Episode 8 Review
Harley Quinn
Harley Quinn has finally gotten the attention of the Legion of Doom and has been nominated for membership. After months of heists and racking up felonies, Harley has made it to the top. However, something smells fishy and once again, only Poison Ivy sees it. For unknown reasons, forces seem keen on wedging a divide between Harley and Ivy but will a timely reconciliation between Sy Borgman and his mutated sister Mirielle be enough to square things or is Harley doomed to hit the lowest low after swinging, punching, and kicking her way to the top?
"L.O.D.R.S.V.P" opens in media res and rather than a heist in Gotham City, the Crew has expanded their reach to Atlantis of all places. Harley makes off with ancient family jewels from the Atlantis Museum of Art thanks to distractions provided by King Shark and Clayface. However, Aquaman is quick to respond. Thankfully, Ivy came along on the heist as a favor and neutralizes Aquaman long enough for the Crew to haul it back to the lair. Harley is ecstatic to receive an invite from the Legion of Doom to come to headquarters to discuss further possibilities. Still banned, Dr. Psycho opts to sit out on the visit. Scarecrow gives Harley and the Crew a tour of the Hall of Doom and manages to excite everyone about being able to have access to all of the Legion's resources at anytime. Except Ivy. Not one to mince words, she confronts Lex Luthor who claims Harley will become a member only if Ivy becomes one, too. Prospective member night is a who's who of the DC villains: Grodd, Captain Cold, Riddler, Man Bat, Reverse Flash, Sinestro, Cheetah, Metallo, Felix Faust, Black Adam, Two Face, Toyman, Killer Croc, Livewire, Calendar Man, Parasite, Solomon Grundy, Black Manta, Penguin, and Bane. Ivy becomes more and more unnerved about Luthor's ultimatum then Harley's handling of Aquaman spurs her even more applause. Ivy becomes desperate to get Harley away and blows it. But Luthor announces Harley is the new member rather than KGBeast.
The other plot revolves around Sy coming clean to Psycho about the strange noises coming from under the lair. Typical stuff you could guess: he was the top cleaner for the CIA, his sister was the top scientist, he begged her to make him a monkey-octopus hybrid, she gets spliced with the octopus by accident and turns into a horrible creature, he locks her up under the mall for 35 years out of sight and out of mind. Like I said, very easy to guess. After Ivy storms off angry about being accused of trying to sabotage Harley's success, the crew literally falls into the other plot. Psycho uses himself as a telepathic intermediary between Sy and Mirielle. After they make amends, Sy decides enough is enough and releases Mirielle into the world to horrible effect and she goes on a rampage. The next day, Harley and the Crew return to the Hall of Doom. Even Psycho is allowed back in but with limitations of course. Harley thinks about texting an apology to Ivy but Luthor ushers over to see another member who insisted on dropping by. The Joker.
If the series premiere to last week's episode "The Line" is an arc about getting into the Legion, "L.O.D.R.S.V.P" definitely kicks off the next arc that covers the rest of the season. Harley gets into the Legion and it's all aces or did the fly just land in the spider's web? Did I insinuate the latter enough? Well, some things to mull on. Subject one, Harley and the crew have been at it for months. Then they get a invite. Sure Aquaman is a Justice League member and they made him look like a fool. But eh, it was Aquaman. Subject two, Scarecrow's tour. He definitely pushed all the good stuff specifically catered to the crew. A castle and real diver for King Shark. Improv night for Clayface. A Kryptonite-powered submarine that turns into a car that fires missiles gets Harley's eye. They get access to resources at any time they want. This is way too good to be true. Subject three, in the months this show has taken place over the course of, Harley got one invite. Ivy got 148. Subject four, Luthor's surprise ultimatum. Ivy joins or Harley doesn't. It ends up influencing Ivy to self-detonate her friendship with Harley and it turns out to be over nothing because Harley still gets in. As a result, Ivy leaves and now she's isolated and alone. Subject five, when Ivy attacks Luthor, he remarks "You're the only one that can do that." Something about that was way too ominous to discount. Subject six, of all the villains, Lex isn't at all perturbed at Aquaman's unannounced arrival and wrecking everything. Sure, Lex is a cool customer and everything is probably heavily insured. But did he secretly tip off Aquaman about Harley being at the party? Call me crazy but it all seems like a conspiracy to get Ivy all alone so she can be used for some L.O.D. scheme that would make use of her plant powers. Without Harley and the crew having her back, she's probably easy pickings under the right conditions.
