Line #14 Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE56HarleyAndIvy


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/batman_tas_s01e47_harley_and_ivy_the_joker_poison_ivy_0005.png]]
2	->''"This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship!"''
3	-->--'''Poison Ivy'''
4
5	After the Joker kicks Harley out, she meets Poison Ivy and they form an unlikely friendship.
6
7	----
8	!!Tropes in this episode include:
9	* AccidentalMisnaming: At Harley and Ivy's first meeting:
10	--> '''Harley:''' Hey, aren't you that plant lady, Poison Oaky?\
11	'''Ivy:''' ''Ivy!'' Poison ''Ivy!''
12	* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Harley admits that it was kinda funny to see the Joker shoot at Batman with the BangFlagGun, and Joker's henchmen agree. The Joker, on the other hand, isn't amused.
13	* AesopAmnesia: Played for laughs. When it's all over, Harley is still certain she can work it out with the Joker. An annoyed Ivy throws mud in Harley's face.
14	* AfraidOfNeedles: Harley hates to get shots, whining about it when Ivy gives her a vaccine to protect her from the toxic nature of the land around her house. Harley even hangs a lampshade, saying, "You'd think after workin' for Mistuh Jay I'd be used to a little pain."
15	* AnimationBump: [[Creator/KokoEnterprises Dong Yang]] did the animation, but Creator/TMSEntertainment did the layouts, and it shows.
16	* AscendedExtra: While she hardly seems like one now, this is the first episode where Harley has a major role.
17	* BilingualBonus: At one point when Harley and Ivy get away, Montoya swears in Spanish, "¡Que mala suerte!" (What bad luck!)
18	* {{Bookends}}: The episode starts with Harley driving and a crash (the Batmobile), and before the ending [[IronicEcho Harley's driving again but crashes]]. And Ivy and Harley’s team-up starts with them besting over Renee Montoya, and it ends with Montoya being the one who captures them.
19	* BrilliantButLazy: The episode highlights that Harley can actually be a very effective criminal without the Joker.
20	* CallBack: Ivy and Harley rob the Gotham Peregrinators' Club, previously seen in "[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE22JokersFavor Joker's Favor]]," which happens to be Harley's first episode. Her knowledge of the layout probably comes in handy here.
21	* CreatorCameo: Two of the cat-calling frat boys in the convertible are modeled after series developers Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski, with their hairstyles and colors swapped.
22	* DidTheyOrDidntThey: Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn work together when Harley is thrown out by ComicBook/TheJoker. The first time this happened it cuts from them driving away to them wearing only their shirts and maybe panties talking about how much they hate men. Whenever they are seen hiding together, they only ever seem to have [[ThereIsOnlyOneBed one bed]].
23	* DisposableVehicleSection: After the Joker's car gets snagged by a grapple line, Harley ejects the rear section, allowing the car to escape while the discarded piece slams into the Batmobile and nearly sends it off a bridge.
24	* DisproportionateRetribution: Three obnoxious [[{{Fratbro}} frat-boy types]] (drawn to [[SelfDeprecation resemble Bruce Timm, Ted Blackman and Eric Radomski]]) rudely [[WolfWhistle leer and catcall Harley and Ivy]] at a traffic light. Harley [[PervertRevengeMode pulls out a grenade launcher and blows up their car]] as they run for their lives.
25	* DomesticAbuse: Though they've appeared together a few times before, this is the first episode where the dynamic of the Joker and Harley's relationship is called into question.
26	* EvenEvilHasStandards:
27	** Ivy genuinely doesn't understand why Harley allows the Joker to walk all over her, and is overall disgusted by how he treats her.
28	** Harley begs Joker not to use his laughing gas on Ivy and is horrified when it looks like Ivy's succumbing. Thankfully, Ivy was safe because of her immunity to all poison.
29	* ExactWords: Ivy loudly proclaims that "[[NoManOfWomanBorn no man can take us prisoner]]." Enter, stage right: [[ComicBook/GothamCentral Renee]] [[ComicBook/FiftyTwo Montoya]].
