Episode 51 Review
Harley Quinn
The condo is having a get-together dinner for all its residents at Bruce Wayne's place but was it really going to be a peaceful sit-down? C'mon. The dinner turns into a murder mystery with Harley in the center then turns into a revenge plot... and another revenge plot. "Big Pasta Dinner" is a long overdue, much needed Bat-Family episode for Bruce, Dick, and Damian that's been lacking the past few seasons, reintroduces Dick and gets to his beef with Harley at last, establishes Joker and Sophia are in Metropolis as well as Frank, and then sets up Harley's new role for the back half of the season, a team up with Lois to solve who is behind the memory wipes. "Big Pasta Dinner" is a Trojan Horse of a bottle episode chock full of continuity house-keeping, callbacks dating back to season one, lot's of humor and action, and new developments.
"Big Pasta Dinner" picks up on the recurring theme of messes this season. Bruce cleans up the mess of his family and makes amends with Dick and Damian while Alfred tries to kill them over all the messes they made him clean up over the years. Brainiac's not the only one that hates a mess. Really efficient, tight writing by Jamisen Borak and top shelf direction from Christina Manrique. We knew Dick Grayson would be back for Harley but what a classic murder mystery twist that Dick's resurrection was part of Alfred's plan to get revenge on everyone (except Lois oops). It's hard to gauge if they did a speed run through Dick's return like they did with the end of the Gotham Sirens until we see the rest of the season and how many more miles the season has yet to clock. I could also see them considering including Barbara Gordon or not during the making of the episode. It would be nice for her and Bruce to mend fences as well.
Another unexpected development was Joker bonding with Bruce and giving him solid advice about opening up and well they got a lot closer now that their children are dating, much to Bruce's chagrin. Even Shaun got to have his moment to shine and help defeat Venomized Macaroni but he needs therapy for that recurring birth nightmare. There were lot of amusing jokes, mostly at Alfred's expense, like Bruce wanting a lot of cheese then telling Alfred to start over or the boys laughing over Bruce planning to bail Alfred out because someone had to clean all the damage done to the condo. Joker's awkward joke and his Bane burn were great stuff, too. I could have done without the wet joke but to each their own.
An impressive facet of the episode was the volume of past events they bring up in the course of the episode - the memory wipe in "Breaking Brainiac," King Shark busying being the king, babysitting in "Back to School," Alfred going to Blackgate in "Killer's Block" just as Bruce is released, Frank being kidnapped by Bruce in "A Thief, A Mole, An Orgy," Dick's murder in "Getting Ice Dick, Don't Wait Up," Superman taking a sabbatical in "The Big Apricot," Lois being reduced to theater review by Perry/Clayface, Bruce being arrested by Mayor Joker in "The Horse and The Sparrow," Tabitha taking the firstborn with her in "Icons Only," Dick being resurrected, the Joker Tower in "Devil's Snare," the Parademons in "Inner (Para)Demons," Ivy in "Climax at Jazzapajizza," Alfred being arrested in "B.I.T.C.H." while simultaneously addressing the canon without overwhelming the audience with information. Well, to the casual fan, this could be memory overload trying to remember when all these events happened.
What kind of canon box checking goes on? Well, one of Shaun's sisters is named Annie, Lena cancels on Bruce and doesn't seem like the first time, Alfred returns and reveals he was the one who arranged for Dick to be resurrected to get revenge on his behalf without him knowing it, Joker alluding to Bethany, Sophie got a WayneTech internship and is now Damian's girlfriend, Damian was dating Raven (a nod to the Teen Titans direct-to-movies from a years ago perhaps), Joker alludes to Joe Chill and the death of the Waynes (Harley hilariously cuts them off with her 'and they died' to speed it up), on the wall of dead family aside from the parents and Dick - Bruce acknowledges Jason Todd by name, there's the portraits of Thomas & Wayne who got eaten/killed by zombie Thomas and Martha Wayne at the end of season three, Talia's portrait was up in Damian's room, Bane has another weakness, the return of The Macaroni, and Frank reveals he's 10 years old.
There's all the pop culture nods like Frank likening himself to Samson, Ivy referring to Harley as Pigpen from Peanuts, the notion of empty condos because of overseas owners, Bruce alluding to world's greatest detective, Dick pulling a Scooby-Doo, Alfred singing Yankee Doodle, and of course Dick adopting the Red X persona from the Teen Titans animated series. The episode also definitively confirms that Joker lost his memory about knowing Bruce is Batman when he fell in the vat at the end of season one. By implication Tim Drake is still alive if he's not on the wall of dead family. Yeah, it's definitely been five seasons.
Rating: 9.8 out of 10