7.6

Harley Quinn Returns with a Rushed but Emotionally Satisfying Fifth Season

By Rendy Jones  |  January 22, 2025 | 2:29pm
TV Reviews Harley Quinn
Harley Quinn Returns with a Rushed but Emotionally Satisfying Fifth Season
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Between James Gunn’s DC Universe already beginning and the general lack of animated projects on MAX (thanks to that no-good David Zaslav), it seems like a miracle that Harley Quinn, the R-rated take on DC’s bisexual anti-hero badass, has even made it to a season five. Not only does it have five seasons but there’s an entire spin-off dedicated to Kite-Man. Friggin’ Kite-Man!

As with any long-running series or relationships, there have been some growing pains, and there’s always the risk of running off a cliff creatively. The fifth season of Harley Quinn sees Harley (Kaley Cuoco) and her girlfriend Poison Ivy (Lake Bell), a duo collectively known as Harlivy, hit a brick wall in their relationship, and the couple goes “Jeffersons Mode” by moving on up to the Metropolis side. It’s a means for the series to shake things up with a new change of scenery and an opportunity to spin the DC Universe on its head in an exciting, if not messy, and frenetic fifth season.

When the season starts Harley feels as if she and Ivy have become a mundane couple, going from chaotic to neutral on the alignment board. While Gotham has become a garbage dump amid Mayor Joker’s impeachment and every Bat person’s absence, Harlivy would rather keep to themselves as homebodies as every normal couple does. It also acknowledges the disbandment of the Gotham City Sirens that was teased at the end of season 4, with a flashback showing how Catwoman (Cherise Boothe, replacing Sanaa Lathan) and Barbara Gordon/Oracle (Briana Cuoco) called it quits after a mission failure. It is a funny cutaway that suggests that the writers did not have enough mileage to make the Gotham City Sirens the next major step in a series that involved Harley bending time and space. 

Recognizing that science-fiction is a viable creative avenue for the wild card couple, the set-up all comes together when Harlivy are invited to an event in Metropolis honoring Superman hosted by Lex Luthor’s (Wendell Pierce, replacing Giancarlo Esposito) sister Lena Luthor (an always excellent and hilarious Aisha Tyler going full Malory Archer). Mayhem ensues, resulting in Harlivy wanting to move to Metropolis. With a new condo courtesy of Bruce Wayne (Dediech Bader), Harlivy are now Metropolis citizens.

A fresh slate of obstacles awaits Harley and Ivy as they integrate themselves into the lavish, pristine town where the Man of Steel resides. Some of these involve babysitting King Shark’s rambunctious kids that they’re godmothers to, Ivy running into an abusive ex-boyfriend at a new occupation, and one of Superman’s greatest enemies, Braniac (Stephen Fry), looming over Metropolis with his own diabolical plans for humanity.

If you’ve grown to love this iteration of Harley Quinn as I have over the years, the series still manages to pull off a consistent feat of delivering strong, outrageous comedy and top-of-the-line wry humor, bolstered by Cuoco and Bell’s vocal performances and sharp character writing. Just a conversational banter between bloody chaos would make me cackle. Some of the best laughs, surprisingly enough, stem from the technologically advanced humanoid Braniac, who, without giving too much away, is like a suburban man struggling with immense depression, and the show mines several hilarious gags from him while making him equally sympathetic. 

Even though the season revels in feats of graphic violence—which is more fluid and dynamic in animation quality than its earlier seasons—it offers an engaging and grounded perspective on grief, relationships, and past trauma, mostly with Harley and Ivy helping one another. Even a character such as Brainiac is constructed with a humanistic soul. 

Despite the sharpness of the humor and characters, the narrative flow is far too quick for its own good. It’s hard for the story at hand to breathe when the series struggles with juggling far too many characters and the pressure to follow through on open threads from previous seasons in such a short amount of time. This is yet another illustration of the show’s necessity to adhere to the 10-episode, 23 minutes each formula. The first two seasons during the now-defunct DC Universe era didn’t have to deal with that, as it had longer runtimes and each season wrapped at 13 episodes. By the end, it felt at least confined and cohesive. Season 5, however, feels like it’s rushing to get towards its finish line without letting some of its major aspects—such as Ivy’s tragic background or a shocking character death—have any time to breathe.

That said, the season does pull out several well-earned, Pixar-quality tear-jerking moments that had me genuinely on the verge of sobbing, which this series has never done before. So kudos to the writers for that. While Harley Quinn may be swinging its bat of storytelling far too quickly, season five is still a genuinely good continuation to one of the best queer-oriented animated series airing right now.

Rendy Jones (they/he) is a screenwriter, journalist, editor, and stand-up comedian based in Brooklyn, New York. Their writing has appeared in Them, Entertainment Weekly, RogerEbert.com, Vanity Fair and more. They also run their own movie review outlet called Rendy Reviews. Rendy is also a member of the Critics Choice Association and GALECA.

 
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