My Two Favorite Bojack Horseman Episodes

Bojack Horseman is a hard show to summarize mostly due to the variety of topics and themes it tackles and how unexplainable some scenes from the show are, especially without context.

I highly recommend this show. If I were given the opportunity to write on any finished/inactive TV show, due to a reboot or time travel, Bojack Horseman would be my second choice. The first would be Community which is my favorite show of all time and I cannot recommend enough.

I do not necessarily think these two episodes are the best or most impactful episodes but they are currently my favorites. Should I at some point rewatch the entire show that may change but I’m short on time and long on other blog and comic book ideas so here we are.

Unlike the last TV episode highlight I wrote, “Harley’s Holiday”, these episodes assume, reasonably so, that viewers have watched the previous seasons and episodes and as such these episodes will not work if these are the first episodes of the show you watch.

Bojack Kills (S3 E3)

In this episode, Bojack and Diane stumble onto a mysterious death and decide to investigate. Meanwhile, Todd and Mr. Peantbutter have been sprayed by a skunk and call Princess Carolyn for help.

Already I think this is one of the strengths of this episode, the way characters have been paired up. There is Mr. Peanutbutter and Todd for the comedic element and Princess Carolyn serves as the comedic foil to them. Bojack is ostensibly the comedic element in the episode, mostly in how he doesn’t take anything serious outside of the Oscar voters, and Diane as the comedic foil. Narrative terms aside, I think these groupings of characters tend to have the most interesting interactions generally and this episode is no exception.

At the start of the episode, Bojack, Diane, and Ana are attending a “Non-Denominational Winter Day” pageant from which several good jokes were extracted. What stands out to me in this episode and about the show in general, upon rewatching this episode, is how the show manages to have good jokes, solid writing, and snappy dialogue without being too quippy which is a problem that many modern pieces of media struggle with.

Early on in the episode, Mr. Peanutbutter reaches out to Princess Carolyn for help. I like how much people trust Princess Carolyn and look to her for help. In this episode, Mr. Peanutbutter simply states “you’re Princess Carolyn and you can fix anything.” It was nice to see her getting some “me” time before interruption as she often has workaholic tendencies. Later on, it was nice to see Princess Carolyn in her element, crushing it as a problem solver, as she often does.

There were several character moments in this episode. Despite it being the weekend and, if memory serves, Mr. Peanutbutter not being one of Princess Carolyn’s primary clients, she drops everything to help him which is very typical of her. Mr. Peanutbutter later in the episode, when updating Princess Carolyn on his marital problems, comes across as optimistic but not naïve. He’s trying to do what he can but he also has a frank and realistic view of how tenuous his marriage is currently. I’d have to go back to previous seasons to confirm this suspicion, but this does seem like character growth from Mr. Peantbutter. Whether his changed view of the world is borne of cynicism and nihilism due to failed marriages or from a simply more realistic neutral mindset when approaching problems and life itself. There are hints of Mr. Peanutbutter’s nihilistic life philosophy in early seasons, a notable example being Season 1 Episode 12 where he says “The universe is a cruel, uncaring void. The key to being happy isn't a search for meaning. It's to just keep yourself busy with unimportant nonsense, and eventually, you'll be dead.” In typical Mr. Peanutbutter fashion, he says this entire arguably depressing statement with a smile on his face and is literally cheerfully whistling moments after. Despite this outer appearance, it seems like the “happy” mask or attitude gets thinner and taken off faster as the seasons progress. Alright, let’s get back to the episode before this becomes the script for a Mr. Peanutbutter video essay.

Later in the episode, there is a very funny jump cut from a zoomed in Bojack saying “murder” in a serious tone to him dancing at a bat mitzvah. If nothing else, it is just nice to see Bojack happy. In unfortunately typical Bojack fashion, him not taking things seriously only applies to things unrelated to him, including the potential murder of someone, while he is still only focused on getting Oscar votes. Diane’s early on established passion for truth, justice, and avoidant tendencies are all strongly shown in her behavior in this episode as well. How much of her interest in the dead whale case is due to a genuine desire for the truth versus serving as a convenient excuse to avoid her marital problems is a bit unclear, although it’s likely a bit of both.

I also like how the episode takes a moment to have Diane drop one of the show’s many hard truths, saying that those happy, perky all the time people you see on TV are not real. This is a good message to give to the audience but the show doesn’t beat the viewer over the head with it either, which I appreciated.

Does it hold up?

Yeah, I would say so, I think this is still a very good episode although I would have liked to see the Todd, Mr. Peanutbutter, and Princess Carolyn side-plot resolved as well as some resolution to Mr. Peanutbutter and Diane’s fight.  

