Harley Quinn

The good, the bad and the crazy stuff in between

Welcome back to my Review Corner. If you read this , then that means that i didn't scare you with my Thoughts on Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated. Well this time i wanted to talk about a more recent show. Harley Quinn. The adult dark Comedy and action Series that was originally produced for DC´s own streaming platform. With 3 Seasons already aired and more to come its save to say that this show was a commercial success so far . But how good is it actually? Does it live up to the hype and expectation you hear or is it feminist propaganda as some people criticized. Well lets dive in.

The Plot (spoilers ahead)

Season 1 Starts with the typical status quo you would expect. Harley is Joker´s loyal and love struck sidekick, helping him with typical Villain stuff, yet she voices her desires for more recognition as a villain and more respect. After a robbery is being foiled by batman , Joker leaves Harley behind, letting her get arrested while he escapes. In Arkham she waits for Joker to break her out, Convinced he would do that for his girlfriend. This is where we meet Poison Ivy for the first time in the show. She is Harley´s best friend and tries to convince her that she should leave Joker, that he is a toxic Boyfriend who doesn't care in the slightest for her. Harley of course wont admit that and keeps on hoping that joker free´s her. In the End its Ivy that free´s both herself and Harley from Arkham, calling back to Harley helping Ivy escape years ago. Afterwards Ivy sets up and elaborate trick to make Harley realize that she should leave joker. Calling a favor from the Riddler she creates a scenario where the joker either had to kill Harley or chase his true obsession, Batman. Of course he decides to let Harley die and she realizes that joker only ever cared about killing Batman and not for her. Now with that knowledge and not dead since the trap was fake , she now vows to be her own super villain and make Gotham be her territory.

Overall this entire first season focuses on emancipation. Harley tries everything she can to be recognized as a true Villain and no longer being seen and Joker´s pretty sidekick. For that she recruits her own team of misfit villains. King Shark, a humanoid Shark who is most of the time one of the more relaxed people you can find. Clayface , an overeager Actor/ claymoster that can shape shift into pretty much anything since he is made of Clay. Dr. Psycho, a telepath with a foul mouth who got canceled for saying the C- word to Wonder Woman. Together with Frank , a sentient Plant by Ivy and Cy Borgman, their Cyborg Landlord they try their best at being Villains.

Another recurring Character Is Kite-Man. One of the more Ridiculous Villains in DC since he is just a Dude with a Kite on his back. Somehow he manages to charm Ivy enough to be her Boyfriend, which lets me think that his real super power is being super lucky since Ivy is way out of his league.

After a few attempts of becoming a better Villain than the Joker the season climaxes in the Joker revealing his big new plan. Using plant monster that were inspired by Ivy he tries to take over Gotham. After a fake out death by Ivy Jokers plans were foiled, but in the process the Justice league disappeared and Gotham was left in a bad shape. The last thing we see in season 1 is Jokers hand emerging and turning into a normal skin tone instead of the bleached pale white.

