'Harley Quinn' self-censors its own crudeness and is a stronger show for it
‘Harley Quinn’ makes you think that it’s a no-holds-barred comedy series. Between the swearing, the jokes, and the gore, you’d think that it was just the case. But no, instead they totally censor their humour. There are bleeps, there are blurs, and, honestly? The show is funnier for it. The death of comedy is not political correctness, but humorous brutality. Some jokes, you don’t want to be clubbed on the head with. ‘Harley Quinn’ keeps the humour alive and well by pruning out the jokes we don’t need.
Take Doctor Psycho’s (Tony Hale) big moment. In the middle of a battle with Wonder Woman, he insults Wonder Woman (Vanessa Marshall). It’s a word bad enough for the r-rated show to bleep out. Now, Doctor Psycho may be a killer, a madman, and a member of the Legion of Doom, but calling Wonder Woman THAT is a step too far. It’s a joke in itself, as everyone is shocked into a stunned silence that for a moment, makes the world stop turning (literally).
It’s a joke that wouldn’t have worked as well if Doctor Psycho hadn’t been bleeped. ‘Harley Quinn’ viewers need to suspend a certain amount of disbelief to appreciate the supervillains-as-celebrities approach that ‘Harley Quinn’ takes. Murder, theft, world domination are taken for granted as part of the supervillain gig, but a more relatable scandal like the public use of a misogynistic word is something that needs to be called out. The show’s rating meant it could very well have left the word unbleeped, so the choice to do so says something. In this case, it appears to say that while the show is perfectly fine with hyperviolence, for instance, purely misogynistic language is off-limits.
Another facet of censorship as humour comes with Maxie Zeus’ (Will Sasso) appearance - or, at least, the appearance of Mini Zeus. Maxie Zeus’ too-short toga is used to full effect as he comes on to Harley Quinn (Kaley Cuoco). The moment is somehow made all the gross by the strategically blurred pixels, which act both as an emphasis for the supervillains-as-celebrities theme as well as heightening his grossness by leaving things to audience imagination.
‘Harley Quinn’ can be a cruder, grosser show - it appears to have the freedom to do more or less what it wants to.