30	-->'''Montoya:''' All right, ladies... raise 'em!
31	* ExplodingBarrels: The Joker blows up a barrel of toxic waste with his Tommy gun, against Batman's warning, setting "Toxic Acres" ablaze.
32	-->'''Batman:''' Stop shooting, you lunatic! We're sitting on a powder keg!\
33	''(BOOM!)''\
34	'''Joker:''' Whoops. Dopey me.
35	* ExtremeDoormat: Ivy accuses Harley of being one in regards to putting up with the Joker's abuse.
36	-->'''Poison Ivy''': If you had a middle name, it'd be "Welcome."
37	* {{Fanservice}}: To the point that this episode single-handedly launched the Harley and Ivy ship, which is still going today, stronger than ever. Ironically, [[ItWillNeverCatchOn network executives thought their target demographic of young boys wouldn't find the episode interesting]]. [[DistractedByTheSexy Paul Dini felt they didn't understand young boys very well]].
38	* FreezeFrameBonus: On Ivy's fridge door, alongside news reports of her and Harley's crimes, there's a crude stick-figure drawing of an antropomorphic cat with the legend "Catwoman HA HA." In the same camera {{pan}}, we see that one of the notices has an announcement of a $10,000 reward for the pair's capture. She crossed out the "$10,000" and wrote "zillions."
39	* GroinAttack: [[DoesNotLikeMen Poison Ivy]] kicks [[MonsterClown The Joker]] in the balls after his attempt to poison her fails - and she kicked him hard enough to ''knock him onto his back''. He gives out a high-pitched remark before collapsing again. He does recover rather quickly.
40	-->'''Joker:''' ''[[[InstantSoprano pained falsetto]]]'' Get 'em...
41	* HeistClash: Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy meet when they simultaneously rob the Gotham Museum of Natural History. Instead of fighting, they team up to escape the police (It helps that they are there to steal different things). They become partners in crime for the rest of the episode and remain good friends or possibly more for the rest of the series.
42	* {{Homage}}: Batman meets ''Film/ThelmaAndLouise''.
43	* ItsPersonal: Renee Montoya seems determined to personally apprehend Harley and Ivy after they escape her in the museum, incapacitating her with toxic gas in the process, and subsequently go on a high-profile crime spree.
44	* KinkySpanking: Invoked in the scene with the leering guys--after Ivy chides them for their rudeness, one of them slaps his butt and asks, "What're ya gonna do... ''spank'' us?" Harley proceeds to spank their ''car'' with the grenade launcher.
45	* LaserGuidedKarma: While fleeing from Rene Montoya, Ivy shoots an arrow at her tire, forcing the squad car to swerve and crash, Pam mockingly waving so long to a very cheesed off Montoya as her and Harley drive off. Come the episode's climax Rene returns the favor by shooting out the tire of Ivy's pink convertible, cutting the girls escape short this time.
46	* LaserHallway: Harley Quinn simply jumps around the beams when she goes to steal a diamond. Works fine, but then Ivy activates the alarm during her own robbery from another wing of the facility.
47	* LetsSeeYouDoBetter: InUniverse, Joker says this to Harley Quinn. And for once, Harley does just that with Poison Ivy.
48	-->'''Joker:''' Maybe I should let YOU run the gang! Maybe YOU are a better crook than the rest of us put together!\
49	'''Harley:''' Maybe! ''[Joker glares]'' ... not.
50	* MadeOfExplodium: Ivy's entire ''neighborhood'', by virtue of being built on top of a toxic waste dump full of flammable chemicals.
51	* MenCantKeepHouse: After Harley has been gone for a few days, we see the Joker at his hideout stumbling around in boxer shorts and a sleeveless shirt, complaining that he can't find his socks and nobody's fed the hyenas.
52	-->'''Joker:''' This place is going to [[GoshDangItToHeck blinking blue blazes]]!
