Review: Harley Quinn “There’s No Place to Go But Down”


OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Harley and Ivy find themselves in a rigged trial where Bane is the judge, Two-Face is the prosecutor, and their defense attorney is…Man-Bat, who can’t speak in anything by shrieks. Their fates seem inevitable, so Harley tells Ivy to pin it all on her so that she can go back to Kite Man and get married, but Ivy can’t let Harley go through with it and admits to being involved too. The two of them are sentenced to life in “The Pit”, which some may know from The Dark Knight Rises.

Checking back in with Gordon and Batgirl, the two are still tracking down bad guys to keep the city safer, but Gordon’s drinking problem is getting in the way. Eventually their escapades catch up to Two-Face, who tries getting rid of Gordon. Batgirl saves him and reveals that she’s his daughter Barbara, which inspires him to give up drinking and retake the GCPD headquarters, throwing Two-Face in a cell for now.

Back at The Pit, Harley and Ivy find that Bane has turned it into a positive rehabilitation center, with an upcoming live performance by George Lopez. The two plan to use this as a means to cause a riot and escape, but Harley gets kept from the show. This forces Ivy to do terrible stand up, that turns into good stand up, that then ends up starting the riot. In the escape, Bane grabs hold of Harley, forcing her to let Ivy escape on her own out of love, but once again, Ivy won’t let her go. As Bane plummets (and deflates) into the fiery pits, Ivy and Harley celebrate their escape…with a sudden kiss.

OUR TAKE
WELL! We are finally starting laying the groundwork for a Harley X Ivy romance plot! Not that this wasn’t announced awhile back, so it’s not exactly a surprise, but it’s cool to see it starting up. I don’t think we necessarily needed the credits to be silent to underscore the point though, since playing the theme like normally might’ve ironically made this more noticeable, maybe. Though besides that, it’s good to see this new bond between them bubbling up over this episode, with Ivy being so loyal and having clearly been influenced by Harley in good ways and bad. They’re truly the best of friends, but now that this has line has been crossed, and love has turned to LOVE, what does it mean for their relationship going forward?

Though let’s not forget that we got a prime cut of Bane comedy this episode, which I guess makes this his theme episode to shine and use his schtick to its logical conclusion. Bane, as portrayed here, has often been shown as having a more positive and endearing side to his villainy, which I guess comes to having a rehab sort of prison in that pit we saw Batman get out of in Dark Knight Rises. And the result is most definitely a high point in this show’s comedy, if only because its used for so many funny scenarios and character developing moments. I guess that just leaves Two-Face to have his own theme episode, assuming that he’s going to get one. Yeah, halfway through the season and the Injustice League plot looks to be done with. Although Bane is most certainly not dead, I think.

I don’t know how else to say it, I really loved this episode and am super excited to see where the story goes in the second half. Aside from wrapping up retaking New New Gotham and this sudden turn in the romance, the title of the next episode references Parademons, which seems to imply that Justice League villain Darkseid might be making an appearance. Or at least something New Gods related. And maybe a Thor reference? I can’t see the show disappointing me now, so might as well dive into whatever it’s got coming up. Oh yeah, and can’t forget the stuff brewing with Joker’s return or Batman getting rehabilitated, which will likely become more prominent as we get closer to the end. Gotta keep an eye out for that, not that it will be that hard to do so.