'Harley Quinn' Episode 5 review: 'Being Harley Quinn' explores what makes her tick and the voices inside her head

‘Being Harley Quinn’ gives us our most direct look into what makes Harley Quinn (Kaley Cuoco) tick as her crew is quite literally taken inside of her mind. With both a telepath and a psychoanalyst (space intended) on the team, and the unlimited “special effects budget” that an animated series allows, really, this episode was inevitable. 

Harley’s next step in her supervillain career is finding herself a lair. After all, besides their origin story, what defines a supervillain more than what their lair is like? Harley’s having a hard time deciding on a place, however, that really speaks to who she is. After being forced to give a definitive answer about who she really is, Harley Quinn glitches out, paralyzed by the frustration of indecision. 

“Who broke Harley?” asks Doctor Psycho (Tony Hale). Who indeed?

Not entirely comfortable with letting Doctor Psycho root around in Harley’s mind by himself, the crew dives into Harley’s mind with him, dropping in on her Museum of Memories, and meeting up with Harley herself. It could be confusing, but as Harley says, “Don’t think too hard about brain stuff for the next 20 minutes.” In the tradition of the many franchises, the episode keeps name-dropping and most of what’s seen are metaphors in some way or another - the rules aren’t especially important. 

Through her memories, we see that Harley Quinn has always been someone adamantly outside the norm, violent with poor impulse control. She’s been her zany self even before her supposed “origin story.” Her origin story becomes quite a point of contention - her memory of being pushed by the Joker into the vat of chemicals that made her Harley Quinn is glitching out. After a long and dangerous journey to her subconsciousness to find her repressed memories, she sees it as it truly is. The Joker (Alan Tudyk) wasn’t the one who pushed her in. She’d gone in willingly. 

Sometimes inner strengths are hidden inside weaknesses you don’t let yourself think about. Sometimes they’re just weaknesses, but there’s strength in owning up to them nonetheless. In Harley’s case, it’s definitely the former — she wanted to blame the Joker entirely for the abusive relationship she was stuck in, but she accepts that she was always in control of what happened. Which means that control is hers now, too. She decides to step in, rewrite her own story in a way she sees fit. The events of the show's pilot episode, where she breaks up with the Joker in all her newfound glory, is the origin story that Harley Quinn wants, and it’s the origin story she now has. 

Retroactive continuity (retcon) has been a part of comic book history from Day 1 (if they weren’t, we can retcon that in), and Harley taking control of her own life means she gets to retcon whatever parts of her story she wants to. It’s not the same as repression — if anything, Harley’s more aware of her past than ever. She just refuses to let anyone but herself define who she is, and if there’s one thing to be taken away from the episode, it’s that. 

Not that there aren’t other brilliant takeaways from the episode to be had. Harley’s mind sends violent, terrifying and genuinely disturbing versions of child Harley to attack the crew, blending horror and fun in a way only ‘Harley Quinn’ can. The B-plot Sy Borgman (Jason Alexander) is short but highly amusing as we learn of Sy’s spry spy past. Lake Bell steals the spotlight once again for just long enough to remind the crew how much she cares about Harley, and why they should, too.

Come for the mental landscape gags, stay for the messages of identity and empowerment. Harley’s mental breakdown has left her stronger than ever, and with a new lair finally picked out, her supervillain career is ready to be kicked into high gear. 

The next episode of ‘Harley Quinn’ airs January 2, on DC Universe.