Stop the Presses (S3 E7)

This episode also starts fairly normal as Bojack simply sets out to cancel his newspaper subscription to the “LA Gazette”. The one customer representative at the LA Gazette frantically escalates the situation in a scene which contains some funny visual gags. The call eventually gets escalated to the “Closer” who begins to talk to Bojack. What starts as a basic newspaper cancellation request quickly turns into essentially a therapy session for Bojack.

One thing I like, which is another testament to the voice acting in this episode, especially Candice Bergen who voices the Closer, is in instances where the Closer calls Bojack out on his poor decisions, she genuinely seems to care about Bojack and his friends. Despite only being on the phone for six minutes thus far early in the episode, the Closer already appears invested in Bojack’s life and wants better for him. One moment in particular, the Closer says “What? Why?” while conveying a variety of emotions including confusion and frustration, with just those words and Candice Bergen’s delivery of the lines. The Closer arguably is a viewer surrogate who gets frustrated and confused when Bojack continues his self-destructive behaviors. The Closer as a therapist creates an interesting dynamic and serves as a solid foundation for the story to build upon.

Any TV episode with “Character Actress and Fugitive from the Law” Margo Martindale is immediately elevated in quality and this episode is no exception as she is a recurring character and always fun to see.

This is a fairly minor thing but this episode puts in the leg work to have what would otherwise be non-sequiturs, such as the giant paper mâché Todd head and stolen food, by establishing them beforehand and weaving them into the narrative of the episode, which I appreciated. 

Does it hold up?

This is another solidly written episode. What could easily be a mundane story manages to be quite captivating with jokes, interesting visuals, and an ever-evolving storyline that interweaves well.

Conclusion:

The comedy of both episodes is pleasantly varied, the episodes include several recurring jokes such as self-aware/meta jokes, visual gags, puns, and crazy rhyming sentences.

Both of these episodes punctuate a serious moment with a well-timed joke which is a difficult thing to pull off without undercutting the moment.

These episodes in some senses seem like a highlights / greatest hits episode without resorting to being a “clips” episode. They both serve to showcase the strengths of the show: superb writing, excellent voice acting, and likeable and flawed characters. I highly recommend both these episodes and the show Bojack Horseman in general.

Harley Quinn Season 4 Review

Introduction

The following review of Harley Quinn Season 4 will contain spoilers and references for Harley Quinn Seasons 1 through 3.

Harley Quinn Season 4 consists of 10 episodes and features the voicing talents of Kaley Cuoco, Lake Bell, Alan Tudyk, Ron Funches, Tony Hale, J.B. Smoove, Diedrich Bader, and James Adomian.

Show’s Commentary and Messages

For the sake of completeness, I will briefly address show’s many instances of social, political, ideological, gender, etc., commentary.  I will focus on it insomuch as it affects the overall show and my enjoyment of it as opposed to trying to unpack the messages and figure out what the messages truly even are. I am not trying to minimize or dismiss the show’s messages but the messages are sometimes mixed and I am primarily reviewing the show from a narrative perspective.

My frustration with the messages is less on whether or not I wholly agree with them and more the heavy handedness and preachiness with which it is presented, the “straw man” nature of many of those the show is making fun of or criticizing (which I would argue weakens the overall point I believe they are trying to make), and just tiredness from being reminded how much things can and do suck from a sociological, economical, societal, etc. perspective.

General Thoughts

• I feel like the idea of Harley Quinn being in the Bat Family is constantly butting heads with plot questions, characters, logistics, and story directions. Which sounds more interesting Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy trying to navigate how their new work dynamic affects their relationship or Harley Quinn and her gang trying to take over Gotham City? Harley being in the Bat Family goes against one of the previous seasons’ strengths, a lovable gang of colorful misfits against the world and the big guys trying to make a name for themselves and climb the villain ladder. There is a reason so many shows and movies can be summarized as a group of misfits trying to navigate life or achieve a goal.  Early seasons also seemed to have a more clearly defined goal: S1 – Harley wants to lead a respected villain gang, S2 – retake / take over Gotham City, S3 – save Frank, S4 - ? (Ivy wants to lead the Legion of Doom well, Harley wants to be a respected member of the Bat Family).

• The Bat Family is not particularly interested and feel fairly one-dimensional

• Despite what the rest of this may article may imply, I feel like I don’t have that much to say about this season which is not a great sign.

• I personally felt like this was the weakest season thus far and I was curious if others felt the same way. While IMDb user reviews are by no means the ultimate arbiters of truth or quality, they can often be at least a useful reference point and example of the public opinion. The average episode review score for each season on IMDb is: S1 – 8.26, S2 – 8.45. S3- 7.96, S4 – 7.51. While working on this article, I rewatched the King Shark introduction from Season 1, which is, if nothing else, an overall great scene, and the writing in the clip alone feels much stronger in terms of quality, naturalness, and character nature than most of Season 4.