53	* MuggingTheMonster: A trio of obnoxious catcallers find out the hard way that the women they're hitting on are a couple of supervillains.
54	* NeverMyFault:
55	** As one might expect, the Joker blames ''everything'' that went wrong in the botched robbery at the beginning on Harley, even though a ''lot'' of it happened because of his own mistakes. (And she succeeded at helping them both evade capture.)
56	** He does it again [[BookEnds at the very end of the episode]], ranting that his next gang won't allow women (implying that he blames Harley and Ivy for his capture).
57	* NoManOfWomanBorn: As soon as Ivy gloats about how no "man" can capture her and Harley, they immediately blow a tire and are taken in by female Detective Montoya.
58	* NoodleIncident: Abiding by Joker, this isn't the first incident he kicked out Harley, and he was [[ButForMeItWasTuesday fully expectant she'd be back serving him like normal the morning after.]]
59	* NoSell: The Joker tries to use his laughing gas on Poison Ivy after she and Harley upstage him. She lets out a brief Joker-esque laugh before revealing that she's laughing ''at'' Joker because his poison doesn't work on her, at which point she kicks him [[GroinAttack right where it counts]].
60	* PoliceAreUseless: [[SubvertedTrope No, they're not.]] Montoya is the true hero of the episode, as she ends Harley and Ivy's crime spree when even Batman couldn't.
61	* PopTheTires: Ivy shoots out a tire of Montoya's police car at one point. Near the end of the episode, Montoya returns the favor.
62	* RadiationImmuneMutants: The Joker attempts to use laughing gas on Ivy, but she's immune thanks to her body's genetic conditioning against toxins.
63	* RecycledSoundtrack: A few bars of [[https://m.youtube.com/shorts/sNmcd9uy6UE "A Little Plant Muzak"]] from [[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE5PrettyPoison "Pretty Poison"]] can be heard playing on a loop via radio while Harley and Ivy go about setting the table for dinner, minus "The Carnivorous Plant" part so as not to disrupt the happy domestic life vibes this scene starts out with. You can tell it isn't simply the episode's soundtrack because Quinn hums along.
64	* RuleOfThree: Montoya is shown ending up being right in Harley and Ivy's paths three times, getting hit by two strikes from them on the first throws, then hits a home run on the third.
65	* ShoutOut:
66	** Poison Ivy's personalized license plate reads "[[Film/CitizenKane ROSE BUD]]."
67	** Contrary to popular belief, WordOfGod says this episode isn't based on ''Film/ThelmaAndLouise'' in any way. Creator/PaulDini watched the film during the episode's production, and was surprised at the parallels.
68	** Ivy quotes Creator/HumphreyBogart's final line in ''Film/{{Casablanca}}''.
69	** The title is a pun of a [[GeniusBonus rather obscure]] Christmas song, "The Holly and the Ivy."
70	** The tune that Harley hums while laying the table is the old minstrel tune "Mammy's Little Baby", otherwise known as "Short'n'in' Bread".
71	** The woman jerking her dog's leash to avoid the Joker's car, a reference to a scene in ''Film/NationalLampoonsVacation''.
72	* SkywardScream: The Joker lets loose a very funny one when he sees a newspaper article revealing that Harley and Ivy are stealing his thunder. The broken theater sign outside his hideout breaks further in reaction.
73	* SoMuchForStealth: Harley slips into the museum, [[SheFu gracefully evades]] the [[LaserHallway laser grid]], and starts [[HollywoodGlassCutter carefully cutting into a diamond display case]]. Then the alarm gets set off by Ivy's intrusion elsewhere in the museum, so Harley just smashes, grabs, and runs.
74	-->'''Harley:''' Nice work, butterfingers! Why didn't you just turn on the BatSignal while you were at it?
75	* SpinningPaper: Used to show the progression of Harley and Ivy's crime spree, culminating in the headline [[AC:New Queens of Crime!]]
76	* SpoofAesop: Invoked. The "lesson" the Joker takes from this episode is to not have any women in his next gang.
