Harley Quinn Season 3 Review – The Evolution Of Characters And Relationships

On the surface, Harley Quinn is a series I honestly shouldn’t like as I whole. I speak to this on a person level because it’s very raunchy, full of fowl language (I don’t swear, yes, I am that old-school), blood is everywhere and they play it VERY fast and loose with a LOT of DC Comics characters and their histories. Yet, when I finally was able to binge the first two seasons on HBO Max, I really enjoyed it because of the sharp writing, great animations, and hilarity of all that was going on. Fast forward a couple of years after the Season 2 finale, and the show is back! And as this Harley Quinn Season 3 Review will hopefully show you, it hasn’t lost its touch.

So, as Season 2 revealed, Harley and Ivy are together at last! Harlivy is strong, the people love it (you hear that DC Comics?!?!) and the “Eat! Bang! Kill! Tour” is on in its opening episodes. Now, the showrunners promised that they wouldn’t deal with a “potential breakup” with the characters, which many were grateful for. But, that didn’t mean there weren’t going to be struggles. After all, this was a new relationship that was born from a longtime friendship and that leads to many bumps in the road, which this show honestly showed well when it came to the overall story.

I say that because in the beginning, Harley wanted to do all she could for Ivy to make her happy and “do everything together”, but as it was VERY apparent within the first episode…they have different definitions of fun and “how to live out their dreams”. Ivy is a brilliant scientist who dreams of terraforming the world, and Harley…well…she’s going through some growth in a non-plant way that she’s still working out. But the thought of losing Ivy pushes her to try and connect with her new partner in ways that at times felt desperate, and yet totally understandable.

As I saw one person note, the show literally went into a couple’s sitcom, and it worked most of the time. You were sad when things weren’t working with these two, and you were happy when they went and worked it out because you WANT them to be together. But key in this, you wanted them to be together in a HEALTHY way, and not a forced relationship. Which, trust me, we have PLENTY of those in superhero shows from all sides of the spectrum, you can probably think of some right off the top of your head, right?

The final two episodes perfectly punctuated their FINALLY coming to an understanding of what they want to be as a couple, and what they NEED to be as a couple. Meaning that Ivy realized that Harley had become honestly rather heroic, even sacrificing herself in the penultimate episode to stop a plant apocalypse. She’s also “friendly” (Not friends!) with Batgirl, and she apparently doesn’t want to kill people anymore (outside of Mad Hatter just to prove a point.) The thing about relationships is that you don’t have to be 100% in sync. Love is about working through the differences to find a compromise where both can be happy without sacrificing part of who you are. Harley and Ivy finally reached that equilibrium by seasons’ end and I look forward to seeing where their relationship goes in the CONFIRMED Season 4.

Oh, and I speak for many fans when I say I hope Ivy is a hero by the end of next season. Because we definitely aren’t getting that in the comics…

One thing I was honestly surprised about in Season 3 though was the even deeper focus on the Bat-Family and its various members. Yes, Season 1 and 2 focused on certain things, including the rise of Batgirl and Batman accepting his limitations, but Season 3 pushed things FAR with them and it was both hilarious and emotional at the same time. Such as when Nightwing returned to Gotham City and things didn’t exactly go as he planned. His dynamic with Batgirl is honestly something I wish we got more of. Not just because of their relationship in the comics, but because there is a lot of fun to be had with these versions of them.

Speaking of which, Barbara being the “lone voice of reason” in her father’s mayoral campaign? Great. Her being very socially awkward and actually trying to be friends with Harley Quinn? Hilarious. Another “relationship” I’d love to see evolve next year.

Then, there was Batman, who had a WHOLE LOT of development throughout the season. It was both hilarious and freaky to see what they did with Bruce/Batman this go around. From his relationship fail with Catwoman (for now…), to the great rendering of his inner turmoil, to ALL THE BAT-REFERENCES from TV shows and movies past, it was awesome. Then, to have him form a “doctor/patient” bond with Harley Quinn? Who saved him from himself at points? That was the icing on the cake.

Oh, and  he got arrested for tax evasion and also tried to resurrect his dead parents which nearly started that zombie apocalypse I mentioned earlier. That was different.

Ironically though, and I know this is going to sound bad at first, the character I was most interested in whenever they were on screen…was Joker. Yes, yes, I KNOW, the point of the first two seasons were for Harley to finally BE RID of Joker but gosh dang it he had a compelling arc this season in a way I didn’t expect!

Ever since finding his new family he’s been trying to be an actual good person, a great step-dad, and then eventually, running for mayor so that Gotham City can actually get better! You’d swear it was a “long-con” but it wasn’t! And it was great because! They even dipped into the tropey “obsessed with fame” when his mayoral campaign took off but then he reversed it nearly on the spot in a way that further showed his growth as a character. Plus, his antics and policies as mayor were not just hilarious, but you kind of wish there were certain politicians out there who would get stuff done like Joker. WHICH IS CRAZY TO SAY BUT IT’S TRUE!!!

He even got a “sitcom opening” which had its own rolodex of nudges to past Jokers. They went all in on “Good Joker” and it worked. Plus, just as ironically, it was him who got Ivy to see that Harley had changed and that she (Ivy) needed to see that and talk about it with her. That’s growth.

Before I get to the negatives of the season, I do want to talk about the writing on the show in general. Because dear gosh are these writers both gifted and hilarious. There were multiple times I had to pause and laugh mightily at what I was seeing or hearing. Even right at the end of the season they had a perfect one-liner about a certain “part” of Nightwing and it totally landed (as many of you likely recall). They clearly put their all into this season with almost every character and it shows. When add that to the crisp animation and the fun sound design they put in certain scenes it was great. Oh, and there’s a Queen Elizabeth joke in episode 1 that was obviously weeks before her actual death and it made me do a double take because…that’s timing, people. Many people are going to adore Season 3 and they should!

That being said, this Harley Quinn Season 3 Review needs to address some of the flaws, it’s only fair. For example, while the Harlivy drama at times was both adorable and fun at times…other times it did seem a bit forced.

Such as when Ivy was working on her “dream project” and Harley knew that and yet she decided NOW was the best time to start a band and blast the music at super loud volumes? Really? Ms. “I’ll support you no matter what” won’t let Ivy actually do the things she’s been dreaming about? It felt off. Plus, as noted, the Harlivy drama was great when you looked at it from the scope of the whole season. The first few episodes did feel off due to the payoff not being there. Not to mention, they had multiple episodes of “growth” only to backtrack it again.

Second, the rest of “Team Harley” didn’t pack the same punch in terms of memorable moments as they did in past seasons. King Shark’s story had potential but it went pretty basic at the end. Clayface’s story as a whole was one I honestly didn’t care for, and the payoff was…well, there wasn’t really one.

Add to that Gordon’s story kind of fell off a cliff in certain ways and then he straight-up disappeared from the series after episode 6. He is one of the characters’ who honestly hasn’t grown, and in a season of growth we both the leads and the “bad guys”, you’d think he would’ve grown too. He didn’t.

Even still, as this Harley Quinn Season 3 Review hopefully shows, this season was worth it for those who have been a fan of the series for years, or just got into it with a binge. Arguably the biggest crime here is that it’s only 10 episodes. It flew by in my binge and I’ll be counting down to Season 4 because I can’t wait.