The rave reviews for Harley Quinn‘s second and third seasons only bolstered the major gamble leading into the new episodes. With Harley and Ivy taking separate character paths, the worry that this standalone DC series could sustain such a shake-up worried and excited the established fanbase. Thankfully, Harley Quinn is as good as ever, with its characters pursuing new missions in life with crass yet wholesome results.
Warning: Spoilers ahead.
Harley Quinn Season 4 Plot
Going into these new episodes, DC villains Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, stabilizing their loving romantic relationship after periodic bouts of drama, had interesting changes of heart about their careers. Ivy accepts the resources and power available to her as the new Legion of Doom CEO, while Harley decides to end her villainy altogether and join the hero side. Somehow, they continue to make it work as they chart into new territory, seemingly at odds with their original characterizations but making it work nonetheless.
Harley Quinn in the Balance of Good and Evil
One pressing creative challenge of a television show is keeping the flow of change and constancy in balance; change too much, and the character proves to be not well devised, but change too little, and she becomes boring and stagnant. Anyone following Harley Quinn since the beginning knows that show developers Justin Halpern, Patrick Schumacker, and Dean Lorey have an incredible grasp on what makes Harley Quinn a unique and powerful DC character, with the fourth season confirming those strengths. Even as Harley tries to do the good deeds her character has never seen, while Ivy commands evil on the most massive scale in the DC universe, their characters become more clearly defined than ever through human doubts, struggles, and growth.
After throwing these two through a new wacky scenario with every episode (even time travel and apocalypses somehow show up), the final hour of Season 4 brings things around to its most emotionally engaging point. Without losing the zany, vulgar elements we love about the series, Harley Quinn finds its title character’s desperate desire to do good trampled by the revelation that she killed a member of the Batman crew. No one vibes with Ivy’s drive for socially conscious evil either, and finally, the two are drawn back to each other for a satisfying close that puts them back in the middle ground where they ultimately fit in best.
Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn in ‘Harley Quinn’
DC Needs More Shows Like Harley Quinn
Despite several popular complete and ongoing series, including recent critical successes Doom Patrol and Peacemaker, there is no DC show quite like Harley Quinn. None are the delightful blast of carefree color nor emotionally resonant without being solemn. The gleefully nasty romp of Harley Quinn, now set up and (hopefully) soon to be renewed for a fifth season, keeps its comedic situations fresh with gasp-worthy doses of drama like this season’s Episode 9 reveal, making it one of few from DC of which we cannot wait for more.
Harley Quinn is streaming now on Max.