New episodes of Harley Quinn stream every Thursday on Max in the US. Seasons 1-4 are available to purchase digitally and on DVD in the UK.
Review
We’re back HarlIvy fans. Our favourite dynamic duo are back today with the first episode of Harley Quinn season 5 and they’re headed for new territory. Writer Jamiesen Borak is breathing new life in to the long-running series with an episode that resets the playing field beautifully, setting up new arcs and allowing the series to feel new all over again.
Season 4 heavily focussed on the personal journeys of both Harley (Kaley Cuoco) and Ivy (Lake Bell) as they navigated diverging career paths. Since pairing them up as a couple, each season of the show has neatly presented them with a challenge that has brought a new level of understanding to their relationship. So we enter season 5 with them in a particularly sweet spot. For fans of their pairing it’s rewarding enough, but for long-time fans of the show it harkens back to all of its creative high points.
The season premiere picks up around a year after the events of the season 4 finale. The newly-minted Gotham City Sirens – including Catwoman (Cherise Boothe) and former Batgirl, Barbara Gordon (Briana Cuoco) – are investigation who stole Nightwing’s body from his grave. Their mission has taken them underground to Enchantress’ lair where things, of course, go completely awry. See it turns out the Gotham City Sirens initiative didn’t last very long and now Gotham is falling apart with no Bat-Family to clean up the streets. The failure of their new team and the rapidly decaying city around them gives Borak the perfect setup for HarlIvy to need some fresh surroundings. After catching Lois Lane (Natalie Morales) on the Tawny Show, Harley gets the crazy idea that it’s time to try out a new city and off to Metropolis we go.
The entire writing team on Harley Quinn has always done an incredible job of cramming Gotham with Bat-related Easter eggs. Outside of seeing most of the Bat-Family in action there have been plenty of locations, props and supporting players to make Gotham feel like an incredibly well-realised location in the DCU. If this episode is anything go by then the same can be said of their reverence for Superman. HarlIvy quickly find themselves on the radar of Lena Luthor (Aisha Tyler) who just so happens to be dating Bruce Wayne (Diedrich Bader), attending the launch of the Superman museum. This one location alone, the centrepiece of the episode, is FULL of Super-Easter eggs which fans absolutely need to pour over on second, third and fourth watch.
But as is always the case with Harley Quinn, underneath all of that DC padding is solidly written, brilliantly executed character work. The behind-the-scenes rejuvenation of the series is palpable on screen as Harley and Ivy work together to stop the museum from potential disaster, landing themselves on the front page of The Daily Planet in the process. It plays in to the duality which was so perfectly setup by season 4. They’re not acting as outright villains. But neither are they acting as the good guys. They’re simply out to make the world a greener place and easily for themselves. It just so happens than in this episode that means being the good guys.
If the fifth season overall can maintain the balance of their good deeds versus the bad ones then it will be an impressive feat. Where character’s like Deadpool make questionable decisions, using even more questionable means, he’s still a hero. A fully functioning anti-hero would be a unique win for DC and for the genera as a whole.
Hats off to Borak for taking a similar approach Superman (James Wolk) as the series has with Batman over the years. He’s feeling unloved by his city, despite the opening of his museum, as everyone else seems to be doing a better job of protecting Metropolis without him. Hopefully this is something which the series circles back to throughout the season. Particularly given where the storyline might be heading.
The final moments of the season premiere introduce our season 5 villain, voiced by Stephen Fry (welcome to the DCU), albeit briefly. It’s a tantalising moment to widen the series connection to the wider DC Universe and could pose an interesting threat our power couple will struggle to overcome. We know so little and yet I feel so teased for the journey which lies ahead…
Verdict
Harley Quinn is back with a chaotic bang! The season five premiere quickly resets the status quo, capitalising on the shift in location to Metropolis as a creative breath of fresh air for the long-running series. I can’t where to see where we go from here.
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