batman’s “king” and Batman will do as he says.
We cut to Batman researching the
Pharoh in the cave with Alfred. The Pharoh is Fletcher Demming, a real estate
baron that disappeared a few months ago. Batman remembers seeing him at a party
a few months back and he seemed fine but is now locked up in Arkham Asylum.
Alfred seems confused by this as he assumed a rich man like Demming should be
able to afford better care, but Batman reveals Demming isn’t rich anymore. A
few weeks ago, he started donating his fortune to various charities, and now he’s
flat broke. Alfred is further confused by this as he always thought Demming was
a selfish man. Batman confirms that Demming was and that something weird is
going on. We cut to a prison cell where a man dressed as a clown is being tortured.
He’s got his feet in a stockade while someone tickles them, making him laugh until
he cries and forcing him to swear to give all his money away. A woman on the
radio tells the torturer to stop and asks the man if that’s a promise. He says
it is, but she doesn’t believe him and the torture resumes.
We cut to Barbara and Harleen
getting coffee, Barbara complaining that it feels like sometimes that Gotham is
past the point of saving. Harleen tells her to learn to laugh it off. When
Barbara asks if that’s her professional opinion, Harleen tells her that after
listening to the greed and corruption that some of her patients tell her about,
she often feels like Barbara. And yes, laughing helps. She’s interrupted by
Montoya arriving, saying that she saw them from outside and asks to join them.
She sits down and tells Barbara she’s worried about Jim and that since Flass
and Bullock took over the task force that he’s pushing himself too hard to try
to prove himself. Barbara says she’ll try but she’s not sure what to say.
Harleen suggests some roleplay, but the other two women shoot her down
immediately. Barbara assures Montoya that her dad will get through whatever
funk he’s in. The women head out, Harleen telling her to keep her chin up before
she drives off. When alone, Harleen tells
Montoya that she thinks it’s sweet that Montoya’s worried about Gordon. Montoya
admits to her that he’s been more of a father to her than her own ever was.
Harleen suggests that they get dinner, her treat, somewhere fancy. Montoya says she could make tomorrow night
work and Harleen says it’s a date.
That night, Batman breaks into
Demming’s old office and sees everything boxed up. He finds a contract Demming
signed that would donate a further 1.5 million dollars to Westside Charities.
He notes a scuffmark on the floor near a bookcase and finds the secret lock to
open the door. He finds Demming’s secret Egyptian themed room. Inside he finds
Demming’s checkbook, the vast majority of which have a receipt page paid to the
order of Dr, Harleen Quinzel. A moment later the cops throw a tear gas grenade
at him. I guess he tripped an alarm or else they expected him to investigate
something weird like Demming’s situation. He throws the tear gas canister back
out at them and in the smoke takes out all of the cops save Flass and Bullock,
who he leaves looking like idiots.
We cut to Dr. Quinzel’s office as a
patient, Emerson Colins, is complaining about his workers trying to unionize.
He calls them Chattel and thinks they owe him respect just for giving them work.
The alarm goes off and the Emerson says that he felt like his blood pressure dropped
20 points just talking to her. Harleen says that she doesn’t think the sessions
are working, hitting a button on her chair and locking Emerson’s wrists down.
She takes off her glasses and says she’s tried to show him the humanity in his
employees and family but it’s not sinking in. So, she’s decided to try a new
tactic. We fade out and then back in, revealing that Harleen is the one holding
the wealthy men hostage in cells and torturing them. She’s also got a full Harlequin
Jester costume she dons, ya know, for vibes. She asks her assistant how one of
her patients is doing. We see the man writing lines “I’ve been a bad, bad boy,”
on chalkboards. When he complains, Harlequin adds another 10,000 lines. She has
another man endlessly searching Christmas lights for a bad bulb and treating another
like a big baby forced to eat vegetables until he cries. She checks on Emerson,
who is now dressed up like a king and strapped to a chair. When he mouths off,
she calls on the big baby, Mr. Belsky, and gives him a bat, telling him he’ll
get desert after making Emerson agree to give up all his earthly possessions.