• While I will acknowledge that it is possible that part of why I enjoyed this season less than others is because I watched the previous seasons for fun and this season was with the intention of writing about it and keeping an eye out for flaws or other potential talking points, I do not think that was a particularly impactful contributing factor.

Likes

• There are some good jokes or visual gags that I found funny.

• Harley wears a disguise early on which I liked and found amusing.

• The reappearances of “socially awkward” Poison Ivy were fun and endearing.

• Poison Ivy genuinely wants to be better with people, mentor others, and listens to their ideas with varying amount of sincerity and attention.

• There is a Dark Knight Rises reference which I though was funny.

• There was a good twist in the show where a plan had a consequence I had not thought of which I though was clever.

Dislikes

• This season feels like it lacks an overarching threat, obstacle or goal which weakens it in my opinion. Some recurring antagonists appear throughout. Harley and Ivy’s goals seem less relatable than in previous seasons to an extent. Previous seasons felt like they did a better job of both having an overarching plot for the season while still being able to have essentially “one off” episodes that do not necessarily progress the main plot but also do not feel like unnecessary padding or an arbitrary detour.

• There is also a general lack of stakes or drama. Characters dying or being seriously injured has little weight or impact and seem to only serve to move the plot and story forward. One instance is played as a platform for jokes and as an inciting incident and another is used as a heavy dramatic cliffhanger at the end of the episode.

• King Shark and Clayface have been sidelined and rarely show up which is unfortunate because they are among the most interesting characters and they have a good dynamic as part of the Harley Quinn gang in earlier seasons. Admittedly, I am biased as King Shark is one of my favorite characters on the show. In this season they are almost reduced to cameo appearances which continues the trend of sidelining which seemed to start in season 3. Bane seems to have more screen time than King Shark or Clayface in this season which would be less of an issue if Bane was not portrayed in the show as a joke character.

• Harley and Ivy’s new work dynamic initially adds an interesting complication to their relationship but this dynamic does not seem to evolve much throughout the show and the first few episodes in particular it feels like the characters are going in circles trying to navigate their new work aspects which gets old fairly quickly.

• The heavy handedness, mixed message, preachiness, and strawman nature of the show’s messages detracted from my overall enjoyment of the show.

• Jim Gordon is a frustratingly inconsistent character to the point that I am unsure if he is intentionally written as such or if his character simply changes based on what the plot needs it to be.

• There were a few instances of “plot armor” going beyond what my suspension of disbelief would allow which is not great.

• There are a few lines of dialogue which really do not land and are honestly fairly corny or just nonsensical.

• The Suicide Squad was briefly introduced previously, in Season 3 I believe, and there is no payoff or follow up to that in this season.

• The main cast of characters overall is less interesting and fun or interesting even side characters from previous seasons make no appearance: Kiteman, Sy, Riddler, the aforementioned Suicide Squad, Swamp Thing, etc. It occurs to me making this list that earlier seasons of the show doesn’t have that many female characters that are not minor characters outside of Harley, Ivy, Batgirl, and Nora. Some other characters from previous seasons make brief appearances and are underutilized.

• The show teases a much more interesting scene which is just used as a plot device for Harley and Alfred to work together for a bit which continues the trend of underutilizing or exploring DC’s vast library of colorful and interesting characters. A potential arguable pitfall is to use such a library for jokes and cameo’s alone instead of the viewer actually learning more about the characters. This feels like another instance of the show going in a less interesting direction.

• There is an overall lack of emotionally impacting moments in the show. There are certainly emotional moments for the characters of the show but I did not find any of them particularly moving or impactful especially as compared to previous seasons.

• There is a distractingly obvious Chekhov’s gun setup moment that occurs.

• The show pays homage to a previous DC graphic novel in a moment / plot development that it does not feel like has been earned. It is difficult to have much sense of drama with a character lacking in screen time, personality, or story focus.

What Would I Have Done differently?

I would have brought in the Suicide Squad and had that been the primary antagonist for Harley and the Bat Family for the season. This not only addresses the lack of a primary antagonist but also creates the potential to initially emphasize the difficulties of Harley and Ivy’s new work dynamic but could also have resolved that once they realized that while they cannot discuss the Suicide Squad issue with each other they could still fight together to stop them. There would still be the potential for conflict once the Suicide Squad was defeated with regard to what to do with the Suicide Squad.

