Recaps

Harley Quinn became convinced that Joker needed her and tried to break free of Poison Ivy to rescue him from detention. Dick, Miaomiao, and Bruce moved to intervene, while Bruce suspected Joker or someone else had reactivated Harley’s psychological conditioning.

• Harley shouted that she was going to find Joker, and the phone connection cut off before Pamela could stop her.
• Miaomiao realized Harley was heading to Joker, and Dick drove her toward Poison Ivy’s Emerald Kingdom while alerting Bruce.
• Oswald called to have Joker’s latest activity investigated, and Bruce sealed the routes to the detention area.
• Miaomiao and Dick arrived as Pamela tried to restrain Harley with vines and sleep-inducing pollen, but Harley fought them off.
• Pamela told Harley that Joker did not love her, and Harley insisted he did before raising her Baseball Bat and trying to reach him.

Miaomiao stopped Harley from riding off to rescue Joker and put her to sleep, while Pamela kept watch over her. Pamela recounted that Harley had seemed fine that morning, leaving the cause of her sudden urge to rescue Joker unexplained.

• Pamela tried to stop Harley from leaving, but Harley fought through the vines and rushed to her motorcycle.
• Miaomiao arrived in time to pin down Harley’s handlebars, then caught her Baseball Bat and restrained her.
• Miaomiao sang Harley to sleep, and Pamela carried her to a vine hammock and thanked Miaomiao for stopping her.
• Miaomiao asked why Harley had suddenly decided to rescue Joker, and Pamela said everything had seemed normal until noon.
• Pamela recalled their Christmas presents and ordinary morning, but could identify nothing unusual that might have affected Harley.

Dick, Miaomiao, and Poison Ivy investigated the gifts suspected of causing Harley's condition, but their checks found nothing unusual. Batman arrived and suggested the gifts might matter because of what they represented, leaving the mystery unresolved.

• Poison Ivy allowed Dick to inspect the gifts after Miaomiao asked her to let him help.
• Dick recalled how Poison Ivy had once defeated him when he was Robin, and Miaomiao promised to protect him.
• Dick scanned the gifts while Miaomiao sensed them, but neither found any abnormality or residual power.
• Batman arrived, heard Dick's account, and examined the gifts.
• Batman suggested that the problem might not lie in the gifts themselves, but in what they represented.

Batman concluded that the Joker’s psychological imprint had driven Harley Quinn to continue his Christmas chaos, even while he remained locked in Arkham. Pamela refused to let Batman take Harley, and as their argument escalated toward a fight, Nightwing urged Miaomiao to cry loudly.

• Batman explained that the Joker’s conditioning could make Harley act out his plans without any new interference from him.
• Pamela realized Harley may have gone to find the Joker because she believed Christmas should follow his idea of a chaotic performance, and Miaomiao mourned that Harley did not truly want to hurt anyone.
• Batman warned that Harley’s identity as the Joker’s girl kept the Joker active in her thoughts, prompting Pamela to suspect he intended to return Harley to Arkham.
• Pamela’s vines surrounded Batman and Nightwing, while Nightwing tried to calm her and Batman insisted that protecting Harley from consequences would let the Joker’s control worsen.
• Pamela lashed a vine toward Batman, and Nightwing scooped up Miaomiao and urged her to cry loudly.

Miaomiao stopped Batman and Pamela from fighting by pleading through tears, and Frank helped comfort her. Afterward, Nightwing explained that Joker’s psychological influence still endangered Harley, while Batman said that influence remained in her mind even if Joker never left Arkham.

• Miaomiao began crying and begged Batman and Pamela not to fight, making Batman pause and Pamela withdraw her vines.
• Nightwing blamed their conflict for frightening Miaomiao, and Batman promised that they would not fight.
• Frank tried to comfort Miaomiao with a handkerchief, and she thanked him after he wiped her lashes.
• Nightwing told Pamela that Joker’s psychological control over Harley remained dangerous even while they were apart.
• Pamela criticized Batman and Nightwing for repeatedly letting Arkham’s inmates escape, and Batman said Joker’s influence persisted in Harley’s thoughts.

