Il Buffone

"Il Buffone" is the eighth episode of the fourth season of Harley Quinn, and the forty-fifth episode overall. It was released on August 31, 2023, on Max.

Synopsis[]

Bane seeks the solutions to his problems in Italy. Nora defends the LOD from Lex's assault -- on a long weekend, no less.

Plot[]

Harley and Ivy exit the Time Sphere, and Ivy comments that they were gone for a few days, and the Synderverse people took over.

Approaching Nora, who was vandalizing a car with a beach umbrella, she gleefully greets Ivy and then tepidly greets Harley. Bane was in the background, holding spaghetti in his hands, dancing around a fire hydrant, and singing in Italian. Ivy asks what is happening and, to her surprise, learns that the apocalypse is already happening. Although Harley says they can go back in time to another week, the plan is foiled thanks to someone destroying it with a Molotov cocktail.

Six days ago, in the past, Bane rides a scooter past an olive orchard to the pasta maker world HQ. Making a grand entrance to the place, Bane vents his frustrations to the Receptionist there and, to his frustration, learns that the broken handle he was tasked with fixing was discontinued. Bane gets nowhere with the receptionist; despite telling her his heartfelt plea about trying to hook up with Nora, the receptionist flatly tells him the handle has been discontinued. In retaliation, Bane blows up the building while riding off on his scooter.

At the LOD, Nora, wearing an Ivy wig, says goodbye to an IRS agent and wishes him well on his promotion. Turning on the tv, Tawny Young reports about Lex's plan to repair the ozone layer with his machine.

On The Moon, a Scientist tells Lex, who sports even more hair on his head, that his machine is ready. Lex gleefully proclaims how he'll make history like the people he lists off and activates it, only for the ray it shoots to fizzle out before it reaches the Earth. The scientist then tells Lex that the laser range is 304 cm (10 ft approx.) too short to reach the Earth's atmosphere, which enrages Lex.

Back in Italy, Bane tries to ask an Italian man for the best pasta maker in Italy, but to Bane's dismay, the man takes a nap. Riding off and cursing the nap-taking people, a soccer hit Bane's head, knocking him off his scooter. Two boys approach Bane while picking up their soccer ball, and Bane introduces himself as "Bahn-io", but one of the boys says that Bane's name is "Toilet". After sharing a laugh with the boys, Bane asks where the best pasta maker in Italy is, and one of the boys directs them to a house on top of a high spiral-roaded mountain. While Bane's back was turned, the boys stole his scooter, but returned his luggage, forcing him to trek up the mountain on foot.

Returning to the LOD, Nora sat on Captain Cold's lap as he affectionately kissed her arm. Nora had intended to do a lewd act, told Cold, but wanted to enjoy some pasta before that.

As Nora rummages through the breakroom fridge, Lex walks by, listening to Volcana as she elaborates on her evil plan to him. Lex compliments her, saying Ivy would be proud of her, but Nora interjects, asking what Lex is doing with Volcana. He tells Nora that he's borrowing her to have Volcana activate some volcanos to raise the ozone layer up about ten feet. This raises some concerns with Nora, who suspects something is amiss with this as Lex is a nefarious business tycoon who comes in on a Sunday to recruit a lackey for some plan. Hearing this makes Volcana feel self-conscious and worries that Ivy would be upset with her. Nora asks why Volcana was even there, and she answers that she always works on the weekends. Nora tells her off. She then directs her attention to Lex, who makes up an excuse about Volcana's presence, noting The Jons, which Nora informs him that Ivy isn't working with them anymore as she blew them up. The news shocks Lex, and he is then pushed into an elevator, and Nora demands that he leave.

Elsewhere, Bane reaches the house on the mountain and knocks on the door. Getting no response, Bane enters the dark, dimly lit place, and a knife is thrown at his chest. From the darkness, an old lady wielding a kitchen knife appears and speaks in Italian to Bane, who apologizes and explains he was searching for the best pasta maker in all of Italy. The old lady then says that Bane has found her, and he rejoices.