Season 2 starts us off with a power vacum in Gotham. Without the Justice league and Batman being heavily injured different Villains tried there best to take the City. Gotham´s Last line of Defense is Commissioner Gordon who is mostly a Comedic Relief character. He is a Goof that has no clue how to handle problems correctly and often craves attention , especially from his best friend( according to him) Batman. Trying to take control Harley often just stops the other Villains plans and unwillingly becomes more of a heroic figure, leading to tension between her and Dr. Psycho. During all of this Ivy and Kite-Man´s Relationship moves forward quite a bit. They plan to marry each other which leads to a few weird moments between Ivy and Harley since there seem to be a quite a lot of sexual tension between them. This tension between Harley leads first to a kiss and later to 2 drunken nights together at Ivy´s Bachelorparty . Harley realizes that she has more feelings for Ivy but she wants to stay with Kite-Man. Back to Harley trying to take over Gotham. Dr. Pscho sends Ivy to Darkseid , giving her an army of Parademons to take over the City but after a talk with Ivy she realizes that this inst it. The Parademons only destroy everything and now Harley knows that she just wants to Ivy to be Happy. She relinquish the power to control the Parademons and the start roaming Gotham on their own. However Dr. Psycho is angry that Harley gave up the chance and her getting soft. He Leaves the group and parts ways with them. Not for long tho since he now teamed up with the Ridler to trap Harley and her gang while obtaining a special helmet to boost his telekinetic powers. Trapped in the Building Harley comes Face to face with the Joker. After the events of Season 1 he turned normal, no longer white skin and the need to kill. He also has amnesia and is apparently with a new Woman and her 2 kids and is their stepdad. Dr. Pscho uses the Special helmet to first Control the Parademons and then Harley´s friends , including Ivy to exact his revenge and strike a new Deal with Darkseid. To defeat him Harley has to rescue the Justice league but to do that she has to turn Joker back into a Villain. With a heavy heart she pushes him into the Acid that turned her into Harley and Joker emerges. After a meeting with Jokers Girlfriend they manage to free the Justice league and Joker realizes that he was never as happy as the time he had amnesia and goes back, wanting to no longer be a Villain but be a Dad. With the league free Harley manages to defeat Dr. Psycho but as a last act of revenge he shows Kite-Man that Harley and Ivy cheated on him. After some talking Kite-Man and Ivy want to continue the Wedding. Gordon tries to ruin it but Harley who was unsure if she should even attend tries to save it , yet it ends in pure Chaos. Admits the Chaos Kite-Man Talks with Ivy and Harley. It is him who now finally calls of the Wedding. He knows that Ivy´s heart isn't fully with him and that there is someone else for her . During the escape from the wedding Ivy and Harley finally get together and tie the knots and ending the season as married bffs.

Now on to Season 3. It starts with Harley and Ivy on their Honeymoon , creating chaos and doing whatever they want until Harley Brings Ivy to a Forest she created. There they came up with the plan to terraform Gotham to green Utopia. To do that Ivy changes Frank to be able to resurrect prehistoric plants. But someone kidnaps Frank for their own deeds. While they search Frank Ivy and Harley sometimes clash with their interests as Harley starts to oppose the idea of mindless evil acts more and more. To find frank Ivy learns to tap into the power of the green more and more and they find out it was Bruce Wayne who Kidnapped them. Bruce/Batman who is recently forced to relief the trauma of his dead parents because a new movie of their death is being made . At the same time His Girlfriend Catwoman broke up leaving him in a vulnerable mental state. After he found and kidnapped frank he altered his powers once more. Hoping to revive dead people instead of plants and bring his parents back to life. However this turns into a massive plant zombie apocalypse that destroys the town. Ivy taps into her full potential and learns to control those zombies , wanting to use them to terraform the City. Harley see´s this and tries her best to stop Ivy , not wanting the innocent people being hurt. She turns herself into a Zombie , forcing Ivy to turn her and all the other Zombies back. This creates a big rift in their relationship climaxing in them trying to kill the mayor of Gotham and instead talking it out. They came to terms that they have to accept the others interests and respect them. They don't have to force each other to do things the other doesn't want . But they still love each other and stay together, just now with separate goals and hobby's. This season Ends with Harley joining the Batfamily and defend Gotham while Bruce Wayne is sitting in prison for Tax fraud.

There is one thing i fell i have to mention and that is Joker in this season. He got his own episode this season where he Runs for Mayor of Gotham , motivated by his Stepson not getting into a bilingual program at school. His policies are very left , free healthcare , higher taxes on the riches, free university fee´s and believe it or not he gets voted in.

There was also the valentines day special after season 3 which was mostly shining more light on Harley´s and Ivy´s relationship and some of the minor characters love live like bane and Clayface.

OK now after i tried to give a brief summary i would like to talk about a few more specific thing. Mainly some characters, the writing, the way the show handles the things you would expect from a batman related show and some of the political stuff surrounding the show. Lets start with the characters

Harley

Harley as a protagonist in this show worked pretty well. She truly shed the name as sidekick and became the main-act of the show. Overall i think she a well written character. She had clear goals that changed over time and evolved and grew. Most of the time she will be the violent chaotic girl you would expect , but she showed some real maturity here and there. First she learned to no longer stand in Jokers shadow, fighting for her to be an independent woman. Then she struggled with her own feelings and tried to even suppress them to make Ivy happy. And in the end She came to terms with the fact that she doesn't always has to agree with what her partner wants and that they can have different goals in life while being together. She evolves from a criminal , desperate to be recognized and surpass her former lover to a somewhat healthy woman , trying to do good and leaving a somewhat realist relationship. Her character writing isn't groundbreaking but its still written in a decent and believable manner. There were no sudden shifts in her believes or motivations, they all changed and developed over time and that is more than enough.

