Riddler U

Season 2
Episode 2

## All Season 2 Episodes

"**Riddler U**" (originally titled "**Riddle U**") is the second episode of the second season of *Harley Quinn*, and the fifteenth episode of the series overall. It was released on April 10, 2020 on DC Universe.

## Synopsis

Harley & Ivy go undercover as college students to take down Riddler, who’s made himself dean of the local university with sinister plans for students.

## Plot

Harley is plotting her attack on the Injustice League, but is hampered by the lack of electricity in the lawless wasteland New Gotham. With Doctor Psycho having to make candles out of dead zebras, Harley deems electricity to be paramount, and plans to go to Riddler University — the only place in Gotham with power — to steal it from the Riddler. Clayface offers to help them go undercover using his "Stephanie" character, but Harley and Poison Ivy reject him. Meanwhile, King Shark and Doctor Psycho set out to find an industrial water purifier.

After caking themselves in makeup to hide their bleach-white and green skin, Ivy enlists Kite Man to fly herself and Harley into the Riddler's university. On campus, Harley and Ivy introduce themselves to Barbara Gordon as "Heather Witherbee" and "Izziadora Staplebuntkin", respectively. Although Barbara is suspicious of their odd names, "Stephanie" arrives and covers for them, as apparently Clayface is well-known in the school under that alias. Despite Harley's anger that Clayface disobeyed her orders to stay home, they have little choice but to accept his help. Meanwhile, Psycho and King successfully acquire a water purifier, but quickly come under attack by Two-Face's goons.

Harley and Ivy have little luck finding the Riddler. "Stephanie" demonstrates a vivid familiarity with the school and its culture, so Harley sends Clayface off to do his own recon. After he departs, Harley spots someone who looks like the Riddler, so she attacks him, but it turns out that this was just the school's mascot. Having knocked him into a fountain, Harley's makeup disguise now begins to slough off due to the water.

Barbara sees Harley Quinn and flees, using some parkour to escape even pro-acrobat Harley. Nonetheless, Harley and Ivy track her down to her dorm and break in, only for Barbara to ambush Harley with pepper spray. Ivy disarms Barbaran ensnares her, and demands to know if she was going to report them to the Riddler, but Barbara claims she wants someone to stand up to the Riddler. Barbara turns up music to mask their voices, and explains her worry about several mysterious disappearances happening on campus. After dismissing Jim Gordon (who is depressed and living with his daughter after getting divorced), Barbara shares her theory that people are going missing at a particular fraternity. She produces wrist bands for a party there, but Harley steals them before leaving with Ivy.

Meanwhile, King Shark and Doctor Psycho are still pinned down by Two-Face's goons. Out of options, King overhauls a small car to accommodate Doctor Psycho's short legs, and adds a mounted turret and armor so King can fire back at attackers. Back at Riddler U, "Stephanie" relationship with a "maybe-boyfriend" Chad gave him a VIP wrist band to the same party Harley and Ivy are going to, so Harley sends Clayface into the VIP area to look for the Riddler. Clayface ends up taking too long, so Harley and Ivy break in.

Harley and Ivy are shocked to discover that the Riddler has forced the students to run on human hamster wheels to power the university. The Riddler himself then arrives, intent on capturing them for his hamster wheels. Seeing right through their disguises, he threatens them with his "riddle stick". The girls underestimate it, and get knocked out by its electrical discharge, resulting in their capture.

Back with King and Psycho, they finally managed to ditch their Two-Face pursuers, but it turns out that the goons stopped following them because they left Two-Face's territory and entered Bane's. Psycho sneers at the Bane goons at first, but they augment themselves with Venom, easily brush off King Shark's bullets, and destroy their car.

Now running in the wheels as human batteries, Harley orders Clayface to transform into something "skinny" to escape, but he is too deeply in character and cries at being called "fat." Wearing a hoodie and mask, Barbara Gordon then arrives to save them, dispatching a guard and clumsily attempting to shoot the power switch to the generator. She misses but tosses her gun at the Riddler and knocks him into it, causing the generator to fail and release the human hamsters.

Clayface, Harley, Ivy, and Barbara then fight through the rest of the Riddler's goons. Afterward, Harley, Ivy, and Clayface take the Riddler away to "Arkham", but they actually put him on a hamster wheel of his own in the Gotham Mall, giving them electricity. Psycho and King then arrive with the water purifier, wearing the outfits of Bane's goons that they defeated. They are proud of having defeated half of Two-Face's army, Bane's goons, and having built a "death car," but it turns out that power has made the water purifier, and their ordeal, redundant.

In her dorm, having decided that she liked the thrill of fighting the Riddler, Barbara dons a costume and takes on the mantle of Batgirl, a new masked vigilante crimefighter.

## Cast and Characters

### Main Cast

* Kaley Cuoco as Harley Quinn
* Lake Bell as Poison Ivy, Girl 1, Student activist
* Ron Funches as King Shark
* Tony Hale as Dr. Psycho, Man, Lead goon, Man
* Christopher Meloni as Commissioner Gordon, Two-Face goon 2, Bouncer
* Matt Oberg as Kite Man, Bane goon
* Alan Tudyk as Clayface, ‘Stephanie’, Two-Face goon 1, Student 1

### Guest Cast

* Briana Cuoco as Barbara Gordon, Girl 2
* Jim Rash as The Riddler, Student 2

### Cameos

* The Penguin (pictured)
* Mr. Freeze (pictured)
* Two-Face (pictured)
* Bane (pictured)
* The Joker (pictured)
* Batman (pictured)

## Trivia

* When first released on DC Universe this episode was listed as "Riddle U" although the title card revealed "Riddler U" as the actual title which is also the one used on HBO Max and the DVD release.
* The Riddler takes over the university and makes himself the dean which parallels Jim Rash, who voices the Riddler, perhaps most famous role as the dean of Greendale Community College in the TV show *Community*.
* Clayface references Johnny Depp and his work on both the 1987 television series *21 Jump Street* as well as the 2012 movie *21 Jump Street* when describing how to go undercover citing Depp's work as an example.
* Poison Ivy reveals she is a fan of the Indigo Girls.
* Gordon mentions binge-watching the Netflix show *Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt*.

## Gallery

*See also: All images from "Riddler U"*

Doctor Psycho in a Zebra hatDean RiddlerKite Man flies Harley and Ivy to Riddler UniversityClayface as StephanieHarley and Ivy wore thick foundation and other makeup during this episode to mask their unnatural skin colors"Stephanie" fights the Riddler's goonsBarbara Gordon becomes BatgirlKing Shark
### Videos

Harley Quinn - The Best of Clayface's Stephanie - HBO MaxHarley Quinn - Harley & Poison Ivy Go Undercover - HBO MaxHarley Quinn- Riddler U - Super Scenes - DC