When Harley is literally paralyzed by her indecision, Doctor Psycho brings the crew into her mind to sort her out.
Tropes:
- Alcoholic Parent: It's revealed that Harley's mother drank heavily. This is the least of Harley's problems and is implied to be a result of said problems rather than one of the causes.
- Alien Blood: The young Harleys that serve as security in her mind have black blood.
- Amnesiac Dissonance: The plot of the episode revolves around Harley changing her own memory to ignore the reality that she willingly became Harley Quinn instead of Joker forcing her into it.
- Artistic License – History: Frankie Muniz's breakthrough did not come until he was fourteen, and was not a star at eleven. It's very unlikely that Harley (or anyone else) would have known who he was at that age, and he almost certainly hit puberty before he became a celebrity. note
- As Himself: Frankie Muniz voices the apparition of Muniz in Harley's mind.
- Bestiality Is Depraved: Harley recalls the time when an Alpha Bitch at her camp spread a rumor that Harley lost her virginity to a horse.
- Call-Back:
- The episode starts with Harley and Ivy looking for a new lair since Sy Borgman is kicking them out.
- Harley replays her "true origin story" when she breaks up with Joker to become an independent supervillain.
- Celeb Crush: Young Harley had a disturbing celebrity crush on Frankie Muniz, who apparently later took legal action against her for... something.
- Contrived Coincidence: Sy and Black Mamba carry Harley and her friends to an abandoned Gotham Mall to cremate them. When they wake up, Harley decides the mall is the perfect place to set up a lair, which was the main plot of the episode before her freakout.
- Deus ex Machina: Invoked by Clayface when they're cornered by the evil Harleys, even using the exact phrase. Harley's brain answers by dispatching Frankie Muniz to lead them to safety, which King Shark then lampshades.Shark: Sorry you didn't get that mack-in-a you were talkin' about—but at least that guy showed up outta nowhere to save us for no reason!
- Distracted by the Sexy: Clayface shifts into Frankie Muniz to lead away the evil young Harleys.
- Enfante Terrible: Vicious, razor-toothed versions of young Harley attack the gang when the brain realizes intruders are there. Harley even admits that she "was a total shit" when she was a child.
- Expy: Harley's mother is clearly modeled on Peg Bundy. Katey Sagal, who played Peg Bundy on Married... With Children, played the mother of Kaley Cuoco's character Penny in The Big Bang Theory and also Kaley Cuoco's character, Bridget in "8 Simple Rules".
- Freak Out: Harley faces an existential crisis while trying to find an ideal lair, leading to an outburst. She freezes up, leading to Dr. Psycho and the others helping her via a Journey to the Center of the Mind.
- Genre Savvy: Dr. Psycho has gone on many a Journey to the Center of the Mind before, so he knows what he's talking about (not that anyone bothers to pay attention.) Everyone else, to a lesser extent, demonstrates fair knowledge of how the mind works, comparing the "rules" to movies they've seen like A Nightmare On Elm Street and Being John Malkovich.
- A Glitch in the Matrix: When Harley views the portrait of her origin story, there's a glitch between Joker telling her to jump then her falling in. This convinces her to visit her repressed memories to get the truth.
- Ignored Expert: Dr. Psycho tries and repeatedly fails to coach the others through Harley's mind with the least amount of fuss, but they ignore him at almost every turn.
- Ink-Suit Actor: Harley in the graduation memory resembles Kaley Cuoco more closely than anywhere else in the series.
- Journey to the Center of the Mind: The crew has to travel to the various parts of Harley's mind to sort out her issues.
- Kick the Dog: In an almost literal example, Clayface apparently ran over the star of Airbud just before the shooting ended so he could take over the dog's part.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: When the crew encounters Harley in her own mind and questions how it's possible, she advises them not to think too hard about brain logic for the next 20 minutes.
- Metronomic Man Mashing: One of the young Harleys does this to King Shark when he tries to befriend her.
- Mistaken for Pedophile: Ivy thinks it's rather creepy that Harley is infatuated with 11-year-old Frankie Muniz. When she explains that she had a crush when she was younger, Ivy is less disturbed, until Harley explains her elaborate plan of how she envisioned their relationship going, which swings it right back to disturbing.
