Talk about a whirlwind episode! Trust me, you didn’t just get caught up in one of Aquaman’s typhoons, quite a lot did happen in under 23 minutes, and we have recapped it all for you below. Between a prestigious invite to join the Legion of Doom, a heartbreaking secret from Sy, and last but not least (maybe): Aquaman himself, let’s get to it!
- Underwater Caper: This week’s episode featured an underwater caper as its cold open. Nevermind the fact that Atlantis has a Museum of Art, or the fact that Aquaman’s ‘family jewels’ are there, this open once again shows that Harley’s team is on point and definitely winning. Between having King Shark going incognito as lookout, just reading the pamphlet outside the steps of the museum, and having Clayface pretend to be Aquaman to dupe the guards once Harley absconds with said jewels, they almost managed to get away scot-free, before the real Aquaman burst forth to try and stop Harley’s crew. However, Harley was smarter, having Ivy ready with Kelp to trap Aquaman and his dolphin Juba, which allows them to escape.
- An Invitation You Can’t Refuse: Back in their base, Harley’s crew is celebrating another job well done by watching the coverage on the news. Ivy makes a point of the fact that she is not on the crew, just as Harley comes in with excellent news: She has finally caught the eye of the infamous Legion of Doom, and has been extended an invitation for her and her team to attend a meeting! This makes everyone ecstatic, except Ivy, of course.
- Things That Go Roar in the Night: It isn’t enough having to live in an old abandoned mall, but when that mall makes noises that keep you up at night, it certainly bears mentioning. But Sy just doesn’t hear anything, and has zero interest in any Legion of Doom business, thank you very much. Dr. Psycho is also out, being a persona non-grata there after some very distasteful comments made towards women in the past, though if Harley could get word to the Legion about his reform, he’d be more than glad to rejoin. And Ivy also tries to bow out, claiming that she’s not on the crew, you know the spiel. However, a wily Harley knows just what to say to make sure her friend comes, and she hits the jackpot. To the Legion of Doom Headquarters!
- The Big Leagues: Evil big legions come with a heavy dose of ego. Between the enormous building shaped like the Legion’s skull logo, and the interior decorated with giant gilded statues of all of the heavy hitters in villainy, Scarecrow makes sure to take the crew through their complete evil tour. There’s something for everyone there: a water system that goes throughout the entire office, complete with a real diver for eating, improv night, and of course, it wouldn’t be complete with Kryptonite powered submarines that can turn into a car and shoot missiles. While Ivy isn’t impressed, everyone else is over the moon.
- We Don’t Validate Parking: At the end of the tour, Lex meets with Harley and her crew, wherein he explains about Prospective Member Night, an event wherein the Legion chooses a new member, and that he chose Harley as his nomination, impressed with her solo act. After a brief digression into a protracted legal battle (I guess even villains have to deal with the mundane), he makes sure they’re all coming to the party tonight. Once Harley confirms, he leaves, but Ivy isn’t done yet. Letting the rest of the crew head to the gift shop, she goes to accost Lex.
- A Luthor Scheme: Of course, Lex Luthor is never as sincere or benevolent as he appears, and Ivy would know. She wants to know what his deal is, because she doesn’t buy his sudden interest in Harley, and Lex explains, after being taken hostage by thorny branches. It’s true, he doesn’t want Harley, he wants Ivy. After 148 failed invitations to what Ivy calls his: “self-important sausage party”, he figures that Ivy will join, if Harley joins. That is to say - Harley’s invite hinges entirely on Ivy joining as well. Ouch, talk about between a rock and a hard place. And Ivy balks at that. She knows how much this means to Harley. She’s not ready to commit to such a membership, but she also doesn’t want to let Harley down.
- Party Time: There’s no time for Sy and Dr. Psycho’s brief interlude and revelation that there’s a tentacle monster residing in the basement, we have a party to get to! The party’s in full swing, complete with weapons checking - a surprising twist for a villain party for sure. Here you can catch a glimpse of a lot of cameos: Black Adam, Sinestro, Two-Face, Captain Cold, the list goes on! But as Harley enters, she’s not letting anything, not even the thought of the Joker, break her concentration, she’s got one objective: beat KG Beast as the new member of the LOD. That doesn’t stop Ivy from subtly trying to convince Harley that this isn’t for her, but Harley believes that she’s right where she belongs.
- Catering Man: While Ivy is trying to get some punch, she comes across none other than Kite-Man. They have a nice conversation, wherein she finds out that Kite-Man has taken a job with a catering company in order to have more money so he can treat Ivy properly. He even manages to calm Bane down, which gets Ivy looking at him softly. But of course, Harley has to show up at that moment, wanting to know what Ivy is doing with Kite Man. Ivy defends him saying he’s got more class than anyone in the boy’s club/ frat that Harley’s trying to join. And truly, Lex’s singular woman member is nowhere in sight.
