"I Am the Night" Re-Watch: "Mad Love" & "Chemistry"

The New Batman Adventures

 I have to thank everyone who has been reading these recaps of "Batman: The Animated Series." It's been a few years, but we are closing in on the finish line. Including these episodes, there are four left. I've really enjoyed recapping one of my favorite shows and I'm really thankful for anyone who has read even one of these.

Harley Quinn: "Oh come on, Puddin'! Don't you wanna rev up your "Harley"? Vroom, vroom!"

Dr. Harleen Quinzel: [last lines, as a heavily bandaged Harleen is taken into Arkham Asylum.] "Never again. No more obsession, no more craziness, no more Joker. I finally see that slime for what he is: a murderous, manipulative, irredeemable...

[She turns her head to see a rose on her bedside table with a note attached saying, "Feel better soon. - J"]

Harley Quinn: ... angel!"

After a dentist plot against Gordon is foiled by Batman, Joker is not in the mood for Harley's amorous advances. He's too busy trying to come up with the perfect plot, possibly involving piranhas, to kill Batman once and for all. Ignoring her "boyfriends" casual abuse, Harley believes that Batman is the real problem in their relationship and decides to take out Bats once and for all, while at the same time, reflecting on how she met Joker and how they became involved.

Uff da.

This is one of the most well known episodes of "Batman: The Animated Series" and definitely the most well known of "The New Batman Adventures." It finally gives us an origin for Harley Quinn and explicitly spells out that the relationship between Harley and the Joker is abusive and toxic. I honestly can't understand how anyone, especially after watching this episode, could 'ship this pair. 

The episode shows it's cards right from the start. After Batman shows up and stops Joker from performing dental work on Commissioner Gordon sans anesthesia, Joker lashes out really violently at Harley in a way that we haven't really seen before. It reminded me of when my stepdad used to do that to me. It comes out of nowhere for something really innocuous and it's jarring. It's meant to be. It's different than how you've seen Joker chide Harley in the past. 

The abuse continues when Harley tries to seduce Joker wearing her Harley makeup from the neck up but also a slinky red negligee, one of the most iconic images from the series. She also has a whoopee cushion and I'm not one to kink shame, but shame, shame, shame. After being ejecting, Harley decides that Batman is the real problem. Oh sweetie.

This whole episode is really a tour de force for Harley's one true voice actor, (sorry, Tara Strong. love you!) Aileen Sorkin. Sorkin gets to stretch her vocal chops as Dr. Harleen Quinzel along with Harley. There is so much nuance that Sorkin delivers. It's wonderful. This is the classic Harley origin story. Dr. Quinzel, fresh into Arkham, falls in love with Joker, after seeing the damaged child inside him. Harley successfully tricks Batman into believing she was going to turn on the Joker. Once she has him, she figures out a way around Joker's smiling piranha trap, just hang Batman upside down and then it looks like the piranhas are smiling while they eat him. Batman manipulates Harley into getting Joker over there knowing that he would never let anyone take care of killing Batman except him.

Joker shoving Harley out the window is really a gut punch. The slow motion fall followed by the crunch of her hitting the car. You hate the Joker, but you kind of also hate Batman. He's so consumed with stopping these criminals, but he doesn't help Harley. He clearly sees that Joker is abusing and manipulating Harley but instead of helping her, he uses her. Another man using Harley to get what they want. 

Bruce Timm and Paul Dini don't give us any easy answers. Abusive relationships are messy and you backslide, as evidenced by Harley's change of heart when, battered and barely alive in Arkham, gets the flower from Joker. You think what just happened would be enough to snap her out of it, but that's not how life works. Even in the comics.

Grade: A+

Bruce Wayne: "I should have known. It was too easy."

Susan Maguire: "Relationships aren't supposed to be easy. Even I know that and I'm just a vegetable."

At the wedding of Gotham's premiere socialite, Veronica Vreeland, Bruce Wayne is instantly smitten by Ronnie's husband's friend, Susan Maguire. After a whirlwind romance that includes some light stalking as Batman, Bruce pops the question and lets Dick, Babs and Tim know that he is going to stop being Batman. At the wedding, Bruce gets a panicked call from Ronnie regarding her new hubby. Apparently Ronnie's trouble in paradise, could spell the end of Bruce's new marriage.

Beauty and the Beast

I've sat with this episode for a day and I'm not sure how I feel about it, honestly. This is maybe the second time I've watched it and the first time critically. It was pretty easy to deduce that this was going to be a Poison Ivy focused episode. Bruce marrying a woman he just met? Sounds like pheromones, which sounds like Ivy. B:TAS loves to keep Ivy off the board for a lot of her focused episodes and I'm not sure why that is. Ivy is a great character and there has to be a way to have her be the main villain, but not have her be relegated to the background or a measly like 5 minutes of airtime. I may be exaggerating about that, I didn't time how long she was on screen. 

One thing I really liked about this episode and what I've liked about a few of the Ivy episodes is that they really lend themselves to B-movie, mad scientist body horror. Take the scene where Michael, Veronica Vreeland's new husband, returns to Ivy after burning down their house and literally rips the skin off the top half of his body. It's disturbing and gross and wonderful and Robin's almost vomiting is the best reaction. The plant creatures melting when they are dosed with the solution. Wonderful. That is all great.

What I really struggled with was the whole Susan Maguire of it all. Susan is voiced by Sarah Connor herself, Linda Hamilton, which is dope, but like, why weren't people more concerned that Bruce was getting ready to marry this chick and end his lifelong vengeance fueled crusade after like three dates? No one really bats an eye and it's so weird. Not Dick. Not Babs. Not Alfred. Even Bruce doesn't ever really think to himself, maybe I'm being fucked with. It feels like someone should have made a bigger deal about this and it's difficult for me to shake. It really kind of brings down the whole episode for me. Also, why is Bruce going on a honeymoon yacht cruise with the other millionaires in Gotham who have been swindled by Ivy. And if this was happening a lot to people in Bruce's station, wouldn't he have known? He's the World's Greatest Detective for Christ's sakes.

Ugh. OK. I need to calm down. But one more thing, have we noticed how Batman is cavalierly like causing his enemies to die or leaving them for dead? There was Freeze. He tossed Joker into a smokestack in the last episode and now leaving Ivy at sea? Did the writers know this was the last season so they just said "fuck it?"

Grade: C-

Next up, the Creeper comes after Batman and a new vigilante is in town who is doing the one thing that Batman won't do, past couple episodes not withstanding.

I'd love to hear what you all thought about these episodes. Is "Mad Love" an animation classic? Am I missing something with "Chemistry?" Let me know in the comments.