There's No Place to Go But Down

Season 2
Episode 7

## All Season 2 Episodes

"**There's No Place to Go But Down**" is the seventh episode of the second season of *Harley Quinn*, and the twentieth episode of the series overall. It was released on May 15, 2020 on DC Universe.

## Synopsis

Acting as a judge, Two Face sentences Harley and Ivy to life in Bane's prison. Meanwhile, Jim Gordon and Batgirl vow to take back the GCPD from Two Face.

## Plot

Following the events of "All the Best Inmates Have Daddy Issues", Harley and Ivy are still in Two-Face's custody and being judged for their crimes by Bane, who truthfully assures them that he will be unbiased. However, they are assigned Man-Bat as their litigator, who despite his legal competence cannot speak in anything other than indecipherable screeches. Bane charges them with the murder of Oswald Cobblepot, and they plead "not guilty".

*❝ God dammit! This is bullshit! ❞*
— Man-Bat

Although Man-Bat attempted protest misconduct on the part of Two-Face's "leading and inflammatory" questioning, absolutely no one understood what he was saying. Two-Face then called Ivy herself to testify, and although Harley urged Ivy to blame everything on her so that Ivy could be free to pursue her life, Ivy stridently admitted her guilt to all charges and claimed that she'd finish off the rest of the Injustice League to boot. In response, Bane sentences them to life in prison.

Meanwhile, Batgirl and Commissioner Gordon are in the sewers under Gotham searching for Ratcatcher, although Gordon is drunk and irritable and keeps forgetting why they are even in the detestable sewer system. They seek to stop Ratcatcher from using the sewers to smuggle weapons across Gotham, and after locating him, Batgirl orders Gordon to stay put and wait for her signal after she has successfully cut off the exit, which Gordon detests as "taking orders from a cheerleader". Drinking yet more, he eventually gets tipsy enough to drop his flask. When he drunkenly lurches for it, Ratcacher spots him, sends the rats after him, and successfully escapes. An irritated Batgirl is forced to pull him out of the sewer canal and save him.

Harley and Ivy expect to arrive in Arkham, but instead find themselves in the "Peña Duro North Correctional and Rehabilitation Facility", a large hole in the ground that Bane affectionately nicknamed "The Pit". Bane shoves them into the hole and then jumps after them, and then proceeds to give a tour of the underground facility. He earnestly tells them their mission in The Pit is to bring people "into the light" and genuinely help rehabilitate them. He then drops them off at their quarters, invites them to a talent show, and impresses upon them that they must make their beds. Finally alone, Ivy and Harley have no idea how they might escape from The Pit as there's no plant-matter to use as a beanstalk, and Ivy has a break down because she finally desires to marry someone and now cannot.

In the aftermath of the botched capture of Ratcatcher, Commissioner Gordon is back home having dinner with his daughter, Barbara Gordon, not knowing that she is also Batgirl. After insulting Batgirl, he smothers his spaghetti in mountains of mayonnaise (even squirting some in his liquor, which he drinks) while insisting that he doesn't have a drinking problem. Barbara begs him to consider laying off the booze for her sake, and although he begins to consider her words, they are interrupted by gunfire from Two-Face's goons. Two-Face is now set on killing Gordon, and so throws a grenade into their home.

*❝ I would watch the light leave their eyes and know that their last thought was fear.
But now I imagine myself in the bubble of calm and the urge to kill goes away. ❞*
— Victor Zsasz during a group therapy session

After trying unsuccessfully to get Bane to transfer them to Arkham, Harley and Ivy's spirits soar when they learn that George Lopez will be choppering down for a ten-minute comedy set. Galvanized, they plan to start a riot at the talent show so that they can escape in the helicopter in the confusion.

Back at Gordon's house, Two-Face taunts Gordon until he gives up and surrenders, preparing to meet his end. He asked only that Two-Face tell his daughter he loves her, but at that moment, Batgirl arrives and incapacitates his goons, allowing them to get shot to death in the confusion. Alarmed, Two-Face flees, saying that he thought this would be a "two goon job", swearing that he'll be back. Gordon is resentful at being saved, thinking that he isn't needed anymore and wanting only to die, but Batgirl reveals herself as his daughter and claims that he is her inspiration. Moved, Gordon becomes full of hope again.

As Harley plans her set to incite a riot, Bane arrives and notices that her bed wasn't made, and so bans her from the talent show and sends her to solitary confinement, guarded by Cheryl. George Lopez then does his set to resounding applause, and Ivy is left to attempt to incite a riot in Harley's place, but utterly fails to get a rise out of the crowd and mostly ends up insulted for her bad comedy. The crowd, totally unwilling to become violent despite being made up entirely of killers, only offers constructive criticism. Meanwhile, Harley struggles with Cheryl to get out of her solitary confinement and eventually manages to overcome Cheryl just as George Lopez's helicopter flies out of The Pit, leaving them behind.

*❝ Are you gonna lend a hand or is Batgirl too cool to help her dad in a montage where we skip past the hard parts of beating an alcohol addiction and cut to the part where I'm clean? ❞*
— Commissioner Gordon to his daughter

After talking with Barbara about why she became Batgirl, she and Gordon dumped all of Gordon's alcohol, cleaned up the house a bit, and cleaned up Gordon's own rugged appearance to more closely resemble his youth. He then vows to take back the GCPD headquarters from Two-Face.