- Son of Atlan, Dickens of the Deep: Before Harley and Ivy’s conversation can get much further, Aquaman himself crashes the party! Talk about a trope reversal, usually it’s the villain crashing the party. Nonetheless, he’s here for his family jewels, and he will stop at nothing to get it! We pause for an interlude in which Dr. Psycho is ready to kill the tentacle monster that Sy’s just been randomly feeding livestock every now and then, until the revelation: the tentacle monster is...Sy’s sister?! And we agree, an explanation is needed, but first, back to Aquaman the Party Crasher. We catch a glimpse of Cheetah - probably said singular female member - as Aquaman is making his speech. Harley wastes no time in landing a few punches, but gets knocked clean back. Clayface tries his trick, but receives a beheading for that. Soon enough every villain is trying to defeat the Leaguer, while Lex is content eating his chicken satay as he watches. And truly, it’s impressive that all of the villains checked all their weapons, I was expecting someone to pull out a weapon. Black Manta and Aquaman have a tense standoff, but the former is quickly disposed off, taking Ivy down with him, leaving Harley and Aquaman to battle it off.
- Animals Were (Not) Harmed in the Making of This Episode: It doesn’t take long for Aquaman to hurl Harley right at the tank, leaving her battered and Aquaman free to try and finish Ivy off. But Harley’s quick thinking has Aquaman lunging his trident right at...the tank. Of course, all the fish come tumbling out, leading to a crisis of conscience for Aquaman, as the rushes to try and save all of his fish friends, with only two arms and not nearly enough room to carry all of his saltwater friends and nowhere nearby to go. But he has been defeated, leaving Harley to accept the applause for her victory. Even Luthor is impressed, if a singular eyebrow raise can be interpreted as that.
- Animal Hybridization Was All the Rage in the 80s: Sy’s begins to explain the story as he and Dr. Psycho walk down some underground tunnel. His sister Mirielle and Sy himself were part of the CIA in the 80s. While his sister worked as a top scientist, he worked as a cleaner, getting rid of bodies and blood and all that jazz. From jungle treetops to the sea floor, he would take care of it. With such a wild job, a hybrid was just what Sy figured would help him. And a Monkeypuss was his ideal partner (a monkey-octopus hybrid for those keeping track at home). Mirielle wasn’t keen on the idea, seeing it as being against protocol, but she bent the rules, because she loved her brother. But it wouldn’t be a freak experiment if something hadn’t gone wrong. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Octopus and Monkey are in a chamber waiting to become a hybrid. Scientist lady goes in to do a final check, the monkey escapes, and manages to press the right button to start the process, turning the scientist and the octopus into one being. Cue the giant pink and purple octopus with a piercing screech and glowing turquoise eyes.
- And the winner is…: Harley is enjoying her success, certain she will win with her victory against Aquaman. But Ivy knows the truth. After sharing a look with Luthor, Ivy tries to bring Harley down from her high - surely it’s not the end of the world if she doesn’t win, right? Wrong, Harley would rather become brain mush than not win. A tad dramatic, but still raises the stakes for Ivy. The rest of the crew drinks their champagnes while Luthor tries to do a last minute attempt at getting Ivy to join. He asks for a definitive answer, and while we don’t hear what her answer is, we don’t have to wait long to see who wins. Luthor’s speech is thankfully shorter than his villainous monologues, but Ivy tries to do her own last ditch effort to get Harley to leave and join her. While the prospect sounds extremely enticing, Harley is convinced this is her endgame goal. So Ivy does what any good friend does, she tells the truth. Just then, Lex Luthor announces the winner: Harley Quinn. Sidenote: KG Beast having a hand just to give the bird is a hilarious concept. Back to it though, Harley’s win makes her very unreceptive of Ivy’s ‘truth’ and figures it’s just Ivy being unsuportive.
- Heated Drama: After Harley receives her medal/official invite, they all make their way back to the mall, where clearly the argument’s been brewing throughout the entire ride back. King Shark and Clayface are more than happy to spectate as Harley and Ivy lay out all their dirty laundry, and they have plenty with which to blame the other for: insecurities, delusions, sabotages, the list goes on. After Ivy has had enough and leaves in a huff, Harley rounds on her audience, which probably didn’t sit well with Mirielle, as she growls loudly, sending the trio right down to join Dr. Psycho and Sy with Mirielle.
- The Attack of the Giant Octopus: While the rest of the crew is brought up to speed, Sy is crying and begging Mirielle to forgive him. King Shark suggests that Sy try to talk to Mirielle, and Dr. Psycho is more than happy to be the medium. So he connects himself mentally to Mirielle, and provides a translator while Sy apologizes. It’s a touching scene, wherein we have the revelation that Mirielle’s anger doesn’t stem from being turned into the hyrbid, but it’s because he left her, and she felt like she not only lost her brother, but her best friend. Sounds like anyone else we know? Harley feels it too. The cuts to her expression, as well as her picture with Ivy as Dr. Psycho has his voiceover for Mirielle talk are not to be ignored, she’s seeing what’s happening and how it parallels her own relation with Ivy. Sy and Mirielle make up, and Sy frees her to let her be herself, which is...a giant murderous octopus monster. Maybe that wasn’t the best idea?
- New Beginnings, or Old Habits?: Anyway, while we leave Mirielle to her rampage, the next day sees the crew, along with Dr. Psycho, use their brand new badges to enter. Dr. Psycho is convinced that Harley had to do some...favors to score his membership, to which Harley completely denies, and also notes that he’s not allowed to go on any capers with female superheroes. She lets the crew continue inside, and is about to reach out and apologize to Ivy, when Lex shows up, welcoming her. As she follows him, she deletes the message, which leaves Ivy dejected. But more importantly is the Legion member that insisted on dropping by to speak with Harley: the Joker. Yikes.
Hope you all enjoyed Harley this week! Be sure to join us here next week for another all new episode and recap! Let us know what you think in the forum or the comments below.