Nora returns to the office and complains about Lex, only to learn that it was only Ivy's wig. Lex, seeing this from outside, contacts his Lexinators to break into the place as Nora and Cold are about to make out. Taking cover behind Ivy's desk, Nora finds Volcana behind there, and the Lexinators take them hostage. King Shark then arrives with a laptop in hand, asking if anyone has changed the wifi password, and seeing the Lexinators, he devours one of them, allowing Nora, Cold, and Volcana to retaliate. Shark notes his surprise that people were working on a Sunday, and Nora comments that Lex was after them, which was preventing her from getting laid. Although Nora wanted to continue their date in her car, Lex activated the LOD-reinforced metal barrier around the base, trapping them all inside.

Bane briefly enjoys some food that the old lady, or Signora, as Bane calls her until Signora tells him that he must work in the kitchen to enjoy more food.

Holding a team meeting with the group in the LOD meeting room, Nora asks Volcana if she can use her powers to cause an explosion strong enough to puncture a hole in the metal barrier. However, Volcana notes that her power involves fire, not explosions. Lex demands that Volcana be turned over to him from the intercom, while Volcana wishes Ivy was there to save them. Nora proclaims her leadership because Ivy is unavailable, and Lex notes that Nora's silence is tantamount to refusing to turn over Volcana, and she confirms it through the phone. She then has Cold take Volcana to the panic room, which Volcana notes the LOD doesn't have one. As Nora complains about working with them, Shark prepares to hack them out of there. As Cold returns to the room, Shark asks for something with Taurine in it, Cold slumps over and leaves again.

Fitted with an apron by Signora, Bane talks about his affection for Nora to her, but she disciplines him to work with his hand and not with his mouth, which Bane notes how hard she is being with him. Signora notes that it is passion and it is life. She then slaps him again and demands that he focus. Bane then prepares the flour but has trouble cracking and breaking the eggs in his snit. So, Signora asks for Nora's picture and asks him to break the eggs for her, and he successfully does it. Throughout the day, Bane prepares some pasta dough to symbolize Nora.

As Bane continued to prepare the dough, Signora attentively watched Bane's progress. Signora would give him some pep talk when cutting the noodles, but rejects many that he cuts as either too thick or jaggedly cut. Using Nora's photo as an influence, Bane assiduously cuts noodles.

Shark continues hacking into the LOD terminal, noting that it is his time to shine, while Cold massages his neck and notes how he is learning so much from watching Shark. Lamenting Cold and Shark's bonding over their tech interests, Nora finds the "Imbigulator" and intends to use it to make the building bigger and the armor pop off. However, Shark asks for a few minutes to work his magic; even so, Nora fires the gun off anyway, causing Shark's hands to grow in size, and she realizes the gun was single use only.

Bane is awoken by Signora, who offers him some pasta for breakfast and tells him not to call her Signora, but Mama Nacaroni, whose cousin operates the Mama Macaroni restaurant. She also details that their name is Nacaroni, but it was changed at Elis Island. Trying the pasta, Bane compliments its taste and learns that it was he who made it, the 2nd greatest pasta maker in all of Italy. This causes Bane to have an epiphany that for so long, he has been the prisoner/warden of his own self-doubt. He then embraces Mama and the two share a bonding moment.

In a tizzy about his enlarged hands and that his babysitter must be on triple overtime pay, Shark is told off by Nora, who Cold was groping. Lex then scorns Nora's antics and presses a button that "turns up the heat", which only turns on the heating, which Cold remarked was lame. Lex intended to turn on the poison vapor, but it still caused Shark's laptop to overheat. To help Nora overheat, Cold zaps her with his gun. The two then make out on the floor as Shark cries to be let out of there. Finally, the poison vapors work, and Nora wishes that the "'explosions" guy was there, which Cold claims were Bane, and Nora remarks that she was expected to learn everyone's names.