The Crew gets their spotlight as usual but Dr. Psycho is the clear stand out of the episode. In fact, dare I say, this is probably the most likable he is so far in the series. But it's still hilarious that's he's the target for another whupping, this time when he gets slammed around by Mirielle then he calmly requests an explanation from Sy. Or the more subtle joke that he sleeps in a boy's car bed. The shocker was that he was gung-ho about pulling a Ghost and helping Sy and Mirielle reconnect. And even he's moved to tears by Mirielle's words. To cap it off, one more joke at his expense. He's back in with the Legion of Doom but he can't be in a caper were the crew might run into a super heroine. Clayface also gets in some hilarious beats. Like his over acting actually is a boon and he fools some Atlantean guards into thinking he's Aquaman or applauding Aquaman's eloquence. My favorite was claiming Stanislavski's book as a weapon, being rebuffed, then warning the worker it's on him if he acts someone to death. And his Superman impression has to be mentioned. Head chopping off and he muses it wasn't his worst review. Hilarious! King Shark drew the short straw this week but still got some funny beats like his retort to Aquaman on the boat or getting set off by the fish in the tank.
The guest hero this week was Aquaman. Chris Diamantopoulos voices him and some may recall he was the voice of Green Arrow in the Batman Unlimited direct-to-video movies. The appealing part of this Aquaman is that he has some similarities to the version of Aquaman in Batman: The Brave and The Bold. Very bombastic and super confident. Kind of a joke but still a powerhouse in a fight. Whoever came up with Harley's Frasier joke and the bits with Juba the doplphin hit the nail on the head. And Aquaman's fight against everyone at the Legion party was probably the most entertaining fight in the whole series thus far. And technically, Aquaman wasn't defeated. He was just too distracted with saving the saltwater marine life to continue on. I also loved the bits where he "breaks character" to tell Sinestro to grow up or when he responds to Harley's YMCA idea with sarcasm. I truly we'll see Aquaman again before this season concludes.
The guest villains were a real treat. Aside from all the non-speaking ones I listed earlier, Bane once again was a hoot. The chicken satay debacle. Oh, man. Then getting real and declaring politically correct culture is killing comedy. Or just the sheer surprise that instead of bulking up and charging Aquaman, he opts to simply stomp fish and mock him. Scarecrow, I'm not sold on him yet. Still a weird take on the character, almost a throw away. The reference to the take a knee movement was funny enough but anyone could have said it. This show's Lex Luthor turned out to be pretty much Lex Luthor. Cunning. But this is a Harley Quinn show. The Legion of Dildos joke, his admission he doesn't see a lot of movies, and no validating were funny enough. Kite Man was brief but he still made a big splash – being so endearing by calming Bane down or running into his nemesis, a crosswind. Like Black Manta, brief banter but still amusing. Same with KGBeast and his hands becoming hilarious props to us.
"L.O.D.R.S.V.P" is another solid episode, past the midway point of the season and still going strong. There's a lot of great action for once, there's a lot of palatable humor along with some usual crass, there's a lot of important and well done character moments, some intrigue about the rest of the season, drama between the show's BFFs that stays unresolved, and a bit of a surprise ending. Pumping on all cylinders, the show has reached to top of the roller coaster and there's still a lot of exciting turns to come. Don't be late for the party.
Rating: 8 out of 10