History Recap / BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE34TheLaughingFish

** AdultsDressedAsChildren: Two of Joker's henchmen are dressed as 1950s-era children (one with a beanie, one with GirlishPigtails) for Joker's commercial for "Joker Fish" - and they did ''not'' enjoy it. Harley plays their mom.

* In his commercial, Joker dresses up as the Gorton's Fisherman, albeit minus the beard.

* AdultsDressedAsChildren: Two of Joker's henchmen are dressed as 1950s-era children (one with a beanie, one with GirlishPigtails) for Joker's commercial for "Joker Fish" - and they did ''not'' enjoy it. Harley plays their mom.

* AdultsDressedAsChildren: Two of Joker's henchmen are dressed as 1950s-era children (one with a beanie, one with GirlishPigtails) for Joker's commercial for "Joker Fish" - and they did ''not'' enjoy it. Harley played their mom.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Batman switching places with the second target is noticeable when you noticed "Batman"'s mouth didn't move when he exclaimed "A Joker fish!". Gordon and Bullock are directed at the "second clerk" despite talking to "Batman". Then the "second clerk" tries to grab the cat despite the danger.

** When the Joker jumps into the ocean to escape, completely forgetting about the shark that had recently been released:

** Even worse, his plan was to copyright (not patent) the fish so that anyone catching them would have to pay him a royalty. That's not how copyright works. (And since the fish were going to be released into the wild, he obviously didn't have any issue with [[JustForPun unauthorized reproduction]]...) But again, it's probable the Joker knew this all along and was just doing it all ForTheEvulz...

** There was a third attempted assassination, with Joker trying to sneak into get at his target dressed as a cop ([[Film/TheDarkKnight sound familiar?]]). Batman foils this by use of a device dropped by Hugo Strange's ghost, leading to a fight on a construction site, where Joker gets struck by lightning [[JokerImmunity seemingly falls to his death]]. This was the original ending, presumably changed due to it being too intense, or due to the ending wrapping up the Silver St. Cloud and Rupert Thorne subplots, and so being nonsensical to the plot of the episode (where Thorne didn't even appear) [[note]]Silver breaks up with Bruce, telling him she couldn't bear to live with not knowing whether or not Bruce would come home alive each night, while Thorne, driven half-mad by Hugo Strange's ghost, returns to Gotham and confesses all his mob crimes.[[/note]]

* ArtisticLicenseLaw: In-universe, the Joker is mistaken when he thinks that he can patent fish because they bear his image, and when the patent clerk tells him so, he decides to kill him. Possibly an aversion, as Batman himself believes Joker ''knows'' the law doesn't work that way and is just using it as an excuse to carry out a terror campaign for his [[TheSociopath own amusement]]. Alternatively, Joker might be forcing the bureaucrats to write in a loophole for his fish [[AppealToForce just to stop Joker from killing them]].

* BodyDouble: Batman tries to protect one of the Joker's targets by disguising himself as him and putting the actual target in a Batsuit. It fails because the target's cat, bearing a load of Joker venom, [[PetPositiveIdentification still recognizes its human]].

* ForTheEvulz: Given that the Joker made preparations to spray G. Carl Francis with the first part of his binary toxin even ''before'' his demands were rejected, it's implied that he expected as much and is perfectly willing to settle for killing a load of people in clever ways if he can't get his money. Batman explains this to Francis later, telling him that killing a harmless, powerless bureaucrat is just [[EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor the villain's idea of a good joke]].

* OhCrap: The Joker jumps into the ocean, completely forgetting about the shark that had recently been released:
-->'''Joker:''' See, Batsy, I think of everything! Hahahahahahaha-- AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!
** Also, when the Joker arrived in Mr. Francis' office.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Instead of waiting for more office clerks to be targeted, Bullock went after the Joker himself after noticing the exotic fish.

* ArtisticLicenseLaw: In-universe, the Joker is mistaken when he thinks that he can patent fish because they bear his image, and when the patent clerk tells him so, he decides to kill him. Possibly an aversion, as Batman himself believes Joker ''knows'' the law doesn't work that way and is just using it as an excuse to carry out a terror campaign for his [[TheSociopath own amusement]].

* XanatosGambit: It is unclear if the Joker really thought this is how patent procedures work, if he thought he could murder bureaucrats until they made it legal to save themselves, or if he's just looking for an excuse to kill people, but the two possible outcomes benefit him regardless. If the department agrees to his illegal demands, then the Joker will get money to finance his future schemes. If not, well he can just simply have his fun with the standard routine of killing people and daring Batman to stop him.

* XanatosGambit: It is unclear if the Joker really thought this is how patent procedures work or if he's looking for an excuse to kill people, but the two possible outcomes benefit him regardless. If the department agrees to his illegal demands, then the Joker will get money to finance his future schemes. If not, well he can just simply have his fun with the standard routine of killing people and daring Batman to stop him.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: In the original comic story, the Joker toxin kills Francis and Jackson immediately. But since the network wouldn't allow Joker to actually murder people, Batman immediately administers the antidote to Joker's victims, and state they'll be fine despite remaining in a perpetual grinning state. Interestingly, this implies that Joker Venom is really lethal but takes its sweet time to kill, meaning that the victim would die a slow and agonizing death.

* ShoutOut: Joker pulls a wrench out of a box with the words "[[Series/HomeImprovement Binford Tools]]" written on it.

[[caption-width-right:350:"You're real sick, y'know that, boss?"]]

* HiddenDepths: Even lacking the clue of the Japanese Tang, Bullock somehow finds his way to the aquarium Joker is using as his base.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: In the original comic story, the Joker toxin kills Francis and Jackson immediately. But since the network wouldn't allow Joker to actually murder people, Batman immediately administers the antidote to Joker victims, and state they'll be fine despite remaining in a perpetual grinning state. Interestingly, this implies that Joker Venom is really lethal but takes its sweet time to kill, meaning that the victim would die a slow and agonizing death.

** There was a third attempted assassination, with Joker trying to sneak into get at his target dressed as a cop ([[Film/TheDarkKnight sound familiar?]]). Batman foils this by use of a device dropped by [[spoiler: Hugo Strange's ghost]], leading to a fight on a construction site, where Joker gets struck by lightning [[JokerImmunity seemingly falls to his death]]. This was the original ending, presumably changed due to it being too intense, or due to the ending wrapping up the Silver St. Cloud and Rupert Thorne subplots, and so being nonsensical to the plot of the episode (where Thorne didn't even appear) [[note]]Silver breaks up with Bruce, telling him she couldn't bear to live with not knowing whether or not Bruce would come home alive each night, while Thorne, driven half-mad by Hugo Strange's ghost, returns to Gotham and confesses all his mob crimes.[[/note]]

* {{Bowdlerise}}: In the original comic story, the Joker toxin kills Francis and Jackson immediately. But since the network wouldn't allow Joker to actually murder people, Batman immediately administers the antidote to Joker victims, and state they'll be fine despite remaining in a perpetual grinning state. Interestingly, this implies that Joker Venom is really lethal but takes its sweat time to kill, meaning that the victim would die a slow and agonizing death.