American Horror Story: 1984 and Harley Quinn - Criminal Psychologist

I am a long time fan of American Horror Story, but I do admit that some seasons are hit or miss. Plus, they don't really screen it here in Australia unless you have some fancy TV channel subscriptions..

Essentially, loved Murder House - Asylum didn't grab me and the twists at the end were kinda left field... Coven was alright but often felt like the story was built around Stevie Nicks songs and lost momentum/direction after the first few episodes. Freak Show was pretty good overall but did get a bit preachy towards the end, Hotel seemed like the Lady Gaga show and took a long time for me to get interested in it, and I'm not sure I even finished watching it. Because of the aforementioned issue with screenings.. I didn't get to see Roanoke or Cult (although I plan to catch up soon) and basically forgot they came out until a work colleague was talking about the next season. Apocalypse was amazing and I was keen on it all again. So, here we are at Season 9, with 1984.

Thus far, 5 episodes in - I am LOVING IT. It's a real love letter to 1980's slasher flicks, and heaped with nostalgia for the era. The characters are memorable, the soundtrack is amazing and the banter is witty. There are genuine laughs in here. Plus, unlike Stranger Things - there is gore galore.

So, with that said - let's have a look at one particular character that echoes our dear Harley Quinn in so many ways.

Spoiler alert!! Episodes 1-5 only.

Synopsis

1984 follows a bunch of aerobic enthusiast teens (Brooke, Montana, Ray, Chet and Xavier) on their trip out of the unsafe city and into roles as camp councillors during the re-opening of Camp Redwood - a place where several grisly murders were carried out in 1970. The sole female survivor is now the proprietor, albeit with an ultra conservative Christian angle and a grim yet cheerful determination.

The teens head up the day prior but on the way manage to hit a pedestrian up in the woods. He's in a bad way, due to pre-existing injuries so despite their conflicting stories about who hit who and where the may have happened to come across said wounded walker - they agree to get help. This is where they meet Rita, camp nurse.

They seem to gel with cool Rita more than the rule loving, gender separating Margaret, and later Rita goes into the tale of Mr. Jingles AKA Benjamin Richter. He was a dishonourably discharged Vietnam veteran who worked at the camp, so nicknamed because of the constant jingling of his massive collection of keys. One night, 9 children were massacred, and left with their ears cut off. Margaret was the one that got away, so to speak.. but not with both ears. She went on to be the star witness at Richter's trial that eventually got him sent to a mental institution - Red Meadows.

Key things to note - Rita couldn't care about Ray's badly cut up hand, determining it as after work hours. We later see that this wound bleeds badly, and probably needs stitches and/or more care than the basic first aid Brooke can provide. She describes herself as unqualified to work at a camp and isn't concerned about the hiker, who is now missing shortly after Brooke, one of the new councillors saw him dead. She only administered fluids to this hiker before, and didn't treat any of his other wounds or inspect him for any. Rita is careless about other people's stress and takes no measures not to exacerbate it. She also drinks and smokes, not a wise thing for someone in the medical profession to do.. although not heard of.

In the meantime, there has been a break out at the asylum that held Richter. Richter himself pretended

to hang himself so as to lure in an orderly, kill him, steal the keys and then release all the inmates and escape in the ensuing confusion. Karen Hopple, the director - found a copy of the newspaper article advertising the camp's re-opening inside Richter's cell and heads there to warn Margaret. On the way out, something blows out her tyre and Richter (in the local tow truck after killing the previous owner) murders her and takes her ear.

Other murders have taken place at the camp, so the councillors decide to bail but don't get far as a bloodied Rita jumps into their path. Perhaps learning from hitting the hiker, Xavier avoids running her over but manages to destroy two cars in the process and reduces their chances of escaping significantly.

Rita claims to have been attacked by Jingles and needs help to get her keys so they can squeeze into her car as she won't go near the infirmary, and even once in there she doesn't seem to know where her keys are - giving several false directions.
Ray tries to abandon the group when the Nightstalker corners them, but in a twist of fate gets attacked while Rita leads Brooke and Chet out the other way.




Chet goes back to help Ray, leaving Rita and Brooke to get to the carpark. Brooke is tired of waiting, unlike the very calm Rita, and decides to go for help. Rita initially berates her for this, but then agrees for her to go before injecting Brooke with a heavy sedative and eventually detaining her.

Flashbacks show Rita is really Donna Chambers - a psychologist obsessed with serial killers - who is able to convince Dr. Hopple to let her study Richter, even though he hasn't been talking to anyone. In her words, she had been able to get other serial killers to spill the beans and worst case scenario would be that he doesn't speak to her either.

