Episode 26 Review
Harley Quinn
"Something Borrowed, Something Green" is the grand finale to season two. Commissioner Gordon quickly grows a chip on his shoulder thanks to the Mayor snubbing him a key to the city and he's manipulated into crashing Kite Man and Poison Ivy's wedding and arrested all the criminal guests in order to get the glory he feels he deserves. Harley Quinn gets word of the scheme and decides to do the right thing and save the wedding. Trying to prove her intentions are genuine turn out to easier said than done.
As soon as the Injustice League was toppled, it became fairly clear that Commissioner Gordon would resume his role as an antagonist towards Harley Quinn. If "Inner (Para)Demons" was any indication, he wasn't going to give up on trying to truly clean up Gotham of its villains especially when the city was finally heading back to normalcy. Starting off the episode with an awards ceremony for the cold open was the perfect impetus to set up Gordon as the season finale baddie for Harley and company. The Mayor doesn't even acknowledge him much less give him award, takes credit for himself when he did nothing, and gives awards to three random heroes who never appeared in the series until this episode. It's all the more hilarious and meta when Gordon points out he probably only saw the Mayor one other time. To us, that's true. The Mayor's only other appearance was last season in "The Line" when Harley threatened him over the phone with a weather machine. And so with all these outrages on Gordon's shoulders, Two-Face's transfer to Arkham could not have come at a worse time. Two-Face easily manipulated Gordon into attacking the wedding, then manipulates Harley into helping him escape with intel on Gordon. If any one truly got the last laugh, it was that conniving snake Two-Face. And Gordon's worse enemy isn't Harley or Two-Face, it's his impulses. He's not able to completely pull a 180 on his life. If he did, he wouldn't have brought that RPG launcher with him and Harley wouldn't have saved the day.
The episode had a fun who's who gallery of characters from the show as well as a few new faces. The random honorees that earn Gordon's ire were Space Cabbie, Tommy Tomorrow, and Vibe. Tommy Tomorrow in particular had some resonance because back in season one's "Finding Mr. Right," Harley got paired to him while she searched for a nemesis. Why he shows up at the wedding? In my head canon, Tommy's posting for a chill rivalry probably appealed to Kite Man and they hit it off. The award for obscure new villain was wedding guest Human Flame, who started off as a Martian Manhunter enemy in the comics. And yes, that design is as is from the comics. It was nice to see some brief appearances from returning characters like the Mayor, Tawny Young, Dr. Psycho, Riddler, Two-Face, Manbat, Jennifer, Nora and Maxie, Tabitha, Hippolyta, Hope and Mercy, Catwoman, Killer Croc, Victor Zsasz, Cheryl, and Bane made it out of the Pit, more Legion of Doom members like Black Manta, Solomon Grundy, Livewire, and Cheetah, Killer Frost, Felix Faust, Kite Man's parents, Debbie the Wedding Planner, Kite Man's roommate Bill, Sy Borgman. There's also a lot of great touches like you finally get to see a lot of these villains in action for the very first time like Maxie using lightning powers, Livewire electrocuting cops, or Grundy and Cheetah as well. But man, poor Debbie. Survived certain death at the hands of Parademon and pulled off the wedding, only to be sent through a portal by Faust. It was very satisfying to see Condiment King get his comeuppance. Guess Kite Man's going to need a new rival.
There was also a murderer's row of jokes. It was pretty apparent in the season one premiere, but a lot of great digs at the security at Arkham Asylum. Not only do Frank, Clayface, and King Shark easily infiltrate the security guards but Harley and Two-Face easily escape and jump the wall. The best dig, I thought, goes to Tawny when she announces Gordon accomplished absolutely nothing. But then Catwoman's 10 pounds jab that turned out to be true. Priceless! Lot of topicals like Ivy not outright telling Kite Man she had Condiment King eaten by Frank, the vegan doughnuts, Gordon tasering Frank, Clayface's relatable A/C dilemma, Jennifer's braids, Ivy breaking down the institutionalized norms or a wedding, or Harley not seeing through Gordon's priest disguise.
The only real gripe I had about the episode was the slight time skip because a couple bits left over from last week are unceremoniously solved, leaving the audience to fill the blanks at the start the episode. As result, it leaves a lot to be desired. Was there a lot of scenes dropped in these last two episodes for time or was this skip always the intent? The Trinity of the Justice League are no longer under the influence of the love pheromone and are getting keys to the city. What a missed opportunity for a quick gag of them as partial trees! Or Riddler was dealt with off screen and is incarcerated at Arkham Asylum along with Dr. Psycho and... Harley? It also didn't occur to me Joker was wrapped up and his last appearance would be in "Lovers' Quarrel" just chilling on Bethany's couch. Or Batgirl's last appearance was a non-speaking cameo gag also last week. A clearer resolution to some of the bigger name guest starts not showing up in the finale could have been a boon. The one line that may come off cringeworthy due to the current sociopolitical climate but in no way the crew would have predicted was Gordon admitting to the accidental shooting an an innocent person.
Let's talk about that ending. Could not have gone better in my book. They didn't lower the stakes and go for a cop out resolution like a non monogamous marriage. Kite Man made the first move and accepted the reality of the situation. He loved Ivy and wanted to marry her but Ivy's heart wasn't in it and she had no plan for their future like he did. Kite Man made the wise choice and called off the wedding. Harley and Ivy pull off their best Thelma and Louise and high tail it in the car with police in hot pursuit. Poison Ivy finally admits she was in denial and tells Ivy she loves her, too. And c'mon, they totally got away. They were driving down a street bounded by tons of trees. No way Gordon and the GCPD had that much time to change those out for plastic.
"Something Borrowed, Something Green" finds some much awaited peace and finality amid the chaos that breaks out between the villains and police at the big wedding. Kite Man and Poison Ivy come to terms with reality, Harley does the right thing for once, the couple we've been rooting for finally emerges in the final moments and they get their happy ending. An so does Frank apparently. This was the perfect end cap to both seasons, the series long emotional arc, and God forbid the series but more than enough is left open ended that the series could easily continue with a third season. Third season! Make it happen someone with a suit!
Rating: 8.8 out of 10