Ivy

So Ivy is someone i have mixed feelings one. And most of these mixed feelings stem from the third season. For the main part of the show ivy is often the voice of reason for Harley. She is often the responsible one in the group. She takes care of Harley and tries to support her as good as she can. Yet she stayed true to her goal of creating a better world of plants out there , even if she has to use violence for that. Her Relationship with Kite-Man starts out awkward. He was trying to date her with some weird schemes but she eventually see´s his good side and gives him a chance. Yet pretty soon there are problems. Ivy is embarrassed to be seen with Kite-Man at first , leading to him calling it off until Ivy apologizes . From then on its a rather nice romance to look at, Seeing how their feeling grow for each other. Yet it was clear that Kite-Man was more committed to this Relationship than ivy , yet she still tried to encourage him. Eventually she learns that She should be with Harley , yet only after Kite-Man points it out to her . So far i liked her Character .She wasn't outright evil and for the most part her character was relatable and understandable. Her flaws seemed like something you would see in any other person and i liked that. And then we came to season 3, more specifically the end of Season 3. The moments she taps into the power of the green and controls the Zombies she goes full on Villain and that seemed to drastic to me. The character that was usually the voice of Reason went evil just seemed out of character. The idea was that the new power she obtain corrupted her kinda and i get that , but it just felt like it was more for creating drama between the two lovers than for developing her character . That being said the show is not finished so we might see this part of her being more fleshed out , but the way it is now it simple tarnished an otherwise likable character to me.

Kite-Man

OK so hear me out on this one. I honestly that Kite-Man is the most relatable Character and makes for a great role model. He starts the show as this goofy love interest for Ivy and is most of the time there for Comedic relief . But the emotional segments with him and his Relationship with Ivy are great. He knows fully that even tho he is a Villain in Gotham , he is still the laughingstock of all the other criminals. He knows that his power and his deeds are unimpressive , yet he tries to be confident in many things. Its this confidence that lets him Go out there in green Spandex and a kite on his back , not caring what anyone thinks about him, that made Ivy love him and that i found inspiring. Having his Confidence is something that could change many peoples lives. Its something i wish i had. It gets even more interesting when he opens up towards Ivy , talking about his own insecurities like his parents also not really respecting him or what he does. Another great think about him was his devotion to ivy. It started as a hookup and something casual but once it got serious he put him self into danger multiple times for her which once more is impressive. He also is fully aware during his relationship with ivy that she could probably get some else , someone better in no time at all , yet he still manages to woo her with his dedication. In the end it is him who breaks off their engagement, knowing that this would not be right and that he himself deserves better and that ivy deserve better. In my Eyes this just makes him so interesting and endearing. He is fully aware of being the outcast , even under super villains. Shunt by his colleagues and friends, he knows that he is a loser in the Eyes of many. And that's what makes him so relatable i think. Whoever thinks he is the greatest loser in his workplace, friend circle or even family can potentially relate to him and event more look up to him since he still manages to have so much confidence and emotional maturity at times.

In season 3 he only has a brief appearance showing that he managed to move on and has a new girlfriend. Still having insecurities , yet working to become better. I'm very happy that he will get his own spinnoff and i will gladly watch it when it comes out.

Clayface and Kingshark

I will lump these 2 together since they are rarely the main focus of the episode . These 2 fill out Harley's team of villains / antiheroes and are often just there for comedic relief or when their abilities become plot relevant. However they always stay true to their believes and interests . Clayface stays the theatrical actor that´s looking for his big breakthrough. Notably the valentines day special showed that he identify´s as gender-fluid. Something that's not part of his usual comic character but i don't mind it here. It is fitting for a shape shifting clay monster to not be bound by gender norms.

Kingshark is essentially the muscle of their group , but he is always rather chill and calm. He might be a big humanoid shark that cut bite your head off with ease, but he also seems like someone that's easy and calming to talk to. 