Ivy could bring in King Shark and Clayface for a high-profile crime for her first big crime as the CEO of the Legion of Doom. Then she has to adjust to being the CEO and tries letting villains do what they want as long as it fits within her “socially conscious evil”. Ivy being the CEO of the Legion of Doom is an interesting idea in premise but in reality, there are many ways it ends up being a writing dead end and not particularly entertaining. I think an episode of Ivy drafting a team from the Legion of Doom’s roster and then performing whatever heist, crime, etc. would have been an interesting A or B plot for an episode. As a B or C plot, King Shark and Clayface could be trying to start their own gang and pulling off heists.

Should I watch this show/season?

While I strongly recommend the show overall, I think season 4 is the weakest one thus far. If you have watched the previous and enjoyed them you will likely enjoy season 4.

Where can I watch this show?

The show is available for streaming on Max. Also be sure to watch the Season 3 episode 11 “A Very Problematic Valentine's Day Special”, which was released several months after the rest of season 3, before Season 4, as the recap at the start of Season 4 spoils the plot.

Conclusion

I have recommended the Harley Quinn show to several friends and will continue to do so. If Season 5 decides to also take the show in a new direction, I hope the writing and narrative direction improve. I think the fact that this season went in a different or new direction is not the issue. It is in the way this new direction is written and unfolds that ultimately feels unsatisfying, disappointing, and weaker than previous seasons.

Breaking Icebreaker Questions

Icebreakers can be a good way to get to know people better, depending on the question and peoples’ answers. They can also often pose an opportunity for some creative or unusual answers. In this post, I am going to explore a variety of icebreaker questions and answers that abuse loopholes or open up the potential for more possibilities.

I will also quickly address that I understand that the intended purpose of icebreaker questions is not to find the most optimal or “game-breaking” answers but it is nonetheless an interesting thought exercise.

To keep the post relatively short, I only picked one site which listed a little under 200 icebreaker questions, and tried to find as many as I could with loopholes of some sort.

This will make sense later

If you could visit one setting/world, what would you choose?

Before I get into some of the answers, just as a fun fact, this question was the one that inspired this post in the first place. While considering my genuine answers, I came up with a few answers which would essentially break the restrictions of the question, i.e. only being able to choose one world to visit, and could lead to some interesting adventures. The answers are in the order I came up with them, preparing follow up answers in the event I got push back on the previous one, in a similar vein to the supposed rule that you cannot wish for more wishes.

• In my opinion the quickest and easiest way to game the system is to visit Agrabah, setting of the 1992 Disney animated movie Aladdin. While there I would follow Aladdin to the Cave of Wonders or just do my homework beforehand so I know the exact location of the Cave of Wonders.

For those of you wondering, “Wouldn’t the Cave of Wonders not let you in if you intend to use the lamp for selfish gains as the cave only allows entry to the ‘diamond in the rough’?” With that in mind, it would probably be less risky to just wait until he escapes the Cave of Wonders and then “borrow” the lamp from him, I’d only need the one wish and then he could have the lamp back for two wishes and to free Genie. The one wish would be to have the ability to grant wishes which, in my opinion, is the best wish option for genie lamps in general as it sidesteps the potential denial that would come with wishing for infinite wishes, which would also doom the genie to infinite servitude which is obviously terrible. Once I have the ability to grant wishes then traversing the multiverse is simple and if nothing else, I could then visit all the settings I would actually want to visit like: Diagon Alley, Avengers Tower, the X-Mansion, the Hall of Justice, Café Leblanc, etc.

• Alright, I’m going to pick up a pace with this because if I go super in-depth on each sub-answer this will take forever to read and to write. Another option would be to travel to the world of the movie “Wonder Woman 1984”, find the Dreamstone, and make the same aforementioned wish. Also, just as an aside, Pedro Pascal’s character in the movie, Maxwell Lord, makes a similar but in my opinion poorly worded version of this type of wish. He says “I wish to be you, the Dreamstone, itself” which especially given the theme of ill-thought out wishes and unintended consequences that persists throughout myths about genies and Monkey’s Paw situations, this seems like a wish that could have easily backfired and it is surprising that the wish is not granted completely literally as worded instead of as intended. In the movie, Maxwell simply gains the ability to grant others’ wishes by gaining the powers of the Dreamstone. Once again, the ability to grant wishes would be gained and thus the ability to travel anywhere by extension would have also been obtained.

Aside from abusing gaining the ability to grant wishes to then visit all worlds, there is also the “Army of Darkness” approach (spoiler alert) — instead of using one setting visit to gain the ability to visit other settings, one could use it to take over the world or the entire Tri-State area when one returned after visiting the chosen world or setting. I will quickly run through a few options. Again, I am going to keep things general and won’t go super deep on the details or the precise backstory of everything.

