An Apple a Day

The scene begins with the Joker at a table in the Arkham Asylum cafeteria, a plate of food in front of him.  A voice off camera says “I take it you missed me.”  After the unfortunate incident involving Dr. Hugo Strange, Arkham Asylum has decided to reinstate Dr. Quinzel to Patient #4479′s case.  Before they can begin their therapy session, Dr. Jeremiah Arkham appears with a waiver for the Joker to sign, relieving the asylum of any responsibility for what happened with Dr. Strange and legally assuring that he will not sue the asylum for personal injury.  The Joker scribbles an illegible signature on the paper and dismisses Dr. Arkham with “We don’t need a chaparone.  Skadoodle.”  The therapy session then gets off to a shaky start, with Dr. Quinzel complaining about the unorthodox methods Dr. Arkham supports in the treatment of the asylum’s inmates.  The Joker tells her about how his clown make-up was initially scrubbed away but, with ingenious methods, he reclaimed the right to wear his war paint.  Dr. Quinzel continues to argue that allowing inmates to wear their masks is an unhealthy practice when Scarecrow sits down next to Joker and attempts to take a bite of his sandwich with the Scarecrow mask still on.  “Crane,” says Joker, disgusted by what he’s looking at.  “Clown,” Scarecrow responds with equal disdain.  He then takes off the mask to reveal Jonathan Crane.  This sets off an interesting conversation between Dr. Quinzel and Crane about the dynamics of relationships.  When Crane makes a quip about Dr. Quinzel’s choice of partners, the Joker suggests he find a different table.  Crane moves off, but leaves his fork on the table.  As the Joker begins to eat with his fingers, he asks his doctor about her boyfriend.  She hands Mister J the fork, saying “There’s no reason to treat you like an animal.”  The Joker takes the fork, then asks her if she loves Guy, her fiancé.  When she hesitates, Joker insinuates himself a little more into her psyche by offering her a bite of his apple, but using it as a metaphor for life, and tempting her to take a bite.  She declines, and Joker drops the apple.  When Dr. Quinzel bends down to retrieve Joker’s apple, he takes the opportunity to make a fork the most talked about kitchen utensil since the invention of the spork.