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.