Marvel:

• Break into Oscorp and take the spider (Specimen 42 on Earth 1610) that gave Miles Morales his powers

• Obtaining the reality stone

• Stealing Pym particles

• Stealing super soldier serum

• Stealing an Iron Man suit

• Working near the particle accelerator that gave Molecule Man his powers right before it explodes

DC:

• Make a makeshift lightning rod and chemicals set to gain super speed as done by the Flash in the animated DC movie “Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox”

• Stealing Mr. Mxyzptlk’s bowler hat from the “My Adventures with Superman” show universe, assuming that would actually work and the hat doesn’t just strengthen his, and only his, powers.

If you could have an unlimited supply of one thing for the rest of your life, what would you pick?

Wishes

If you could have one super power, what would it be?

As I will talk about in another article I am working on, “The Trouble with Speedsters”, the optimal answer is super-speed. In the spirit of breaking the question though, again, the power to grant wishes opens the door to gaining all other super powers and I would argue is the best answer.

You can only eat one food again for the rest of your life. What is it?

Originally, I thought that Willy Wonka’s Everlasting Gobstopper was going to be the optimal answer, assuming it has any nutritional value.

A game-breaking answer for this one is actually Wonka’s Magic Chewing Gum, from the 1971 classic “Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory.” This gum, Wonka claims, contains a full three-course meal. After ignoring Wonka’s warning, Violet tries the gum which quickly backfires, resulting in her swelling up like a balloon.

Based on my vague memory of this scene, I was under the impression the gum simply tasted like a three-course meal, not that it actually contained one, and that the blowing up like a blueberry was simply a side-effect of the gum not working properly. After re-watching the scene in the original and in the remake, the gum appears to actually contain a three-course meal.

The fact that Violet fills up with juice, which Wonka states in the original movie, indicates that there are some food-like substances (i.e., juice from a blueberry as part of the blueberry pie) contained within the gum. She also says she can feel the tomato soup going down her throat. Assuming the gum is made in different flavors this provides the ability to still consume all types of meals while technically only consuming one food, depending on if you even consider candy a type of food, especially gum which you chew instead of swallow. The biggest concern with this answer is the actual level of nutrition within the gum and the meals therein and whether that would be enough to sustain a human’s existence.

Also, if you are wondering, in the remake “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, the magic chewing gum works much the same. Wonka says, “Just a little strip of Wonka’s Magic Chewing Gum and that is all you will ever need at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”

If you could live in any state, which state would you pick?

A state of constant happiness

Pick any band to play at your funeral.

I would choose a band of clerics or, in a pinch, necromancers who could/would bring me back to life

Part 2 — Optimal but not “game breaking” answers

If you could live in any country, which country would you pick?

Wakanda. It’s the most technologically advanced country on the planet in the Marvel Comics and Cinematic Universe.

If you could be any supernatural creature, which would you pick?

• If we are thinking on a smaller scale, any creature with the ability to turn intangible that can also interact with objects (essentially a creature with the powers of Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat) would be ideal. Casper the Friendly Ghost initially seemed like an optimal choice as he can “be intangible (along with making his sheet this way) since when he is unaware, things pass right through him. But he is also able to physically affect things, such as moving around things or people.” So one becomes Casper, turns intangible and waltzes into Fort Knox, takes a bunch of gold, then wins. If ghosts are consider creatures, then the DC character Deadman would be the better choice for the above plan and just in general as he can take over the bodies of people but also pass through solid objects. The difference between Deadman and Casper then gets into the technicalities and character backstories as Deadman was once a live human and the character Casper was initially implied to have once been a human child. Around the time people started realizing the implication that this cartoon ghost is the spirit of a dead child which is pretty dark for what is ostensibly a children’s cartoon character, the explanation provided by Harvey Comics was “that he was a ghost simply because his parents were already ghosts when they were married.” Long story short, let’s just choose Deadman as the small scale answer for this question as he is quite strong, especially in a world without superheroes. For those playing the long-con, Deadman could pose the potential for world domination as the ability to take over bodies is invaluable when attempting to take over the world.

• The biggest problem with this question and looking into powerful creatures is 1) they tend to be evil, in terms of alignment, although presumably were one to become such a creature the decisions would still be within one’s own control and 2) the logistical issue of fitting in with normal society, i.e., if a giant five-headed dragon showed up on Earth it would immediately get blasted by a bunch of missiles or nukes. As such, many powerful creatures are simply not conducive for living on Earth in any meaningful non-recluse way.

