The DC Universe streaming service has had some nice original programming for DC Comics fans. OK, Titans is a bit scattershot and weak, and Swamp Thing ended too soon to find its footing, but Doom Patrol is a goofy delight that WB decided to upload to HBO Max as well, the new season of Young Justice is every bit as good as the series was when Cartoon Network canceled it years ago, Stargirl is a fine family-friendly teenage superhero drama, and then there’s the animated Harley Quinn. The second season came along fairly quickly after the first, and I dug the heck out of the first.
Was it that the second season was mostly done to start with when the service announced the series renewal? I don’t know. But I do know the second season ended recently, and it was just as batspit crazy as the first, perhaps at times more so.
Season One ended with Gotham City in chaos. Batman (Diedrich Bader) and the Joker (Alan Tudyk) both appeared to be dead. Neither was, but they both appeared to be. The Justice League had been sucked into the Queen of Fables book. And the city itself was a mess following the Joker and the Queen’s attempted take over.
Seems like a good place for Harley (Kaley Cuoco) to finally make a name for herself. Too bad she’s cut out of the way the city’s been divided up by villains Penguin, Bane. Riddler, Two-Face, and Mr. Freeze. Additionally, with the United States government opting to cut the city off from the rest of the country, it may be up to borderline alcoholic Jim Gordon (Christopher Meloni), and he’s falling apart with Batman to back him up. Still, Harley has her crew of Dr. Psycho (Tony Hale), Clayface (Tudyk again), Sy Borgman (Jason Alexander), and King Shark (Ron Funches) to shake things up as her best friend Poison Ivy (Lake Bell) gets ready to marry sad sack supervillain Kite Man (Matt Oberg).
Basically, a lot happens. And it’s quite funny and character-oriented the way it plays out. Harley gradually comes to realize she’s in love with Ivy, and she suspects Ivy may be in denial about that, but the show actually made me care about Kite Man, a guy who was both sweet and obnoxious at the same time. Harley still has some unresolved issues involving the Joker, and there’s even an entire episode devoted to Batman trying to rush through his physical recovery to get back to fighting crime. Yes, though played as something of a straight man for most of season one, Batman is allowed to be funny in season two. Factor in as well introductions of plucky college student Batgirl as well as a standard morose Mr. Freeze and ultimate cool girl Catwoman, plus the use of a wide bench of DC characters and settings, and this is a show that is somewhat faithful to who these characters are while still making them completely ridiculous. This is a series where Superman will call out Wonder Woman for a racist comment about aliens as well as having Ivy’s carnivorous plant Frank (J.B. Smooth) trying to drive a getaway car.
And at the center, there’s Harley Quinn, a woman prone to heavy swearing and shocking acts of violence, but at the same time, a supervillain by profession who isn’t necessarily evil. This Harley has some limits. And sure, she may kill people, and this show isn’t above killing longstanding DC characters, but deep down, she wants to hang with her friends and experience love. She just needs to stop going off on projects that people like Ivy know is really not her. She’s not the crime lord type. And that’s just fine.
I don’t know if there’ll be a third season of this show, but I rather hope so. As I said while season one was airing, I was actually more looking forward to new episodes of this than I was The Mandalorian when the two shows dropped new episodes on the same day.
Grade: B+
0 Comments