She also rather creepily says that kings don’t rule this court, the Jester
does. I do like the little in joke that
Belsky is doing this all for some puddin’.
Meanwhile, Batman is searching news
articles for more million and billionaires that gave up their fortunes
suddenly. Alfred finds another in his own search, Jorge Campos, died 3 years
ago after giving up all his money to women’s shelters. Alfred asks who could possibly
be convincing Gotham’s greediest men to give up their possessions, and (assumedly)
then make them commit suicide to cover it up. Batman shows Alfred the check
book and suggest maybe their psychiatrist.
Barbara heads over to Arkham Asylum
to meet with Mr. Demming. She’s his court appointed public defender. Demming
seems to be stable, at first, but then yells at Barbara to stop calling him
Mister as he is a Pharoh. Barbara suggests getting a private psych evaluation
to determine if he’s a threat to himself or others. When she namedrops Harleen
Quinzel, Demming mutters Harley Quinn before having a panic attack and trying
to escape the asylum. He makes it up to the roof and nearly jumps off, but Barbara
catches him. Side note, for a fat guy and a woman in heels Demming and Barbara run
extremely fast. She has the orderlies give him a sedative and she asks who the “she”
he keeps screaming about is, but all he gets out is Har-har-har before passing
out.
The next day, Barbara meets with
Harleen at the courthouse. Harleen is excited to tell Barbara about asking Montoya
out, but Barbara is all business today. She asks about Fletcher Demming, but
Harleen plays dumb, saying she heard the name but doesn’t know him personally.
She diverts Barbara’s attention by asking what Montoya likes and getting
details on her.
At GCPD, Barbara visits Jim, saying
she brought him lunch. He thanks her and she asks how he’s doing. He says that
the mayor seems to think Batman is the only criminal in town. He’s got cases
pouring in and all of his people are stuck helping his two worst cops trying to
catch a black-and-gray ghost. He notes Barbara is only half listening and asks
what’s wrong. She asks what you do when the evidence points you to a place you
really don’t want it to. He says it’s better to know as then you can do
something about it. She tells him Montoya says he should take a day off, he
knows but he also says that isn’t happening any time soon. She kisses his cheek
and leaves him be.
Barbara heads over to Harleen’s
office and tries to knock but finds the door ajar. The room has been ransacked and
when she runs to the window, she just barely sees Batman running off across the
rooftops. She looks through Harleen’s appointment book and sees Demming’s name
in it, she’s clearly hurt her friend lied to her face. She sees a page torn out
and uses a pencil to get a rubbing of what was written on the missing page “William
Hastings” and his address.
She drives out to Hasting’s
mansion, which is on the outskirts of Gotham on a cliffside. She meets William Hastings
at the door and tries to talk to him about Demming and how both of them were
patients of Dr. Quinzel, but Hastings cuts her off, saying this is an invasion
of privacy and shuts the door in her face. Barbara leaves but pulls over a
short drive from the house and doubles back. She tries to get in one of the
windows and meets Batman, who asks her what she’s doing. She asks him the same question.
He admits that he thinks Dr. Quinzel is brainwashing some of her patients and
is here to get evidence. Barbara wants to help, as Harleen is her friend and if
she’s hurting people she needs to stop her. Batman tells her to go back to the
city and grappling hooks to the roof.
Meanwhile, Harleen and Montoya are
having dinner and flirting hard. They’re interrupted by Harleen getting a call
on the restaurant phone. She answers that she understands and will be right
there. She tells Montoya that there’s an emergency with a patient and she has
to go. She tells Montoya to meet her at Hopper’s later and they’ll pick up where
they left off. She kisses Montoya and then leaves. This is how you know this
isn’t the real 40s-50s, as I’m sure someone in the restaurant would have had a
stroke at seeing two women kissing in public.
Back at the house, Batman has made
it inside and finds most of Hasting’s valuables are also boxed up and ready for
donation. He makes his way to the basement and finds all the wealthy men in
their cages. Barbara also makes it inside and sees Harleen meeting with
Hastings who tells her that Batman is in the playpen. Batman tries to figure
out the controls when Harlequin comes in, saying that she knew Batman would
eventually come for her after she profiled him for the police. She is his type.
