The halfway point of the season brings us one of the most popular villains/antiheroes in the last few decades. Let’s check out what Harley Quinn is like in the Crusader-verse…
SPOILER WARNING! The following contains spoilers for Batman: Caped Crusader Episode 5 titled “The Stress of Her Regard”. Do not proceed if you wish to avoid spoilers!
MAJOR POINTS
- Dr. Quinzel’s alter-ego Harley Quinn makes her first appearance
- Quinzel and Montoya go on a date
Batman saves the life of Fletcher Demming, a former millionaire who believes he is a Pharoah. Elsewhere, an unnamed clown henchman is tickle-tortured by an unseen person.
Batman and Alfred notice that Demming and several other rich businessmen donated their wealth to charity. Later, Batman finds a secret room in Denniung’s home that houses several ancient Egyptian artifacts.
Harley captures Emerson Collins and keeps him prisoner with several other loons in her Playpen.
Barbara Gordon meets with Fletcher Demming, who still believes he’s a pharoah. He attempts to escape but Barbara catches him and the wards sedate him. During the struggle, Denning mentions Harley by name. However, When Barbara asks her about Denning, she denies knowing him.
That night, Barbara visits Quinzel’s office only to see it ransacked and Batman leaving the scene. Barbara finds that Demming is Dr. Quinzel’s patient after all. She also finds the name William Hastings in her record book.
Barbara goes to Hastings’s home but is quickly shooed away. Barbara drives off, but parks on the shoulder to sneak into Hastings’s house. There she sees Batman, who’s doing the same thing. Batman tells Barbara that Quinzel has been kidnapping her wealthy patients and forcing them to donate their wealth to charities.
Batman sneaks into Harley’s Playpen, located within the house, but finds out she’d been expecting him. She knew he would come after the GCPD used her idea of using costumed villains to lure him out. Harley unleashes her prisoners on Batman, but he quickly subdues them all. However, Harley tricked him into getting locked in a pod. In true classic Batman fashion, Harley escapes leaving a timed explosive behind to destroy the Playpen.
Barbara arrives and finds Batman locked up and nearly unconscious. Harley returns without her Jester facepaint and pleads for Barbara to escape. In the ensuing explosion, Barbara and Harley are knocked off a cliff. Batman manages to save Barbara, but Harley falls into the river below. After getting her to safety, tries to comfort Barbara over the loss of her friend but leaves before she can react.
In the closing segment, Renee Montoya gets a phone call from Harley, revealing that she’s alive after all.
MAJOR QUESTIONS
- Why would Harley blow up her own Playpen?
- Will we see any of Harley’s victims again? Or did they all die in the explosion?
- Does Harley know that Bruce Wayne is Batman?
EASTER EGGS
- King Tut is of course a reference to the 1966 live-action TV series where Victor Buono played the role
- The microfilm made references to Poison Ivy and Man-Bat
FINAL GRADE: B-
The episode wasn’t bad per se, but it’s puzzling why they’d change Harley so much. In the comics, and just about every other medium, she’s a lot more boisterous and reactionary. Whereas here she is very calm and manipulative. Also, with no Joker in sight, it gives her a very different backstory. Like with Penguin, making a new original character in a similar story would make more sense.
It’s a bit mystifying why Harley would destroy her own Playpen. Sure, villains did it all the time in the 1966 TV show, but that was part of a gag. Doing it in a much more serious albeit animated show seems over-cliched.
Other than King Tut, I didn’t see any other known villains in Harley’s Playpen. There is a Marvel character named William Hastings, but that’s likely just a coincidence.