• Honorable mentions (Marvel, DC, and miscellaneous):
  - The Impossible Man (he is an alien from the planet Poppup so maybe not technically a creature, also he’s called the Impossible Man but he is also called Impy so it’s a bit unclear what one would classify him as outside of ‘alien’)
  - Fin Fang Foom
  - Groot
  - Devil Dinosaur
  - Cosmo
  - Lockjaw
  - Lockheed
  - Bat-Mite (I know it’s not ideal to be what appears to be the Scrappy-Doo of Batman characters, but you still get to hang around Batman so that’s something)
  - Swamp Thing
  - King Kong

• Genuine answer — Mr. Mxyzptlk. He’s got magic powers, is married to Gsptlsnz, gets to mess with Superman for his own entertainment, and he was voiced by Gilbert Gottfried in “Superman: The Animated Series”, what more could you ask for in a character? Also, the DCAU fandom Wiki classifies him as an imp which I think is enough to classify him as a creature even though that seems a bit reductive of what/who otherwise seems to be a trickster entity that is difficult to classify. He seems too powerful for an imp is my point although the definition and powers of imps presumably varies across different fictional universes.

Mr. Mxyzptlk is classified as an Imp in the DC Animated Universe fandom page

Part 3 — Honorable Mentions (aka snarky answers)

You are the best criminal mastermind in the world. What crime would you commit if you knew you would get away with it?

Nice try

What season would you be?

Summer in Texas because I’d be extremely hot.

Which class is both difficult and fun? (--“As seen in the ‘School’ questions icebreakers section, just for context” - CBW)

The middle class

Which class do you wish the school offered?

The upper class

If you had to write a textbook, what would it be on?

Paper probably, maybe a digital edition only.

References:

· https://teambuilding.com/blog/icebreaker-questions

· https://casper.fandom.com/wiki/Casper_the_Friendly_Ghost

· https://dcau.fandom.com/wiki/Mr._Mxyzptlk

My Adventures with Superman

Introduction

“My Adventures with Superman” Season 1 consists of 10 episodes featuring the voicing talents of Jack Quaid as Clark Kent/Superman, Alice Lee as Lois Lane, and Ishmel Sahid as Jimmy Olsen. It covers the adventures of Superman/Clark Kent, Lois Lane, and Jimmy Olsen as they investigate strange occurrences and crimes throughout Metropolis.

The following review will contain minimal, if any, spoilers for Season 1 of “My Adventures with Superman.”

Likes

I really like Lois Lane’s personality in this show. First of all her even having a personality has not always been a given, her previous appearances in “Superman: The Animated Series” comes to mind. I think she demonstrates more personality in the first five minutes of this show than she shows in multiple episodes of “Superman: The Animated Series” combined. Even in just the first episode she demonstrates that she is ambitious, funny, and a quick thinker.

• I’m not sure if Lois coming up with the name ‘Superman’ is a deliberate homage to the previous Superman animated series, or if that commonly occurs in Superman comics. Regardless, I liked this as again it helps position Lois as a formative part of Clark becoming Superman and makes her more than just that girl that Superman saves all the time.

• There are some genuinely funny moments in this show.

• The show does a good job of demonstrating someone’s character with well-written dialogue.

• This is a difficult one to do without spoiling but one particular character does and another specific character does not appear in Season 1 which I think makes the show better overall. That said, I am biased so the show gets a million bonus points for including this mystery character who I am always excited to see and think is a fascinating character. The show’s portrayal and interpretation of the character I did not entirely love and I have liked other portrayals better. That said, I was just happy to see them at all.

• The voice acting is very well done by the main cast of characters as well as the supporting cast.

Dislikes

When Jimmy is first introduced, his quirkiness levels are set to 11 for some reason. I like the direction they are taking the character in, if nothing else in the fact that he has an actual personality and existence outside of “guy with camera”, but his quirkiness comes off a bit too strong initially. This is a fairly minor nitpick if I am being honest but it did stand out to me.

• The initial focus for one episode is a singular event for the day but the characters are immediately sidetracked by an adventure. That’s fine but after the adventure, the viewer doesn’t get to see the event itself which feels like a missed opportunity, especially for more character moments and development.

• In one episode a conflict is resolved due to a weakness that I do not think makes sense and seems to mostly serve for the sake of plot convenience.

• There are a few instances of contrivance that occur within the show that stand out to me and detract from the overall good writing. The following are a few generalized examples so as to avoid spoilers:
  - Heroes and villains on occasion just so happen to bump into each other on occasion.
  - Characters seem to be able to find each other quickly and easily regardless of whether they really know them or have any real means of contacting them. I’m not coming to a show about a flying alien with super speed and strength among other powers for pure realism, but random plot moments like this do take me out of the show a bit.
  - This is probably my least favorite trope/cliché/plot device, the old “character is about to do or say something important and is interrupted right before doing so” moment; by my counts this occurred three times in the first season to my frustration.
  - This one is difficult to do without spoilers so I will just say, characters do some arguably foolish things to protect their secrets which then end up revealing said secrets.
  - One particular misunderstanding occurs which I think could have been written so the result is the same story-wise (character X is mad at character Y) but in a less contrived manner. It’s nothing too extreme or absurd but it does feel a bit too engineered or artificial to seem like a believable occurrence in the established world.