She asks him how many crooks will he need to put away to make himself feel
better. She skillfully unleashes her patients and tells them that whoever stops
Batman will make her very happy. Batman fights off the patients but gets forced
into a cell. She drops the cell door and gases him. She says she doesn’t want
to kill Batman but needs a head start so his hero complex won’t bite her. She
sets the building to blow, saying Batman has five minutes to figure out how to
escape. And maybe next time they’ll unpack some of his childhood trauma.
Barbara just barely escape’s
Harleen and her goons notice before slipping into the playpen. She sees Batman in a cell, grabs a bat and
tries to break him free. As they drive off, Hastings asks if Harleen is going
to miss Gotham. She wipes the jester makeup from her face and tells him to just
drive. She sees Barbara’s car, though, and orders him to turn around. She finds
Barbara trying to break the glass (she did crack it at this point) and the
explosives set to go off in less than a minute. Harleen tells her to run but
Barbara isn’t leaving Batman. Harleen tries to free him, but Barbara broke the
door. The explosives go off and Batman drops with his cell. The women run, but
the whole house collapses. Harleen drops but Barbara grabs her wrist. Harleen
says to let her drop, but Barbara won’t. She says she’s not going to prison or Arkham.
The board Barbara is holding onto breaks, and they drop. Batman swings in,
having freed himself somehow, and grabs Barbara. Harleen drops into the water
below. Batman swings them onto the cliff side and starts to chastise Barbara
for being reckless because she was Harleen’s friend. She tells him to shut up
and let her grieve as she starts to cry. Sirens blare and Batman runs off, but
not before telling Barbara that he’s sorry.
At Hoppers, Montoya is still
waiting when a phonebooth starts ringing. She answers, and it’s Harleen. She
says she needs to leave town for a bit but will look her up when she gets back.
She asks that Montoya look after Barbara while she’s gone and says goodbye.
I want to start by saying that,
regardless of what you think of the execution, the idea to introduce Harleen “Harley
Quinn” Quinzel not only as a psychologist but as a villain in and of herself
without the Joker was a big swing. I personally think it works. In nearly all
of Harley’s appearances she’s either too mentally broken herself or playing up
a ditzy persona to show off her intelligence, so this version of her that’s driving
others to insanity with psychology tactics is a fun twist on her formula. I
will say that her victims make me wonder if she truly wanted to help Bruce or
if she was planning to have him join the ranks of her broken minions if he kept
up his sessions. Hard to tell since she seems to be a genuinely good psychologist
most of the time, she just had her own little mental breakdown after treating
some genuinely horrible patients for years. That and it’s usually canon that
even when Bruce is at his most useless in his public persona, he’s usually Gotham’s
single biggest charity donator. Some folks have pointed out that using fears on
her victims make her seem like the Scarecrow, but I think if Dr. Crane makes an
appearance, they’ll find ways to differentiate the master from the apprentice.
And that’s assuming Harleen doesn’t end up in Joker’s orbit whenever he shows
up. I have to imagine that the writers had to wrack their brains for a while to
connect her to clowns without the Clown Prince of crime. I think the angle they
settled on works, as a sort of anti-hero punishing the 1% for their crimes
against society and their loved ones. The line about ‘the jester’ ruling the
court was great. I feel bad for both Montoya and Barbara in this one, as this
is the first Gotham criminal connected to both. Montoya is being swept up in a
romance, and while Barbara wants to be happy for them but has to deal with the mounting
evidence against Harleen. Batman is clearly having a harder time operating now
that he’s a known force in Gotham, with GCPD tracking his movements in the city
and criminals like Harleen being able to prep for his eventual butting into
their business. The price of fame, I suppose. I did like that brief moment where
Batman says he’s sorry for Barbara. Usually in private or with the costume on,
Batman has been totally closed off emotionally, so him realizing that Barbara
just needed to hear that little bit of empathy from him is a step forward for
him, me thinks. So yeah, a good episode. I’m genuinely shocked that Harley
Quinn can work without Joker involved even in her origin. Have a good night!
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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero
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