Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for Season 3 of Harley Quinn.We all know the story. Crime Alley, pearls clattering to the ground, a young Bruce helpless to save his parents from a petty thug with a gun. It’s a crucial part of Batman’s character, and it’s something that is revisited one way or another in every iteration the Caped Crusader appears in. This, of course, includes the Harley Quinn series as its latest episode, "Batman Begins Forever," dives deep into Bruce Wayne’s wounded psyche.

Desperate to get Poison Ivy’s (Lake Bell) sentient plant/best friend Frank (J.B. Smoove) back from Bruce Wayne (Diedrich Bader), who kidnapped (plantnapped?) him for research, Harley (Kaley Cuoco) takes drastic measures to get answers out of Gotham’s most eligible. Having kidnapped and tied up Bruce, Harley and Ivy are unsuccessful in getting anything out of Bruce until they regretfully enlist the help of new Arkham Asylum resident Dr. Psycho (Tony Hale), who possesses the ability to enter people’s minds. Psycho is immediately wary of entering Bruce’s mind, and for understandable reason, but agrees on the condition that Harley guests on the podcast he started while at Arkham Asylum.

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Inside Bruce Wayne's Memories

Once inside Bruce’s head, it’s very clear that something is wrong. Landing into a red-skyed Gotham that looks straight out of Batman: The Animated Series, Harley and company find themselves as spectators of the night Thomas and Martha Wayne are murdered. Not just once do they watch the Waynes enter an alley they’ll never return from, but again and again, as Joe Chill stalks the Waynes into the alleyway, points his gun, and shoots. From every possible angle, the same memory transpires on a loop. Dr. Psycho describes the phenomenon as a "Reverse Repressed Memory," meaning Bruce has blocked out every memory except for the night of his parents’ murder.

While the tragic origins have been explored and retold a thousand times over, Harley Quinn does something unique as the show ventures past the basic retelling and explores both the immediate and future ramifications of the event. And since this particular adaptation is set in Bruce’s mind, the possibilities are infinite, something Harley realizes as she decides to intervene. She grabs hold of Bruce and shields his eyes from the traumatic scene. Whisking Bruce off the ground, Harley tries to get to a safe place to talk with him. While her main objective is still to find Frank, she is genuinely concerned about the boy.

RELATED: Why HBO Max's Animated 'Harley Quinn' Is the Best Version So Far

The Origins of the Batman

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They have to move quickly as several Joe Chills set after them, but they don’t get far before they fall into a cave. Bruce refers to it as "The Darkness," and it is very reminiscent of the well that a young Bruce falls into in both Batman Begins and Batman vs. Superman. This well provides Bruce his first encounter with bats, an experience that haunts him throughout his life. But it is this trauma that inspires his alter ego. Bruce decides to embrace the bat and become what he fears to strike the same terror he felt into the hearts of wrongdoers.

The cave houses several windows into Bruce’s mind, so while Harley may be stuck with an 8-year-old version of Bruce, the memories depict his journey from the Waynes’ murder to present day. Snatching scenes from Batman Begins, the memories Harley sees include Alfred (Tom Hollander) giving the iconic, “Why do we fall?” speech, Bruce training with the League of Shadows, and his defining decision to become not a man, but an incorruptible symbol. While these moments are satirized, as the show still remains a comedy above all else, their mere inclusion provides Harley with enough pieces of the puzzle to connect Bruce to Batman. After informing Bruce that he has a serious savior complex, she realizes she’s been comforting a young Batman this whole time.

Suddenly, Bruce is no longer some rich snob who kidnapped Frank, and he certainly isn’t a random orphan either. Harley’s world is flipped upside down as she watches another memory, this time of Bruce putting on the batsuit, assumedly for the first time, complete with long, pointy ears and purple gloves, a tribute to his 1939 comic debut look. The whole dynamic has changed now, and it must be a shock to the psychiatrist in Harley as she views Bruce and Batman through new eyes. Surely she is analyzing every bit of Bruce’s trauma and how it formed The Dark Knight she has fought against so many times before. Though he is in the form of a scared 8-year-old boy, Harley is shepherding the very person that has put her in Arkham more times than she could count through his own psyche.

"A Couple of Weird Years"

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As they pass more memories in the mind cave, Batman references abound, from Adam West’s bomb-toting Batman to Michael Keaton in Batman Returns, warding off penguin robots, Bruce admits that he has “had a couple of weird years.”

Still tracking them, Joe Chill emerges from the depths of the cave, frightening Bruce so much that he leaps into one of his memories. Jumping in with him, Harley winds up taking Robin’s part in the memory, tied to a comically large cannon belonging to none other than The Joker (Alan Tudyk), and falling in right alongside him, Harley Quinn. Present Harley meeting past, Joker-doting Harley provides Quinn her own moment of self-reflection, but more importantly, it means that they have entered into a recent memory of Bruce’s, meaning he is in full Batman form now.

