Harley Quinn is a show that has defied the odds of just about every tectonic shift in the current media landscape. It survived a tepidly received streaming and comics hybrid app on DC Universe, found its audience on the fledgling platform HBO Max, survived a regime change from AT&T and the Snyderverse to the confounding direction that David Zaslav has steered Warner Bros Discovery with James Gunn at the helm of DC’s scuttle. All the while, Harley Quinn grew its fanbase organically and fought for each of its three newer seasons on its streaming home. Now that season five has ended, and the Metropolis arc has concluded, it may be time to give Harley and Ivy their flowers and close the curtains on the whole shebang.
Given the piss-poor consideration of animation by the new leadership at Warner Bros, resulting in even the evergreen classics like Looney Tunes being stripped from the platform, it’s frankly a miracle that Harley Quinn ever got this far. That luck may be due to a cast of preexisting popular characters and a committed fanbase, but a great deal of the passion of its viewers was a signal of its unmistakable quality. When the show was still stuck being hosted on DC Universe, many people, myself included, got exposed to the show with a murderous depiction of the DC fandom of the time, particularly the Snyder Cut cult.
Harley Quinn grew a faithful audience despite its hurdles.
Viral clips like this instantly converted many DC fans to the show, and word of mouth slowly grew its viewership. Kaley Cuoco’s Harley got more room to breathe over these five seasons than Margot Robbie or even Arleen Sorkin ever had the chance to because it begins with her separation from the Joker and commits to it. Even in the relationship that buds and grows between Harley and Poison Ivy (Lake Bell), the showrunners make a commitment that they won’t let the couple fall into the typical breakup tropes.
Between sardonic takedowns of Batman, Joker, the Gotham PD, or even just Gotham City itself, the show carried through its plot putting the characters first and having as little reverence for the status quo of powers and significant events in the DC Universe as the Injustice timeline (Maybe even less.) This results in a lot of great storylines that we would never have in other corners of the franchise. Ones like Joker’s run for mayor, Poison Ivy taking over Lex Luthor’s throne at the Legion of Doom, or Harley joining the Bat Family and, momentarily, killing Nightwing.
Harley Quinn is a wild ride of “Yes And” improvisation with the DC Universe. It’s a wonderful sandbox for Harley and Ivy to stomp around and take the piss out of everything people take seriously but with an evident love for the ‘90s Animated Series canon and Silver Age comics. Where else in the franchise would there be a consistent relationship between the Riddler and the Clock King, where all they do is cardio and time jokes? In what other timeline can we see Bane venturing all the way to Italy to fix a pasta maker for Nora Fries, who is inexplicably alive and more relevant than Mister Freeze? By the time Harley Quinn gets to season five, there’s not much choice but to send the gang to Metropolis for some new blood.
Harley Quinn Season 5 loses some of its edge.
There are some great character resolutions in Harley Quinn Season 5, namely in putting a bow on Ivy’s backstory. How Harley helps Ivy process the trauma or Ivy having trust issues with Harley later in the season also work. Inserting this show’s cast into an animated Superman series almost entirely without Superman present is a hard but bold choice. Using Lois Lane, Perry White, and Lana Luthor as foils to the usual ensemble’s volatile shenanigans is funny. But apart from a few gags like Bane’s op-ed about a hemorrhoid surgery and jabs at Louis about getting her buccal fat removal, the show seems to have generally lost the wind in its sails and the bite in its jaw.
Brainiac also serves as a unique antagonist for the season, even if the steps to getting a confrontation with him are outrageously silly. Stephen Fry is not only inspired by casting for this depiction of the character, but the isolated episode that depicts his background evokes the sentimental character studies of this series at its best, with a bit of the flavor of Tom King’s Visions run at Marvel in 2015. This set of characters also proves a great testing ground for Harley to yet again use her psychiatric prowess as the show’s main character to solve a problem.
While still entertaining, Harley Quinn is not the show it once was. This is apparent when you go back after finishing the fifth to watch the series pilot. The first season of Harley Quinn was an incredibly earnest love letter to the lore of Batman and made lethal jabs in its universe. While the newest seasons are fun week-to-week watches, they don’t hold a candle to the quality of animation, the rapid-fire jokes, the punk rock edge, or just the darkly macabre essence of a Gotham City at its worst that feels like a nostalgic, warm blanket.
Let the series end on a strong note.
The change has been gradual, but it’s clear that this show had a goal, and it won. Despite everything, Harley and Ivy are together and happy. In their wake they level the foundations of the DC Universe. It’s hard to argue for another season where they try to rebuild Metropolis or go to Star City and continue without feeling this slow slip into the same traps that any long running sitcom would.
Given that showrunner Dean Lorey (Arrested Development) has a spin-off series with Kite Man for viewers to get a few more gags out of Bane and his committment to Gunn’s new animated projects like Creature Commandos, it may be worth giving our praises to Harley Quinn now before we regret not doing it sooner. Perhaps we can see the couple return in one-offs like season four’s Valentine’s Day special or when the writers are inspired. But it may be time to call it a night for Gotham’s former city sirens at the conclusion of this fifth season.
Harley Quinn Season 5 is available to stream on Max.
Based in the northern stretches of New England, Evan is an elder high-wizard and co-founder of the inbetweendrafts.com. Leading the Games section, Evan is determined to make people remember the joys of older games which have since lost their way. Evan’s voice can be heard in podcasting, YouTube videos, essays, and overlong diatribes on media he wants you to have the full context on.
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