Traps! Cats! Excitement! It’s time for another Five Thoughts on Harley Quinn. Three episodes in, and we are cooking with gas. This is another Poison Ivy heavy episode as she deals with her insecurities and life trajectory. Who could make Ivy flustered and unsure of herself? Well, none other than the self-assured, infinitely charming Catwoman, of course. Played smoothly by Sanaa Lathan (The lady who befriended a Predator in Alien Vs. Predator). It’s also nice to see a dark-skinned Catwoman, you don’t see that often.
Harley, Ivy, Kite Man, and Catwoman head out on a McGuffin chase while the rest of the crew sits at home to watch the Riddler run. Boy, do those lackeys fail miserably. Let’s get into the thoughts. Minor spoilers ahead.
1. What doctorates do these villains have?
What makes Dr. Trap a Doctor? What did he have to study to get a doctorate in traps? Trap psychology? The same goes for Dr. Psycho. There is an old joke that claims Doctors hate to be called Mr. or Mrs. They say things like “I didn’t go through 8 years of medical school to be called Mr.” Is that the case here? Even if all these supervillains were Dr.’s, at some point, your villainy would wipe that moniker out, no? Isn’t there a “Do No Harm” clause stapled to every doctor’s diploma? Take Mr. Freeze, for example. He was totally a doctor, then he became an evil snowman and dropped the doctor pretense. He is an example to all those pretentious ass villains still clinging to their former professions. That said, Dr. Trap is just a tool who lost a jaw.
2. So the rest of Harley’s crew really are goons
Harley’s gaggle of oddballs started out as an elective team of misfits. Now, they seem to have slipped into goon territory. It’s almost a self-fulfilling prophecy from the Legion of Doom episode in Season 1. The Riddler is one normal man strapped to a hamster wheel, being guarded by a giant man-shark, a clay abomination, a cyborg, and a literal telekinetic psychic. The Riddler still escapes. Not only that, but they don’t recapture him at all. That’s an F- folks. That is C level henchmen behavior. Even the two chatty Cathy’s guarding Mr. Freeze’s ice wall bested our crew. How pathetic is that? I hope these guys can turn it around because they all seem real incompetent right now.
3. Dr. Trap’s Museum is Easter egg island
As Harley and the others make their way through Dr. Taps assortment of “Evil Construction” booby traps, there are a ton of easter eggs scattered across the background. Two-Face’s giant stupid coin makes an appearance (did he get that from the Batcave or directly from Harvey Dent?) At one point Harley picks up Deathstroke’s sword to free Kite Man from the mother of all traps, a net. I also clocked Dr. Fate’s helmet, and a sword my nerd brain couldn’t name but totally know it from somewhere. We know Dr. Trap looted all the villain’s lairs when Gotham fell, but how did he get Dr. Fate’s helmet? That’s a pretty hard magical item to procure. It really doesn’t like to be anywhere except on the head of some poor asshole, slowly driving them insane. Let’s say it fell off.
4. Side questing
We are in full video game (or D&D) side questing territory now folks. We have a destination, but oops, it’s blocked. We need a unique item to get in. Lucky for us, there are a couple of talkative NPC’s who spill the beans on what and where that item is. But we need a specialist. Time to recruit the best thief we can find, party up, and grab that item. We enter a dark building full of traps and treasures and need to solve a puzzle using our newly acquired item to escape. I am not ragging on this. I actually love it a whole bunch. It’s like conversing with Abed from Community using only movie quotes. If you try hard enough, you can see gaming in everything.
5. Growth of Poison Ivy
I really thought we were going to see the pairing of Ivy and Kite Man, but things swung another way, and we have an engaged couple now. Who would have thought? Will the wedding happen? Probably not, but it’s still nice to see Ivy grow throughout the episode. Having Catwoman tug at Ivy’s ego was an excellent way to have Ivy realize who she is now. Ivy’s no longer the scantly clad vine lady only out for the planet. Now she has friends and a goofy man who loves her enough to get shot with arrows. Not many supervillains can say that. I remain steady that Poison Ivy is the true hero of this show and I defy anyone to prove me wrong. So much growth. And that’s not a plant pun. Well, it is. Whatever, shut up. Kite Man’s getting married, hell yea!
Wrap-up
Another solid episode of Harley Quinn in the bag. While Dr. Psycho, King Shark, Clayface, and Cy Borgman are currently anchors dragging down the pace of the show, Harley and Ivy shine in each outing. Hopefully, the rest of the crew gets a boost and end this streak of inconsequential storylines that are at best, mildly amusing filler to the main story. I mean, the last two episodes had both Bat Girl and Catwoman in the main quests, and the rest of the crew didn’t even interact with them. Except for Clayface, but he was too busy with Chad to notice Barbara Gordon’s awakening.
Check you next week, Hyenas!