Packing his luggage with pasta, Bane thanked Mama for helping him, but she held him hostage, wanting him to become her pasta-making heir.

Trying to die looking like supermodels, Nora shows Cold and Shark, where the beauty products and other misc. items were held, and Cold states that's where Volcana was. Right after Cold mentions this, Volcana falls out of one of the lockers Cold put her in. Volcana, who wore a gas mask, thanks them for letting her out but scolds Cold for locking her in a locker, which Cold downplays, stating that at least she is alive. Now, with gas masks and armed with several flammable items that could create an explosion, Nora gets an idea.

Awakening after being knocked out by Mama, Bane realizes that his Venom has been replaced with olive oil. Mama then tries to put his fingers through a meat grinder; Bane tries to reason with Mama, saying that he's a semi-famous person in Gotham, which perks Mama's interest. Making a phone call to Clayface as Mama holds him at knife-point and asks him for front-row seats to his Vegas show. In exchange for this, Clayface demands that Bane head-butt Ivy on live TV, which he reluctantly agrees to.

Thanks to the team effort, Nora, Cold, Shark, and Volcana create a volcanic-like explosion strong enough to break through the barrier. Despite Lex's fury, the Moon-based scientist contacts him to inform him that the Earth's ozone layer has expanded enough for his ray gun to reach the Earth's atmosphere. On Lex's order, the scientist fires it, plunging the world into darkness.

Reclaiming his scooter from the thieving boys, Bane rides away on it as Mama reads the goodbye note left by Bane.

Exiting the LOD ruins, Nora celebrates their accomplishment and Cold comments that they may all have concussions but slept great. He then asks if they should get bagels, and Volcana remarks that they still don't know where Ivy is. They then realize the thick clouds are blocking the sun. Shark runs away in a panic, concerned about his babies, and Volcana suspects that Lex had something to do with it. Although Cold wanted some alone time with Nora, she wanted to go looting.

Jumping out of a store window with a laminator, Bane drives his scooter to her and explains that he was tasked with fixing the broken pasta handle in his endeavor to replace it. Despite his failure in his journey of self-discovery, he became a pasta maker. Sadly, Nora notes that she had pasta for lunch and wanted a beach umbrella that was on the display window next door. To appease Nora's whims, he uses his suitcase to break the window.

In the present, it was revealed that Shark threw the Molotov cocktail that destroyed the Time Sphere; he wanted break into the diaper store to steal diapers for his kids.

Tawny appears on a breaking news report about how Lex's devise, although successfully thickened the Earth's ozone layer, and made it too thick. To make matters worse, Lex has refused to comment on his actions.

Superman tries to stop a looter, but because the Sun was blocked out, he was left powerless and Ivy and Harley witness this as Ivy thinks that Lex did this to fuck with Superman. On the other hand, Harley downplays it.

Cast and Characters[]

Main Cast[]

Kaley Cuoco as Harley Quinn
Lake Bell as Poison Ivy

Guest Cast[]

James Adomian as Bane
Tisha Campbell as Tawny Young
Rachel Dratch as Nora Freeze
Giancarlo Esposito as Lex Luthor
Ron Funches as King Shark
Larissa Gallagher as Receptionist, Italian boy
Janeane Garofalo as Signora/Mama
Ben Levin as Captain Cold
Eric Morgan Stuart as Scientist
Jeannie Tirado as Volcana
James Wolk as Superman

Trivia[]

After finding the world has turned into an apocalypse, Ivy comments, "We've been gone a few days, and the Snyderverse people took over." This is a reference to the shared universe of DCEU movies directed by Zack Snyder, which is sometimes criticized for being overly dark and grim.
King Shark references the movie Die Hard when he and his co-workers use the elevator shaft to blow up the metal dome that keeps them locked in the Hall of Doom by Lex.