B.I.T.C.H.

"B.I.T.C.H." is the second episode of the fourth season of Harley Quinn, and the thirty-ninth episode of the series overall. It was released on July 27, 2023, on Max.

Synopsis[]

After breaking the Bat Family's #1 rule, a demoted Harley shadows Alfred, while Ivy finds an unexpected mentor at a networking event.

Plot[]

As Batgirl bandages up Nightwing's injured buttocks in the Batcave, Harley asks them if they're sincerely upset that she killed Professor Pyg earlier. Batgirl and Nightwing clarify that the Bat Family does not kill people and seek alternatives, but Harley doesn't buy it, as Nightwing would have lost his cushy butt because of it. Still, Nightwing was fine with losing his butt in favor of living up to the Bat Family code. Harley blames them all for not telling her in the first place, but they then point out several objects that clearly allude to or state that they don't "kill". In light of this, Harley notes that it was an issue where it's only obvious until it's pointed out and apologizes for her past mistake as a Talkative Teddy Tilapia sings, "Don't kill". Harley comments that the catchy song left an imprint on her that the Bat Family acted unamused over.

At Gotham Park, Tawny interviews Ivy and Joker about Ivy's plan to replace all of the primarily male trees in Gotham with female trees. When asked for comment on this, the Joker was for it, citing the benefits female trees have of producing fruit, but was disappointed not to be kept in the loop of Ivy's evil twist in her plan. Harley tries to grab Ivy's attention from the crowd but is stopped by Nora, who claims Ivy isn't seeing any visitors. Even so, Harley reminds her that she convinced her not to get an embarrassing neck tattoo, but Nora claims her name isn't on "the list", which was a Mama Macaroni's menu. Inspired by the comeback item on the menu, Harley calls out to Ivy and asks if she wants to try it, and Ivy signals yes. Elated by this, Harley blows a kiss toward Ivy, but Nightwing stops it midway and rebukes her for blowing a kiss to a villain. As Nightwing questions Harley why she's at a LOD event, Batgirl and Robin appear. Harley gives a long-winded excuse and reveals her self-made Bat costume, which Nightwing claims she needs to earn her own costume and not buy one from a Halloween store. However, Harley corrects him, stating it was from a sex shop. Batgirl steps in and blames themselves for not properly training Harley.

At first, Harley was excited to go through training and listed plausible exercises, but she was deeply disappointed to learn she'd be Alfred's assistant. Batgirl argued it was best for her to reshape her bat instincts and learn everything from the ground up. After Batgirl notes her excitement for Harley, the Bat Family leaves to stop Rainbow Raider from robbing the Gotham Candy Expo. Praising the event as awesome, Harley clarifies that it was awesome to stop realizing that Alfred didn't seem happy with her remark. That aside, Alfred assures her that they'll be having plenty of excitement; he proceeds to open a weapons locker, and behind it is a cubby hole housing Earl Grey tea. Taking the tea tray, Alfred tells Harley they'll be learning how to properly steep Earl Grey tea. Disgusted by this, Harley refuses to learn anything from the saggy old butler and smacks the tea tray contents into the air, and Alfred perfectly catches back on the tray.

At the LOD, Ivy tells Nora that the handle on the pasta machine has broken, so she wants her to contact the company to have it fixed. Nora tries to brush off the task, but Ivy insists. Nora concedes, but soon delegates the task to Bane, who, after unsuccessfully hitting on Nora, is tasked with repairing the broken pasta machine.

In the LOD meeting room, Ivy reveals to several LOD members, including King Shark and Frank the Plant, the evil twist to her Operation Lady Trees. Ivy elaborates using a slideshow that Wayne Pharmaceuticals has been destroying baby plants for their medications, and now they're going to "destroy them." She further explains that in the 1930s, only male trees were planted because female trees were bad for business, but Ivy states that male trees spread allergenic pollen. Hence, by removing all of the male trees, they'll destroy the allergenic medicine market, thereby bankrupting Wayne Pharmaceuticals. Firefly chimes in, suggesting they rain fire down upon them with a bomb. The suggestion makes Ivy have Firefly switch seats with Volcana, and the young lady gleefully thanked Ivy. However, after taking her seat, Volcana noted how bright it was there and vomited fire, which she hastily tried to dose out. Switching her attention to Nora and asked her about the tree removal permits, Nora informs Ivy that the mayor won't approve them, citing his hatred for her. Ivy curses the revelation, and Volcana volunteers to kill the Joker.

