TV Review: ‘Harley Quinn’ Season 1, Episode 6 — Harley Needs Some Focus
by Frank Martin
Although it started off fairly strong, it seems as if this season of Harley Quinn is meandering. It’s obvious that Harley (Kaley Cuoco) and Ivy (Lake Bell) are on two separate paths creating a rift between them. That was always going to happen as evident by how the season started off. What’s not clear is exactly where the season is going now that it’s built up some steam. There’s a new storyline emerging involving the Joker (Alan Tudyk) getting back into crime. Although it’s intriguing, the show would be wise to remember that it is named after Harley Quinn, so the ultimate journey should be hers, which doesn’t appear to be the complete case.
The episode starts off with a funeral for Nightwing (Harvey Guillén). This is an extremely big deal as he is seen as an A-list hero. As Harley tries to get to the bottom of what happened, Batgirl (Briana Cuoco) is having a terrible time dealing with his death. She blames Ivy for being responsible. Although Ivy feels sad that Harley lost a teammate, she’s not showing a whole lot of sympathy nor can she as the head of the Legion of Doom. On Ivy’s side of things, she ends up firing her PR team, which is really a single gross monster that ends up attacking everyone out of frustration.
Even if the plot of the season as a whole seems to be out of focus, the episode did deliver some great superhero action. That’s always the plus side about this show. Even when the jokes fall flat, it still remembers that it’s about DC superheroes and supervillains. Besides the fight with Ivy’s PR team, Batgirl, out of costume, takes on a whole squadron of villains to vent her anger over Nightwing’s death. This was an incredibly impressive fight scene, too. All in all, the season has been decent and funny with some great action. But it needs to centralize its plot more and focus on its titular character.
Harley Quinn streams Thursdays on Max.