Donna almost slips up in front of another official when she declares enthusiasm for the return of Mr. Jingles but is shown in to a room to speak to a restrained Richter. The official asks for her to record the whole session, and although she agrees it's shortly turned off. Donna reveals to Richter that she doesn't believe in evil and that she wants to get him out of the facility... and goes on to tell him how to do it. She doesn't want to study him in captivity... she wants to see him in the wild.

Following this, we see Donna stalk the actual nurse Rita to the gas station, she is able to deflect Rita's concerns about her and they agree to convoy together to the campsite but when Rita comes back from the bathroom, Donna and her car are nowhere to be seen. Rita gets in her car and continues on her way, but after a while the figure of Donna rises up from the backseat where she'd been hiding.
Rita's bound and gagged body is later found by accident by Montana, Xavier and another camp worker Trevor - terrified, she can't abide by their pleas for her to be silent and runs off once freed - only to meet her demise at the hands of Mr. Jingles.

Back in the now - at the camp - Brooke breaks free from the room she was left in, and runs down a path but is injured and finally captured by traps that Donna left. Donna smugly approaches her and explains that her goal is to observe Mr. Jingles in a scientific capacity, to see if he would kill her as she is - laid out on a platter as it were - or not. She thanks Brooke for her sacrifice.

Her plan doesn't come to fruition as although Mr. Jingles does find Brooke and seems intent on killing her... the Night Stalker also appears and the killers go for each other's throats. Donna watches from the bushes but is found herself by Montana - who is trying to get Brooke killed as well, but by the Nightstalker. She fights Donna and eventually knocks her out.

A flashback shows us a Donna from 1980 staking out her father, whom she believes to be cheating on her mother. She discovers that he has actually killed the woman he bought into the house and has a wall filled with Polaroid snaps of mutilated victims. Donna initially tries to help the most recent victim but is stopped by the sight of her father, coming back to the room with bleach. She tries to get him to stop, saying that she'll help him but ultimately she witnesses her father committing suicide before her eyes.

Later, when Donna wakes in the present - she sees the Nightstalker being revived by dark powers. He tells her about her father, and makes fun of her trying to pretend she's doing this all for the scientific experiment, and that she's the most evil one there. Her father appears shortly after to tell Donna that she was born from evil and should embrace it.



Donna meets up with Montana and Xavier, and confesses that she helped release Richter from his incarceration, and the two aren't pleased at all. Hiding from an enraged and violent Xavier, Donna encounters Richter - who explains that she shouldn't have done this all, and shouldn't have brought him back. Donna tearfully states that she only wanted to understand her father and why he did what he did. She begs for Richter to kill her, but he refuses, saying she has to live with what she did.

The Harley Connection

While Donna's medical skills are phony, her PhD in psychology is real.
Harleen Quinzel also started her most infamous chapter when she was interning at Arkham Asylum. Depending on which version of her backstory you believe, there are some questions as to how she got her qualifications, but she has always been good at pushing buttons to see what makes people tick.

Unlike the phony doctor, Harley is shown to have a decent amount of medical knowledge, going through med school and earning a doctorate. She successfully treats a very sick Catwoman after escaping prison, an injured Joker and has been able to stitch her own wounds/remove bullets etc. Harley has also been able to skillfully recreate anti-venoms and whip up new anti-dotes on the fly and under less than ideal circumstances.

She is very similar to Donna in that they both appear to be quite young in their careers, and have both gone on to deal with a lot of big name psychotic and otherwise criminals before quickly moving on to the big fish.

Harley helps the Joker escape Arkham Asylum in the name of therapy, and in a similar vein Donna seeks to get Richter released to study him "in the wild". Both women then played an active part in enabling their buddies - Harley trapping and almost killing Batman for a start, then aiding and abetting alongside Joker for a good chunk of time - sometimes killing for Joker. Donna meanwhile sets up a large scale trap (sometimes comprised of several smaller traps) at the camp designed to snare several people to ensure Mr. Jingles lives up to his reputation.

The two are known to use disguises and/or steal identities... Donna has only done this with Rita that we know of, while Harley has a lot more experience - disguising herself as a dental assistant, a limo driver, Hollywood executive, a police officer, a lawyer, Joker, Batgirl, Poison Ivy, newspaper columnist, a Nazi torturer, innocent bystanders or crime victims, and then one of her favourites - her old profession. She alternates in using her real name, to taking alias like Jessica Seabourne or branching out into speech therapy and taking over Miss Wisakedjak's identity and life.

I enjoyed seeing Donna's story play out - I'm now up to the later episodes where we have a slight redemption arc - because it's honestly fascinating. Harley is by no means the trail blazer for this kind of behaviour but she is perhaps the most well known. Some people tend to lump her in the 'loony groupie' category, but it's a lot more complex than that in my opinion.