'Harley Quinn' Season 2 Episode 13 Review: A supervillain rom-com gives Harley the ending she deserves
Spoilers for 'Harley Quinn' Season 2, Episode 13 - 'Runaway Bridesmaid'
It's the season finale and the wedding of Poison Ivy (Lake Bell) and Kite Man (Matt Oberg) is back on. After the tumultuous events of this season that saw a new Gotham broken nearly beyond repair, and the world almost end as a result of Harley Quinn's (Kaley Cuoco) impulses, everyone is so focused on fixing things that nobody is stopping to ask if they should.
It takes an ambitious assault from an overzealous Jim Gordon (Chris Meloni) to finally help the characters figure out what it is they really want, and we all get the happy ending we deserve. Harley is despondent, as despite her outpouring of love towards Poison Ivy, Ivy still chooses to be with Kite Man. Harley voluntarily turns herself in to Arkham, but a little manipulation from Two-Face (Andy Daly) both puts Ivy's wedding in danger and gives Harley a reason to break out.
Harley nearly disrupts the wedding in an attempt to save it, but as Gordon makes his attack, Kite Man comes to the heartbreaking realization that Ivy doesn't truly love him and forces her to accept that Harley is the one that Ivy is meant to be with. The finale switches the tone of 'Harley Quinn' from a superhero show to a romantic comedy with scattered superhero action.
The wedding is a real who's-who of the DC universe's best villains, and the scale at which things go wrong is 'Harley Quinn' at its chaotic best. Clayface (Alan Tudyk) sings an aria to a man he thinks is Tim Burton as the wedding is gassed by overzealous cops trying to arrest every villain in the city all at once, and Harley fights to pull an incapacitated Ivy and mournful Kite Man from the wreckage of their unsalvageable wedding.
It's definitely the worst day of Kite Man's life, but in the end, it's he who saves the day by breaking up with Ivy. While the episode is fun, the decision to have Kite Man be the one to leave Ivy is a strange one. It's not because Kite Man doesn't make some valid points — he does deserve to be with someone who loves him, and he recognizes that he can't be the one to make Ivy happy — it robs Ivy of the agency of her own choice. From the first moment she and Harley kissed, Ivy has been running away from her feelings, and the show has robbed her of the chance to make the decision to be with Harley herself.
One does really feel for Harley this episode, however. For a show that's had so much happening, it feels like Harley's feelings could get lost in the shuffle, but they're on full display in the finale. From her guilt in ruining Ivy's life to her messy attempts at helping, to the pure and tender joy she gets when Ivy finally decides to admit that Harley is the one for her, the journey of Season 2 has been one about Harley's heart, all along. Harley and Ivy ride off into the distance and set up the best status quo for Season 3 there is — as partners in crime in every sense of the word.
All episodes of 'Harley Quinn' Season 2 are now available to stream on DC Universe.
