For context, Harleen was released from Arkham and went to buy a dress. After being treated horribly by everyone, she paid for the dress but left without having the security tag removed. The alarm went off and when she saw a guard coming towards her, she had a mental break. Hijinks ensued. Bruce spent the entire day helping her.
I cannot stress this enough: BTAS was the show that created Harley Quinn. Decades later, she’s one of the most iconic characters in DC, but the animated series was the foundation of her characterization.
This is one of the reasons why Batman The Animated Series (and it’s associated media) is the only definitive versions of Batman for me. It’s not just about the doom&gloom. So much good came out of this series, and it deserves every piece of praise it gets.
Also note that when he says “I had a bad day too, once” he’s almost certainly talking about the day his parents were killed.
He could have said her problems were nothing compared to his. She wanted a dress. He wanted his parents back.
But he didn’t go all broody manpain on her or diminish the importance to her of having a new piece of clothing. He didn’t make his problems her problem.
He just said “I will help.”
people forget batman is not about grimdark edgy violence, batman is about a kid who was born into a grimdark place full of violence, who had his family taken from him by that same grimdark violence, but rather then give into it said “im going to fix this”
“Can you imagine your Batman comforting a scared child? If yes, congratulations that’s a genuine Batman. If no, you haven’t written Batman, you’ve written Punisher with a funny hat.” – Red from Overly Sarcastic Productions
