Harley Quinn (Season 4) (max) (2023)

The show is dark, perverted, and violent. It should not be as wonderful and enjoyable as it is. But Harley and Ivy are SO cute together, and it's just empowering what they are both doing in their opposite careers.

I love that Alfred hates Alvin. Let me be blunt. I do too. I think he's bad news.

I love that Robin is cool with the death. To be perfectly blunt so am I. Professor Pyg is one of those rare unsympathetic Batman rogues with no redeeming qualities. Something he shares with the Mad Hatter, who, surprise, surprise, Harley ALSO wound up killing.

Mysterious Woman is Talia. Bank on it. Mommy's coming home, Damian.

I like this show more than I would any other show with an identical premise and tone. Because unlike Titans, the tone is only horrible on the surface. The subtext to the ships and the characters weirdly make you feel GOOD. Which I love. 4 1/2 stars.

So Alfred is more than a little bit insane. And more than a little bit stupid too.

I cannot get a bead on this Joker. He is literally unlike every other interpretation. That's good in a way, but usually when it comes to the Joker, I know where I stand. This guy makes me nervous because part of me actually likes him.

And yup, Talia. And yeah, it turns out she's the worst absentee mother possible.

Snitches get stiches in the Batfamily. Literally. Anyone tells you the idea of the Batfamily is morally sound and justified, here's your counterargument wrapped up in a bow.

I love even at the end, Ivy and Talia are relating to their frustrations over being powerful woman and the painful cliches they have to pretend to be okay with to get ahead. It feels very right to take that on.

As far as The Rule goes, if you don't hear a fish stuck to a board singing it first, it doesn't count. That's sort of how I've been living my life, and ALL of the voices there can't be wrong.

This show is nuts. In a good way. 4 stars.

That "Is this your card?" moment was like a PERFECT climax. Whatever problems you could ever have with the series, it had that moment, which says it has merit. Full stop.

I love that Harley and Ivy think the babies are ugly. You know what? They are. Totally.

Tiny Starro waiters? Funny.

I'm about to hand the show a BIG compliment. The last DC cartoon show able to pull together climaxes that worked so well was Justice League Unlimited. I'm not saying this show is as good as that. But this is the first episode of an animated DC show with a climax as tight as that. That's how long it's been.

That card trick moment made me say, "Wow, this show is special." 5 stars.

I loved watching Ivy repeatedly punk Lex Luthor.

But the endings with both the Joker AND Harley really worried me. What is going on there? 3 1/2 stars.

I actually kind of hope Nightwing actually IS dead. I really don't like him.

Ivy didn't have a very good showing this episode either.

And holy crap, I did not miss Jim Gordon. There were so few characters in the episode to like and root for.

Is Supergirl an eye doctor? Why?

I love that Babs' roommate says she'll tag along because Harley is basically a cop now and she doesn't want any brown people getting hurt. That's great.

So-so week. 3 stars.

I didn't like it, but the last line of Harley wondering if she's dreaming hints there might be something larger going on. But really, this show shouldn't be killing off Nightwing.

What's interesting and horrible about Joker's return to evil is that he doesn't have to give up his wonderful family he loves and who loves him. He's already won them over. So they are on-board instead of appalled. It's something I really don't like seeing, and I feel a lot of the characters behavior in the episode was the show at its nihilist worst.

I hope Harley is right that something going on is hinky. Because that did not sit right with me. 1 star.

Is it wrong that I think Princess Ladyfingers is kinda hot?... 😍

I feel like the pacing on the show is so tight because the dialogue is so fast paced itself. The patter is like a machine gun with the characters rattling off crucial information and non sequiturs at equally ridiculous speeds, and us trying to keep up with that while the things occurring onscreen themselves are already so bananas.

Have I gotten the selling point of the show right in the previous paragraph? Or at least for the episode itself? 4 stars.

That was weird. This show is weird.

Bane isn't the only punchline on the show. Looks like Superman will be a total joke too.

I love that King Shark reflexively bites the head off a dude who attacks them.

I can't say this is the best version of Nora Fries that ever existed. But it's the one most unlike all the others.

Good burn at the Snyderverse at the beginning. Although I question how the characters know what it is.

And yes the whole thing was just a petty prank on Superman by Lex. Evil didn't create the apocalypse. Idiocracy did. Sounds about right. 3 1/2 stars.

Unpleasant and unfun.

But if they don't use Flash's time treadmill to redo all of this crap I'll be surprised.

In the meantime, I'll call it a bad week. I think the thing that bothers me about the show's nihilistic episodes is it's not always that. Whenever it sucks it is. Whenever it's great, it's weirdly empowering instead. I don't understand the logic of this show deliberately making episodes that suck and work against the good things about the show. Another reason I simply do not understand the mindset of superhero comic creators. 1 1/2 stars.

Great ending with Nightwing. I can live with that.

Bruce could have gotten out any time he wanted? This Batman is lazy. The fact that he apparently doesn't give a crap or even know about what's been going on with Nightwing and Batgirl also says he sucks.

Seriously, Alfred. You are destroying your life for the wrong person.

This version of Gordon is not the type to want to "do it right" when bringing in the guy who shot his daughter in the back.

Good.

I just realized. They didn't just start the Gotham City Sirens OR the Birds of Prey at the end. The specific line-up of Babs, Harley, Ivy, and Selina is the DCAU Gotham Girls! Full-stop!

I don't mind that Harley threatened Joker's kids. They ain't exactly innocent bystanders.

Good to dedicate the episode to Arlene Sorkin.

I felt this was a good place to leave things. Crazily enough, I do not retract my complaints about last week. I can think things turned out a-ight and still have those stand. 4 stars.