Arkham Bound



Arkham Bound is the second episode of the first season of The Joker Blogs. It was first uploaded on Youtube on December 14, 2008.

Plot Summary
At the start of the video, the Joker is trying on Dr. Harleen Quinzel's glasses. She asks for them back, and he briefly fogs up the glasses' lenses with his breath before handing them to her. Quinzel states on record that "the patient" (the Joker) has agreed to continue the taped therapy sessions and that she has changed his medication from Lithium to Depakote and Seroquel. The Joker leans over the desk as he rattles one of the pill bottles and says into the camera that had he known it would be this easy to get drugs, he would've gotten into Arkham a long time ago. Quinzel asks why he is talking to the camera. The Joker states he has a friend who is going to put the video on YouTube, which Quinzel doubts will happen. The Joker praises her for her lovely eyes, saying how he would love to pop them out and carry them around on a keychain. When Quinzel goes silent after hearing this, he insists he meant it as a compliment.

Quinzel comments that they are off to a bad start, which the Joker attributes to him not being a morning person. She mentions he has been in Arkham for over a month now and wants to hear what he thinks of the place so far. The Joker finds it agreeable, although there is something keeping it from feeling like home. She asks how he spends his days. He details his weekly schedule; he exercises on Mondays, Tuesdays are with her in therapy, Wednesdays are for pizza, Thursdays he hangs out with Carmine Falcone, however, he despises Fridays because someone from the District Attorney's office drops by to bother him. Quinzel identifies the person as Mr. Fields who is representing the prosecution in the case against the Joker who he wants to prove is faking insanity in order to get him sent to Blackgate Prison. The Joker laments it's too bad Harvey Dent is not around as he would've understood where he is coming from. Quinzel finds this to be convenient of him to think so.

She then asks him to explain where he is coming from and inquiries if he is faking insanity. The Joker stubbornly denies this, so she suggests he thinks he is crazy. He explains crazy people don't usually think they are and instead they believe they are getting saner, while it is the opposite for sane people. The Joker insists he cannot go to Blackgate because he wouldn't be able to handle it. Quinzel inquiries if he doesn't want to go there since he previously tried to kill all the prisoners on the ferry. He claims he was more concerned about his personal safety but that she has a good point. She proposes he does care about his own safety after all. The Joker says there is a difference between worrying about personal safety and being concerned about 15 guys manhandling him in the shower, and that a case won't be built just because he wants to avoid that. Quinzel assures him his mental health evaluation will determine that as it's why they are having these sessions. He asks for her opinion on what she thinks. Quinzel tells him she doesn't think a sane person would set fire to a fortune. The Joker clarifies that he only burnt his half of the money though he didn't think it through since his half was at the bottom.

Quinzel reveals the District Attorney's office believes he is no different from any other criminal in the city. She gives examples, like when he stole money (which he insists he only burnt), lied to people (he claims they were just white lies), and destroyed property (he casually suggests hospitals aren't a necessity). When Quinzel asks about murder, the Joker compares the bad guys' motives to his own, in that they typically kill for revenge or professional reasons while he does it because it amuses him. Quinzel theorizes he doesn't care about the outcome as long as it amuses him. The Joker affirms he does do what other criminals do except he wears clown makeup for it. Quinzel agrees but doesn't think Mr. Fields will be convinced.

The Joker asks if she has ever seen a dead body. Quinzel does not reply immediately but then says she has. He explains he doesn't mean the run-of-the-mill dead body someone sees at a funeral and he means actually watching as the spark of life dies in a person's eyes until the person is nothing but an inanimate object. He asks her again if she has seen one of those. Quinzel quietly states she has not. As the Joker pops one of his pills, he predicts if she sticks around him, she'll get her chance soon enough. He bites down on the pill, which makes a loud crunching sound. The camera goes to static.

Characters

 * Scott McClure as Joker
 * Kira Westberg as Dr. Harleen Quinzel

Production Notes

 * Dr. Quinzel says the Joker's medication has been switched from Lithium to Depakote and Seroquel. In the behind-the-scenes commentary, Scott McClure stated he consulted with a psychiatrist about the kinds of medication that the Joker would be prescribed.
 * Tic-tacs were used as faux pills that the Joker ate. The crunching sound was real and unedited.

Event Chronology

 * The events of "Arkham Bound" occur after "Therapy Begins" and before "Meet Steve".

Episode Connections

 * The "friend" who the Joker mentions as the one uploading the therapy sessions to Youtube is heard speaking off-camera towards the end of the episode "BRB", during which he was filming the Joker shortly before being shot dead by him. His identity is finally revealed in "Staff Verification" to be another Arkham Asylum patient, Mac Rodello, who also went by the nickname "The Bookworm" because of his privileges at the asylum library that allowed him access to the hospital's equipment.
 * The Joker's prediction about Harleen seeing a dead body comes true in "Meet Steve", and that she eventually sees the spark in a person die out in "Shotgun Wedding".

Multimedia Connections

 * The Joker references Carmine Falcone, the former Italian mob boss turned asylum patient who was driven insane by Dr. Jonathan Crane's fear gas to the point he can now only murmur, "Scarecrow, Scarecrow!" Falcone's downfall was seen in Batman Begins, the film that preceded The Dark Knight.
 * Dr. Quinzel and Joker both reference several events from The Dark Knight, such as when the Joker burnt a whole mountain of money, blew up a hospital, and planted explosives on two ferries.