Pamela hesitated to let Batman help Harley break free of Joker’s psychological hold, fearing she would be taken from her or put at risk. Selina vouched for Batman, who promised Harley could stay with Pamela while Miaomiao learned how her Illusion Song might help; Pamela was left ready to help protect Harley.

• Batman told Pamela that separating Harley from Joker would not erase Joker’s psychological hold and urged her to address it completely.
• Selina arrived, learned what had happened, and offered to vouch for Batman and stay with Harley.
• Batman assured Pamela that Harley would remain in the apartment and that their friendship could help sever her link to Joker.
• Batman asked Miaomiao to learn more about her Illusion Song ability before they decided on a treatment plan.
• Miaomiao asked Pamela to help Harley together and promised to watch over her, while Pamela looked at Harley’s tearful, restless face.

Pamela agreed to help Batman and the others free Harley from the Joker’s Mind Control, while Miaomiao returned to the Batcave for ability tests. When the tests showed unexpectedly weak results, Bruce comforted Miaomiao and explained that anxiety had disrupted her Illusion Song, reminding her how powerful she was.

• Batman promised Pamela they would only try to free Harley from the Joker’s Mind Control, and Pamela agreed to help while keeping watch over Harley.
• Batman took Miaomiao back to the Batcave with Nightwing to test her abilities and plan how to help Harley.
• Tim calibrated the equipment, and Miaomiao sang while the Bat Family measured her psychic sound-based abilities.
• The test results showed Miaomiao’s abilities were far weaker than expected, and Miaomiao feared she had failed.
• Bruce reassured Miaomiao that his anxiety had made her nervous and disrupted her Illusion Song, then reminded her of the powerful illusions and sleep-inducing songs she had created.

After Alfred helped Miaomiao relax, she realized that Illusion Song’s strength depended on her state of mind and sang with newfound confidence. Her test results exceeded Bruce’s expectations, and he prepared to test whether she could create a lifelike illusion in someone’s mind.

• Bruce, Dick, and Tim reassured the anxious Miaomiao before Alfred brought out tea and blueberry cookies.
• While relaxing with the refreshments, Miaomiao understood that Illusion Song reflected her state of mind and faltered when she felt afraid.
• Miaomiao thanked Alfred and asked Bruce to restart the test.
• Miaomiao sang an Illusion Song that left everyone in the Batcave calm and produced more energy, with greater stability, than her earlier mass hypnosis at Arkham.
• Bruce praised Miaomiao’s results and asked her to construct a lifelike illusion in his mind.

Miaomiao tried to create an illusion in Bruce’s mind but stopped when she realized his mental defenses were too strong to overcome safely. Just as Bruce prepared to rest, Jason reported that the Joker had escaped, and the Bat-family discovered threats at three locations across Gotham.

• Bruce insisted that Miaomiao create an illusion for him so she could practice controlling her power, while Dick and Tim warned about the risks.
• Miaomiao sang an illusion song as Tim monitored the equipment, and Bruce fell asleep during the attempt.
• Bruce woke feeling well, but Miaomiao apologized because she had failed to get through his mental barriers without hurting him.
• Alfred urged Bruce to shower and rest, but Jason called to report that the Joker had escaped.
• Tim found red alerts at the Gotham Television Station, Miller Harbor, and the Ace Chemical Plant, indicating that the Joker meant to split their forces.

Batman and Nightwing tracked Joker to the abandoned amusement park, where he livestreamed a threat to Gotham and forced Batman into a deadly hostage game. Joker left Batman racing against a ten-minute deadline while warning that hidden bombs could destroy several city locations.

• Damian reported that Joker had kidnapped Gotham Television Station employees and was heading to his old hideout at the amusement park.
• Bruce ordered Damian not to act alone, then drove to the amusement park with Nightwing while they watched Joker's livestream.
• Joker struck the employee who had set up the broadcast and announced that he had planted hidden explosives at several locations around Gotham.
• Joker demanded that Batman reach the amusement park within ten minutes, rescue the hostages alone, and solve his riddles, threatening to kill one hostage every minute.

Joker accelerated the Ferris wheel and forced Batman into a deadly choice between rescuing hostages and risking explosions across Gotham. He revealed that only three of his buttons were linked to real explosives, but even he did not know which ones.

• Joker cheated by resetting his countdown and then sped up the Ferris wheel, putting the hostages in danger.
• Batman rushed from hiding to confront Joker, but stopped when Joker threatened to detonate bombs with his remote trigger.
• Batman reasoned that Joker could not have planted explosives across Gotham on a large scale after escaping Arkham.
• Joker admitted that only three locations had real explosives, each tied to someone on the Ferris wheel, and said rescuing a hostage would trigger the corresponding button.
• Joker revealed that he did not know which three buttons were real, preventing Batman from identifying the safe choices.

Batman realized that the Joker’s hostage crisis and citywide attacks were part of a larger trap meant to overwhelm him. After hearing reports of chaos across Gotham, he recognized that the Joker and their surroundings were not real.

• The Joker forced Batman to choose which hostages to sacrifice, while Red Robin reported that only six of the Ferris wheel’s thirty-two cabins had been ruled out as decoys.
• Nightwing reported that a riot had cut off the GCPD, while Red Hood and Robin reported mass breakouts at Arkham Asylum and Blackgate Penitentiary.
• Red Robin reported that timed explosives had been planted across Gotham and that the Batcave’s surveillance had been hacked.
• Batman understood that the hostages were only the opening act of a citywide attack designed to keep him trapped at the Amusement Park.
• Batman told the Joker that he was not the Joker and that the Amusement Park and Gotham were not real.

Bruce recognized that the escalating Joker emergencies were an Illusion and woke in the Batcave, where his family checked on him. He reassured Miaomiao that she had done well, while the others grew curious about what he had experienced inside the Illusion.

• Bruce realized the Joker's apparent attacks were hollow and that he was still trapped in Miaomiao's Illusion.
• Bruce trusted his children to handle real crises, and the Illusion shattered around him.
• Bruce woke in the Batcave as Dick, Damian, Tim, Jason, and Miaomiao watched over him.
• Bruce told Miaomiao he was fine and praised her Illusion, easing everyone's worry.
• Dick asked Bruce what the Illusion had been like, and the others listened eagerly.

Bruce praised Miaomiao’s illusion as nearly indistinguishable from reality, then explained how he realized it was an illusion after Alfred offered him warm milk. The Bat-family laughed and toasted their milk, but Bruce ended the conversation by revealing that Joker had escaped prison.

• Alfred brought the family steaming glasses of milk while Bruce reflected on Miaomiao’s illusion.
• Bruce praised Miaomiao’s control and said the illusion had perfectly simulated the world around him.
• Bruce explained that he had awakened among the family in the illusion and was told by Miaomiao that it had failed.
• Bruce revealed that Alfred’s familiar complaint about his sleep schedule and warm milk had appeared in the illusion, making the family laugh and raise a toast.
• Bruce said he had not drunk the milk in the illusion because Joker had broken out of prison.

Bruce explained how he recognized Miaomiao’s illusion and reassured her that she had created an impressively realistic version of Gotham. Miaomiao then asked whether the illusion could still help Harley.

• Jason reacted to Bruce mentioning the Joker in the illusion, and the others shared his discomfort.
• Bruce explained that the illusion copied his memories too exactly, and the constant crises had seemed suspiciously timed.
• Bruce praised Miaomiao’s illusion but said its biggest flaw was that she would never stay out of a real crisis involving her family.
• Miaomiao blushed as Bruce described how she would have followed him and fought the Joker if the events had been real.
• Miaomiao asked whether her illusion could still help Harley.

