Being Harley Quinn

Season 1
Episode 5

## All Season 1 Episodes

"**Being Harley Quinn**" is the fifth episode of the first season of *Harley Quinn*. It is the fifth episode of the series overall. It was released on December 27, 2019 on DC Universe.

## Synopsis

When Harley suffers a paralyzing identity crisis, her crew must enter Harley's mind to free her with the help of Dr. Psycho's telepathic powers.

## Plot

Harley is unable to choose a replacement evil lair due to her identity issues. The evil-lair realtor and Ivy try to assess her inner motives, the realtor suggests lairs such as the Mole's tunnels and one of Mister Freeze's old lairs, but Harley comes up with nothing and she literally freezes in place. To treat her "level four brainfreeze," Doctor Psycho takes Ivy, Clayface, and King Shark into Harley's mind.

Passing through her "museum of memories", the crew discover a tormented child, turbulent household, and spiteful high school graduate, before finding an avatar of present-day Harley herself. Harley finds the memory of her "origin story": falling into Joker's vat of chemicals, but the "video" glitches and skips Joker pushing her. Thinking this is related to her indecisiveness, Harley touches the memory against Psycho's orders, causing a brain lockdown. In the real world, Sy Borgman discovers everyone's passed out bodies in his apartment. Worse, they're all wearing "Suicide Squad" shirts that Harley was given, leading Sy to believe they're all dead.

Harley's mindscape sends small Harleys to attack Harley's crew; Psycho confirms if they die in Harley's mind, they die for real. They escape into an "elevator" and inadvertently end up at the optic nerve, where they to see Sy and his old associate Golda planning to incinerate their "dead" bodies.

Harley's crew make it to her subconscious and discover the Joker everywhere. As they search for an emergency exit, small Harleys continue to chase them, and they are only saved by an avatar of young Frankie Muniz. Frankie was apparently Harley's crush as a child, whom she intended to kidnap, marry, and have a child with without his consent. At this point, Golda and Sy have nearly gotten the bodies to a furnace at an abandoned mall for burning, the two elderly former spies reminiscing about old times.

Before reaching the emergency exit, Harley spots "repressed memory island" and decides she must know what the glitch in her mind was if she is to be restored. Despite the risk of Sy and Golda about to burn them in the real world, Ivy convinces everyone to stay in the mindscape and back Harley up. Clayface transforms into Frankie Muniz and draws the small Harleys away, while King Shark swims the other teammates to the repressed memory island.

Among the repressed memories, Harley discovers that the Joker didn't *push* her into the vat of chemicals — she jumped of her own volition. Understanding she can still take back control of her life and identity, Harley infiltrates the memory and redefines which point in her life to consider her origin story. She elects the moment she broke up with Joker for good — an act of agency and self-respect — to be what "made" Harley Quinn. The mindscape subsequently corrects itself. The crew reunites with Clayface, and they exit Harley's mind.

In the real world, the crew wakes up with a start. Golda leaves, annoyed that Sy mistook them for dead. Harley, looking around the abandoned mall, deems it a suitable lair, for it is a blank slate they can define on their own terms, instead of defining them with its colors or motif. Harley holds back from killing Sy, for nearly burning them, In exchange for ownership of the mall and letting him join the crew.

## Cast and Characters

### Main Cast

* Kaley Cuoco as Harley Quinn
* Jason Alexander as Sy Borgman
* Lake Bell as Poison Ivy
* Ron Funches as King Shark
* Tony Hale as Dr. Psycho
* Alan Tudyk as The Joker, Clayface

### Guest Cast

* Frankie Muniz as himself
* Suzy Nakamura as Realtor
* Rhea Perlman as Golda

### Cameos

* Bud or Lou (inside Harley's mind)
* Nick Quinzel (inside Harley's mind)
* Sharon Quinzel (inside Harley's mind)
* Grandma Quinzel (pictured; pictured inside Harley's mind)
* Grandpa Quinzel (pictured; pictured inside Harley's mind)
* Barry Quinzel (pictured; pictured inside Harley's mind)

## Trivia

* The sacrifice victim during the staged sacrifice at the beginning of the episode is uncredited despite lines of dialogue.
* This episode's premise and several story elements allude to two films written by Charlie Kaufman, which are known for their exploration of the boundaries between memories and reality.
	+ The episode's title and premise are loosely based off the film *Being John Malkovich*. Clayface even references the film after the crew activate Harley's Occipital lobe, thus allowing them to view outside through her eyes.
	+ After Harley decides that her origin was not caused by Joker, thus retroactively changing her memories, he rebuttals by saying that she cannot alter past events in the vain of the film *Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind*.
* The family portrait which can be briefly seen in the background when they first enter Harley's mind, can be seen in full during the sitcom-parody sequence of "Bensonhurst".
* Multiple images from past episodes, in particular from "Til Death Do Us Part", can be seen in Harley's museum of memories.
* Clayface makes another film reference by asserting that they are adhering to "Nightmare on Elm Street rules" when Doctor Psycho reveals that by dying inside Harley's mind they will also die in real life.
* Clayface reveals that before working for Harley he used to fill in for the dog playing Air Bud after Clayface ran him over on the second to last day of shooting.
* The Suicide Squad and its leader, Amanda Waller, are formally introduced in the first episode of season 3, "Harlivy." Harley references the T-shirts she received in this episode, and that Waller has been emailing her, asking her to join.

## Gallery

*See also: All images from "Being Harley Quinn"*

Harley freezesEntering Harley Quinn's mindThe crew passes out while going into Harley's mindSy attempts to show of the apartmentHarley Quinn's subconsciousJokers in Harley's subconsciousHarley meets Frankie Muniz inside her mindHarley GremlinsClayface masquerading as Frankie Muniz for the Harley GremlinsRepressed Memory IslandHarley's last moment as Harleen Quinzel
### Video

Harley Quinn Episode 105 Watch on DC Universe TV-MA