- Mythology Gag: Mental!Harley smashes out one of Mental!Joker's teeth and nearly the same tooth Joker once lost against Batman.
- Nested Mouths: The young Harleys show this off when they corner the group on the docks.
- Noodle Incident:
- Sy has apparently had more than one suicide cult in his building, nor is this the first time he's disposed of corpses. Nor has it been the first time said corpses weren't corpses.
- Harley drops a mildly disturbing one into her "Reason You Suck" Speech to her mental Joker:Harley: My fucked up parents didn't make me the way I am! And neither did Jessica Starner when she fuckin' lied to the whole camp and said I lost my virginity to a horse! A horse! Or those cops who questioned me for hours about what happened to Jessica Starner!
- Black Mamba also brings up after finding out that Harley's crew is alive when they try to burn them "this is like Peru all over again!" with no further explanation given.
- One of Harley's memories involves her giving a "The Reason You Suck" Speech to her entire school during graduation, including calling out one of her teachers for staring at her ass. Dr. Psycho comments that he gave "the same speech" at his sister's wedding.
- Not What It Looks Like: When Sy finds Harley's crew comatose on the floor in "Suicide Squad" t-shirts, he assumes they're dead and tries to dispose of the corpses.
- On One Condition: Sy attempts to charge them for living in a mall, but Harley strongarms him into a monthly rent of $1, especially since he tried to cremate them. Sy relents but asks to join her crew after said attempt reminded him of the old days.
- Raging Stiffie: Subverted. When Harley hugs Clayface, he comments that he's hard. When she moves away in disgust, he clarifies that it's not a boner, it's because his clay body is in a burning furnace.
- Retconjuration: Harley resorts to rewriting what led to her transformation, insisting that she alone made the decision that made her into the supervillain she is today, not Joker. Memory Joker tells her she can't do that, but it doesn't stop her.
- Repressed Memories: The final stop on the mental journey is Repressed Memory Island. This is where Harley learns that she willingly jumped into the acid to become Harley Quinn, having previously rationalized that Joker pushed her in.
- Rewatch Bonus: The scene of Harley playing with dolls takes on a whole new meaning after "Bensonhurst" when you realize that Nick and Sharon are the names of her parents and that Harley's happiest memory is apparently hacking a doll version of her Dad's head off with a cleaver.
- Running Gag: Everyone brings up different types of rules after they enter Harley's mind.
- Self-Serving Memory: Harley thinks Joker pushed her into the acid and is surprised when her own memory skips over that part. When she visits her repressed memories, she realizes that she dove into herself and rationalized that Joker pushed her in to absolve herself of any responsibility for it.
- Shout-Out:
- Harley receives a shipment of Suicide Squad shirts, which she describes as "a group that keeps trying to get me to join." Explanation
- When Dr. Psycho states that dying in the mind means dying in the real world, Clayface asks if they are operating under A Nightmare on Elm Street rules.
- Later, when seeing through the optic nerve, Clayface states they are under Being John Malkovich rules. This extends to the episode's title.
- Joker then tells her she cannot change her memories, as "this isn't Eternal Sunshine rules".
- Sy Borgman states he still has his Licence to Kill.
- Stalker with a Crush: Young Harley had a huge crush on Frankie Muniz, to the point that he had to file a restraining order against her. It eventually led to her being sent to juvie.
- That Came Out Wrong: Clayface informs the group that he's "getting hard", which they assume means an erection. Clayface in fact means it literally, as Sy has just dumped his body in a furnace.
- This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: As King Shark lampshades, it's pretty convenient that Repressed Memory Island can only be reached by someone who is 70% shark. Also, this mind trip is Doctor Psycho's home turf, making him the expert. Not that anyone actually listens to him.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Young Harley cursed as much as she does today, had the plan to kidnap Frankie Muniz and make him marry her, lying about going on birth control, and having a child with him. It's also implied she killed a girl who spread a rumor that she lost her virginity to a horse at summer camp.
- Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Parodied. Dr. Psycho says he "has a plan" to save Harley. Cut to Harley being surrounded by Small Harleys...which then get knocked over by King Shark hurling Psycho at them like a bowling ball.Doctor Psycho: THAT WAS NOT THE PLAN!