Harley Quinn’s worsening episodes over Joker left Pamela and Selina struggling to keep her safe, while Bruce said Harley’s illusion would require the real Joker. After a clown balloon triggered Harley’s memories of their promised Christmas outing, Pamela took her back to the apartment as she mourned Joker and blamed herself.

• Bruce told Miaomiao that creating Harley’s illusion would be difficult and would require the real Joker.
• Harley continued having episodes in Robinson Park, remembering Joker and sometimes becoming desperate to find him.
• Harley spotted a Christmas clown balloon and believed Joker had come to call her back to him.
• Pamela burst the balloon with a thorny vine, and Harley broke down in tears over missing Christmas with Joker.
• Pamela carried Harley back to the apartment as Harley repeated that Joker had promised to ride the Ferris wheel with her and watch the fireworks.

Harley broke down over her longing for Joker, and Pamela and Selina brought her home and comforted her. After Harley fell asleep, Pamela told Selina that Harleen Quinzel had once saved her when she was newly Poison Ivy.

• Harley blamed herself for losing Joker and insisted that he was her everything as Pamela held her and tried to remind her that she and Selina cared about her.
• Harley cried herself to sleep, and Pamela wiped the makeup and tears from her face while she slept.
• Selina told Pamela that she had always sensed Pamela’s bond with Harley was different from hers.
• Pamela revealed that she had known Harley longer than Harley remembered and that Harleen Quinzel had saved her after she became Poison Ivy.

Pamela Isley remembered how Harleen Quinzel had helped her recover from her hatred of humanity and become the only person she could trust. She was left mourning how Harleen had become Harley Quinn, devoted to the Joker despite the harm he caused her.

• Doctor Wood betrayed Pamela, stole her research, and injected her with toxins that transformed her into Poison Ivy.
• After Pamela took revenge on Wood, Batman defeated her and sent her to Arkham Asylum.
• Harleen Quinzel earned Pamela’s trust, helped her abandon her plan to turn Gotham into an Emerald Kingdom, and became the person she cherished most.
• Harleen chose to study the Joker despite Pamela’s warning and promised to visit her.
• Harleen stopped visiting Pamela and later reappeared as Harley Quinn, devoted to the Joker.
• Pamela hated the Joker for hurting Harley and trapping her in an obsession she could not bring herself to leave.

Harley pretended to sleep while Pamela and Selina watched over her, then escaped after sedating Pamela so she could go save the Joker. As Pamela tried to make her reconsider, Harley began confronting her former self and her own diagnosis of a patient trapped in an abusive relationship.

• Pamela and Selina discussed freeing Harley from the Joker's mind control, while Harley secretly listened and learned that she and Pamela had a history together.
• After Selina left and Pamela lowered her guard, Harley restrained Pamela with a concealed cord and injected her with a sedative designed to suppress her plant powers.
• Harley took her Baseball Bat and left to save the Joker despite Pamela's warnings that he did not love her and was using her.
• Harley saw an apparition of her former self, Harleen Quinzel, and agreed to hear about a patient obsessed with a homicidal lunatic.
• Harley identified the patient's behavior as dependency addiction and began explaining that she needed to end the relationship, then stopped short.

Harley rejected Pamela’s warning that Joker had escaped and never come for her, then set out to find him as “Harleen” challenged her belief that he loved her. Harley recalled her first meeting with Joker, which revealed how danger and his attention awakened the rebellious side she had suppressed.

• Pamela told Harley that Joker had escaped long ago and had never tried to contact her, but Harley rode off to find him at their abandoned amusement park hideout.
• Harley struggled to accept that Joker might have discarded her and remembered the gifts and attention she had taken as proof of his love.
• “Harleen” appeared in Harley’s reflection and argued that Joker had valued her only as a useful, obedient tool.
• Harley recalled meeting Joker in Arkham, where his praise made her feel uniquely understood and stirred her suppressed desire for excitement.
• Joker seized Harleen’s hand and threatened her with her pen, but she fought back and escaped with the guard’s help.
• Harleen realized that her racing heart came from excitement rather than fear, and found that Joker had drawn a smiley face on her neck with her pen.

