Episode 25 Review
Harley Quinn
"Lover's Quarrel" is the penultimate episode of the season (and hopefully not the series, knock on wood). The battle between Harley Quinn and Dr. Psycho enters its finale but she has to fight a mind controlled Poison Ivy to get to him. To make matters worse, the Justice League prefers to dispose of her in an interdimensional prison than risk her cause any more casualties. With very few allies left, Harley has a tall order while Dr. Psycho's ambitions grow by the hour and Darkseid's patience dwindles.
Coming off the museum heist in "Trapped" earlier this season, it was a pleasant surprise to see Harley and Kite Man teamed up again. While granted it's exactly a lot like the situation last season where Harley has to face the nominal big bad without her Crew, the difference is Kite Man has a much bigger role this time around. What cruel timing with the end of the episode in mind. The mistake boob grab was oddly funny joke to start off on. It's only more endearing when Kite Man quickly apologizes for it. It was interesting to see Harley is still intent on helping him keep the wedding on when she has her own desires. Sy's last gift had an interesting pay off and I'm more than glad to see his consciousness live on in machines. And as far as Sy and Kite Man, they've had really no interaction, so seeming them do the 'build the secret weapon' bit was a nice team up. It was also a great caveat that Kite nor Harley could just instantly make the anti-mind control device and save the day without much stakes. It makes it a little relatable to some viewers that they both lack the technical skills with Kite even admitting he went to Oberlin College, more or less saying he's got a liberal arts degree but still has some basic kills like a knowledge of Morse Code. Naturally, the best joke was Harley instantly mastering the kite.
After a very long absence, the Justice League really gets to cut loose and get a lot of action heavy scenes together. While it's just the big three of Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman, it's still incredibly entertaining good vs. evil stakes. Flash, Green Lantern, and Zatanna are missed and it was a little eye brow raising to watch as Superman vaporized Parademons, Batman blew Parademons apart, and Wonder Woman decapitated so so many Parademons but my mind reminded me this is that R rated comedy animated series on a streaming service. And these are Parademons... the lowest of sentient lifeforms. The Justice League has been played pretty straight and classic incarnations but it was a little jarring to see them go to that level of violence. But then again, they were still gung ho about using the Phantom Zone Projector. Harley and Joker, last week, made sense sure because they're killers anyway. Still, the comedy beats with the Justice League were well executed: Superman's pulling the xeno racism card on Wonder Woman (and veiled knock on Melania Trump's Be Best campaign), Wonder Woman breaking character and swearing when Harley gets her cut by her own sword, Superman's dad puns, Batman totally downplaying King Shark and Clayface, Batman bringing up Mr. Wayne's insurance coverage, and of course, the love pheromone. Batman's "banging" was the most unexpected and hilarious line for me and the surprise knock on CW. Italian chef finger kiss. I liked that they didn't go the expected route of Psycho trying to use mind control on them and instead used a bit of strategy to lead them to the Wayne Tower and dosing them with the love pheromone from last season's bar mitzvah. It will be hilarious if we next see them in compromising positions as trees.
Darkseid's return was so good... so good! This version of Darkseid is just so fun to have around and Michael Ironside kills it. He's still Darkseid but inserted into this show, he's indirectly hilarious. There's still the stern and foreboding Darkseid we're all familiar with and on the flip side, we get some hilarious fish out of water moments like when he asks who Orange Julius is, what a Chuck is, or what "S my V" means. And yes, on one hand, Darkseid's "quiet" exit and lack of action scenes might have been a letdown, it was oddly a relief that the arc didn't roll into it being another 'everyone vs. Darkseid' story. We've been there, done that. Literally last month.
I think it's fair to say we always knew Dr. Psycho wasn't going to win. But he still proved he's really was a true blue supervillain once and he wasn't going to be a goon forever. He controlled a Parademon army, allied with Riddler, stole a hi-tech device that boosted his powers, mind controlled the Crew against their will, and defeated Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman with a simple strategy. Yet after all that, loses focus because of a boner then caught in one move by Ivy then bonked in the head by Harley. Perfect. That awkward ending. I love that Dr. Psycho got to spoil the win and spiked the ball in the worst possible way only because one of two things that really should have happened didn't: Harley did not kill him like she kept saying she was going to nor did Darkseid take his head like he threatened to. For narrowly avoiding death, he got to take away Harley and Ivy's chance to tell Kite Man the truth, if they were ever going to. And it perfectly ends on dead silence and leaves us griping about them dragging out Ivy's answer to Harley and wondering for one week what will happen in the finale. It was a pleasant surprise and bonus to get confirmation that Bane survived the prison riot (but is stuck in the Pit). Though it is worrisome that Riddler, last seen diving behind the couch, might have slipped away and could be a threat next episode.
"Lover's Quarrel" brings the conflict with Dr. Psycho and the Parademons to a satisfying but arguably too low key resolution. The episode is action packed, there's no argument about that, but on the flip side, it felt like an episode of shifting characters around in preparation for the finale then Harley says something profound at the end. Was it a case of deal with the physical threat in one episode then deal with the emotional arc in the finale rather than everything in one episode? It still felt like something was missing from the episode. Or maybe I was a bit too conditioned to expect a bloody death scene. But still, we are left with a lot more story and intrigue left to cover with one more episode to go. Is the wedding still on? What will Kite Men do? What's Ivy's answer to Harley? Will it be an open marriage? Will Riddler crash the wedding? How will things end for Harley and Ivy? Will Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman be cured in time? Did Sy make that pasta?
Rating: 8 out of 10