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'Harley Quinn' Season 2 Episode 10 Review: A Die Hard parody sets up a surprising Big(gish) Bad

It's Harley Quinn against a tower of terrorists, all while handcuffed to an amnesiac Joker. Not the best way to spend Christmas Eve
PUBLISHED JUN 5, 2020
(DC Universe)
(DC Universe)

Spoilers for 'Harley Quinn' Season 2 Episode 10 'Dye Hard'

Harley Quinn (Kaley Cuoco) is dealing with a broken heart after Poison Ivy (Lake Bell) says the pair can't be together because of Harley's impulsive nature. Ivy can't trust someone who hops from one goal to another without ever cleaning up her messes. This episode, seeking a rebound date, Harley nearly restores the Joker's (Alan Tudyk) memories, fights terrorists let loose by the Riddler (Jim Rash) and Doctor Psycho (Tony Hale) as a front for the villains to gain control of Harley's abandoned Parademon army.

Maybe Ivy has a point. Harley makes her way to the swankiest bar in the city, atop of Wayne Tower, in the hopes of a quick rebound after Ivy's rejection. As is typical for Harley, she's throwing herself straight into easy relief instead of finding a way to deal with her feelings. Unfortunately for her, easy relief doesn't quite come so easily, as the only person in the bar she finds worth talking to is the strangely wholesome man that the Joker used to be. The interaction between the two is interesting: Joker appears to be a completely different person. He has become the very definition of evil, the show repeatedly shows this man to be a level of wholesome that Superman himself would be jealous of, but the cracks are beginning to show. 

The Joker is starting to regain memories of his former life and the terrorists who show up are nothing compared to Harley's desperate need to keep the Joker's memories suppressed. It's a delightful gag — violence seems to trigger him, but how does Harley refrain from violence while taking down a terrorist group? The fun 'Die Hard' parody comes to a stop, though, when the consequences of some of Harley's abandoned messes take shape, and the season takes a darker turn. 

Doctor Psycho, it seems, never got over being demoted from world-class villain to lowly henchman. While he seemed happy enough working for Harley, it was a conditional allyship — he wanted to be a part of true supervillainy and once he saw that Harley would never truly go down that path, he realized it was time for him to step up. Harley's been so focused on Ivy she hasn't given a thought to the people around her. The one remaining member of the Injustice League, Harley's abandoned Parademons, her neglected henchmen. All of them combine to form a deadly army that Harley can't fight on her own. She needs the Justice League and for that, she needs the Joker to remember where he hid them.

The season has meandered somewhat, as the takedown of the Injustice League was more of a background goal to whatever story the show really wished to focus on instead. With the League down, the focus shifted to the Ivy/Harley romance. And when that was abandoned, the series wanders back to what it had apparently been leading up to all along. And that, disappointingly, ends up being the return of the Joker. While the Joker is a fantastic villain, so much of Season 1 was about Harley moving past him, and it's disappointing to see that the show is unable to do the same. 

As the season goes into its endgame, there are a lot of chaotic elements on the board. Batgirl (Brianna Cuoco), the Joker, Doctor Psycho, Ivy — there is a lot of scattered focus, and while that seems right for a show that prides itself at looking at the world from Harley's point of view, the scattered focus makes Season 2 a lot weaker than Season 1 was. The return of the Justice League may restore the status quo to 'New New Gotham' and a little structure might be something that 'Harley Quinn' could benefit from, as well.

The next episode of 'Harley Quinn' airs on June 5 on DC Universe.

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