‘Harley Quinn’ Season 4 Episode 8 Recap & Ending Explained

‘Harley Quinn‘ is back with another episode, and it is, once again, chaotic as always. In the previous episode, we saw Ivy and Harley traveling to a dark, post-apocalyptic future, Joker being exposed for his lies, and the threat of the imminent threat to Gotham City.

In this week’s episode, titled ‘Il Buffone,’ we see Harley and Ivy returning to the present to see the chaos, Bane becoming the second-best pasta maker in Italy, and Lex Luthor causing trouble for heroes once again. If you’re interested, stay with us until the end.

Harley and Ivy return to the present, while Bane tries to earn the affection of Nora Freeze

The episode starts where we left off the last time, with Harley and Ivy returning to present-day Gotham City and witnessing chaos. Nora Freeze and Bane are “wilding” out and destroying everything, and seeing that the chaos means that the dark, apocalyptic future will occur, Harley suggests returning to the time-sphere.

Of course, one unhinged person destroys it, leading us to what happened six days before the chaos began.

The episode takes us to Italy, where Bane is still trying to impress Nora Freeze by repairing the pasta maker handle the woman tasked him to do a few episodes ago. Poor Bane went through thick and thin to achieve this and even decided to go to Italy.

Of course, when enquiring about the replacement handle, the receptionist of the manufacturer simply dismisses Bane, who decides to destroy everything and continue his journey.

At Legion of Doom headquarters in Gotham City, Nora Freeze enjoys the calm Sunday by being drunk and wild. Meanwhile, the TV news reported that Lex Luthor developed a special device called “Earth Saver by Lex” to help fix Earth’s ozone layer.

He ultimately fails when the mission fails because his gun cannot reach the Earth – he needs to ensure that Earth’s atmosphere is closer to the machine. To accomplish that, Lex needs to cause the volcano eruption to “expand” the atmosphere, which is why he arrives at Legion of Doom HQ.

Lex Luthor arrives at LoD headquarters while Bane is trying to make pasta

While Lex returns to Earth, Bane is still trying to find the best pasta maker in Italy, while Nora Freeze tries to hook up with Captain Cold. While they try to hook up, Lex Luthor arrives with Volcana at LoD, unsettling Nora.

When Nora enquires about what Lex is doing, he tells her about the heat increase worldwide to raise the ozone layer for his machine to reach it. He wants to use Volcana since she is perfect for the job.

Nora throws Lex out of the building and proceeds to do what she wants to – hook up with Captain Cold. In Italy, Bane stumbles upon Italian cultural stereotypes and finally finds the best pasta maker in Italy – an old nona.

Nora finally realizes that Ivy is missing, while Lex sends his goons to invade the LoD building. Captain Cold, Nora, and King Shark manage to defeat Lex’s people. Of course, Lex pulls another trick from his sleeve and seals off to enter the LoD building. In Italy, Mama Nacarino teaches Bane to make the best pasta to impress his crush, Nora.

Mama is incredibly harsh, but it seems to help Bane learn. In Gotham, Nora, Volcana, Captain Cold, and King Shark try to figure out what to do. Lex wants Volcana, while Nora is seething with rage.

Captain Cold puts Volcana in “the panic room” while King Shark decides to hack his way out of the prison.

Bane becomes the second-best pasta maker in all of Italy, while Lex tries to make himself a hero in the public eye

Bane is learning to “be gentle” as he makes pasta and uses his love for Nora to do it. Breaking eggs, making dough, everything that makes perfect Italian pasta is what Bane achieves.

Mama teaches Bane that he can be gentle if he wants to, revealing the softer side of the supervillain. King Shark is taking his sweet time to hack Lex’s security systems, but Nora’s impatient nature ruins it – she enlarges King Shark’s hands.

Bane wakes up the next morning from a “pasta coma” and finally learns the old lady’s name. Mama Nacaroni presents Bane with pasta, which is out of this world good, and says that Bane himself made it.

Of course, the supervillain is delighted since he has become the second-best pasta maker in Italy, and he will impress Nora with his new skills. Mama endearingly tells ‘Il Buffone’ that he is a pasta master now, and Bane reminisces how he finally feels free.

He thanks Mama for her mentorship. Meanwhile, King Shark is panicking after remembering he left his children with a babysitter too long, while Nora and Captain Cold are trying to hook up again.

Lex releases poisonous gas into the building, and “the crew” must get out immediately.

In Italy, Bane prepares to return to Gotham, packing his pasta, but Mama stops him and threatens to kill him if he leaves – Mama Nacarino needs someone to take over her business and be her heir, and Bane is the perfect candidate for it.

The members of LoD discover a way to escape the building, and Bane struggles to escape Mama. However, the old lady makes a deal – if Bane gets her the tickets for Clayface’s show, she will release him.

What happened to Superman?

Bane calls Clayface, who makes him promise to headbutt Poison Ivy on live TV to embarrass her for tickets. LoD members explode the whole with flammable objects, and Volcana creates a volcano eruption.

The explosion in Gotham caused the ozone layer to expand, which is something Lex wanted from the start. The machine fires off a beam and cloaks the whole world in darkness.

Bane happily returns home from Italy while Gotham is in the dark. The members of LoD realize someone “turned the sun off,” but that doesn’t stop them from looting and stealing things from Gotham stores.

Once again, Bane hopelessly arrives at Nora, who is doing her best impression of a robber and presents her with pasta. However, after she states she already had pasta for lunch, she manipulates Bane into helping her still things.

The flashback is over, and we are back to when Ivy and Harley return from the future, just as the sphere is destroyed. King Shark accidentally destroys the time sphere, while Ivy and Harley realize that Lex Luthor was the main person responsible for the apocalypse and that Superman no longer has powers.

Will Superman have his powers back, and will Harley and Ivy save the world from the apocalypse? We will find out next week’s episode!

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