The doctor is in: 'Batwoman' finally just confirmed Harley Quinn exists in the Arrowverse

This is no laughing matter! The Season 3 finale of Batwoman ("Broken Toys") just confirmed that Harley Quinn exists somewhere in the Arrowverse. We've had hints before, but this is the first time somewhat said the quiet part out loud.

Hoping to shock Marquis Jet (Nick Creegan) back into some semblance of sanity, Alice (Rachel Skarsten) and Mary Hamilton (Nicole Kang) track down Kiki Roulette (Judy Reyes), an inventor who once crafted all sorts of chaotic goodies for the original incarnation of the Joker on Batwoman. Kiki seems genuinely haunted by her past misdeeds and makes several mentions of a therapist who urged her to take responsibility for aiding and abetting Gotham's Clown Prince of Crime.

This facade of guilt crumbles away, however, when the toymaker turns Alice and Mary over to Marquis' goons. Mary asks if any of Kiki's sob story was true to which the latter replies that she wasn't completely lying. While a mental health specialist did want to help her heal, Kiki wasn't interested in any sort of penance. "In my defense, though, my therapist was Harleen Quinzel," she says with a wicked laugh.

This marks the first time we've actually heard Harley's name in the Arrowverse, though it's not the first very direct nod we've had to the character. She first surfaced back in Season 2 of Arrow, when that series was working out its own version of the Suicide Squad (that storyline was phased out around the time Warner Bros. opted to move forward with David Ayer's 2016 Suicide Squad film). During that episode, we get a look inside the ARGUS lock-up, as a blonde, female inmate with her back turned volunteers for the team — and mentions she's a trained therapist, to boot. Ultimately, she's deemed too unstable for even the Suicide Squad, and is left on the bench.

For those keeping track, that Arrow character was voiced by Tara Strong, who served as the iconic voice of Harley Quinn across most of the animated Batman and DC Universe films and shows for years. All that evidence not withstanding, the character is credited as "Deranged Squad Female" in the credits. So technically, even as Harley-esque as it seemed, there was never any confirmation.

The Batwoman season finale was helmed by series cast member Camrus Johnson (Luke Fox/Batwing) in his directorial debut. "When I booked this show in 2019, if you had asked me if I was ever going to direct an episode of TV, I [would've asked], 'What does that even mean?' How do you do that?' " Johnson told Entertainment Weekly ahead of the premiere. "I never in my mind imagined that this young Black kid from the middle of nowhere Georgia would be directing an episode of a CW show, especially a DC superhero."

He continued: "I got lucky and I'm very blessed," he says. "[The producers] must know the Joker is my favorite villain because they really made this a Joker-heavy episode."

All 11 episodes of Batwoman Season 3 are now streaming on The CW website.