Tamal Kundu
Developed by Justin Halpern, Patrick Schumacker, and Dean Lorey, ‘Harley Quinn‘ is an HBO Max adult-animated series that revolves around the eponymous character’s misadventure alongside her motley crew. In season 3 episode 5, titled ‘It’s a Swamp Thing,’ Harley (Kaley Cuoco) and Ivy (Lake Bell) travel to New Orleans to ask for Swam Thing’s help to find Frank the Plant, and a surprising third person tags along. Meanwhile, in Gotham, Bruce and Selina have relationship issues, and Alfred arranges for Music Meister to counsel them. Here is everything you need to know about the ending of ‘Harley Quinn’ season 3 episode 5. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Harley Quinn Season 3 Episode 5 Recap
The fifth episode of the third season begins with Ivy attempting to connect to Green so she can find Frank. The Green is an interplanetary force, the concept of which was originally developed by writer Alan Moore and illustrator Stan Woch in their Swamp Thing #47, which came out in 1986. When a living entity — human or otherwise — dies in a fire and merges with earth, they transform into plant elementals, tasked to protect plant life. These elementals later become part of the Parliament of Trees, the collective mind of the former elementals. Although the elementals don’t have conventional speech or mobility, they communicate through the aforementioned collective mind. The dimension where this mind exists is called the Green. As a plant elemental, Swamp Thing has been able to access the Green for a long time. But for Poison Ivy, it’s a relatively new trait in the comics.
After failing to connect with Green, Ivy becomes frustrated. She is further irked when she learns that she and Harley have to spend the evening with Nora Fries, the wife of the late Mister Freeze. Since she has been freed from the block of ice her husband put her in to stop the spread of her disease, Nora has been really living her life. She travels to New Orleans with Harley and Ivy so that the latter can convince Swamp Thing to help find Frank.
Meanwhile, seeing that Bruce and Selina aren’t communicating their feelings to each other, Alfred has them knocked out and delivered to Music Meister for a couple’s therapy session. Soon enough, the man and woman who prowl nighttime Gotham as Batman and Catwoman start singing about their feelings. Selina admits that she prefers to be alone, and she and Bruce break up.
In New Orleans, Ivy, Harley, and Nora encounter John Constantine (Matt Ryan reprising the role from NBC’s ‘Constantine,’ the Arrow-verse, and several animated projects), whom Nora defeats in a drinking game to learn the whereabouts of Swamp Thing. When Ivy and Harley wake up the following morning with a massive hangover, they find a map in one of the pockets of still sleeping Constantine. They follow it to the middle of the swamp and discover that Nora has not only found Swamp Thing but also slept with him. We learn that Swamp Thing’s wife, Linda, has left him.
The initial plan was for Nora to freeze Swamp Thing and force him to find Frank’s location. However, she is reluctant to do this after having sex with him. She is even reluctant to ask for his help. However, when Swamp Thing, whose real name is Alec Holland, learns that Nora doesn’t want anything serious, his pain and well-cloaked past trauma physically manifest in an explosion of power. The very weather of the swamp changes and vines come out nowhere to grab Nora and Harley. When Ivy accuses Swamp Thing of having a temper tantrum, he truly becomes infuriated. He makes Ivy realize what a horrible friend she has been to him. After Ivy recognizes her own fears and apologizes to Swamp Thing, he accepts her apology and reveals that confronting her fears was what she needed to fully access the Green.
Why Has Bruce Taken Frank the Plant?
As Ivy delves into the Green, she finds Bruce Wayne hovering over Frank. Neither she nor Harley knows Bruce Wayne is actually Batman, so they don’t have any idea why he has taken Frank. Interestingly, this episode draws a parallel between the traumas of Bruce and Swamp Thing by placing their stories side by side. We even see Bruce trying to pretend that a pair of cats are his parents so Selina will return to the Wayne mansion. Predictably, she doesn’t. Seeing his foster son miserable, Alfred arranges the entire thing with Music Meister.
Although Bruce doesn’t know anything yet about the Iden serum and Ivy’s plans of terraforming Gotham, he is on the right track as he has already figured out that it involves Frank. That is why he abducted the mutated plant. In New Orleans, Harley recognizes Swamp Thing’s trauma, though she doesn’t doesn’t necessarily help him with it. However, this will probably come up when she inevitably learns about the trauma that Bruce carries and becomes the savior Gotham’s greatest guardian needs.
Read More: Does Doctor Psycho Appear in Harley Quinn Season 3? Who Voices Him?
