All you need to know about harley quinnthe decidedly adult cartoon about the DC Comics antihero, can be captured at one point in its third season. Harley and his best friend turned girlfriend, Poison Ivy, are having a sweet and emotional conversation about their relationship…in the middle of a Eyes wide Shut– orgy style. Just as Ivy is getting to the root of her deep intimacy issues, Harley kicks a masked naked guy jerking off behind them, who squawks, “Annihilate my corruption” as her body hits the wall. Ivy returns to her honest confession without missing a beat.
It’s this savage combination of emotional honesty, raunchy humor, and graphic violence that makes harley quinn one of the most underrated series on television today, and dare we say the best bat Man-property related to the modern age. And in the wake of a second season that paved the way for LGBTQ+ representation in the overcrowded superhero genre, season three continues to go full steam ahead.
Created by Justin Halpern, Patrick Schumacker and Dean Lorey, the series debuted in 2019, a few months before Birds Of Prey And The Fantabulous Emancipation Of One Harley Quinn brought in the titular therapist turnedJoker moll in the spotlight. Margot Robbie gave us the definitive version of the character in the DC movies, but the animated version, voiced by Emmy nominee Kaley Cuoco, is just as iconic.
like the movie harley quinn begins with Harley finally breaking up with the Joker (Alan Tudyk), the shitty boyfriend to end all shitty boyfriends. In the first season, Harley joined forces with Ivy (a wonderfully dry Lake Bell), Clayface (also Tudyk), King Shark (Ron Funches), and Dr. Psycho (Tony Hale) to prove to his ex that she can top him as a supervillain. . in a Gotham City full of bad guys in disguise. The series also spends a lot of time on the hero’s side of the equation, including a deeply brooding Batman (Diedrich Bader), a sad Commissioner Gordon (Christopher Meloni), and a plucky Batgirl (Briana Cuoco).
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In season two, Harley briefly dabbled in full villainy, bringing an army of Parademons to Gotham in the midst of her budding but fraught romance with Ivy, who was engaged to sweet dummy Kite Man (Matt Oberg). Meanwhile, Bane (a truly hilarious James Adomian) opens his own prison, Psycho turns on the team, and a memory-wiped Joker settles down with a wife and stepkids in the ’burbs. The episodes culminated in a moment that had longtime “Harlivy” shippers swooning, as Ivy ditched Kite Man at the altar to run away with Harley. (The two have been an item in the comics since 2017.)
Cut to the show’s third season (its first on HBO Max), which begins with the pair on what Harley has dubbed their “Eat. Bang! Kill. Tour”—a.k.a. trotting the globe and sewing chaos, while also taking time to canoodle in the Fortress Of Solitude. But circumstances soon bring them back to Gotham, which is embroiled in various dramas: Gordon is running for mayor, poorly; Nightwing (Harvey Guillén) has come back to town to out-brood his mentor; and real-life the suicide squad Director James Gunn (Gunn himself) is making a movie about the death of Batman’s parents called, yes, A tough Wayne is going down. The show can be called harley Quinn, but this latest installment expands the scope considerably. There’s an entire episode dedicated to the Joker, back in his green-haired look, treading the fine line between agent of mayhem and family man; and in another, the newly reformed “bat family” works through its complex dynamics.
But the biggest change from season three is that it essentially makes Ivy the co-star of the series. With Harley’s encouragement, the newly self-realized eco-warrior returns to her devilish roots, literally, as she hatches a plan to reclaim Gotham from humanity and transform it into a verdant jungle. harley quinn it spends a considerable amount of its runtime following Harley and Ivy’s messy growth as a couple. They may be in love, but they are also two deeply traumatized people. And despite the show’s gleefully shifting approach to most things, including violent murder, the creators pack in more thoughtful character growth in a handful of episodes than all of Christopher Nolan’s development. dark Knight trilogy. (As a gift to wary fans, the creators to have confirmed that Harley and Ivy will not be separated in the series).
Speaking of the Caped Crusader, this season gives him more than his fair share. In a featured episode, Harley delves into Bruce Wayne’s psyche to help him overcome the childhood post-traumatic stress disorder that led him to become Batman. It’s funny and fucked up, but it also tackles the seeds of mental illness in a way that rings true to reality and to Harley’s origins as a psychologist.
If this all sounds tiresome for a 23-minute cartoon about a kick-ass clown with pink and blue pigtails, rest assured that season three is also a pure delight, complete with disgusting jokes, shark regicide, perverted swamp sex and a lot. of easter eggs for bat Man devotees. Not to mention the voice cast: The series features everyone from comedy greats (Amy Sedaris, JB Smoove, Rachel Dratch) to acting heavyweights (Giancarlo Esposito, Tom Hollander, Meloni). .
harley quinn it’s both a sweet kiss on the cheek and a baseball bat to the face, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.