Harley’s super villainess mentor, Queen of Fables, is released from her imprisonment in a Tax Code manual after 30 years and carted off to Arkham Asylum but Harley, being the good friend that she is, can’t allow that to happen and sets her free. However, when Queen of Fables joins Harley’s gang, our anti-hero discovers that she’s on a whole different evil level than she’s comfortable with.
Last week I complained that the last episode of Harley Quinn danced onto the predictable side of things. This week, however, all bets were off. Queen of Fables is the sort of chaotic evil that makes Harley look like lawful evil.
Now, I know that I’ve said that I enjoy Harley Quinn because it actually allows the protagonist to be the bad guy and doesn’t resort to the trope of turning the villain into the hero. I’m especially happy to report that Harley Quinn’s saving grace is still holding true, only now we’re seeing “evil” as shades of gray. Harley’s a bad guy, but she’s not a bad person. She’s not the kind of person who will slaughter people needlessly and seeing her morality, no matter how screwed up it is, come into conflict with someone without morals, was a lot of fun.
Queen of Fables, despite being an evil murderer, was a hilarious character thanks in no small part to Wanda Syke’s masterful voice acting. She was delightfully obscene, remorselessness in her actions, and genuinely scary when she needed to be. Definitely one of the most memorable characters that this series has come up with.
Can I also say how happy I am that Kite Man is being developed as well? Seeing him and Poison Ivy go on a date together, with Ivy trying to hide who she is while in public with him, was a genuine way to further Kite Man’s characterization and, subsequently, force Ivy to grow as a person.
I think that’s a pun worth making, but I’m not sure.
I enjoyed that this episode showed that Kite Man, while being an annoyingly “bro” dude, could also be sensitive, caring, and stand up for himself when necessary.
Ivy, on that same note, wonderfully redeemed herself by accepting that he’s a good guy and that she was in the wrong for treating him the way she did.
It’s a weird and unexpected ship, but I dig it.
As for the episode itself, it was full of great gags, weirdness, and an amazing cataclysm of left turns and surprises. I laughed, I cringed, and I enjoyed every minute of it.
This was definitely another high bar for a series that has no business setting this many high bars.
Jason Gaston 