77	* StayInTheKitchen: Briefly touched upon when Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy team up, and grumble about the lack of respect they get from males. They rob the Peregrinators' Club specifically because it does not admit women. At one point they briefly get the upper hand on Batman and ask him if ''he'' is bothered by being beaten by "mere girls."
78	-->'''Batman:''' Man or woman, a sick mind is capable of anything.\
79	'''Poison Ivy:''' A very enlightened statement, Batman. We'll carve it on your headstone.
80	* TakeThatKiss: After Batman's chained to a table weighed down by various, used household appliances and Harley pushes him into the radioactive runoff contaminated waters below, Ivy blows Bats a mocking goodbye kiss.
81	* TemptingFate: At the end Harley and Ivy have escaped both the Joker's gang and the Batman by leaving the latter to deal with the former, and Ivy gloats that "[[NoManOfWomanBorn No man can take us prisoner!]]" Cue [[FairCop officer Renee Montoya]] (a woman) shooting out their getaway car's tires.
82	* ThereIsOnlyOneBed: Only noticeable in the background, but this is just the first of several examples of Harley and Ivy hiding out together in a place [[HoYay with only one bed]]. Though this is generally justified, as it demonstrates that they had absolutely no start-up capital and could barely afford this empty room with a bed. And given the amount of LesYay in that partnership (more than you could ever expect from a children's show in the '90s), very deliberate.
83	* TooDumbToLive: Even the Joker's two mooks [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere realize quickly]] that it's too dangerous to even ''be'' in the landfill, and that opening fire on a heap of chemicals is a bad idea, something that doesn't sink in as fast for their boss.
84	** They still ate stuff in the fridge. At the landfill. A landfill so toxic that Ivy had to give Harley special shots to protect her so she won't die in a few hours from just breathing the toxins in. Their stupidity is lampshaded by Poison Ivy.
85	* ToughLove: Ivy mocking Quinn for wistfully thinking of the Joker may seem harsh, until you remember it's [[BastardBoyfriend the Joker]].
86	* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Combined with SkewedPriorities. When Ivy barges into the men's club, the club members are more worried about a woman being in their establishment rather than the murderous eco-terrorist with plant powers that can kill them with a kiss.
87	* VillainEpisode: The focus is on Harley, Ivy, and the Joker. Batman appears in a brief chase scene at the very beginning, and then isn't onscreen again until well past the halfway point.
88	* VillainHasAPoint:
89	** Ivy is completely correct in saying Harley's relationship with the Joker is bad news and she needs to stand up against him.
90	** Harley and Ivy aren't entirely wrong to chafe at obnoxious louts rudely cat-calling them, sexist institutions denying them equal access and opportunity, and men generally patronising and belittling them. Their responses to this, however, cannot in any way be considered socially constructive or helpful.
91	* VillainsOutShopping: After he throws out Harley, we next see the Joker stumbling around his hideout in polka-dot boxers, [[MenCantKeepHouse forgetting to feed the hyenas and unable to find his socks]]. The commentary jokes that there's a good reason [[{{Squick}} we rarely see him in his underwear...]]
92	* VillainTeamUp: Our titular ladies, of course. (And this is the first time; not even close to the last.)
93	* WhatDoesSheSeeInHim: Ivy repeatedly chides Harley over her infatuation with the Joker, who is at best indifferent and at worst abusive to her. The LesYay subtext between the villainesses adds an overtone of WhatsHeGotThatIAintGot to the criticisms.
94	* WouldHitAGirl: Batman is pragmatic enough not to hold back on Harley and Ivy in a fight.
95	** And of course, this episode features a lot of early warning signs of the Joker's abusive treatment of Harley. ("You'd think living with Mr. J I'd be used to pain...")
96	* YouGoGirl: A majority of the episode is focused on Harley and especially Ivy attempting to prove how capable women are at overcoming men. Batman is mostly unimpressed when she gloats about it.

Context Recap / BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE56HarleyAndIvy