In the previous episode of Harley Quinn Harley and Poison Ivy were celebrating killing Jason Woodrue (the short-lived Floronic Man). Before they can properly dance on his wooden corpse, they’re captured by Vril Dox (Brainiac). As the episode ends, Koko (his alien monkey) says something the audience doesn’t understand.
The recent episode, season 5, episode 4 "Breaking Brainiac", explains that Koko says he and Brainiac hadn’t encountered anything like them. However, Koko didn’t say anything at all because he’d been dead so long that he’d become a pile of bones next to Vril’s seat. Vril is imagining his monkey sidekick. Considering it's the last reminder of his dead family and planet, it's understandable Brainiac would be a bit off.
Before Vril can kill Harley, Lena Luthor walks in. She calls him Brainiac (she gave him the name and he despises it) and reminds him of their deal. She doesn’t tell the people of Earth what he’s been up to and he gets to continue with his plan to take Metropolis. In return, Lena gets whatever she wants. In this instance, she gets Harley and Poison Ivy. Vril begrudgingly agrees, wipes Harley and Ivy’s memories of their trip on the ship, and sends them back to Metropolis.
Oh great. Another f*cking creep to add to the list 🙄 Gonna deal with this guy on a brand new episode, now streaming on @streamonmax. #HarleyQuinn pic.twitter.com/lXCR2w1ugq
— Harley Quinn (@dcharleyquinn) February 6, 2025
When we see our heroes next, Ivy is completely unaware of what happened. Meanwhile, Harley knows something is up. She says it’s like scrolling through Waynestagram so long you’ve blacked out and you don’t know how much time has passed. And while it seems like nothing will come out of it, the episode ends proving that Harley remembers something... but it’s just out of reach. The last thing we see is Harley making Brainiac’s face with the vegetables on her plate.
This was a brilliant episode and a great way to lead into the middle of the season. We see that Brainiac isn’t working alone, that you never trust a Luthor, and Harley’s so chaotic that even Vril’s 12th-level intellect can’t calculate it. It explains why Harley has been able to trick omega-level beings or defeat them with a baseball bat. Plus, the creative team on this show proved they can make anyone in DC Comics a parody of themselves without taking away too much of their integrity.
Brainiac seeing Koko alive is illogical and not something we’d see in the comics. However, it makes sense on this show. It adds a flaw to the villain that will allow Harley to get the upper hand in the end. Stay tuned to Bam Smack Pow to find out what she does to defeat someone way above her power level.
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