Harley Quinn

Right, well I only just got on the "Harley Quinn" express here in 2022. I knew about this animated series, but just never opted to actually sit down and watch it, as I didn't really have much of an interest in the Harley Quinn character.

But then I sat down and watched a single episode, the first episode of season one, of course. And color me impressed, I was immediately hooked. And I sat through all three seasons that are available at this time in a very, very short time.

Yeah, this animated series from Justin Halpern, Dean Lorey and Patrick Schumacker totally blew me away. I was immediately caught up in the storyline, and as the show went on, the storyline got better and better.

The character gallery in "Harley Quinn" is nothing short of spectacular. There are so many wonderful characters in the show. And I must admit that after having sat through 3 seasons of "Harley Quinn", then I have become a fan of the DC comic character, so much that I will actually start reading the comic books. There are lots of nice cameo from DC characters as well, so there is something for the more seasoned DC fan veteran, but also for us newcomers.

With "Harley Quinn" being an animated series, then it is fairly dependent on having a good voice acting cast ensemble. And oh boy, does it ever? Yeah, they have hired some really great talents for bringing the characters to life on the screen here.

The art and animation in the series is good. I definitely like the art style here, and the colors are just great. There is so much to take in in each episode, that "Harley Quinn" can be watched more than once.

"Harley Quinn" was definitely an amazing surprise of a series, and this is something that I will continue to watch for as long as they keep putting out new episodes.

It should be noted that "Harley Quinn" has a fair amount of graphic violence, foul language and adult jokes throughout the series, which may not be suitable by just everyone.

My rating of "Harley Quinn" lands on an eight out of ten stars.

This is Harley Quinn done right. Hilarious and touching, smart, witty, sarcastic, exciting, gloriously gory, and a tremendous send-up of the whole supervillian / superhero genre. Even though these are superheroes and villains, they all have very real human flaws, and the creators have a LOT of fun making them (especially Batman, Bane and Commissioner Gordon) as ridiculous as possible. Harley and Ivy are bad villains, but they are good people. Their chemistry is electric. The Joker is at war with himself and Harley while determined to blow up the city. And the supporting cast, voiced by stellar actors, is just icing on the cake. This show is addictive and pure fun. You WILL enjoy it.

I write this after watching the drivel that was the Harley Quinn movie "Birds of Prey". Where the live action was unable to articulate a story and relied solely on Margot Robbie to carry the entire film the animation steps up and shows them how it should be done.

Kaley Cuoco makes Harley come to life every bit as much as Margot does but here she's ably assisted by many other interesting characters, by scriptwriters who can tell a joke and heaven forbid an actual storyline too which is woven out across the entirety of the two series so far. It's funny, it makes you care for the characters and it appears that the best talent is working in animation.

I suspect the end product is often better in animation because it usually starts with someone who has a story to tell rather than an accountant with a formula film to churn out. I sincerely hope there's a third series because anyone cancelling this ought to be the ones in Arkham.

A fresh take on Gotham filled with flavour and fun. Every character has been given relatable human flaws and speak in conversational casual lending them so much more believability and dimension. The Ivy-Harley chemistry is natural and nothing about this show despite the occasional high fantasy shenanigan seems forced. Worked its way to my top animated shows of all time very quickly and I genuinely hope you love it too.

SEASON 1 (4.5/5)

I wasn't expecting to love it as much as I do, this show is hilarious and the characters endearing (some of them are perfectly re-imagined from their comic counterpart).

There are a lot of gory surprises in it which is something that I wasn't expecting either, the shows can get suddenly very bloody before coming back to a regular adult comedy cartoon. Once again, the Joker is perfectly represented here, the over-the-top adult cartoon format really helps to create a brutal and hilarious Joker. It's not the first time that I saw a cartoon with an amazing first season but that starts to decline quickly after the second one, so I try to not have too much hope but we will see!

SEASON 2 (4/5)

The second season is as funny as the first with great action sequences and fun cameos. The concept of Gotham in ruin is a little hard to follow as sometimes it's pure chaos and then it's just a regular big city. Also, the Joker story while very interesting at the beginning just falls flat at the end (not because of the happy ending but because the potential of him fighting his double personality was so promising).

The second season doubled down the themes of female empowerment and relationship which gives us some great episodes. That said, it also brings some cringy jokes which won't have been a problem if the first season wasn't so full of hit jokes. Still, a pretty good second season, can't wait for the third!

SEASON 3 (4/5)

What a funny TV Show! Season 3 is as strong as its predecessor, with an interesting twist on popular DC characters (while keeping them close to their original vision) and a hooking dynamic between Harley and Ivy (which doesn't fall into some expected tropes). Usually, having main characters in a relationship makes him less interesting, but it's definitely not the case here. Harley is still as chaotic as ever, and Ivy is not there to put her back on the right track of the law. The only flaw here it's that it can be a little repetitive to have most of the episode following the same formula: Harley or Ivy jumps the gun and makes a big mistake, they have an open-heart talk and get closer after that.

The finale was still not as strong as the first season, but the Special Valentine's Day episode was one of the best TV episodes I ever saw! Hilarious!

SEASON 4 (4.5/5)

Harley Quinn keeps the hilarious jokes, crazy drama, and endearing characters for four seasons in a row now.

If it's a little disappointing to see Harley and Ivy separated for most of the season, you understand that it's necessary to keep the show interesting giving both of them their own arc. It's really Harley and Ivy show now, as basically all the secondary characters we learned to love for the past seasons were merely there instead of characters that we use to appear as cameo get the frontline like the Bat-family or the evil businesswomen. It's sad to see them go but the new cast is so funny you barely realize their absence.

The finale announced a promising fifth season, I will be there!