Harley struggled against Harleen's claims that she was wavering in her devotion to Joker, until Harleen drew her into another world to show her Joker's past treatment of her. The chapter ended as Harleen pulled Harley close and told her to look.

• Harley insisted that she was still devoted to Puddin’ and rejected Harleen's suggestion that she was beginning to doubt their relationship.
• Harleen challenged Harley's belief that Joker loved her and reminded her that she tolerated his abuse and ridicule.
• Harleen became solid enough to take Harley's hand, then opened a vortex and pulled her into another world.
• After the trip left Harley retching, Harleen caught her hand, drew her close, and told her to look.

Harley watched a memory of her final therapy session with Joker from an outsider’s perspective, confronting how she had helped him escape despite the consequences. The chapter left Harley insisting the memory was false after seeing that Joker’s affection had been feigned and he had intended to use her.

• Harleen took control of Harley and showed her a memory of a therapy session with Joker at Arkham Asylum.
• Harley watched her past self give Joker a stuffed kitten and agree to get him a machine gun.
• Harleen urged Harley to examine their expressions, and Harley saw that her past self was in love while Joker showed no genuine love for her.
• Harley realized Joker had feigned affection to use her and accused Harleen of falsifying the memory.
• Harleen told Harley that the memory was real and that Harley had hidden it beneath a romantic interpretation.

Harley confronted the truth about her devotion to Joker and relived the moment he tortured her after she helped him escape Arkham. She realized she had chosen to endure the shock treatment to prove her love for him.

• Harleen questioned Harley about what Joker had actually done for her, and Harley struggled to name anything beyond his words and imagined tenderness.
• Harleen suggested that Harley, not Joker, was the one who had never been loved enough and did not understand love.
• The scene shifted to the memory of Joker standing beside Harleen Two on an operating table after she had smuggled weapons into Arkham and helped him escape.
• Joker shocked Harleen Two with a device while Harley pleaded for him to stop, and Harleen reminded her that Joker had not restrained her.
• Harley remembered that she had willingly stayed on the table despite being able to escape because she wanted to prove her love for Joker.

Harley relived the moment she believed Joker had saved her from the chemical vat and sealed their love with a kiss. Harleen questioned whether Harley's romantic memory reflected what had really happened.

• Harley rejected Harleen's account and insisted Joker's cruelty had been a test of her love.
• Harley took control of the illusion and recreated the Ace Chemical Plant, where Harleen had confronted Joker.
• In the memory, Harleen jumped into the chemical vat, and Joker followed to rescue her before kissing her.
• Harley wept over the scene and called it romantic, while Harleen worried that Joker's Mind Control had trapped her in a false fantasy.
• Harleen made Harley look at her and asked whether she truly believed that was what had happened.

"Harleen" challenged Harley’s belief that Joker had proved his love, forcing her to confront a distorted memory of the Ace Chemical Plant. Harley saw that Joker had watched her suffer after she jumped into the vat, leaving her to face the truth behind her transformation into Harley Quinn.

• Harley insisted that she had passed Joker’s tests and proved her love, while "Harleen" asked whether Joker had proved his love for her.
• "Harleen" rewound the memory to the Ace Chemical Plant and told Harley to watch what had really happened.
• Harley watched "Harleen Two" jump into the chemical vat, but Joker remained on the scaffolding instead of leaping after her.
• Harley repeatedly rewound the memory and accused "Harleen" of changing it, but "Harleen" said Harley had altered her own memories.
• Harley remembered struggling in the corrosive vat while Joker watched coldly, and recognized how she had become Harley Quinn.