A delivery man arrives and hands Ivy a dollhouse with a glass ceiling and instructions to break the ceiling with the hammer provided. Ivy does this and reads the letter inside from the Evil Women in Business Collective, which invited her to the monthly luncheon that afternoon. Frank is happy for Ivy, but Ivy doesn't share the sentiment as she is anti-networking. Frank insists that she does, and Ivy concedes, thereby ending the meeting. Before everyone can leave, Shark introduces himself as the new Head of IT and tries to talk about Tabitha and his soon-to-be-born nine babies. However, everyone leaves on him as Shark alludes to asking for help with a baby shower, and nobody, but Nora agrees to help.

Back at the Bat Cave, Harley wipes down the Batmobile, and its protective window armor activates, to Harley's dismay. Alfred approaches Harley and gives her some wiping advice, causing her to snap and toss her spray bottle onto the Batmobile, triggering its auto-pilot function. The car then crashes into a wall, and Harley vents her frustrations to Alfred about how her motives for joining the Bat Family. Batgirl then approaches Alfred and asks if he's ready, which Harley interprets as some excitement to be had; however, Batgirl was talking about the baterangs. Scoffing, Harley demands that Alfred sign her time card, but Alfred refuses.

At the luncheon, Veronica Cale introduces herself as the Social Chair of the EWBC and has everyone do a brief round of applause for themselves. Cale then introduces the newest members of the organization: Livewire, Meg Whitman, and Ivy. From the ceiling, Talia al Ghul appears, and Cale introduces Talia and notes that she's missed their luncheons for the past ten years. It also included missing her wedding as she took care of business in the Middle East. Talia clarified she was overthrowing foreign governments, earning her a round of applause from her peers. She then informs everyone of the samples of Lazarus inside their tote bags and tells them to use her business card to contact her.

After the food is served, Cale chats with Ivy about her crushing it at LOD, but Ivy responds modestly and details that she'll have to kill the mayor, noting he's a thorn in her side. Cale laughed at the "plant humor", and Talia noted how futile it is to kill a low-level politician and suggested manipulating Joker to make him bend to her will. A waiter then asks if Cale wants more Rose drinks, and she lashes out and demands that the waiter pour more on her. Although Ivy suggests another type of wine, Talia corrects her and gets a ping from her phone notifying her of the real reason she returned to Gotham City. Before taking her leave, Talia gives Ivy her real number and allows her to contact her whenever.

As Harley and Alfred polish off the giant penny in the Batcave, Talia arrives at Wayne Manor. From the security camera, Talia demands that Alfred let her in. Leaping to the ground, Harley asks who the lady at the door is, and Alfred tells her it's Talia al Ghul.

Later, inside the living room, Talia informs the Bat Family that Bruce appointed her conservator of Wayne Enterprises in the past. Since Bruce is in Blackgate Penitentiary and the company stocks have plummeted, she's there to fix things, and Harley then compliments the smell coming from Talia. Continuing her elaboration, Talia announces that because of Bruce's spending habits, all of their Bat ventures will go through her and cites that they'll be financial cuts. Despite Nightwing intervening, claiming he has everything under control, Talia still claims that she does, and they can consider her their new Bat Daddy. Harley chimes in and introduces herself to Talia, and asks if she can approve people to active Bat duty, but the Bat Family answers no. The answer makes Harley lash out, and Batgirl explains she has much to learn. With that, Harley leaves, and Alfred asks if Talia will be taking care of her son. Talia said yes and is surprised to see he was not a baby boy anymore.

That evening, Ivy attends a basketball game with Joker, who claims that Benicio will be so jealous that he got to sit in the LOD box. Joker then talks about Benicio, and Ivy plays along with the conversation and segues it to the tree permits. Surprisingly, Joker agrees to it after he learns they'll replace the trees on Wednesday.

Talia attends a presentation about a new Wayne Shipping slogan, but she is interrupted by a phone call from Ivy, who informs her how she got Joker to agree to the permits. They then have a heart-to-heart about the luncheon and the invitation. After Talia finishes the conversation with Ivy, she kills two of the presentations and asks the remaining one to clean up the mess.

