Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for ‘Harley Quinn’ Season 5.Harley Quinn Season 5 may be off to a hilarious start in Metropolis, but this week’s episode, “Back to School,” proves a new city doesn’t automatically put an end to old pains. After previously exploring Ivy’s (Lake Bell) backstory in Arkham Asylum with Harley (Kaley Cuoco), the latest installment in the hit DC series revisits the incident that created the eco-friendly supervillain when Ivy visits Lena Luthor’s (Aisha Taylor) Green Initiative. Taken by surprise when she’s introduced to her partner in the project, Dr. Jason Woodrue (John Slattery), a series of flashbacks subsequently explores the pair’s history, and the episode gradually unveils a backstory for Ivy that is even more heartbreaking than it previously seemed.
‘Harley Quinn’ Season 5, Episode 2 Showcases the Tragedy of Ivy’s Transformation
The origins of Poison Ivy are nothing new to DC’s long history of animation. Between Batman: The Animated Series‘ portrayal of Pamela Isley (Diane Pershing) as a botany lecturer at Gotham University and the younger take on the character in 2004’s The Batman, fans have been treated to unique variations of Ivy’s beginnings already. But this week’s episode of Harley Quinn offers a compelling update to familiar circumstances. Taking inspiration from the Post-Crisis storyline from DC Comics, “Back to School” reveals Ivy and Dr. Woodrue were once involved in a relationship while she was still his student, with the then-Pamela Isley regularly challenging her professor’s perspective while simultaneously being flattered by him in private.
The pair’s relationship soon takes a dark turn, however, when Pamela reveals an early, experimental version of Frank the Plant (JB Smoove) after a late-night tryst at their university lab. Baffled by the ingenuity of Pamela’s creation, Dr. Woodrue immediately intends to take credit for the plant-human hybrid in order to secure additional grant funding and further his career. When Pamela refuses to hand over her living work, Dr. Woodrue threatens to use his influence to bury her objections and locks Pamela inside the lab after their brief struggle releases a cloud of toxins. While Frank is immune to the effects, this trap forces Pamela to inject herself with the same serum that created him and turns Ivy into the meta-human we see throughout Harley Quinn.
During their confrontation back in the present, Ivy subsequently explains that not even her survival provided her with justice, as Dr. Woodrue ultimately used his influence to spin Ivy’s transformation into a classic supervillain origin story, an experiment gone wrong as a result of her own incompetence rather than the act of attempted murder it was. These developments drastically recontextualize Ivy’s place in the series, combining her relationship with Dr. Woodrue from the comics and the character’s longtime brilliance to turn her into the victim of a man who cared more about money than her worth as a human being. Since Dr. Woodrue took advantage of Ivy’s trust to exploit her research, this updated origin likewise explains Ivy’s cynicism about humanity prior to meeting Harley. However, her actions toward the episode’s end also set up plenty of problems in the couple’s future.
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Poison Ivy’s Revenge in ‘Harley Quinn’ Season 5 Sets Up the Emergence of an Even Worse Villain
The most empowering moment of Ivy’s reunion with her (literally) toxic professor is when she asserts the life she was able to build for herself in spite of his manipulations, though this life still doesn’t stop Ivy from seeking revenge. After luring Dr. Woodrue back to their old lab by implying they can pick up where things left off, Ivy decides to execute her former tormentor with a fresh batch of poetic irony, trapping him inside with a new round of toxins meant to kill him in the same way he attempted to kill her. This plan immediately backfires, however, as the final shot of the episode reveals Dr. Woodrue not only survived but mutated as well, with the image of his grotesque hand setting up his return to the series as the Floronic Man in Harley Quinn Season 5.
Fans of the comics, Batman & Robin, or even the short-lived Swamp Thing TV series, likely clocked the character’s potential as soon as he appeared, but the fact that the Floronic Man’s own origins are being established in Harley Quinn Season 5 seriously alters the narrative trajectory of the series. Not only does this villain’s presence hint at a more personal storyline for Ivy after Harley Quinn Season 4 largely explored the character’s professional life, but the resurrection of the man who exploited his privilege to constantly gaslight, objectify, and dismiss Ivy means her vengeance won’t buy her peace for long. In fact, with Brainiac (Stephen Fry) already teased at the end of Season 5, Episode 1, the Floronic Man’s introduction just means there’s one more villain ready to destroy Harley and Ivy’s new taste of the high life.
Harley Quinn Season 5 is available to stream on Max in the U.S.
Harley Quinn
- Release Date
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November 29, 2019
- Network
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DC Universe, HBO Max, Max
- Showrunner
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Dean Lorey, Chrissy Pietrosh, Jessica Goldstein
- Directors
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Juan Jose Meza-Leon, Vinton Heuck, Joonki Park, Cecilia Aranovich, Ben Jones, Colin Heck, Tom De Rosier, Brandon McKinney, Frank Marino, Mike Milo, Matt Garofalo, Christina Sotta, Michael Moloney
- Writers
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Tom Hyndman, Sarah Nevada Smith, Jamiesen Borak, Ava Tramer, Connie Shin, Jess Dweck, Jane Becker, Laura Moran, Sabrina Jalees, Jordan Weiss, Jimmy Mosqueda, Rachel Pegram
