Harley Quinn season 3 episode 5 recap & review: It’s a Swamp Thing

In episode 5 of Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn spend some time with Nora Freeze while Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle explore their relationship. The episode is now streaming on HBO Max.

Recap:

Ivy tries to look for Frank by entering the Green which is the interconnected network of all plant consciousness. She’s unable to do it and that leaves her frustrated.

Harley calms her down and then brings up the fact that they made plans with Nora Freeze months ago and today was the agreed-upon date.

Nora shows up at their door like a completely unhinged party animal who doesn’t know when to stop. Ivy remembers that the only being stronger than her who can connect to the Green is Swamp Thing.

They decide to make a trip to New Orleans to find Swamp Thing with Nora making it a girl’s trip after Clayface says he’s got early call times on set and King Shark offers to stay behind and feed the cats.

Selina feels a little suffocated by Bruce’s clinginess so she tells him that she needs some space. She heads back to her apartment for some time but as soon as she settles down, Bruce shows up at her door.

She rebukes his advances and Bruce begins to spiral, making Alfred worry about his mental state.

Ivy keeps stressing out about the fact that Frank was kidnapped and Harley constantly tries to have a conversation about it and get her to open up about her feelings. Meanwhile, Nora is living at 100 mph and Ivy and Harley can barely keep up with her.

They stop at a bar where Ivy is sure to get some leads on Swamp Thing’s location and they run into John Constantine. He offers to tell them the location if they can outdrink them and Ivy agrees.

Alfred knocks Bruce out by putting something in his food and when Bruce wakes up, he finds himself on a couch with Selina who was similarly knocked out somehow. Before them is Music Meister who says they’re attending a couples counselling session they cannot get out of.

Harley and Ivy wake up at the bar after a long night of drinking with Nora calling them and telling them that she outdrank Constantine and got the location from him. They head over there as soon as they can.

They reach the swamp and are soon approached by Swamp Thing who is quite welcoming. It turns out that soon after Nora showed up she and Swamp Thing slept with each other.

Ivy asks Nora to bring up the matter of finding Frank but Nora keeps deflecting and this annoys Ivy even further.

Because it’s Music Mesiter, Bruce and Selina are forced to sing their issues out loud with Selina proclaiming that she wants to be alone, with Bruce having the exact opposite feeling. The session gives them both clarity and Selina breaks up with Bruce.

Ivy’s annoyance reaches a boiling point and tells Nora to bring up Frank with Swamp Thing again, referring to Swamp Thing as her boyfriend but she denies that label. Swamp Thing hears this and gets angry that she doesn’t feel that way even though they connected so well earlier.

He begins to throw a tantrum and alter the ecosystem around them and when Ivy calls him out for being too fragile, he replies that they stopped being friends because she was too cold and never let herself open up.

She breaks down and admits that Frank is her best friend and she cares for him deeply. She wants to find him so badly and this portrayal of emotion changes Swamp Thing’s demeanour instantly. He tells her that now she’s free of her fears, she’s strong enough to find Frank on her own.

Ivy enters the Green and locates Frank, who is in Bruce Wayne’s lab. Bruce says that he’s completely focused on work now that Selina and him are no more and he aims to find out what Ivy did to Frank.

Review

• This episode of Harley Quinn leans into Harley’s professional past and is another exploration into the duality of her character who is super smart and at the same time certifiably crazy.
• There are multiple moments of character growth throughout the episode with Ivy, Nora, Swamp Thing, Bruce, and Selina realizing something crucially important in their life.
• This is yet another addition to Matt Ryan’s portrayal of John Constantine and his name is now synonymous with the Warlock from Liverpool. His appearances are always a pleasure.
• The depiction of Music Meister as a couples counsellor allowed for an enjoyable musical sequence even if Deidrich Bader’s singing voice for Bruce isn’t as impressive as his talking voice.

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Also Read: Harley Quinn season 3 episode 4 recap & review: A Thief, A Mole, An Orgy