Should I watch this show?

My recommendation of this show to you depends on if you answer yes to at least one of the following questions:

1. Do you like or have an interest in Superman, Lois Lane, and Jimmy Olsen?

2. Do you like anime and/or animated shows which draw inspiration from anime?

3. Do you like shows with personality, charm, emotion, heart, and good character writing?

Where can I watch this show?

The show is available for streaming on adult swim and Max.

Conclusion

I thoroughly enjoyed this show and I highly recommend it.

One of the Best Episodes of Batman: The Animated Series

Just as a bit of background and context setting, I did not watch Batman: The Animated Series growing up. I saw clips here and there but did not see more than a few episodes. I say this just to establish that I have no “nostalgia goggles” when I watched this show for the first time a few years back as an adult.

The episode I am talking about is from Season 3 Episode 6: “Harley’s Holiday”. It is tied with Season 3 Episode 2: “Second Chance” for the highest rated episode of that season, on IMDB, with a user review score of 8.5.

If you haven’t seen the episode, I do recommend watching it although I am unsure how well the episode works as a standalone episode. As long as you have a general familiarity with the characters, I think the episode will at a minimum at least make sense. That said, I do think the character moment that makes this one of my favorite episodes is not as impactful without the contrast of all the other episodes to compare it to as well as previous scenes that further establish and develop the characters.

The episode begins at Arkham Asylum inside of which Harley Quinn is being informed that she will be released tomorrow as she passed her competency hearing. Batman and Robin walk the Scarecrow down a nearby hall, dropping him off. Harley leaves the office she was sitting in and Batman comments to Harley that he hears she is getting out tomorrow. Harley asks if he has a problem with that and flinches as Batman extends his hand and simply says “Congratulations.” Harley shakes his hand and tells him that she plans to stay on the straight and narrow. As she tries to pull her hand away, Batman does not loosen his grip and he leans in and says, “For your sake, I hope so.”

Next we see Harley cruising down the sidewalk, on roller skates and being led by her two pet hyenas, with citizens scattering and frantically getting out of the way. Harley incorrectly interprets their fear and scattering as being due to her outfit so she goes into a nearby clothing store. Harley picks out a dress and hands over the cash but leaves before the store employee removes the security tag, causing the alarm to trigger. A security guard comes over, who actually seems to understand the situation and tries to remove the security tag, but Harley won’t let him, saying, “It’s a frame up!”

Bruce, who was also at the clothing store, runs to the fitting rooms Harley ran off to and tries to calm her down. Harley emerges, visibly agitated, in her Harley Quinn costume. Just as a brief aside, I did not realize or think about this when I first watched this episode but the fact that she had her costume with her means that either 1) she planned on returning to crime (a theory which is not really supported by the episode, Harley genuinely seemed to want to go clean) or 2) she figured she’d be profiled as a criminal and thus becoming Harley Quinn again was inevitable. It is also possible that this was not a planned implication and I am reading too much into things but it fits within the narrative that this was intentionally written that way. Harley then claims that society is to blame and is why she could not leave a life of crime. She then runs out and steals a car, incidentally kidnapping Veronica Vreeland while doing so. Later Batman and Robin discuss the Harley situation and Batman genuinely believes she was trying to go clean this time and wants to get to her first before things get worse and so she doesn’t ruin her chance. They catch up to Harley, and Robin offers to help resolve things before they get worse. Harley doesn’t believe him as she thinks they just want to take her back to Arkham. Harley goes to a local crime boss, Boxy, where she asks for help skipping town because she wants to go clean. Boxy wants to ransom Veronica, because she is rich, but Harley doesn’t. Batman arrives and a surprising amount of combat using fish as weapons occurs. Harley saves Veronica amid the chaos and they flee the scene. While driving, Veronica asks Harley if she meant what she said about letting her [Veronica] go free. Harley says yes. Veronica asks why not explain the situation to which Harley replies, “With my past, I don’t even believe it myself.”