At the Wayne Manor's kitchen, Harley is confronted by Alfred, who stops her from leaving to fight crime. Despite Harley trying to attack Alfred, he easily defends himself against her. All the while, he explains his understanding of why Bruce chose her to join the family, but the other members can't handle her impulsivity. Sweeping the floor, Alfred makes Harley sit at the table and states she needs to make them see that she can do things their way. Alfred tells her she needs to be a "bitch", and not in the crude sense, but the anagram of: Breathe, identify the problem, tea break, consider your options, and handle it. To his confession, Alfred uses it to decide whether or not to give a long goodbye to any of Bruce's unwanted paramours. However, Harley recalls Alfred's opinion of cheaters, but Alfred notes that Talia is on the verge of firing him, and his purpose is lost now that Bruce is in jail. Even so, Alfred is confident he'll manage.

Sitting in her office as Frank snores on the nearby couch, Ivy is joined by Harley, who asks if she's ready for their date night and smells two vegan hot dogs and fries from Ivy. Embarrassed, Ivy admits she had to attend a basketball game to convince Joker to agree to her permit plan, all thanks to a new "business friend" she made. Happy for Ivy, Harley hugs her, but Ivy catches a whiff of a brisket burrito from Harley and admits it. She says that Talia from Wayne Enterprises brought them for the family. The revelation shocks Ivy, who notes the conflict of interest in their situation. Ivy has Harley return home so she can finish up there, and Harley does.

Taking a deep breath at her desk, Ivy asks Frank what she can do. Frank lambasts her for waking him up amid REM and then asks about what exactly. Examining the Lazarus sample Talia gave her, she realizes that it's derived from young ginseng. The realization makes Ivy tell Frank she's all good, but Frank is still upset at her for waking him up for nothing and is then surprised to hear Bane humming outside.

Bane was setting up for Shark's baby shower and waited in line for the pasta company that manufactured the broken pasta machine. He also greeted Nora, who barely acknowledged him.

At More-4-Lex, Talia asks the clerk for some pacifier advice and receives a phone call about Ivy's plan.

Shark's baby shower is held at the LOD, and Bane congratulates Shark, who praises it. Bane then directs his attention to Nora and asks what she thinks of the person who planned and set it all up. However, Bane realizes his phone is low on power and needs to be recharged, or he'll lose contact with the pasta company he was on hold with. Hence, Bane leaves to charge his phone outside as Captain Cold hits on Nora, and when Bane catches this, he curses his warm blood and decides to visit Italy to handle the situation there.

From her office, Talia visits Ivy and confronts her about being "backstabbed" by her. Ivy apologizes, but backtracks it after looking at Talia's tote bag. Talia claims that Ivy tanked her company, but despite being furious, she sees it as an opportunity for innovation purposes and gives her a tote bag.

Driving the Batmobile, Harley laments about taking Nightwings' boots to be reheeled while Alfred sits on the passenger side. The two go on a wicked driving spree and then a shopping spree, which ends at Gotham Bank. There, Alfred goes inside to put a gun inside a storage box, and while he's gone, Harley witnesses a couple of men robbing a bank wearing similar clothing to her and Alfred's. Reflecting on the situation as a bitch, Harley realizes what Alfred is doing and, amid this, contacts the Batfamily, who arrive after she captures Alfred. This allowed the Bat Family to accept Harley into the crew formally. Batgirl then presents Harley with her own personal outfit.

Alfred is then led out of the bank and later transported in a police van, believing he's being sent to Blackgate. However, he soon discovers from Zsasz that he's being sent to Arkham Asylum as Blackgate is for people with stock portfolios.

Cast and Characters[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Cast[]

Ron Funches as King Shark
JB Smoove as Frank the Plant
James Adomian as Bane, Talkative Teddy Tilapia
Tisha Campbell as Tawny Young
Rachel Dratch as Nora Freeze
Aline Elasmar as Talia al Ghul, Livewire
Ben Levin as Captain Cold
Brad Morris as Businessman, Prisoner
Edi Patterson as Veronica Cale
Zeno Robinson as Deliveryman, Dock worker
Jeannie Tirado as Volcana
Alan Tudyk as The Joker, Firefly
James Wolk as Arkham guard

Cameos[]

Trivia[]

Following in the season 3 premiere's footsteps, this episode was released at the same time as the first and third episode of the season.
This episode confirms that Robin is still only 12-years-old, just as he was in his debut in "Finding Mr. Right" which was released almost 4 years prior, implying that characters does not age on this show or that time moves much more slowly.
The picture of Batman and Talia kissing is a homage to a classic panel from 1972's Batman #244.
Victor Zsasz is credited simply as "prisoner" in this episode despite appearing under his full name in "There's No Place to Go But Down".

Gallery[]

Video[]

Be a B.I.T.C.H. - Harley Quinn Season 4