As George Lopez's helicopter flies out of sight, Ivy is left utterly depressed. No longer needing to put on an act, she honestly vents her frustrations to the crowd. She admits to her failed plan to escape, sounding stupid in hindsight and getting a few laughs, and compares her old life to being in an emotional pit. She eventually got out of it, forming friendships, getting engaged, and having sex with Kite Man 10,000 feet in the air (the crowd has completely warmed at this point). Finally, she laments falling back into a literal pit after at last escaping the former one, and dejectedly says that life itself is a never-ending pit from which there is ultimately no escape.

The crowd is now moved to sadness and inflection, and when they realize that there truly is no escape from the horrible lives they've lead, the realization gives way to directionless, unbounded fury and a sudden desire to get out of The Pit, figuratively and literally. However, Ivy is still as a rock in the river of rage and chaos that came forth from her words, saying that she blew it, but Harley points out that the rioters have amassed a large mound of destroyed infrastructure at the center of The Pit, slowly creating a ramp in the direction of the surface.

While Bane deals with the riot on his hands, Two-Face's lair in the old GCPD headquarters comes under assault from Gordon, who singlehandedly slaughters everyone (with Batgirl waiting on the sidewalk) until Two-Face himself runs Gordon over with a police car. Bane himself comes before Ivy as she's climbing out of The Pit and applauds her emotional growth, but Ivy and Harley have nothing but disdain for Bane and throw a chair at him. Fed up, Bane enhances his muscles and begins climbing after them. However, Ivy gets high enough to see a vine in the side of The Pit and uses it to life herself and Harley toward the surface. Not to be outdone, Bane launches himself after them and grabs ahold of Harley's ankle.

Back in the GCPD headquarters, Two-Face leaves his car and prepares to fight Gordon. Weakened from the crash, Gordon initially has a bad time of it (despite his confident insistence to Batgirl that it's all under control). Two-Face manages to stab a needle through Gordon's hand and presses it toward his eye to kill him. Although he nearly succeeds, Gordon kicks Two-Face in the testicles and manages to roll him off. They both rise, and Two-Face rushes Gordon, but at the last moment Gordon agilely dodges, stabs him in the back, and while Two-Face groans in agony, Gordon finishes by smashing a bottle of liquor over Two-Face's head. With him knocked out, Gordon puts Two-Face behind bars, leaving only Bane in the Injustice League.

> ***Bane**You cannot run from your problems, Harley. Hate weighs you down. Only love sets us free.**Harley**Ivy.**Ivy**No.**Harley**It's ok.**Ivy**Don't, don't do this.**Harley**Have a good life, get married, make babies. Name them Harley. The girls and boys.**Ivy**Harley!**Harley**See? It totally works…You know I love you. Bye, Ive.— Harley sacrifices herself for Ivy*

Held suspended over the hellacious furnace that is now The Pit, Bane is too heavy for Ivy to lift out. From his position holding onto Harley's ankle, Bane admonishes Harley that only love sets us all free, which inspires Harley to let go of Ivy and sacrifice herself so that she can escape. Profound peace and tranquility come over Harley, and despite Ivy's protestations, Harley dreamily asks Ivy to live a good life and name her children after her. She hugs Ivy tight and then releases Ivy. She and Bane then plummet to the fires below, with Harley yanking at Bane's fluid cords to send him choking and sputtering down ahead of her. As Harley falls, she sees Ivy launched up and out of The Pit by the recoil.

Happy that Ivy escaped, Harley turns toward the onrushing fires and falls serenely toward her death. However, Ivy jumps back into The Pit and grabs Harley's ankle just before she dies, arresting her fall. The vine she used to tether herself then yanks them both up and out of The Pit like a spring, and they both land safely on the desert ground outside The Pit. Held in each other's arms and joyous to both be alive, their smiles suddenly turn into a brief but passionate kiss, until they both withdraw and stare at each other in shock.

## Cast and Characters

### Main Cast

* Kaley Cuoco as Harley Quinn
* Lake Bell as Poison Ivy, Cheryl
* Christopher Meloni as Commissioner Gordon
* Matt Oberg as Killer Croc

### Guest Cast

* James Adomian as Bane, Ratcatcher
* Briana Cuoco as Batgirl
* Andy Daly as Two-Face/Dent
* George Lopez as himself
* Brad Morris as Victor Zsasz, Penguin goon

### Cameos

* Man-Bat
* Anarky
* Clock King
* Professor Pyg

## Trivia

* The opening music is reminiscent of the *Law & Order* franchise theme music which is fitting considering the opening scene takes place in court.
* The Pit, fully named Peña Duro North Correctional and Rehabilitation Facility, is a reference to Peña Duro which was the prison where Bane was born and lived the majority of his young life in. However, as opposed to the dark and violent place that created monsters like Bane, this version is depicted as a much more positive place with Bane having every intetion to actually rehabilitate his inmates.
* Ivy references the show *Love It or List It* when listing reasons she can't be stuck in prison, saying "Who's gonna write letters to the network when they're trying to decide whether they should renew *Love It or List It*?"

## Gallery

*See also: All images from "There's No Place to Go But Down"*

Bane as a judgeMan-Bat as Harley and Ivy's lawyerTwo-Face as the prosecutorThe prison is, in fact, a pit.Bane presenting Harley and Ivy the pitHarley and Ivy are pushed into the PitTherapy groupThe pit is for sane peopleBane announcing the special guest of his talent show as George Lopez"But there's a Cheryl."Bane has magic tricks......and a great inspirational posterBane amused by Ivy's joke about himBane tries to stop Harley and Ivy from escapingJim looks at a photo of himself and Barbara from years agoHe cries, remembering the good timesGordon takes back the GCPDTwo-Face vs Gordon