However, before Batman and Harley Robin have a chance to stop Joker and Harley, the two clowns are shot in the head by Joe Chill, the unstoppable and immortal entity that plagues Bruce’s psyche. As Harley looks over to Batman, she no longer sees The Caped Crusader, but 8-year-old Bruce once more, utterly terrified and covered in a very loose batsuit. After getting Bruce’s consent to be his therapist, Harley instructs him to think of a happy memory, before the tragedy. They are able to escape, but it is clear they will have to face Chill sooner than later.

A 'Chill' Confrontation

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What the scene encapsulates is something that couldn’t ever be transcribed in any ordinary story. It wouldn’t make sense for Batman to revert back to a scared 8-year-old boy when faced with terror or trauma in the real world, but one has to imagine he has felt this way before. You’d never know it through his massive, shadowy presence as Batman but as we see in the episode Bruce can’t hide the trauma from himself. While we may watch Batman in all his might go up against a formidable foe, Bruce may envision himself as the scared orphan he once was.

Eventually, Bruce and Harley have to confront Chill. Harley attempts to protect the boy, and at the same time goads the thug, saying he’s too afraid to even show his face. At which point, Chill removes his ski mask to reveal that it isn’t Joe Chill at all, it’s Bruce.

So, again… it’s all in Bruce’s psyche and the "anything is possible" rule still applies, but it is a pretty confusing plot twist. Essentially, Bruce feels responsible for his parents' murder. Dragging his father away from an important meeting to see a movie and then insisting on the three of them walking home when they could have taken the limo. The way Bruce sees it, the entire travesty was preventable, and he let it happen. Ever since, Bruce vowed to become Batman and do everything in his power to “make that one night right.” However, despite all his efforts in Gotham, he is never able to completely fulfill his promise. Because of this mentality and the “bat-shaped cross” he has to bear, Bruce never wants to forget and has created a Joe Chill figure in his mind to ensure he always remembers why he does what he does.

At this point, Joe Chill has transcended beyond the petty thug that shot his parents down, Chill isn’t even a name anymore but a call to action. As long as the Chill in his own mind is hunting and killing his parents, he must continue his mission as Batman. And in order to continue the cycle, Chill Bruce insists that young Bruce goes back with him to continue reliving the memory exclaiming, “Come on, champ. Let’s go watch our parents die. It’s what we deserve.” Sure, it’s morbid and a strikingly blunt tonal shift, but the beauty of Harley Quinn is that it can go there, and the scene still works without feeling awkward or cringey. It might elicit a chuckle, but the line isn’t added solely to get a laugh. Despite Chill Bruce’s misplaced upbeat tone, there are tinges of remorse and melancholy to be gleaned from it. In his mind, Bruce truly believes he deserves to relive the most traumatic memory of his life, the loss of his parents. If that isn’t poignant, what is?

As well as providing a great study of the trauma that fuels Batman’s crusades, the episode also reminds us of just how intelligent Harley is. Formerly a psychiatrist, Harley may have drastically changed career paths, but she still retains her knowledge, which she aptly uses throughout the series. She spends the entirety of her time with Bruce empathizing and coaching him on how to handle his fear, even after she realizes he’s Batman. Harley has had quite the transformation over the past three seasons, leaving behind The Joker and eventually finding a healthy, loving companion in Ivy, she is proving to have quite the heart, even if she’s still a bit erratic. As young Bruce leaves Harley to relive his trauma, he tells her to keep his identity a secret. Harley agrees, stating they have “doctor-patient confidentiality” and further promising by locking her lips.

Back to Reality

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Image via HBO Max 

Back in reality, Harley wakes in Wayne Manor to find herself tied up next to Ivy and the gang. Bruce awakes too, looking absolutely battered, both physically and mentally. Harley makes a final plea to Bruce’s pathos, stating he can’t undo his trauma, but just like she promised that little boy, she is willing to help him work through it, no matter how daunting. Bruce, untrusting as usual, brushes off Harley’s good intentions to carry out what he stole Frank for in the first place. As Harley explains to a confused Ivy, Bruce intends to use Frank’s resurrection powers to bring back his parents from the grave.

Initially, it sounds crazy and maybe even a bit out of character for Batman to do something so insane but Harley Quinn’s version of Bruce is in a specific state of grief. With Selina breaking up with him and now everything he went through in this episode, his desperation is believable — and understandable. Call it corny or cliché, but as Bruce kneels over his parents’ grave, green ooze from Frank seeping into the ground, you can’t help but feel chills (no pun intended) as two skeletal hands, silhouetted across their respective headstone rise from below.