Both of them are great supporting characters for the show, adding their own little charm.

Not Your old school Batman

If you watched the show or just read my summary then you might start to notice that his isn't quite the same characters you might now from other batman related media. This trend also continues to joker and Batman himself, especially in the third season. That doesn't mean its bad. We saw the typical batman story's being told multiple times in similar ways so giving these characters a less serious note often helps them feel distinguished. Lets talk about Bane as example. Most people will think of Bane from the Dark Knight rises. Yet this bane is more of a lovable Idiot that doenst quite fit in with other villains. He is still strong and intimidating yet he still feels unique and i just had to smile whenever he appears. This changing stuff up doenst always works unfortunately. In the end of season 3 Bruce Wayne accidentally causes a Zombie apocalypse which seems contradicting to his character. It works if you just look how Batman is depicted in this show but such a figure making a mistake like this just doenst sit right with long term Batman fans. Its nothing mayor but once again it felt more like it was done for the sake of causes the season climax .

Some changes that were definitely not in line with comics were the changes done to joker in season 3 where he becomes a stepdad and later mayor. This new version is ridicules to watch , its still joker and he feels like joker , just not evil and i kinda love it. I cant quite explain why but his episode might be my favorite episode of the third season.

Overall most changes from what you would expect were implemented decently and only some felt a bit off.

Social commentary and co.

One of the things people criticized about this show and other moderns shows are often when it gets to political or tries to be propaganda for some agenda by making a character gay or a different skin tone.

I will say this once to clarify it for this review and any further review i make where this might be relevant.

I don't mind any social commentary or potential political themes as long as the characters and the writing are done well!!

If a character is written well and their sexuality is not what it was in another incarnation of the character then its fine. The only problem i have if they try to shoehorn this stuff in and try to point it out as much as possible. Social commentary in general is fine if you do it in a tasteful and smart manner and not overdo it.

In the case of Harley Quinn i didn't have a real problem with it. I pointed out earlier that Clayface identifies as Gender fluid. In a previous episode he shape shifted to a girl and almost dated a guy as a cover so it wasn't something that came out of nowhere. It was something that made sense for the character and how he is portrait in this show so its perfectly fine.

Speaking of the bigger themes of the show. The first season was all about emancipation and i thought it was done well. Harley at first was motivated by just oneupingg her ex but then started to just do things for herself and its a perfectly fine message. It wasn't hammered in like other shows try to do it ( looking at you Velma). It definitely wasn't Feminist propaganda like some people would claim.

This continues for similar themes and plots in the show. Season 2 was about accepting your feelings and was written well and inline with what we seen before . The same goes for character like Riddler being gay. Non of these points or character traits solely defined the character or the show and that's what´s important. Yes sometimes in media they create character whose whole personality is being from a certain ethnic background or having a certain sexuality. I hate characters like that cause they are just in the show to create artificial diversity. Here in this show that's not the case. No character or story line is defined by this alone and that's how you should handle it. Sometimes it felt a little on the nose with their message of the current story line but it was never overbearing ( again looking at you Velma. In my opinion this show didn't tackle social commentary and co. perfectly but still pretty decently.

Overall Thoughts

Overall i liked this show. It was fun and entertaining and never took itself too serious. It tackled some bigger themes which it handled pretty well and the quality stayed consistent. Personally i thought that the plot of season 3 felt weaker for reason i explained earlier , but it still stayed entertaining, Later on the show does a few too many pop culture references which was a bit annoying but again nothing too mayor. One thing that would probably kill your enjoyment of the show if if your unfamiliar with Batman and his rogue´s gallery . A lot of characters just appear and aren't really introduced much since the show assumes you know who these people are .If you are a DC Fan or just a Fan of the Character Harley Quinn then you should definitely give it a watch. If your unfamiliar with batman then it might be a bit harder for you to get into the show , but you can still find enjoyment in it.

My Rating: 7.8 / 10

Well these are my opinions about Harley Quinn. If you agree or disagree for any reason just let me know and feel free to point out my mistakes. Next time i think i should tackle Velma after all since i just saw the finale of the show and oh boy there is a lot to be said about that mess. Till then i wish you all a great time and that you watch some lovely shows.