Three Minutes To Midnight



Three Minutes To Midnight is the sixteenth episode of the first season of The Joker Blogs. It was first uploaded on Youtube on March 28, 2010.

Plot Summary
At the start of the video, there are 4 minutes and 18 seconds of missing footage before the camera begins recording again. Ted captures the Joker running out of the church towards the car. The Joker now has a gunshot wound on his left arm and as he rolls himself into the front passenger seat, he tells Pearl to step on it. During the ride, the Joker bleeds through his dress shirt. Ted asks if he needs help, stating he used to be a medic. Hearing the loud blaring of nearby police sirens pass by, the Joker shushes his companions and loads his gun. Pearl becomes frightened and begins crying, to which an exasperated Joker asks her what's wrong now. Jeremiah tells him to leave her alone, but Ted shuts him up by intimidating him with the garden shears.

The Joker offers to cheer up Pearl with a bedtime story. Pearl accuses him of being a big bully. During this, Ted gets out of his back car seat and moves to the left side of the vehicle, allowing him to continue filming the Joker and Pearl at a different angle. The Joker decides to give her a lesson about bullies starting with how he got his scars. He starts off by saying that when he was a kid, he loved going fishing at camp but he never could get those little worms on the hook. The Joker flicks open his switchblade, further horrifying an already petrified Pearl, before getting to the sad part of the tale where bullies took him to the end of the dock, stuck hooks in his mouth, and pushed him out into the water only to reel him back in. As payback, he burned down their cabin while they slept so he never did have problems with those worms again. The Joker prepares to do the same to Pearl by carving a smile into her mouth with his switchblade, but a binding light pointing on him stops him.

A few feet away, a car from the Gotham City Police Department is seen. A police officer standing outside the vehicle announces on the megaphone that they have the area surrounded and they request that he stand down now. As the Joker prepares his shotgun, Jeremiah throws himself out of the car and shouts he is not an accomplice before running off. The Joker knocks out Pearl with the butt of the shotgun before pushing ammo into it, casually murmuring the first few lines of the hokey-pokey ("And you do the hokey-pokey and you turn yourself about") before firing several shots at the police officer. The officer drops to the ground, and the Joker hops out of the car to continue the assault with many more rounds. The Joker stops to ask Ted if he got all that on camera but is then forced to duck and seek cover as police reinforcements fire back at him. He then reinstates Ted's gun privileges by handing him a gun. An officer in another vehicle is heard telling them to get their asses on the ground, however, Ted squeezes the gun and shoots the man dead. The Joker takes out a third officer and he and Ted let loose a few more shots before going down a winding staircase. Halfway down, the Joker kills an officer who was taking aim at him from the upper railing. On ground level below the staircase, a police car screeches to a stop, but the Joker and Ted take out the officer in an instant. After getting to the bottom, they flee in the now unoccupied police car.

As the Joker is driving, Ted films to show they are able to pass by a police vehicle without getting caught. The police scanner reports that the area is on lockdown and that 6 officers were killed after shots were fired. The report requests that all nearby units respond, to which the Joker replies, "This is 4479-er on route to pick up an escaped convict." Later, the Joker sighs about how hard it is working in Gotham as it means not only worrying about the usual suspects but also the lunatics running around. With faux surprise, he points out there is one now. The Joker slows the car in an underpass as Jeremiah is seen running towards the car out of the mistaken belief he is safe. Jeremiah realizes his error only after stopping at the hood of the car and seeing who the driver is. The Joker grabs him and forces him into the back seat.

More police cars are seen lining the streets as the Joker continues driving. Eventually he makes it back to the Jeremiah's neighborhood, with Jeremiah telling him to go faster since it's three minutes to midnight. Jeremiah panics when he sees the Joker didn't take the left to his house. The Joker stops the car and pulls Jeremiah out, reminding him that he is supposed to do everything he asked to ensure his wife's safety. The Joker asks if he cares more about his wife than the asylum. Jeremiah agrees he does. The Joker hands him a phone and orders him to sell it. Jeremiah obeys, and afterward, the Joker speaks into the phone, stating he got Jeremiah to sign the papers and will get someone (Ted) to deliver them. After hanging up, the Joker innocuously remarks that since Jeremiah has done everything he asked, they get to watch the fireworks now. There is a sudden explosion of red, signaling the dynamite has gone off. Ted points the camera at the sky, which shows a firework in the shape of a happy face with a red smile. Jeremiah screams in anguish before attempting to attack the Joker, who punches him in the gut to knock him out.

Taking out the phone again, the Joker slumps down to sit against the side of the car as he calls 911. He tells them there is no emergency but he can make it an emergency. The operator asks for his name. He insists his name is not important and he's simply in need of a ride. The operator asks if he needs am ambulance, and the Joker says that would be great especially if they turn on the sirens. The operator warns that she will hang up if it's not an emergency, but the Joker says he's done since it has been a long day and he wants to go home. He suggests they come and pick him up. The operator tells him they need a name and address, however, the Joker states they'll know where to find him. He hangs up after this and hands the papers to Ted for him to deliver. Ted is surprised since the Joker isn't killing him. The Joker suggests he might next time. He also gives Ted a tape filmed at the wedding and requests that he get it online so lots of people can see it. Ted is unsure how he will do that since he has no access to a computer, but the Joker is sure he will find a way. The Joker takes the camera from Ted while Ted leaves with the papers and tape in hand. He then sets the camera on the ground in front of himself and the still unconscious Jeremiah. The Joker loosens his tie and chuckles as the fireworks continue to go off in the background. His laughing soon reaches a fever pitch, in contrast to the growing loudness of wailing sirens as the police close in. The camera cuts to static.

Characters

 * Scott McClure as Joker
 * Steven Molony as Dr. Jeremiah Arkham
 * Joy Dolo as Pearl
 * Andrew DeVary as Ted

Production Notes

 * The Joker identifies himself as "4479-er" on the police scanner. This is in reference to his patient number at Arkham Asylum (Patient 4479).

Event Chronology

 * The events of "Three Minutes To Midnight" occur after "Shotgun Wedding" and before "Two Cops, A Clown & A Police Department".

Episode Connections

 * The events inside the church are seen in "Shotgun Wedding". The assailant who shot the Joker is also made known in the same episode.
 * Ted joined the Joker's group in "Get Me To The Church On Time". In the same episode, the Joker removed Ted's gun privileges.
 * In "Dinner With The Arkhams", Jeremiah agreed to do whatever the Joker asked him to in order to protect his wife.
 * The person who buys Arkham Asylum is revealed in "Home Sweet Home". However, the identity of the buyer was also hinted at in the Future Evidence episode, "He Can't Because He's Dead".
 * The 911 call that the Joker made was also included in the addendum video, "911 Emergency Call".
 * Ted's reasons for being suicidal were made known in "Get Me To The Church On Time".
 * The Joker got the wedding tape footage in "Shotgun Wedding".

Multimedia Connections

 * The Joker's method of menacing a victim with a story about how he got his scars, along with the threat of disfiguring the victim with a switchblade, is a direct reference to Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight.