Poison Ivy is dead, Gotham City has fallen, and the Joker has won, so now, Harley Quinn must do the unthinkable and team up with Batman to bring the Clown Prince of Crime down in a plan where nothing could possibly go wrong until it all does.
So, first of all… given how much gravity that they gave Poison Ivy’s death, not only last week, but this week in the recap and funeral scene, I have to admit… I’m a little disappointed they brought her back. I mean, yeah, we knew they were bringing her back, but all of the gravitas and emotion that her death and funeral scenes had now rings incredibly hollow. I love the character, don’t get me wrong… but I’m not a fan of fakeout deaths only for the character to return later in a duex ex machina save.
They didn’t even give her a reunion scene with Kite Man. That was just wrong.
Amazingly, though, that’s my only super major complaint.
The finale of Harley Quinn was the summation of everything that makes this show work. The almost non-stop comedy mixed in with a show about villains actually being villainous and a very personal story of a woman trying to pull herself out of an abusive co-dependent relationship with an extremely toxic person. Who hasn’t been there?
The comedy was hit after hit after hit… even in scenes where you didn’t think it was going to belong like Ivy’s funeral. Frank’s lamentation of “Who’s gonna water my roots now!? I don’t trust a single one of these [people]!” was truly brilliant and broke the tension, reminding people that, hey… you’re watching a show about Harley Quinn.
Even heavy scenes like Joker finally learning who Batman is was hilariously written and performed. I don’t think that anyone will ever top Mark Hamill as the Joker, but Alan Tudyk certainly gave him a run for his money as the foul-mouthed clown who was just… so… over it.
I am saving my highest praise for Kaley Cuoco. Cuoco’s Harley Quinn was a godsend to this show. Manic, unbalanced, and — when the show called for it — a heck of a dramatic actress. Harley’s confrontation with the Joker in his tower was a tour de force for the character and honestly felt like it belonged in a much more sophisticated series.
Possibly the biggest surprise of the series was not the content of the finale, but rather its aftermath that saw not only Batman possibly die and the Justice League banished into an enchanted book, but all of Gotham City get destroyed by a massive Earthquake, leaving the show’s setting completely unleveled for next season (if the benevolent leaders at DC Universe choose to bless us with a next season). The horizons are wide open either for Harley to stay in the remains of Gotham and further her ambitions to become a major player, or move on into the rest of the world to take on whatever awaits her.
Whatever the case, if there’s a show that deserves another season, it’s this one. Definitely more than Titans.
Who would have thunk that an animated, raunchy comedy about Harley Quinn would become the best series on this entire stinking service?
Jason Gaston 