Recap/Review: Gotham Girls "Trick or Trick" Parts 1 & 2

Ladies, gentlemen, anonymous internet dwellers, it's time for Gotham Girls' big holiday special! A special so nice, they split it into two parts! For some odd reason. You'll see when we get there. Let's begin.

Happy Halloween! And only three months late.

This time, there's a new pre-load game. Awesome! Let's see what it is.

Screw this noise. Does anyone actually like slider puzzles?

The first part of this webisode opens with Harley and Ivy in their shared apartment.

What? You want a joke about how they're probably lesbians? No. Saying "Hey! Harley and Ivy are living together! They must be gay for each other!" is not a joke for a few reasons, the big two being...

A. They are lesbians. Or at least bisexual. Paul Dini basically confirmed it several times over the years.
B. Being gay is not a joke and the LGBT community is not a punchline.

Knowing is half the battle.

I only bring this up to pad out this Recap because of the crude animation. It honestly looks like a crappy fan-made Newgrounds animation. And because of that, a small part of my mind keeps expecting it to break out into girl-on-girl porn. Because that's what the internet is for.

But instead of crudely animated wanton sex, our couple is acting like an actual couple. They're just lounging around. Ivy is taking this opportunity to water her plants while Harley continually sighs louder and louder to hint that she's bored. Like I said, acting like an actual couple.

Harley: "It's Halloween. We should be out on the town, not veg-ing it up at home...."

Hah, puns.

Ivy says she doesn't want to go out because this is the night all the amateur costumed nuts are out. She and Harley are professional costumed nuts. Still, Harley reminisces about all those crimes that she and the Joker used to commit on Halloween, and this starts the tears a-going. To cheer her up, Ivy decides that it's time for her Halloween present. It's a life-size "Real Villain" of the Joker.

...It's a sex doll. This is a sex doll joke. And this is an official (if sucky) entry into the DC Animated Universe. This is freakin' canon.

So... a Joker sex doll.

Oh, crap, I take back what I said earlier. Maybe this is a Newgrounds animation after all? Maybe we will see crudely animated sex!

...I'm kidding, of course. 

Even though being online allowed Gotham Girls to push the envelope in a few respects, there will be no X-rated goings-on. And we won't see any shout-outs to the LGBT community beyond the usual Harley/Ivy hints, either. And if either of those things does fully appear in Gotham Girls, I'll recap and review an episode of a certain colorful pony show.

...Does anyone else hear ominous thunder? Must be my imagination.

Anyway, the gift is everything Harley ever wanted. Probably because it's a boyfriend that won't electrocute her with a joy buzzer every time she leaves toothpaste in the sink. But she didn't get Ivy anything, so she heads out to search for the perfect gift.

She heads to a Gotham storefront and sees several options in the window. A Ming vase, a moose head, SCUBA gear, and a diamond necklace. This is the interactive portion of the episode. Oh goody. The vase is a no because Ivy prefers live flowers, clicking on the moose head results in a glimpse into Harley's psyche....

Read into this what you will.

...the SCUBA gear results in a picture of Ivy wearing it, and the diamond necklace continues the plot.

Harley smashes open the window and nabs the diamond.

Harley: "Yes! This is perfect! Still gotta find something for Red, though."

Okay, I'll admit that I laughed at that.

Suddenly, Batgirl walks down a neighboring street, giving Harley an idea...

To be continued!

And now, the continuation.

Part 2 begins by showing everything in the previous part after Harley opens her gift. Because padding.

Anyway, Harley Quinn hides as Batgirl walks right past the burgled store, which should be a red flag in and of itself. After some Scooby-Doo-ish chasing in and out of doors and alleyways, Harley manages to catch up to Batgirl, who compliments her Harley Quinn outfit. Harley responds with a boxing glove to the face.

We then cut back to their hideout, as Harley presents Batgirl to Ivy all tied up with a bow over her mouth.

That sentence makes me feel like I'm watching dirty fanfic. The Joker doll isn't helping.

But Ivy's not entirely thrilled with her gift. Ivy removes Batgirl's gag, and she says "Ow!" in a very manly voice. She reaches over and rips off Batgirl's mask... And also her face. Because her face was also a mask. Underneath that Batgirl outfit is a man. And surprisingly, he won't be the only one in Batgirl drag this episode. And I must say, they both wear it well.

Harley: "Who'da thought? Batgirl? A guy?"

Way to miss the point, Harley.

He is way too into this, considering the fact that he's been tied up by two homicidal maniacs.

As it turns out, Harley found him at a Batgirl costume contest. And if you click on the other cosplayers, you can find out which one's the real Batgirl! It's completely pointless. All you get for guessing correctly is her saying that she's Batgirl.

Far right. Final answer.

Review
Why did this need to be split into two parts? It didn't. But it was probably split up to accommodate people with slower connections in ye olden days of dial-up. Hence all the padding necessary to make this thing two parts.

The animation's terrible, the plot is "meh." What else am I going to say about this? It's not much of a Halloween special? The sex doll bit is weird?

This wasn't as bottom-of-the-barrel as the first one, but it wasn't too good. It's more odd than anything Next time, it's Paul Dini doing what Paul Dini always does. See you then.