Review: Harley Quinn “Big Pasta Dinner”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Bruce invites Harley and Ivy over for a pasta dinner with other condo occupants, including Lois and Joker, but the dinner is interrupted by a murder mystery!

OUR TAKE

We’re taking a break from the overarching season plot to revisit some previous season plots…actually ALL of the previous season plots, and I found it surprisingly welcome. Looking back, I was not really a fan of how the fourth season handled things that were set up by the third, specifically with the Bat Characters like Bruce, Alfred, Dick, or Joker and his new family, so add some more to that and get it somewhat back on track was good. Dick is no longer dead as Alfred resurrected him with the Lazarus Pit to become Red X (his briefly held villain alias in the 2003 Teen Titans cartoon, which is how I and likely many others clocked it was him within five seconds), but also apparently Alfred did this because he had simply gone out of his mind from being mistreated by Bruce, which oddly enough led to Joker of all people giving Bruce advice on how to mend his relationship with both of his living sons. This is funny and wholesome in all of the ways I have liked regarding how this show handles these characters, but ALSO…we confirm that Bruce also had Jason Todd, the second Robin, but seems to be somehow unaware that Joker killed him, even though that was an offhand joke in Season 2. A flashback episode no less, meaning Jason has been dead since before Harley even met Joker.

There are things to explain why, for example, Joker does not remember Bruce is Batman. He did have that amnesia for most of the second season and it’s possible not everything came back, plus learning Batman’s identity was shown to not be something he particularly liked. But BRUCE not knowing this…it honestly may make ME the Joker. Speaking of, I’m glad Joker seems to be back with his family and Sophia is apparently going to date Damien (who apparently dated Raven briefly), meaning now the Bat and Joker families are now intertwined in an even more funny way. I sure hope they tell Barbara though, she’s gotta be feeling terrible. Maybe they can all team up and deal with this “Red Hood” guy we keep seeing mentioned in the background every so often! I’m sure there’s no big reveals surrounding him! Anyway, it’s probably telling that I am focusing mainly on all the Bat and Joker stuff and not Harley having dreams about the Brainiac skull or Shaun the Shark showing back up because frankly that bores me to tears. But we gotta deal with it next episode so I guess I’ll buckle up.