Veronica’s father, who is a current or former general, joins the pursuit of Harley in a tank. Nope, sorry, I can’t do it. I can’t include that in the summary and continue on as if that is normal or makes sense within the confines of the world established by this show. Even disregarding the implication that current or foreign generals can summon tanks at their whim and then drive them into a city full of civilians, this just seems like an odd plot point and also stood out to me more during my second watch. This is a surprisingly cartoonish plot aspect to occur in a show that is, generally speaking, fairly serious in tone, inter cut with jokes on occasion. I don’t necessarily care about the realism aspects from a more technical perspective, i.e., that a tank could match or come close to the speeds of a speeding car. What makes this plot line even more questionable/bizarre is that General Vreeland then begins shooting at the car Harley is driving, a car that Veronica is still currently in and the General clearly knows that. Why he shoots at and continues to shoot at them is beyond me. Again, I don’t really care that much that no one in Gotham City, including the police, seem to care or be phased that a literal tank is driving down the highway and shooting at a car, which to be fair a lot of stranger things probably happen day to day in Gotham anyway, but again this seems like an odd choice story-wise. If the point of the tank was to raise the stakes and establish imminent danger it seems like having Boxy shooting at them would have worked instead. I point out these aspects that stood out to me not as plot holes or mistakes but simply as things that I noticed more and wanted to talk about during a second watching. The fact that someone is talking about it and why it is a great episode a little under 30 years after its release implies some level of quality as well as lasting impact.

Harley later releases Veronica and then attempts to escape. Batman chases her onto a nearby rooftop and again tries to talk her down and convince her not to run away. She replies that she’s “having a bad day” and “sick of people trying to shoot me.” They fight briefly and eventually Batman captures her as she tries to escape. Next, we see Batman and Robin escorting Harley back into Arkham Asylum. Harley asks Batman, “Why’d you stay with me all day risking your butt for someone who’s never given ya anything but trouble” to which Batman replies, “I know what it’s like to try and rebuild a life.” And then, handing Harley the dress she had bought earlier that episode, Batman says “I had a bad day too, once.” Assuming this is referring to the alleyway robbery which turned into the murder of his parents, this seems like a massive understatement. That said, this is the character moment that makes this one of my favorite episodes, while he may have felt a moral obligation to help Harley avoid being sent back to Arkham unnecessarily, he certainly didn’t have to get her the dress she bought. It’s a surprisingly touching and human moment that I think is worth celebrating. Harley is clearly touched by the gift and gesture as a whole and says, “Nice guys like you shouldn’t have bad days.”

An argument could be made that the message of the episode is also the judgements and difficulties former convicts face when trying to re-enter society after incarceration. That message gets muddled a bit because of 1) the viewer’s general knowledge and association of the Harley Quinn character (villain, criminal, chaos incarnate, etc.) and 2) the viewer’s knowledge of Harley’s exploits just within the context of the show, which I will now detail.

The following are all the previous Harley appearances in the show, prior to this episode (thanks Batman Wiki!):

“Joker’s Favor¹” (S1 E7):

· Involved with a bomb placing which, had Batman not intervened, would have killed about 26 people, she literally pins the bomb to Commissioner Gordon’s chest

“Laughing Fish” (S1 E46):

· Spraying Mr. Francis with a Joker Gas spray

· Tying up Detective Bullock who was going to then be killed by a shark

· Actively lowering Bullock into a shark tank

“Almost Got ‘Im” (S1 E35):

· Involved in holding audience on a talk show hostage

· Involved in attempted murder of Batman

· Involved in attempted murder of Catwoman

“Harley and Ivy” (S1 E47):

· Stealing diamonds from Gotham Museum

· Robbing a men’s club, they did seem like jerks though, still not legal to rob them

· Robbery or hostage situation, the Gotham Times headline says “Lethal Ladies Storm Gotham” and shows a picture Harley and Ivy with tommy guns. The crime itself is unclear from the photo although a few hostages are in the background.

· “Rare Plant Stolen” — Gotham Times

· Stealing jewelry (“New Queens of Crime” — Gotham Times)

· Blowing up a car

· Attempted murder of Batman (I’m starting to sense a pattern here)

“The Man Who Killed Batman” (S1 E49):

· Robbery of the Diamond Exchange

· Attempted murder of Sidney Debris aka “Sid the Squid”

“Harlequinade” (S2 E10):

· Partially aiding and almost leaving with the Joker, leaving a bomb that would wipe out Gotham City

· Attempted murder of Joker

There are several attempted murders by Harley in the above which does arguably underline that apprehension by Gotham citizens around post-Arkham release Harley is perhaps justifiable. That said I do think the message about the difficulties of post-incarceration life is certainly thought provoking and well portrayed in this episode.

I think this episode serves as both an excellent character study of Harley Quinn but also as a reminder of how much of a difference small gestures can make.

[1] This episode is actually the first appearance of Harley Quinn in any DC media, she did not originate from the comics.

-CBW