The Joker takes Ellen Yin hostage and will not tell anyone where he is holding her. Hugo Strange invents a device that allows the user to go into the victim's mind and Batman uses it on Joker, but can Batman go through Joker's mind without going crazy himself?
This episode provides examples of:
- Armor-Piercing Question: While Batman is confronting Strange for his Skewed Priorities, the latter begins to psychoanalyze him, and hits far too close to home, judging by Batman's reaction.Hugo Strange: The Batman? How did you manage to get here? I am the only one with the means of…
Batman: I'm searching for Detective Yin, like yourself.
Hugo Strange: …You're putting yourself at great risk. Clearly, you possess a deep-rooted need to rescue.
Batman: Focus, Professor, Yin's running out of time!
Hugo Strange: A very strong need. Could it stem from a past trauma, perhaps someone you once failed to rescue? - Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: The Joker's escape is delayed when he sees Strange and can't resist the urge to confront him - he's caught as a result.
- Attention Whore: Much like in "The Rubberface of Comedy", the Joker:
- Bad Liar: The Joker claims he will reveal Yin's location when released, a promise that clearly, nobody - not Rojas, Strange, and certainly not Batman - believes. Undoubtedly a wise choice.
- Batman Gambit: Batman pulls one on Joker to learn where Yin is by dragging Joker into his mind and making him think that they're back in the real world, with Yin having been saved by Strange. In surprise, Joker blurts out where Yin is trapped...right before he realizes Batman tricked him.
- Bavarian Fire Drill: Averted. While Joker leaves a coupon in Yin's apartment for pizza, he doesn't bother disguising himself when she calls for a pizza. He merely breaks in with a bomb before knocking her out.
- Beat Them at Their Own Game: Batman defeats the Joker by dragging the villain into his mind, which isn't a very nice place either.
- Broken Tears: The Joker at the end after Batman turns the tables on his Mind Rape attempt.
- Chekhov's Gun: This episode has two:
- Throughout the episode, Joker makes several references to opera. These turn out to be clues to Detective Yin's location.
- When first describing his device, Hugo Strange mentions that it works similarly to a two-way radio transmission. This comes in handy when Batman not only escapes Joker's mind, but tricks him into revealing where he's hiding Yin.
- Chicken Joke: A Jokerized chicken can be seen in the Joker's mindscape.Joker!Chicken: Tell me, why do I cross the road?
- Circling Saw: As punishment for giving away "family" secrets to Batman, the Joker saws the floor around his past self, sending him right down into the vat of chemicals and transforming the last remaining sanity of his former self into the crazy Joker.
- Cloudcuckooland / Mental World: Joker's mind is basically a deranged circus.
- Damsel in Distress: Detective Ellen Yin, overlapping her with Badass in Distress.
- Delivery Guy Infiltration: The Joker uses a variation to kidnap Yin. He first slips a flyer for a pizza place under the door to her apartment (with a coupon); when she comes home from work, she's too tired to cook and decides to use it. She's suspicious when the operator says there's a "fifteen-seconds or it's free" offer, especially when it seems he actually gets there on time. Unfortunately, by then he has the jump on her.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Batman clearly stands no chance in the Joker's mind, but when he remembers that Strange's device is two-way, he realizes the solution, and is able to turn the fight around, by moving the playing field to his own mind. (Which clearly isn't an all-too pleasant place for an interloper either.)
- Foreshadowing: The scene at The Stinger hints at Strange's true nature and motivations, seen in later seasons.
- For the Evulz: The Joker holding Yin hostage in a timed jack-in-the-box themed trap is his sick idea of "fun".
- From Nobody to Nightmare: This scene
implies that, unlike his previous incarnations, Joker of all people was this. It does, however, seem eerily similar to the guy he claimed to have been in the origin story from The Killing Joke. - Go-Go Enslavement: The Joker dresses Yin in a jester outfit before the countdown starts. (Which is
unpleasantly creepy, when one realizes he must have changed her clothes himself. While she was unconscious.) - Hearing Voices: The Joker claims he'd like having another one. "The more the merrier!" he laughs.
- Heel Face Doorslam: The only sane part of the Joker decides to reveal to Batman where Yin is. Before he can, however, the floor vanishes and he falls into a vat of acid, turning into the Joker.
- Journey to the Center of the Mind: Hugo Strange and Batman enter Joker’s mind to find out where he’s hiding Detective Yin before it’s too late.
- Lightbulb Joke: Delivered by the Pagliacci!Joker after a mob of Joker clones pin Batman down.Joker: How many Jokers does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Wouldn’t know. They’re too busy loosening Batman's screws!
- Me's a Crowd: Inside Joker's mind, there are hundreds of him. Hundreds.
- Might as Well Not Be in Prison at All: The Joker is in Arkham for most of the episode, but still nearly drives Batman to the breaking point.
- Mind Rape: Not as bad as what he did to Ethan Bennett, but still, Joker came this close to leaving Batman Laughing Mad.
- Mythology Gag:
- Among the various things in Joker's mind is a school of Joker fish that flies around, a reference to a famous story where the Joker poisoned various fish with his Joker venom in an attempt to market his image. This wouldn't be the last time the Joker fish would be depicted flying.
- The depiction of Joker's past self has a similar hairstyle and facial shape of the Joker from the previous Batman series. Just remove the clown colors.
- Near-Villain Victory: Batman manages to rescue Yin with seconds to spare, literally.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: While Yin doesn't get out of the box, she does manage to untie her bonds.
- Oh, Crap!: The Joker when he realizes that he revealed Yin's location to Batman.Joker: (Notices everyone going quiet after he tells Yin's location) ...Wait a minute.
- Pet the Dog: Chief Rojas is sincerely concerned for Yin’s safety in this episode.
- Race Against the Clock: Despite being in custody, the Joker refuses to reveal where Yin is, giving Batman until midnight to find out before the Death Trap does her in.
- Sanity Slippage: Bruce suffers this while in the Joker's mind. Alfred snaps him back just in time.
- Shout-Out: This episode makes constant mentions to Pagliacci. One of the most subtle nods, however, is the name of the fake pizza place Joker uses for a disguise, Lee N' Cavalo’s, which is actually a nod to the opera’s original composer, Ruggiero Leoncavallo.
- Skewed Priorities: Batman chews out Dr. Strange for investigating the Joker's mind rather than working to save Yin. Even Joker finds it asinine. It's another sign that he's not on the up and up.
- Villain Has a Point: Joker makes an aside comment about Dr. Strange's Skewed Priorities about not bothering to find out the location of Ellen Yin in favor of trying to analyze Joker's mind.
- Wham Shot:
- When the Joker thinks he's back in Arkham and that he already squealed about Yin, he lets slip her location. Then Yin, Detective Rojas and Dr. Strange remove their faces, revealing themselves to be Batman.
- When Strange closes his file on Joker, a folder of Batman is seen behind it, indicating that Strange is also fascinated with the Dark Knight.
- When the Clock Strikes Twelve: Batman has to find Yin before midnight.
- Whole-Plot Reference: Someone using a new revolutionary device to enter a criminal’s mind to find his latest victim before it’s too late? This episode was basically Batman meets The Cell!
- Zerg Rush: After entering an opera house in the Joker's mindscape, Batman finds himself at the mercy of an entire audience of Joker duplicates, who quickly overwhelm him.Joker: You're dancing in a hornet's nest, fella! (Joker clones pile onto Batman and pin him to the floor)
