10 Best Joker Episodes Of Batman: The Animated Series
8. Harley & Ivy
The stars of this episode are its titular femme fatales after Harley, who is kicked out of Joker’s gang for a screw-up on a job, joins forces with Poison Ivy to become Gotham’s “Queens of Crime”.
Heavily influenced by Thelma & Louise, it’s a proudly feminist episode that shows two kickass women targeting sexist men’s clubs and chauvinistic yahoos. There are even clear overtones that Harley and Ivy are more than just work colleagues...
But it also shines a spotlight on Harley’s relationship with the Joker, and it turns out that the Clown Prince is the biggest misogynist of all. Without Harley in his life the Joker regresses to a manchild who stomps about his now messy hideout in his underwear calling after an absent Harley to bring him his missing sock. As Ivy points out to Harley, the Joker treats her as a “doormat.”
The Joker tracks down Harley at Ivy’s, but he’s not there to reconcile their relationship, only to get his hands on some plundered jewels. This is an episode that affirms once and for all that the Joker cares only about himself. Poor Harley.